Powder Blue? Why yes!

Look, Rosa and I love to get out and boogey whenever we get the chance.  And, we look forward to the various holidays since those tend to provide the needed opportunities.  This valentines day was no exception and we got our chance as the stake threw a great party on Saturday night.  It was especially fun because they asked me to come and take pictures.  I agreed as long as I could only do it the first hour.  So, I set up my lights and had a great time snapping a shot or two of all the happy couples.

One of the more significant events of the night was the unveiling of my new suit!  Now, I have to admit something here.  I really don’t like this suit – or at least I didn’t initially.  Rosa found it on the clearance rack at the local K&G and was pretty excited about it.  Honestly, when I see myself in this all I see is dad from many years ago (sorry dad) and Matlock.

But, as often is the case, as the night wore on I became more and more attached to the seersucker.  I think I’ll keep in the the closet for a little while longer, but as soon as the weather warms up a bit I will be wearing it with pride!

A trip to Cambodia

In a way, it's an answer to our prayers, just not the way we expected.

At the end of last year Rosa's sister had a chance to go back to Cambodia for the first time since they all originally came here in 1981, so it was pretty exciting for her and for us because it would be the first time there would be person to person contact with any of the family that still lives there.  One of the things that we were hoping for was to find out any information about the extended family, especially Rosa's mom.  We found out just a few months ago that Rosa's mom's brother was alive and that was exciting because we really don't know much about Rosa's mom and we figured we may finally be able to learn a little more about her.

Well, we're still processing some of the information that came from the visit, including a video interview with Rosa's uncle, but the one, very unexpected and very wonderful thing that came from this is it turned out that he had a picture of Rosa's dad!  And, it turns out that the name we had for him was just a nickname they used in the army.  So we not only know what he looked like, but we know his real name.  We feel incredibly blessed by this.  The picture is very small, just a wallet sized, but one of the most valuable things we possess.  Truly an answer to our prayers.

Yes, we're still here

You may have noticed that it has been a very long time since I posted anything on the family blog.  It's not that nothing has been going on - it's just been hard to take the time to write anything.

I've been thinking about how to improve things this year, so I'll try to get things moving again soon.  One thing I've been pondering is a "photo of the week" or something along those lines.  I'd also like to get the kids involved a little more.

In the meantime, I've been playing around with our photo sites and I'd be interested in your opinions on the new look and feel.

http://photos.shurtzfamily.net
http://www.shurtzphotography.com

Thanks!