Happy 21st Birthday Elder Reid!!!

On this day 21 years ago, this little guy entered our lives as a gift to us - it was our fifth year wedding anniversary.

Our lives, and the kitchen pantry, would never be the same! :-)







In honer of Elder Reid's 21st birthday, we celebrated by hanging out at G&G Ridng's cabin, one of Derek's favorite places -- well, actually, it's a family favorite!

And, a piece of Elder Reid was right there with us...

Choppin wood with dad

Swayin with the humming birds

Skippin rocks on the creek

Climbing the old tree

And playing cowboys!

Happy Birthday to Derek, happy birthday to you! And many more.....

For his birthday, a newly baptised sister was making him brownies and they were going to visit with her and her husband and planned to watch "Together Forever" -- they are hoping her husband will be baptised soon. He was quite excited about the brownies and said he'd probably be eating the whole pan all to his self.

Fun in the sand in El Fuerte! And he turns 21 soon!

I'm sure with weather in the upper 90's and very humid, that water is more tempting than we realize! Missionaries can't get in the water, it's against the rules. Which is why he doesn't want us to pick him up from his mission, he says he wants to come home and go back when he can get in the water! Hey, we're good with that!

He's loving his new area, and is having much success with baptisms there. He's training a new baby, Elder Perez who is from Mexico. He said Elder Perez is already loosing weight from all the walking and the heat! I've been bugging him for a picture of the new little one. It sounds like they get along great and he was excited for him to experience his first baptism.

He has met the new Mission President and says "he's really cool!" Awesome, because the new MP had some shoes to fill I'm sure as the old MP was awesome too!

I asked him he was going to start buying a few Souveniers to bring home (he's became VERY frugel!) and he wrote back "yeah, I'm thinking about reverting back to my childhood and buying these sic cowboy boots I saw, they were super sic!" Always a TEASE! ha ha. When I read that to Keith he laughed and said, "as long as he wears socks with them!" Derek had a favorite pair of cowboy boots when he was little and he loved them because he could just slip on by himself, and with any outfit, socks or no socks. And then he'd wiggle his little toes in your nose after he took them off and say "Look, they smell like cherries!" and then he'd giggle his evil belly laugh! I have pictures of him in his shorts, boots and cowboy hat. Gotta find that soon and scan it! ha ha -- hey! He's not here to defend himself, right?! ;-)

Derek turns 21 on July 27th!!! Please please feel free to send him a Dear Elder (instructions to the right of this blog) or a card or a letter and wish him a Happy Birthday, he would LOVE IT!

A Mother's Prayer (video clip below, please read first)

I (Momma Reid here) am a lover of music (although I can't carry a tune). When I was a little girl, and couldn't sleep I used to keep a portable radio under my pillow and would find soothing music to listen to while lulling off to sleep. Derek asked for an MP3 player a while back, and the missionary guidelines are very specific. Only spiritual and uplifting music, no romance, no rock or pop. Just Christian based, and spiritual in nature. Ah-ha, I thought, I can do that! It was fun finding an array of songs for him that weren't just Motab (Mormon Tabernacle Choir). One of the first songs I searched for and downloaded is Celine Dion's "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli -- if you haven't heard it, search for it -- it's stunning! I also found that Motab does a version of it as well, also very pretty. While looking for that song however, I stumbled on a slightly different version by Celine tightled 'A Mother's Prayer.' It made me cry. I immediately knew I wanted to put together this video clip in time for Blythe's birthday (however, I'm a little late). The words to the song say it all...

Although this blog is about the happenings of Elder Reid and his excursions in the Culiacan Mexico Mission -- our first born child, a beautiful daughter named Blythe (who is married and has her own blog) is also our pride and joy. Both of our children have blessed us soooo much. Happy belated birthday to our beautiful daughter, both inside and out. You have the face and heart of an angel and we love you! Thank you for being such a joy to raise! Forever and eternally yours, Mom, Dad and Derek

Any suggestions???

I haven't blogged about Elder Reid much lately, and am feeling guilty. Life gets so busy. Or is it that the weather is distracting me? However, rest assured, Derek is doing fantastic. He recently transferred to a new area (and was really needing the change). He's now in El Fuerte (sp?) -- and loves it, "very hilly." He's getting a workout! He's also training a newbie, and is loving that! He said it brings back memories of things he experienced when he was new. It sounds like they are getting along great and have a couple interested in baptism. This past month he battled some stomache issues but seems to be on the mend. Not sure, but I think he may have had to endure another "poop" analysis (as he puts it)... but as long as he's feeling better we're happy. He's learned that yogurt is a good bacteria and has taken to eating lots of it.

Through this, I've been reminded that mom's all over the world are such a blessing! The role of a mission president's wife is in many ways "mom" for the missionaries -- Hermana Johnstun is absolutely WONDERFUL! I'm convinced her and President Johnstun are heaven sent. Their love and compassion for each missionary is inspiring. Their call is ending soon, and we will miss them.

