I want to be a missionary. . .NOW!

For months now, Luke has had a great interest in missionaries. Perhaps it's because they seem to really love dropping in on us weekly - unannounced! We don't mind. They always have a great message to share from the scriptures and it brings the Spirit into our home. When we are in Georgia, Luke loves to go out onto our porch, close the door, ring the doorbell and shout, "Missionaries here!!!" When I open the door and welcome him in, he heads over to the bookshelf and pulls a small little book off the shelf, sits on the couch and says, "Mommy! Listen! I read the scriptures at you!" We love this role playing!
However, today his missionary interests took on a whole new level. We were at the pool with friends, when I heard him say to a little boy his age, "I going to baptize you now!" I turned to see him trying to push the poor kid's head under the water. YIKES! Naturally, I stopped the attempted immersion. I realized that he is really taking the scriptures to heart. He wants to help ALL people be baptized!

The Fourth of July

The Fourth in Orlando was a little different than our family usually spends the holiday. Instead of going TO fireworks, because of jake's crazy work schedule, we made our own fireworks display with a bunch of families from work. It was fun for the kids to be part of the action. Despite how it appears - Luke actually LOVED "helping light" the big ones and enjoyed his extra long sparklers. He just wasn't too fond of the HUGE bangs a few of them produced.
Surprisingly, Miles loved it - loud noises and all. He has been obsessed with playing with his mini flag ever since!

Utah!

My dear friend, Jason, gave us the perfect excuse for a trip to Utah - his wedding! So. . .the boys and I flew from Florida - alone - and met my mom there. It was an adventure traveling with them by myself, but gratefully not a nightmare. We got to spend time with my sister, Lindsey, at BYU, my in-laws (though mom-in-law had sadly just badly broken her leg while hiking) and old childhood friends. It was fantastic to reconnect with these people I love so much!We went on a fun hike to Cascade Springs one afternoon and both boys LOVED it!


On the way up, we stopped for a photo. Luke was walking Lindsey's dog, Cliff (or "Cliffy" as Luke says) and the dog peed. Apparently, Luke observed the dog's process carefully, because when I asked him to try and go in the grass (he is newly potty-trained and I wanted NO accidents in the mountains. . .) he eagerly agreed and lifted his leg like Cliffy did! Ha!

I was amazed at the incredibly GORGEOUS weather we had while there. One night, I sat on Jacob's Aunt Kathy's porch in Alpine and read my book. The Wasatch Mountains were completely spread out in front of me and the air was amazingly cool for June. I found myself thinking, "Now, why was it again I wanted to leave this place???"