Caverns and Pizza

We still have lots more places to explore in Arizona. One day we visited some incredible caverns, but they didn't allow phones inside (we had to put them in lockers before we entered the cavern), so we have no pictures except these postcards. 

And then Paige recommended a niche pizza restaurant she's been to a few times. The pizzas sounded different (pistachios on pizza? potato slices? honey drizzled over pepperoni?) but were surprisingly delicious!

Monster Truck, Petite Girl

Watercolor Activity

Our Activity Day group (I'm still calling it by the old name) finally split. We had 18 girls at one activity before the split, ages 7-11 with very different abilities and maturity and personalities. It's nice to have the older group of girls for activities now.

For our last activity, we made a fruit dip and a vegetable dip so the girls could practice measuring ingredients. Then they cut up fruits and vegetables so they could practice cutting with knives. I would have never attempted that with a bigger group and the younger and more wild, I mean energetic, girls.

This time I printed out pictures of Christ onto watercolor paper and bought individual watercolor paints.

There were three versions of the same picture to choose. They're printed in a light gray so the black lines don't bleed, so they're hard to see here.

Everyone also got this picture to paint:

Some of our girls aren't so confident at crafting, so they like having an example to copy or look at for ideas. I printed examples from the Etsy shop I used.

I also printed more pictures to color with colored pencils or markers in case some girls didn't like painting or finished faster than others. They could also take them home to work on later if they wanted.

It was a fun night sitting around visiting while they painted. School already started up again in the middle of July, so they had things to say. We also got lots of their ideas for future activities.

Baby Rattlesnake at Night

Making Soap

Last fall I made soap with the Activity Day girls (it officially changed to "Valiant Activities" but I will always call it the old name). I had extra supplies, and Leah loved mixing colors and scents to make her own soaps today. The house smelled amazing!

Oasis

We took Carson to our favorite place in this city. Lots of turtles swam over to him. We waited until almost sunset, but it was still 106 degrees. We walked some trails for a while but wow, it was hot.

He's Home!

Paige and Colby went back to work after the airport, and the rest of us met our stake president at the institute building on campus where he works. He visited for a while and then officially released Carson.

Carson served in Bountiful, Evanston, North Salt Lake, Evanston again, Rose Park, and South Salt Lake. In addition to English areas where he expected to serve his whole mission, he also served in a Marshallese branch, two Samoan wards, and a Japanese ward. He learned some of those languages and had a lot of cultural experiences.

Right before Carson came home, a sweet Japanese woman wrote a long letter for him to give me. I will treasure it forever. I'm so thankful for people in Carson's mission who welcomed and loved and supported him.

It's great to have him home and have all our kids together for a few weeks. Facebook has been reminding me that eight years ago this week, on July 24th (Pioneer Day for Utahns but a regular day for the rest of us), Colby left for his mission. After eight years, our family is done with the mission years. It's yet another phase that has now ended.

He spent over half his mission in Evanston, Wyoming, so he showed us his cowboy jeans, boots, and rope. Who is this guy?

Arizona gave us a beautiful first night home.

Ready

Since this house only has four bedrooms, we put air conditioning in the small garage and moved Colby in there temporarily so Carson can come home to a bedroom. When Carson leaves for college, we'll box up his things again and move Colby back into that bedroom. We plan to turn the small garage into a gym eventually, and now we have air conditioning for it.

With room darkening curtains, it's very dark in the garage. The air conditioning unit keeps it as cold as Colby wants. We still have some twin beds I've been meaning to sell and an old kitchen table we set up for his desk. I bought a hanging clothes rack for his "closet." 

Meanwhile, Leah and I set up Carson's bedroom again. Carson loves nature -- canoeing, camping, hiking -- so we hung nature pictures and paintings, something I've been meaning to do for that room these past two years. We printed out pictures we took of some favorite places in Minnesota. Leah printed out some of Carson's mission pictures. And now we're ready for him to come home!

Birthdays