GUESS WHAT??? Derek turns 21 at the end of July... we are pondering what to put in his birthday package -- any suggestions??? He's telling me he doesn't need anything. So any fun and/or creative ideas are welcome!!!

In Memory of... So long Lil' Foot, what a ride it's been!!!

A fun story for the family, but if you want to hear how Elder Reid is doing, skip this one...

In 1989, shortly after we welcomed Derek into the family, we bought this baby! A brand new Mazda 626 with a five speed manual. She had 144 miles. Oh what a ride it’s been!

At the time, Poppa Reid was driving a big ol’ Ford pick-up with a lift kit nick named Big Foot. So Blythe in the wisdom of a child, decided that must mean our new car was Lil' Foot! Little did she and Derek know, "Lil' Foot" would one day become their prize possession! When Poppa Reid handed over the keys to his precious 16 year old daughter, he also put a $400 sound system in it – which at the time was probably worth more than the car itself. So off Lil' Foot went on some new bump thumpin adventures! The next thing Blythe discovered was the “date eject button” – if you rolled the window down on the passenger side, the car door opened – so if she had a guy with her that she deemed a dork boy, she could just say “hey, will you roll that window down?” and as soon as the door latch un-hitched she could make a swift left turn and out the poor dork boy would go, ha ha! Later on we hooked her up with a Honda, also five speed manual, so she could head to college and Derek could take the reigns of the ol' car with the same birth year as his. Yes, he was quite thrilled (insert sarcasm).

Now the bump thumpin car was strumming to a new beat, which consisted of rap, rock and even some country! Some stickers got stuck to the back window, to reveal "this is a dude's' car now" (nice try, ha ha! worked well with the pink pin striping!). He didn’t have much need for the date ejector, as he was too busy getting into mischief to worry about girls. And some how they managed to squish as many boys, snow gear and snow boards as possible in this lil mean machine and head for the Snowbird and golf clubs in the summer. Now Derek was famous for leaving the car lights on and draining the battery. He almost blew up the nice sounds system this way. And him and Blythe were famous for loosing the keys to poor ol' Lil Foot (we learned to make them by the dozen!).

By now Lil’ Foot was growing weary and tired. Her clutch was starting to slip, her A/C was gone and to be quite honest, she smelt funny after you drove her for a while - ha ha ha. So we transferred Derek to a 1995 Jeep Cherokee (thanks Susan!) -- and with a little moola and a lot of elbow greese he was off and running once again. With a more "manly" ride now, he actually started to date! Of course Derek stripped Lil' Foot of her sound system and woofers. So I took pity on Lil' Foot and polished her off by driving her to work as long as she could go -- which wasn't long.

After spending some time as yard art we decided to donate her to Kars-4-Kids. They hauled her off today. While with us she commuted Poppa Reid to work, went to Disneyland, Jackson Hole, the cabin, Layton, Kearns, and quite a few trips to Mesquite. She helped mask Blythe's nose in the back corner of the car while her kid brother barfed all the way to the first 5-hour ride to Grandma's house... and she survived only one fender bender. Yep, it was a great ride!... Oh yes, and notice the little dings in the body? "Nobody" was responsible for those and "Nobody" knows how they got there... tee hee! Great memories -- we drove her for all she was worth! Her mileage as of today is 237,539. She went forever on a tank of gas, and kept her windows intact despite the shaking from those big ol' subwoofers! And we never replaced the clutch... AMAZING! R.I.P. Lil' Foot!!

Fun facts and another video clip...

1) Who needs good eyes sight? Derek informed us he gave up on his prescription contacts. During our phone call we asked if he needed more and he said "oh no, I gave up on those. Too much dust and dirt here - I was going through them way too fast." Good things his eyes aren't that bad! Note to us, he'll need an eye check-up soon after he gets home.

2) Derek promised his dad he would write in his journal every day, and he's kept that promise. He totally filled his first journal and it's written entirely in English -- so he told us his 2nd journal for year two is being written totally in Spanish. Clever!

3) He has learned the art of making tortillas and loves them! Oh, this makes Momma Reid very very happy!!!!! :-)

Here's another random video he sent home on a thumb drive at Christmas time. It's from his MTC days. Again, you can't see Derek but you can hear him laughing hysterically! I don't know who the banana eaten Elder is, but he's got quite a talent! I love how Derek tries to stifle his laugh and then just loses it... that's my boy! ha ha, love it, makes me smile every time I watch it!

