The Reign of Spain

Spain did it! They won Euro 2008. They are the reigning champions of Europe. The Spainish have been known as underachievers for so long, but not anymore. The last time Spain won a major tornament was 44 years ago when they won the European Championship in 1964. The last time they made it to a final was in the Euro Championships of 1984 when they lost to France. Spain becomes only the third European Country to win the tournament more than once. Germany has won it 3 times and France 2 times, and now Spain 2 times.

My favorite player, Fernando Torres, scored the only goal 33 minutes into the game. He had another close shot too that hit the post. Villa, the top scorer of the tournament was out with an injury, so there was a lot of pressure on Torres. I think he liked that position because he went out and played hard and was the only player from both sides to score a goal today. Spain won 1-0. TV showed people cheering in Madrid. I heard 10,000 Spaniards agreed to shave their heads if Spain won. A lot of haircuts tomorrow! King Juan Carlo and Queen Sofia were in the stadium to see the boys of Spain win. It was a great match and the better team won today.

VIVA ESPANA

Espana y Alemania

Spain beat Russia today in the semi-finals of Euro 2008. I am very happy. I thought they would win since they did beat Russia earlier in the tournament 4-1. I was not able to watch the match on t.v. because I had to work, but it seems that Spain dominated, especially the second half. It also rained during the match and Silva (the #1 scorer in the tournament) hurt himself and probably will not be able to play in the finals against Germany this Sunday. I hope he will be ok. If not, Torres has got to step up his game and make some goals.

I hope Spain beats Germany on Sunday

Vamanos ESPANA

Roddick out at Wimbledon

Andy lost in the second round at Wimbledon today. I really love this guy, but I truly have to wonder if he is ever going to win a grand slam event again. I know he was recently hurt and pulled out of the French Open, but this seems to be a pattern now. You're still my favorite player Andy, and I am not going to turn on you, but I hope you can get things together before the US Open this Summer.

Blake also lost today and Sharapova, so Roddick is in good company. Now I hope Nadal wins it.

Write Sean on his Mission !!!

I know many of you know about DearElder.com, BUT for those who don't....



You can send letters to Sean online for FREE. No need for envelopes or stamps, and the best part is that, while he is in the MTC, if you send them before 12 noon Mountain time, he will get your letter that day! After 12 noon, he will get it the next day. It's a great service for the missionaries.

All you have to do is log onto: www.dearelder.com

Once you get on the website, select mission as "PROVO-MTC"
Then fill in the information requested:

mailbox # 193
mission code: ARG-BAW
estimated departure date: August 18

Now just type in your letter in the space provided and send it. That's all there is to it!!! I sure Sean would appreciate hearing from you, and it is so easy this way.

After August when Sean is in Argentina, you can still use dearelder.com but select his mission as Argentina Buenos Aires West, and guess what.... ITS STILL FREE!!! no postage required. Just takes longer to get to him, but WOW we can write him the whole time on dearelder.com and never have to pay postage or address an envelope, unless you want to send him a card, or cookies or something.....

Use DearElder.com !!!

I may be a little out of control...

I need help! (first step on your road to recovery is to admit you have a problem). Sean will have been gone for one week tomorrow. In less than a week I have:

1. Sent him a letter on Dearelder.com on Thursday

2. Mailed him a card with a cut out of Po (Kung Fu Panda) on Friday

3. Sent a care package of donuts on Dearelder.com on Monday (with letter included)

4. I mailed him a 5lb box of cookies, jerky, candy, Po poster, tie and toiletries on Monday with letter.

5. I sent a letter on Dearelder.com (basically cut and pasted a letter we got from his friend Elder Naylor from his mission in Vegas), so I really didn't write anything....

6. I mailed a letter on Dearelder.com to ask him to take some pictures for us and to tell him the Euro 2008 scores this morning.

This can't help a missionary stay focused if he is getting this much mail from his Dad. Any suggestions on how I can contain myself? HELP

And we are expecting a letter tomorrow on his P-Day. How can I not respond to it? I'm in big trouble!

