Update on Elder Bean!

Devin's been gone now for two weeks! We've recieved two emails from him so far, and he's having a great time! He loves his companion and his whole district. He says that they all get along really great! The MTC is a lot of work! They wake up at 6:00 every morning then spend as much as 12 hours a day studying the scriptures and learning how to teach the gospel. He loves to feel the spirit constantly and he's learned that without the spirit it would be extremely hard to teach anybody. He loves to receive letters and packages, so if you're wanting to send him something, here's the info!

If you want to write a letter, dearelder.com is a great way! You just type it up, then they print it out and give it to him! You'll need his MTC address, so here it is!

Elder Devin T. Bean
MTC Mailbox #154
AZ-TUC 0817
2005 North 900 East
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Keep in mind that he won't be in the MTC for much longer! He'll be there until the 17th then he's headed to Arizona! Also, here is his email address...

dbean@myldsmail.net

Here are just a few pictures on the way to the MTC before we dropped him off!

Elder Bean!

Devin got his mission call! My mom and I were at Girls Camp this last week, and we told Devin that if he got his call while we were gone that he could NOT open it without us!
So we're sitting down at the amphitheatre at camp on Wednesday listening to our stake president give a talk. I glance down at the parking lot, and see a red van just like ours! I thought to myself, "Well, there are lots of red vans like that, it can't possibly be ours." Then I noticed the sticker on the back window, and knew it was our van! I leaned over and told my mom, and right after that, the camp nurse came over and said that there was someone here to see us. On the way down to the parking lot, we talked about how they might be pulling a prank on us because we couldn't see Devin or Bryce. But then they got out of the car, and we knew that they were here to open Devin's mission call. We ran the rest of the way, and Devin opened the envelope...

Dear Elder Bean:

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 Arizona, Tucson Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language......

Sincerely,
President Thomas S. Monson

He is right on the Mexican border for his whole mission. He will serve in Tucson along with parts of New Mexico and Texas.
It was really fun to have them drive all the way up there to open it with us. Devin even made the comment, "I'm probably the only elder that got to open his call at Girls Camp!" He's going to make a great missionary, and we're so excited!

Bryce's Graduation!

Jennifer's 10th birthday!

Jennifer is now 10 years old! Her birthday was on May 23, but I haven't blogged in a while, so I'm doing it now! The night before her birthday, I taped streamers across the door, so that in the morning she would have to break through it! Here's a picture from the outside...

My mom also won a coupon for a free balloon bouquet at Pioneer Party when we did the 5k at my school. We went and got that, and I tied it to the banister with some more streamers.


In the morning, Dad made her a hashbrown and egg breakfast while she opened her presents. She got some perfume and body wash along with an iPod shuffle! We also got three tickets to the Miss Lehi Pageant for my mom and I to go with her for a "girls night out" sort of thing.

She had a birthday party on Friday with some of her friends, and my mom ended up being sick that day, so I threw the party by myself. (It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.) I made this cute cake...

Here are some pictures from the party...

Lovin' my new camera!

I FINALLY got my camera! It seemed like every time I found a camera that I liked, the store wouldn't have any in stock. I was getting quite frustrated, then my aunt Heather showed me her camera, and I loved it! After weeks of looking for it, I got online and found out that it wasn't sold in stores! Ironic, huh? Devin helped me order it online, and it ended up working out perfectly because it got here just in time for me to take it to Clear Creek with me! I absolutely love having a camera with me everywhere I go again!

Bryce goes to PROM!

Bryce decided that he wanted to go to Prom this year with some of his friends. He asked a girl that he knows from Lehi High school named Jillesa, and she said yes. For their daytime activity they went and did go-carts and went to Wendy's for lunch. They had their pictures taken at Westlake, then they went to dinner at a really fancy restaurant named Tuscany where they even park your car for you. The dance was held at another fancy place in Salt Lake called La Cay. He had lots of fun, and here are the few pictures that we got before he ran away!

Look how handsome he is in his tux!

Blowing kisses from his car!

Devin insisted that he wore the sunglasses...

Here is the corsage he got for Jillesa.

My first 5k!

This all started after basketball season ended.

I made a goal for myself to work on getting better at running. Since then, I've joined my school's track team. I'm running the 4oo meter race, which is probably one of the hardest races that there are because you're sprinting for one whole lap. I was going to try to do something else, but I decided to stick with it, and I'm actually starting to enjoy it. Our first track meet is on Wednesday.

As soon as I told my young women leaders that I was doing track, they were so excited! One of them ran the 4oo when she was in school, and she was so happy that I was going to do it. My other leader is a crazy runner! She runs races all the time and told me that I should run one with her. First she mentioned a half marathon, but I told her no way could I run 13 miles, and that I would do a 5k with her instead. So we looked around and found out that our stake was doing one on the 20th.

So this morning I woke up at 7:30 and went to the stake center to run a 5k! My young women leader ended up not even coming, but my friend Tyson did. It was my first one, and there were mostly adults there, but I was excited. I really didn't care if I finished first or last, I just wanted to finish. I also had a goal to run the whole time without stopping to walk. My mom, Bryce, and Jennifer came in the van to cheer me on.

Today I ran a 5k (3.1 miles) in a time of 33:08. I finished towards the end of the group, but I wasn't last. I never stopped to walk. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and it was even fun! I think I'll probably try to run another one and see if I can beat my time.