EFY Week 5 - Salt Lake

This was such a good session! I was one of the counselors in charge of the variety show, so I felt like I spent a lot of time away from my kiddos, but I did convince a few of my boys to be in it :) I just kept thinking over and over, "these kids are wicked awesome." I learned so much from them and loved getting to know them. Sometimes I forget that they're a few years younger than me because they are leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at their age.

These kiddos were so good at watching out for each other and making everyone feel included, even people who weren't in our company.

None of my girls had ever been to The Pie, so of course I had to introduce them to the wonderful delight of a 23-inch pizza :)

Called to Serve | Sam's Mission Call

After months of waiting, the day finally came and that white envelope showed up in the mail. Sam chose to go downtown and open it on Temple Square. He wanted it to be a small group so it was just our family and my mom's parents. Sam's best friend and my dad's parents were able to watch via FaceTime. We're so excited for Sam and know he will be able to do great things. Here are a few pictures and a video at the very end :)

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

image

https://youtu.be/tacLeGxnzQs

EFY week 4 - Nauvoo

It's hard to believe I'm halfway done with EFY this summer! This was my favorite week so far! Being in Nauvoo was amazing. Some highlights included:

-sitting right outside of the temple every morning

-going to Carthage Jail on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Jospeh and Hyrum Smith

-riding in a limo bus (um yes this is a real thing and it was awesome!)

-going to the Nauvoo temple twice!

-perfect weather (except for that time we got poured on)

-watching everyone valiantly maintain their snapchat streaks despite not really having service or wifi

-Our session director's mad piano skills and adorable family

EFY week 3 - Provo

I love EFY so much! Even though this week was hard, I still wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I love these kids and they make me laugh so hard. They are leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at their age. The future is in good hands, people!

EFY week 2 - Independence, MO

This week has THE BEST! I loved my co-counselors, we had great kids, and the only thing to complain about was the humidity. We got to visit the Kansas City temple and do baptisms and I even got to be a temple worker! We walked to Liberty Jail (which I swear was uphill both ways) and that was the first church history site I've visited outside of Utah. We also went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Far West, and the Independence temple lot. Since I was 8 and I got my first set of scriptures, I've looked at the pictures in the back and to finally visit some of these places has been so neat. We stayed at William Jewell College and it is seriously the prettiest campus. Good thing I already graduated or else I might be tempted to transfer and I can't afford $40,000 per year.

Back at it again | EFY week 1 - Provo

Ah I just love EFY so much! I'm so glad to be back and I'm so excited for this summer! This week was hard and crazy and yet absolutely wonderful! I never went to EFY as a participant, but I love going as a counselor! I get so much out of it and come to love this kids so fast. It's hard for me to say goodbye but then I end up loving the next group just as much. I'm supposed to be teaching them, but I'm always the one that ends up getting taught.