50 Years

Happy 50th Anniversary, mom and dad! I'm so glad you were married for forever. Anything less wouldn't be long enough. Even though dad is gone for now, I know we'll be together again.

XO

Pioneer Trek

My boys have had quite a week! Monday morning they left for Mammoth Cave in Kentucky with their Scout troop. They went caving and hiking and pretty much wore themselves out until they left for home on Wednesday morning. They got home in time for lunch then hurried to repack and switch to pioneer gear before they headed out that same afternoon for our stake's youth conference Pioneer Trek.

For the next three days, they pulled handcarts, danced, cooked and ate in the great outdoors, and tried to stay dry during a thunderstorm. And you know what? They loved it! They all had a great time honoring our many pioneer ancestors.

This is my favorite photo from trek. Don't my boys just look the part? I love that Jeff was with them, too.

The whole group:

Here is Spencer (far right) with his trek family.

This is part of Sterling's trek family. It's hard to tell with the smoke (though I love the effect), but Sterling is second to the right. His Ma and Pa are in the center.

Soren (left) with part of his trek family:

A couple of months before trek, the youth were encouraged to submit stories from their pioneer ancestors. Here, Spencer is sharing one of the submitted stories.

Here, Soren is helping his "family" stabilize the handcart as they walk down a hill.

On the last day, on a steep segment of the trail, the girls had to pull the handcarts alone while the men and boys watched helplessly. My boys said that as each group of girls reached the summit, they left their handcarts and hurried to help the girls still on the trail.

An Early-Morning Walk

Sadie and I are enjoying some girl time this week while the boys are off camping. The boys headed out bright and early this morning so Sadie and I headed out, too, for a beautiful morning walk. Last week we had some serious humidity (over 90%) that made it pretty miserable to be outside for very long. Today, the humidity has been between 30 and 40 percent which makes a world of difference. 

Here are a few photos from our stroll along the walking/bike trail near our house:

We're hoping for another beautiful day tomorrow! :)

Where in the World? Spencer Edition

Imagesource

Here we go again! Spencer's mission papers have been submitted and he's waiting for his mission call. It'll probably take two or three weeks so we're taking guesses while we wait. Leave a comment below with where you think Spencer will be assigned to serve for the next 2 years. (For a list of all 421 missions, click here.) We did this with Sam back here. No one guessed correctly that time around (Arizona Mesa Mission). Maybe we'll have better luck this time!

I'm excited for Spencer. I know he'll be a great missionary! If you want more information about the missionary program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, here's a pretty good overview. You can watch a 5-minute video about missionary work here.

Here are the guesses so far, in no particular order:

1. Texas

2. Finland

3. Hong Kong

4. Ireland

5. Brazil

6. Guatemala

7. Chile

8. Australia

9. Switzerland

10. Japan

11. Arizona

12. Malaysia

13. England

14. Alaska

15. Albania

16. France

17. Iowa

18. Russia

19. California

20. Hawaii

21. Mexico

22. China

23. Spain

24. Scotland

25. Argentina

26. Denmark

27. Florida

28. Democratic Republic of the Congo

29. Jamaica

30. Estonia

31. Czech Republic
32. Vancouver, Canada
33. Honduras
34. Ecuador
35. Louisiana
36. Utah
37. South Africa
38. Germany
39. South Korea
40. India
41. Washington DC

Keep them coming! I'll update the list as we go. 

Sunflowers

Last summer, one of the farmers up the road planted sunflowers all along the street edge of his field. There must have been a quarter mile of sunflowers. It was such a happy sight every time we headed north.

As we drove along the main road the other day, we were excited to see that the sunflowers are back. No blooms yet, but it won't be long! :)

Tshotsholoza

We are 10 days into our summer break and enjoying every minute!

I had grand intentions for my blog during May, but between recitals, concerts, church functions, graduation and celebrations, our calendar was CRAZY! Blogging definitely took a backseat. I know myself well enough to not make any promises for June, but I'm hoping to post more consistently. We've had lots of happiness around here!

For now, enjoy Soren's shining moment from his middle school choir concert last month. It's a fun African song and I think he did a great job! :)