June 2017

June was a pretty exciting month for our family, though we weren't together for most of it.  Here's a breakdown of what happened:

Devin is doing great in Phoenix despite heat so hot that it has melted the mini blinds INSIDE his air conditioned apartment.  I'm not sure how he manages it, but his letters home are always positive and filled with great experiences and personal testimony and growth.  He is happy to be serving as a missionary, for sure.  He has stayed in the same area in Northern Phoenix with the same companion (Elder Velasco) for his whole mission so far, and he is loving it.




The dangers of biking...



Megan spent most of the month in South Africa having the experience of a lifetime.  She loved working with the children, creating beautiful spaces for them to learn, and getting to know other college students from all over the world.









She also had amazing adventure experiences like bungee jumping from the tallest bridge in the world:









Hiking through some beautiful and exotic places





Going on multiple safaris and even interacting with some pretty cool animals along the way.  I'm not sure she loved the part when a group of monkeys ransacked her apartment, but I guess it's all part of the experience.











Megan did so much amazing stuff that there isn't room to write about it all, so you'll just have to ask her about her adventures the next time you see her. :)

I had 3 of my most favorite former Laurels over for a traditional brunch (we try to get together every time they are in town since 2 of them are now married and they are all busy and now living all over the country).  It was so much fun getting together with Alathia, Carly and Jane and getting caught up with them and my former Laurel advisor and friend, Brooke.




Autumn started the month with a week at EFY where she had an amazing time, made tons of new friends and learned a ton!



She and I then spent the next week "together" in Southern California, but really I only saw her a couple of times, even though we were in the same hotel.  She was off with her dance friends having fun at Disneyland, the beach, downtown LA and taking some pretty amazing dance classes at Millennium Dance LA.











Meanwhile, I spent that same week in SoCal with my sister Kim and we had a blast at Disneyland, California Adventure and then took a trip to Harry Potter world at Universal Studios, where I may have geeked out just a little.  We had SO much fun together!!






The girl in the front left seat though...





Meanwhile, that same week, Bryce and Seth went down to Moab for a Stake high adventure activity where they had a great time hiking, biking, repelling, white water rafting, swimming and other adventures too.







A few days after getting home from high adventure, Seth boarded a plane headed to Athens, Greece.  He spent the next 17 days in 11 cities in 4 countries in Europe seeing more art and architecture then even he could handle, though he loved every minute of it.  He came home exhausted and excited to tell us all about his European adventures.  Again, too many experiences to write about here, so you'll have to ask him all about it. :)

Athens:






Delphi:



Florence, Italy:








Rome:



Vatican City:



Sorrento and Pompeii:



Campania:



Paris:









And finally home again:



Since he got home, Seth has gotten a job at Blue Lemon, a cafe close to our house, and also just found out that he earned 5's on all 3 of the AP tests he took this year.  It has been a good month for Seth. :)

While Seth was in Europe and Megan was in Africa, Bryce and I took Autumn and two of her friends, Anna and Jacee, to a condo near Jordanelle Reservoir where we had a fun few days boating on the reservoir, hiking through the mountains (well, Bryce and I went hiking through the mountains while Autumn and her friends had fun on the alpine slide and coaster), swimming and playing games. It was a fun few days!













Megan got home from Africa just in time to celebrate her 23rd birthday with BBQ ribs (smoked all day by Bryce - yum!) and homemade mac and cheese - her favorite and a true Southern meal.  I didn't get a picture of her with all of her friends, but here she is with her balloons. :)



That's it for our exhausting month!! July promises to be just as busy and nearly as fun.  See you all in August!!