The Rundown on the Rest of Our Trip

Okay so we got back last Thursday and I am really behind (I’ll explain later) but I wanted to at least share a few of our highlights from the last part of our trip:

“Beach Fun”

We had lots of fun going to a couple different beaches. One of Keely’s highlights was getting her face painted when we went to the beach in Glenelg (she’s supposed to be a kangaroo)

Ben loved the beach so much that he wore himself right out
I have to say that it was surreal watching the grandmas and grandpas playing with the kids, I was so aware that our time was short and it made me kind of sad, Ben and Keely had such fun with their grandparents
“Keely’s Crush(es)”

The thing about Keely is she falls hard but she gets over it quickly. After leaving Alice Springs and doodling “I love Elder Collett” all the way home on the plane from Adelaide Keely quickly found someone to fill up that empty space in her heart, and this time Elder Bass was the lucky man. Luckily, he has a 5 year old brother and knew just how to handle her 4 ½ (she never lets us forget the ½) year old personality. It was really funny actually. One night we had the office Elders and the Assistants over for dinner and Keely latched right on to Elder Bass and also began to grow fond of his companion Elder Loertscher, whose name she had a tougher time remembering. So, that night in her prayers she said, “Heavenly Father, I’m so thankful that I was able to meet Elder Bass and also that Elder with a little hair, but not a lot, but some hair.” I was doing my best not to bust out laughing, but I have to say it was pretty funny.
“Our Friends”

The thing about taking a trip like this where you stay in the mission home is that it’s really hard not to get attached the missionaries, they were really a huge part of our enjoyment on the trip.

Elder and Sister Smith helped us with EVERYTHING and were really like an extra set of grandparents for our kids. Sister Smith was so patient with Keely always wanting to hang out in the office and even came up with “really important” ways for Keely to be able to help out. Let me tell you, Keely is quite a good secretary.
The Office Elders and Assistants were also wonderful with the kids and Elder Kroll even took the time to prepare a very sweet FHE lesson for us which Keely really loved. These guys really helped make our trip even more memorable and more fun. “Goodbye to Mom and Dad”

Watching mom and dad walk away at the airport was really hard. I think that after they left on their mission I always had a knowledge that we would be flying out to see them so I didn’t really have a hard time with it. This time it was a lot harder, I kind of had a sad, empty feeling but I loved that we had the time with them that we did have and I will always be grateful that they are out in Australia serving a mission, they really are incredible people and incredible missionaries and I’m so proud of them.

“And Another Goodbye”

And if one goodbye was not hard enough, 2 was almost impossible! Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Quinn was another tough one. Bob and Delsa more than went out of their way to make our trip happy and memorable. I thought I was going to keep from crying until Keely gave a hug to her Grandma at the terminal and Delsa started crying. It was so sweet to watch our kids build such a strong relationship with their grandparents and it made me so happy that we had the chance to see them making a difference in so many people’s lives.

Keely can’t stop talking about her time in Australia and mostly that’s because she fell so in love with her grandparents. I love this picture of her and her grandmas. This has really been an experience we’ll never forget!