July 24th on Panguitch

Tyson, his dad, and I headed up to Grandma Winder's cabin to celebrate the 24th of July. After spending the weekend up there I decided that I am in love with Panquitch mountain. It is so beautiful up there and the weather feels amazing at all hours of the day.  

One of Tyson's really good mission companions joined us for the day on Friday and we are so glad he did. It was great to have some extra company out on the lake. 

We had a blast fishing together and I had fun showing the boys how it was done ;)

             

It was a fun weekend and I can't wait for our annual trip back there next year, or hopefully sooner!  

4th of July in Idaho

A few weeks ago we got invited to one of Tyson's mission buddy, kyle's, birthday party/4th of July party. It was up in Shelley, Idaho so we decided it would be fun to head up for the weekend and just get away. On the way up we got stuck in traffic twice due to two different accidents. We really lucked out though because the longest traffic stop (of the two accidents) was in Payson. After a few minutes of complaining about our predicament I looked out my window and saw the Payson Temple, which made me really think how pathetic it was that I was complaining about being stuck in traffic. It could have been a lot worse and we could have been in the actual accident, but instead we got stopped at the perfect place to see the temple and enjoy the view. I am so grateful for how blessed we were as we drove up and back on such a busy weekend. 

The weekend kept us pretty busy. First off we stopped in Brigham City at our all time favorite steakhouse, Maddox. We make a habit of it to stop there EVERYTIME we are at in the area. Then that night once we got to Kyle's, we had fun playing games, watching fireworks, followed by a movie projected onto a tramp leaning up against the tree. It was fun to meet so many new people and make new friends. I immediately fell in love with Kyle's parents. They were so sweet to give us a place to stay, not to mention all of the yummy food. 

Saturday we went to a fun placed in Idaho called Monkey Rock. It was so beautiful there! I just loved how green everything was. Plus the water was nice and refreshing. 

Then we walked a little ways down the road and watched people jump off a bridge into the water below. It was much too high for our liking so we just watched.

  

          Tyson has been so lucky to have meet Kyle. He has always been such a good friend to us and we were so glad we got to visit him. 

 

Saturday night we camped out behind a store to get the perfect view of the Idaho Falls firework display. It was so fun to watch a new firework show, since I've only seen Hurricane's for the past 22 years. 

It was so nice to spend time with Tyson and get away for a little while. I hope I never take our time together for granted. 

100 year old windows

Tyson's grandparent's have a 100+ year old cabin on their property up on Kolob that used to be on Zion National Park for people to rent out. This past weekend I was lucky enough to be up on the mountain when they decided to pull these out and get rid of them. Of course the Pinterest side of me kicked in and I saw the wonderful potential in these gorgeous windows and couldn't just let them be thrown away. I was so excited that I took all 8 windows in hopes that my girlfriends would be as thrilled as I was about this G.N.O. (girls night out) project ahead. 

    

This project was so much fun to work on. All we had to do was sand the old green paint off to the original wood and then we added our fresh new coats of paint to finish the different looks we were going for. 

I loved how everyone's turned out.

Now comes the hard part....finding somewhere to hang it and talking Tyson into letting me put big screws in the wall. Wish me luck :)

First campout of the summer

Friday night Tyson and I decided to head up to his grandparents property on the Blue Springs Association. We absolutely LOVE it up there. I could spend every weekend this summer up there. This weekend the weather was so nice. There was a nice breeze during the day and a little bit of a chill in the evenings. The drive up was fun because we could see a storm off in the distance, so I of course had to stop a few times to take some pictures. I was secretly hoping the storm would come our way, unfortunately it went right around us.

First we went to girls camp (also on Kolob) to say hello to our family up there. Then we headed to set up camp. Tyson started the fire while I went and picked out a spot for our tent.

I found the perfect location far enough away so we wouldn't get smoked out.

After we set up our tent, Tyson (without his brace) chopped enough firewood to survive an apocalypse. I think he was having too much fun showing off how strong he was. Not gonna lie, I enjoyed watching him..

That night we cooked tinfoil dinners in the fire and then roasted some s'mores. Oddly enough neither one of us really like them, we just like to make them.

The next morning we were up and going bright and early. Tyson got breakfast going, while I started packing everything up. We had eggs and bacon. I swear, something about the mountains just makes your food taste better.

All in all, it was a quick, but wonderful trip to spend some much needed alone time with my best friend. We may not have any kids, but we do have a very needy cat and live with Tyson's family, so alone time doesn't come around often enough. I can't wait until our next campout.



The Countdown Begins

This last week has been so emotional. From being so excited for Kyson's adventure ahead of him, to being sad knowing how much he will be missed. The one thing that really helps me get by is knowing how amazingly ready he is for a mission. Kyson is one of the most well-prepared 19 year old's I know. When the mission ages changed at conference last year I never once doubted if Kyson would be ready. He's been preparing for this day since he was in primary.

No offense to anyone reading this, but I grew up with the BEST siblings ever. I was so lucky to be in a family that was so close. My husband has even mentioned on several occasions how much we hug and say, "I love you".  At first it was really odd to him, but now he knows better than to leave a family event without hugging my mom goodbye.

We thought it would be fun to recreate this photo from when Skyler left for his mission. I am so proud of both of my brothers for their amazing examples to me and all of those around them. It's crazy to see how much Kyson has grown up. He will ALWAYS be my baby brother no matter how old/big he gets.

Then we decided it would be fun to fill up Kyson's mission camera with as many pictures of us as possible. 

This photo was taken on the day of his farewell.

(Just missing Brayden)

Saying goodbye at the airport was one of the hardest things I have ever done. 

My mom was being so strong by not crying and just being excited for him, which is crazy since she is always the first one to cry. Although, I could tell that it helped Kyson so much to see her happy. He was so concerned leaving her and knowing she'd be crying.

            

Our last family photo for 2 years.

He was so cute and blew a kiss to my nieces and nephews, (which was probably more for my mom), as he finished going through security and about to board the plane. He looked so excited for his adventure ahead.

           

We were so excited to receive this picture on my moms email when we got home. The Elder with Kyson was flying from SLC to Mexico with Kyson (to return home from his mission) and kindly sent it to my mom to put her at ease. He looks so happy so it really helped us all know that he was okay.

The kids had so much fun watching his plane take off on the runway.

 

  

My mom with another missionary mom whose son was on the same flight as Kyson. It was so comforting to know that he wasn't completely alone for his first time on a plane.

The people of Fort Worth Texas as so lucky to get my baby brother for the next two year. I can't wait to hear about all of the amazing experiences he will have.

I love you Elder Spendlove.