After he barely waited for us to come over and watch him, he ecstatically spent a good minute trying to open the envelope! He was literally so excited that he almost destroyed his call trying to open it up as fast as he could! I am so proud of this kid and can't wait to write him weekly emails and really figure out what a mission is all about. I've never really known/kept in touch with someone throughout their entire mission, let alone a family member! I'm so proud of this guy!
Once Tyrell had read through his entire packet, the Holt's all got together and played night games - "Murderer in the Dark", where we all draw a slip of paper and have to run around in the night time trying to 'stay alive'. If your slip of paper says 'Murderer' then you have to run around secretly and slide your fingers across other player's necks to 'kill' them. You want to do this secretly so that the detective doesn't know that it is you. If you are the detective, your job is to catch the murderer before he either kills all of the citizens or kills you! It sounds morbid, but is actually really fun. It's especially fun to scream out "MURDER IN THE DARK" when you live in a highly populated neighborhood at 11:00 pm.
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| This is the best version of Monopoly there is! There is no way that you can cheat and there is no paper money to deal with. |
I won, of course! I had an entire side of the board filled with hotels and as each family member lost, I would by up all of their property and add even more hotels or houses. It got to the point that there was only 3 properties I didn't own and only those 3 properties were houseless. My brother in law Cache only survived by a few lucky rolls that put him on the Chance, Visiting Jail, and Community Chest slots before he ended up landing on one of my properties. It was really fun to play a board game with them rather than spend the entire afternoon/day playing videogames.
Once Mitch got home from helping some ward members move, we all packed up and headed back to Idaho Falls. On the way there, I had a devilish plan and decided to let my in-laws help me test all of the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans that I had recently purchased.
What we thought was Popcorn ended up being Rotten Eggs. Poor Ashlyn was gagging in my back seat!
Gage acted like the tough kid after the initial shock of getting pepper!
Cache was NOT a fan. He tried Vomit, Boogie, and Grass. These pictures happen to be him trying Vomit.
My husband tried Sausage or Dirt. Sadly he couldn't tell which it was haha
I ate Grass, Soap, another Grass that we thought would be Green Apple, and Dirt.
After we got to Idaho Falls, it was time to celebrate the birthdays of 4 dear friends and loved ones!
It was Katelyn Daniels birthday! She turned 20. She happens to be one of my very good friends and this is her and I taking pictures in the photobooth at my wedding.
It was also my Sister-in-Laws birthday! Ciara Holt turned 16! This is an older picture of her, but I thought it was super adorable and really just fits her personality. Love this girl!
It was also the twin's birthday! Henry and Madeline turned 8 years old! This is their birthday party in the middle of opening gifts. Don't mind my weird expression, this was the only picture I could get of them both in the same frame.
Ana and her fiance Brad. Ana is my older sister and is getting married August 16th!!!
Henry trying to smile after he had already been worked up about a present he really wanted
Madeline is blind and has cerebral paulsy. That is why I am in all of the pictures with her. We try to buy her interesting textures and things like that, hence the feeling of the clothes. She is also a fashionista!
Our 'funny faces' picture. I don't think (or at least, I don't hope) that
I make this face in every day conversation.
(Mitch and I always buy the best gifts! Makeup, Skittles, Airheads, Nail Polish, and a sweet cup!)
Not only did we celebrate all of these birthdays, but Mitch, Abbi, Ciara, my sister Ana and her fiance Brad, and I all drove up in the redneck Bronco that Mitch and I own and watched the sunset on the top of a giant hill.
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I loved getting to spend time with my friends and family and to be honest, visiting my family is one of the highlights of my college existence. I love getting to really have an "adult" relationship with them now.
All in all, I would call this weekend a success!
- Alex
