Update for Ellen and Family

Love Ellen's updated for June on social media! 

June may have been the busiest month of my entire life!

My favorite photo of the month - Evan and I cleaning up Tuacahn in prep for the Patriotic Service I planned to celebrate flag day! I got to organize an amazing MC Justin Prince and a ton of fantastic local talent to perform at a free community event for Liberty Village.

We started the month with a camping trip to our favorite Crazy Cow Farm Adventure Official in Malad, ID! We played hard and had lots of fun with family and at the camp site!

When we got home we had a surprise in the mail - t shirts from @shibatetu_train from Japan! They are now the kids’ favorite shirts and they wear them constantly!

After camping I made a quick pit stop at home to change out my bag then flew to DC for the premier of Young Washington at The Kennedy Center where I organized a reception for Liberty Village guests before the movie started. I got to spend some time sightseeing and loved every minute of the one million miles we walked!

I took the kids out to Liberty Village to see their commemorative brick. I’m so glad that their names will always be apart of a place I love so much!

Next up - our annual Father’s Day Flee vacation with Jase’s family! We had a fun staycation this year that involved watching Tuacahn Center for the Arts Finding Nemo and lots of loving on dad. The boys LOVED their first play (and love their dad)!

When Father’s Day Flee ended my development director and I jumped into finishing the final details of the United We Pledge golf tournament! I had my first helicopter ride - to throw golf balls into a golf hole as part of a fundraiser we ran at the golf tournament!

I didn’t even get to shower post golf tournament before jumping into the car to head back up north. In Salt Lake and Provo areas I got to celebrate my new sister in law Savanna Manuela at her bridal shower then celebrate my cutie college roomie Lynae Richardson as one of her bridesmaids at her wedding! So much love in the air!

Jenna FSY!!!

Jenna and her friends went to FSY at Snow College in Ephraim this week! Monday morning Class Choice opened for Seniors (where they can go in online and change their schedule -- or at least try to). So I planned to pick up all of the girls for FSY at 8:30 to give them 30 minutes for schedule changes. Then I drove the girls (Jenna, Cortnie, Clarissa, and Anna) the 3.5 hours to Ephraim! 

When we arrived we checked in and then went to their apartment to drop off their luggage. We then hurried to Wendys to get lunch to go so that they could make it in time for their first counselor meeting! Jenna and Cortnie had arranged to be roommates, and Clarissa and Anna had arranged to room together. We were a little disappointed that the four girls were not assigned the same apartment, but at least they were in the same complex, right next door to each other, and they had the same counselor and company! 

I dropped them off and then drove by the new Ephraim temple and stopped by my former dorm and the institute building and let the nostalgia from my Snow College days run over me! Then I turned around and headed home! It was a long day of driving! 

Funny story... I had told Jenna that she should make an effort to meet new people and make new friends (including guys). After all, her boyfriend leaves on his mission in a couple of months and she would need to branch out socially and make the most of her senior year of high school. The next afternoon she send me a text saying that she decided to take my advice and had gotten really close to this guy saying he is "soooo funny and amazing..." I said I knew that she was just messing with me. She said she would send a picture. Well this is the picture that she sent!

Very funny, Jenna! 😂 I told her that she is a master at AI. She said that he was offended that I said he was fake, haha! Then she sends me this picture (see below) because I had warned her not to lean over the balcony because a couple of students at Utah Tech fell from the balcony of their apartment complex and  were killed (true story). Granted it was a lot higher up, but still...  

Jenna said the first two or three days were a little rough. They weren't allowed to go to their rooms for free time to take a nap like they normally do. Then later on she sends me pictures of her sleeping in the hallway and sleeping during class. She was SO disappointed that for pizza night they didn't get a gluten free pizza for her. I would be upset about that too. So I was a bit worried that she didn't seem to be having the same amazing experience that she has had in the past. 

But then by the time the week ended she said that it was amazing and that testimony meeting was awesome and that they had a wonderful time! So I am glad that things (or at least her attitude) improved throughout the week. This is her fifth time at FSY and she was had an amazing experience every single time. She said that she and her friends still want to go one last time next year even though they will be graduated and probably have their mission calls by that time! 

Clarissa's birthday was the last day of FSY. Jenna planned a scavenger hunt for her and brought her this birthday headband and sash. They sang Happy Birthday to her at every group event and so Clarissa got LOTS of love!! 

Anna's mom picked up the girls Saturday morning and brought them home. As soon as Jenna got home she showed me all of the pictures and videos and shared lots of fun stories. She said that all of the guys in their company looked like they were 14, haha, but they were fun anyway! She always comes home with a determination to do better and be better. Love you, Jenna!!