Spain beats Italy

Spain beat the defending World Champion, Italy today to advance to the semi-finals of Euro 2008. This is the first time Spain has advanced to the semi-finals in 24 years in a championship. They have been known to choke in the quarter finals but not today. They went 0-0 in regulation then 0-0 in overtime. It came down to the penalty kicks and Casillas was brilliant. Spain won the penalty kicks 4-2 and now plays Russia in the semi-finals. They beat Russia ealier in the tournament 4-1. Let's hope they can do it again. I would like to see a Spain-Germany finals.

MTC Day - June 18th

The day finally arrived when Sean had to report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo. We have been waiting for this day all of Sean's life and it was finally here....

I didn't expect it to be so hard on me.

Sean was about to walk through the front door of the MTC to begin his two months of study before flying down to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had a happy face on at this point but I was torn up inside. I was about to turn over my son to the Lord for two full years. I just wanted to hold on for dear life.

Sean walked in and got his name badge. It looks wonderful on him. Page was already in tears, but Lacey, Sean and I were trying to keep it together. We then walked down a hallway to the chapel where all the missionaries and their families were to report at 12 noon. We were almost all the way in the back and the place was packed. We heard form the MTC President and his wife, but I have to admit I was hearing too much of it, I was numb. I just kept looking at people already crying and hearing lots of sniffles and sobs. We then watched a movie "Called to Serve", which was really good but way to short. Sean leaned over and said to his mother, "The movie could have been longer", then a sister missionary got up to say the closing prayer. It might have lasted 20 seconds. Sean leaned over again and said "The prayer could have been longer", I'm sure he was saying that to tease his Mom who was in full tears. They told us to take only a minute to say goodbye. A minute?!? A minute and we wont see him for two years? I gave him a big bear hug and told him I loved him and I was proud of him. He told me he loved me back. I was so happy to hear those words one last time. He was anxious to walk through the doors to get registered but we wanted to have it last longer. He walked up a few steps to the door and I was just standing there in a daze. He looked across the room at us with the biggest smile on his face and waved. I frantically started waving back and threw him a big kiss, then in an instant he walked through the door and was gone. Did he have to walk so fast? I was happy and sad at the same time. Is that possible? I walked slowly back to the car with Lacey and Page. It didn't feel good. Nobody told us it would be this hard...

This was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life !!!

We then drove by Hope's to pick up Sean's TV we left when we picked him up from BYU 6 weeks ago. Then we were back on the road to drive 8 hours to get home. We didn't leave Provo until about 3:30 and got back to Wyoming at midnight. The whole way home I wanted to talk about Sean and I definitely thought about Sean the whole way home. We walk in the door and Sean's pants, shirt and shoes are laying in the middle of the floor. It about knocked the wind out of me. Then I'm pulling some clothes from the luggage of his that he didnt want to take with him but he wore on the last couple days before going into the MTC. Man, this is so hard. I want to cry. I actually did while saying my prayers. Big sobs.

Now I know this is a joyous thing. I know that this is where he should be. I know that he is happy and excited. I know that he will have the greatest experience of his life. I know he is prepared and ready to serve. I know the Lord will bless him. I know that before we even know it, he will be coming home and will say, has it been two years already? I know we will love to see the growth in him and hear of his conversions. I know the people of Argentina will love him. I know we would be more sad if he decided not to go on a mission. I know I am proud to be a Missionary Dad. I know the Church is true and he is doing the work of the Lord. I know all these wonderful things, but my heart still aches for him and misses him.

He was gone almost a year at BYU and we didn't see him much, but this is feels much different. I'm sure if you have sent off a missionary you know what I am feeling. Page is feeling the same things.

So Elder Gilmore, we LOVE you and miss you, but are so happy for you. This will be the Best Two Years of your Life. May the Lord bless you and watch over you. Do good!

