Casady Family Blog

Okay, it's not likely that anyone missed the mindless pictures, rants and pictures from space, or that anyone has really been checking our site everyday with baited breath hoping that someday, someday, more content will be excited.

But if there was such a person out there, today is your day!

The last seven months? Well, let's just say that law school and blogs are like oil and water. Nothing demonstrates to me the difference between pre and inter law school life than reading old blog entries - really, did I have that much free time?

Okay, a quick update, for those of you who may have been living under a rock for the last month, we had a baby girl! Clarissa Mei Casady. Needless to say, her closet is already full.

Dan and Liz two weeks before had a boy - Trevor and this brings the grandchildren count (GCC) to nearly a dozen (a milestone sure to be reached this fall with Mike and Jen's new baby due then).

Most amazing is that all dozen have been produced by just three couples of the family.

Catherine is home now. We love seeing her regularly. Of course, this means no more sat photos of areas, etc, but I'm sure we'll still have lots of stuff to post.

I promise more content, more often!

Dave

Hey everyone, I received a message from Aunt Angela, letting us know that our cousin Bill is at the M.T.C. Here is his information:

Elder Richard William Casady

MTC Mailbox #212FL-JAK 11292005

N. 900 E.Provo, UT 84604-1793

He will be leaving the MTC to go to his mission on November 29!

This is a view of Catherine's new area. I found the street she lives on, though I can't locate the exact location. I will post a larger photo.

Here is description of Catherine's new city, San Rafael, Mendoza, Argentina:


Located in the south of Mendoza Province, San Rafael City is 232 km away from the Capital City, settled near Atuel and Diamante Rivers and immersed in a landscape of mountains, valleys, sun and water which provides one with the ideal setting to live unforgettable experiences. San Rafael is a real touristic choice due to the joint of imposing areas like Valle Grande, Cañón del Atuel, El Nihuil, Los Reyunos Dam and Lake, El Tigre Lake, Agua de Toro Dam, The old 25 de Mayo Village (among others) that provide the tourist with various alternatives to enjoy nature with peace and safety for the whole family. San Rafael City is the place of departure to go on entertaining activities such as rafting, hiking, mountain bike rides, jet ski, wind surfing, kayak excursions, fishing, diving, horse-riding , motorcycling, four trax excursions, paragliding and rapel which can be enjoyed in an area of incredible natural beauty and rich in geological and paleontologic beds. The tourist can also visit traditional cellars that produce excellent wines and champagnes or do agrotourism in fruit establishments or vineyards . The region counts on an airport that operates national flights and one can also get to San Rafael through Nº 40, 143 and 146 National Routes according to the city one departs. The climate is mild during the whole year being the maximum registered temperature in Summer 33º C and the minimum temperature 15º C. Winter is colder registering temperatures that range from 1º C to 16º C. San Rafael City is in the heart of Mendoza Province and it is worth vising it.

Here is a link to a website with pictures of the area.

Here is a photo from Mike's Magic Mountain Trip. We all went (except Catherine, who was "out of town)."

Dearest Familia,Im so excited to find out what will happen with the stake. My companion asked, "your stake has grown to be three, in one year!?! Wow, your mission really has blessed your town!" I explained to her that the growth has occured over many years and that it is gracias a many missionaires that have served;) Labor day, wow, thats right, we´re in September. The big day here in Argentina is 21 of September, the first day of spring. There´s no school and everyone BBQs-it should be fun!

The other day Elder Ferguson from San Jose(whom looks so much like Matt, that I call him "hermanito") asked me how old I was. I said I would be 23 next month. His eyes got big and so did mine. When he told me that he graduated high school this last year, I just changed the subject. My clothes feeling a bit frumpier and my hair seeming to need chemical treatment even more, the conversation caused me to reflect a bit on the last 14 months but also, note some of the things I love about this country.

Recently, my companion and I have seen a number of plastic bottles filled with water, on the front lawns and in the plants of the neighborhoods. Having a lot of thirst, we thought, maybe we could borrow one and then return it. We remembered the church film "La Bomba" (The Pump) and decided we shouldn´t drink the water. AFter a few weeks and a number of bottle sightings, curiousity took over and we asked Hermano Arenas, "why do so many houses have bottles of water in the front yards? Are they for weary travelers passing by or thirsty sister missionaires?" He laughed and shook his head in embarassment. "There´s an old wive´s tale," he explained," that if you put a bottle of water under a plant or on your lawn, that dogs wont´ go the bathroom on it."Moral: If your filling Argentine, put bottles of water on the lawn, and you wont´ever have to pick up after a dog:)

I bought a plastic "winnie the pooh" watch some time ago. My other finally gave up. The wal mart isnt yet open and I dont have the energy to find out where to go to buy a new battery. All the little girls love this watch, because, why not, its winnie the pooh! So, after our meal appointment the other day I was startled at the response of Eileen Molina, age 4. She is the oldest of three brothers and is quite the menace. She said, "ooh, I like your watch," and proceeded to try and take it off my wrist. Her parents told her to stop, but she insisted and did everything to take it off. I told my companion, "quick, lets get out of here, the family molina is trying to rob us!" They laughed and just said, "welcome to Argentina, Hermana Casady."

