Sunflower Preservation!

It has been so long since we have driven the side by side that these sunflowers have popped up and grown massive. We didn’t want to destroy them, so Kyle and Ben jumped in the side by side and tried to drive straight up the hill on the side of our driveway. Norah pleaded against it as she had tried and failed earlier in the summer, but the boys were determined!  It took a funny video, throwing the side by side into 4 wheel drive and huge wheel marks in the yard to finally get up, but the sunflowers were saved!

Smores Asthetic!

These two supermodels struck this pose on their own after we loaded everything we needed to enjoy the stage 1 fire restrictions. With the ban on fires lifted we made an effort to get s’mores on the menu tonight. It was a perfect night, chilly but not cold. Ben regretted his shorts and tshirt on the ride home, but was comfy at the blazing fireside. 

Cereal Twins!

We got some Cinnamon Toast Crunch for our Sunday morning treat and when Ben pulled out the box I couldn’t help but snap this picture, the faces are identical!!

Temple Trip!

Today we had our first trip to the temple without Jack and Ava. Kyle filled in perfectly, but our smaller group went through pretty quick!  We had Mo Bettah’s beforehand and then zipped home to watch Inception. It was a fun Saturday!

Movie Night!!

Norah decided to hang with us today and go see the new Superman movie. No one loved the movie, but it was so fun to be out together and to eat popcorn!!  The theatre is doing a showing of all the lord of the rings movies right now, so these guys got to pose with gandolf and the defibrillator. 

2nd Temple Trip

These guys went to the mount Timpanogas temple today for pday!  Best part was Jack finally took a picture of just him and his Companion, Elder Shineque. 

HIM!

There was only guy in this crowd of girls and it was Ben, the guy all the girls were motioning and waving to across the gym. Kyle and I were watching the game and then all of sudden we looked around and Ben was gone. We found him nestled in with this group of girls. Apparently he is pretty popular with the ladies at Morgan. No surprise there!  

These guys were cheer battling with the entire Farmington football team from across the gym. It was absolutely heart warming to see so many giant athletes doing cheers and getting crazy for their girls volleyball team. When they left after second set, we got some confidence and destroyed in third set. It wasn’t enough though and we crumbled to a 1-4 loss against 0-7 Farmington. The girls were not playing their best and might have been a little sick still from last weekend!

So Tired!

Ben is really enjoying Morgan, but missing all his summer sleep in days. He caught up a bit today on our way to Norah’s volleyball game. 

HOCO 2025!

Tonight while I was barely in bed and Kyle and Ben were in their way home from vball practice in London there was a knock at the door.  A knock at 10:45 at night is usually not answered, but a second knock brought Norah to the front door to see her friend Lincoln standing outside with this poster in his hands.  He asked if she could go to homecoming with her and she of course said yes! I love that he was thoughtful and creative enough to make a volleyball themed poster!

Norah was busy the rest of the week playing catch up with the school she missed and playing a volleyball game at Farmington that she did not have time to make a poster to answer him. When she finally got around to it, her skills shone with this frosted cake themed poster. Love it!

Our Other Angel!

Jack and Ava are both Angels of the Lord for choosing to serve him full time for years!  It is amazing to see them make this choice against all odds and to see them thrive and learn and grow while doing it is a testament of the importance of the work of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and how He blesses you for it! 

While on my call with Ava today she was looking down at a scrapbook she’s been working on during her mission and I took this screenshot of her with her halo!  She looks like the angels from paintings from long ago. 

Haircuts!

Kyle and I both got haircuts the day after Jack went into the MTC. Both of us have been putting off life stuff this summer in attempt to soak up every second as a family.  This morning, Kyle’s haircut was looking so good!  

Norah has been gone at a tournament since the day after Jack left. Ben was so glad she came home yesterday and we were all glad that she came home feeling good after having the stomach flu along with 21 other girls on the team. Two of the coaches got sick too and the tournament would not allow the Morgan teams to compete. Kind of a busy weekend, but the team bonded over it and all the time they spent together at the house in St George instead of playing volleyball. 

Cloudy!

The rain and clouds that have been hanging around have really summed up the mood in the house. Norah is at a vball tournament with her high school team and Ben is hanging with Kyle and I. Ulli doesn’t mind how quiet things are, but the rest of us are really noticing. 

1st Temple Trip

After only two days in the MTC Jack had a pday, we got to talk and then he and a ton of other missionaries got to go to the temple!  Such a sweet picture of these guys. They are all friends and are really enjoying being together!!

Sister Murri!

