I took this picture of our house on the afternoon of our first day back because I want to remember a few things: First, our sweet neighbors decorated our windows and put a sign on the garage to welcome us back. We seriously loved it so much. It added to the excitement we had felt the night before as we pulled into our driveway. Second, the whole day was like a big party. I don't think that all four outside doors were ever closed at the same time the whole day. Neighborhood friends came and went, scores of popsicles were consumed, and several of my sweet friends popped in throughout the day to let us know we were missed. Third, the grass was sooo soggy from the slip-and-slide being on most of the day. And fourth, while it was incredibly hard to leave our family in Alabama, it was not hard at all to come back. My heart was heavy on that first day thinking about my sister and her sweet girls, the beach, and yes, even the humidity. But as I sat to take a break from unpacking, listening to the washing machine chug away at the backlog of laundry and listening to my kids play with their friends, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for our pleasant life. How blessed we are to raise our kids in this amazing place where good friends and natural beauty abound. Where they can feel the influence of the Holy Spirit daily as they look across the valley to see the Timpanogos Temple shining above the trees. And how blessed we are to have such wonderful family members down South who welcome us into their homes with their ageless Southern Hospitality and let us stay for as long as we want.Here are a few other things that have kept us busy, sort of...
We are enjoying the bounty of our garden...
We attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House as a family... (Trent took this first picture of the Temple.)
Trent went to Scout Camp and on Friday night we drove into the moutains near Mt. Pleasant, UT to attend family night. During the campfire flag ceremony I showed Gavin how to put his right hand over his heart while the flag was being raised, but he looked around and saw all the Scouts saluting, so he came up with his own way of showing respect. Yes, that is dirt on his face. He really enjoyed exploring the camp with Trent and trying to get as dirty as the Scouts were.
And Riley had her annual "I'm going to have my friends over while Trent is at Scout Camp" sleepover. We had about 6 or 7 very loud 11 year-old girls over that night. I only had to remind them that there were missionaries sleeping downstairs about 500 times. That's OK, they are sweet girls and I love every one of them.
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