Tyler’s Mission Farewell

Harris and I were really lucky to be able to go out to Colorado for Tyler’s mission farewell. He is going to the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission and he is going to the Argentina MTC! He leaves on August 25th and will be gone for 2 years.  We were able to spend a few days with him and we got to go golfing and fishing before he had to leave.

Fishing was funny because we got there so late, so it was pretty much pitch, black. Obviously no one caught anything but algae, but we got a lot of casting practice in.   

On Sunday Tyler gave his farewell talk.  He did such a great job and of course I was crying the whole time. After church we all did a little photo shoot.

 

Later that night we had a few people over to say goodbye to Tyler.  The young women in the ward came and gave him a creative card and sang him a stinking cute song!!

 

I was so proud of him! He has such a strong testimony and I know that he will be blessed for wanting to give two years of his life to the Lord.  He is such a great example to me and to my future family. Harris and I will miss him so much!

Atkinson Family Reunion

We went to Island Park, Idaho for our reunion.  We all stayed in a cabin and had a lot of fun doing different activities.  When we first got there we went boating in the river by the Mack’s Inn.

 

We saw 2 huge Moose in the river right as we docked!

 

Later that night we had a little mission party for Tyler.  We played a bunch of games and Tyler got some great gifts for his mission.  Harris, Scott, Dad and Grandpa all brought some stuff from their missions so that Tyler could get excited about what he has to look forward to.

Then we spent the day in Yellowstone seeing that geysers and mud pots.  There were some pretty amazing colors and had fun taking turns carrying Zoey! Mom and Lindsey also made matching shirts for the reunion.  They had the Uruguay flag on it because we are supporting Ty going on his mission and we actually had some cool missionary experiences because of the shirts.

 

Then we went to the local country club and did different activities.  Harris, Ty, and Dad went golfing while the rest of us went swimming.

Later that night we had a family dance off and Lip sync.  Each family prepared a dance number and we voted for the winner.  And weirdly enough, the votes we exactly even. So, we had a even 4 way tie.

 

 

The next morning we went back to the country club and did many different things.  Tennis, Racquet ball, Frisbee golf and golf.  I went to the driving range for the first time in my life and it was really fun!  Grandpa gave some tennis lessons because we all had never officially played tennis before either.

 

Then later in the day we went boating again and it was really hot! Harris and I rode in a canoe with my mom and boy was that a mistake! haha mom freaks out very easily and we tipped over twice into the freezing, ice, cold water! During the float down the river, Dad found a rope swing and so we pulled over and got to play on the swing.  The water was so stinking cold but it was fun to swing.

The next day we got to go back to yellowstone and we saw the falls and a bunch of animals! Then that night my family threw me a surprise birthday party.  We did the limbo and played other games and had cake! I was really surprised and it was so much fun.

The last day we just looked hung around a saw some last things and the drove home.  It was a really fun trip and it was sooooooo nice to get away for a week!