Flat Stanley goes to Cambodia

Brent's cousin Brandon, isn't he cute, he reminds me of Brad, you can just see the sparkle in his eyes!  He sent Brent Flat Stanley, here are Brent's pictures he sent back to Brandon.

VIP

Grandpa is here to spend a week with us!

Miss Ava

I got to meet my new great-niece Ava Leigh (did I mention she is of course named after me) last night!  She is beautiful, thanks for the wonderful visit Erin and Matt!

I think he was happy for the rain!

Brent and Friend

Brent is dong well in Cambodia, he is still in Battambang where he is a district leader and trainer.  His companion Elder Sin does not speak any English.  I am sure that will be good for Brent's Khmer and for Elder Sin's English.  Brent teaches him English for an hour every morning.  He is recovered from his salmonella and feeling good.
Other family news:  We had a great trip for spring break, the boys skied Eagle Point for one day, I was going to ski the next but they complained so much about the bad snow we just hung out and ate, they snowmobiled and we enjoyed the company of Brian, Sarah and Maddie, and Kev and Ally.
Next up this weekend:  San Dimas Stage Race

Miscellaneous, holiday weekend

 The season is upon us!!  The boys were kinda slow to get back to racing, this was actually their first race of the season, they did Imperial Classic on Saturday.  Both of them raced very well.  This year Imperial Classic wasn't in Imperial, they moved it to Brawley where they did Cattle Call last year, I think it was a good move.

 Valentine's Day was this week, but weeknights are pretty busy at our house, so when Craig asked me what I wanted for our Valentine's date, I rather selfishly said I would love a trip to IKEA, so on Friday I got my belated date.  You just gotta love a man who will suffer through IKEA with you.  I picked out a piece of butcher block that will eventually become the new island counter top.  You have to love him even more 'cause there's going to be a bunch of honey do's in this process!  So we're off to a start, I cleaned the island cabinet base with  TSP substitute, and then read there is a better product called Krud Kutter so Craig went over them a second time with the Krud Kutter.  I was all set to paint the island white and stain the butcher block a dark brown color, but now I'm leaning towards black island, natural beech counter top and the rest of the kitchen cabinets white with black granite, and the floor ohh don't even get me started!!  Tomorrow is primer, and then check back in a few days to see if I did black or white.

This is the butcher block I picked out, it remains to be seen what color it will end up.

Brent's Birthday Card

Happy Birthday son!  We all love and miss you, next year what do you say, birthday celebration at the cabin?  It'll be the best!  I hope you are recovered enough from the salmonella to eat cake!  Enjoy, we are thinking about you.

Kerri's Valentine's day

The bouquet of balloons that Kendall and the boys brought to Kerri's work last night!  They brought her 30 balloons (driving the Walmart employees crazy picking them all out), they also each picked out a bouquet of flowers, a box of chocolates and new pajamas.  They were so proud of it all marching down the hospital hallway.

Roasted Rat

 Brent really doesn't ask for much....

this week he did ask if I could send some mac and cheese

I'll get right on that!

When you are very, very, good......

 and after you have eaten snake and crickets......

look what you can find, even in Cambodia, I am pretty sure the search was worth it!

New Skills in Cambodia

Brent planting rice.  I told him it looked like a lot of fun, what boy of any age doesn't love the mud.  He agreed except for the leeches. (Hey Grammy and Papa do you think Colusa County could use his rice skills?)  He celebrated his one year mark on January 5!!!!  This Friday he will be transferred from Takhmao to Battambang, It's about four hours north of where he is now.  He's pretty excited for the change, but will miss his comp Elder Hall.  In Battambang he will be a district leader, I told him I was pretty sure district leaders would have cell phones so they could call their moms, he said, "haha mom, I've got a cell phone in my pocket right now" so umm I guess no phone calls till Mothers Day......
We love and miss you Brent, I will try to get some Christmas and cabin pictures up for you....

Brent's gift to Benyin

 Brent gave Benyin a white shirt and a tie for Christmas, I'm pretty sure this is the most joy Brent has ever had giving a gift.

Merry Christmas to me, Merry Christmas to me!

Ok, and Merry Christmas to the rest of the family too.  This was our highlight, you just gotta think Skype is the most amazing thing ever!!! I love my Brent, he made us laugh (and cry just a little when we had to say goodbye).  We are sad that he had rice and worm medicine for Christmas dinner :(, but are glad to see his sense of humor is as sharp and witty as ever.  His wittiness will definitely give Brad a good run for his money!

Uncle Brent

The Twins

Tonight is a KJ's dance, Kyle and Riley were out the door when all of a sudden they reappeared in the driveway. "Huh?"  We thought the dance might be lame, we're back for a deck of cards.

A couple Thanksgiving pictures

 Games and pumpkin cookies, yum!

 Uncle Kyle and beautiful Maddie!

 Dad and Bri

Ahh, life will never be boring with these two!!!!

Elder Wright in Cambodia

The work has been going so well in Takhmao that they may have worked themselves out of work!  I think this leaves them with no more investigators.  Actually only six people were baptized, two of the people in the picture were members.  They are working very hard to have the members do the baptisms.

