Paul's 16th Birthday!

We recreated some photos from when Paul was a toddler, sitting on Poppy's lap and Caleb's lap. Good thing he's still a scrawny green bean! 

I offered to rent out the bowling alley, a swimming pool, or something else that could be fun for Paul's birthday. But he just wanted to hang out at our house and play ping pong and spike ball as usual. He had a lot of friends over, and at some point when they were sitting around the fire late at night, they had an impromptu "testimony meeting", Paul said. I'm so glad that my boys have friends who uplift and encourage them in positive ways!

Paul wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory for his birthday lunch. His tastes have graduated from Chick-fil-a, as long as the parents are paying! I never would have guessed that our Pauly Pooper would one day turn out to be our easiest kid! He is very self motivated and reaches out to include those who need support. We are always being told by adults how great Paul is in his church callings. He is always willing and eager to tell me all about his friends, his girlfriends, the drama, etc, and I love it! 

 

Jackson's Mission Call Party...

A day we've anticipated ever since Jacko was born...the day he found out where he will serve his two year mission! He submitted his papers and got his call in his mission portal only one week later! He wanted to open it in front of friends and family on the following Sunday, and it kind of killed me having to wait ALL week long to find out what it would say! He had quite the crowd of friends, probably 60 or more plus family and families from the ward! Everyone wrote down guesses on stickers on the map to see who would have the closest guess to where he is going. 

  After eating dinner, it was finally time for Jackson to read his letter. When he read that he would be going to the Santo Domingo West, Dominican Republic Mission, I thought he was kidding! That is where he went on his humanitarian trip last summer, and he had been saying that he'd love to go to a country speaking Spanish. He was pretty surprised as well, we have it all on video. Our bishop was at our house and I went over to ask him if there was any where on the papers that indicated he had been to the Dominican, and the bishop said no! I think it is more than a coincidence. And he was originally going to go to Tonga for his humanitarian trip, but they weren't open due to COVID19 Restrictions. We put him back in the lottery and he got Dominican Republic, so I think it was meant to be!

Jackson is so blessed to have the support of so many friends and family members cheering him on! He won't start the home MTC until October 10, and then he will fly out to the MTC in Mexico two weeks later. I am so excited to have a missionary out and hear of his experiences and watch him grow spiritually!

Luke sent me this picture of Miss Rose, who just turned 3. She partied hard at our house and fell asleep on their way home to Syracuse!