pop some popcorn & grab a tissue

Personalize your own slideshow design

We'll be having an open house for Kristi (and the other graduating seniors in our ward) after her graduation ceremonies on Saturday, June 4th. Each graduate will have a table displaying some things about them. This slide show will be running on our laptop. If you decide to watch, you can click through them as fast as you want rather than watching it in real time. It's l-o-n-g, but I can't help such things. She's the only daughter I have . . .

nearing the end!

Once upon a time, I approached the end of a school year with 50% excitement and 50% jitters over how in the world my children and I would keep busy, happy and sane for three months with no school. My, how things have changed.

Now, around the time my kids go back to school after Christmas break, I start dreaming about summer vacation with 100% excitement and 0% jitters. Staying in bed past 5:00 a.m. tops the chart for me. You'll notice I said 'staying in bed' rather than 'sleeping in' because I love the luxury of the former even though I am generally unable to do the latter. I am very dutiful and completely reliable in my morning routine, and I even annoy the kids at times with my cheeriness, but I do not enjoy it. And by the end of the school year I am almost cursing it.

Because I work for the school district, I look forward to my own vacation - not just that of the kids. I enjoy my job, but I have found that the children are far more delightful in the beginning of the year than at the end. I love that summer means we all get enough sleep, we don't eat breakfast 'til 9:00, we stay up late watching movies, and generally try to be as lazy as we can stand. My kids would probably say I can't stand as much laziness as they can, but right now in May when things are still in full swing, I covet laziness and try to plan my summer around it as much as possible. It's nice to dream, right?

We spoke with Brennan on Mother's Day and it was wonderful! He sounded older and a bit more serious than we remember, but I guess that comes with the territory. He is doing great and working hard, and trying to stay solely focused on the work. He admitted that he was a little hesitant to talk to us because of that focus, but hopefully we didn't do too much damage! It was bittersweet by the time we had to say goodbye -- Austin and Dallin were particularly sad, and I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach again that I felt when he left in November. All of a sudden, instead of feeling amazed because he's already been out six months, I felt sad because he's only been out six months. Two years is a long time. But he is happy and healthy and doesn't want to be anywhere else.

On the fun side of life, Austin turned 15 recently, and for his "party" he wanted to take two close friends on the Ultimate Rush ride in Reno. They did it twice and had some good, scary fun.

And this weekend was Prom, and with Kristi being the VP of her senior class, she has had major responsibilities for it all year long. Budget constraints forced the prom to be held in the gym this year, which meant transforming the gym and the entrance foyer into their "midnight sky" theme. So. much. work. This past week we were all up at the school helping to lay flooring, hang lights, decorate tables, put bows on chairs, etc. etc. It turned out amazing. A cute boy from our ward who she has known most of her life (and who will be leaving on his mission in the fall) asked her to go with him. She was thrilled because she knew she would have fun with no stress whatsoever. She simply has no time in her life for boy stress. Anyway, they had a GREAT time.

That's Kristi in the middle on the floor, and Logan is the boy next to her on the left. This was somebody's birthday party probably about twelve years ago.

And here they are all grown up:



Hard to believe!!!!

great Monday reading

Here's this week's email from Brennan. He regularly reports that he's never been happier than he is now. He loves his mission!

Dear Shaffer Family!

Thanks again for your wonderful e-mail. I love hearing from you guys. Really quick before i forget, I will probably call in the evening sometime probably between 6-8 our time so get ready!! I also want to talk with Logan for like 5 min, and I'm not too sure if i'm really allowed to specifically call him, but if you could invite him over for me to talk to him real quick about his mission call I would love that.

This week has been a crazy week for sure. There has been a lot of weather around here. We have experienced over a FOOT of rain in just April alone!!! And i love it, its really different though - I'm not used to this at all. We've probably had 7-10 tornado warnings here, where the sirens go off and its pretty crazy. I still want to see one though. It’s also so so so green here. I cant really even explain how green it is here, it just blows my mind, and there are a ton of bugs. You guys all know how much I hate bugs. I've had the blessed opportunity to kill multiple cockroaches in our apartment which has been such a joy.

