Three BUSY weeks

We have just finished 3 very busy weeks. Our son Chad & his wife Michelle & their 3 children- Landon-7, Sydney-5, and Keely-2 came from Buena Vista Virginia to visit! It was wonderful!! Exhausting, but wonderful! ha! The first week went something like this: We had to go play at "Castle" park - or so the kids call it. It's actually called Discovery Park - but the wooden buildings and play structures & walls make it look like Castles from the road.

Next we drove about 2 hours south to go the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, UT.

Our friends Gene & Judy Holloway live there. They invited us to come & see the pageant & spend the night. First we went to their Stake Center where we enjoyed a fabulous BBQ turkey dinner. (Their stake & city sell dinners to earn money and it is especially nice since there really aren't very many places to eat in Manti ) Then we went over to the bottom of temple hill to wait for dark when the pagaent begins.

They set up 14,500 chairs on the temple lawn for viewers to sit. Landon had become sick on the ride down, so Michelle & he stayed at the Holloway's house. The kids got to have their picture taken with a couple of the cast members (all volunteers - about 600) as they moved thru the audience before the play started. The play starts about 9:30pm when it is finally dark. The whole play takes place on the side of the hill. Those cast members run up & down & side to side of that hill for almost 2 hours. Whew! Then Moroni comes and stands on the topmost steeple of the temple. (awe-inspiring, but a little scarry too!)Thank heavens for Gene & Judy letting us stay at their new home. You don't get out of the play & back to your car until almost 11:45 - so it was nice not to have to brave all that traffic at midnight & drive 2 hrs. back home. Thanks Gene & Judy for a great time! We LOVED your new home!
Of course, for our next big adventure we HAD to go see the movie CARS 2 ! We loved it! Then hit the local Chuck-a-Rama for dinner.
Back at home the next day the kids helped us organize our toy play area. And then, of course, we had to get dressed up and play the Pirate Princesses!

But the biggest & BEST time we had was at dinner one night. Keely, who is the youngest in the family had a big message. Mom asked her... "Keely, have you shown Nana & Papa your shirt?
Yep, Michelle is pregnant with baby # 4 - due in February - which is when Michelle, Landon, & Sydney all have their birthdays as well! Not to mention we're throwing Valentines Day in there too! ha! We are all thrilled for you- Chad & Michelle. All the kids are hoping for a boy, since that will keep the numbers even... It will be # 13 grandchild for us! WAHOO!!!

We LOVE WEDDINGS !

On June 17, we took a quick trip to Newport Beach, CA. One of our wonderful family friends -Dean & Debbie Brown from Antioch, CA - invited us to attend the temple wedding of their first son- Danny. Since we'd never been to the Newport Beach temple, and missing our friends so much, we decided to make a quick 3 day trip!
This is a beautiful temple! Quite different than many others. It resembles an old Spanish mission! Of course, set in the beautiful hills & close to Newport Beach & the Pacific Ocean, it is even MORE wonderful... if that's possible.
On Friday night we all ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. My friend, Debbie Davis had made this cute "menu" to introduce everyone to each other. Instead of menu options, it had individual people and a little bio about them. The "Special of the Day" is clipped on & it was a picture of Danny & Megan eating the same string of spaghetti - like in Lady & The Tramp. So cute!!! This is the happy Brown Family - left to right, Matt, Austin, Michael, Dean & Debbie. (minus Danny, of course, who had begun his own new family.) It was a wonderful sealing and we got to visit with many old friends. That night they had a fantastic reception -aboard a yacht which sailed up & down Newport Beach as we ate & enjoyed a program. Of course.... I forgot the camera - so you'll just have to take my word for it - It was fabulous! Thanks Dan & Megan for inviting us to share in your wonderful day!

It is official !!