Well once again, I hope this letter makes some sense. I try to give a variety and a glimpse of what happens every day. I am enjoying learning how to pray more specfically, study more thoroughly and work with more heart. My companion says she´s tired every day. I told her thats good. We are looking for those families whom are ready, and praying to know where to find them. I enjoyed the book of Galations and Ephesians the other day and invite you all to read them. The spirit is real. The church is true. And San luis is the bomb dot com! Okay, now Im talking english like some one from utah.

¡Cariños!Catherine

dead dogs:17
dead dog tail:1

Querida Familia,Well, sorry to hear you didn`t receive my carta. I don´t know if I was so involved with sending the photos that I forgot to put an address on the letter I sent, but, someone in the world wide web received a cool email from me! Know that it was a good week, lots of dogs died because it was pretty cold. Monday, while we were writing in the internet, the leaders of the Zone whom are from Utah found us with our sweaters and jackets, "are you sisters cold?" They were in short sleeves. We just reminded them that everything is different in a skirt.

Im glad you liked the pictures. I tried to select a variety. You´ll note the McDonalds looks and tastes the same and that the workers dont´ speak english here either. The citi bank we found, brought tears to my eyes and I begged Hermana Thorup to take a picture. If you talk to my old boss, Sami, tell her I still sing the "Citibank song" when I see one of the branches. The other foto with the elderly lady, is Hermana Morán. She´s the widow that yelled at me all the way to the dedication service of the temple, Santiago in March. In the occasion of this foto, we had delivered a note of truce, and by the time I left the área I think I even saw that her eyes get a little wet, when we said goodbye.

We had some fun yesterday! I realized that I still hadn´t taken my companion to Miza (catholic mass). It has been tradition with everyone of my companions that sundays, when there isn´t very many people in the street that we should go to mass, to find who else....all the catholics going to miza! Its great because Miza starts at 7:00 and catholics are pretty punctual. So as you walk through the street, there are quite a few families. As I told my comp., "the only thing with inviting catholics on the way to mass, is that they will almost all reject you, and usually its pretty ugly." How surprised were we than, to have a woman accept us and invite us to her house this week! My companion said, "wow, a catholic argentine that just left mass, and talked to two mormón missionaires and said yes." We were happy. After, visited the five year old son of the Bishop whom is sick with a cough, worstened by his asthma. We made him blush when we gave him a card with stars on it, and then sang, "yo soy una estrella que brilla" (I am like a star shinning brightly). Which we had learned in Primary earlier in the day.

I spoke in Church yesterday and I think it was allright. The topic was, the love of our Heavenly Father. I used quotes from Elder Uchdorf´s talk in the July Ensign and 1Nefi 11. I asked my companion how she says Uchdorf in spanish, and she said, "just say it in English."After sacrament meeting, we were asked to teach Primary as none of the sisters had come. We went to the pool house, (remember our ward meets in a house), and found six kids running without reason. Fortunantly, Hermana Peralta came too, and we got organized. I´ve honestly never taught primary save, one time subbing for Aunt Jean in Provo, so I just thought- lets play games! But my companion whom has been in the Primary presidency for five of the six years that she has in the church, came up with a lesson, activity and even found some cookies to give them. We spent the majority of the time, planning Pato, pato-gonzo (duck duck goose) and some kind of weird cherade animal game that came to mind as we were waiting for 1230 to arrive. After teaching Young Women´s last week, we can hardly wait what is to come in the week to come!

Hermano Arenas spoke about the creation yesterday. He reminded us that we are all part of the creation, and that we should think more about it every day. Walking later that day, my comp. said, "You know, I was thinking about how terrible the dogs of san Luis are. How weird it is to see them dead and and eating the other. But then I realized, their part of the creation, too. That they have to fullfill their part, just like we do." So, we´re praying for more charity for the 16 dead dogs we´ve seen and their surving, wandering, companions.

I love you all and appreciate your prayers and concern. The bishop told me this has been one of the hottest winters San Luis has ever seen. I know it is thanks to the faith of the Casady family...and their blog;)

hope all is well,
Hermana casady