Utah- heading to the MTC

When we arrived in Utah last Monday afternoon, our first stop was the Mayan restaurant in Sandy, we missed the fire dancer because we got there at 3:30 so I had to be a substitute.

They had really cool murals inside and it looked like a Mayan village. They also have a show featuring a couple divers who dive off a high cliff in the middle of the restuarant into a pool below. It's pretty awesome.

Mike and Lacey

Sean and Page

Out front of the Mayan are huge stone serpents. After our late lunch we drove down to Orem and checked into our hotel and ran to the distribution center and missionary mall for a few last minutes supplies for Sean. When we were at Deseret Books, Sean turned us onto a game called The Settlers of Zarahemla. They played it a lot at BYU and Sean played it at the Thomas' when he went for a visit. We played our first night in town. It was a lot of fun.

On Tuesday morning, we headed up to Salt Lake City to see the Joseph Smith movie, then after, Page, Sean and I went to the SLC Temple. Lacey went to shop in the malls, but they have torn them all down, so she walked around temple square, went to the Church Museum of Art and waited for us to come out. Afterwards we ate a late lunch at the Lion House (Brigham Youn'g home).

Page and Sean by the beautiful gardens surrounding the Relief Society building.

Sean really wanted to play miniature golf. We went to a couple in Orem on Monday night and didn't like them so we went up to Draper to Boondocks. We got there at 9:30 and they closed at 10, so we went back on Tuesdau on our way back to Orem from Salt Lake. It was 98 degrees and we were very hot, but managed to play two rounds of golf. Lacey won the first game and Sean won the second game.

It looks cool with all that falling water, but it was super hot, but we were glad to do it because this was on the top of Sean's list before entering the Missionary Training Center.

It was Tuesday night before we knew it and we realized this was our last full day with Sean for two years, so we pulled out Settlers of Zarahemla again and played down in the hotel dining room into the evening until we were all so tired and exhausted. Sean ended up winning the game.

We had a wonderful trip down from Wyoming the last few days before Sean started his mission. It just went way to fast for us. Sean is very excited to get into the MTC and get started on his mission to Argentina. The rest of the family wouldn't mind a few more days with him....

Letter from Sean today

I sent and got the mail from the mailbox today and about fell over when I saw in the pile a letter from Sean. When did he write it? We just left him 3 days ago! Well, he was able to write a letter to us before he went to bed the first day at the MTC. It's sounds like he had a good first day, just long. I was so happy to get a letter! We posted his letter on his missionary blog. If you want to read it you can click onto the link under blog role- "Elder Sean Gilmore" located on the right hand side of my blog or log on to www.elderseangilmore.blogspot.com.

More from Jackson Hole

Mama Panda and Baby Panda

Lacey and Sean

The view from the top was breath-taking

Sean and Dad

The Grand Teton

Afer the fun day in Jackson, we headed south through the Star Valley and stayed in a condo in Afton, WY. We stayed close to Gardner's gas station. We realized Rulon Gardner (the olympic gold medalist) has is picture on this sign for the little burger place inside the gas station. We went in to get snacks and drinks and found out Rulon's brother owns the place. As you could imagine, Rulon's pictures are all over the place.

The next morning we headed down to Utah.

Taking Sean to Utah

We left Sunday morning (the 15th) to take Sean to the Provo Missionary Training Center to start his two year mission for the Church. We decided to go through Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Right before we got to the entrance of Yellowstone we see this Moose. Page has wanted to see a moose for the last 5 years. Well today was her lucky day. A litte farther up we saw a bull moose and of course once we got into Yellowstone we saw lots of Bison.

This was the first time any of us had been to the Grand Tetons. The views were beautiful.

Page found out about the gondola rides up the mountian in Teton Village just outside of Jackson Hole. We decided to take a ride up the mountain. It turned out to be the highlight of our trip to Utah. There was still snow up on top. We also rode the ski lifts a couple times and really enjoyed our time together.

Here is Sean in the Gandola and you can see Teton Village below

Snow !!!

