Spring Break Get-Together

Kristen and Naomi took some of these pictures.

All together there were 14 of us (Including Karson's mom, Kris and Ethan's friend, Sydney) who went to Hagerman to see the alligators and swim at 1000 Springs.  Levi had to work :-(

 It was early and still chilly, so the gators were keeping warm in the hot springs water.

 Mom kept saying, "Look at the white teeth."

 Looking for fish

 Mom said that I'm never in any pictures.  So Kristen took a picture of me.

 The water was so warm and there was a lot of steam in there.

 Proof that Kristen stood up on the log

Naomi recorded Dad on the diving board

Before they got dressed, they all went for one last jump

Mom soaked in the pool too for quite a while, but didn't end up in any of the pictures.

 Kasen wore his goggles for a whole day afterward

Grandpa Koyle's Funeral

 

 

While the casket bearers were standing in the wind...

Everyone else was huddling together in the tent

 

 

 

Bishop Douglass helping with the last little bit

the luncheon

Some of the people who traveled through the storms:

Heather Grant

some of the Greens

Roy and Julie with their "twins", LaNae and Miriam were born 4 days apart

Kimberly and Wyatt

Terrys

Priscilla Peterson, Shanna Koyle, Ruth Waite, Paul and Karla Douglass

Mom's Surprise Kitchen Makeover

In Mom's last missionary letter to Ethan she wrote, "I wanted to paint the kitchen but that has not happened yet. I hope it does before the summer is over."
Ethan replied, "It sounds like you are trying to get me to paint the kitchen for you ;) Sure I will help."

Early Monday morning, July 23rd, Ethan took Gordon, Sandra, and Naomi to the stake center so they could start their 4 day Trek to Wyoming and back.  When Ethan got home, he emptied the kitchen.

 The week before, Dad had called "the guy" about patching some of the walls and ceiling.  In this picture you can see one of the places that needed patched.

 Ethan, Kristen, and Brittana started scrubbing the walls.  "The guy" came and worked on some spots.
This is a wall before it was scrubbed:

This is after scrubbing all day:

This is the spot by the fan after it was patched and textured, but before it was painted.

The stuff they scrubbed the walls with had a strong smell.  So Ethan looked like a terrorist part of the time.

He had just got his new phone a few days before and the only way he got service inside the house was if the phone was sitting in the kitchen window.

Kristen had a couple days off work, so she stayed to help.  A lot of these pictures came from Kristen's camera, so this is one of the few that was taken of her.

 Tana's gloves had holes, so she put bags over the top of them.

 Tuesday they started painting the trim around the windows and one doorway.  They used caulk to fill in some cracks in the plaster walls.

 Tuesday evening, Kristen brought Brittana over for swimming lessons and fell asleep on the slide.

 Wednesday, Kristen got more paint and then went back to Twin Falls (and Levi).

 After work, Karson went to help.  Also, Cousin Wyatt stopped to help a few times, but we didn't get any pictures of him.

On Thursday, it was a rush to put everything back before the Trekkers came back to town.  They were trying to put it back to normal as much as possible, so they could see how long it would take for Mom to notice any difference.

In this video, (if you listen closely after Naomi comes in) you can hear Mom say, "What the heck!?" because she saw one of the places in the hallway that "the guy" patched.  So when she walks into the kitchen she is looking at the place on the ceiling by the fan that he was also supposed to fix.  So she doesn't see the dark brown trim around the windows.  This video is a little long, but we cut out a full 2 minute chunk of staring at an empty doorway. (you're welcome)

This is what it looks like now above the big window and table.

This is above the water cooler.

Lower Calf Creek Falls is no longer above the shelf.  Mom wants to get a bigger frame for a picture collage of her grandkids to put there.

Ethan Came Home

After two long years of serving the Lord faithfully, trying his hardest to learn Korean, and teach the Korean people of Vancouver Canada; Ethan returned home!

We were all prepared with our signs.

In Korean it says, "Long time. No See!"

Our first glimpse of him.

 I think that he is mostly excited just to be off his 3rd plane of the day.

 The first mommy hug after 2 years.

 He knew Korean well enough to read the sign.

 Whoa! His face tells the whole story of what it is like to go from no family for two years to all of them at once.

Most of us cried with excitement, and were so excited to see him again.

 He quickly recovered and became himself.

All of us together again. (Minus 2 hardworking brother in laws)