New missionaries again

arriving just after the second farewell.  It's overwhelming to have missionaries leave than be replaced only two hours later.  This time we had 19 finish their mission while we received 24 from the MTC.  This group had Elder Thompson from our stake in OK.   Elder Bland, from Bentonville, AR who is friends with our friends the Farnsworths' we know from Peru and the Mings that we know from Jenks.  Sister Drasbek was in Emily's ward at BYU this past year.  Sister Smith is the niece of the Smith's we knew in Sandy, UT.  I think we may know too many people, this isn't helping.

It is a great group of missionaries and we are happy they are AZ Mesa Missionaries.  Here they are with their new companions.

 Sister Smith with Sister Leavitt

Sister Drasbek with Sister Daclag

 Sister Talbot with Sister Daquioag

 Sister Orozco with Sister Freckleton

 Sister Hart with Sister Alarcon

Elder Bird with Elder Anderson

 Elder Thompson with Elder Orse

 Elder Stumpf with Elder Rhyasen

 Elder Jensen with Elder Slaugh

 Elder Skinner with Elder Eaton

 Elder Rodebush with Elder Johnson

 Elder Iskow with Elder Miller

 Elder Higham with Elder Lee

 Elder Townsley with Elder Hobbs

 Elder Grabenstein with Elder Findlay

 Elder Draper with Elder Wilderness

 Elder Shirley with Elder Empey

 Elder Dodds with Elder Cadiente

 Elder Cox with Elder Ojala

Elder Checketts and Elder Loyola

 Elder Bowser and Elder Edwards

Elder Bland with Elder Hanks

Elder Arellano with Elder Muir

Elder Lyle with Elder Giacoletto

And the whole group of us in front of the Mesa Temple.

This was worse

than the first farewell.  We had only been here nine weeks but it was long enough to know that these were good missionaries that would be missed in the mission and by us personally.  And we had taken Emily to the airport that morning for her flight to Brazil and to begin her mission.  How many people should you have to say good-bye to in one day?

Elder Godfrey

 Elder Goeckeritz

 Elder Karlinsey

 Elder Mullins

 Elder Mann

 Elder Anderson

 Elder Reed

 Sister Gutierrez

 Sister McSheehy

 Sister Buduan

 Sister Conway

 Sister Willes

 Sister Gonzales-Calderon

 Elder Savage

 Elder Gilbert

 Elder Bono
(He was an AP and such a big help to us as we came to the mission, so I think my face is an accurate reflection of how I felt.)  The smile in the other photos is just because we love them so much, not that we are happy they are leaving.

 Sister Judy

The whole group of missionaries that left August 30th.

It is so sad and weird to be on the other side of the flight from a missionary returning home.  Although I think our happiness for them is greater than theirs, they have fear and apprehension looming.

The Bar Exam

Geoff and Alayna came back to Mesa for Geoff to take the bar exam.

We have seen Adelaide so much this year that she finally is happy to be with us.

We have this big rock in our pool that I told her to sit on and be Ariel.  She liked that idea but she still looked a lot like a watermelon and a cutie pie girl.

She took a picture of Grandma because now we have twinner glasses

 and she can see!

We had fun at Legoland. There was an Aquarium and Legoland at a mall in Phoenix.  See Cate?

It was fun looking at all the amazing things that the Lego specialists had made with the little and big bricks

and of course  playing with Legos.

This Lego girl is taller than Adelaide.

We saw the city

and the mountains

the reservation

the Old West

Diamondbacks Baseball Stadium

University of Phoenix Stadium which we would be sitting at in real life in just a couple weeks

And it takes so long to grade the bar exam that it was October before Geoff found out he had passed.  You find out whether you passed from a public site so nothing like the whole world knowing how you fared.  We are so proud of Geoff for getting a job in the Pima County Attorney's Office and happy that he and the rest of his family will not be too far away.