Sevark Central

Went to this authentic Russian restaurant serving Georgian food. It was recommended to us. We were a little worried cause we really didn't know what we were ordering. Haha! We just had the waiter order what he thought was best. It was all pretty tasty. We had a cucumber, tomato salad with some really yummy cheesy bread. Then we had 3 different stews. One with lamb, mutton and veal. They all had different flavors but really good. I like trying different foods when I travel. They had a guy singing karaoke too! Then this older couple got up and started dancing! It was pretty awesome! 

Theses are just some random pictures. We didn't do anything too exciting today. Toby and Danny went to the convention and I stayed at the hotel for a bit. So here is our hotel room. These are all my treasures from Russia! Then for lunch we had McDonalds....again. Haha! It's the closest place to the hotel. So we've eaten there and Burger King a lot! Haha! The picture of me and Toby is of us sitting in a tiny corner room with these funky chairs. It must be a popular spot because tons of people would walk right up to us and be bummed that it was occupied. Haha!#suckerforsouvenirs

Day 4 we spent most of the day at the movie convention. Afterwards we decided to do some more sight seeing. This time we finally went into St. Isaac's cathedral! Oh boy, this was worth the wait! It took 100 years to build and it is breathtaking! I think I will post the large scale pictures on Facebook when I get home. These little pictures don't do it justice!

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Today was a cold, blustery, rainy day. Some of the things that I wanted to see were closed. So we ventured into the City and rode the metro a lot



Since it was a cold rainy day we decided to do the Hop On Hop off bus tour! I love these bus tours! You get to see so much more than we would've had seen plus there's a narration to hear the history behind everything. We rode it once in the morning and then again at night to see everything lit up.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Elder Severtson! 🎉 Today is Porters birthday. What better way to celebrate your birthday than serving a mission in Argentina! 

Day 2 in St. Petersburg did not disappoint! We went to church and meet some missionaries from Mesa! Wish we would've gotten pictures of them. So amazing to feel the spirit half way across the world in a different language. Subway adventures and walking by the Hermitage again.

Caleb was called as the new Teacher's quorum president several weeks ago, but they only just now sustained him.  They haven't set him apart yet.  We were all a little surprised since he was only meeting with a member of the bishopric when traditionally in the church the Bishops have called the presidents.  So when he went in to meet with Bro. Larson, he was shocked himself when they called him to serve as the president of the quorum.  Caleb is a thoughtful person and a good friend to all.  He's friends with all the boys in the quorum, so he'll be a great President.  Great job Boog...I'm sure proud of you!

Had an amazing first day in St. Petersburg! Here we are at the Winter palace also known as the Hermitage museum.

We had a layover in Munich Germany. I got to eat a real pretzel! Pretty tasty. Very different from the ones back home. Love this picture of Toby. It was Octoberfest this week. 

We've had some pretty awesome storms and weather lately which gives us beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Here are just some of these beauties.

This weekend was Brett Moore's mission farewell in Vegas. It originally was set for August but some reason it got moved to September. It was Toby and I and just the boys that went. We took off early Saturday morning. We stopped at Hoover Dam and walked around a bit. The we drove straight to Caesars Palace. I felt like I was just there, but I guess it's been since March. Toby showed the boys how gambling worked and what a waste of money it was. We walked through the shops and out to the strip. Laird and Kristina have come to Vegas a lot and knew of a half off ticket booth for shows and buffets. So we headed there. There are some pretty interesting people in the world. Haha! Saw some very interesting ones. We met up with Mike and Becky and their kids. We decided to eat at Harrah's. It was the cheapest we could find on a weekend. It was still a little pricy at $26 per person, but thought it would be fun for the boys to eat all that they wanted and they did! After our tummy's were full and in a food coma, we waddled down the street to take pictures of the Eiffle tower in honor of Bentley. :) After that we headed to the hotel and check in and check out...we had a nice long nap and then headed over to Amy and Dan's house. We met their foreign exchange student from Japan. We ate pizza and then they rigged a movie screen on their backyard fence and we watched Godzilla in honor of Brett going to Japan on his mission. It was a nice evening visiting with family. We hurried back to hotel to go hot tubbing but found out that it closed right at 10 and we were minutes last! Bummer! The next morning we got up and eat at the hotel and then went to church. They have sacrament last and they ward before them has sacrament first, so it was a mad rush to get into the chapel and get a seat. Not very reverent at all. It was a great sacrament meeting with 2 mission farewells. Brett did an excellent job on his talk about keeping the sabbath day holy. He'll be a great missionary. After church we headed back over to Amy and Dan's and changed our clothes and had a yummy lunch of sandwiches and salads and lots of desserts. We left soon after to get home at a decent time. Rod's parents were in town for Ethan's baptism, which we had to miss. They wanted to visit before they left. We had a great, fast paced weekend.

