August Happened! And, Avery Went On A Mission!

Avery started her mission!! She gave her farewell talk and was set apart that night by our Stake President.  We had family and some friends over for dinner that afternoon.  She had two weeks of home MTC, and then four weeks at the Mexico MTC (CCM). 

She started bright and early the next morning.  Because she had classes on Mexico time, which is an hour ahead of us, she got up at 5:30 and tried to go to bed at 9:30.  Most days, I got up at 5:30 with her to exercise and that was fun to start my day with her.

Maren and Ryan both started FSY that same day that Avery started her mission.  We took them and Jarrett Coleman down to BYU Monday morning to spend the week.

Ryan and Jarrett were roomies and had a blast together!

Maren experienced a little (actually big) miracle for FSY.  One of her best friends, Emily, was supposed to be her roommate for FSY and the Thursday before, Emily and her dad were hit by a truck while riding their bikes.  Her dad passed away and Emily was pretty beat up and would not be attending FSY anymore.  This was a sad time, as our ward and neighborhood mourned with the Robert's family, but it was really hard on Maren and her friends also, because they were worried about Emily.  Maren really debated if she should even go to FSY.  She didn't want to go alone, without a roommate and she was sad for Emily.  In the end, she decided to go and when I walked her up to her room at BYU, it had all of the names of the girls who would be sharing an apartment.  Some were in her FSY group and some weren't, and the first thing we noticed was that Sydney and Holland were listed in her apartment and in her FSY group!  Sydney is Maren's other best friend, and she had signed up to go and be roommates with her cousin, Holland.  We instantly knew that Heavenly Father was involved and aware of Maren!  There were 1500 kids at FSY that week, and we knew of others who had signed up for the same week as people they knew, but never even saw them during the week.  Maren had her best friend in her group and even in her apartment!  I'm so grateful for moments where we can see God's hand in our lives.  I hope these moments are remembered by my kids and strengthen them through other times when it is not so apparent that Heavenly Father is there.  The Lord is aware of the details of our lives and sometimes, He steps in, and we know He was involved!

After we dropped the kids off, we punished Grant for not being old enough to go to FSY by putting him in the stocks.  He deserved it.

And then we found Arie and put him in the stocks too.  For being bald.

Arie and Isa met up with us for ice cream before they had to drive back to California.

Avery was at home, diligently learning to be a missionary, over zoom.

And having way too much fun with her district.

Her home MTC schedule was actually really busy.  She started at 5:30 A.M. and went almost non-stop until between 7 and 9:00 P.M.  She did get a lunch break, and so we got to see her sometimes and hear about what she was learning.  And eat pastries.

And get ice cream at Cavanaughs with friends.

And go to lunch with dad in Sugarhouse.

While Avery was learning lots of Spanish and missionary things, our lives kept going on.  Maren and Ryan had a great time at FSY and came home with new friends and awesome memories and strengthened testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  All we could have hoped for!

We got rain in August!!  It has been a terrible drought this year and we had a few weeks of rain and it was so needed!

Grant rebuilt some legos.

I went on a Relief Society hike to The Living Room (that's what it is called).

We had lots of youth activities.

We keep plugging away at our family room remodel that we started at the beginning of the summer.  We had so much family in town this summer and fun things to do that it didn't move along very fast, but in August we really buckled down and got to work on it.  We ended up having to re-build a former wall that was taken out before we moved in.  Turns out, it was a structural, load bearing wall, which is kind of important.  Go figure!  Our kitchen upstairs could have fallen down!  So, now we have a smaller family room, an official under the stairs closet, and a structurally sound house.

The weekend before Avery left she and I met up for lunch with her MTC companion, Hermana Grosscost, and her mom.  Avery's companion was actually her best friend in kindergarten, at the school in Millcreek where we used to live!  Avery recognized her right away and we looked it up, and sure enough, we have lots of pictures and videos of them doing things together in kindergarten.  We moved about three fourths of the way through that school year and so they hadn't seen each other in 14 years.  Hermana Grosscost didn't remember Avery, but Avery remembered her!  And they hit it off right away and were best friends all over again.  They laughed way too much during zoom MTC!  But they also studied a lot (Three companionship studies a day! No wonder she was so busy!  haha!) and learned a lot together.

A couple of days later it was airport drop off time!  Luckily, about half of Avery's district lives in Utah and so she was flying to Mexico with friends and her companion.  There were no tears as we said goodbye-she was too excited and eager!

Her companion's mom is a flight attendant, so she had clearance to wait with them in the terminal, which was nice because then I got regular pictures and updates that morning.

These were all the missionaries flying to Mexico on her flight that morning!  We got a message that night saying that she had made it, the drive through Mexico was crazy but fun and her P-day wouldn't be for almost two weeks!

We've been so busy since Avery left that we've hardly had time to be sad!  We're mostly just excited for her and loving to hear about what she is learning and the experiences she is having!

The young men went shooting.

And to Top Golf.

And the young women did fun stuff, too.

Maren and Ryan started Cross Country and had their first races before school even started.

Ryan looks super tall in this picture!  I don't think it is accurate...

Dustin and I went to Logan for a Wiberg Reunion and Rod's birthday.  We left the kids home with work for Maren, and a cold for Ryan and Grant.  That evening, we helped Rod get his stuff moved into his new house.

We went through the temple with our good friend and neighbor, Todd Parks.  That was really neat.

Grant went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead with his friends.  I'm so thankful for good friends for my kids!

The boys got haircuts before school started!

Grant did a surprise party for his friend Andy.  They kidnapped him.  I did convince them to not let him ride in the back of his mom's van to the bowing alley.

We finally got to talk to Avery!  She is doing so well in Mexico!!  She loves her district and teachers and is learning a lot!  She doesn't love the food, but it is tolerable.  And she's even branching out and trying new things to eat!  She said she liked tamales!  We've talked to her a couple more times, and she is still loving it there.  They've been to the Mexico City Temple twice, which has been neat.  Her Spanish is coming along slowly, but she isn't discouraged.  She leaves for Seattle in just a couple of days, and we're hoping she can hang on to that positive attitude!

Having fun with the facetime.  Once I started the filters, we couldn't figure out how to turn them off, so we were stuck with them.

Back at home we kept having fun, too!  We played tennis.

The kids started school!  Maren is a Senior, Ryan is a Sophomore and Grant is in 8th grade.  It is fun to have Maren and Ryan in the same school this year.

We've had some beautiful sunsets, thanks to our stormy weather for those few weeks.

Maren got asked to Homecoming by our good friend, Max Platt.  They have been friends since they were 4, when we moved here.  His mom, Jen, is one of my best friends.

And, she answered.

So much exhausting fun in August!!