Memories of September 11th

When the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed, I was serving a full-time mission in California for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I remember it was a Tuesday. My companion and I went to District Meeting like every Tuesday, but the meeting didn't start on time. When the district leaders finally walked in, they told us they had just talked with the mission president, President Knudson. He told them that an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center earlier that morning and terrorists were involved. As missionaries, we weren't allowed to watch television, but throughout the day we still caught glimpses of the story.

While standing in Ed and Erica Dumin’s living room in Fairfield, California, Elder Barnes and I saw the Twin Towers collapse, as the weakened structures could no longer support their own weight. It seemed that every news station replayed the scene of a hijacked airplane filled with passengers diving into the side of one of the towers over and over throughout the entire day. As we knocked on doors, a man answered one door and shouted at us to go away. We asked for a drink of water and he slammed the door in our faces. A few moments later, his wife reopened the door and handed us each a glass, apologizing for her husband and saying, “We don’t treat people that way.” Though I soon forgot her face, I will always remember her kindness.

I saw a lot of hatred caused by the attack, which hatred seemed to last for the rest of the time I served in California. It was mainly directed towards anyone of Middle Eastern descent, since the terrorists involved in the hijackings were Islamic. People refused to buy ice cream from ice cream trucks because the drivers were Muslim. I even met a man who said he was going to buy a gun, climb to the top of the tree in his front yard, and shoot any Islamic people who came within a block of his house. For a while, I thought things were going to get like they were after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, with Islamic people being rounded up and placed into camps just like the Japanese Americans were.

As it got closer to the time for me to come home from my mission, a lot of missionaries began worrying that the United States would begin drafting people for the armed forces. The scriptures gave me a lot of peace and I realized that it didn’t matter if I was drafted and sent to Afghanistan because the Lord would protect me. If I died then as long as I was right with the Lord it didn’t matter.

End of summer

As always, summer becomes a blur. We always have a lot going on. Most of which, I forget the camera, or forget to take pictures. Here are a few highlights of what we did have the camera for.

We love the rain and enjoy playing in it so I tried to get a picture of it. You can't really see from this picture, but she is soaked!



We got a chance to go to the "Days of 47" rodeo with Brad's family. Of course, our little cowgirl loved it! She thinks that she might want to do barrel racing when she is older.




Brad took a couple of days off so we could have some fun. The first day, we went to Lagoon. We were meeting my family up there, and we were a little early so we stopped by the courthouse to get a picture of Liz there.



When we got there, we were too busy having fun to take very many pictures, but here are a couple.




The next day we went to the Zoo.





We can't forget our favorite part of this summer, meeting Liz's new cousin!



Here is the end of our fun....The first day of second grade. Liz is really excited to be back to school, and she already loves her new teacher, so I know it will be a great year for her.

Another year has gone by...

First day of 1st grade

Last day of 1st grade


She hasn't changed too much in her looks, but it has been fun to see her growth. She still enjoys reading the same books that she did at this time last year, so I thought she was at the same reading level. I was surprised to find out that she had still improved! I am constantly amazed by this girl. I am so excited to have her home for the summer. We have a few things planned to hopefully keep her busy.

The last couple of weekends, we have been trying to do some fun things as a family. On Memorial Day, we went to the Museum of Ancient History at Thanksgiving Point.




This weekend we went to Kennecot Mine.




We will just have to see where else we explore this summer...

Easter Weekend

Last weekend, Liz and I went with my cousin and her kids to the Dick's Market Easter egg hunt. There were a lot of kids and a lot of candy.  Some of the eggs had coupons for different items in the store, and Liz got coupons for a corn dog, a stick of string cheese, a cookie, and a bottle of bubbles. My aunt Dani and I joked that all she needed was a coupon for a drink and she would have an entire kids meal, prize and all. Later that afternoon, Liz went to her friend Lucy's house where she had another Easter egg hunt.

We had a fun Easter this weekend. On Friday, we went with Nicole's family to This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. They had several things to see and a petting zoo. Lizzy held a chick and a baby rabbit, and she got to pet a piglet, a couple of lambs, a kid (a baby goat), and a bull named Bones. They also had a pony ride that Liz enjoyed, but she was a little scared because she had never been on a horse by herself before.

Lizzy holding a baby bunny

On Saturday, we went with my family to the Wales town Easter egg hunt. Lizzy again got a ton of candy. She also had a little Easter egg hunt in my parent's living room before the town egg hunt.

Wales Town Easter Egg Hunt

Grandpa Kevin wearing Grandma Shelley's apron

This morning, the Easter Bunny came and brought Lizzy a lot of candy. He also brought a book and the movie Tangled. He hid eggs around the house for Liz to search for, so she ended up having five different Easter egg hunts!

While driving home last night, we almost hit a cougar in Salt Creek Canyon near Nephi. I don't think I've ever actually seen a live one outside of the zoo!

Nicole made Liz a new Easter dress, which she wore to church today. She looks very pretty in her dress and new shoes.

Liz in her new Easter dress

Conference Weekend

We had a pretty good conference weekend. We stayed home for the Saturday Morning Session, then got together with the whole family (except Jake and Melinda, of course) at Emily's apartment for the Saturday Afternoon and Priesthood Sessions. Then on Sunday, we woke up to a couple of inches of snow and watched the Sunday Sessions at home.

Conference was great! President Monson always makes me laugh, and President Eyring joked around a little in the Priesthood Session too. I love the jokes he made about the sailor who blessed the sacrament and his two neighbors who went to prison.

I love how President Packer is always so direct. In the Saturday Afternoon Session, he said, "...the Lord's standard of morality commands that the sacred powers to beget life be protected and employed only between man and woman, husband and wife. To misuse this power is exceeded in seriousness only by the shedding of innocent blood and the denying of the Holy Ghost." I turned to my family right after that and said, "And that's the part of his talk that will ignite controversy this year." Anyone looking for a clear-cut statement on the Church's stand towards homosexuality, there it is.

I also got a chance this weekend to scan a few more of my mission pictures onto the computer. Some of them are now added to my Mission Pictures album on Facebook.

Crazy Valentine

The other day, Liz gave us a Valentine she made in class. When we opened it up, we discovered she had made up a song and written it inside the Valentine. Inside the Valentine, it said:


Oh baby please don't leave me
Oh baby don't leave me
Let me repeat
Oh baby don't leave me
So I hope you won't leave me
So baby will you leave me
Yes or no
I hope you chose the right one baby


Yeah...we now wonder what her teacher must think. She's 7 going on 15. What's she going to be like as a teenager?