Elder Stewart?

So life has been pretty eventful for The Stewart family the last several weeks! So much has been going on and I'm so far behind in blogging that I will have to do a little every day to catch up. First of all- Hunter put his papers in for his mission while he was still at BYU finishing up the semester. His mission call was suppose to arrive the day before we were all meeting in Hawaii (more on that trip to come). So he had it sent to Jennifer's (Rich's sister) house in case it didn't make it before he had to leave. Well, it came so she and her kids drove it down to his dorm so he could open it before he left. (She is so AWESOME!)

He has it in his hands. . . . .

He called us on skype and had a dorm room full of friends and family (Bree was there, too) . . . .

He is reading it . . . . .

. . . and he is called to serve in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission!! (That's in Africa, in case you are like me and had to look it up) He is to report to the MTC (missionary training center) in Ghana on August 6th, 2011! I think he was pretty freaked out at first, but probably not any more freaked out than his Mom :)!

We are all getting used to the idea now and so, so, so PROUD of Hunter and his decision to serve a mission for our church! We will miss him, but we know that's where the Lord wants him to be and he will be an awesome missionary. His second mother (Jennifer) brought him this Oreo cake (his favorite :)) for the big day- thanks Jen, did I mention how great you are?!

Roller Girls!

A couple weeks ago I went with my friend Tanya to see our friend Christi (aka "Holy Stitch") skate in the Roller Derby! We had quite the experience at our first bout! We sat in the "crash zone" for the second half and had a great view of all the pushing, shoving and general mayhem. The Acadiana Roller Girls won and we will definitely make a return visit to cheer them on!!

Weekend Getaway

Rich gave me a weekend getaway/shopping trip to Houston for Christmas and I finally decided to cash in on my present! We went a few weeks ago and stayed at a very nice hotel with (fake) champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting in the room! DELICIOUS! Also delicious was all the food we consumed while there. We shopped all day and watched movies all night-what a fun and relaxing treat:) Thanks Rich!! XOXOXO

Outstanding Player

We went to Savannah's high school Soccer Banquet last Wednesday night where she was honored with three awards! She played on both JV and Varsity teams this season so she lettered, her teammates voted her Outstanding Offensive JV Player and her JV Coach gave her the Coach's Award for Outstanding JV Player! Here she is with her friend Amberly who also won a couple awards. They have played soccer together on a club team since they were little. We're so proud of her :)

Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo!

I am so blessed to be able to work with the youth in our church! There is no other place I would rather be- probably because most of the time I act about their age :) We got to take the youth from our stake on an awesome trip to Nauvoo, Illinois to learn about the early saints and plenty of church history. Because I'm a stake leader, we had the "pleasure" of making the menu and purchasing all the food for 60 people. This was no easy task for someone like me that doesn't even like to cook for 3! But my friend Claudia (who is my 2nd counselor in the stake YW presidency) and I drove ourselves up a day early and ended up with 5 heaping shopping carts full of food. I know we looked hilarious and this is the back of her car STUFFED to the top! The closest Walmart is 30 minutes away from where we stayed so we did two trips that day so we wouldn't have to go back.

This picture was taken in Carthage, IL outside of the jail where Joseph Smith (prophet and president of our church in the 1800's) was being held and was killed by a mob of nasty men. These were all the leaders and youth that went on the trip from my ward.

Me, Amy Kemp (my secretary) and Claudia in front of the Mississippi River where the early members of the church had to cross when forced out of their city, Nauvoo.

Some good times back in our condo as we had a lettuce food fight while making sack lunch sandwiches for the youth :) We picked on the Young Men leaders the whole time! (I told you I act like a teenager) Seriously, the trip was so awesome- we had tons of fun, but left with such a great appreciaton for the early saints and what they went through so that we could have the gospel of Jesus Christ today. This group of youth are the best I have ever been with and just behaved so well and have great spirits about them! With all the temptations that are in the world today, it's great to see young people with high standards who know who they are and stand for what is right! It just makes me smile :)

This one's for Wayne

We know we're a little late blogging about the Super Bowl, but we had to add this picture for Wayne, my Step Father, because he is a cheesehead! And we did actually watch the game and root for Green Bay sporting our Wisconsin souvenir :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

This is what I woke up to yesterday on my mirror in the bathroom :)

Savannah made these delicious heart shaped sugar cookies :)

We had our annual "red" dinner to celebrate the day. This year it was cheese tortellini covered with a red marinara sauce, raspberry jello with redi whip, salad (with that purplish weed-like lettuce junk) with craisins and raspberry vinagrette dressing, chocolate dipped strawberries and red gatorade. (I know, the red gatorade is so classy and romantic- but that's the way we roll)!

And lastly, I must include a picture of my favorite valentine's gift- someone thinks I rock!!!! Hope your Valentine's day rocked :)