Stake Young Men campout

From June 26-28, James, Andrew, Ben and JB went to our stake young men's campout. 

It began with a baptisms in the Brigham City Temple.

The property was in Logan Canyon.

They carted stuff together.

Look at these boys shucking corn for dinner!

The hammock life

They spent a day at Bear Lake

Games and activities galore.

Also relaxing.

Millie slept in the queen bed with me and we watched girl shows and painted nails while the boys were gone.

Also in June, we did a campout in the backyard for one night. I put in lots of mattresses for all of us to fit.

And we watched Ben in a basketball tournament in June at the South Town Expo Center.

My South America assignment

From June 7-17, I went to South America on assignment for the Church News -- following Elder Gary E. Stevenson's ministry in Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile, ending with the Antofagasta Chile Temple dedication on Father's Day.

As is the case with these trips, I saw lots of chapels and hotels met many Church members and missionaries. This is the Malvin chapel.

This is on the grounds of the Montevideo Uruguay Temple.

While in Uruguay, I met pioneers of the Church and wrote an article about them:

Pioneers of Uruguay: Stories of faith and perseverance from Latter-day Saints who have watched the Church grow

I had to pinch myself a few times, like when I was in the government building in Montevideo and met the Catholic cardinal for the country. Here is my wrapup of all the meetings and ministry in Uruguay:
Elder Stevenson honors strength of Latter-day Saints in Uruguay

Then we flew to Buenos Aires, spent the night at a hotel, then flew to Ushuaia at the very southern tip of Argentina. June is the beginning of winter and we were getting chilly but it was so beautiful. 

I met the sweetest, most awesome pioneer of the Church in Ushuaia and talked to others over WhatsApp from around the country for this article:
Pioneers of Argentina: Saints recall huge growth in the Church and know ‘wonderful times are coming’

With an hour or two between meetings one day in Ushuaia, we went to see the "end of the world." This is where the PanAmerican Highway ends in Tierra del Fuego.

One of my favorite moments was going on a boat way out to this lighthouse in the Bay of Ushuaia.

I wrote about that experience at the lighthouse in this article:
Mary Richards: Becoming ‘illuminators’ and ‘pathfinders’

Then after another night's stay back in Buenos Aires, we flew to Santiago, Chile, then drove to Valpariso and Viña del Mar, for missionary meetings and the most poignant day spent in the cemetery in the hills where Parley P. Pratt's infant son is buried.

In Santiago, we spent some time at a children's center, which was very tender. That article is here: Church donations help Chilean children with complex and terminal illnesses

On that Saturday night, there was a 100th anniversary celebration for the gospel's official beginning in South America. I wrote about it here in this long wrapup, which included more from the lighthouse and the cemetery and the teachings in Ushuaia:

Celebrating a century: Latter-day Saints commemorate 100 years in South America

Then late that night we flew north to Antofagasta for the Sunday temple dedication. This city is right by the water and also the desert. The temple grounds were so beautiful, with colorful houses all around. People were so excited.

The crew is always working, always on deadline. This is some of the Area communications folks below.

Here's me (and my stress zit) saying goodbye to the temple that Sunday afternoon before I went to the airport to start my flights home! I got to Salt Lake City Monday morning.

Here is my article from Santiago, Chile, from that Saturday about the temple dedication:
Chilean Latter-day Saints look forward to a new house of the Lord in Antofagasta

And here is my article about the temple dedication that Sunday:
Elder Stevenson dedicates Antofagasta Chile Temple: Part of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness

End of school and June happenings

The end of the school year came with the tennis banquet for Ben.

Millie made a game in school.

We had a great memorial Day picnic with the Robertsons and Richards.

James finished elementary school this year!  Here he is during field day festivities.

He had a great 6th grade teacher, Mr. Schultz.

We enjoyed his graduation ceremony.

Here he is with his good friend Winslow at graduation.

And his longtime bestie, Emma.

Millie loved Ms Schaub.

And being with her best friend Sylvie.

I made Millie and her doll Mildie matching outfits.

With school out, JB started taking the kids on a bike ride every morning during my morning staff call.

Sometimes they went by the football field to see where Andrew was doing morning football practice with the high school team as he would be joining the 9th grade team in the fall.

Sometimes they stopped in the park.

And here is Andrew at summer football practice.

The kids played outside a lot.

We celebrated James's birthday right before I left on an assignment to South America. He turned 12! He wanted a chocolate peanut butter cake.

I left cinnamon rolls for Ben to heat up for JB while I was gone, and they sent me this picture on Father's Day.

JB volunteered at a stake Primary activity and took James with him to help.

My company had a large all-staff barbecue and JB took the kids while I was in South America. They got free T-shirts and food, even though it took a long time to drive through the traffic.

Free Frazil Friday

Another fun thing they did while I was out of town was go to my brother Peter's house and play on his drumset and playground.

My brother's baby Sarah is just so cute.

The free day at This is the Place Heritage State Park is always a hit.

JB took the kids to the opening of a new restaurant where they got free acai bowls. Here they are waiting in line.

The Richards cousins met at Lagoon.

We started going to the free summer lunches at the park.

Millie is going to get used to tagging along with her parents to things like Church meetings and wedding receptions, below. 

Throughout, we kept missing Max! I wrote about his mission by posting his mission emails on a blog, eldermaxrichards.blogspot.com.