First Day Of School

Last night was back to school night where the Elementary Kids got to meet their teachers.  Bailee has Mrs. Lepein.

and Jeremy has Mrs. Brough:

This morning, Matt got up super early to make breakfast.  After scriptures, Brady showed up at our door to whisk Gabrielle away to her first day of her last year of high school.

There was still some time left before the bus was to show up, so the kids said their goodbyes.

We are ready for another really great year!

Get Your Gun

Our third annual birthday play for Verena was this past Monday.  We decided to head back up to Sundance to see Annie Get Your Gun.  We started off with dinner at the smoking apple.  Very tasty BBQ in Orem.  Then we headed up the canyon.

Mace parked the car and headed to the amphitheater while we went to get our tickets.  While we were waiting for a ride, we spotted a lovely new ride for Makena.

We were a little late for the performance, but it was amazing!  The music was perfect!

Dustin and Makena decided last minute to join us, so they were on the comfy blankets in the grass:

While Verena and I were on uneven wood benches.  After the performance, we stopped at Sonic and took the long way home as per our tradition. 

It was a great date night, and we are so glad to have such great friends to celebrate with.

Demolition Derby

August 10th was the demolition derby.  After a 1 year of nonsense, I was ready for it to be over.  It was quite an anxious 10 minutes.

After it was over, we headed back to the pit for one last look and then headed home.

First Temple Trip

So the Monday after Gabrielle got baptized she asked me to call the Manti Temple so she could do baptisms for the dead, and of course I was happy to oblige.  However, when I called the only opening that week was for 7 AM on Friday morning.  So we picked up Jessica and Brady and headed over the temple.  They were super excited for the trip.

Because it was just the 3 of them, it was a super short session that only lasted an hour.  Then we decided to walk around the grounds for a bit since it was so fast.

Then we hopped in the care and headed home.  I was glad that Jessica came, although she wasn’t stoked I took a picture of her.

So I decided to add a little pizzazz!

It was a great morning, and it is always a good thing when you start your morning out by serving in the temple.  We hope to have many baptism temple trips in the future!

Farewell Elder Meeks

The Monday before Elder Meeks left, we all got together and played a farewell game of Settlers of Catan.

The Tuesday after Gabrielle got baptized, Elder Meeks was transferred to Cedar City.  We were so glad that he was able to share Gabrielle’s special day with us, and we were also able to drive him down to Salina for transfers.

So after we stopped off at a school for a goodbye hug, we dropped them off with the rest of the missionaries were getting transferred. 

We headed home after a teary goodbye.  Although Elder Meeks was only around for a month, hopefully he will always be a special part of our family.

We LOVE you Elder Meeks!