Brooke's Homecoming Date

Brooke

in her new dress

for Homecoming.

Brooke wasn't liking it very much

that I was trying to get a good picture of her.

In this one above she points out that Justin is coming home

and he can take the picture ...

She obviously is more happy when her brother is taking the picture.

Brooke with her date Matt.

They have been good friends for a long time.

It was so nice to see them leaving

and so comfortable with each other.

She said she had a good time.

Elder Justin Paul Adams

When I got home on Wed from doing a 2nd grade substitute job, I noticed the mailman had just finished delivering the mail in our circle. The bishop was pretty sure the call would come on Wed but Steve Young, our stake exec secretary, thought it might be Thur due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

When I went in the house this is how I found Justin - working on my laptop. I asked him if he'd checked the mail yet and he hadn't. I had to urge him to go out and check the mail and luckily he humored me. Jared and Kamryn went with him while I followed along with the video camera.

Inside the mailbox, he found this big white envelope. There it was - the next 2 years of his life. He was so calm and mellow about it. He could've waited for days to open it, I think. Luckily for me, he only had to wait for a little less than 2 hours. Brooke and Taylor had dental appts and Paul didn't get home from work until just before 6. Paul brought his dad with him and we also had my parents over to join in the excitement.

Justin finally was ready to open his call and I started the video and it said "out of memory" so I had him stop so I could get a new memory card. When he started again, he was so calm and read slowly:

"Dear Elder Adams:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the France Lyon Mission."

We couldn't believe it. France!

He took 2 years of french in jr high so he has some French under his belt.

He continued:

"You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the French language."

We are all so excited!!!! Its so great to know where and when's he going. We spent a lot of time on the internet looking up info about his mission. I read through the whole packet and learned what we needed to do right away. Its going to be such a great experience for Justin and for our whole family.

Anniversary Getaway, THE CONCERT

The MGM Grand Garden Arena

The whole reason we went to Las Vegas for our 20th Anniversary

was to see SADE in concert.

We are huge fans and were so glad she was finally

touring again, after 10 years since the last tour.

We'd never seen her live before and had waited a long time

for this night.

Paul and I at the arena

We got there right when the doors opened

so we could take in the whole experience.

It was such a great place to people watch

(wish we had some pictures to share)

In our seats

waiting for the concert to start

John Legend

opened the concert

he's got a great voice

and plays the piano while he sings - HOT!

me and SADE

during the concert there were lots

of cool graphics and videos

she is TIMELESS!

near the end of the concert

Sade in her 5th outfit, I think

she looked amazing in every single one

SADE up on this rising little platform

we were dying watching her up there

SADE was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE enjoyed every minute of the concert (except for the supremely rude and annoying girls behind us who wouldn't stop talking, after several confrontations with them and the people in our row, security escorted them out) and can't wait for the concert DVD to come out so we can watch it over and over.

Anniversary Getaway, part 4

Las Vegas Temple

Saturday morning Paul and I got up early so we could go to the temple. Its terrible that it takes going out of town to get us to the temple. The Las Vegas temple is beautiful - inside and out. The celestial room is amazing. It was great to go and try to bring some spirituality to our weekend in sin city.

Anniversary Getaway, part 3

cool towers at

City Center on the strip

amazing wall of fountains

at Aria

The Bellagio

chocolate fountains

at The Bellagio

The Paris

the fountains at The Bellagio

we love these fountain shows set to music

we watched 4 different ones and they are all amazing

inside the Venetian

the Grand Canale shops at The Venetian

(hopefully one day I'll go to the real Venice)

We know its called sin city but we really enjoy exploring around Vegas. After relaxing in our room for a bit, we went to dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe and then spent about 6 hours walking around the strip. There are some amazing things to see. By the time we got back to our room, I was exhausted but it was so much fun to see these cool hotels and stores.

Anniversary Getaway, part 2

The Signature Towers

at MGM Grand

looking up from our room on the 25th floor

We were in Tower 2 of the 3 Towers

looking down from our room to the pools

goofing off in our room

Complimentary dessert

to celebrate our 20th anniversary

we went to this swanky mexican restaurant

Diego's at the MGM Grand

From our morning golf date, we drove to Las Vegas. the first thing we had to do was find a distribution center so Paul could buy some garments cuz he forgot to pack some :)

Then we went to check in to our hotel. Since it was our 20th anniversary we decided to splurge and stay somewhere really nice. I highly recommend The Signature Towers at MGM. It was an amazing place to stay and was super nice, esp since it was a non-gaming and non-smoking resort/hotel. When we checked in, Jacqueline-the front desk clerk, asked us about our stay and we told her we were there to celebrate our 20th anniversary. She upgraded our room and put us on the 25th floor with a great view. That room was much nicer than my house. It was huge and so comfy!

Anniversary Getaway, part 1

Paul teeing off

at Casa Blanca Golf Course

(it was majorly brown & dusty)

Paul at Casa Blanca golf course

in Mesquite

This is actually the best looking part of the course right now

(they were closing the next day for overseeding)

Paul and I

after golfing 18 holes

in the desert heat

We set off on our getaway on Thursday afternoon, driving down to St George. We listened to the first half of the Utah game while we were driving. Then we went to Iggy's in St George and watched the second half of the game while we had dinner. Then on to Mesquite, where we stayed for the night.

Then early the next morning (but not quite early enough) we went to McDonalds for breakfast (it was conveniently located next to the hotel and was quick) and then on to golfing. I was really nervous to go again because we hadn't been for 2 years. Luckily we got to go out just us 2, which was quite a relief. We had a cart which always makes it fun for me. It all came back to me and I had some good hits. We had a great time even though it got pretty hot by the end. We golfed 18holes, which I've never done in my life, and i'm not really cut out for that much golf - I don't have the endurance or the attention span. But Paul was having a blast so I was good too.

Guess Where He's Going

Justin has turned in his mission papers and they've been submitted to the missionary committee. He should get his call next week or the week after. We've put this big poster size wall map in our entry way and want to write everyone's guesses on it. I think this will be fun and especially good for Jared and Kamryn. So if you'd like to make your guess, please comment (if you commented on facebook, we'll put that up too).