Elder Update!!

Elder Mauzy is doing SO good in the Philippines. He finally got his package from Aunt Carol and Uncle Derek and he is loving it! Him and all of his roomies;) are enjoying the beef jerky and starbursts. I guess they don't have those over there. He is working hard and reaching a lot of people in need.

*Viva Las Vegas*

This past weekend we all went to Las Vegas to celebrate Maranda turning 21. It was fairly warm weather (better than Utah for sure!). We went to the wax museum at the Venetian hotel and walked the strip. It was so much fun!!Mom and Dad with Arnold Scwharzenager.
Dad with Muhammed Ali!

For Maranda's birthday dinner we went to the Rainforest Cafe. There is the HUGE dessert called "The Volcano". All four of us couldn't finish it!

It was a wonderful weekend!!

My Amazing Mom!!

Most people who know my mom know how amazingly talented she is. She works at Robert's craft and for Christmas time her and her co-worker were in charge of creating and decorating the trees. Here are some pictures of her work!

Best Christmas Gift

Christmas this year was amazing!! We prepared a lovely feast for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a very bitter-sweet Christmas...we were full of the Christmas JOY and yet at the same time missing Trevor a lot. Christmas just isn't the same with a family member gone.

We woke up Christmas morning and began opening presents. It was a different Christmas for us compared to last year. Last year we were swarmed with wedding plans that Christmas unfortunately was over looked a little. So, we opened presents and I was amazed at how many gifts there were under the tree! The last gift Adam and I opened was a surprise from my parents. It was a beautiful painting of the Salt Lake Temple and it had our names and our sealing date. We LOVE it!!

We ate a HUGE breakfast and relaxed the rest of day playing with our new gadgets and gizmo's. Finally 6:00 rolled around and the family was anxiously waiting for the telephone to ring. Suddenly my cell phone rings and the called id shows 'with held'. From past experience I never answer a with held number but, I figured what the heck right, it's Christmas. To my surprise my best friend, and brother Trevor was on the other line from the Philippines. (Silly kid forgot our home phone number:). We were able to talk to him for 40 minutes and it was the Best Christmas Present EVER!. When the phone call sadly ended none of us really knew how to react. Sad because we miss him or happy because he was so happy??

Point of this post is to show that through one phone call I gained a new and correct perspective of the season. Presents and food in the end don't matter. It is the Savior's birth and His sacrifice that we need to focus on. I am so proud of my brother for the service he is rendering.What a Wonderful Christmas!!!!

Counting Down The Days!

In 6 days we will be getting a call from Elder Mauzy!! I can't even describe how excited we all are. He will call us when it is Christmas in the Philippines which will be Christmas Eve here in Utah. Elder Mauzy cracks us up. He emailed us saying that he'll call at 6 pm or later:). We don't mind though we'll just hang out at home all night waiting for the much anticipated call! This is by far the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for!!

Kumusta

Elder Mauzy is doing great! His companion and another roommate injured themselves while playing basketball so we were relieved to hear he didn't get hurt!

"Me being the only American in the house has been kind of tough, but I have been trying really hard to look to the savior, and he has given me so much comfort. and even though it is tough, I am happy, and I know that I can only succeed in this mission with his help. Mom while I was in the MTC, there is a time that I can point out where I could really see my testimony grow, I remember you sent me a church news article called, feelings of gratitude, and I really tried to apply it. I realized how much I had, and that there is no reason to be sad, because of how much I already have. I then learned how important it is to love others and to serve them. That is where true happiness comes. Well I thought I would just share that because it is thanksgiving time"

"We find new investigators everyday. No joke. Only a few of them are sincerely interested though. The ones who are interested and who hopefully will be baptized are: Christina, Almario family, Hilario family, and this new family, I forgot their name. So the people here are so nice. the family that I forgot their name, dont have enough money for lights so they use candles. two whole candles were used up while we were teaching them. I felt kind of bad:- but it is definitely worth it for them, because they can have eternal life with their family if they recieve the gospel. That is another thing I am grateful for. I am grateful that I am sealed to you and that in heaven we will be together forever if we stay valiant. Thank you for all your love and support."

We LOVE hearing from Elder Mauzy and seeing the wonderful growth he is going through.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Adam and Maranda made the entire dinner! It worked out really well and we all had a blast getting together and remembering all of our many blessings. After dinner we went and saw the new release "Four Christmases" which was surprisingly good and funny! It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!