Welcome Home!

Ethan spoke in our ward and did an amazing job.  He talked about faith and how Christ is the center of everything.  It was a great talk and I was impressed with how eloquent he was when he spoke.  You could tell he had matured a lot during his mission. 

"The Boys": Brennon Brown, Monte Evans, Duncan Richey, Ashton Thayne, Ethan, and Ivan Dodds.

Sunday evening, we had people over to welcome Ethan home.  A group of his friends came and camped out all evening long.  They had a great time talking about things that had changed and catching Ethan up on the happenings while he was gone.  Many other ward members showed up to say hi.  We had ice cream as a treat.

Ethan said he now feels like he is officially home.

Family pictures

I wanted to get family pictures taken before things got crazy and right when Ethan got home from his mission.  A girl who grew up in our neighborhood is a photographer so I scheduled it with her.  We were going to have pics taken at Ivins Reservoir but there were too many people there.  She suggested we go to Snow Canyon and I am so glad we did.  She knew of a really cool place that made for great pics.

Pine Valley

Grandma and Grandpa Pack were here for Ethan's welcome home.  We decided to get out of the heat and go to Pine Valley for dinner.  We loaded up the dutch ovens, our shade tent, chairs, and some games.  We were taking a chance because it was a busy weekend and there weren't any open spots to reserve.  We drove around and wondered if we had made a mistake when we saw a campsite open.  After talking to the camp host, she directed us to an even better spot.  We paid for an overnight spot (even though we weren't going to use it overnight, it was the only thing we could find) and set up to start our dutch oven dinner.

Grandma and Grandpa Oman and Aunt Leigh Ann came up and we all had dinner together.  We played games, talked, looked around, and then came back home.  It was so nice to sit in the cooler weather of Pine Valley and just visit.

Senior lunch

The YW leaders wanted to get to know the older girls a little better.  They decided to have a senior lunch but then invited all the older girls, so it should have just been a lunch.  We went to the Homestead Cafe which has baked treats.  It is really popular so a lot of people were there.  We snagged a table outside and then went to order.  It was kind of hot to be sitting outside but we made due.

We have some great girls in our ward and it was fun to sit and chat with them.  They are so busy that Wednesday nights don't always work. 

Civil War display

At the St. George Tabernacle, there was a display of Civil War memorabilia that I wanted to see.  It was on display for the 4th of July so we decided to go see it.  They had flags from all different times in the history of the US.  They had the cuffs that Lincoln was wearing when he was killed.  They had the history of the flag on display also.  Then they had this...

 I had NO IDEA that Darth Vader and Superman were in the Civil War!  That wasn't something my teachers ever taught me in history class. ;)  I don't know why those were part of the display but they were the original ones used in the movies so that was cool to see.

4th of July

 Our usual 4th of July tradition is to bike to Snow Canyon and have cinnamon rolls.  We didn't want to bike this year because it was hot, but we decided to go disc golfing (so Ethan could show off his skills) and have cinnamon rolls.  I woke up early to make the cinnamon rolls, then we loaded in the van and went to Mathus Park where they have disc golf set up.

When we got there, we found the first hole and started.  Ethan showed us all how it was done.

Ethan knew what he was doing and Bryan got the hang of it, but Courtney and I had a rough time getting the disc to go where we wanted it to.  Luckily, it was a forgiving course and we weren't keeping track of throws.  We had a lot of fun and the course was pretty small.  Ethan did have to ask a couple of times where the next hole was.  People are super nice and one man gave us a run down of where all the holes were.  It was a fun morning.  We then ate our cinnamon rolls and went home.

Church

I had to take a pic of the first Sunday that we were all back together.  This was Ethan and Courtney as they were walking to Church.

Some things don't change.  When Ethan showed up at Church, they asked if he would help by blessing the sacrament.  He slipped right back into the role he had in our ward before his mission.  It was fun to see him do it once again.

A lot of people were gone because it was the holiday weekend, but it was good to see all the people who welcomed Ethan home.  The ward certainly has changed since he has left.