Tyler's Mission Farewell

Tyler's farewell was a big success. We had a good amount of family and friends come and support and Tyler gave a fantastic talk. 

He was the first speaker, and he talked for about 15 minutes.  He was funny and thoughtful and insightful.  He shared many personal experiences of how he knew he should serve a mission.  He did such a great job.  He used to get so scared talking in sacrament, but he wasn't scared at all.  He was amazing.  Then he played the piano and sang Peace in Christ.  He wouldn't tell us what song he was going to play, so it was a complete surprise to us.  What was an even bigger surprise was that he sang half the song in Spanish.  That kid just keeps surprising us.

After Tyler talked and did the musical number, it was my turn to talk.  I gave advice about being a full-time missionary and how it is the same advice that we would give member missionaries.  I told a couple stories about how easy it is to work in talked about the church in everyday conversations.  I shared some scriptures and missionary quotes.  I was told it was a good talk, so let's hope that the spirit touches people's hearts.

After church we went back to our house and got out all the food for the luncheon.  Julie's family had to leave right after church to get back home, but most everyone else stayed for lunch.  It was nice to spend time with everyone and see people bonding.

After a couple hours everyone was done visiting and we cleaned everything up.  We then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon before it was time to go to Tony's parents' house for dinner.  It was a great day and a wonderful church service.

Pioneer Day Fun 2025

For Pioneer Day we spent the morning at home watching the parade on TV.  Our stake had a float in the parade, so that made it extra exciting to watch for it to go by.

After we went to my parents' house for a BBQ.  It was extra special this year because Julie was still in town with Hayden, Kimball, and Benje.  They came in the Friday before for Graham's baptism.  

We had yummy food, and they played lots of badminton.  We had lots of chats and enjoyed each other's company.  Kevin's family left before firework since Gavin really hates them.  The rest of us did tons of pop-its and then as it got darker, we started the fireworks that we had picked up the week before.

I let Benje, Megan, and Kimball take turns lighting the smaller fireworks before turning the bigger ones over to Josh, Hayden, and Tyler.  Allie was kind of being a baby about the fireworks, so she was fine not lighting any and just sitting by Tony under a blanket. 

We only had fountains, but some were really big ones.  It was actually perfect.  It was fun watching them all with the family and letting the kids light them.  It was a great Pioneer Day. 

Visiting Deseret Soap

While Julie was visiting with the kids we decided to take them for a tour of the soap plant.  My dad even joined us (my mom was going to join but had tummy troubles that day).

They all said that they liked the tour, and they thought it was interesting and fun to see how they do things. 

Before the tour we went and met up with Julie, the boys, and my dad for lunch in Murray.  It was an okay taco place; I am not sure that I would go there again.  Not really worth it for the price.  But it was nice going to lunch together.  

After our tour we went back to our house where I showed Julie my garden and we all hung out for a while before they had to leave to go back up to the cabin.  It was a nice visit, and I am glad that they took the time to come.

Meadow Heights Ward Girls Camp 2025

I was able to go to Ward Girls Camp this year.  We camped at Tricia's family property about three hours away, near Castle Dale.  

We all met up at a little store about two and a half hours away before we followed each other to the property.  We all got there without problems and then started prepping the site.  Some cleaned up cow pies while others set up tents.  A group of us leaders set up the kitchen area and food prep area and the tables and canopies.  

We were able to then relax and enjoy the cooler mountain temps before we started getting ready for dinner.  We then prepped, ate, and then cleaned up dinner.  We had a devotional each night and then we painted flowerpots.  We enjoyed hanging out before all going to bed.

The next morning, we got up and had breakfast and cleaned it up before we all made our sack lunches for the lake. 

We then all drove down to the lake and got all set up for some fun on the water.  Larry Pahl's brothers came and brought their boats and took us all out on the water.  One boat was a ride boat and then other was the tube boat.  We all took turns and then they took us over to the rocks and let anyone who wanted to jump off the rock into the water.  

Megan was not sure if she could do it.  She worked up the courage to jump out of the boat and swim to the rocks, but then she chickened out and couldn't jump from the rocks.  I was proud of her for being brave enough to jump off the boat and even try.  Way braver than me.  

Some storm clouds started to come in, so we decided to play it safe and go back to shore for lunch.  We all ate and then the clouds went away so we could go back in the water.

I got on the tube boat this time and did the tube for a very short amount of time.  I was worried about falling in the water because I didn't want the lake water to get in my ear.  The tube had lots some air, so it seemed harder to stay forward.  And I was probably just being a big baby.  But Megan did go on a nice long ride with her friend, Olivia and she had fun.

After a couple of hours, the brothers had to go so we all went back to the beach.  We hung out for a little while before packing up our stuff and going back to camp.

At camp with made dinner, ate, cleaned up and then had a devotional.  We made a fire and then planted seeds in our pots before turning in for the night.

