some June happenings

We've had some great adventures over the last few weeks.

Last Friday night we attended the world premiere of "Battalion," a musical written, directed and produced by my brother-in-law Trace Skeen in Huntsville. It was great to learn more about the Mormon Battalion and what they and their families went through. It was a story of faith, courage and romance and it was very enjoyable. Trace is very talented and creative and he did a great job bringing his dream to fruition. Congratulations to him and his family, many of whom participated in various ways over the weekend. Way to go Skeens!











Here is a picture of some of the main actors and actresses.

We had the Lindley kids over for dinner and a rousing game of beach ball volleyball. It was so much fun. Haley and Devin came a couple of weeks ago to attend BYU camps and visit cousins and grandparents and Megan will go back to Australia with them next week. Robyn and Chris live just down the street from us. They're great kids and a credit to their family. Janis and Corey should be very proud of their children. Also visiting was cousin Kaylee who is the daughter of Dan and Angie.



I also got to see Sister Erica Lindley every week at the MTC. She is leaving today for Taiwan. Her Chinese is great and she is excited to get going. In just one more year, the Lindley's will be back from Australia. We look forward to seeing them again in the neighborhood and the ward.















Jordan and Jake flew back up two weeks ago to attend the wedding of Jake's brother Matt. We got to see them for a whole week and we enjoyed every minute of it. Jord and the girls came for visits in April, May and June for a total of five weeks! It's been heaven on earth to have them around. Here are the girls with their cousins enjoying the wedding!

We spent a fun morning feeding the ducks...













playing on a great playground...












visiting a wonderful new park in the valley called Nelson's Grove...













wading our feet...













feeding more ducks...












spending Father's day with Rick's family and jumping on the tramp with uncle Dave...













playing with Grandpa on Father's day (does it get any better than that?)











Lauren and I attended the production of Beauty and the Beast at SCERA. Wow, it was so well done and so fun for her, she loved it and so did I!













The costumes and set were amazing...













and Belle was PERFECTLY cast...












Another day we went to Mimi's with our kids to celebrate our 30th anniversary with them...












and the next day Lauren and I attended a Princess Party hosted by Belle the morning before the play complete with...













lunch served by Belle....












she got a princess crown and she got to make a bracelets and win a ring in a game...











Wow, Belle even posed like a princess...so funny...so Belle... Isn't she beautiful? She had a great voice as well...











she was so sweet to Lauren and Lauren was trilled to actually meet a real princess. She also enjoyed making crafts...

posing with Mrs. Potts. Costumed people are NOT loved by Lauren. They make her nervous...but she was very brave...











story time with Belle and all the other little princesses. It was a magical day for Lauren and her Grandma and we had a great time. She came prepared and wore her own princess dress. I wish I had one of those...










We also went to the Jim Brickman concert at SCERA and took Jordan, Pat and Vern as our guests. It was a lovely evening at the outdoor theater and the concert was enjoyed by all. Check out Jim's web site here to hear his music and learn more about him if interested. We have many of his CD's and we love his music! He had two vocalists perform with him and they were great, especially the man Mark Masri. Jim is a versatile and talented pianist.