Especially For Youth 2009

EFY Game Night

Chad and I always try to direct at least one EFY (especially for youth) every summer. We usually opt for one at BYU so we can stay at home. I love EFY and I love BYU. The energy of the two is awesome. The BYU campus is beautiful and I love the mountains that surround it. I love the youth. They are incredible. And I love listening to my husband speak. He is so awesome. (maybe I am biased but seriously he is good) During the week of EFY Chad speaks about 11 times to the youth. My very favorite is Thursday night. Thursday the kids dress up in their church clothes all day. They attend classes (taught by other teachers), then they end the day with a musical program given by them, an awesome fireside (given by Chad) and testimony meetings oh and of course my very favorite part, the EFY medly. This year we had 900 youth in our group.
Seriously it was a blast and such great kids.

Chad was the Session Director of BYU 3B and
Scott Robley was the Director for BYU 3A.
The shirts were not the manliest of colors.
The green was called Algae and the Pink was Hibiscus.

On one of the nights we brought Raegan and Kalli.
They had a blast dancing with the counselors.

My cousin Melanie's daughter Ashley was at our session.

Our good friends the Heslops had their daughter there too.

I am so red faced! It was hot in the ballroom. They combined sessions for the dance so we had over 1600 kids dancing...Talk about stinky, sweaty kids!

Seriously the counselors are so great!

WE LOVE EFY!

Soccer Days

We just finished our soccer season. We had 5 out of our 6 kids playing soccer this year. Some days we had as many as 7 games on one Saturday. It was pretty crazy but the kids loved it. They all played their hearts out and did really good. But I am happy it's over with, for now.
It will be nice to have our Saturdays back for a while.

Here We Go Again!!!

Well if any of you missed it the first time, our Rachael Ray segment will be airing again this Friday, June 5th on the Rachael Ray show.
(Man, that is a big group, look all of those kids! I wonder what Valerie and Rachael would have to say about Chad and Cassie expecting Kerby Kid #7 in December)

Our New Little Buddy!

This is Tumbles, he is six weeks old. He is part Collie (lassie) and part Eskimo. He is the cutest little guy and is well loved at his new home.

Fun with Cousins

My sister Andrea and her kiddos came up to UT from AZ. Last night we took the kids to a park and they had a blast. It's so fun that they are such great friends with their cousins and can just pick right up every time. The weather was absolutely beautiful!!! I love the seasons in UT.

Sydney is always such a poser.

Raegan and Torie

Kymber and Kalli

Max is so dang cute but is always into trouble! He is definitely a handful, but a cute one!

KALLI

Tyler and Sydney on the Monkey Bars.

Andrew was so cool in his awesome glasses!

Sydney and Abbie

MAX

Abbie and Sydney on the Monkey Bars

TYLER

Torie and Sydney

Chad was trying to join in on the fun. If you notice his left leg, he still has on his boot because his leg is still broken. Not very smart, but he had fun!!!

Ellie and Andrew

Kalli and Kymber just chatting and having a great time.

End of the year festivities!!

It's the end of the year so that means, awards, races, dance festivals, parties and unlimited school events almost every day! I think the month of May is busier than the month of December! Any how here are my cute kids doing what they do.

Tyler doing his tribute to America at the dance festival.

Sydney was a dang cute little Mexican Hat Dancer...Ole!!!

The fifth graders were islanders. So the boys learned the "Haka" dance, they were so cute with all of their skinny little arms.

Raegan was the cute little islander in the yellow.

Kalli's grade did Kung Fu fighting. Here she is doing a "power kick"

Next we had the fun run. Which is actually my favorite event of the year. Deep within me I know there is a runner somewhere, who is just dying to get out. Until then I live vicariously through my children. Tyler (in the blue and white stripes) is on the homestretch, he is almost to the finish line!

Kalli was such a trooper! Ran her heart out and never gave up!

Sydney actually took third place for the first graders...Way to go!

Raegan ran the full two laps and came in with a smile, encouraging her friend on! She was told by the principal that if there was an award for fashion that Raegan would take first place! She loved that!!!!

My little Graduate!

Andrew holding his official diploma!

Tonight we had Andrew's preschool graduation. It was really cute. I am going to be sad to see this little guy go to kindergarten. He has been my buddy and is just an easy kid all around. I think I might even cry when it's time for him to go! I know, I am sentimental. He is just such a sweet little guy. Way to go Andrew!!

