Sept. 4, 2018

The night before Ben left on his mission he got set apart by Pres. Johansen - our stake president.  Darrel and his kids, Kim, Brian and my mom and dad were all there - along with Evan and Max.  It was a very special blessing and I posted it on Ben's mission blog. 

Afterwards we were able to go out to dinner to Mellow Mushroom for the last time with Ben for 2 years.  I am so thankful that Xander was able to go with us.  It was a special night.  We had to listen to classical music and Ben and Ian slept on the couch that night because Ben had to have a companion with him. 

Temple Trip

Ben, Grandma, Grandpa and I were able to do one final trip to the temple before he left.  What a special day.

Being in the temple with my son brings me so much peace and happiness.  We ended up seeing some of Ben's friends going in to do baptisms as we were leaving.  I am so thankful for his friends.  He was able to go to the temple with friends and do the baptizing with another friend a few days before that.  I love the temple!

Cabin Trip

We had Ben's farewell early because we wanted to make one last cabin trip before he left.  This trip was especially important because Ben was able to go through the temple for JD (Ian's brother who had passed away 4 years prior).  We had done the baptism for JD a while ago, but were waiting so Ben could do the initiatory and session for him.  It was a rainy Saturday morning and Ben and I traveled to the Snowflake temple.  My parents were already there as temple workers.  I was able to do a few initiatories while Ben did JD's.  Before we went my mom and I had a little trouble finding JD's information.  For a hot minute I thought that someone had already done the work for him but they didn't.  We then did a session.  It was awesome.

Later Ben told me that he felt such peace and comfort going through the temple for JD.  It was so hard when he died and Ben was finally able to feel that JD was alright. 

The rest of the trip is a blur.  We were able to spend time as a family enjoying the cabin and nature.  It was awesome.

August 19, 2018

 Today was a truly amazing day.  On Friday Ben was able to go through the temple for the first time.  Isaac Dowdle also went through the temple that day so there were a lot of people from our ward there.  Grandpa Lambson was his escort.  Kim, Brian and I got there early and as the chapel began to fill up I started to become worried because mom (grandma Lambson) and Stacy still hadn't shown up. I kept whispering to Kim about how stressed out I was that they would miss it.  Well, as we were leaving the temple chapel for the endowment room, there was a line of people and mom and Stacy were in the line.  They let them come with us, luckily. The session was packed.  I was able to be in the prayer circle with dad, mom and Ben and it was one of the best feelings ever.  Some of the people who were there were Kim, Brian, Stacy, mom, dad, Bishop Wanlass (sis Wanlass was out of town), the Boles, Bishop and Sis Lewis, The Chases and the Dowdles.  Darrel and Trina couldn't come because it was last minute and they had already planned Rowan's birthday party for that day and time. 

August 19 was Ben's missionary farewell and his grandma's 70th birthday.  Joshua and Rowan also received the Aaronic priesthood this day.  It was the best.  Originally Bro Tolman was supposed to speak with Ben but his uncle died so Bro Ellsworth spoke instead.  I was worried because the day before he helped a friend move and hadn't written his talk.  I kept sending him ideas and even started writing it for him but he didn't use anything I sent. 

Ben spoke about how is preparing to become a righteous husband and father.  He did an amazing job.  Ben mentioned how when his Grandpa Lambson set him apart as an Elder he told him that going on a mission would be second only to taking someone to the temple.  It was a wonderful blessing and Ben gave an amazing talk.  I wish I had a copy of it.  We had Stacy & Paul's family (except for Dallin and Jared), Kim & Brian's family, Darrel and Trina (their kids were with their other grandparents), grandma and grandpa Lambson, Shaya and Sean and Meg's family all attend his farewell.  It was a wonderful day.

Family picture after Ben's farewell

Friends that came to support Ben

Ben with one of his seminary teachers - Bro Patterson

 I wanted to include these 2 pictures.  We had to send in one with his missionary papers.  I love both of these.  He's such a handsome dude.

July 14, 2018

New York to Phoenix

I didn't write in my journal on this day so I will try to remember as much as I can.  We left New York today.  Our same driver who picked us up at the airport picked us up to take us back to the airport.  It was nice to do the drive in the daytime and see a lot of NYC.  This is a pic I took of the Empire State building from our car window. 

 We got to the airport relatively early and everything went smoothly.  I don't even really remember the airplane ride home except that we were super excited to go home and see our doggie.  Michael picked us up from the airport. 

Ollie was so happy to see us all!  And we were happy to see him.  It was the trip of a life time but truly there is no place like home!!!

July 13, 2018

 We all slept in and it felt marvelous.  Evan and I walked to Dunkin Donuts and got breakfast for everyone.  Then Evan, Max and I took an uber into New York City.  Ben and Ian were exhausted and wanted to stay back at the airbnb.   Our driver dropped us off at Columbus Circle. 

Columbus Circle under construction

 We decided to walk around Central Park for a while.  Trina had told me about a bakery called Levain and I really wanted to go there, so I mapped it on my phone and we walked there.  It was so small.  We could barely fit inside.  I got a chocolate cookie, a chocolate chip cookie and piece of lemon cake.  After the bakery, we walked back to the park.  We passed the Museum of Natural History and the MET but no one wanted to go in. 

 We spotted a racoon in the park!  It was so cool.  And fast.

 The closer we got to the fountain, the busier it was.  We walked down to the fountain and saw dudes on rollerblades holding pythons.