This is so cool, I know that this is a highlight for Brent.  This is Benyin, Benyin is Brent's favorite person, his wife is a member of the church and he was just baptized.  Transfers came and Brent is staying in Takhmao, but Elder Anderson is leaving, I know Brent is disappointed because they got along well and worked hard together, but I'm sure his next comp will be great.

IMAZ 2012 Registration

I'm in!  Whew, talking about jumping through hoops and hurdles just to register, it was an event in itself.  Great weekend with my IronSherpa, amazing how stress free Ironman is when you are just a volunteer.  Loved it!

Gearing up for another Arizona!

369 training days ahead.  Another year of hard work, this time with more perspective.

November 18, 2012

P day in Cambodia

Pday in Cambodia, Takhmao district, note the t-shirts (tk for Takhmao) also note the bikes are painted to color coordinate with their t-shirts.  They were off to Phnom Penh for sports day.  On a more serious note they should have about 5 baptisms before the end of the month including Brent's favorite person Benyin.

Just a Saturday

 Brad, and I'm just a  little proud to say that youtube and I did that great job tying Brad's new bowtie, nope it's not pretied!

Brad and Kyle

I am surely the most boring mom in the world, I love peaceful, uneventful days, yesterday was just one of those days you have to savor!  I did a long run in the morning and then a really great yoga class.  Craig and Brad did a church service project, they drove around picking up bags of donated groceries, Brad loved it 'cause he got to drive and Craig was the runner!  And Kyle...well Kyle got caught up on some sleep. After lunch I took Brad to get some new clothes for the Assisteens dance, he wanted suspenders and a bow tie and he's outgrown his church pants, so some new pants too.  (Hey Grammy and Papa, I'm thinking Brad's looking a lot like Bamp with those suspenders!) The boys went to the dance, Craig and I had jacuzzi night and a date.  The dance was "lame"  too bad, they should have gone to stake dance, at least they had the In 'N Out trailer!!!  But it was a nice Saturday.

Service

Brent in the rice paddies.  Can you see him?

Service in Cambodia, he is moving wet dirt a few blocks, he said it was very heavy, that is a piece of bamboo, ropes and baskets.

Sunset in Takhmao

You know there are just days when I really, really miss the boy, I'm not sure why today in particular, but I miss Brent.

So Cute!

I think this makes Kerri and Kyle famous!

Brent in Cambodia 10/11/11

 Brent's district in Takhmao

 Hey mom and dad I picked up a sweet training bike!  Are we going to do Ironman Arizona 2013 or Ironman St. George 2013?

 This is behind an investigators house.

I'm not sure where this is, I'll ask him next week, maybe the Mekong River?

Hey mom and family and friends,

This week was pretty good. We got to watch general conference and that was way awesome...  Our area is doing good.  Elder Anderson and I are working very hard, but also have set goals to just have fun with it which we are doing. It's still hard but I love my area and my comp so life is just fine. I got a three letters from dad yesterday! Thank you so much for writing me and then you are never going to believe this but the ipod actually came in the mail! I was so happy and it has some really good spiritual music on there thank you so much it only took five months to get here! Lol, but how are things back home? I love you all so much, we should have five baptisms this Sunday so we are excited about that... other than that not much else is new just plugging away till I get to talk to you at Christmas! Love, Elder Wright

Dad's new toy

Dad said he was going to Costco after work last night.  Look what he came home with! 



Junior Team Party

BMc, Riley, Duban,Quint, Brad, Kyle, Jarbs and Brady
We had the the Junior Team Party yesterday.  It was an occasion to try to thank BMc but as usual, he outdoes, outgives everyone!  It is useless to try to thank this man but we just keep trying.  The party was great and we again just want to say thanks to BMc, Joy, and Team Redlands for the support they give to the juniors.

Cambodia Phnom Penh--Brent update 10/4

Brent: Yeah this is me and my favorite investigator of all time his name is Benyin and he is deaf, but he can speak and read but just can't hear so we have to teach by writing on white boards .


So as for me this week it was good and bad... we had some crazy experiences with rain and bike problems and being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no lights and broken bikes and pouring rains and bleeding hands from trying to fix my bike with no tools or light, yeah this just seems to be the state of life here all we could do is try to laugh and say at least we are not living a boring life... but other than that this was still a tough week with the work in the area we are kinda slow right now but we're trying and that's all we can do. I have definitely given up on thinking these are supposed to be the "best two years", but I still believe they will be, and are the best for me even though it is really, really hard all the time. Cambodia is the biggest eye opener life changer that I could imagine and it continues to change my entire way of thinking every day, but I love you all and miss you dearly. Love,  Elder Wright
 
YES!  I love this email, I love seeing my child learn to tackle adversity without being overwhelmed by it.  I love that he is gaining perspective--the thought that these can't possibly be the best two years of his life, but he knows he will probably see the strength that all the rigors have given him when he looks back.  I love that Cambodia has been an eye opener, life changer and has given him a larger view of people, government, poverty and happiness. I love most of all that he wants to give me the biggest hug.
 

Nice Write Up

Team of the future - Redlands Daily Facts  Click on the link for a nice write up on the juniors by The Facts

St. George Marathon 2011

I know, not so great of picture, Kev, Dad and me at the start line and it was still dark.  Good year, hot but we finished.  PR for me though I missed my goal time, maybe next year, I have big plans for lots more training.  (I think I say that every year!)