But now to the good stuff. This past weekend Colby Curtis WAS baptized, and I had the wonderful, wonderful opportunity of baptizing her. Nancy who you guys know was baptized a month ago gave the closing prayer and just started to cry. It was a very spiritual service and one that I'm so so grateful to be a part of. It took Nancy 4 months to get baptized, Colby 5 months, and Hopefully Darren will follow. I love that family with all my heart, I really couldn’t have asked for a better experience in my life than seeing this family change. It just wont be complete untill Nancy's husband Darren gets baptized. I love them so much. We saw them go from nothing, to walking Nancy down the aisle to get married, and the next day her being baptized and now Colby being baptized. Just amazing and my joy is truly full. I'm just so grateful that the lord has trusted me, and blessed me with the joy of seeing lives truly being changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yesterday was fast sunday, and in Elders Quorum we had a testimony meeting, and I bore my testimony. Darren was there and i bore it on the conversion power of the holy ghost and really for the first time i felt the spirit just burn inside of me. I can’t even explain to you how amazing just that one little moment felt, truly the spirit of God like a fire is burning, and i just hope and pray Darren felt the spirit too.

I don’t really know what more to say to be honest, I'm doing great, I'm healthy. I'm lucky to be out here serving my mission. Oh yeah, we’re getting a new mission president in a month! His name is President Woodbury from salt lake and he is an attorney who graduated from Harvard and is a multi millionaire. So I look forward to getting to know him really well! Also what’s really cool is I haven’t been out that long but i really can’t imagine life back home. This is all I know and this is what I've slowly come to love. I am just so grateful to be on my mission and to serve.

I love you guys. I'll call you between 6-8 on Sunday (invite Logan). LOVE YOU ALL - you guys are great examples to me and push me every day to be better! Good job reading, Austin!

-Elder Shaffer


He's the cute one in the back:

He looks like a missionary, doesnt' he?


And this one is my favorite:

Have a great week and Happy Mother's Day a little early!!

for posterity

Kristi is having her senior pictures taken this afternoon by the same person who took our family pictures last fall before Brennan left on his mission. I was checking out her photography blog yesterday and lo and behold, there was our family. I hadn't looked at the blog since she took Brennan's pictures a year ago. Since we didn't purchase these particular pictures, I don't have a copy of them. But now that I can steal them legally from her blog, I will post them here just so I have them! They are really for me, but feel free to love them too. haha

3 Nephi 5:13

Yay! Elder Shaffer finally sent his camera card with over 400 pictures on it! Proof positive that he really is in Kentucky doing what he claims to be doing.

Can you tell what these elders are standing on?

If you said, "By golly, I believe it's a frozen swimming pool!", you would be correct.

Next up - do you remember the song, "Humble Way" from Saturday's Warrior? Well, that's what this picture makes me think of, so insert lyrics here. (haha) And here's a good spot for a roadside nap.

A snowy eastern landscape.

And Brennan's first possum sighting. Yummmm, dinner anyone?

Highlights from a recent letter:

1) Brennan sprained his ankle playing basketball on the March 21st P-Day, and the doc told him he had torn some ligaments and that it would be 3 weeks before he could put much weight on it, and then 6 before it would start to be “semi-healed”. But then his companions gave him a blessing, and he reported that a miracle occurred and he was healed. (!)

2) Before a woman they had been teaching could be baptized, she had to be married. But none of her family could come to the wedding, so she asked Brennan to walk her down the aisle and give her away. So he did, and said it was a “cool, cool experience”. She was baptized the next day and Brennan believes she will be a “true kingdom builder”.

3) He promised more details about this one later, but mentioned that he had taken his first punch as a missionary, straight in the jaw, by a 300-pound . . . girl. He said we’d be proud that he “took it like a champ”.

Good stuff.

odds and ends

Ahhhh, March 21st, the first official day of Spring. I was pondering this earlier this morning (early as in 5:30 a.m.) when I was out shoveling the driveway and brushing 3 inches of snow off the cars. It looks like Spring hasn't yet sprung in western Nevada.

