40th Anniversary Cruise

A few days after our Utah trip, we hit the high seas for a very relaxing 40th wedding anniversary cruise. We sailed in April, a week before Easter. 

                       

                            

Previously, we had taken two cruises with Royal Caribbean. This time we cruised with Princess, on a smaller ship. We weren't disappointed. The other retired couples we dined with each night were so great! We loved being with them, and felt like old friends at the end of the week.

We even ran into our nephew Matt and his girlfriend Leslie, who were on the same cruise as us!

We saw the typical Caribbean cruise sights -- colorful Mexican markets, ancient Mayan ruins, turquoise seas. 

                          

Carl insisted on buying me a new diamond wedding ring set while we were the Caribbean. I was perfectly content with the Walmart cubic zirconia that replaced the engagement ring diamond I lost a few years ago. Here is my 40th anniversary gift that we got at a price we were able to bargain for at Diamonds International.

                               

What a sweet husband I have! I'm glad he talked me into getting this -- good to go for another 40 years of marriage!

Sweet girl

During the summer, Lauren and Dan and their six children continued living in our home, while house hunting. I cherish all the little everyday moments, like these. Lorelei would always come downstairs in some sort of costume. 

First missionary reunion!

When we went out for Emmett's blessing in late March, the timing was perfect. We attended our first New York Rochester Mission reunion. It was such a joy to be with our dear President and Sister Christianson again, and so many of the missionaries we served with.

                          

Remington Peck (Elder Peck) is now  married and is one of  BYU's  star football players.

This is one of our Brockport "daughters", Sister Torres (Diana) who lived in the same apartment complex as we did.

Here is one of our Brockport "sons", Elder Hulse (Dan) and his wife.

At the reunion, Carl and I surprised Jack and Melanie Christianson with a photo book I put together with memories from the 18 months we served with them.

Here's another Brockport "daughter". Sister Butters (Whitney, who is a journalist for the Deseret News, and is now engaged to the young man next to her.

Another Brockport "daughter", Sister Gillespie (Julia), along with Elder and Sister Willyerd. The Willyerds were on the mission office staff with us.

Elder and Sister Servoss also served on the office staff with us.  

There were so many other senior and junior missionaries whom we love, but didn't get the chance to get a photo of.  It was a taste of heaven being at the reunion. 

Another perk of our visit to Utah was attending two sessions of April General Conference in the Conference Center. It was a first for the both of us, although I attended in the Tabernacle many years ago when David O. McKay was prophet of the Church. 

At the Saturday afternoon session, we happened to sit on the same row as the Bergeson family, our old friends who are in our home ward in Friendswood, Texas.

After the Saturday session, we wandered over to the Deseret Bookstore where well known LDS writer/motivational speaker, John Byetheway was having a book signing.

We were delighted to run into a few more of our New York Rochester returned missionaries in the mall following the book signing. Prefect ending to a perfect day'

Quite a weekend!

On Saturday, March 29, sweet Avery Elizabeth, who turned eight earlier in the month, was baptized by her Daddy, Dan.

Here's a row of Avery's pretty little cousins, who came to share in this special event. Ava, in the middle (between Laila and Dahlia) will be the next grandchild who will be baptized.

After enjoying a delicious post baptism luncheon, Carl and I headed for the airport to attend Emmett's baby blessing in Utah. We decided to try our luck flying standby -- an almost free trip  to Salt Lake City, courtesy of Philip, who works for an airline. It was a very tense afternoon and evening of waiting for our names to be called out from the standby list. All of our flights were packed. We didn't get on the first flight out of Houston to Dallas, but made it on the second. Once we got to Dallas, we were on the bottom of the standby list. The final flight of the evening to Salt Lake was overbooked. We were resigned to spending the night at the airport hotel, when our names were called out at the very last moment. We even got to sit next to each other, thanks to two last minute "no-shows". We were overjoyed to finally be on our way to meet our new grandson for the very first time.

We discovered what a happy little guy Emmett Andrew is. He was a week shy of turning 3 months old.

