Jana's Place: July 2015

Saturday, July 25, 2015

He's Home From His Mission!

On Friday, July 17, 2015, our youngest son arrived home from serving a two-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Our son served in the Arizona Tempe Mission. He served in the cities of Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler, and in the towns of Arizona City, Eloy, and Picacho. He was a wonderful missionary and loved his mission!

We had a little surprise waiting for our son when he arrived home. All of our family members were able to be at the airport to welcome him home! Two of our five kids are married, and we also have a baby grandson. Most of our kids live out-of-state. They all arrived at our house the day before our missionary son's arrival.

At our local airport, there are decorative sequoia trees inside the terminal. They aren't real trees. But I think they look pretty cool. Our kids hid inside the huge walk-through Sequoia tree.

While our kids were hiding, my husband and I hugged our son as we welcomed him home and took pictures, trying to act like all was normal and that we were the only family members at the airport. I was excited to see his reaction when he finally would see his siblings, in-law-siblings and nephew. We walked toward the baggage claim area and walked by the tree where everyone was hiding. Surprise! They all came out of hiding. It was great!

Here are some pictures of the happy reunion. (I've blurred my grandson's face for privacy reasons.)

Time for hugs!

Our son hadn't met his new sister-in-law in person before his arrival home. One of our sons got married while our youngest son was serving his mission in Arizona.

Meeting his nephew in person for the first time. Our daughter and son-in-law welcomed a new baby boy into their family while our son was serving his mission.

Time for more hugs.

Our son loved his mission! He served honorably and well. We received a very nice email from a family in his mission not too long ago. They had some very nice things to say about our son. And they even shared a picture of him as well.

When I shared a picture of our son's homecoming on Facebook, some complimentary comments about our son were left by people he knew from his mission. One person wrote that our son was "a huge blessing to our family." And another person wrote, "Elder Last was a fantastic missionary."

We're so proud of our son's selfless service to our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ and to the people in Arizona. Well done son! Welcome home!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

He'll Be Home Soon!

Two years ago we said goodbye to our youngest son as he left to serve a two-year full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to serve in the Arizona Tempe Mission.

We took him to the airport and hugged him.

And then we watched him as he went through airport security. We wanted to be with him and see him as long as we could.

As he left airport security, he turned and waved at us before he walked away.

We stayed and watched him on the big screen in the airport.

We stayed until we couldn't see him anymore.

This Friday we will be taking pictures of our youngest son at the airport again. Only this time they will be pictures of him walking towards us. Friday, July 17th, our son officially completes his two-year mission. We are so excited to see him again!

We are happy that he chose to serve a two-year full-time LDS mission. It's been wonderful these last two years to read his emails about his experiences serving as a missionary in Arizona. He was already a wonderful young man before he left. He has grown into an even more wonderful young man because of his missionary service.

This is a picture of him when he arrived at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on the day he began his mission. Our daughter sent this picture to us two years ago. She, her husband, and one of our other sons, were able to pick him up from the Salt Lake City Airport and drop him off at the MTC.

I love this picture of him and have it up on our refrigerator. Our son loved his mission and has served honorably and well.

I'll share photos of the happy reunion with our son in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Lower Emerald Pools Trail ~ Part 2

In a previous post, I shared some photos I took as our family began hiking along the Lower Emerald Pools Trail in beautiful Zion National Park. Today, I'd like to share more photos from that hike.

We were hiking along the Lower Emerald Pools Trail on an April afternoon earlier this year. Walking along this easy-to-hike trail provides a feast for the eyes. There is beauty everywhere you look. It's definitely a photographer's paradise.

Here we go with my photos, although I'm sure they don't do the actual beauty of the trail justice. You just have to see it and Zion National Park in person to really appreciate the stunning beauty there.

Part of the trail that follows the Virgin River.

A peak at Zion's stunning sandstone cliffs through the shade of the trees.

The Virgin River along the trail.

Check out the cactus.

See the cactus at the bottom of this photo?

Three of our family members (in the foreground).

More cactus along the hillside.

The Virgin River. If you look closely, you can see the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive in the distance.

More of the trail.

The first part of the Lower Emerald Pools Trail follows the Virgin River. Then the trail heads away from it and follows a stream. I'm not sure if the pictures above and below show the Virgin River or the stream. Either way, the scenery is so beautiful!