Jared is in the Philippines

Jared called us Monday night from the LA airport on his way to the Philippines. We didn't get to see him at the airport because they don't allow that anymore, so we just got to talk on the phone. It was so good to hear from him and he even spoke Cebuano ... it sounded like gibberish to us but he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He said he was only a little nervous but was really excited. He flew from SLC to LA where they had a 5 hour layover, then on to Taiwan where they had another long layover, and then to Manilla, and then to Tacloban. I think he said it was going to take about 2 days to get there. So now he's there and I wish we could call him and see what it's like. I guess we'll have to wait for the next email from him. He would love to hear from everyone and anyone. His email address is jared.powell.tacloban@myldsmail.net and his mailing addresses are as follows:

Elder Jared David Powell, Philippines Tacloban Mission, POB 30150, Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

That is the "pouch" and is best for all letters.

Packages should be sent to:

Elder Jared David Powell, Philippines Tacloban Mission, 511 Maharlika Hwy, Fatima Vlg. Tacloban City, 6500 Leyte, Philippines

Just so you know, US Mail is really the only affordable way to go but anything of value will probably disappear once it reaches the Philippines. I guess they like to go through the mail and take whatever looks good. I think he would mostly enjoy letters.

He sent me his memory card from his camera and I sent him a new empty one. It was fun to see all his pictures from the MTC. Below are just a few of Jared.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone! I am thankful for EVERYTHING... I just have too many blessings to even begin to list.

Last week I took the kids to Thanksgiving Point to the Dinosaur Museum. We saw the 3D movie about the ocean and it was very cool. It's amazing how they can do that so you feel like the fish are right in front of your face and you want to just reach out and grab them. We also spent some time playing in the sand which is always fun.
Pardon the picture quality on this post.... these are all pictures taken on my phone.



Last Friday, David and I kidnapped the kids and took them to Park City to spend the night. We told them we were going out to dinner and we did do that. It was yummy and we found a Cold Stone that was going out of business so everything was 50% off. At 50% off I thought the prices were just getting reasonable. After we ate, instead of driving home, we drove to the condo. in Park City. Adam was so excited he started jumping up and down in the car and banged his head on the roof. Needless to say, we had a great time. We went swimming (yes, it was 25 degrees outside but the pool was warm and steaming and the hot tub was awesome). We played games, ate popcorn, and watched a movie. In the morning when we woke up, it was SNOWING! It really was beautiful. I made breakfast for everyone and then we packed up and headed home. This is kind of what we could see out our window. It looked way prettier than it does in the picture.


Last night for FHE we went to the Gingerbread House Festival at Thanksgiving Point sponsored by the Boy Scouts. It was so fun and amazing to see the creativity. We saw everything from "Huts in Tahiti" to "Hagrid's House". I included a few pictures plus some of the prize winners.






This won 1st place. Isn't it just amazing?

Halloween at the Powells

We carved a few pumpkins - about 6 of them - then we prepared for trick-or-treating. Tanner was Luigi, Rachel was a bee, Rebecca was a monkey, and Adam was Batman. Joshua was a scary monster at the neighbor's haunted house. Everyone had a great time. Each kid went out with a group of friends. Even Adam was with his big group of friends but he didn't last long because he got tired and came back home. The candy take was ridiculous. We're going to have candy for 2 years or else we'll have no teeth in a few months.

Rachel did this pumpkin.

Josh did the witch pumpkin with the monster peeking through the blinds on the side of it.

I am now in charge of activity days for the 8 and 9-year-old girls. Last week we decorated pumpkins with long pins and beads. It was really fun. Here are a few of the pumpkins that were decorated.