Daniel turns 13

We celebrated Daniel's 13th birthday while we were on our trip to Utah. Now we have 3 teenagers in the house! Daniel's big accomplishment just before his birthday was to take a lesson on how to cut hair. In the fall, in exchange for giving hair cuts to Jeffrey and Adam every month, he is going to get a cell phone. He is pretty excited! He is going to attend Sutter Middle School for 8th grade in the fall, and he plans to try out for the basketball team. He is also pretty excited about that! Daniel spent his birthday at Aunt Nancy and Uncle David's house. He got the newest Link game for the Wii, which kept all the boys busy that morning. That night, we went to BYU for bowling and ice cream at the creamery. He got a double waffle cone, which is huge!!! It was a fun day. Too bad we didn't bring the camera. Here are some pictures of Daniel from the past few months. What a goof! Daniel, we sure love having you in our family!

Family trip to Utah

Jacob and Katie attended EFY at BYU Provo the first week of June. We drove them out there as a family and stayed with Rich's sister Nancy for the week. We all had a great time! Here are some pictures of our fun.

These are the boys from Jacob and Katie's EFY company. 9 kids from our ward all attended the same week. There were also lots of kids from the Stake. They had tons of fun, but Jacob brought home the Utah flu that was passed all around EFY that week. Fortunately, he didn't get sick until the week was over. His roommate had the fever right in the middle of the fun.
Some of the girls from the company.

Here is the whole company Seek Ye, with Jacob being a ham up front, as usual.

While in Utah, we spent time with lots of friends we don't get to see very often. We were reminded that we have a lot of fantastic friends with a bunch of great kids. In this picture, we met Randy and Cheryl Cox and their family at the park for lunch in American Fork. We brought along Nancy's gang, too, which made a big group for games.

Beth and Mallory, Nancy's daughter, really hit it off. BFF
In addition to spending time with great friends and family, one highlight of our trip was to take a tour of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan. Beth really didn't want to leave Mallory to go, but we forced her. It was a self-guiding tour, which meant we could take our time and stop to see certain parts. We spent extra time in the baptistry, explaining about the font and baptisms for the dead. We all loved a chance to be in the temple, and Beth told me as we were leaving, "I'm so glad I came, Mom!" That is the spirit of the House of the Lord. Here is the view, which would almost convince me to move to Utah. Not quite, but almost. It is breathtaking for those of us who don't get to see the Wasatch Front every day.

Thanks, David and Nancy, for being so generous and opening your home. I guess we will be back in Provo next year for the Pettingill family reunion--I can't wait!!