Happy Birthday Brandon!

Brandon's birthday is Tues, Aug. 26, so Happy Birthday! Wow he is the big 21! I can't tell you how excited everyone was when I had a boy, the doctor was hollering, the nurse was hollering, Mark was hollering!! It was loud to say the least! What fun after my sweet girls to have a rough and tumble boy. I am so proud to be Brandon's mom and of the choices he's made, serving a mission and learning and growing in the gospel. He'll be home soon and I can't wait! I love you B, (if you read this) and have enjoyed each and every moment with you.

The Joy of Summer

WOW! What a whirlwind of activity we have had at the McCullough home! Jennifer came home as planned on July 1. It is so great to have her home. What a joy she is! She is working at IMC in the NICU and doing well. She has a friend coming on Aug. 27 from Guatemala, so we are all looking forward to that. She is settling in and cleaning out. Boy it is so great to have someone come in and take charge. She has cleaned out the laundry room and a storage closet. I love it! It's great to have a voice of reason saying "Mom, do you REALLY need that craft book?!" DI is lovin us.

As you know Marissa, Jake and Sydney moved in around the corner from us and oh what fun! I love that they can drop in whenever. We (the girls) cleaned out Marissa's front flower bed and it looks beautiful! No plants yet, just a rock garden at the moment, but we were quite pleased with ourselves.

Also this summer I went to girls camp at Heber Valley Camp and it was fabulous! There was a challenge course and I did the "big swing" and oh what a rush! It was great. They said they could hear my yells all over the course! No one ever said I was quiet! I learned how to download a Youtube video to my desktop and make a slide show with music and special effects for our spiritual activiy night. So many new things, I feel like I have actually accomplished something this summer.

The boys, Spencer, Matt and Preston went on a High Adventure trip with the Young men at church and had a blast! I will post pictures soon. They went canoeing, river rafting and also had a challenge course called C.O.P.E. They came home sunburned, skinned up and bruised, but had fun in the process. School starts on Aug. 25. Preston is in 9th and Matt is in 11th. It will be nice to get back to a routine and hopefully a bedtime that is not 2:00am like it has been all summer!

Brandon's birthday is Aug. 26, so drop him a line. I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

Sorry I've been so slothful in keeping up my blog, but hopefully I can now do better!

GOOD AND BAD

So first off, Jennifer's plane was delayed today, so she won't arrive until 7:55pm. :( We have decided to postpone the dinner planned for tonight at Mom and Dads until tomorrow at 6:30, Wednesday, July 2. So if you can come...Great, we'd love to have you. We have been cleaning and organizing, changing rooms and such trying to get everything in order for Jen's homecoming. We didn't get the doors and carpet in downstairs, but Jen always liked to help with construction!

18 months has flown by in so many ways and just drug by in other ways. I just can't believe she will be here today. I know she has had a great experience and has grown so much this past year and a half. Her homecoming talk will be on July 13 at 9:00am, so call for directions.



Anyway, in a none-related subject. Watch out for creepy people in so called "safe" places like libraries. As you know I work at a library and we have had a patron that is approaching young boys and girls and talking with them. He hasn't done anything "wrong" per se, but what business does he have talking to little kids? This has been going on for a while and he knows we are watching him, but he continues to come in the library. This is what he will do. He'll sit at a computer next to a child that has no parent by him. He won't talk to the child for 15 minutes or so, then start quietly talking with him or her. He'll show him something, like a movie clip on his computer and ask personal questions. Kids are so trusting that they answer them. We teach our kids to be POLITE to people, we teach them not to talk to STRANGERS, but they don't quite get it. For our library, this guy is always around and in the parks they hang out at, so the kids recognize him, they just don't know where they know him from. When our manager pulled this guy in his office to talk to him, he took off. Who knows if he'll be back to our branch. But I'm sure he's not done talking to kids and creeping people out.

Soooo watch your kids. Stay with them in public places. Keep them safe. There are no safe places, except our homes anymore. Let that Mama Bear in all of us come out and protect our kids. Okay, I'm off my soap box...

Coming Home!

So it has been forever since I wrote anything. Sorry. I have been painting and painting and am quite sick of it. I still have Amber and Preston's rooms to finish. YUK! Mark has been working out of town so it is all up to me. Double Yuk! The boys have been great about other stuff, but they aren't too keen on painting.

Anyway, Jennifer is coming home on July 1!!! Yea! We are all so excited. It is hard to believe that 18 months have gone by so fast. She will speak in church on July 13 at 9:00am. We would love to have all of you come, I will try to call of you with the address and such. We'll have a luncheon afterward. Question? Do we be bad and have people over right after Sacrament or wait until the entire block is over? I just don't know, so give me some feedback. -I know that was terrible grammer, but who cares. :)

I'll get all the details and get them out to you all, it has been forever since the WHOLE family has been together. I am looking forward to it. Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

May 12 is Jennifer's 24th birthday! So happy birthday Jen. We had a great gift by being able to talk to her on Sunday and hopefully she had a birthday treat as well! Jen was the sweet bundle of fair skin and white hair, the complete opposite of Marissa, with her dark skin and hair. Jen has always had a spunk for life and was always a bit on the stubborn side!

One day in the grocery store she was being stubborn and a lady said "I'm so glad she's yours and not mine!" Well let me tell you...I am too. She has been such a light of joy to everyone around her. Where would we be without her? A good friend told me that being stubborn was a good thing. If we just set Jennifer on the right path she will never be swayed. She was right. Jen has a strong sense of right and wrong and has the testimony to go with it. She is a true disciple of Christ and an excellent example of a righteous young woman.

Her so called "stubborn attitude" got her through nursing school and on a mission. It also helped her put up with little brothers that did stupid things and helped her love them despite the circumstances. I've missed her bright smile and infectious laugh, so six weeks cannot come soon enough for me. Thank you Jen for being YOU. For standing up for what you believe in and never giving up. You are my hero and I love you to the moon and back.

Brandon in his Video Debut!

Several months back and 2 companions ago, Brandon (in the yellow shirt) made this video. A member of his branch added music and posted it on youtube, so I thought I would share it with all of you! It's pretty silly, but I guess even missionaries have to blow off steam somehow. We teased him that he had the "ballerina" moves goin on! Like I said before, it is so great to "see" my missionaries and the wonders of technology are fantastic. Even if the missionaries themselves are a little wacky.

Baptism for Brandon!

Brandon had his first baptism and was so excited to go back to his previous area to be there. They are a super family! This is what Brandon said in his e-mail "So this past Saturday I was asked by the Serrano's to baptize them! I was able to go back to Northville to perform that baptism and it was such a great experience. Yay! They are doing just so great. It was cool, it was bi-lingual service."

He also sent some other pictures and I have missed seeing his great graffiti pictures and his random style. (Lots of graffiti in the Detroit area!)He is a zone leader and just doing great and is lovin' his mission. He was serving with his companion from the MTC and had a fun time with him, he now has a new companion and had to take over all of the "zone leader stuff" as he put it. He made a video awhile back that a member put on youtube, so if one of you great girls out there can teach me how to add that to my blog I would greatly appreciate it. Videos are always good for a laugh, especially when you haven't seen someone in awhile! Sorry I said 'great' like 3 times, I guess it's just a GREAT day!