Waiting to Exhale...

Today marks a week since the last Busico entered the MTC. Matt can finally stop holding his breath because I think both Nick and Luke will survive their time in the MTC and be flying out to their respective missions without making a detour to home : ) They were able to experience a couple of tender mercies from the Lord to help make their transition to mission life more comforting.

Many of you know that Matt likes to make special arrangements for people - this is especially great when traveling with him because there are all sorts of special perks and upgrades he somehow arranges. So when it came time for Matt and I to take Nick to the temple two weeks ago, Matt decided it would be especially wonderful if Nick could go to the Provo Temple so that Luke could be in the session with him (Luke has been at the MTC in Provo for a month). Matt contacted the MTC president, explaining that Nick would not be having any family members with him in the temple and it would mean much to the twins if they could be together for this occasion. Voila!
Of course, it was a wonderful experience - except that the temple workers kept saying that I was the mom of the missionary. This pleased neither me nor Nick. As it turned out, the twins' cousin, Micah, was also able to be at the temple with us, too. He had just returned from his mission the week before. Micah is a great kid and I think it was wonderful for the boys to talk to someone newly off their mission. I loved watching the three of them together - I've never seen the twins smile this much, especially for the camera.
When Nick first received his mission call to Brazil he was told that he would be going to the MTC in Brazil. Nick was not happy about 1) going straight to Brazil w/o MTC training and 2) that he wouldn't get to be in the MTC with Luke. Another miracle for the boys...just a few days before going to the MTC Nick was informed that his visa to Brazil has not arrived as yet, and therefore he would be going to the MTC in Provo until the visa problem was remedied. Wow! This was further proof that God does indeed care about our seemingly trivial cares and preferences.

Matt went to the MTC for the third time with the Busicos last week, this time to say goodbye to Nick. While he was there he also arranged with MTC workers for Luke to get out of class so that his family could see him one last time before they all said goodbye to Nick.
The twins are now living on the same floor at the MTC and , I'm guessing, seeing each other enough to help them stay happy and smiley (well, as smiley as Busicos get : ). Yee-Ha!!

Eliza Scout turns 12 Years Old

Scout turned 12 years old today. And that means that...I am getting older!
For those of you who know Scouty, you know what a wonderful person she is (wait, how did she end up being stuck with such sub-wonderful parents : )

I just love surprises - both giving and receiving. So I was excited when Matt and I decided to surprise Scout with a trip to NYC for her birthday. It was kind of a surprise for me too, because we only thought of this a few days ago so I had to make changes to my schedule. Scout didn't know about the trip until I picked her up from school on Tuesday and told her that she had less than an hour to pack her bag before we went to the airport. I didn't even tell her where we were going until we were in the car and I let her friend, Eleanor, who is on the trip with us, tell her.
Bummer - but I left my camera cord at home so I can't upload the photos from today to my laptop. But, I think that Scout thought it was pretty cool to spend her birthday eating at Norma's (best breakfast place, ever), wandering FAO Schwarz and seeing South Pacific at the Lincoln Center. She and Eleanor weren't so hip on spending lunch with two of my college roomates, but I sure loved seeing Erin and Robbie after 16 years. We'll see what tomorrow brings because I haven't had time to plan anything.

Happy Birthday, Matt!!

The Sweetest Valentine

Matt has always been excellent with Valentine's Day thoughtfulness. On our first Valentine's day he gave me the black harness biker boots that I wear all the time - confirmation that we would indeed make it through our first year of marriage : ) But a couple of years ago he started giving me the best Valentine's gift ever. Well, it isn't really a gift FOR me, but nothing could mean more. Matt always gets flowers for his three daughters for Valentine's Day! It is usually accompanied by a note listing the things he loves about them and always given with much love, leaving no doubt about how much this dad loves his girls.

I'm hoping this will be arsenal for the teen years, when Scout or Greta or Lily are dating some wild kid, I can say with confidence (as I heard my friend Bryan Fong say to his daughter): You don't need the attention of some dumb boy; you get enough love at home!!!

Grand Targhee 2009

We arrived home from Grand Targhee two weeks ago,
but we're still dreaming about the powder.

We started the trip with a stop in Idaho Falls to visit our great friends (never mind that we haven't seen them in about 7 years) - the Wildings. It was wonderful to see Dave and Emily again, along with their four boys. I'm thinking there's going to have to be some matchmaking going on between the two families. I kept wanting to kidnap little Ridge and take him home to the Asay house.

The next morning we were so happy to be at Grand Targhee again!

Greta and Lily were happy to go to Kids Care

- but not as happy as Matt and I were to have them there.
Scouty and I were so happy as we headed up to our favorite run - Lost Warrior.

Actually, Isaac was quite happy to sit in the lodge and eat muffins all morning long by himself :)

I'm trying to find a way and a time to get back to Targhee before the season ends, but until then I well content myself with watching the great video Matt put together.

Asays - Grand Targhee 2009 from Jen Asay