Mission Farewell

Last weekend we went home for Austin's mission farewell. It was a great weekend. We watched Lance play soccer, they won 7-0. We ate LOTS of yummy food with our friends and family. I cried LOTS on Sunday at the Farewell. Stupid Brynn moment, I forgot tissues, and didn't realize until sacrament meeting had already started. Lucky for me, Grandma had some extras. Needless to say, by the time Austin spoke, he was last, I was down to using my jacket sleeve because I'd used all my tissues. Let me tell you, that boy is going to be one great missionary. Dang it! I'm gonna start crying while I'm writing this! I think that him going will not only bless the people of Argentina, but also our family. For those of you who don't know, my mom was the first member of the church in her family. She joined the church when she was 19, after coming to BYU. Her brother, my Uncle Dirk, joined the church about 10 years ago. All of the cousins in the two families that are over the age of 8 have been baptized and we all go to church regularly. We all love the gospel and sometimes we wish there was an easy way to share it with the rest of our family. We have been given such a fantastic gift and we want to share it. But we don't want to offend them or have them think that we are trying to push our religion on them. What we can do is live our lives the way that we know is right and hope that by our example, they will be able to come to see the greatness of the gospel. In the last year and a half, the family has gotten a pretty good idea of how important the gospel is in our lives. Last summer when Matt and I got married, there was a chance to get to explain why we were getting married in the temple, and not in a civil service at a church. And you know what...I feel like my family, even those who aren't members would have been disappointed in me if i had not been married in the temple. Someday they will all understand the wonderful blessing that it is to have an eternal family and to know that I am sealed to Matt for eternity, not just till death do you part.
Anyways...Back to the weekend. After church we all got together to take family pictures. It can be kinda interesting to get that many smiling faces at once.

Cousins with Grandma and Pap (we're missing 2, Recil and Riley)



Family Picture (Emily wouldn't change out of her PJ pants...)



Sibling Love, I'm gonna miss him!




















































And then there's Me and Syd... Yeah, we kinda rock that double chin look..





And we don't do serious very well either!