Ashley - EFY

Two days after she took her last final at school, Ashley left for EFY.  She went to BYU Provo again this year, but this time she went with her good friend Kirstyn who moved from Chicago a little over a year ago.  It was a great opportunity for the girls to see each other again.

Ashley flew to Utah a few days early and spent the weekend with my parents.  It was fun for her to get to spend some one-on-one time with my side of the family including my sister Becky's family.  They took great care of her.  They even went to a rodeo!  Ashley had never been to a rodeo so she loved that.  They also took her to Big Z's for breakfast.  Best of all she got to hangout with three handsome guys all weekend, her little cousins - Wyatt, Ben and Andrew.

Hooper Days rodeo

Staring contest with Wyatt

Ashley and the Charlesworth boys

After the weekend, Kirstyn's mom picked up Ashley bright and early on Monday morning to take them to BYU for EFY.  This year because she went the first week of June and many kids aren't quite out of school yet her session was a little smaller.  She really liked that.  The program lasts about a week and Ashley had a great time.  She calls intermittently to let me know how she is doing.  Often the "reports" are a little more about boys than spiritual insights but what can you do?  Teenage girls think about boys!  Here are some the pictures Ashley took:

This is her EFY company

Ashley and Kirstyn.  Two silly girls!  I'm so glad they are friends

After a week at EFY, Ashley was picked up by Dave's parents and stayed a few days with them before heading home.  Again, she was well taken care of and enjoyed the time with her grandparents.  She got  to be at Grandpa Smith's and Uncle Brian's birthday party.

She also went to the Lagoon with everyone.  She loves amusement parks and had a great time riding roller coasters with her cousin Megan and Uncle Scott!  Unfortunately, there is not one single picture of her time with the Smiths.  Too bad!!

Finally, after 11 days this girl came home.  We sure missed her.  She had an epically bad experience, full of delays on her flight home, but she finally made it and we were glad to have her back!