Mother's Day 2010

It was so fun to see Deric on Mother's Day. We were able to use Skype to talk to him. We chatted for nearly 2 hours. He was in an internet cafe in Dos Caminos, Honduras and we were in Las Vegas. He had a webcam and headphones, so he could see us and hear us. He didn't have a microphone, so we couldn't hear him. He had to type his end of the conversation but it was good to see him anyway. We took some pictures of him while we were on. I can't get them to upload right now so I will have to try again later.

There were emergency transfers because of a problem in another area last Saturday (May 15). Deric wasn't transferred, but he has a new companion. His name is Elder Alcantara and he is from Honduras. He is two months into his mission.

Deric did say in his last few letters that they are working hard and teaching some good people. He is in a branch right now and they are trying to get enough priesthood holders that they can be made a ward and qualify for a meetinghouse. Right now, they meet outside in the heat most of the time. Deric says it is hard to teach when another class is going on less than 25 feet away, but they make do. Sometimes, they have power outages and then there aren't any fans to keep them cool. Deric also said that because of the heat and humidity, they take two showers a day when they can.

Deric is coming up on his "hump" day (the halfway point of his mission) on June 24. I am working on a package to send but I won't tell what is going in it because he gets to read the family blog and I want it to be a surprise.

Felycia is back at school. She finished her first week of the summer term at Dixie. She is in an apartment now with a kitchen. She loves having a refrigerator and a freezer. She can make her own sandwiches whenever she wants to. She has milk and cereal and some frozen stuff we bought for her when we took her up. Now she is learning how to shop for food and finding out that she really didn't cook much at home. That will change. We are going to let her do lots of the cooking when she comes to visit so she will be more comfortable at school.

I ran into the mother of one of Felycia's friends from high school. She was glad to hear that Felycia is at school because her daughter is too. That way, they can e-mail and call and neither one of them is home and having fun for the summer.

We were at a baptism last night and we have another one this morning before a full day of the Stake Humanitarian project. Soccer is this afternoon. At least the calendar is blank for tonight. Conrad is making dinner (his own creation from a recipe in Food Network Magazine). He made it while I was in Houston and he said it was really good. Should be fun.

I will try to get those photos of Deric up in my next post.

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had time to update. Well, I'm going to give a newsy update on the Larkin Family.

Conrad has been asked to be on a committee for the Varsity/Venturing scout camp this summer. That is keeping him busy right now along with still being in the bishopric. It has been about 7 years straight now. We had some bad news at the beginning of April. Conrad was informed that his position with the City of North Las Vegas was going to be eliminated in June. He was able to take a different position so he will still have a job. It will be a big pay cut, but we will manage just fine.

I have just returned home from 2 weeks in Houston. My sister, Cristi, and her husband took their turn to visit Mom and Dad in Kenya and I went to babysit the 4 kids. I forgot how much work it is to have small children. I guess there's a reason we have children when we are young. We have more energy and fewer aches and pains. I'm glad I went and was able to spend the time with Kayla, Henry, Jack, and Brinley. I got home 2 days ago and I miss the kids already.

Deric is in his second area and doing well. I didn't get to chat with him on Monday because I was at the airport in Houston picking up Cristi and Lars after their trip. I am very excited, though, because Sunday is Mother's Day and that means a missionary call. I hope we will get to use Skype again. I like seeing Deric so I know he is healthy and happy.

Felycia took her last final of the semester this afternoon. She will be home tomorrow evening. We go back up to St. George on Monday to move from one dorm to another for her summer semester. Then, it's back to Vegas on Tuesday so we can get our toes done. Then, back to Utah on Friday to a wedding. Lots of miles on the cars but worth it all.

I have girls' camp coming up in June and we are in full swing of planning it. It should be lots of fun. I am working with Level 2. Those are the girls who will be in 7th grade in the fall. Great kids but they sure are loud. Especially when there are 20 of them in one room.

I will try to be better about updating from now on.

Deric's First Transfer

Deric got his first transfer on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. He moved about 10 miles. He is basically as far south from San Pedro Sula as he used to be east of it. He is now working in a small branch. 70 people for sacrament meeting is huge because they meet in a home most of the time. When that many people show up, they have to meet outside and Deric says it is really hot when the fans quit working.

The 24th of the month seems to be a theme for his mission.

June 24th - entered MTC
August 24th - arrived in Honduras
March 24th - first transfer

I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes on the 24th of each month.

More Gardening

We really want the boys in our ward to earn money for Scout Camps this summer. We have been offering repeatedly to pay them if they will come and work in our yard. So far, 2 boys have been to our house for a total of about 5 hours. That's not much when you consider that there are probably close to 15 boys going to camp. Between Conrad and I, we are pretty much keeping up with most of the weeds.

I put in some strawberries last week. I think we might have a few ready by the end of this week. They don't come close to comparing to the ones we bought at Walmart on Saturday. One strawberry was nearly 3 inches in length. It was huge. In about 1 pound, there were only 10 berries. Huge, sweet and juicy...