Sunday, July 5, 2009

Mitch Home, 4th of July and Zion

We have had a great 4th of July weekend! The most exciting news is that Mitchell came home from his 2 week scout camp. He has been at The Philmont Scout Camp in New Mexico with our ward. It is suppose to the best scout camp in the country... Our Bishop says it's a great experience for a young man to prepare for a mission... And after listening to most of them share their testimonies today, I believe him! They were amazing.

The boys hiked each day and had to find their own way without the leaders help. Mitchell was the leader of his group, so he had a lot of responsibility... They were suppose to hike 78 miles over 12 days and he said they probably went about 95 because they got lost a few times... He said it was hard, beautiful, fun, exhausting, spiritual and an overall great time. He said that the boys go along good and the worst part was the food... I am so grateful to all the leaders who took 2 weeks vacation to spend with my son... I am sure they would have rather spent their vacation time with their families... THANK YOU!!! I will try to get Mitchell to write a post about it...

We went to the airport to meet them ... Ashley and Tanner made some fun posters. It was pretty cool to see 19 boys and their leaders all in their scout uniforms come down the escalator at the airport! They looked exhausted and yet excited to be home.
Ashley missed her brother!!

I'm sure he would have liked to go straight to bed when he got home, instead we had friends and family over for a little 4th of July celebration! We had fun swimming and barbecuing and lighting off fireworks...

The guys spent a lot of time trying to dive through a small blow up ring... I think they popped 2!
I caught a nice picture of Scott going through this one!


Dave and the kids enjoying Michele's homemade ice cream! delicious!!!
Yum!

Ashley, Alex and Mitchell watching the fireworks...

yes, Logan had a blowtorch!

Nati, me and Scott and Afton (she was so cute in her red, white and blue!)
We pulled all the chairs out...
Larry & Dave had quite the stash of fireworks!

Surprisingly John was the only one who got burned...

On Friday John, Tanner and I went up to Zion National Park. Ashley went to the beach with friends... we missed her! The park was crowded, but we still had a great time. It's so pretty there! We hike a few hours up the narrows and then back. Tanner was in the water almost the whole time!

Tanner being cool...

John relaxing... the water was very refreshing!


I walked around this part... Tanner and John tried to keep the backpacks dry... but it was almost over John's head...

We are so lucky to live in such an amazing country! Happy Independence day!!

6 comments:

Lisa and Bill said...

How fun! Those posters were adorable! I love the one Tanner is holding. Hilarious! 4th of July looked like a blast! It's great to have people over to celebrate holidays. Love the Zion pics too. You guys are so spontaneous.

Carrie said...

Looks way fun! Glad Mitchell made it home safely and have such a good experience. Loved his testimony!

suzanne said...

looks like a busy weekend, and a lot of fun! steve wanted to take a nap so bad, but i put him right to work when he got home too. :)

Jeff and Michele said...

Thanks for the fun 4th! That narrows hike does look fun. We'll have to go do it despite Jake's warnings...

susan bunker said...

what a great post! good to have a son and brother home, and lots of friends and family for the fourth! nothing better! i want to go on the hike with you when i get back!

email and phone numbers said...

we want to go on that hike with you too! looks like so much fun! glad mitch is back... how was the ice cream? lucky you!