Andrew and his buddy Isaac.

Another TV Debut

This TV segment was shown today on KSL. They did a special on how Chad was served in the village when he went down to serve the people. They came to our home yesterday and did a few interviews. Well for those of you who would like to enjoy it click on HERE.

The Dentist and the Doctor

All of these women were in line to get their teeth
checked out by our dentist.

Here is the table of supplies that were generously
brought by Brian the Dentist.

One last thought about our expedition. We had a dentist as well as a Physicians Assistant come with us to help with the medical needs of the village. There were over 400 bad teeth pulled by the dentist. They were so amazing to give up their money and time to do this. None of the supplies were donated they all were graciously given by the dentist himself. Seriously we got to associate with some pretty amazing, giving and caring individuals. If you would like to see the news coverage from last night about this work you can click on HERE and check it out!

Finally an end to the trip

The day we left the village was definitely bitter sweet. I was so ready for a bed and a shower but on the other hand I had experienced so many amazing moments and come in contact with some incredible people that the thought of possibly never seeing them again was sad for me. We packed up our tents and Chad got his foot wrapped one last time by his new friend. The villagers were anxious to help in any way. As we were gathering our things they would take our heavy suitcases up the 1/2 mile trail. Chad had to make it up the trail and luckily two villagers helped him up. It was time to leave, the villagers lined the road and waved good bye to us, many had tears in their eyes and so did we. It was wonderful! We then drove the two hours on the bumpy dirt road, transferred to our nice air conditioned bus for another eight hours followed by our armed guards of course. We were headed to Antigua. We arrived at our beautiful hotel, found our rooms, took showers (I so needed one) and then off to dinner. The place we ate for dinner was a steak house about a mile from our hotel. One of the guys in our group offered to find us a "toot toot" which is a little car like thing that fits two maybe three people behind a motor cycle thing. Chad being impatient started to walk, he said "lets just start walking until we find one" he only took one of his man made crutches with him as we walked on these uneven cobblestone streets. Well we never did find a "toot toot" that night so Chad walked the entire mile on his broken leg. On the way back from the restaurant we did find one.

Tiare and myself in a "Toot Toot"

That night his leg and foot were swollen huge. The next morning we woke up early, we were used to waking up early with the noisy jungle, so we decided to head to breakfast. The restaurant was fairly empty besides one other table, so we decided to sit near it. As Chad was getting ready to sit a man came up to him that was seated at the other table and asked what is going on with your leg??? Chad told him the story and then told him that he was planning on going shopping that day with me and then we would be heading home on a plane the next morning to see our six kids. The man replied "oh no your not, you might be dead tomorrow!" Excuse me? What? This freaked me out somewhat. Well come to find out this man was a doctor from Georgia, USA! He immediately handed Chad a bottle of Aspirin and told him to start taking it so he could begin thinning his blood, this doctor was concerned with blood clots. Then this doctor left his breakfast as well as the company at his table and made a few phone calls. He came back and told Chad that he knew a surgeon at the Guatemala city hospital and that he made Chad an appointment for that day to get an ultrasound as well as x-rays on his leg. If they found one blood clot Chad would be required to stay in that hospital in Guatemala City for at least six more days. At this point I am bawling like a baby. I was scared to death, all I wanted to do was go home and be with my kids and my family! Well Chad took off with an interpreter to Guatemala City (about 2 hours away) for the entire day. Shopping in Antigua

I on the other hand went shopping with some of the friends in the group and was basically their "third wheel" but they were nice and let me tag along! Finally that night I got word from Chad that his leg was severly broken but no blood clots, we were good to fly home and have surgery in America (they wanted to do surgery on his leg right then and he said NO I want to go home!) What a trip! Seriously what amazing experiences we were blessed to have, I mean what are the chances of an American doctor sitting at the table next to us, knowing a surgeon from the area. We kept feeling blessing after blessing this entire trip. We were told that this experience would change our lives forever but I had no idea to what extent. I will be forever grateful for the blessings we experienced every leg of this expedition. Chad truly works for the best company that really has a big heart! What a choice opportunity! I hope that someday my children will be able to experience even a small piece of what we were able to see and do.The Service Expeditioners from Beneficial Financial Group

Guatemala part 4, Last day in the Village

Sorry friends I know I am dragging this Guatemala trip way out but I have been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to update. But for my own journal I need to finish documenting our trip.

