Sign Language Final

This one is for you Joseph Featherstone! Hope it's good:) Thanks and have a great summer!!

Some of Kates cool art

This is Kate at the Springville Museum with her piece that recieved an honorable mention. This is her first ever pastel and it ended up in the biggest high school art show in Utah and was it the top 40 out of over 800 entries. This is a cool photo that Kate took of Dave's dad's bee truck.

This is her first ever pastel of herself. It has been in 3 art shows and has placed in all three.

This is her first charcoal of Haili and Alise.

I should have been driving her to art lessons instead of piano. (although she plays very well).

We don't know where this talent came from because her parents screw up stick people.

Another one down

Graduation pictures done so well by Shana once again.

So it has been so long since I have blogged, I'm not sure I remember how. Daniel has been out a little over a year now and is doing very well. Even survived the Swine Flu (we think anyway).

Kaitlin graduated this year in June and we are very proud of her accomplishments. Some of her highschool highligts were, cheer, sigh language president, and her art pieces that won some awards. I can't believe she is already grown up and graduated. The years went very for me, but I'm excited for her to move on to college and experiece that fun. Shana took her senior pictures and did an amazing job for us.

Lake Powell minus one

So we went to Lake Powell again in August, and it has to be the best time of year to go. The water was 79 to 83 degrees and the days were 95 to 100. The nights cooled off enough to sleep great and it wasn't very crowded (maybe due to gas prices). Any way August is my favorite month, because I love the heat. Bring it on...














Almost lost one.

Kaitlin got to drive the boat by herself because her parents were holding on to dear life. JK, she did a great job.













Alise finally got up and stayed up for a while. All with out a single tear. After that we couldn't get her out of the water. She must have gone 15 times.














Haili wanted to learn to slolomn and got up on her third try.














Kate has been slolomning for a few years and poped right up. Kinda like riding a bike I guess.





It was weird without Daniel and we missed him. He always wanted to go first and this time no one wanted to go first, so Dave finally went. Every one had more time to do what they wanted, cuz Daniel used to eat up alot of time. He'll only miss one summer though and soon he'll be back hoging the water again.

Life in the MTC

Fan mail, how old are Daniels girlfriends anyway?

I didn't really think he would actually use the 4th of July stuff, but he seemed to have some fun with it.

Daniel Rigby has been a friend of Daniels since they were 4 years old. I was cool that they left only a week apart and then ended up in rooms right next to each other. Rigby is going to Florida, spanish speaking. He's been a great friend to Dan.
















If there's a will, there's a way.

Life in the MTC is good. Daniel has found some really neat guys there that he hangs with. Also, he has learned some magic, because there is no way he could do a back flip by himself. He says that it's not as bad as he was expecting and likes most of his instructors. It seems that no matter where they are, boys will be boys. Three of the top missionaries are also writing Kaitlin. The red head is his companion. He just can't seem to get away from them. (his two best friends are red heads).

Sending Daniel Off!

So Wednesday, the 25th of June, finally came. We had waited 41/2 months for this day that seemed so far away, and yet here it was. We started out the day packing, because Daniel had so many visitors the night before, we didn't get it done. It's really hard to fit 2 years of stuff into 2 suitcases. I'm sure when he leaves for Mexico, we'll have to pay that heafty fine for having suitcases that weigh to much. After he was already to go, David gave Daniel a very beautiful blessing and then we had a close family prayer. This is when I started to cry.

We all piled into the truck and headed out, but not before stopping at the Maveric for one last "real Coke".

Daniel couldn't be dropped off at the MTC because it happened to be new Mission Presidents training, so we had to go to a nearby church where they had tents set up for the luggage and nametags. We dropped off his luggage first and then got his nametag (which he couldn't read). It seemed really offical then. He looked like a real missionary.




After he had his name tag on we headed into the church with his sisters clinging to him and his mom savoring every last moment.

Inside was the usual meeting where they sing Called to Serve, and then they show a video of life in the MTC. I'm still crying, only harder now. They tell me that I'm handing my son over to the Lord now and that he will be in very good hands. I believe them, and I'm very proud to there with him, but by the end, we were all crying,(even Dave) and it was so hard to say good by for 2 years. Daniel cried alittle and told everyone he loved them and then he wiped his tears, held his head up high, and headed out the side door. I can still see him walking through that door and then disappering. I am grateful that he decided to go and I know we will be blessed because of this and I'm also grateful that I'm not sending him to Iraq. I can't imagine how all the mothers and wife's do that. I'm sure with time I won't miss him as much I can't wait to hear of his experiences and adventures. And as life goes, I'm sure these two years will go by quickly and he'll be back a better and stronger man because of it. You are in our prayers and thoughts always and we can't wait to see you in 2 years.