With the Spring Solstice comes Kristi's birthday just three days away. This is a big one -- eighteen! She seems to be handling it in stride, as 'adults' do. No wishes of a birthday party or anything particularly special -- maybe dinner and a movie over the weekend with some close friends but that's about it. She did promise to give me a birthday dinner request, but nothing yet. Although it's hard for me to believe my little girl is turning eighteen, it seems like she's been grown up for a long time now. Like for years. I love her like crazy and feel so privileged to be her mom. Here are a few pictures of her cute and fun self:

We had a youth talent show in our ward last week which Austin was in charge of (to earn a Varsity letter). He worked hard and it was a great success. He and his good friend Adam acted as MC's, and did a fabulous job between acts telling jokes, etc. He wore his dad's high school graduation suit which is a plaid baby blue and quite striking.

He was in a couple of skits with Adam as well . . .

Notice Kristi sleeping in the back seat of the 'car' in this one:

And then the two of them did the FUNNIEST 'midget dancing' skit. They found it on Youtube and practiced and practiced. Adam's taller, so he was the face out front -- Austin provided the arms.

You should check out their inspiration if you haven't seen it -- so funny. They used the same soundtrack, everything. And were just about as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQNwhv52xbw

Start at minute 2:45 to see their routine. It will make you laugh.

Brennan's email today was short so I thought I could just post it here. His trademark enthusiasm shines through!

Family!!

Okay I only have 10 min to email because we are going to E-Town to play some basketball!!!!! So good to see your pictures -- so so so so so good. AUSTIN, DALLIN, And KRISTI, I miss you guys so much. I love you guys a ton and it looks like you guys are doing so great!

Well mom this week we have been able to keep up 13 new investigators!! And we taught 29 lessons. The ‘standard of excellence’ every week from the First Presidency is 20 total lessons and 7 new investigators. So watch out, Kentucky, we are tearing it up! We also have another baptism this weekend, Nancy Curtis, and I am so excited for that one. Its been so dang warm here and its awesome. I'm loving it, i really am. It’s starting to get humid though and i hate the humidity!! Thanks so much for all the packages. I got them all and I'm so grateful for all of them!! Thank you so much mom! Gosh dang keep sending me pictures!! I'll send you my memory card this week so I can hook you up with some pictures, along with a letter because this email is so short. I've been lifting alot as well, so I'm back up to almost 170 in muscle. You know I'm loving that!! And I've been able to play basketball every p-day for awhile so thats been good, but MORE IMPORTANTLY the work here is exploding, it really is. We are working pretty dang hard in talking to EVERYBODY we see walking all the time and I love it!!!! Okay I’ve got to go -- sorry for the short quick email. I'll write you a letter. I love you guys so much!! Great to see you all in the pictures!!

Elder Shaffer

So, do you think 'dang' is a Kentucky word or a missionary word?? haha. If he ever sends pictures - I'll post some!

Happy Spring!!!!!!!!!

civic duty? check.

I just finished serving on a jury for a federal court up in Reno. I reported, along with 122 other potential jurors, not one bit worried about ending up in the final twelve. But somehow I did, and all of a sudden my regular life was on hold, as, for two full weeks, I had to leave the house by 7:00 every morning, and did not return until between 6 and 6:30 at night. It was crazy on many levels, from hearing the intricacies of the case (over 60 witnesses), to dealing with the other jurors, with whom I could not discuss the case until it was over and we began deliberations. Some of them were an extreme test of my patience and good will, with their bad language, habits, and manners. A couple of people couldn't seem to say a single sentence without a colorful word inserted somewhere. Others didn't feel the need to cover their mouths when they coughed or sneezed. Some needed regular breaks to go outside and smoke, and one guy decided he could still chew his tobacco in the jury room as long as he had a water bottle to spit it in. Two jurors refused to talk at all. I really tried to be pleasant to all, or at least tolerant, and it really tested me at times! For a week and a half, every time we were sent to the jury room for a break, this group of strangers had to talk about everything EXCEPT the one thing we had in common. Finally it was time for deliberations. What a process -- it took three DAYS, during which we were in a small room with no windows. We had to be escorted by an armed court officer during any breaks we took for fresh air. We were able to go home at night, thankfully; although we had a bad winter storm for a few days, and that commute nearly did me in a few times.

