Goals Realized

This has been a very eventful week for our family.

On Sunday, Ben passed his Eagle Board of Review. Ben planned and organized the planting of trees at Barney Park for his Eagle Project. They were much needed for shade near the ball park. Ben is our fifth son to attain the rank of Eagle and we are so pleased that he has chosen to strive for this goal.

On Tuesday, we flew to Utah with Ben and helped him move into his apartment at Heritage Halls, in Provo, where he will be attending Brigham Young University. He will attend for one year before he leaves for his Mission next Fall.

On Thursday, our son, Brian, passed his Eagle Board of Review, making him our sixth and last son to attain the rank of Eagle. Brian organized a Food Drive for the United Food Bank in Mesa.

He and Ben worked together to get all the paperwork for their Eagle rank in and we're so happy that they were able to achieve this goal at the same time.

We are so proud of all our boys for having participated in the Scouting program. We feel it has been a blessing in their lives in helping to shape them into men of integrity, strength and courage. A big thank you to all of their scout leaders, young men leaders, teachers and anyone else who has had a hand in helping them to reach their goals and becoming the people they are!

2008 Hawaii Trip

We just returned from our yearly vacation in Hawaii. This trip we took our four youngest children, Bradley, Lindsay, Benjamin & Brian. We also took Lindsay's good friend, Amy Miles. We had a wonderful time on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. We did several new things this trip including a five hour Catamaran trip around the north shore of Kauai to see the Napali Coast. We saw dolphins swimming in the wake of our boat, some flying fish and got to snorkel in the beautiful blue waters.

Poipu Beach on Kauai

Laie, Oahu Temple

Spouting Horn on Kauai

Sunset at Ko Olina on Oahu

Some of the highlights of the trip were the amazing snorkeling we did on both islands, the scuba diving that everyone did but Mom (she's the designated book reader...), drinking smoothies by the pool (Amy's favorite), visiting the waterfalls, visiting the Temple, hiking to Queen's Bath and jumping off rocks at Luma Hai and Waimea Bay.
The sand is amazing, the water bluer than blue and the weather couldn't have been better. The only thing that could have been an improvement would be to have had all of our children there with us. We love being together as a family and experiencing this beautiful place together.

1. Kelli and Adam were married July 11 in Alpine, Utah. The Bishop performed the ceremony and we had a nice Chili lunch afterwards. They are very happy and we are happy that they have finally been able to be married. Also, we are selling our van to them because they will need it now with their big family. I will miss my van!

Tom and Marilyn came to the celebration...

Grandpa and Grandma Heagle were there...

It was so good to see David, Vickie and some of their children
who also came to see Kelli and Adam get married...

Richard and Nickie and their family were also there.

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Taylor in Boot Camp

I wanted to write about Taylor and what he's been up to. After being home from his mission and attending school at BYU-H for about a year he called one day from Provo where he was visiting some friends and told us that he wanted to join the Navy...I wasn't too surprised because he had mentioned it before and I knew he had been considering it for awhile. We told him we would be supportive of whatever he chose, so he enlisted in Navy special forces in January of this year.


In March he started Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois where he mostly studied a lot and did a little bit of physical preparation and graduated 8 weeks later on May 23rd. Robert, Ben, Brian and I went back to Illinois for the graduation. It was a long flight and the boys were tired by the time we arrived and rented a car.

The graduation was unlike anything else we had ever been to.

The graduates stood, mostly at attention, for over an hour while the ceremony took place.

You can see Taylor here, right in the middle. There were a lot of graduates and the security was what you would expect it to be. It was very patriotic, complete with flags and musical numbers.

It was so wonderful to be there with Taylor on this important first step of a new journey for him.

Afterward, we were able to spend the weekend with Taylor...we rode the train into Chicago for the day, to a movie that night and attended church on base with Taylor on Sunday.





After graduation, Taylor will stay in Great Lakes for two months training with the other special forces groups after which he will transfer to the Navy base in Coronado California.

We are very excited for him and proud of him and hope that he will do his best so that he can join this organization of very devoted men who want to protect our country.

Ben´s Senior Prom.. Uncle Stan was kind enough to let Ben borrow his car for the night.
Ben is one lucky guy!

...and his Eagle Project, planting trees at Barney Park...

Bryan Colby and Robert discussing plans, etc. for the project

Bishop Gallacher, Max Lamourex and Robert taking a break from all their hard work...

Thanks to all who came out and helped to make this project a big success!

Kimber and Ryan's wedding was last Saturday... what a beautiful day! They were married at the Mesa Temple.





Later that night we had a reception at Kathy Gray's home. Kimber and I did most of the decorating and Kimber had done all of the pictures for the tables. It was beautiful...

Ryan and Kimber leaving the reception...

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU!!

Eagle Project

Brian decided to plan and organize a food drive for the United Food Bank in Mesa for his Eagle Project. This included organizing the boys, handing out fliers, picking up the food, loading it into the trailer and delivering it to the Food Bank. We had a fun morning handing out breakfast to the scouts who helped and then going to collect the food.

The trailer that we collected all the food in. This sign was Mom's contribution to the project.

Brian making calls and making sure everyone is signed in. It was his
responsibility to make sure all the records were accurate and all the information was correct.

Taylor helping out in his usual manner...

Some of our helpers! Austin, Matt, Matt, Gary, Brian, Steven, Ben, Taylor
and in the front, Andrew and Brother Colby, and the three boxes of food we collected...

At the Food Bank after the delivery of all the food they collected.
They were very impressed with the amount of food that was collected and they
were so pleased with his and the other Scouts' efforts.

Good Job Brian and all the Scouts of Troop 189!