It's OFFICIAL!

Happy for Garrett and Saryn. The date is set for April 29, 2010 in the Denver Temple.

Full of Thanks

We kicked off Thanksgiving with a Missouri tradition...Christmas in the Air on Thanksgiving Eve. It's a great 20 minute fireworks display over a very large lake in Lees Summit.

But it's not the 20 minutes of fireworks that draws us. It's not the two hour wait, fighting for a parking spot, the chilly air, and dealing with traffic on the way home.

No, it's the warmth of friendship and love of family time and friends that carry us there. It's BBQ-ing in the dark, eating food you cannot see, and laughing around the fire pit at life's quirks.

How grateful our hearts are for good friends. After a rather long week, I received a package from my friends in North Dakota. Great timing. In it was a a BEAUTIFUL Thanksgiving table runner. I was touched that they thought of me, spent hours quilting with little ones under foot for ME.

These Missouri Hendricksons express gratitude for wonderful friends, near and FAR. And how we love family, health, the gospel, our Savior. The list grows and grows.

We are FULL of Thanks.

What....PINK?!

Raising four boys and one husband (not really, Todd, you're great), I do know BLUE. But pink?! I admit to being uncomfortable when shopping for baby gifts for friends that are expecting girls. I get very overwhelmed with all the selections, styles; they're all so cute, cute, cute.

But I'll have to get over it because Brandon and Julie are expecting and it's PINK! Haven't heard much about "gender" tests, but they (B & J) claim 90% accuracy. And according to the test they took, it's a girl. Due early June.

I have a feeling I'll overcome my "pink" weakness...eventually!

A Builder, My Mom

I just had four days of undivided attention from my mom. Am I lucky or what?! She visited us here for the first time and we enjoyed talking, sight-seeing church history sites, driving through old historic neighborhoods, Union Station, and much more. We even had a chance to have lunch with her first cousin, Dave (below) who lives in the area and whom she hadn't seen in years.


I sure appreciate her and all she's done throughout her life as a daughter of God, wife and mother. Pres. Hinckley said it best, "You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.”

With 9 children, 53 grandchildren, and ten and 3/4 great-grandchildren and growing (hope I counted that right), I'm sure she didn't realize the "nation" she was creating as she went to bed tired every night after long days of raising 9 kids.

Love you Mom!

Pain is Temporary; Pride is Forever

Oh, contraire! This morning as Todd and I, as well as our friend, Valerie, ran the Kansas City 1/2 Marathon someone was holding a poster with the above statement...

I submit they have it backwards....

First, at our age, pain is NOT temporary....it lingers and lingers, days, weeks, months, and yes, even years. And pride being forever...thank goodness our memories at our age are dimming. We will, within a few days, forget our times.

So you see, it's backwards. Just knowing we accomplished it is enough. Hilly, difficult, but all were happy with their times.

Parents Week(end)

Another crazy-idea-Todd and Becky-have: we drove like maniacs across country to spend a weekend with our three sons at BYU during Parent's Week. When we will have three sons there at the same time again?

Lucky for us, we had some friends who are just as senile that have two daughters attending BYU, so we had company. Good friends make the miles go by so much faster!

Landspeed record broken...and we didn't even have to use the adult diapers that Ken so graciously gave to us: 15 1/2 hours, with 17 of those minutes actually stopped (gas, food, restroom).

We had a GREAT time with the boys and wished we could have stayed another 48 hours. In pictures, here's what the weekend entailed:

Matt's ultimate frisbee game: (with friend, Brandon) They won--undefeated and ranked....
Garrett's concert by j.wride for family and close friends. Outstanding.
Julie was swamped preparing for the first home football game, but we were able to grab her for dinner one night (Brandon had to work, sorry Brandon) ....
Checking out Matt's wheels:
5K-- They did awesome! Brandon even won a $10 bookstore gift card.
Filling Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards:
And the big finale--the football game. We felt a little guilty enjoying all the concessions Julie had for us knowing that she was busy working and would be until the wee-hours of the morning.And at the mid-night hour---haircuts for all three boys.

Whew! An awesome weekend....too short, but it's a good thing WE'RE HEADING OUT AGAIN FOR HOMECOMING NEXT WEEKEND! No land-speed records this time, we're flyin (in an airplane, not a car).

MAKIN' MUSIC

Garrett would love to sit around all day makin' music..... however, life's responsibilities get in the way.

His band released their first CD. It's being picked up and sold by Best Buy.

He's a pretty talented young man...congrats on a great accomplishment, Garrett!

PS. Go to http://www.myspace.com/jwridemusic to get a little sample of their music