On Day Two of deliberations, I had apparently run out of patience, because when the tobacco-spitting Juror #7 decided to make yet another rude and off-colored joke, I heard myself come to life and tell everyone that we were not going to speak this way anymore. I told him (and of course everyone else) that since this was currently "my workplace", I had some rights, and I wasn't going to put up with the language and stories anymore. As you might imagine, there was an immediate ripple of awkwardness that went through the room, and then Juror 7 said, "Okay, I'm sorry. I will be more careful." I said, "I would really appreciate that. Let's move on." Inside I was thinking, "did I really just do that?"

Things improved. It still wouldn't have been safe for my mom to be in the room, haha, but things improved. At least after that, when there were things to apologize for, the apologies came without me intervening. Professionalism increased. I can only wonder what they have said about me since, but I am happy in hindsight that I let them know that I am a person of principles. Anyway, long story short - there were two defendants, each indicted on 62 counts (32 mail fraud, 26 wire fraud, 4 money laundering). After pouring over the evidence, scrutinizing financial records and money trails, we found them guilty of most of those counts. My head hurt every day. It's not easy to contribute to someone's prison sentence. There were tears in the courtroom from the female defendant as the verdict (each count for each defendant - it took forever) was read. Tears and then quiet-ish sobbing. I couldn't look. In the research I have done on the internet since the trial ended, I have found out that these two have been to trial for at least two past fraud schemes, and it looks like one of them has been to prison before. I felt less guilty about the crying then. Suffice it to say that it was a very unique experience, and one that I am most glad to have behind me.

Next up was my birthday - you can do the math if you want, but I'm not going to mention how strangely old I am getting. It fell on President's Day holiday, which was a tender mercy after having been away from my family for what seemed like years. They were very good to me on the homefront, but my favorite present was a letter from Brennan addressed to the Birthday Girl. He emails home faithfully every week, but this was a handwritten letter just for me. Honestly I'm not sure he has remembered my birthday voluntarily any other year, so it was special. He is learning and growing and maturing so much, it is a pretty amazing thing. It is clear to us that he is truly finding himself as he loses himself in the service of others (and God). I will share a great story from this week's email:

"This week has been the best of my mission. We taught 31 lessons!!!!! and we found 8 new investigators, and we set 5 baptismal dates!!!! Things have been just so amazing. We have worked so hard this week - I feel that the only thing I remember looking back at the past wek is laying down to go to bed and waking up! I can't believe how much the Lord is blessing us! 31 lessons is a lot of lessons by the way; I remember at the beginning of my mission here we were averaging 5-7 lessons per week, now we teach that daily. We have a baptism set up for March 5. His name is Norman LeFlame. I wish so bad you could meet him, we've been teaching him on and off since the beginning of January, and earlier last week we told him that we couldn't come by anymore because he wasn't keeping commitments. But we gave him one more chance and stopped by the next day to see if he had read and prayed. When we did, an amazing miracle happened. We walked in and we talked to him and he said he's 110 percent into it now. He said he read, prayed, and went to mormon.org, and then he had a dream. He said he woke up and knew this is where he needed to be, so we asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on March 5 and he said, 'of course'. But here's the real miracle -- he and his inactive brother Joey live together, collect disability checks, and do almost nothing else every day. They smoke packs and packs of cigarettes a day because they have nothing else to do. And they drink a ton of coffee. So after he said he wanted to be baptized I girded up my loins and asked if I could then take his coffee maker . . . he said YES, and so I unplugged his coffee maker, and took all his coffee/tea. Then I asked about smoking and you could tell they were scared to give that up. They had one pack left and they said after that pack they wouldn't smoke anymore. But I said nope, and asked if I could have that pack, and they said yes - both of them actually committed to stop smoking and drinking and everything else. A true miracle!! I can't even begin to explain to you the happiness I feel, and the change I've seen in their lives."

Keith and I always said that if Brennan could just channel that strong will of his in the right direction, he might be okay! And there you have it.

Well, time to end this marathon post. One last thing -- thank you for helping out with Kristi's cookbook project. I really hope everyone will send some favorite recipes. Any McGee relatives reading this - would you please make sure your mom knows? I know she doesn't check her email often. I think the new cookbook will be something we will all use and love, so let's make it a good one! I am speaking to myself as well, since I haven't gathered any recipes for her yet!

Well, onward and upward. Make it a great day!