The very best thing about not starting our mission until June 13 is that we got to go back east and spend time with 3 of our children and families. We left May 10 and flew to Louisville, KY. We arranged it so that we flew the  day before Brooke worked her shift at the Louisville temple. She picked us up early that next day and we went to the Louisville temple- she did her shift and we did several sessions.

We stayed at Brooke’s house (in Newburgh, IN - about 2 hours east of Louisville) for several days, then borrowed one of their cars to drive down to Madison, AL - about 4 hours south - to visit Lindsay and her family. We got to see one of Cambria’s volleyball games,

And go to the Space & Rocket center that NASA has there,

But one of the highlights was to be able to go with Colby on his very first trip to the Birmingham, AL temple.

Then we drove back to Brooke’s for a full week of graduation festivities for Trevor. We managed to squeeze in some games of pickle ball with Brooke and Trevor at the air conditioned church!

We on Saturday, May 21 we drove 2 hours to Terra Haute, IN to watch Austin run in the 4x100 relay at the state meet for Junior High.  They got us shirts to cheer him on.

Then it was a quick trip back home to help with the Open House for Trevor , then his graduation at 8 pm.

He had a class of 750, and since he was one of the Valedictorians, he went first…..so we did a lot of sitting! The good news is that at least they had air-conditioned the gym since we were there to see Tanner graduate!

Next we rented a car to drive to Virginia to see Landon graduate. We decided to have some fun and rent a Mini Cooper . We had such a great time, and even better….ALL the kids wanted to drive us us in the Mini!

We drove to meet Chad and his family at the Washington DC temple for the Open House. Such a gorgeous temple and grounds!

Next was Landon’s graduation. He graduated in a class of 70 so it wasn’t quite so long!

The next day, Sunday, May 29, we we so blessed to be there as Chad ordained Landon to the Melchizedek Priesthood.  AND to see Chad. E ordained the Bishop of their ward!

Daniel Whitehead- counselor, Bishop Chad Mahaffey, David Gowdy- counselor