While these are old name tags... it won't be long until we have our own ! Yes, we received our mission call! We received it on Wed. June 1 - Misty's birthday! But, because we wanted all of our children & their families to watch us open it, we waited until Friday night- June 3.
Misty found this wonderful web site called Web Ex that allowed all six of us to be online at the same time - with audio and video! And since none of our children were actually at our home to watch, we invited some of our ward family to be there. Our bishop and his family (in the tie), Kraig Moll (red shirt), and some ward friends Jodee and Gary Matsuda (sitting on couch) - Barbara Veatch (Roger's sister) far right.
Our home teacher Lew & his wife Dorothy Edwards (she's sitting- he is up front), other home teacher in back- Gene Gibbons, and Grandma Mahaffey on the love seat. (Sheri Spencer, our friend who lived in Antioch years ago, but now lives in our ward was taking the pictures for me) Then, so that SOME people would KNOW that we hadn't already opened our call (you know who you are....) I used a letter opener to open it in front of everyone! Then Roger read the call to everyone... "Elder and Sister Mahaffey.... you are called to serve in the ..........Canada Montreal Mission. Your primary assignment is to labor with the Center for Young Adults. You will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Monday, August 8, 2011. " (which, coincidentally, is the birthdate of Roger's father who passed away 6 years ago.)Then, our good friend Sheri Spencer gave us our first CARE PACKAGE!!! Along with a photo of their family so we can have some decoration in our apartment ! ha! Thanks my friend! Please take note, all who read here... Elder & Sister Mahaffey will gratefully accept all care packages. And since we will be in Canada, there is a very good likelihood of them arriving totally entact! We are very excited, humbled, and more than a little nervous! But it's wonderful to know that because we will be on the Lord's errand, he will bless us and our family & friends who lovingly support us! We love you all !

Quick trip to Calif.

Over Memorial Day weekend we made a quick trip to California to be there for Misty's birthday, which is June 1. We flew into Oakland airport and then went to her home in Redwood City. Since we had time to kill before going back to Oakland for the A's game that night, Misty had a few things for her dad to help fix, like over-grown bushes & falling down fences.
But Dad loves to have projects to do... can't stand just sitting around...so he was happy! Then we went back to Oakland that night for the A's baseball game. We met Layne & Aaron and the kids there. Plus there were fireworks after the game. This was our view from the bleachers:
It was a little nippy, as you can tell. But the A's won the game - so that was fun! Plus the fireworks were great. You get out of your seats & go down onto the infield & sit & watch.
The Kreys came back to Misty's house & spent the night & we all went to Misty's ward on Sunday. Then we had a wonderful dinner of "Fred Steak" (a wonderful, marinated steak sold only at a meat store in Palo Alto). Since we were celebrating both Misty's birthday on June 1 and Zach's birthday on June 4 - we decided against a cake & went with a Shark Watermelon desert.

We had fun carving it and then blowing out the little squiggely candles.

Zach's BYU shirt - present from Nana & Papa
Misty has a picture in her kitchen of she & Mason & Zach all laying on their tummies & looking into the camera. It was taken many years ago. So, we decided we needed to update the picture so we could add Arie. Monday was Memorial Day and the Oakland Temple has decided to stay open on Memorial Day and Labor Day for baptisms and endowments only. So, Misty & Mom & Dad all went. It was wonderful to be there again. We even saw several friends! Then we went home to Redwood City and went to see a movie - Kung Foo Panda 2 ! ha! Tuesday we got in the car and drove about 3 1/2 hrs. south to San Simeon and went to tour Heart Castle. You drive into a main area & decide among the 4 different tours. We chose the one for first-time visitors which includes a movie about the building of Hearst Castle. Then you board a bus and it takes you up a winding hill to the actual compound. There are three guest houses - that would be elegant even for the main house...
A magnificent outdoor pool that reminds you of some Roman plaza with outdoor baths:And just when you think you've been overwhelmed enough... THEN you get to the main home- La Casa Grande, with it's two bell towers and a front door that would intimidate anyone entering!
The tour only takes you through the main floor of this home, but I was so overwhelmed with all of the artifacts inside, that I totally forgot to take pictures. Until we got to the gold-encrusted indoor pool that is under the tennis courts.

I can't believe that we lived in California for 27 years and never went to see this incredible place! It was wonderful!! I can't even imagine having that much money. And the REALLY amazing part is that this wasn't even his largest place!! Apparently he had an estate in Ireland and an even bigger estate in Mexico and then 30 smaller homes around the country! SHEESH! Anyway, if you ever get the chance - this tour is worth it! Our final day was on Wednesday - which was Misty's actual birthday. We went to breakfast at her favorite place - Country Kitchen in Mountain View- and feasted on the largest French Toast with Carmel sauce you've ever seen. Then we went over to Stanford & got a tour of the campus including the beautiful Memorial Church - a landmark in itself.

Thank you Misty for letting us enjoy a wonderful birthday of YOURS!!! We had such a great time... and getting to visit with Misty for an extended period of time wasn't bad either. I mean just on the drive down to Hearst Castle - we had her all to ourselves for almost 7 hours! Happy Brithday sweetie! We love you!