MTC

Here are a couple pictures my mom sent to me while they were in the MTC. They were only there for one week, but they had such a wonderful experience and got even more excited to get out into their mission. While there, they ran into one of the missionaries from our ward. They took a picture of him for us to send to his parents. Something about seeing missionaries always makes me a little emotional. I love missionary work, and have had so many people I love serve missions.

Setting apart

On Sunday, November 31st, my parents were set apart as missionaries. These photos were taken after the setting apart, so they are officially Elder and Sister (Hermana) Francis. Our Stake President gave them each such wonderful blessings along with the setting apart. They were blessed with good health, strength, courage, compassion, and so many other wonderful things. We know, without a doubt, that they were called to serve in the Dominican Republic, Santiago Mission in the Self Reliance Center for a reason. It is exactly where the Lord needs them to be at this time. We are so proud of them and look forward to hearing about all the wonderful experiences they will have while serving. 

Leaf Party

My mother in law has a leaf party every year for the grandkids. She rakes up all her leafs after they fall off the tree, bag them up and then stores them in her shed and then waits for a warm enough day to dump them all out and let the kids play in them! Who doesn't like raking leaves up twice?? Because this year it stayed warm so late, we didn't have the leaf party until the day after Thanksgiving. My sister and her family had stayed over that night, so I took her girls to the party with us. They all had so much fun playing in the leaves, eating pizza and drinking root beer. 

Museum of Natural Curiosity

My brother Ryan was in town over Thanksgiving, so we took advantage of doing all sorts of fun things while he was here. The day before Thanksgiving, my sisters and Ryan took the kids to the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving point. It was a busy day, and being pregnant doing the ropes course was a little challenging. But, it was such a fun day spent with some of my favorite people. Lucy had so much fun in all the different rooms and doing all the different activities. I can't wait to take her back again sometime. 

Mom and Dad's Farewell

On November 23, 2014 my parents spoke in our sacrament meeting to give their farewell talks. My mom stressed about this day from the second they got their mission call, but both of them did such a great job sharing their testimonies and expressing their excitement and gratitude for being able to serve a  mission together. My siblings and I were able to sing a musical number during the farewell, and even though I am the least talented singer of the family, I was happy to be able to be apart of it. I know that throughout the sacrament meeting, many were able to feel of our spirit and our love that we have for our Heavenly Father. It was a great day spent with family and friends, and I am so proud of my cute mom and dad and for their sacrifice to serve a full time mission so far from home.

These three boys are pretty funny when they are all together. They were all playing the same game on their own phones, seeing who could win first... things got pretty intense for a few minutes, but Perky Perk came away with the win! :)