Lanes Mission Call!

While Casey and I were in CA for his birthday, Lane text saying

that his call had come!

I honestly thought it wouldn't get here until the following week,

so I was surprised!!

It was tricky as it was Spring Break.

He wanted to open it with as many family and friends as possible.

So he waited a whole week to open it!!

I would not have had that much strength to not peek!

He was adamant about waiting, and not opening it up with just our 

family first.

He wanted to be surprised along with everyone else.

This is his thing.

His sacrifice, his decision to serve.

I respected whatever he wanted to do!

It was tricky trying to coordinate a time,

as many of his friends were opening theirs as well.

We didn't want to take away from them.
One of them being his best friend, Sawyer!

We were able to split the night with Sawyer.

He would open his first at his home, then an hour

later Lane would.

Talk about the best kind of time tetris!

We got everything set up so it was ready to go!

 

We headed over to the Perkins where Sawyer
opened his call to Xalapa, Mexcico!

He had already opened his with his family.

So he already knew where he was going.

Then the crowds starting shifting over to our house!

The map filling up with all of the guesses.

Then it was time!!

My heart was pounding at this point!

I was pretty zoned out while he was reading the opening part of his call,

there were so many people and I was trying to video.

Then he paused and read where he will be serving!

He didn't really know how to pronounce it...

all I heard was Calappa, Mexico.

To be honest I was trying to process Mexico.
That was one place I was hesitant to send one of my children!

I was also thinking what are the chances of both of them going to Mexico?!

Then he read he would report July 28th.

I could hear chattering, and then some yelling...

WAIT, THAT'S THE SAME MISSION AS SAWYER!!!

I think Lane wasn't registering it as well.

Sawyer came up to look at it.
He pronounced it wrong because, hello, Spanish names are hard to say correctly.

IT WAS!! 

Xalapa, Mexico!!

He butchered the "X", lol. 

The exact mission, reporting on the exact same day!!

Everyone erupted with screams and excitement!!

I love these progression pictures of the whole moment.

 This picture of me, my face says it all.

I was in complete SHOCK!!!

What are the chances of this happening?!

I have no doubt Heavenly Father is in the details on this.
How can we deny this is exactly where he needs to serve!

My worries about sending him to Mexico quickly diminished.

It was such a happy evening with so many hugs going around !!

Elder Goodman has a nice ring to it!

Of course Lane is blurry in the one family picture
I tried to snap once the last person left.

Lane said he was extra grateful he hadn't read his call beforehand.

Because when he went to Sawyers opening he would have had

to try to hold in that they got the same call!

It really did make Lanes opening that more special and exciting. 

He was inspired!

All I know is that Mexico is getting 2 of the very best!

Hoorah for Israel!!

Birthday Get-Away

We will take any excuse to escape out of town, just the 2 of us.

Casey's birthday was the perfect reason!

He is the best.

I wish I could do this every month with him!

If you haven't figured it out yet, we plan most of our trips around food!!

It brings us so much happiness, lol!

We couldn't stop thinking about El Coyote in LA from our layover last

year on our way to Tahiti. 

We wanted to make sure it was still as good as we remembered it.

The good news, it IS!!!

I wish I could jump into this picture to devour that plate of goodness!!

Even better, Levain was just up the street.

This cookie joint has got a strong hold on us!!

Last minute we decided to go to Disneyland.

We woke up to lots of rain!

The best part was sleeping in and not really caring about

trying to cram in a full day.

First place we walked to when entering was... food.

A dole whip appetizer while waiting for our Bangle BBQ was

a good decision.

I had forgotten that Splash Mountain was now Tiana themed.

We were sort of wet already, so we went for it!

Totally out of my character to do a water ride.

I HATE being wet and soggy!!

And guess who got the very front?!

AGH!!

I tried to wrap myself up in my rain jacket the best I could.

I got SLOSHED!

It was fun, and we were laughing pretty hard.

But that is a one and done ride for me!!

The next day we headed straight back to,

El Coyote, ha!

It really is THAT good!!

We did switch up dessert and tried Magnolia Bakery.

It was, okay. 

Definitely more hyped up than it should be.

We had some time before our flight so Casey drove me to see the crazy things I love to check

out while on vacation.

Homes from movies.

Any guesses??

This house sure is GROOVY!!

March/Spring Break

Not a better way to kick off Spring than with baseball!

Rusty was asked to join the varsity team for a tournament during the break

which made it extra fun to see both boys out there.

They spent 3 days out at McClintock high school in glorious weather!

Not too hot, not too cold... one day all we needed was a light jacket:)

Lanes signature stance, glove on the hip with a popped leg.

Rusty in the dugout.

I love that I can pick them out by their postures.

We got back his senior pictures!

Snuck in some baptisms at the temple with Grammy 

during her shift.

A day at the Grand for some early season swimming and gorging 

on resort food. THE BEST!

I ran into one of my favorite influencers,  Late by Kate!

The kids mooching the day as much as they could.

The party continued at In N out!

Lindi turned 12!! 

Such a big year for her.

Officially a young woman and in full blown teen mode.

She knew exactly what she wanted to do to celebrate her day.

Getting all of the free-bees. 

Dutch Bros and her beloved Summer Fridays lip gloss.

Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

 

I think Della got a bonus birthday, just look at her enjoying

all of the festivities!

We had 6th grade science experiments going on.

Our house smelled like the movie theaters.

My quarterly clean sweep of the girls rooms.

I don't know how or where they get the stuff 

to pack rat their rooms with that they do. 

We sold concessions during baseball games this year!

The girls dreams came true getting to help run the snack stands.

They were great helpers learning how to count money, run the 

credit cards and apple pay,  and handling the stress of 

lots of things moving all at once when the lines were long.