Alex

I shared Alex's arrival home from the airport back in June but I never did finish the experience. I guess today I will just give a short summary of Alex's summer at home before he left us and went to school. 

Alex gave a wonderful home coming talk and that evening we had an open house for him here at the house. I have no idea why I don't have any pictures of the open house. We had a ton of people come on by to see him. One of Chile's favorite meals is a souped up hot dog that they call "Completo's" or something like that. It is basically a hot dog with lots of mayonaise, avacado, tomatoes etc. Very good. That is what Lisa served at the open house. 

That weekend we took all of the family to a Padre's game. It was actually, "Mormon Night at the Padre's" so we sat with our ward and had a ton of fun. They had a tail gate before the game where we got to meet Alex Boye. I had never heard of him before but I guess he is a famous Mormon Singer. Because it was Mormon Night they had him sing the National Anthem. We had plenty of time so we decided to go and get something to eat at Hoodads. It was fun. Our family has grown and we took up a good deal of the available space. 

After everyone left and things had settled down Kira and Justin flew Alex up to Calgary so Justin could get a chance to see him. Alex was up there for a little over a week and had a great time. This year was the hundredth anniversary of the Calgary Stampede and Alex got to be a part of that. He also went on a scout camp with Justin in Waterton and the most memorable event from that was when they came face to face with a bear on the trail to Crypt Lake. After a bit of a stare down the bear decided to head off into the brush. Have you ever seen a troop of boys scouts? I'd be scared too. 

After Alex came home he worked the rest of the summer for me. If the mission did nothing else for that boy it taught him how to work. He is a very different employ than he was before his mission. 

A week or two after Alex returned from Canada Ben decided it was time to get his revenge. Right after Brandon and Ben got home from their missions Alex talked them into dressing up in super hero costumes and going to Sea World. Ben made Alex dress up in a Jesus costume and go to Six Flags. Frank dressed up as a carton of milk and Ben dressed up as a Mexican wrestler. I of course went as a Dad. They were all kicked out of the park and told to leave the costumes outside the park. Such poor sports at Six Flags. We did have a great day at the park. 

All too quickly the summer was over and Sarah's wedding was upon us. I already told that story in an earlier post. Two days after Sarah's wedding Alex had to head off to Utah. It was a sad day and none of us were ready for it. We went up later to take some stuff to him and help him get settled in but it was sad to send him off to college alone. I know he is a big boy but it still sucked. 

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A Mormon missionary dedicating two years of his life to the Lord (and his fellowman) is equal to what the average religious person does over seventy years. 

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