October 2018

JARED GETS COMMISSIONED

We were thrilled when Jared got the Navy scholarship to help pay for school. The Navy will pay for his tuition, fees, and a small living stipend, and he will then work as a Navy dentist for 4 years once he finishes school. Jared was commissioned on October 1st. He is now officially Ensign Collett!

MARY'S UTAH TRIP
I had some Southwest credit to use up before next year so I decided to fly up to Utah for the weekend for my mission reunion. Unfortunately Jared couldn't join me because he had school and he had to hold down the fort at home.



I took Brooklyn as a lap child, but she cried in my arms as people boarded the plane because she wanted to have her own seat. No one wanted to sit next to a screaming baby so she ended up getting a seat of her own on both the way there at back. Once she had her own seat she was perfectly happy eating snacks and looking at in flight magazines.

Here I am at lunch with three of the Vietnamese program sisters that I served with (Kara Andrus, Amanda Wickel, Holly Anderson). It was great to see them after so many years.

This is one of my mission roommates, Camille, and her husband, Elder Thomson, who also served in our mission.

My mission president's daughter Cindy was able to serve a mission with her parents. It was great to see her and enjoy some nice Cindy hugs.

The tears began to well up on seeing my sweet mission president and his wife again.

Cara is another one of my awesome mission roommates. She also is a homeschooling mom and a huge Harry Potter fan.

Heidi is another one of my mission roommates who homeschools. She also has a sweet little girl with Down Syndrome who reminded me of Thomas.

Ashley is my 3 time mission roommate. She also married an Elder from the mission.

Sister Roundy, another one of my mission roommates.

My mission president is one of the most Christlike, spiritual people I know. I can't help by feel Christlike love radiating from him whenever he is near. In my mind he is right up there with the apostles. He bore a powerful testimony of the Savior and His gospel.

I also ran into some of Jared's old mission companions who told me some fun stories about Jared as a missionary.

Amanda (Chi My) was my mission companion for almost 8 months of my mission. It was nice to see her again after so long.

FAMILY FUN

Arizona has finally cooled down, and we are loving it! The weather is perfect. We enjoy living 5 minutes from these beautiful foothills covered in hiking trails. We even saw a rainbow.

The girls love playing in the sand.

One fun thing about living here is seeing all the beautiful hot air balloons in the sky. Multiple balloons are usually out every day.

HALLOWEEN FUN

The kids had fun at our ward trunk or treat. They were especially thrilled because one family had a trunk filled with Harry Potter themed treats and they let each kid pick their 5 favorites.

The great candy sort (we let the kids keep their 10 favorites and the rest is given out on Halloween night).

Jared did this great carving of Newt Scamander (a character from the Fantastic Beasts movie), even though he messed part of it up and isn't happy with how it turned out.

Our little owl hooting. We were excited that she learned how to walk earlier this month so that she could go trick or treating.

Harry Potter

A butterfly

Princess Rapunzel

The princess and the owl

Hermione Granger

Maddy tried carving a pumpkin on her own for the first time. I think she did a great job on this owl.

Ready to trick or treat. The nice thing about Halloween in Arizona is that the weather is perfect. We had our chili cook off outside before the trunk or treat, and we had a block party with our neighbors on Halloween night. One thing we love about AZ is the sense of community that we feel here.