Maxine at FSY

Maxine signed up to be an FSY counselor again but for less weeks. She went to Orem and Florida. She was in Florida for 3 weeks. She said, "3 incredible weeks with so many amazing children of God. Florida will forever be sacred ground to me." Being an FSY counselor is such hard work. I'm proud of her.

Storytime: Back in the day, Merril and I had some neighbors in Vegas, the Jensens. They had a son that was born around the same time as Maxine. Our kids would play together. They moved away to Northern Nevada and not long after that, we moved to St. George. This is Sam Jensen and Maxine hasn't seen him since we visited their family in February 2013. Fast forward and Maxine found Sam at FSY! She thought she recognized him and then looked at his nametag. They had a fun reunion for a minute and then had to go back to work. 

They were such cute kids! What a small world!

How Can it only be Halfway?

Bro, Jack is halfway done with his mission. I'm not going to lie, halfway is hard for me. It feels like he's been gone forever but he still has the same amount of time before he comes home. 😓 But look at him. He's amazing! He's cruising along, I just have to do the same! This is his new companion Elder Pondaag (pronounced Elder Pondaa) and he is from Indonesia. Jack has had all Filipino companions up until now. Jack is still the DL this transfer. Jack says: "We are going to work hard. Elder Pondaag is one of the most genuine people I've ever met, if Indonesia had teddy bears, he would be one. Anyways he's pretty cool and we are excited for this transfer!"

Even though he's grown and moved out, he's still Jack.

I love to see the real life things over there, like this shop. I always want him to turn the camera around when he's out and about.

I swear ice cream is the only dairy product he gets over there. He takes a lot of pictures with soft serve ice cream. One more year until I get my hug!

 

Girl's Camp 2025

Girl's Camp this year was ward camp. It was fun to be up there with Mikayla but also was a lot of work. Our location was changed last minute and was a scramble to find a new place. There's another camp site on Kolob called Deer Haven and it was great. I'm struggling with my calling a little, only because I don't like to be in charge. Being the young women's president means I have to be in charge. It's getting better but I just want someone to tell me what to do. 

Mikayla took a film camera and these are some of the goofy pics. I love the effect.

Adventures on the way to Mt. Ranier

Merril was working the Mt. Ranier race and Maxine and Fei tagged along to help drive and visit Bri. Mt. Rainier in the background.

This is after the race in Seattle.

Dad was like, I swear I was there.

Yo!!! They found the amazing Ranier cherries and pretty flowers that they brought home. 

Mark and I ended up going to the lake. It was a nice evening.

Juliet's Adventures in Tennessee

Juliet is so cute taking Teddy for a bike ride.

Teddy and Juliet found a town called Mt. Juliet!

Megan and Lucas went to Nashville for and overnighter and Juliet watched the kids without them.

They watched fireworks on the 4th of July.

They took her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and they rode mountain bikes.

They stayed in Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg.

Juliet has been able to go to the temple outside of Nashville.

They went to multiple games of Nashville SC.

One of the last weekends Juliet was there, they went to downtown Nashville. There was this cute truck with flowers.

 

They've been taking good care of Julie. It's fun to see her have adventures without us.

Temple Trip!!

It's so fun to go to the temple with everyone! We took the littles to do baptisms at the St. George Temple! It was not busy and we had a nice little trip!

 

Independence Day Weekend

Juliet was able to fly home with Teddy for the 4th of July weekend. Teddy was spending time with his grandparents, Mary and Ethan. Juliet got to spend the week with us.

We went to the river.

She went to the temple with Will, Alicen, Nicole, and Nathan.

We went to the parade on the morning of the 4th.

Then went to ride dirt bikes.

We went to the lake that weekend and I found 2 wedding bands at the beach. One I just noticed and the other, I was lying in the sand and just felt it with my fingers.

Maxine was at FSY during the 4th of July so we didn't spend it with her.

Fireworks at the island were spectacular as always.

Talon came to the island with us. I swear he's going to drown one of these years.

While she's been home, Mark has been glued to her side. Mark has really missed her being gone.

We also had some sushi while she was here.