Maren's Mission Tour and All the Other Fun Things of June

Right after Grant's Young Men's camp (technically, still in May), we left straight to California to tour Maren's mission!  On our way, we stopped for gas in Elko at a gas station right across from the new Elko, NV temple.  On a whim, we decided to go do baptisms for the dead, so we changed into our church clothes at their little visitor center and headed in.  It was lovely!  Then we drove on through the clouds and stopped in Grass Valley for dinner and then Yuba City for the night.  

The girls drove up the next morning and Maren showed us around all her favorite places in Yuba City.

A church where she served.

A bird refuge, just outside of town.

There are lots of chickens in Yuba City.

The Feather River temple grounds are so beautiful!  There are olive trees all around and it is very peaceful.

Another church, where the baptismal font was (and the usual spot for taking pictures after a baptism).

We visited with a few of her friends that she was able to teach while she was on her mission. 

Will and his daughter

Danielle and her son.  We met them at an ice cream shop and had fun getting to know them.

The next morning we were able to go the the temple with Roger, one of Maren's friends from her mission.  He was going through the temple for the first time, and planned it well so that Maren could come with him.  There were lots of missionaries there who had helped teach Roger.  It was so neat to hear the stories of these people that Maren was able to teach and to see how God orchestrates it so that she could be in the right place at the right time for each of them.  Beautiful!  Roger was sweet and grateful for Maren and her companions!

(Grant and I did baptisms for the dead while everyone else did an endowment)

After a fun lunch with Roger and tons of missionaries, we continued our tour of Yuba City and then went up to Chico to meet up with another friend from her mission, Mike (and more yummy ice cream).

Maren spent a lot of time in a YSA Ward at Chico State, so they were on campus a lot.  We walked around the campus and then stopped at one of her old houses and visited with her old companion, who was still living there.

That night we headed further north so that we could go to church the next day in Cottonwood, where Maren served for her first area.  It just so happened that two of the people she had taught were getting baptized that day, so we stayed after church and got to see that happen.  Pretty cool timing!

Maren trained Sister Whetton and now she is serving in Cottonwood!

Another friend, Roy, that Maren had taught.

Home sweet home.

That evening, we went back to Gridley area to have dinner with Maren's mission presidents, the Basha's.  They were so kind and we had such a great night visiting with them and hearing their experiences in the mission!  (We forgot to take a picture though)

Our nephew, Abram, is serving in the Santa Rosa Mission, and happened to be living in an area that was on our way to Nicole's house.  We were able to stop and see him for a few minutes and leave him some treats.  So fun!

We got to the Nicole and Matt's house late Sunday night.  The next day Dustin and I both had to work a little bit (remotely) and then I took the kids to the beach to play (Nicole had to run Edith to a dance practice).

Avery had to work the next morning at Henry Cowell State Park, so all of us went hiking so that we could see her.  It is such a beautiful area.

Later that day, our family went back to another part of Henry Cowell to do another cool walk around the big trees (Avery was still working and Nicole's family had dance practices).

That day also happened to be mine and Dustin's 25th Anniversary!  So we went to dinner at Capitola that night and ate right along the water front.  We walked around a bit (it was very cold!) and then went back home.  We are planning on celebrating in Hawaii later this year!

Avery told us that Adam Sandler went through her line that afternoon.  So, we had AI generate what that might have looked like.  It did pretty good!  My family all believed it was real!

On Wednesday, Nicole showed us one of their favorite ice cream shops, and then we took Flora with us on a walk down by the pier in Santa Cruz.

Flora is very entertaining.  I think we need another 4 year old at our house!

And we found a guy with a bird and he let Dustin hold it.

That night was Edith and Millie's dance recital, and early the next morning, Grant, Dustin and I all headed back home to Utah.  It was so much fun to be there with our girls and with the Craguns!  They are SO kind to open their home to our family, over and over (and all summer, for our girls!).

The very next day, Dustin had a Young Men's camp for the Marshallese Branch.  He was able to go up for one night.

We had a cool planetary alignment.

Grant got his wisdom teeth out!  He entertained us for a couple of hours while he came out of the anesthesia (and a few of his friends, who he kept sending texts to), and then he rested and starved for a few days until he could eat real food again.

One of our friends had a Pinewood Derby birthday party (he's in his 50's) and invited most of our neighborhood.

Lana turned 80!!  The night of her actual birthday, we went with her and Arie, Isabel and Briana to Benihana to celebrate.

That weekend we had planned a big birthday party and invited a lot of her friends and family.  We spent Friday night decorating.  Avery had to come to town for a bridal shower, so Maren came along and both girls were able to be here for the party on Saturday (Maren and Grant helped with the decorating on Friday). 

And then Danielle and Tyler and their family all came in town on Saturday and we had the party that night.  Lana was very grateful for all the effort!  We had a great turnout (around 60 people came) and she felt very loved!  

SLC mountains burning.

The next day was Father's Day.  The Marshallese had a big party (of course) and showered Dustin with gifts.  We had our own dinner at our house that night, with all of Dustin's family, plus my dad and mom.

I am so grateful for all the amazing Father's in my life!

A little visit to Ryan's shrine on Father's Day.

Grant left early the next morning for Utah State University Engineering Camp.

So Dustin and I had a few days of loneliness.  We made the best of it!  We keep getting little tastes of what next year will be like when Grant moves out.  I'm glad we still have another year!  I'm not quite ready for how quiet the house gets.

The girls continued to have a blast in California!

Date night temple night with my parents.

Date night Ultimate Frisbee game arranged by my co-workers.

A broken dishwasher and our handsome handy-man.

A gift from our Marshallese friends.

Avery hit a deer!  $8,000 later, it is fixed.  Crazy!  She was only going 25 mph, and wasn't hurt at all, and even the deer seemed ok, but the car didn't like it.

I finally painted our two front posts (3 years after all the other trim--we had other plans for the posts that never happened, so I finally just painted them to match).

At Lana's party, in lieu of gifts, we collected items for a homeless shelter near her house and a week or so later, we dropped them off.  People were kind and generous!

Ryan is still in Valledupar, Colombia!  They have had some success and he is still learning a lot and his Spanish is getting better all the time!  His companion ended up getting an infection in his foot and was hospitalized for a little over a week, plus not able to walk much before and after.  It made for a little less productive June and first part of July, but he was patient and they made it through.  We miss him, but we love talking to him on Mondays and hearing about his week!  He is working hard and enjoying the missionary work!