Brock's Back!

Just two short days after I returned home from Missouri, Clayton's vacation week started and we boarded a plane for Calgary. We missed Brock's actual "coming home" from his mission to Fort Lauderdale, but it was exciting to see him again and listen to his talk in church on Sunday. I could really feel the Spirit, and we are so proud of his hard work in the mission field. I think it is neat that my brother Steven and Brock will be rooming together at BYU, fresh off their Spanish-speaking missions.

Here we are right before church. We have an almost identical picture from before Brock left on his mission (which I couldn't find). I would venture to say that we all look pretty much the same, except that I'm not big and pregnant, Luke is bigger, and Audrey is now a part of the family. Left to right: (back) Bryce, Brock, Clayton, Blake, (front) Kristin, Kayla, Brita, Luke, Becky, Me, Audrey

Here is one with Clayton's Grandparents Salmon.

Welcome Home, Brock!!!

Picture Blitz from Bull Shoals Lake

Steve's drinking what?! Oh, it's only root beer.

Little water baby

Taking four-wheelers down to the dock

On the kids' favorite parts was riding in the back seat of the "jeep" to the dock.

Alex and Luke

Lovin' the lake

Me on my first ski of the year

Steve and Luke

Chillin'

Audrey and Alex

Can you feel the love?

Old pals reunited

Grandpa taking us for a ride

Alex and Audrey

Luke and Steve

Dad loving to drive the boat; Steve skied like he never left

My mom = so buff

Luke helping to drive

Mitch diving off the roof of the dock; too bad it's fuzzy

The girls

Quadruple tubing

So exhausted

Thanks to my parents for letting us visit and share in their lake festivities. We had a blast! Also, thanks to Dave and Kristine Orme for letting the kids and I stay at their house on the ways to and from Missouri. It made the trip so much easier, and we had a really good time hanging out with them at their awesome new house and eating the best breakfast I've ever had. Thanks, guys!

Missouri Pictures

Audrey loving Trouble, and Trouble loving the food that Audrey always trails behind her

I hate that this picture is fuzzy, but I included it anyway because my mom makes the best popcorn. It's always a highlight.

Ping-pong action

Alex and Luke waving at their fans

Rocking it out with rock band

Grandma and Audrey

Mitch the big-time swimmer and Luke in his funny get-up

I'm sad that this is the best picture I got of my aunt Krista and her youngest kids. It was really fun to see her, as she is closer to my age than a lot of my cousins. Her little boy, Parker, was possibly more into the movie Cars than Luke, which is hard to do.

My good-looking folks

Steve's Home!

The kids and I drove down to Missouri a few weeks ago to welcome my brother Steven home from his mission to Chile. We are so proud of him and were really excited to see him. I think my favorite part of it all was being in the room for his release. I wasn't there for that part with my other brother, Chris, and it was such a great spiritual experience. The Stake President talked with him for a few minutes about his mission and his feelings about it. He also read the letter from Steve's Mission President telling us what a great missionary Steve was and how he served the people of Chile and the Lord well. I got a little teary-eyed thinking of how my own wonderful husband (who's birthday I missed for all of this) probably had a similar letter and served the Lord well during his mission, which was a key factor in me choosing to marry him. That may sound weird to someone not of my faith, but I really wanted to marry someone who, not only was I best friends with and in love with, but who had a strong testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and who sacrificed two years of his young life to share that with others.  I realize that missions don't work out with everyone, but I knew that was what I wanted for myself based on my Patriarchal Blessing.  Serving a mission is a very self-less thing to do, and I am so impressed with Steven and his hard work learning Spanish and teaching about Christ for those two years, postponing school and career. Steve bore his testimony to us at the end of the little meeting (in English), and it was so inspiring to feel the missionary spirit and fire. It got me all excited to go home and do better.

Waiting at the airport

Mitchell and Alex, my youngest brothers and future missionaries

There he is!

Here is a picture of all of us who were able to make it to the airport. I like how events like this bring family together. I was able to see my Grandparents Allphin, Uncle Andy, Aunt Krista and three kids, Aunt Diana, Uncle Eric, and my cousin Ammon.

Welcome home, Steve-O!

A Visit From Chris

My AWESOME brother took his one week of vacation to visit us in good, ol' D-town. We don't get a whole lot of visitors (come on, Detroit isn't up there on your to-visit list?), and we were really excited to see him. In fact, we may have been a little bit too excited and smothered him to death. Anyway, we dragged him with us to all of our favorite places: zoo, beach, pool, tennis courts, Pump It Up, and parks. He even managed to eat my sushi without gagging. Thanks for coming, Chris! We had such a great time with you, and feel incredibly honored that you chose to spend your week off with us. We love you!