Marcus & Megan's Wedding

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go to my cousin's wedding in Arizona. Marcus and I have been good friends ever since we were tiny. I was excited for this trip for a few weeks, I hadn't been to Benson for 2 1/2 years, when I was young we'd easily go twice a year. My Aunt Carrie & Uncle Mark came home from their mission in Argentina for the wedding and it was a treat to see them! I stayed with my cousin Meghan at my my Aunt Robin and Uncle Paul's house and we had so much fun! It was so fun to spend time with everyone. The wedding was beautiful but overall I was just grateful to see family and spend some time relaxing. And I got to meet my cousin Clarice's boyfriend :)! Thanks everyone for the wonderful trip, I had such a great time, I wish I could have stayed longer.

Meghan, Clarice & Spencer

The Gila Valley Temple

The happy couple :) Marcus & Megan

my two best friends, Clarice & Meghan...love you girls SO much

Coral Pink Sand Dunes- May 2012

We skipped our annual Easter sand dunes trip and opted for a warmer weekend at the dunes. It's a little more enjoyable when we don't have to wear lots of layers :) This trip we had a RZR (razor) and it was so much fun! It was a nice change from riding behind Logan on the 4-wheeler, although we couldn't go quite as fast! It was a nice relaxing 3 day weekend, we ate lots of food as usual and enjoyed the time we got to spend with family. I didn't get too many pictures so here's what ya get!

Presley sure loves her uncle!

Lynn & Lorri

Tuachan-Brian Regan

Back in May we had the chance to go see Brian Regan at Tuachan with Logan's family. We had so much fun and laughed harder than expected! We also celebrated our niece, Presley's birthday. We had a lot of fun spending time with family and enjoying some heat before it got too hot in St. George!

Happy Birthday Presley girl, we love you! So glad we could spend your birthday with you!

 Presley's photos courtesy of my sister in law Brandi :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Since my mom lives in Rome now it wasn't really feasible for us to mail her a gift. So all of my siblings, their spouses and us got together and made my mom a little video. My brother had the idea to copy the intro to The Office where they lipsync a song. We had a really good time doing it...and we look pretty silly. Here's a link to the video (it doesn't work on cell phones FYI).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5VeS9lLvf4&feature=youtu.be

Thank you for being my best friend, for loving me, for giving me great guidance and counsel and always being there for me. Thank you for being such a great example to me and teaching me to rely on the Lord. I appreciate that you and dad were such great examples of reading your scriptures and saying prayers together as a couple. Ever since I can remember, I woke up to you and Dad sitting in your bed reading scriptures together. Thank you for teaching me the importance of that. Thank you for being my mom...you're pretty awesome. I miss you a lot, but I appreciate your attitude in serving the Lord, you are where you are supposed to be. The people of Rome need you for now...then we'll get you back :)

Love you Mom, hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

missionary work

My parents are loving being on the Rome Temple Site. My dad walks around all day and talks to all the different workers. Many of them have questions about what they are building, which would be expected with such a huge project. My parents have had the opportunity to talk with many of the workers about the gospel. One in particular, Pietro, has taken a special interest in the church.

The first Sunday we were in Rome happened to also be the first Sunday Pietro agreed to go to church. The members there were SO welcoming and kind to Pietro. The second Sunday he came a member gave Pietro his suit coat jacket because he felt Pietro could use it. Talk about generous. The Bishop invited Pietro to play soccer with him during the week and another member invited him over for a visit.

Pietro had his first lesson when we were in Rome and we could tell he loved it! Pietro makes a point to talk to my dad nearly every day, he is a very caring person.

 Elders with Pietro, my parents neighbors (Norma & Daniele) and my dad

After about a month and a half of lessons, Pietro is getting baptized!! Isn't that exciting? Tomorrow (Saturday) is his baptism and he asked my dad to baptize him. My parents are so excited for this weekend and I'm so happy for them. It was a pleasure to meet Pietro and see the beginning of his conversion.

Keep up the missionary work Mom & Dad!! LOVE YOU!

Day 12: Tivoli (part 2)

After seeing Villa d'Este we weren't quite ready to leave the town. We followed signs for a place called Parco Villa Gregoriana. We had no idea what to expect, we just followed a "tourist sign" for the place. When we got there we were intrigued, it was some sort of nature park with waterfalls and old archeological sites. It was a very unique site, I didn't expect any of what we saw. It ended up being a little day hike, we felt like we were in the jungle. Who ever expected Italy to have huge waterfalls and tropical looking plants. It was gorgeous.

We finished off a wonderful day with dinner at Ramon & Lorena's. Logan & Ramon played the guitar while we ate dessert and their little boys loved it. Such a great day.

As for blog posts...that was the end of our trip. We still had about 2 1/2 more days but we didn't take a ton of pictures. We went shopping, went downtown one more time, did some laundry and packing. We feel so blessed to have been able to go on this trip. We are so grateful for the service my parents are providing and the sacrifice they are making. We are humbled by the warmth and kindness of everyone we met. Thank you mom & dad for taking such good care of us and showing us a fabulous day. 

This truly was a trip of a lifetime.

Day 12: Tivoli (part 1)

Tivoli is an absolutely gorgeous town about 30 minutes outside of Rome with SO much to see. I had read about Villa d'Este, in Tivoli, on some travel site and saw it on none other than the Lizzie McGuire Movie ;). This was on my list of things to see from the beginning of planning our trip. And we were not disappointed one bit. Even though it was raining we still wanted to go and it ended up being less crowded and free of charge, lucky us!

Villa d'Este is a huge mansion with unbelievable gardens and fountains. It was built in the 1500's I believe and still has all the original fountains, none of which are powered, all use gravity to shoot up water. It was truly incredible to see this place and unreal that the fountains weren't powered by anything. It was an incredible site to see.