Missionary Farewell Sunday

Durocher Family - July 29, 2012

Family and Friends gather for luncheon after the Farewell Sacrament Meeting.  The chapel was full, the gym was full and more chairs had to be brought in.  Morgan did a great job with his talk and shared his missionary experience with Halo.  Very funny.

Got to have a funny face shot!

Morgans good friends.  Open your eyes Morgan!

Time Flies when you're Having Fun!

Much has happened in the year and a quarter that has passed since I last posted!  With Morgan soon to leave on his mission, I wanted to get back to blogging and post his letters and photos from Hawaii so family and friends can keep up with his progress.  I recently sent invites to family and friends to attend his Sacrament Meeting Farewell worded thus:

The day is drawing near for Morgan to enter the MTC after many months of waiting!  He received his call to the Apia Samoa Mission in November 2011, scheduled to leave in March 2012.  Due to a back injury and surgery in March he was detained but has healed sufficient to begin his mission.  His mission call was reassigned to the Honolulu Hawaii Mission, and will enter the MTC on August 1, 2012.

I'll update some photos from the last years events as I have access to them.  One of the most fabulous events was the birth of my second grandchild, Cambree Alayna Durocher to Nicholas & Michelle on June 6, 2011.  They are expecting their second child, a boy already named Hayden, to arrive in October 2012.  Annalisa took adventure by storm and landed in Hawaii for 6 months from Novemeber 2011 to May 2012.  We are delighted for her experiences but so glad to have her back.  She spent a month with her Montana Grandparents, Cousins, Aunt's & Uncles and had a great time especially at Brittneys wedding!  Ethan is training for 2012 football season at Lone Peak High School and is working at Firehouse Carwash.  Michaels year has been focused on his studies at ISU in Pocotello, Idaho where he is nearing his last year of school.  Gavin continues to impress with his happy face and excellent vocabulary.  He's turning 5 years old soon!  Wow!  David graduated from USU in the Mechanical Engineering program in Dec. 2011, but did the ceremonial walk in May 2012.  He and Ashlee recenty bought a lovely home in Logan.  David just got a new job and Ashlee will be returning to college!  Great job guys! 

I went on a fabulous trip to Washington DC with my co-workers in May 2012 where Dean & Lynne were fabulous hosts around the city!  It was amazing to experience the history and be granted the 'fast pass' into certain DC sites via D & L.  Thanks so much! In June my brother Bryan retired from the Navy and all 6 siblings and my parents and cousins gathered in San Diego, CA for a phenominal reunion!  What a great family I have!  Love you all!

 We'll be posting more often and thanks for all the support for the Durocher Family!

Wishes do come True

An amazing lady friend of mine is a fabulous photographer. She has the unique ability to catch the 'IT Factor', the skill to capture the special, magical moment on film. I've wanted a family photo for a long time and found out she was moving to Texas! I hurried and asked with strong encouragment, for my kids to gather so we could have our photo's taken in the winter setting of Tibble Fork Resiviour up American Fork Canyon. Much to my delight, we had a terrific time, fresh snow, and lots of laughter. I'm a blessed woman with fabulous children and Kari Hennefer caught all that on film....these days...digitally. After a couple hours, all were chilled, but I was one HAPPY MAMA! Thank you dearly to my kids for coming and making my day, and to Kari for her awesome skills at the photo shoot and her hours of editing.

To see our entire family shots, go to http://karihenneferphotography.blogspot.com/

After you see our family, click on any picture and it will expand. Look in the upper right corner and click on 'Close', and the whole collection can be viewed. You can choose the size of the photo to view, and be sure to look at the 5 pages of pictures.

Soldier Hollow - Company Tubing Party

I work for the greatest people ever! I love my job, and besides that, we do some really fun stuff together. The winter (Christmas) party this year was at Soldier Hollow, a tubing hill near Heber, Utah. We had a fabulous time...well after the first few runs that packed down the foot of new snow and sped up the runs. Our company had around 40 people come, (employees and families,) so we had a cluster run with all of us and it was a blast....well, one 9 year old girl fell out and her dad bailed to save her from getting smeared by a bunch of tubes. In that photo, you'll see two people walking down in the upper left corner...that was the tumblers. Afterwards we had catered, hot pizza and hot chocolate. It was a great activity!
I will add the photo's when I am at work....I edited them there and zoomed in on a few.

Ethan's 16th Birthday

Ethan being Ethan was right on top of his birthday schedule...Get drivers liciense, check. Land his first job, check. Get a car, check. Go out on his first date....check! What more could a 16 year old ask for! Wow, my youngest is 16! Next thing I know he'll be 40!....wait, that means I'd be 72! Lets just slow things down a bit!

Visit from Mike & Bridgett & Gavin

I was sure delighted to see Mike and family over New Years! Gavin is as cute as ever. Mike looks awesome with his extreme weight loss of 85 pounds. He's maintaining well and is working on losing more. Great Job Mike! Bridgett is as cute as ever. Love you guys!

Annalisa has a knack for the 1940's pin-up look

Wow, is she a looker! This was her New Years Eve dress up for a Masquerade Party...no one else dressed up but she shore was purrdee!

Christmas Day - 2010 at Jesse's and Heller's - Look at all the Happy People!

Santa's elves got busy and met us over at Oma's house for Christmas Morning by 7:30am. We opened gifts and shared in the delight of Bryan & Kristi's children as they found what Santa brought them. Santa did some early bird gifting at the Durochers so we didn't have to travel with as much. The photos will tell the story well, but as a starter we met at Jesses for the traditional Christmas breakfast of Scrapple, Muffins & Egg caserole. It was all delightful and we exchanged sibling gifts...those that were there anyway. We next headed out to brother Dean's new ranch that is south and east of Gardnerville. It's a great place and I can sure see why they love it out there. The traditional Christmas dinner was magnificent! Great job D & L and family for providing such a fabulous meal. Nick's truck is equipt with a GPS and we were glad to use it to find our way in and out of Smith Valley, Nevada to get back to Carson City. What a great Christmas day it was with food and family chatter.

Sunday we got ready for Church and met at Mom's ward at 11am. It was a nice service and we left to meet at Jesses for a noonday meal and the Durochers headed out of town. Many thanks to the Carson families for a place to stay and such hospitality at your homes.

It was indeed a Merry Christmas!

Midnight Christmas Run - Christmas Eve at Jesse's

As schedules would have it, Nick & Michelle met us in SLC on Thursday the 24th at 6pm. Nick drove his truck, a jacked up 2004 Diesel Durimax and we soon were met with many patches of fog. The drive went well and I was sure grateful for Nick driving as we arrived in Carson City at 2am PST, but 3am MST in Utah. We appreciated so much the D. Heller house in Carson to arrive and get to bed. Adventure arrrived as we pulled into Carson and found the serpintine belt has snapped and a pully seized in Nicks truck making it near impossible to stear and break the last several blocks to Deans house. Gratefully we arrived there and could address the repairs in the morning. Luckily it didn't occur in the vast desert of Nevada in the middle of the cold night. Thank You, Lord!

I was trying to upload Oma's letter as it spelled out the events of the weekend, but it wouldn't copy. So... I'll just plug in photo's and see what needs to be commented on.