Our Missionary

I can't believe that one minute we are welcoming a new little baby into our home, and 3 1/2 months later we are sending off our oldest. Yes, it's true. Gavin left exactly 1 week ago today for the England Manchester Mission. He went directly to the England MTC. He will be there for 3 weeks, and then out into the real mission field. I have been completely spoiled while he has been gone because they take pictures almost everyday of what they are doing in the MTC and post them on a website for us to see. I am sure things will be different as soon as he is out in the field, but for now I am loving it!!! He looks so good, and we are so very proud of him and the wonderful choices he is making. We will try to post more, but for now here are some pictures of before he left, and some of him at the MTC.

I had to have a "Behold the Field is White" Picture, and out here in Idaho it was the perfect time of year for one. Lucky me!

 

 

 

At the airport dropping him off. His flight left at 6:45 am, so it was a

pretty early morning for all of us!

 

 

First day there, they decided to take a walk while there was some sunshine. On their way back, the heavens were opened and they were drenched. The MTC presidency helped them towel off their suits. Welcome to England!!

 

28 Missionaries, and 17 countries. Pretty neat!

 

The caption on the website for this one said, "Hi Mom!"

 Boy do I miss my boy!

 

Our New Addition

 

On July 16, 2012 at 2:14 pm we welcomed our sweet little Rebekah to our family. It has been 4 1/2 years since we have had a new little baby in our home, and yet everyone has taken to her so easily. She is a sweet baby that loves having everyone's attention.

 

 

Our Own Flynn Ryder

 Have you seen the movie Tangled? Gavin loves making the "smolder" face of Flynn Ryder. We never have gotten a picture of him doing it, until now. We just received the pictures they took at Prom. (We opted out of the expensive package, and instead one of the girls' mom took the pictures for them.) Here are two pictures one of Gavin doing the smolder to his date, and the other one is of him doing the smolder by himself. The group all thought it was so funny, the photographer took a picture just of him. Handsome guy!

ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS......WOW!!!!!

Have you ever looked at your children and thought, "I wonder which one of us they get that from"? Well Jayson and I are baffled by this child. (Personally I think she gets it from Jayson :))She has definitely got a mind of her own. Elizabeth is now 3 years old and LOVES hats and shoes. She has to dress herself, and changes outfits at least 2 times a day, and nothing ever matches. Her new love is her gum boots or snow boots, and as far as hats, anything goes. Funny, funny girl. She keeps us laughing!

Wow, Time Flies By!

So much has happened, and not enough time to recap. We will just have to start where we are at....

The latest news is that Gavin's High School basketball team won District Champions! They all got to cut a piece of the net, and received a neat key chain that says District Champs.

Since they were District Champs, that meant they also went to State. It was so fun to send them off. First, all of the parents put together baskets for each boy. We had snacks, drinks, a T-shirt, a pillowcase with their name, number, and district picture on the front. Each parent presented it to their son at an assembly put on by the school to send them off. After that the parents all got in their cars and with a police escort at the front of the bus, and one at the end of the parents cars, we followed the bus out of town with sirens going, and horns honking. Sometimes it is really fun to live in a smaller community. They ended up losing their first game, (which they should have won). State jitters I guess. Their second game they won by 20. That let them go on to compete for the consolation prize. They ended up loosing that game by 7. It was still fun for the boys, and exciting to be able to go to State. The pictures of us following the bus out of town are not so great due to cloudy skies, and taking them through my windshield.

Gavin in front of the decorated bus, heading to State

Here is the Sheriff stopping traffic to let the bus on the Highway.

4th of July Celebration!!

For the 4th of July we went to the parade that both Katelyn and Steven were able to participate in. They were both on the 4-H float. Katelyn handed out flyer's while Steven sat on the float waving to all the people. They both had a great time and enjoyed their experience.





After the parade we had the Rhoton's over for some motorcycling around the yard and a BBQ. We had a great time, and only had 1 minor crash (by Christine). The exciting thing for Nathan is that he was able to ride one all by himself. Such fun!! When it became dusk we did fireworks. We had a great time all being together!

There's a Moose in our Yard!!

We looked out the window and what did we see.....a moose in our yard eating my bush!! It was just a young moose that had been out on the highway running through peoples yards, ended up in the horse pasture and was chased out by the horses, then came wandering over into our peaceful yard where he could graze on my bush and enjoy himself. Well that is until Jayson started hitting it with rocks from a sling shot. He finally meandered over to our neighbors yard and eventually went away. Interesting thing is they tranquilized a young moose up on BYU-Idaho's campus just a day later. Wonder if it was the same one. Pretty neat experience.