My Son is Serving a Mission

My son, Elder David Nguyen, is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He will be teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Vietnamese language in the Cambodia Phnom Penh mission.  Currently, he is learning Vietnamese in the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo, Utah.

I created a blog for his letters.  If you'd like to check it out, please visit http://eldernguyen.blogspot.com.

Lego Mania

John has a really fun job.  They are always doing neat things to keep the employees happy.  The most recent "thing" was a Lego contest.  Each person was given 350 Legos, and they had to make something to be displayed at work.  People were allowed to combine their Legos and make something big, or do it individually.  Each person could use an additional 50 Lego pieces.

Here is John's creation.  He and the boys spent a lot of time deciding what to do, how to do it, and then they actually built it.  John and Michael stayed up late the night before the competition ended to make sure everything was perfect!

AJ's Birthday!

AJ's birthday was a busy day, so he was able to open his present in the morning instead of in the evening after John got home from work.  He got exactly what he wanted!

Neat Send-off Gift

One of my dear friends, Karen Lopez, made this fun present for David (before he left on his mission).

One Last Hurrah!

Just before school started, I took AJ to the beach with some good friends.  We had a great time enjoying the sun and cooler weather at the beach.  (It was well into the 100s at home and in the low 80s at the beach.)

We're Famous!

Or two of my boys are.  Well, at least if you read our Stake Conference newsletter.

Two of my kids are in the most recent newsletter: Michael (playing soccer) and David (with the pictures of the current missionaries).

Radiator Springs - Cailfornia Adventure

We went on a new ride in Cars Land - Radiator Springs at Disney's California Adventure.  It was a lot of fun!

Making Jam a.k.a. Maybe I Need a Cherry Pitter

I made some cherry jam on Friday.

Unfortunately, I do not have a cherry pitter.  I meant to see if Walmart had one when I stopped by on Thursday, but I forgot.

Why did I not run out and pick one up as I live within 5 minutes of a Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Walmart?  Because our streets were being resurfaced, and I decided I wanted to spend the day at home.  That meant my car was in the driveway and I couldn't move it.

So I made do.  David suggested I use my potato masher to crush the cherries, making it easier to remove the pits.  It worked (much better than pitting each cherry by hand), but my hands still got quite a bit of cherry juice on them.

Lego Store

Having four sons, we have seen a lot of Lego creations.  While visiting the Disneyland resort last week, we decided to stop by the Lego store in the Downtown Disney area.  They had some awesome Lego displays out front. 

More Family Photos

I received the CD with our family pictures on it today.   Here are a few more.