I thought it was time to bring my hair stye up to date again. I usually only get my hair cut once a year maybe twice. I like my long hair and the minimal up keep on it. I had it cut back in March and now my bangs have grown out. So I went to my niece Tarah for her to cut it. I had her cut in lots of layers and keep the length. I LOVE it! Later that day, Toby and I dropped the boys off to go mow grandma Severtson's lawn and we went to the Mesa temple to do sealings! It was much needed. I feel like it's been a long time since we've gone. It's so nice to feel the cares of the world washed away as soon as you step into the temple. We need to go more ofter!

The day has finally come for Noah's Eagle project! It's been a long time in the making.  He had one project picked out at the elementary school of leveling their rugby field. After a year and not quite sure how to go about it, he meet with Mr. Shultz again this spring to see what other projects he could do. He choose to paint the inside block fences of the kindergarten playground. He had tried to have it done before school started but that didn't happen. Also Mr. Shultz left the school and a new principal came, Mr. Richardson. He was very happy to work with Noah on his project. Come to find out that he's a fellow jackrabbit and went to school with uncle Lathe! So he picked this date and got everything organized for it. We went on Friday to get the water key and to do some prep work to the fences. We hosed down the fences to clean them off and used a shovel to move dirt away from the walls. We woke up around 5:30 to get everything loaded and set up at the school. People started showing up around 7am. There was a good turn out. Half way through, we ran out of paint! So Bro. Johnson had to go get some more made. While everyone was waiting I ran to the house to get the water key and when I got back the sprinklers decided to come on! Oh boy! Everyone was scrambling to turn the water into another direction and not onto the newly painted walls. They tried to put buckets and paint pans over the nozzle to keep the water from spraying. Soon they turned off and Bro. Johnson was back with the paint. We were able to finish the 2nd half in no time at all. We were done by 8:30. It was a great project and the playground looks so much better now. Now that the project is done, it's time for the write up! Haha! We'll see how long that takes. :) Noah can now get his driving permit and he'll have 6 months to finish up his whole Eagle project along with Boards of reviews and Court of Honor before he can get his license. Good luck Noah! Haha! We are so proud of you and I know your dad is very happy for you too!

I've been wanting to do the swim teams pasta party at our house for a couple years now, but Garrett always insist that we don't. I wonder why? Haha! Well, this is his last year for swim, so I wasn't going to miss my chance! I got to the meeting early and they had 2 openings left for it, so I signed up! Haha! It was nice to get the house all cleaned and tidy and ready for the party. The kids were assigned to bring the food, so I didn't have to cook. They all started showing up just after 6 and when most of them got here, around 6:20, they started eating. Toby put on the super tramp extreme sports videos to entertain the kids while they were waiting. It always seems to be a big hit. It was a pretty good turn out, about 30 kids showed up. They seem to all have a good time. Caleb and Garrett survived the torture. Can't wait to do it again! I think I'll wait til Caleb gets a little older and knows more people before I do it again. Jonah will be on the tam next year, so he won't be alone. Haha!

Well, after a year and a half and 4 hours later... Maizey finally got her license!!! Woohoo!! What a relief! Haha! It took some time, but she did it! Might of had something to do with hitting a tree for your first driving lesson, but that's okay. She did it! We decided to go to the DMV early, before it opened to get it done and over with. We've had problems before with coming down here and waiting for hours just to be told they couldn't do the driving test. Ugh! Gotta love the DMV! We got there at 7:30 and waited until 8 for it to open. We got our paper work around 8:30 and turned it in and paid by 9. Then we waited... they finally called us up and said they could schedule her drive at 11... What?? There was nothing we could except wait. So, we went across the street to Hobby Lobby to kill some time. :) When we came back, we saw the driving course for the 3-point turn. It had wide open spaces and really tall cones. Maizey started to feel better at this point. Just after 11, she had her test. She came up to me with the hugest smile. I guess she nailed it! Haha! Then we waited some more. We got done after 11:30 and then headed over to Thrive a yummy healthy acacia sorbet granola bowls. I got Maizey back in time for her last hour of class. What a day!! I did find out that we can make appointments for the driving test. Wish I would have know about that 4 kids ago. Haha! Noah will be taking his test in about 6 months, so I'll make sure I do that for him.

