twins + mission calls

     My sisters had both been talking about serving missions, but I guess it never really hit that they were actually going to go until their calls were here and they opened them up. I am so proud of them and their decision to serve, but I am one sad sister. Abbey is gone and now two more. They are going to be wonderful missionaries. The week before their calls arrived I had my little sister Sadie over almost everyday to help me with decorations. We wanted it to be a surprise for the twins and with the house being built I knew my mom had no time for any sort of decorating.
     This is what we made...

The purple guesses were Mitzi's and the turquoise guesses were Macey's then we had the person who was making the guess write their name on the flag. 

The calls!!

Mac LOVES Uncle Chad!

You guys. I was bawling before they even opened their calls. I am such a baby. I know they are going to be wonderful missionaries and I know they are doing the right thing. But saying goodbye to both of them for a year and a half is going to be the hardest thing for me. Mitzi opened her call first. She was called to Nashville, Tennessee. She reports October 23rd and will be speaking english. Then it was Macey's turn. Macey was called to the Riverside, California mission. She reports October 23rd to the Mexico City MTC and will be speaking Spanish. Their calls could not have been more perfect. I am so grateful they are leaving the same day (even though October 23rd is going to be the worst day of my life!) I am so grateful for them and for their willingness to serve. They are going to be the greatest missionaries. I love you guys!

al's mission buddies come to visit

     During the craziest weekend of the summer some of Alex's mission friends came down to stay with us. Of course we loved having them and we were so glad they drove down to see us! We miss them since they live soo far away. Sam and Lindsey Pulliam drove down from Idaho and on their way they picked up Drew Smith and Joshua Balleck up in Provo. Drew isn't Elder Smith's real name though, his real name is Joseph Smith, I couldn't believe it. We were sad Clark and Alyssa couldn't come down though we miss them! During their stay in sunny St. George we....

went to the lake....

Elder Hafen

Elder Pulliam

Elder Balleck

Elder Smith

Sister Pulliam (she didn't go on a mission, but she did marry Elder Pulliam!!)

Elder Hafen & I

The Pulliam's!

The crew!

One of the tires on the boat trailer blew one exit before we were supposed to get off dang it! Luckily these boys knew just what to do... except Elder Balleck ha! He chose to observe instead. 

     They were also really good sports when my sisters opened their mission calls. They all came and hung out for a while, then we went to Benja's where I seriously couldn't stop crying ha they were embarrassed by me. Followed by custard and Nielsons. YUM.

     The next day we went to breakfast with the crew + Elder Adam Bangerter at Black Bear diner. I love breakfast! 

     We were all pretty exhausted by then so we came back to our house and talked for a few hours. Then Alex and I packed as quick as we could, said our goodbye's and headed off to Lake Powell...

      Thanks for coming to visit us, we miss you guys already!!

primary ice cream party

To make sure our five (sometimes six) little eight year old girls behave themselves in primary we bribe them with a party. Oops. Every week they get one point for each person being there, and one point for each person that brings their scriptures to class. Then as the class goes on they get extra points if they are good, they pay attention, and they answer questions. If they are loud, and don't pay attention we "take away points." (We haven't ever actually taken away points but tell them we are going to ha! so mean!) Once they reach a hundred points they get a party of their choice. They chose to have an ice cream party. I made little ice cream cones for the invitation. They took wayyy to long, but I was pretty proud that I didn't even get that idea off pinterest! We ate lots of ice cream, played the game "spot it," and they played tag whatever else outside. I also set up a little photo booth and they got a little carried away ha. It was so fun & so good to have over with! 

a spontaneous trip to park city

     My mom had been telling us that we needed to get work off to come up north for my little brothers' baseball tournament and we honestly didn't think we could get it figured out. Alex and I ended up getting work off very last minute and we drove up to Park City with my dad and my sister Macey. 
     We arrived in Park City just in time to watch my brother Kaleb play until it poured on us. We were really sad it rained because instead of cancelling the game they just postponed it for a half hour and we were seriously hungry so that was a bummer. They finished the game and we went to Dickey's for dinner. YUM! 
     The next day we watched baseball, we slid down the alpine slides and we shopped! I loved being up there with my family and it was sure worth it to get work off! Saturday night we stayed at the Kimball. I sure love that place. One of the rooms had the biggest jacuzzi. We somehow talked all the boys into coming in for pedicures. Well kind of. We all just sat around the jacuzzi, talked, and soaked our feet. Then we all took the file to our feet, followed by giving & getting footrubs with burts bee's foot lotion. It was so relaxing! 
     Sunday we slept in. Yes please. Then we took a tour of the conference center, it was incredible. I need to go to a conference session ASAP. We walked around temple square for a while until we decided to go see the new(ish) Joseph Smith movie. It was so incredible, I cannot believe it took me so long to see it. I was bawling like a baby so I slipped my sunglasses on before they even turned the lights on ha. After the movie we headed home, what a fun trip that was. I love my family, and I love spending time with them. Thanks for the fun trip Gates crew!

Kaleb got to act as Joseph Smith on the tour ha, he obviously loved it. 

#boycewedding

On June 27th we hurried up to Thanksgiving point after work to get up to the wedding dinner. The venue was so nice and we had a lot of fun. We were pre-warned that there was going to be a flash mob sometime during the dinner. How cute are they? The bride had no idea what was going on, most people didn't. We didn't know the dance but we just went with it. 

All the boys at the SLC temple on Friday morning. 

I got to hold this sweet babe for over an hour. She was so little, I couldn't get enough of her! I love newborns!

After the wedding all the boys went golfing so of course I went on a solo date. Heidi (My SIL) recommended Flatbread Neopolitan Pizzeria. It was so yummy! I highly recommend it!

After I had lunch I found a little place where I could get a pedicure! It was so cheap, but so fancy! They  even dipped my feet in wax.

Saturday morning the boys went golfing so once again I was solo. I went to Pig and A Jelly Jar for chicken n' waffles. and it was amazing. It was so strange. They even suggested putting hot sauce on it which made it even better! 

We also went to Sammy's one night for shakes. They bake pies every day and then put them in a shake. Yum!

Oops. Abbey has P-day on Saturday's so I sent her an email letting her know I would be in the area around noon because I was planning on sending her something from the BYU bookstore. She didn't reply for a long time, so I ended up going to lunch at Zupas with Alex and a few of his friends. I decided to check my email and Abbey said she would be going to the temple around 1:40 and it would be fun if we drove by! Alex knew exactly where they would be walking so we hustled up to the Provo temple and sat up by the walkway to wait for her. She had no idea. We saw her walking up and one of the girls she was with pointed us out. We literally talked to her for two minutes. We took a picture, she introduced us to all the girls in her area and that was that. The first thing she said was no tears. I had no tears I was thrilled to see her even if it was for two minutes. I miss that cute missionary!