Mother's Day 2010

Wonderful Mother's Day call! We got to call Elder Reid at 7pm Sunday evening. He sounds so great! Very in love with the people of Mexico. He said they are so kind and loving, and share everything, even though they don't have much. I asked him if he's going to want to go back, and he said he actually wants to move back and go to college there! Hmm... we talked college briefly (have to get him enrolled soon) -- he has no concept of home and holidays in the states. He asked what I was going to do the next day (Monday) and I said "going to work" -- he was totally confused as Mother's Day lands on the 10th there and the festivities go on all week! When I brought up college, he had no concept of where Provo/Orem is or Logan. Still remembers St. George, as that's where Blythe went for a while. He said: "How about that school, I won't freeze my butt off and I can also golf!" ha ha, yeah, no! ;-)

He sounds so great! Was suffereing from a little food poisoning, but is used to toughing through it. I don't know what my deal is, but those phone calls just wipe me out! I put Blythe on dialing duty this time (thanx B!). It's like dropping him off at the MTC all over again. And he's going to be home soon! I just deal with seperation anxiety all over again, so weird. I hold it together while he's on the phone, but afterwords I'm a complete mess. My poor husband (who is a SAINT for putting up with me). I'm so blessed, and also grateful those calls come but twice a year (weird, I know). He wrote me the sweetest e-mail Monday, and the tears sprouted again! He truly loves his mission and the people he serves and sends his love to you all!

Take That!...

"water fun" -- it was old and creeky and it was super high but was awesome fun pic of the week (Sigh, that's my son. Unlike his mom, he's never had a fear of heights!).

I had been anxiously anticipating my e-mail this week, knowing he would have instructions for the much anticipated Mother's Day phone call (yesssss!). I was sitting at my desk when I happened to see Derek's e-mail address in the little balloon thing pop up on the bottom of my screen and it said "Mom, if you're on -- I need to know when you would you like your call - Sunday night or anytime Monday." (Mother's Day in Mexico is always on the 10th, no matter what day of the week it lands). I was so happy I saw his e-mail come through so we could chat live! It's only been recently that we've been able to do that. So Sunday at 7 it is! Woo-hoo! So our chatting back and forth was short and sweet as we get to talk to him live soon right? So I said to him -- "guess what? I'm sitting at my desk eating a breakfast burrito from Beto's and it's yummy!" (haha, he loves their breakfast burritos) -- this was his reply: "I love burritos, and when I get home I will be able to order them in Spanish so they will give me a discount and more meat, so take that! ha ha" -- Hmmm, we'll see about that, but we sure love that kid! He also said he's jealous of our recent snow, and said it's in the 90's there and his nose is feeling it... Hmmm, time to send more sun screen! He's loving life still, can't wait to blog about how our phone call went.

Dreams of December

As I've said before, one of my talents in life is NOT sleeping. I've never been a good sleeper. When I do finally crash I sleep so soundly that I don't usually remember my dreams. However, since Derek has been out I dream about him periodically. It's usually the same dream, doorbell rings - and when I answer Derek is standing on the porch in his missionary attire, big grin on his face - just came to "grab a few things" out of his room and upon leaving gives me a big ol' hug (the best part) before running back to the airport to catch a flight back to Mexico. One time he was in goofy clothes because it was his P-day, ha ha! I have joked with him a few times about how nice it is seeing him in my dreams. A while back I downloaded a song to my ipod, I only downloaded it because it was free -- it's titled "December" by Norah Jones -- I gave it a quick listen, had a nice melody and then didn't think much more of it. So I'm lying in bed doing my not sleep thing recently and grabbed my ipod to play softly in my ears (to also drown out my husbands snoring, tee hee) -- and that song came on and I had to chuckle!

Here's some of the lyrics that make me smile: December, come to me / I hope I can see / You, not just in dreams / December won't you come / Back with snow, wind and sun / Don't say that it's done...

So I'm laying in bed listening to this and chuckling! Derek will be home in December! How ironic! It's my new theme song!!! Kind of a pretty song too, but I love a wide range of music. Here's a YouTube link to the song, hope it works!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRAs-EfkiLI&feature=related

Video: Unexpected Visitor in the House of Prayer

There were a few little video clips on the thumb drive Derek last sent home. His camera has the ability to take short clips. I think he takes these little clips for his benefit, not ours, but we sure have gotten a kick out of them. In this one you can't see Derek, just hear him. This was just before Christmas when he was serving in a small town and lived in this little "house of prayer" -- looks like they had an unexpected guest! ha ha, I had to show it to a couple of friends that speak Spanish so they could tell me what Derek is saying. Basically he's telling his comp to not kill it and put it outside -- but notice he keeps his distance just the same, ha ha! I was also told that these trianchula's (sp?) have stuff on their skin that will sting human skin, which is probably why his comp is knocking it around with a broom. Interesting also, that his native comp starts speaking in Spanglish when they get outside. I was also told Derek's Spanish is spot on. That he "sings" his voice perfectly -- a friend from work (who knows Derek) told me "he doesn't sound like a gringo trying to speak Spanish -- he sounds like that real thing!" ha ha, I love it! I told Derek this in last week's e-mail and then half of his response was written in Spanish! ha ha, sheesh! Amazing how far he's come in such a short time (remembering back to when he first got off the plane and didn't understand a word "everyone talks so fast!!!") Good news though, they are having much success with baptisms and he is on Cloud 9!!! Patience (and hard work) is a virtue!