Well, this weekend we were up at the cabin for the Labor Day Weekend and to get out of this relentless heat!  We usually try to attend the local ward in Heber to keep it somewhat of a sabbath for us while on vacation.  Today as we sat waiting for Sacrament meeting to start, I all of a sudden received a text from Kami with this picture attached to it of Porter.  Kind of a cool story behind it.  Porter was recently transferred to this new area after being in his first area for 6 months.  Last week would have been his first week in the ward of his new area, but they had stake conference, so he went this week and started introducing himself to the members.  They must have mentioned his name at the pulpit, because one of the younger women in the ward recognized the name "Severtson" right away...it turns out, she was one of the Hermana's on Kami's mission and lived with Kami for 3 months...not as a companion, but as another companionship that shared the same house as her.  As soon as she heard the name "Severtson" she knew exactly that he must be Kami's brother -- how many missionaries are named "Severtson".  :-)  So as soon as their Sacrament service was over, she quickly found Porter and took this picture below of him with her and her boyfriend (that's not his companion).  :-)  Small world in this Church...who would have guessed a girl on the same mission as Kami would be in a ward Porter is serving in just over a year later!  It made for a pleasant morning with lots of thinking about our Elder Severtson in the mission field!

Finally we were able to get up to the cabin for a nice relaxing weekend. It's been awhile since we've been up here. I told Toby I want to leave early before the rest of the valley left. So, I was able to pull the boys out of school a little bit early. Kami and Maizey stayed behind for work and hanging out with friends. We had Jet come with us too. We were able to leave at 2:30. The drive was pretty good on the way up until we hit Payson and of course there was lots of cars there. JuLee and Darren were ahead of us. They stopped for pizza and had to wait 20 minutes. That was our plan but didn't wait to wait, so we went to Taco Bell instead. We got up to the cabin and enjoyed the nice cooler weather. Micah and Danny came up a little after us. The cousins had fun being together and we adults enjoyed each others company on the front porch. Lee and Tiesha come over to visit too. We had yummy food and got to play Nertz! On Saturday the adults all went out to Casa Ramos for an early dinner. Sunday we went to church. Jonah and Jet helped pass the sacrament and we enjoyed the testimony meeting. We saw aunt Janene and uncle Tom and some of their kids. We decided to leave on Sunday night, before the rest of the valley on Monday. We've made that mistake before and it took 2 hours to get to Payson when it should only take 45 minutes. Never again! It was a great weekend with family and nice weather. Can't wait to get back there again. Hopefully for fall break. The only picture I got was of me wearing Tommy's glasses. Haha! I think it's pretty funny.

This evening we were blessed to have the missionaries in our home for dinner as we try to do quite often.  This time it was a little different since we had 5 missionaries rather than the standard two at a time.  Kami had asked us last night if there was any way we could feed the missionaries from her Single's Ward.  Her ward has two companionships...one of Sister's and the other Elder's, but the sister's right now are in a trio-panionship, so that makes 5.  We had a great time getting to know them and eating Lexine's famous Indian Frybread -- it was one of the first times eating that for one of the sisters.  With the 5 of them and only Kami, Maizey and Jonah home for dinner, it felt like old times trying to feed 8 kids again...I guess that's what we get when have two missionaries in the field and one more (Garrett) starting his mission paperwork now!  It was a great time and Lexine had to take her family picture with the missionaries that she is quite known for.  This time, all 5 of the missionaries asked if she would text it to their mom's...so it was also an evening filled with nice little thank you notes back from their parents.  It was a wonderful evening!

Today is game day in the Sevark household. Noah has his 2nd game of the season and Garrett and Caleb have their 1st swim meet of the season. Unfortunately Caleb won't be swimming today, it's an away meet and only varsity gets to participate. But I love that the sport teams get all dressed up for game day. Good luck boys!

This afternoon Garrett had his first Queen Creek swim meet of the season!  They were at Perry High School in Gilbert versing several different schools.  By the time I got there, Garrett had already raced in two races, but luckily I made it to watch him race in the 50m freestyle.  Garrett is on the Varsity team which go to all the away meets.  Caleb is on the JV team, so they go only to all the home meets and then also any of the away meets they are invited to...unfortunately he wasn't invited to race in this one, but they'll be plenty of meets for him coming up.  Garrett raced in a total of 4 different races.  He didn't win any of them, but still did great!  He did get first in his stoke of a relay, but they slipped into one of the middle placements when all the members of his relay team finished.  Here's the video of him racing in the 50m...great job buddy!