Emmett was blessed on March 30, in the same chapel and ward in Mount Pleasant, Utah, that his Mommy KayLynn grew up in.  Emmett was very good during the blessing, and didn't cry. KayLynn's family hosted a nice dinner following church services. When we left Mount Pleasant, the mild Spring weather of the previous week had disappeared,and  there were a few snow flurries. However, there was enough sunshine in our hearts to keep us warm on the ride back to Spanish Fork, where Andy and KayLynn live.

Three generations of Ellis men! Aren't they handsome? (especially the little one)

Oh Babies!

After we got home from New York, we looked forward to the birth of two  new grand babies. Grandchild # 14, Andy and KayLynn's first baby, was born in Utah on Jan. 8, 2014. We would have to wait until his blessing date to meet Emmett Andrew Ellis in person. In the meantime, we kept up with this little cutie via Facetime. Lots more photos of him from our Utah trip are coming up on the blog.

(The baby you see in the upper right hand corner is new born baby Rae. We were face-timing from Jeremy's house.)

We are geographically closer (an hour away) to Jeremy and Nicole ,who anticipated the birth of their first baby. Nicole's new friends in Tomball hosted a lovely baby shower.

On February 22, 2014, Ray Rochelle Ellis, grandchild #15, was born in north Houston. Jeremy was so funny as a brand new father,telling us in the hospital that he didn't know if the baby liked him, because she cried every time he held her. He worried that his arms were too skinny for her to rest comfortably in. It didn't take him long, however, to get the hang of being a Dad. He fell completely head over heels in love with his new little girl. Nicole was a very relaxed new mom -- a natural, as is baby Emmett's mom, Kaylynn. Both babies are very blessed to have such great parents.

We visited the new little family when Rae came home from the hospital, bringing them dinner. Other than being a little sleep deprived, they were doing great.

Three weeks after she was born, sweet baby Rae had her first photo shoot, with Auntie Lauren taking precious newborn photos.

These new babies are precious gifts from a loving Heavenly Father. We are now eagerly looking forward to the birth of grand baby #16, Mark and Courtney's third child, in October.

Some random post-mission moments during January, February, and March 2014

We celebrated a few birthdays during our first  months home, including Carl's 68th. Here he is surrounded by the grandchildren who have been living with us (with their parents, of course). At the start of our mission, they sold the home they had outgrown in Pearland, and moved into our home. It was a blessing having them here to take care of  our home, and a blessing for them, since they got to save up money needed to buy a much larger home. (They are closing on a home now, and will be moving out in August.) 

 The Zalit grandkids (minus baby Ben) celebrating Grandpa's birthday on March 27

Dan celebrated his 40th birthday in January. We love teasing him about being on "old" man.

 Lauren celebrated another 30-something birthday in March.

Uncle Ta (Carl Benjamin) and Avery celebrate their shared birthdays of March 2.

Evan celebrated his 5th birthday on Feb . 23.

In March, we enjoyed a visit from our New York Rochester Mission senior missionary friends, the Woods. They flew in from Utah to visit a son who lives in north Houston. We enjoyed sharing mission memories and some good Tex-Mex food.

With six of our grandchildren temporarily living with us, we get to enjoy many moments of random  cuteness. Lorelei was just 3 months old when we left on our mission, and is now a funny two year older who loves to "dress up".

Baby Ben eats his first solid food and doesn't know what to think about it.

In February, we got to go to Madeline Rippstein's homecoming talk. Unlike most of the missionaries, who live in Utah, Arizona, or Idaho, Sister Rippstein lives just 20 minutes away from us, in Clear Lake City. She served in the Rochester New York Mission during the time we were there. Our senior missionary friends who live in Utah get to go to tons of homecoming talks -- at least we got to go to one.

Spring fever hit Carl like a tsunami (Spring starts early in Texas), resulting in him buying a chain saw and taking down a good portion of the trees in our backyard. The grass is sure to grow greener now.

Carl got a break from all the chainsawing, by going on a Father/Son camp-out.

Elayna presented this cake at the cake auction the Young Women were having for summer camp.

In conclusion, post mission life has been good. Never a dull moment! (I'll be doing a separate post on the most exciting evens of the first three months home -- the births of two new grandbabies!)