Just 3.5 weeks after Hallie got home from her mission, we made the trek back to visit her mission. It wasn’t always the plan to go back so soon after she came home, that’s just how it worked with our summer schedule and the boys’ commitments. In hindsight, waiting until the end of the summer might have given Hallie a little more time to settle into life at home before revisiting so many mission memories. But once we were there, we knew we had made the right choice. It was a meaningful trip for all of us.

There are a lot of church history sites in her mission and just outside her mission so we decided to expand the trip to take in a few more sites.

We started in Kirtland, Ohio – which is rich in history. When Hallie and Hunter were young, we visited friends and they took us around to the sites, but the kids were little and they don’t remember any of it. So they were taking it all in with fresh eyes.

We knew that spending hours walking through museums and historical sites isn’t every kid’s dream vacation, so we tried to keep a good balance. We let the kids set the pace and resisted the temptation to see every single site just because we were there. There were a few moments when Steve and I were ready to drive another thirty minutes to visit one more isolated site, but the kids had reached their limit. And honestly, that was okay. What we did see – they enjoyed and they were willing participants. 

Kirtland is a small town and we spent about 5 hours visiting the temple (as a museum, not a functioning temple) as well as Joseph and Emma’s home, a cemetary and “historic” Kirkland which housed the Newel K Whitney store, Whitney home, the ashery and mill.

Everyone agreed the highlight of the day was the temple; the first temple built in this dispensation. The temple where miracles and spiritual manifestations have been recorded and we couldn’t help but feel that while we sat within those sacred walls.

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36 hours after we got home from girls’ camp, Steve packed up the boys and went to our stake young men’s camp and the boys came home with stories to tell.

The bear cave was easily one of the camp highlights. Crawling in and out of the narrow passage required a lot of courage (and a willingness to squeeze through some very tight spaces). Anyone with claustrophobia would have happily sat this one out. A lot of great lessons and analogies with this activity. And listening to my boys reenact how they had to crawl through the dirt on their stomachs was entertaining.

The committee built a replica of King Solomon’s temple. It added another layer to the camp and helped bring some of the scriptural stories to life and connected to our modern-day temples that the boys are familiar with.

Bennett owned the archery. His competitive spirt kicked in, and he was determined to be the best – for nothing more than bragging rights. He was aiming for a perfect score of 50 and he believed shooting enough times would equal perfection. Sadly, he came up just shy with 48 points. We got a text from the leader that worked the archery station.

“I just left a gift card in your front door for Bennett. I was so impressed with his determination to get a 50 in archery. He just kept coming back over and over again to try. I wanted to reward him for his efforts. And make sure Bennett knows he’s a 50 in my book!”

Briggs wasn’t quite old enough to attend, but Steve brought him as an honorary young man so he could have all the boys with him. I didn’t complain. Hallie was fresh home from her mission and it allowed for some much needed girl time. Shopping. Temple. Dinner. Perfection.

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Long before our summer roadtrip…and our trip to Powell…and our adventure across New York…Steve and went to Girls Camp.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who you ask), it was only two nights long. I realize that might be an unpopular opinion, but two nights at camp feels just about perfect to me.

The highlight of camp for me (and for most of the girls) came during something they called the “Faith Walk”.

Just after dark, each of us was given a headset with a preloaded audio experience. We set out on a trail that was just over a mile long. The trails were lined with lights to guide the way.

As we walked, the narration guided us through moments from the Savior’s life. There were beautiful musical arrangements, inspiring stories, scriptures, quotes and opportunities to stop and reflect. Along the trail were stations with images and videos of Jesus Christ that corresponded with what we were hearing through our headphones.

What I appreciated most was that it wasn’t something we simply watched or listened to.

We participated.

We walked.

We paused.

We reflected.

We answered questions in our own minds and hearts. We even used UV pens in two sections of the walk and then our papers lined pathways with blacklights illuminating our responses.

It was touching and it felt personal.

It gave us just enough space to think, pray, and simply be with the Savior for a little while. Steve and I enjoyed it so much at night, we walked the trail the next day to see how they created the experience. I can only imagine the amount of work it took to pull it off.

Girls Camp is known for cabins, crafts, songs, and silly skits but I hope they remember the night they walked with Christ.

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We rolled into town late last night in a car that would rival most Hoarders episodes. 🙂

I figure that’s the sign of a remarkable summer.

Someone asked me recently, “How do you get your teenagers to buy into leaving for the whole summer?” The truth is it’s all they’ve ever known. I’ve been taking these kids to Idaho every summer since I can remember. Would my soon to be senior son enjoy bumming around with his friends? I’m sure he would. But he gets to enjoy a summer of experiences outside of Arizona, building relationships with other friends and family. Our time on the road every summer is priceless and it has shaped our family culture.

Every year, I’ve cataloged our roadtrip by certain statistics. But this year is a little different because we actually had two summer roadtrips. Earlier this summer we flew out to Ohio and then drove across the state of New York visiting places and people from Hallie’s mission and ended with a bang in New York City before flying home. And as much as I tried to calculate those numbers into our statistics, I determined I just needed to stick with our traditional roadtrip for this post and we’ll tackle New York another time.

We were gone for 28 days.

We visited 5 states.

We drove 4,408 miles, roughly 64 hours in the car. Hunter drove for 6 of those hours. Hallie drove for 15 hours. Steve drove for 6 hours. And I was behind the wheel the rest of the time – the shortest amount of time I’ve ever had to drive. Steve was with us for the final 11 hours and neither one of us could remember the last time he had made that drive back home with us. It has been so long. And after 11 hours in the car, he was reminded of why he usually flies home to work!

We found 48 of the 50 license plates – missing out on Alabama and Arkansas which I am almost positive we saw but we didn’t record it at the time.

The real hero of the trip was Starlink Internet. Steve purchased it knowing we would have a summer of travels and unreliable internet – which is difficult when we both work remotely. Starlink saved us over and over again. On this trip specifically, when I was driving, Hallie and Steve were working. When Steve wasn’t with us and Hallie and Hunter were driving, I was working. It made the car time pass quickly but it also meant I wasn’t watching for license plates as much. And I didn’t even listen to a single audio book.

Steve flew in to be with us three times.

We made 6 trips to Costco/Sams Club.

The most we paid for gas was just over $5/gallon in Portland, Oregon.

Sports camp: We had two kids attend sports camp at BYU, both participating in tennis camp for the first time – both walked away with medals.

We attended a family reunion in Park City, Utah – celebrating my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

Swam in my brother’s pond, floated the river, swam at two rec centers in Utah and boated at our friend’s lake house.

Two kids attended church camp, FSY in Utah. In fact, we dropped them off at BYU and then started our drive home. They’ll spend the week there and then fly home this weekend.

The boys did a lot of fishing – some with fishing poles and some with fish food and nets and Hunter came out victorious with the largest fish at 4lb 2oz.

We watched nearly every World Cup soccer game. And then watched the highlights of the games we enjoyed.

Our summer playlist included Noah Kahan, Mumford and Sons, Harry Styles, Myles Smith and Coldplay.

It was so fun to have Hallie back with us this summer. She was able to spend time with family and friends she hasn’t seen in two years and it was fun for her to reconnect.

We had the best time. And we came home with 8 loaves of Grandma Sycamore bread, which is icing on the cake.

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