Work, work, work!

We spent all of last week working hard on the road. Our ward had a priesthood camp out at the property this past weekend and we needed to get the road in for them to access the camping area. We also spent time knocking down what I refer to as "devil trees." Actually, I think they are hawthorns, but they are horribly thorny and everywhere! I knock them down with the tractor and haul them to a burn pile. Long, hard days! Sometimes we ask ourselves, "What we're we thinking?!!" I'm sure one day we will look back on all of this and be grateful for the property, but WOW it's a lot of work. I don't know how the pioneers did it without the big heavy equipment that we get to use.

WOW! No driver's permit, but boy can he drive a steam roller!

Dad had fun on it also!

Too much sun so Dad decided to wear a straw hat.

McKay thinks he looks like Twinkie the Kid.

What do you think?

Knocking down trees...

...scooping them up...

...and dumping them in the burn pile! Gotta love the tractor!

Mission Life, Part 2

Apparently, Ammon sent some pictures to us, and some pictures to Becca. (Not enough internet time to send all to both.) So, we have exchanged pictures and now we have him doing his laundry. Looks like fun!

Wash cycle.

Rinse cycle.

Prep for the dry cycle. Just a note: He lives in a second story apartment.

Where are the guardrails?!!

Dry cycle...as long as it doesn't rain.

Alternate dry cycle...when it does rain!

Successfully clean!

Mission Life

We were excited to get actual pictures from Ammon in the mission field. In case you didn't know, Ammon is serving in Brazil in the Porto Alegre North Mission. He is loving the experience and learning the Portuguese language. We are so thankful that he has chosen to serve a mission and we, as a family, enjoy the blessings as a result of that choice. He is keeping a positive attitude and has set a goal to never discouraged while he is on his mission. Right now he is in a small town called Montenegro. The ward is small and they don't really have a youth group, but he and his companion are working on changing that.

Not sure what the green stuff is....we'll have to ask him about it.

He and his companion were making some kind of dessert.

Elder Cummock from Tennessee. He is at the end of his mission,

and Ammon is the first American companion he has had.

I like how they made the dessert in a plastic shoe box container.

Missionary creativity!

Seminary Graduation and Awards

Another milestone....Moroni graduated from seminary! He had a few (okay, about 30) make-ups to do from a previous year, but was determined to finish them in time to graduate. It was crunch time, but he made it! We are so proud of him.

McKay also did awesome with seminary, earning the Stake President's Award. He had to read 200 days, complete the Book of Mormon, memorize all 25 scripture masteries, and memorize the first presidency and the apostles. It was also crunch time for him the last couple of days. He knocked off 13 scriptures masteries in two days! We are proud of him also.

Hyrum, the Man!

A few weeks ago, Hyrum was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Needless to say, we were pretty devastated. Hyrum, though, has handled everything remarkably well! He doesn't ever complain about getting shots, and he insists on testing his own blood sugars. I am amazed on how well he has accepted this life changing event. Every morning when he gets up, we ask, "How are you doing this morning?" And he ALWAYS responds, "I'm doing great!" We think he is pretty great!

Eagle Board of Review

Moroni passed his Eagle board of review! Now we just have to get word from nationals so he can officially hold his court of honor. Yahoo!