Parker's mission farewell

 

I love how Parker's mission pictures turned out! Our cousin April @aprilannphoto took them for us. 

We chose to take them at our new temple in Saratoga Springs. 

Parker looked good in all of his pictures. He looks like he should be a suit model. 

It was fun to take some pictures with his Argentine flag. 

Parker's mission farewell was on Sunday July 30th. Parker gave a beautiful talk in church.  I had many friends tell me that they appreciated his honesty and humility.  Our neighbor Brandi sent me this message, "I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed Parker's talk today.  I'm so thankful he shared his trials leading up to and after his decision to serve. Such a great guy!"

I took this picture of Parker when he arrived out our house after church. I loved that everyone was clapping and cheering for him!

Parker put his cousin Austin up on his shoulders. Parker loves his cousins!

It was awesome to see how many of Parker's friends came to support him. I love this picture of all of "Da Boys"!

It was fun to have Kenna's friends there too. Tessa has know Parker since he was a little boy.  

It was nice to have Kenna and Bryson home for the weekend. They were really helpful with getting things ready for his farewell party. 

I love getting hugs from my grown up boy.  I'm so happy that he is making good choices in his life.

Parker passed on his Great Grandpas bomber jacket to cousin Brady. It was a fun moment. 

We appreciate all the love and support from Mike and Amy's family. 

It was fun having Kayley there with us too. We missed having Grandpa and Grandma Loni with us but are grateful that they are serving in Chile. We audio recorded Parker's talk and sent it to them. 

I love this picture of Parker with some of his friends from our old neighborhood. 

Parker was happy to have his cousins Tucker and Aubrey come to his farewell. 

Heather and Dan's family drove all the way back from the mid west just to make it to his farewell. 

I love this picture that Heather took of her kids hugging Parker. I know that they look up to him. 

Parker's girlfriend, Zoey, came over later that afternoon. She bought him several ties for his mission. 

 Zoey's parents also came over too. Danae made some rice crispy treats to share. We enjoyed talking with them. 

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Ken were happy to be there. Parker is their oldest grandson and the first grandson to serve a mission. 

It was good to get some pictures of our family taken. We had to bribe Hayden to get his church clothes back on. 

We enjoyed hearing Parker speak and share his testimony. He is excited and ready to serve. I know that he will impact many people for good. We loved celebrating him today!

July happenings

 

On July 6th we were in Draper so I took Hayden and Addy to try Bahama Bucks shaved ice. 

My friend Liz was in Utah visiting her family. It was a good reason to get together and hang out on July 7th. We ate dinner at Olive Garden and then used the hot tub at my house. I love hanging out with these awesome women!

Unfortunately, Halle's fish died. We had a funeral on Sunday July 9th. We buried her in the garden. Brodey came in a suit and was wearing his fish tie for the occasion. Rest in peace Astra. 

Brodey's missionary farewell was on Sunday July 16th. Halle is going to miss him like crazy. It was nice of his family to invite us over for food after. We are all going to miss Brodey!

On Saturday July 22nd we floated down the Provo River. We hadn't floated down the river in many years. Most of the kids seemed to enjoy it. We even saw our old neighbors the Lovells. 

We spent many summer nights enjoying our hot tub. Addy and Nayla made a heart and told me to take a picture of them. 

On July 24th we did some sparklers after it got dark. 

On July 25th Parker ended up in the ER. He was in a lot of pain. They think he passed a kidney stone. They did all kinds of scans and cultures. They said his kidney's look fine and there is no sign of infection. Luckily, we had met our health deductible by this point. 

I took the girls to go get pedicures on July 27th. It was Halle's first time and she didn't love getting her calves massaged by a stranger. 

Eagle Scout

Parker received his Eagle Scout award on Sunday July 23rd! We are really proud of him!

 

Kev worked hard to put the program together. All his years of being a scout master really helped. 

I made Parker's favorite peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies for dessert. We also had lots of chocolate milk.

We had a display table set up with all of Parker's scouting things from over the years. He had all of his prize winning pinewood derby cars to display. 

I took this picture of Parker hanging out with his current scoutmaster and troop. The troop helped with the flag ceremony. 

We were grateful to have our friends the Castagno family come to support Parker. 

Kev conducted the court of honor. Parker also honored him with one of his mentor pins. 

We were grateful to have Emily Page talk about Wyatt's Comfort Bundle foundation. Her son Wyatt was in our old ward. He passed away at the age of 12 from Brain Cancer. He came up with the idea to make comfort bundles for other kids who were battling cancer like him. Parker loved Wyatt and was grateful to choose a project that had personal meaning to him. Parker helped buy supplies and assemble 53 comfort bundles. They included a tied fleece blanket, stuffed animal, coloring book, and crayons. 

I was able to put Parker's Eagle Scout neckerchief on him. He also pinned on my mother's pin. 

Zach Hyde, Parker's previous scoutmaster, gave a tribute to Parker. It was all about Parker's scouting journey related to Mario Bros. It was very entertaining and I know that Parker loved it!

Parker was happy to join the rest of the men in the Eagles nest. 

Grandpa Ken payed a patriotic musical medley. We always enjoy hearing him play the piano. 

We are grateful for all the love and support that Emily and Doug showed Parker. 

It was Ken's 70th birthday that day. We surprised him and had everyone sing Happy Birthday. 

It was good to have Spence, Megan, and Ayla there with us. 

I loved catching up with these awesome friends of mine. 

It was fun having so many of Parker's friends come. Bridger, Ryker, and Ben are also Eagle scouts. 

We are so proud of Parker and how hard he has worked over the years! He is our stellar scout!