Nolan's Temple Day and Other June Stuff

The peninsula at Pratt County Lake has become our happy place in Pratt. On this day, Nolan was stuck in MTC class and Scotty was at work so the other kids and I went over to the peninsula to mess around. We brought Auggie and let him run. We laid out blankets and turned on music and chilled in the shade. The kids started a game of wacking pinecones into the lake with tennis rackets. Colby was hitting golf balls with his driver. And after a while he went and got us lunch and drinks at Sonic. Then Nolan got done with class and came over and suddenly Scotty got off work and showed up. He opened his tailgate for extra seats in the shade (Mae had already abandoned her shirt - too hot!). It didn't take me long to realize that we were having a magical, all-together time - maybe one of our last, so I snapped a picture.

Nolan has now officially received his endowments in the temple. Many of the special people in our lives (Barnes, Hopkins, Karen Barrett, Greens, Kruegers) were with us and prayed with us and put their arms around us, which felt like heaven. Nolan is also now set apart as a full-time missionary. And biggest deal of all...his hair is clean cut and ready to impress people! Things have gotten really real.

June Happenings

Hanna and Jenny went to girl's camp! They both came back glowing with the Spirit and they both bore their testimonies about their Camp experiences in church. Precious girls! Scotty had a mostly chilax Father's Day - I made his favorite dinner and dessert and we also fed Larry and the Phipps and Brother Carver whose family hadn't moved out yet. In other news...Destini got a new job at Walmart!

 

Nolan's Farewell Tour

When Nolan got his mission call, and his departure date became set in stone, I begged Scotty to cancel a trip he had planned to Alaska with his fellowship which would've put him clear across the country for the last ten days of Nolan's stay with us. He was so kind to comply and cancel, but he tried to schedule a replacement trip; something he and I could do with just Nolan instead. He even offered to let Nolan pick the destination - anywhere in the country. Nolan picked Phoenix. It was painful, I know, for Scott to trade Alaska in for Arizona in June, but Nolan was adament about visiting some family and friends and saying some goodbyes. So we did! We had a Wellman gathering at the Nallys that included Melanie and kids, Michael and Shana from Page, and my cutie brothers Jeff, Paul and Mark. We visited the Gordons in Camp Verde at Grandma's house with David and Michael's families. We saw the Sauls and Eastmans in the West Valley and Andy's family in the East Valley. To try and make the whole thing feel like a vacation, we went to Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well, and we spent one night in the WigWam Resort - swam in their fancy pools and played tennis and tried to live it up a little. My personal favorite parts were meeting and holding baby Charly and seeing/hearing Nolan and Sarah talk about their upcoming adventures. Sarah also has a call and is waiting to leave for Washington DC. We laughed about having Gordon missionaries on both coasts. Such cute cousins!