Sunday June 21, 2015 Father’s Day

Dear Cassidy...

Hi! How are you this week? I hope you've been able to see your email from earlier this week and the few pictures I sent of us with the Gardner kids as well as Zack! I'll talk about that in a minute...

I'm anxious as always to hear about your week and I'm really praying that your sweet family made more progress this week and possibly came to church? I thought it was quite miraculous about you giving out the Russian Book of Mormon! You just never know how that might go for her. And it sounds like you've had quite the adventures in the rain! So - I wanted to thank you again for the last part of your email last week. I'm not sure if you remember exactly what you wrote, but it was about keeping our commitments and not letting Heavenly Father down. That was really inspiring for me and I've actually heard from quite a few family members - how much they loved that paragraph in particular. Today while I was at church I got a text from Aunt Susan that wanted me to let you know that she thinks you are a fabulous missionary AND that she used your last paragraph from that email in a talk she had to give today in church! She said to make sure you know you're making an impact clear in Las Vegas! I thought that was sweet.

So here's a little about our week...I hope I didn't send you too many pictures!

Monday was busy and good. As we said, Hadlie and River babysat the Gardner kids here all day. They did a great job and really did most of everything on their own. They each earned $50. Zack came over a little before 6:00 and it was really fun to have him here! I think I told you in my email with the pictures that he's the same old Zack, but also different. Definitely in missionary mode and you can tell, he's a good missionary! Between dealing with his health issues and just being immersed in such a foreign culture he's for sure learned some humility. He was gracious and kind and kept telling us how great the house & yard look, etc. He looks great and I'm really hoping he can keep up his enthusiasm and get back out there quick!

Tuesday the girls and I went to 7 peaks again. It's definitely heating up here and has been about 100 degrees every day this week. River's friend Taelyn went with us this time. That night I took the girls up to my parents to visit Britt and her girls. They had been with Chris's parents for a few days and then spent the rest of the week at Grammy & Papa's. It's fun when she's here. Ali & Juju are darling and Penny is the fattest baby you've ever seen!

Wednesday we were busy with piano lessons, activity days, visiting teaching and young women's. It was very much a church day. Colten went to his friend Kara Nelson's pageant that night. That was a new experience for him:)

Thursday River had gymnastics and Hadlie and I were in charge of the horses at the Jensen's since Thursday is Nancy's day at the temple. We went a few different times to spray down the barn to try to keep it cool. We also fed them and gave them water. Hadlie also stayed down there by herself for a little while to brush them. After all that we went to Jill's pool with all the cousins for a few hours til Colten had to go to work.

Friday was busy! Hadlie and her friend Sadie went down to the Jensen's to help clean stalls at 7:30am. River and I went to the bank and did a bunch of grocery shopping. Had & Sadie stayed til almost noon helping and playing with the horses. Can you tell that Hadlie has found something great?! That night we had a family dinner here with my family to celebrate Juju's 7th birthday as well as Father's Day for Papa Mark.

Saturday morning we got to help clean the church. Everyone always groans about this job, but it's really not that bad. There were quite a few people helping and were done within an hour. Colten went to work again that day after we made him mow the lawn (which he did, but wasn't too happy about) and Dad and I had a double date that night with the Jackson's. We went to Outback and bowling:)

Today was Father's Day as you know. We made dad some eggs and bacon this morning and gave him a few little presents like a new wallet, sunglasses and guitar strings. Chris Martineau had his farewell today at church and we had crab dinner over at Grandma Bonnie's. I sent you a picture so you know Katelyn is engaged! Very exciting news! I've offered to help her with whatever I can. I'm sure this will be a little tough for her to plan a wedding without her mom. She has some ideas about what she wants, but Sept. 5th will come very fast and she's going to need some help.

Also at Grandma's, Dad found his baby book with his birth certificate, etc! He also found a binder of all his letters from his mission as well as ones his family sent him! Crazy good! It actually gave me some good ideas of things I should be saving for you. It's really fun to look back see all that stuff!

Well - tomorrow the girls and I are headed to Vegas. Ellie invited River to come stay the week by herself, but River still gets so homesick she just couldn't do it on her own! So I'm taking them down. I'll stay at Jen's with River and Hadlie is planning on spending most of the time over at the Allred's. I think that'll be fun for her. Things have been a little better with her this week by the way...

So that should be fun. Just wish me luck because it's supposed to be about 113-115 degrees the whole week!

Colten and Dad are staying home. Hopefully they can stay out of trouble. We'll see.

Well - I hope you have a good week and that you're not too hot! Remember I love you so much! I sure miss you too, but know you're out doing the right thing...the best thing!

Love you - Mom