Today EFY started for the girls! We signed them up for the Denver Stay at Home EFY which is exactly the same as a regular EFY only you stay at home and eat breakfast before you go. That makes it MUCH cheaper! 🙂 The girls aren’t sure exactly what to expect but they are excited for the opportunity! This is Brittany’s last EFY and Kirstyn’s first! 🙂
For the past 3 days, Zach has been at Cub Camp! He was SO excited to go and couldn’t wait to do all his cub scouting things! 🙂 The camp was at the farm/ranch of our old Stake President. Many of the districts around use this place as it is wonderful spot! President Poulson and his wife are very generous in giving of their means to make this happen for so many cubs year after year.
The theme of the camp this year was Jungle Adventure. They had cute shirts and safari hats to wear…
He had a GREAT time, although it was the hottest days of the summer yet (in the 90s every day). They kept hydrated and the kids really didn’t mind at all. 🙂 Angela was able to go with Zach to camp on Wednesday and she had a great time with the boys! 🙂
Zach passed off a TON of requirements as well as electives and is very close to getting his Wolf. He should get it during the next court of honor. Great job Zach!
Sarah flew out to California today! We were able to talk to her for about 30 minutes when she got to the airport! We are so proud of her and for her decision to serve the Lord on a mission! This time, I didn’t fall apart like I did when she left to go to the MTC, but it was hard to say good-bye! The crazy thing is that she flew out of Salt Lake to Denver, and then to Santa Barbara where they then drove up to her mission. She was at the airport here and we couldn’t go and hug her! 🙁 Anyway, we know she is doing the right thing and will be an AWESOME Hermana! We are keeping up her blog here:
http://sisterhalliday.blogspot.com/
She’s super excited to get out there and serve! Best of luck, Sarah! You’ll do GREAT!
Today, Kirstyn went up to the temple and did baptisms with a bunch of the young women. During the summer, they have the temple open for youth baptisms between 11 and 4 or something like that for anyone to come in and do the work. So far, the response has been overwhelming and they expect it to be that way all summer long. Great choice Kirstyn!
The girls had youth conference (Kirstyn’s first) over the last 2 1/2 days. They had a blast! Came home talking like crazy about everything. Kirstyn and Brittany also had Marching Band kick-off and rehearsal for 4 hours on Thursday and Friday. They had to miss some of youth conference for that, but everything worked out just fine. They are making some great new friends and having a fun time here. Brittany told us the other day that she is embracing the move and that it is a good thing for her. 🙂 That made us pretty excited!
Today was Brittany’s last day of Seminary! She was bummed because she’ll really miss seeing her teacher, Brother Hess, every day. We really owe a lot to him. He took Brittany under his wing and made sure she felt accepted and welcome.
Great job on another wonderful year, Brittany!
Today, the girls went to the church and spent all morning making hundreds of cinnamon rolls for a young women fundraiser for camp. We bought 6 dozen from them, which we put in the freezer and will enjoy a TON for the weeks to come (if we can make them last that long)! 🙂
Can’t wait to eat them! When we went to pick them up, all we saw in the gym at the church were a whole bunch of flower and frosting-covered leaders and kids! GREAT job girls!
Angela, Sarah, and Ben arrived safely on Monday and are staying at Greg’s and Lisa’s house. They are having a wonderful time there. They got to see Grandma B. and Aunt Mary as well. Yesterday, Angela and Sarah went to 2 temple sessions, had a wonderful time and got spiritually prepped. What was fun was that we were all in the temple at the same time… Me in CO, and Sarah and Angela in UT. 🙂
Today, Sarah got dropped off at the MTC! It was a very bitter-sweet moment for Angela as well, and Ben couldn’t stop hugging and kissing Sarah.
Angela got as many pictures as she could of Sarah walking down the sidewalk with her suitcases, ready as ever to serve!
We know she’ll be a great missionary and work hard to serve the Lord! After Sarah was dropped off, Angela went back to Spanish Fork to Greg and Lisa’s house to spend the night. She and Ben will come back to CO tomorrow. We sure miss them!
Today was one of the hardest days of my life. Angela, Ben, and Sarah left home today to take Sarah out to the MTC. I was able to give her a father’s blessing before they left, and I could barely get through it. It was a very emotional time, and I sobbed like a baby. Sarah thought I was crazy. 🙂 It’s just that we’re so proud of her for making these right choices in her life, and we’ll miss her like crazy!
It was very hard watching them back out the driveway and drive up the street and out of sight, knowing I wouldn’t see her again until November 2015. I was totally jealous of Angela and Ben!
We love you Sarah! You’ll do great!
Today after church, we went up to the Denver Temple and took some family pictures. Tripods and self-timers are great! We had a wonderful time on our last Sunday with Sarah here with us.
Tonight, we went over to President Gregg Lindsey’s home for Sarah to get set apart as a missionary. What a sweet experience that was. In our discussion with him, we found out that his brother who used to be inactive was just re-activated and his family baptized. They are in the Frankfort Branch out in our old stake! What a small world. We’ll have to e-mail President Carlson and let him know.
Anyway, the setting apart was a beautiful experience and it was such a wonderful feeling to stand there with President Lindsey and participate. What a warm feeling comes to your heart when you know that your daughter is making such a great decision on her own (with absolutely no coaxing from us) to serve the Lord and to bring souls the happiness the gospel can bring. We may not be the best parents in the world, but we did something right and that feels good! 🙂
Sarah goes into the MTC this week and we are going to be very sad to see her go, but know she is doing the right thing! Best of luck Sarah!
What a busy day we had today! First off… Happy 22nd Anniversary Angela! What a great and crazy ride it’s been so far!
Today, most of the day was spent getting Brittany ready for Mormon Prom. She was so excited! They had a group of friends with a triple date and 2 guys that went stag. They all met at our house for pictures and then we went over to our neighbor’s and asked them if we could take some pictures in their back yard, because they have grass! 🙂 It was a lot of fun and the kids were really excited to go.
The kids all went to Red Robin for dinner (Sarah and Kirstyn ran over to make sure they got the group on the list for seating), and then went up to the dance.
Meanwhile, after the kids were gone, Angela and I went out for a nice romantic anniversary dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (way better than Red Robin)! 🙂 We had a GREAT time! The wait was pretty long, so we walked over to the Lego Store and got some stuff for the boys. 🙂 Pretty romantic part of the evening, huh? 🙂 The food was great and they gave us a piece of cheesecake for our anniversary.
We had a great time and it was nice to just chat and relax. I think that dinner tonight was probably the slowest one we have ever eaten. Usually it’s get in, eat, and get on. We need to learn to relax a little more. 🙂 Happy Anniversary beautiful!
Today Sarah had her mission farewell talk. She did a wonderful job, and the good thing was that she already had her talk prepared from when she spoke in Naperville! 🙂 Brittany spoke with her and it was great to hear her words and testimony as well! The only problem (which, according to the Bishopric had NEVER happened before) was that the microphone didn’t work during Sacrament meeting. 🙁 They had to speak up really loud to be heard. Thank heaven we were sitting a little closer to the front! 🙂
After church, we had a big lunch together with some friends and family. There were about 30 people there! 🙂
It’s hard to believe that we only have about 10 days before Sarah goes into the MTC! We are so excited for her, but will miss her like crazy when she leaves!