Although Ava and Sister Murri will, hopefully, only be together for one transfer, they have made the best of life in Neumünster and being together.  Ava has learned so much from every companion and Sister Murri has been no different.  Sister Murri is one transfer older than Ava on the mission so Ava has been taking notes of what she should do next transfer!

 

The District

The only thing helping me feel a little less depressed is seeing how happy Jack is at the MTC. He has been super great about posting pictures on his Google album and Kyle and I have been loving it every time one pops up!  Jack is always in the middle of the group photos!!

Card

When we got home there was a cute package on our doorstep. It was a box of Kleenex and thus beautifully watercolored card. I have the most creative friend!!

MTC Photos!

We knew what to expect in the garage under the MTC and we got our picture taken and then were told we needed to wrap it up because there were lots of people coming.  Jack got whisked away by an elder going to Paris, and we tried to watch him go as we drove away.  

We hit traffic the whole way home and by the time we reached the valley no one wanted to go boating or smile. We decided to get some Ogden valley pizza and stay home. The missionary is excited and surrounded by so many new things while the family is just left with a hole in their hearts and in their home. 

Brothers

Seeing these guys get so close this year and become the best of friends only made this goodbye even harder. Ben has been dreading this day and here it is. Having Jack gone for Ben’s freshman and sophomore year is going to be hard as Ben figures out who he is without a big brother there to guide him. Having a missionary big brother will be helpful in a different way, though. Jack won’t be there in person, but he will be such a good example from Italy and when these two are reunited it will be so sweet to see!!

Loved Seeing This

These two have spent more time together than any other siblings during all their time at Morgan. Somehow they never got that close and really were not very close by choice. It was sad to see them miss out on such a good relationship with each other. But in the end they had their moment together and hugged as tightly as the rest of us. 

One of the best moments of Jack’s farewell talk was when he addressed Ben and Norah from the pulpit and said, “We’ve had our good days and our bad days, but everyday was an adventure and I will miss you both very much.”

Not as Hard

Jack had an appointment in San Francisco in a couple weeks that Kyle planned a business around. The two of them will see each other, sit next to each other on the plane, share a hotel and be together the whole time. I’m not sure knowing that made this goodbye any easier. 

Jack-wich

Kyle came over and we made a Jack sandwich. We just hugged each other and wept. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow both flowed. It has taken every effort kyle and I could muster to help Jack get to this point in his life. It was a journey we started 18 years ago, but somehow I’m not sure we did enough. We love our son and we want him to go, but his immediate absence will be large and very noticeable. 

Hard

After I sent Ava the picture of the funny bumper sticker I came over to Jack under this giant tree where our giant was crying.  We hugged for a long time saying wonderful words to each other.  He told me thanks for being such a good example and I told him how proud I am of him and not to forget about us.

It was the longest embrace I’ve ever had with Jack and I never wanted it to end. We switched to a side hug afterwards and cried some more. 

Funny!

It is BYU education week right now, so the campus was packed, including the church parking lot where we said bye to Ava last year.  We drove around to the back of the building though to find a peaceful grassy area with few cars around. We parked and then I noticed this bumper sticker. It made me laugh before I started crying. 

Family Picture!

In spite of all these smiles, we were all tearing up before and after lunch. 2 years feels like an eternity!  The group of kids inside noticed us taking a ton of pictures and decided to smile along, so glad they didn’t ruin this one with something obnoxious.

Tradition!

On our way to Provo, we had to stop at a bank with a notary to get some stuff ready for Jack’s visa appointment.  It wasn’t a quick stop, but it was a success!  Afterwards we started our drive and to ease some of the tension we played the alphabet game and were able to get completely through it 5 times!  It was a long drive!

When we dropped Ava off last year, we stopped at Dave’s hot chicken in Orem just off the freeway first.  Today Jack didn’t have much of an appetite, but we all ate something.

 

First Goodbye

This morning the feeling of unease was palpable.  We all felt it and we knew there was absolutely nothing we could do about it.  Jack was up and finished packing before breakfast.  We hung around until about 10:15.  Norah and Ben got to sleep in, and then the beginning of the end started with Jack’s goodbye to Ulli.

After that happened we had our last family prayer together and Kyle started crying. Afterwards I needed a minute to pull myself together. Then we all piled into the car and were on our way to Provo.  

Platinum Friends!

The Davis team had two players from Norah’s club team playing in addition to another teammate who plays with Norah at Morgan. The coaches from the team came out to watch these four girls play huge roles in the game tonight. So fun to have a mini reunion especially since two of the girls aren’t playing club vball this year due to being seniors and Norah is playing for a different coach this season and Ruby is playing at different club. 

Big Example!