 After using the restrooms we headed up the stairs and watched some street performers for a while.  They were pretty good but when they asked us for money, we left.  Max then googled "best pizza in NYC" and the name Angelos came up so we went there.  I loved it but Evan said he prefers Mellow Mushroom.  We were tired so I got us an Uber.  It was the Uber ride from HELL.  The guy picked us up then tried to talk us into using the ferry to get back to New Jersey. There was a major wreck in one of the tunnels so he told us he would take the Washington Bridge.  I have never been to NYC so I had no idea what that meant - well, it meant going way out of the way.  Instead of taking 20 minutes to get back to our airbnb, it took about 2 hours.  When I got the bill it was $110!!  Of course I didn't tell Ian but I contacted Uber and fought it because not once did the driver tell me it would be so much - usually it was around $45. Uber agreed and only charged what I was originally quoted.  When we got back we just chilled the rest of the night and got ready to leave the next day.  I wish we would've seen more in NYC but we were just too worn out. 

July 12, 2018

NYC

The day started off with us walking to the Dunken Donuts which was right by our airbnb.  After breakfast we ubered over to the 911 Memorial.  It was an extremely emotional experience.  

 There are two big concrete filled holes where the twin towers were.  The names of those who died are inscribed all around each hole. 

 Ian didn't want to pay to go in the museum so we didn't. I cannot imagine the devastation and heartbreak of that day.  I am glad we got to see the monument. 

We then walked down to Battery Park - where we would catch the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. 

Cool statue in the park

 Boarding the ferry was hot and miserable with tons of security but once we got on it was cool - except for the couple making out next to us.  We finally had to move. 

Manhattan skyline

 I was so happy none of us got sea sick!  Seeing the Statue of Liberty was awesome!  She is huge!

 We weren't able to get tickets to the top but we walked up to the base of the statue and went to the mini museum. 

We learned that the torch has been changed 3 times.  It was emotional reading about some of the stories of the immigrants.  We then got some frozen lemonades and got back on the ferry  -we could have gotten off at Ellis Island but no one but me wanted to.  I had heard the museum there was awesome but I couldn't talk anyone into it.

We stayed on the ferry and it took us back to Battery Park.  We then got some hotdogs and walked to the Brooklyn Bridge.  

Lots of cool buildings in NYC

 We walked past the bull on Wall Street - that was cool.  Too bad I didn't get a picture.  At this point everyone was super tired and annoyed but we walked on.  We finally made it to the bridge.  We ended up just walking half way - I wish we would've walked to Brooklyn but everyone was tired and grumpy. 

 Then we started walking back towards Manhattan.  We passed a Target and went inside to get food and use the restrooms.  We kept walking (everyone was hungry again) and found a Shake Shack. Man those burgers hit the spot!  So good!  We walked along the Hudson River - it was a gorgeous day.  There were boats and jet skies on the river and people playing basketball in the park.  We kept trying to get an uber but they were super expensive.  Ian wanted us to walk further into the city but I didn't want to.  We got in a fight and I walked back to the river and sat on some benches.  Finally Ian and the boys found me and Ian got us an uber.  Well, he got us a smaller one (on accident) so Evan had to sit on the floor.  It was kind of a nightmare but we all were too tired to care. 

When we got back we went to the grocery store - our airbnb was in a Cuban neighborhood so there weren't many familiar foods.  We did get some EL Fudge cookies and those were delightful.

Cool Monastery by our airbnb

 We finally went to bed  - we were all exhausted.

Paris, London & New York

July 11, 2018

3 countries, under the English Channel, across the Atlantic Ocean and under the Hudson River in a day. 

Today we woke up and walked the streets of Paris until we could call an Uber. There were broken windows and over turned motorbikes from the riots the previous night when France won the World Cup Semi Finals.  We finally were able to get an uber to the Paris train station.  Once we were there, we had to meet Kim and Brian because I had Ben's passport and he was with them.  Ian went ahead with Max and Evan.  I kept getting hilarious texts from Max telling me that Ian wasn't sure how to answer the security agents about where we were traveling to.  We all finally made it through security and prepared to wait to board the train.  

Streets of Paris

Waiting for the train to London

 Evan had such a hard time with all of the traveling.  This is him on the train to London.  Once in London, we boarded a train to Gatwick Airport.  When we got to the airport we parted ways with Kim, Brian and Joe. 

We were all starving and didn't know if there would be restaurants by where we had to board so we found a Witherspoons in the airport and ate there before we went through security to our gate.  After we went through security and Max and Ian had their things searched.  The security guys at the airport were hilarious.  Max had on a Manchester United hat and the security guard joked that he wasn't going to let us through.  Ian's guy teased him about the items in his backpack (coffee, sugar, salt, pepper - all items he had taken from the place we were staying in Wales).  The guy then teased Ian about going to Wales.  These guys were so funny and awesome - a 180 from the jerks who work at TSA in New York City. 

We were flying Norwegian Air which was a huge mistake.  It took an hour longer than usual to board the flight.  When we landed in New York it took forever to get off the plane.  The flight attendants were rude and there was even a fight between a passenger and an attendant.  It also took our luggage forever to get there. 

Waiting to board our plane in London

Finally on the plane!

 I had ordered a car to pick us up ahead of time but had a hard time getting my phone to work.  Finally we found our car and driver - his name was Allen and he showed us a bit of the City. 

Grand Central Station

Manhattan

Times Square

New Jersey

 We were staying across the river in New Jersey.  We finally made it to our airbnb and it was the best one yet!  The beds were comfy and there was a washer and dryer.  Yay!  We all were exhausted and crashed. 

The entrance to our airbnb in New Jersey