Family Days

The same weekend as Ashley’s birthday our nephew Eric had his farewell for his mission. He left at the end of October for the MTC and then Dec. 28th on to Texas, Spanish speaking. We were able to go listen to him speak and then visit with family after at Blake’s sister Marta’s house. We had a little luncheon there and Eric had invited some of his friends from school. I have never seen anyone try to feed so many teenagers before. There was probably 60 friends that showed up. They chased some of our family away. It was fun though. Marta made tacos and nachos for everyone. Amazingly there was even some left after the swarm of teenage appetites got through. We will miss Eric, but are so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord for 2 years.
A few weeks later we got a call from Marta telling us that Barry (her husband) was being put in as 1st counselor in the bishopric. So Sunday we went back to Marta’s ward and got to support Barry in his new calling. While we were there Marta was introducing us to some of the ward members and the stake leaders, and she almost made me cry. She was telling everyone this is my brother and his wife and these are MY girls Kenzie and Ashley. It wasn’t these are my nieces or these are Blake’s kids, she called them her girls. That made me feel so good to know that she feel that way about them. I know they sure do love her and her family. They love it when we are able to visit them and love it even more when Marta and Barry babysit them. It’s so nice to have family that loves us so much so close. Thank you Marta, Barry, Bryan, and Eric!