Jack ran into one of his old basketball teammates after the game tonight. It was fun to see him tower of this guy and even more fun to hear him tell Jack how cool it was that he was heading to the MTC tomorrow. Jack is such a huge example, literally!

Ballers!

We were missing our setter, but these three hit some amazing balls today. Jack and Ben were at the church gym before we came to Norah’s game and watched her crush it in varsity with 5 blocks 4 kills and 2 digs against 6A Davis in 3 sets!!

Conehead!

Jack and I headed down to get organized so he could pack everything today and when I looked up from the medicine kit I was making for him, he was donning his cone!  He looks like the tallest elf on the planet!  Ben was too cool to join in the fun!

Schultütes!!

Of course we had to have our favorite German back to school tradition!  Jack’s was filled with socks for his mission while Norah and Ben finally got some new Nike socks!  I also threw in some gummies for each cone. I made coordinating bracelets for the boys that look cool and also have a special nod to our party of six that they can rock together on opposite sides of the world. Norah got a silver version of Ava’s favorite cross necklace as well as some new hair ties. Love this tradition!

Back to School!

With everything going on with sending Jack off, I’ve been super distracted and these guys didn’t get to take their back to school picture this morning when they left. I remembered while they were driving to Morgan, and we decided to take one as soon as they got home. 

It was for the best after all, because this morning Ben was a zombie from a horrible nights sleep and a run in with a smoke detector battery at 12:30am as well as completely freaked about starting at a new school. 

After school ended though, Ben was all smiles thanks to an amazing day that left his social battery completely drained!  It’s not soooo bad being the new kid, especially if you are as cool as this guy!

Freezing!

With our temple trip and all our errands, I had to take Ava’s call on the road. Our reception is so spotty around here that she kept freezing. It must have been so annoying for Ava, but I kept seeing this adorable face each time!!

Last Trip!

First day of school for Norah and Ben means last temple trip for Jack, Kyle and I. We were able to enjoy our time together in the house of the Lord and then got some pictures taken for Jack’s visa and picked up his immunization record. 

Summer Sendoff!

Today is Jack’s last day of home MTC and Norah and Ben’s last day of summer.  To celebrate Morgan high scheduled Chromebook pick up and ID/yearbook pictures. Norah and Ben both had practice and Jack had most of the day off. We tried to hit a lot of notes by taking Norah to her favorite noodle lunch spot at Layton hills mall and checked out the record store while we were there.  

After some homemade tacos and tortillas Kyle headed to a coaches’ meeting at Morgan, Norah came home from practice and the boys and I headed to Ben’s practice. Jack decided it would be more fun to sit in the car with Ben and I than at home by himself. Kyle picked him up after his meeting and Kyle, Norah and Jack played Wii golf to wrap up the day. 

 

Windy Game!!

This morning at 6:45, these two headed through the canyon to play 9 holes at El Monte Golf Course in Ogden. It was so windy around the mouth of the canyon that these guys stopped taking score all together and Kyle started holding onto his head; which he still lost about 4 times.  Memorable morning for sure!!

 

Missionaries!

Today we were able to attend Ben Calvert’s farewell followed immediately by Tenni Lighthall’s homecoming. During the open house at the Lighthall’s Ava called and we all had a chance to talk to her and see her smiling face. We didn’t want to lose her on our way home, so we stopped at our church parking lot and Jack wrapped up with her. 

For Jack’s last Sunday dinner Kyle made some chicken curry with Jasmine rice and cooked up some frozen spring rolls. We ate it all and then went on another family walk tossing the frisbee and football along our path. 

BJ’s Cookie Shack!

Ben is exited to take over Jack’s successful cookie venture and made a batch today when we got home from Logan. He helped Jack with cookies at the beginning of the month and is on his own now!!

Angie’s!

After the temple we were all starving, so we headed to our favorite spot in Logan; Angie’s. We all overate the delicious breakfast dishes. Jack’s peach pancakes looked picture-perfect!

We picked up Jack’s shirt and then headed to smiths and then home for some homemade fish and chips and a family walk!

Family Temple Trip

We decided to make a day trip out of our need to head to Logan to swap one of the shirts Jack got from Levens that was the wrong size. Our first stop was the Logan temple. It has been awhile since we have been to this temple, such a historic building. 

Champions!!

After a nearly 10 hour day on Thursday, Jack wrapped up today around 5:30.  We had some Mexican food for dinner before zooming to Morgan for Jack’s last open gym with his teammates.  Kyle enticed most of the boys with the promise of passing out the championship rings and ring-shaped refreshments.  Everyone was pumped about the rings and it was super memorable to watch Ben setting Jack for multiple kills in a scrimmage.  When the “too cool” guys left we took this tough picture with the rings!