The McVey's of West Jordan

What a busy month! We were all over the place with camps for Madison and Robbie, EFY for TJ in Idaho, and Tiffany taking the kids to her families camp in Kamas.

 It's hard to believe that our little Madison is almost 14!

We're grateful for the wonderful weather this past month and are praying for a little rain to end the summer. The kids and TJ are gearing up for school at the end of August. Hope everyone is having a great summer and looking forward to starting school.

Love the West Jordan McVey's

The Lovely Month of July

 We started out the month of July with a wonderful treat, dinner at the Niue High Commission.  The Commissioner,O'Love Tauveve Jacobson, is in our ward, with her two children, and they have the Elders over every Wednesday for dinner. We were invited, because it was a special goodbye dinner for Elder Finlinsen, who has finished is mission, home to Delta Utah, and probably getting ready to go to BYU.The Elders eat there every Wednesday and they are fed very well.  I am going to try and remember what we had. Pork Roast, fish, sausage, beef roast, chicken, vegetables (which always includes pumpkin), lettuce wraps, fish salad, potatoe salad, and a green salad. For dessert, ice cream, fruit tarts, and the traditional New Zealand delicacy, Pavlova.  We all ate first, finished and were on our way out the door before they will eat.  It is something we have figured out being here, if the host is Samoan or Tongan, guests eat  first, then the family.  We don't eat with families very often, but even at baptisms or mission meetings, it is always the same.  A little bit about Niue, it is called the Rock of Polynesia, it is 1500 miles northeast of New Zealand, all Niueans are New Zealand citizens and Queen Elizabeth is the head of state.  There are only about 1000 people on the island, but 22,000 living here.  The island is one of the largest coral islands in the world, it is bascially shaped like an oval and is 18 miles in diameter. the picture is of Elders Armstrong and Florian and Dad in front of high commissioner office and house.

 These are the Elders that usually eat at the Jacobsen's. Left to right, Florian, Finlinsen, Ma'u, Guy (friend), Windhausen, Armstron, and I'aulualo.  This is the kitchen, the most modern we have seen since being here.

 We had a service project on the 28th. Our ward planted baby trees and grasses along a little creek that runs along the OHiro Road near Wellington.  The people in the community are trying to preserve the creek and also bring back native plants,

Before the service project we went to an Arts and Craft Fair. It was really great and I had to take this picture of a lady spinning. That is one big difference here, you very seldom find wool yarn and knit goods at a craft show in the States, but here it is very  popular.

Our very exciting news, new (to us) furniture.  We got two recliners and a couch, Dad is trying one out.  The ones we had, were quite old and very broken. The springs were totally gone in one chair, the recliner part on both were broken and the couch swallowed you up if you sat on it, so therefore new chairs and couch that actually work and are comfortable.

On the 22th, Dad made is famous German Rouladen.  We had that plus red cabbage, and spatzle. You would have thought that Elder Windhausen from Freigburg, Germany, had died and gone to heaven, especially over the red cabbage.  Everything tasted wonderful, and not alot left over. Two other missionaries dropped by, so by the time 6 Elders, the Overtons and us all ate, no left overs.

July!

Hello Family!

July has been a nice month. We spent some time relaxing. We have a lot of fun trips for the fall so the summer is our free time to do nothing and spend time around Denver.

We spent the 4th with our nephew Mike and his family. It was so much fun. We went swimming and Paul grilled some hamburgers. Mike's wife had a little baby 2 weeks after that so I am a Great Aunt now 7 times with the 8 on his was in a few weeks. Saying that I am a Great Aunt makes me feel old but it is fun being around all the babies and it also means Lilah will have some friends to play with.

Paul and I have spent some fun time fixing up the house. Paul fixed our sprinkler system and now our lawn looks great. We are still working on refinishing the table and I will put pictures on when it is done. I have been using my sewing machine and sewed liners for our shoe and laundry baskets. I am pretty proud of myself. As many of you know, some of our trees have died. One is being removed in August. Paul and I have decided to take down the one in front by ourselves. We cut down a branch each week so one weekend was spent doing that. We also love our garden and have had good success this year with squash and tomatoes and snap peas. I love owning a house.

Lilah is doing great. She rolls over now all the time. She also loves sitting up. We have to sit her up but once she is up she stays up for a while. She loves her toys and sucking on them. She sucks on anything including her feet. She also has a new crawl. She is on her back and will try to see what is behind her so she will arch her back (she looks like she is doing a back bend). If she wants what she sees behind her she will push off on her legs and scoot toward it. You think she would hurt her head but no. She can get moving too. Lilah celebrated 6 months old too. Man is time flying.

We hope everyone has fun starting school. Love Paul, Mollie and Lilah

 

Here is the first harvest of our garden. That was just the beginning of the zuchinni. I have to give a lot away we have tons.

Here is Lilah sitting up and shewing on her toys.

Lilah really loves chewing on everything even her toys. I like to saw that she does it for grandpa and she will stop when he gets home and can do it for her.

Lilah at 6 months

The Lehi McVeys

Happy August everyone! This summer we have been pretty occupied with work, volleyball (Pi'ikea), yard/house stuff, and more work. We purchased a new beauty named "Ravena". If any of you saw Snow White and the Huntsman, you'll know what we're talking about. John's old Honda was kind of a lemon, so we were very glad to be rid of it.

Here she is. Isn't she beautiful? Subaru 2012 Impreza Sport Limited.

Now driving in the snow will be so much nicer.

We took a trip down to Provo to celebrate 10 years since we first met at BYU. Man time flies.

This is the new Deseret Towers. No more tall ugly buildings, but we miss it all the same. John helped with the pre-construction estimates, so Pi'ikea got a detailed tour.

 We walked some of the campus grounds where we used to have little picnics and dates.

We went to our old favorite eats. This is a Hawaiian-themed BBQ place.

 We also hopped over next door to Cold Stone where we used to work.

And no trip to Provo is complete without a delicious Creamery shake!

We also went swimming and went to Trafalga. We played some arcade games and mini golf. Pi'ikea kicked John's bum outside in the "Monument-themed" course, but John won on the indoor black-light "Hawaiian-themed" course.

As many of you know, Pi'ikea works as a Teaching Assistant at her old massage school (UCMT). She applied, about 3-4 weeks ago, to be an Instructor there. On Friday August 3rd, she got a call and was offered the job! At first she was shocked and excited, but now she's just plain nervous. She is still excited about the opportunity and will start teaching in October. She now wishes for everyone to address her as "Professor McVey" =D John has been really busy with work. He's currently working on multiple jobs from Seaside, California to the University of Utah (go Cougars). His beard grows daily and birds are currently trying to nest in it. Pi'ikea continues to play lots of volleyball and even some mud ball.

She was sad to have missed her family get together.

Her dad and brothers at Kealii's farewell (right). He was deployed to Iraq last week.

We have been excited to start working on re-vamping our house a little at a time. Here is the before shot. Plain cabinets and eggshell colored walls.

And this is the after. We painted a nice hook'em horns color on the accent wall and did a two-toned paint for the cabinets (cafe cream and espresso). We just added the hardware yesterday and all we have left is to finish painting the other walls and add crown molding to the top cabinets! (Eventually we'll replace the counter tops and sink.)  

That's all so far. We love y'all and hope you're doing well!