A Fun Few Weeks

I haven't posted in a long time, so it's time to play catch up!

The trip to Nauvoo with my family was awesome. We met up with Daniel and had a great time...mostly. We stayed in a tent and it RAINED. A LOT. We pretty much got flooded out and had to head to a hotel. My mom, Emily, my dad, and I went to the temple to do baptisms and the next day Daniel and I did an endowment session. Then we all did baptisms with the youth that Daniel was traveling with. It was so fun to be in a session with Daniel, and also awesome to have him baptize me.

The next week, Dave and I went back to Nauvoo. I had so much fun there with my family, I wanted to take Dave. The pageant there was especially awesome. Oh, and the Fudge Factory :)

Yesterday I got back from 5 glorious days in Utah. It was action packed!! My whole fam came to pick me up at the airport, including my niece and nephews. It was sooo good to see them all!

I got in on Thurday morning, helped my mom clean for most of the afternoon, got my hair did (Thank you Tara!! You're the BEST!), then just hung out with the fam. Friday I had lunch with a friend, stopped by LANDesk to say hi to a bunch of former co-workers, then went to the airport to pick up our new foreign exchange student Sofi. She's awesome!! She's 15 and from Germany. She'll be staying with my parents until the end of the school year.

Saturday we partied for Mckay and Carter's birthdays and Sunday was Daniel's farewell. He did such a great job. The rest hymn just before he spoke was "Families Can Be Together Forever." That sweet kid just bawled his eyes out up there on the stand. Which made me sob too.

After Sacrament meeting, we rushed home to find dozens of Daniel's friends already there. We put out the stuff for pulled pork sandwiches-- enough to feed an army (or so we thought)-- and it was GONE in 15 minutes. Thank goodness we had the chocolate fountain too! And I spent the next 4 hours frying up "Spudnuts," the famous Bangerter family's homemade donuts. It was a great day.

At midnight we went for a late night Beto's run. We ate at a park and told "scary stories," such as: "Once a time, boy named Aaron, in a car seat, smelled some matches, the end" (told by Gina's nephew). It was hilarious. Sofi must think we're nuts. Aaaand we are.

Monday I had lunch with another friend, got my nails done (I missed Justin so much!!), took Sofi to get a cell phone, and then home for dinner and Daniel's setting apart. Before the ordination, we all went around and told stories about sweet Daniel. We all cried and cried (mostly the girls).

Tuesday morning we met up at IHOP at 7 am for our traditional pre-MTC breakfast, then headed to the airport. Saying good bye was rough, of course. In fact, I'm not going to say anything else about it because it's too hard to talk about. Just love him.

Then, one of the highlights of my trip, my mom and I spent a couple of hours at The Gateway mall. She bought me a gorgeous shirt from J. Crew. Everything there was incredible. We both had dreams of spending thousands in that store! We stopped at Cafe Rio, and then back to St. Louis with me.

It was a great, fun filled trip. I love my family and Utah. Sorry there are no pics, but I left my camera in Utah :( I'll get some posted when I can!