Adios Elder Morris!

Although we had a blast in Boise, one of the biggest and most important reasons we squeezed our vacation in was to spend time with my younger brother Taylor, who was leaving on his mission to the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo East, Spanish speaking). Let me just say that if you haven't gotten a sense of Taylor yet from my previous blog postings, he has a HILARIOUS sense of humor, is very smart and quick-witted, he is handsome, kind, and great with my kids. We LOVE Elder Morris!

July 24th was his talk in church, which he did a GREAT job on. He was confident, funny, and bore a really strong testimony. He will be such a fantastic missionary! After church we had some family and friends over for dinner which featured some pork tacos and rice and beans in honor of the DR, and naturally Whitney was coerced into playing the piano and singing for everyone.


BFFs! Lucy and Ellie enjoyed dancing to Whitney's music-- increasing the entertainment value ten fold.

After everyone left my Dad made a little campfire in the back yard so we could roast mallows and tell Taylor stories one last time.

And as a final celebration in honor of Taylor we lit some crazy fireworks from the 1950's my Dad found hidden in the ol' family cabin this summer. They still worked! (Fireworks not pictured; just the crazy people who danced along to a hummed rendition of "Stars and Stripes Forever")
Tuesday afternoon we headed down to Provo and stayed at Whitney's apartment. The next morning Taylor and my mom shopped for some last odds and ends, and then it was time to drop the new missionary off at the MTC. It was a mad house! There were TONS of new missionaries coming this week, which sure made you feel good about the future of the church when you saw all those faithful young men taking two years off from the world at the prime of their lives!

The baby has officially flown the coop!

Good bye Zachary's idol!! He will be Lucy's age by the time Taylor gets back, which is a little crazy to think about-- but I'm so grateful they have SUCH a wonderful example for an uncle!! Adios Elder Morris!!