Mr. President

In April

Collin ran for, and was elected, 

Studentbody President 

of good old MHS 

To say that we are excited for him would be a huge understatement

because we are absolutely THRILLED!!

He worked so hard this year at getting to know people, making friends 

and showing everyone what an amazing young man he is,

and then he ran a really great campaign

Here are a few of his posters that we salvaged after the election was over

 (I'm pretty sure the baby pictures won it for him!)

And look at who his Vice President is...

Katie!

The outgoing Studentbody Officers and the incoming Studentbody Officers

participated in the opening of the new Trojan Center in May

Those are some really great kids!

 Here Collin is with Megan, performing their first official duty as Studentbody Officers:

serving pizza to Parker

{WHAT?!}

 

Katie and Lantzen were helping too

 Their Senior year is going to be AWESOME!!

Taking a Hike

We hiked up Waterfall Canyon 

with the Young Single Adults a couple of weeks ago

The last time I hiked up Waterfall Canyon, I was their age

{that was a few years ago}

 I also don't remember it feeling quite so much like exercise the last time I did it

but the boys had a great time

and the view was great!

Maybe we won't wait so long to do it again.

Ummm.... hello?

When you're this far behind, exactly how and where do you begin to catch up?

I have no idea if it is even possible at this point,

so I'll just do what I can... 

maybe...

For starters:

Collin left this morning for his Humanitarian trip to Peru

Can you tell he's excited?

(and he's always up for a great photo moment :)

 and here again...

(with his charming EFY bound brother)

 and this is the part that made me happy...

he wasn't going ALONE!!

 The four of them met up with five others for a flight to LAX

where they were meeting up with the rest of the group for their flight to Peru.

See you in 16 days, Collin!

{make it AWESOME!}

Western Living

Logan has taken a real liking to living in the West

the cowboy life seems to suit him

 here he is getting ready to ride his horse, Curly Sue

 with his Number One riding partner and fellow cowboy, Dana

 even Collin has managed to find his way to the back of a horse

yep... definitely the good life

Getting from There to Here

 Yeah, it's been awhile.

My summer has been a bit chaotic

but I'm going to make up for it with this post

and a gazillion pictures!

We left our home in Massachusetts on June 28th

with the U-haul loaded

and the boys smiling...

 and we made it as far as New York before a tire blew on the trailer

and we spent some time sitting here

enjoying the view

and waiting

 until help arrived

 This is the only picture I took of Pennsylvania...

(if you'd like to see more of this state, please refer to this post :)

and moving on to...

 Historic Kirtland

 with the Sister Missionaries who showed us around

 Our next stop was Isaac Morley's Farm

where you can see the original trail leading into Kirtland 

that Joseph and Emma would have traveled on

 and there's just something about a "witness tree" that I love

 Kirtland Temple

 then on we went to...

and

 where we passed LOTS of beautiful farms and neat old barns

(these are all taken from the window of a speeding Tahoe... so pardon the quality)

on our way to Nauvoo

 where Collin and Logan made some rope

 with the help of a Massachusett friend's (Maddy W.) Grandpa!

 Of course, we had to stop at the Browning Store

(the view from the back window of the home)

 and while learning about bricks...

 we ran into Elizabeth (another friend from Massachusetts) who was attending EFY there!

We spent some time outside the Nauvoo Temple

 and "touched the temple"

 and then watched the sun set over the Mississippi River

 which made the temple look a little pink - it was beautiful!

We also stopped in Carthage

and then headed down the road to...

 the Winter Quarters Visitor's Center and Temple

 (reading the names of those who died there)

 where we touched one more temple

 and got closer to home.

 With no more historical stops on our schedule 

I resorted to taking pictures of the scenery

which looked something like this

 and this

(I loved the clouds in that pretty blue sky)

and this

 Can you tell what this sign says?

(again, taken through a window... while traveling fast... into direct sunlight)

 and finally...

Home Sweet (Other) Home 

on July 2nd

We had a great trip across the beautiful U.S.A.

but it is nice to be home... for good.

(and look, those two boys are still smiling!)