We went to this village to serve but in return we were served. Here is a villager wrapping Chad's leg with a medicinal leaf he found deep in the jungle. He boiled salt water and then added the leaves to make a paste. He kept Chad's foot rewrapped with this stuff every 12 hours. It was amazing, wherever the leaves were there was no bruising. This man had eight children and road his bike for 2 hours to come and help with construction in the village. His daily wage was about $7.00 US.

This friend of ours insisted on rubbing Chad's bruise to help with circulation, It hurt pretty bad.

A lady from the village teaching us how to make
corn tortillas in her home.

My turn to make the tortillas, I had the kids in the house cracking up, apparently I am NOT a good tortilla maker.

April 22: This day was the last full work day. This day we worked on building the gardens as well as the latrenes. We were able to start another one and also help complete the fence around each one to keep the pigs and the chickens out. We also had the opportunity to go into some of the villagers homes and see how they live. I learned how to make corn tortillas (hard work and let me just say I am ok not eating a corn tortilla for quite a while, we had them for breakfast, lunch and dinner)

While I was taking a break Carol Miketa, she is a news anchor for KSL news here in Salt Lake, her and her camera man Bob came along to film the Expedition for a documentary that will be airing in between the Sunday conferences in October. Any how she came to me and wanted me to go with her, Bob and two interpreters to see a lady in the village who had a brand new baby the day that we arrived. We had a new born humanitarian kit with us to give to the new mom. You know the kits that we have all made in Relief Society that get shipped off to where ever. This was way cool because I had the opportunity to see it full circle. To be able to present this sweet lady a newborn kit made by some women in Relief Society. So we went into her little home, dirt floors, wood walls, tin roof, no door. There was a small sheet hanging from the ceiling and behind the sheet was a small fire on the floor next to a small wood bed. The mother and the sweet little newborn sat on the bed. I told her what a beautiful baby she had been blessed with and asked how she was doing, this was all with the help from two interpreters one of them translating my english into spanish and then another translator translating his spanish into Catche (the mayon language of the village). She told me that the baby did not have a name yet. I began telling her what was in the newborn kit and that it was for her. She was very appreciative. In fact she asked what my name was, I told her it was Cassie and she wanted to know my full name, which is Casandra. She then turned to her interpretor and told him that her new baby girl would be named Casandra. OH MY HECK!! What an honor. I could barely hold the tears back at this point. What an amazing experience I was blessed to have. I was so touched by her sweetness and appreciation for a baby blanket, bars of soap, cloth diapers and pins and a onsie. Wow what we take for granted.

This village lady and her three day old baby named Casandra. Here she is accepting the Humanitarian kit from me on behalf of the LDS church.

These people have so little but yet they are not poor. You can see her sweet baby girl wrapped in the blankets behind her.

We ended the day with a celebration and another dedication of the light bulb that now worked in the school because of the Solar Panels that were installed. The villagers presented us with cards made by the children of the village and we had a lot of singing and dancing. It was a bitter sweet night for us, oh how we were going to miss these people who have touched our lives forever but how happy we were to have helped and served and learn from these same people.

Our TV Debut

We were spotlighted on our 10:00 news last night. They showed our Guatemala trip. If you want to see for yourself check it out HERE.

Guatemala continued part 3

April 21st: This was another full work day, though a little different. This day we worked all day on building a garden. It was HARD work. The ground is tightly weaved with grasses and long, thick roots. We were digging with picks and shovels for a long time before we were even able to break through. The people there use Machetes for everything. They cut grass, trees and even break up dirt clods with their machetes. It was such a cool learning experience to see them do things with hardly any tools at all. We have a separate tool for every different type of job we do. They can still get the job done without all of the extra stuff we think we need.

Some of the garden crew with the machetes.

Chad just mainly hung around the village this day. He tried to keep "propped up" as much as possible. These ladies giggled every time Chad walked past them.

The Garden Crew

Chad and I made some great friends there. This is Rich Pinto and Tiare from Hawaii. I had either a bandanna or a hat on everyday, the kids in the village had lice so I was very careful to always keep my head covered even if I looked like a Goof!

The News Article

Check out this article that was printed on the front page of the Deseret News on Sunday about our Guatemala trip. Go HERE to read all about it. Chad and I are each quoted.