The next morning was good.  Breakfast before we got ready to go on our hike.  We had to drive back to the lake and the trail was right across the road from the lake.  We were told it was a medium hike, so we were all pretty excited about it.  Except for Ashley, Becky, and Olivia.  Tricia really wanted to do the hike, but her knees were bothering her, so she came out to the trail to see if she could do it.  Turns out the trail was way harder than we thought it would be.  Very rocky and very much a big hill whose trail wasn't always easy to decipher.  So, Tricia went back to the camp site.

One group actually went the wrong way and then had to come back to the "real" trail.  It had pretty views of the lake from where we were, but it was a hard hike.  Worth it once we got to the top and enjoyed the view and the break from hiking straight up.  We then had to hike down and try not to slip and fall.  A couple times I did go down on my bum and to avoid falling.  But it was fun, and we all got back down to our cars without any problems.

After we got back from the hike we did our service project.  We helped clean up a path to the bathroom for Larry's stepdad.  It did start raining on us, so we quickly finished up the project by moving wood to the wood pile by the fire pit.  

We spent a lot of this day under the protection of the canopies.  Luckily, we had lots of coverings and lots of games were played, and good conversations were had.

We then had lunch and continued to protect ourselves from the rain.  I had to go home this day because Graham was getting baptized the next day and I said that I would be there.  I let Megan choose if she wanted to come with me a day early or stay with the young women and she choose to stay.

When the rain kind of let up I decided I should probably go home.  I am glad that I did because it continued to rain off and on and the dark clouds made it a lot darker.  Three-hour car ride all by myself isn't always fun, but the time went quickly, and the traffic wasn't bad.  Julie and the boys had just gotten into Murray that afternoon, so I stopped by my parents' house before going home to see Julie and the boys. We then went and got dinner at Astro Burger before I went home.  I had a good time at camp, and I am glad that I went.  I was bummed I missed out on the last night, especially the testimonies around the fire, but I am glad that Megan was able to stay for it.  

Summer Happenings

We finally made going to see Nana a priority.  I also say we need to visit Nana, but they it just doesn't happen.  But know that Tyler was about to leave on his mission, I made sure it happened when we were all available to be there.

We started by going up to Nana's apartment to visit and then we went down to the music room so that Tyler could play the piano and then Allie and Josh sang.  Megan was not wanted to sing this day and got emotional when I tried to push her to sing, so I backed off and just let her be. Josh really didn't want to either, but I was able to persuade him, and he did a great job.  Tony's uncle even came and visited with us for a little while.  We went on the day that he goes to have dinner with her. 

We also took the girls swimming one Friday.  It wasn't too busy, and it was nice to play in the pool for a few hours.  Josh was working this day, so we were able to see him acting in his camp counselor roll.  The kids love to torment him and apparently his coworker (a cute girl his age) loves watching the kids torment Josh.

Josh also got his braces off.  He was so very happy about that.  He isn't wild about the retainer, but he is glad that it's only 6 months of wearing it all the time.

The boys also got to go to Stake Youth Conference the day after Tony and I got home from our trip.  Because of the timeline, I didn't go with the youth and stayed home with the girls.

The boys said that they had fun camping at youth conference.  They had lots of fun activities and even got their own tents.  This was Tyler's last big activity as a youth.  He's an old man now.

Independence Day: Murray Parade & Cabin Fun

It is time again to celebrate Independence Day.  We love starting off the fun with the Murray Parade.  We bought some donuts the night before and brought them, a blanket and some water to where we put the chairs out on State Street.  My dad came a couple days before and roped off our spot and then we went and picked up the chairs the night before the parade, so they'd be ready in the morning.  My dad always goes extra early to make sure everything is ready to go. 

The parade was super fun as usual.  The girls go so much candy and give-a-ways.  It was fun to see Tyler get super into them throwing him candy into his hat or just trying to catch it.  Some kids have really bad aim, and the candy hit us in the head a couple of times. But it was super fun.

After the parade we helped clean up and put the chairs away before going up to the cabin.  We had never been on the 4th before, and it really wasn't very busy at all.  We rode four-wheelers, had a BBQ and then sat on the deck and watched a super cool summer storm come in.  It rained really hard and then it even started to hail.  We did see some lightning and had some thunder.  It really cooled the temps down and was super awesome to watch.

My dad left right before the storm, but Sherri and Kevin's family waited it out for some time.  Our family and my mom stayed the night.  

I figured it would probably be the last time that Tyler was going to be up there before his mission and a while until the rest of us could go back too.  Just tons of busy plans ahead of us, so I am glad that we spent the night.  

We went for a few more rides the next day and then stayed until after lunch.  We then cleaned up and then took my mom home before going back to our house.  It was a great way to celebrate our country and the freedom's that we enjoy.