Happy Father's Day

I was surprised with some really nice gifts for Father's Day. Lacey got me a USC garden flag that I can place out in the yard in the Fall when football season starts again. With my lucky flag, I know USC is going to win the National Championship this year.

Sean and Page got be a statue of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Sean picked it out when he dropped Grandma Sherry off at the airport earlier this week in Billings. They had it shipped to our house so for a couple days I was looking at this huge box wondering what was inside it. It is beautiful and will look great in my office or library (once I get one). For now, it will stand proudly in our living room.

Well, I'm sure today will be a little tough for Page. This is the first Father's Day since her Dad passed away in March. He was a wonderful father. I lost my Dad about 24 years ago now. Plus, we are leaving today to take Sean to the Missionary Training Center. We turn him over on Wednesday then we will not see him for two years as he serves a mission in Argentina.

Today we will leave home and drive through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and sleep in Star Valley. Then off to Utah on Monday. Tuesday we plan to go to Salt Lake City to go through the temple and tour Temple Square. On Wednesday, it's the big day and we drop Sean off. Then drive back home so we can go to work on Thursday morning.

Officially a Missionary

Sean was set apart this morning as a missionary. We had to meet President Heap up at the Billings Temple where he was in meetings all day. So we left around 9:30 a.m. and headed north 90 miles so Sean could be set apart.

President Heap first interviewed him then we were allowed to come in the room (a room right off the lobby- so Lacey could attend) and I assisted in the setting apart and blessing. President Heap gave Sean a beautiful blessing to help him serve the people of Argentina.

President David Heap of the Bozeman Montana Stake and Elder Sean Gilmore in front of the Billings Montana Temple following his setting apart. I don't know how many missionaries have the opportunity to be set apart in a Temple, but it was a wonderful experience.

We leave early in the morning to work our way down to Utah and the Missionary Training Center. Sean better get packing......

Thanksgiving in June

This may be "corny", but I worked on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner all afternoon yesterday for Sean. He won't be with us for Thanksgiving as he leaves on his mission in less than a week! So I roasted a 15 lb. turkey, made mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, stuffed celery, olives, and pumpkin pie. (ok, I missed the stuffing). It tasted really good, but was I tired after all that cooking and washing a million pots, pans and dishes.

I think everyone enjoyed it. We have never had Thanksgiving dinner in June before.

Euro 2008, Viva Espana!

Euro 2008 is underway. I am cheering for Spain. They beat Russia 4-1 and meet Sweden on Saturday. Sweden will be a tough test for them, but I know they can beat them.

Fernando Torres (#9) is my favorite player. The striker was taken out by the coach which didn't make Torres happy after Spain took a 2-0 lead. I think they need to keep Torres in more, he is a great player, however the star of the game was Villa with his hat trick of three goals. However, the first one came because Torres passed it to him... I told you I like Torres!

So who do you think is going to win Euro 2008? I say ESPANA

Searching for Wild Horses

We found this Big Horn Sheep at Devil's Canyon, but we were on the hunt for the wild mustangs today. I took off early from work and took Sean to the Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area near Lovell to see the Wild Horses in the Pryor Mountains. There are a couple areas that you might be able to see them if they are near the road. Did we find them? Nope! Not a wild horse in sight today.

We stopped here because we thought we saw horses off in the distance. We had binoculars so we scoped it out and found that the animals we saw were just cows!

Best part of the day was seeing the lake in Devil's Canyon. Awesome views. Sean was trying to see if he could hit the water with a rock hundreds of feet above the water, but couldn't do it.

Had to take these pics on my cell phone because the batteries died in the camera, and I don't know how to do close ups. This photo doesn't do justice to how these view looked from the cliffs above. It was breath-taking.

Sorry, couldn't get close up, but there was a raft with a small cabin on it just floating out in the middle of the lake. You might be able to see that small brown dot in the upper middle part of the lake. We couldn't see anybody on it. It looked much closer with the naked eye. Darn cell phone...

But, alas, no horses. We went up to mustang flats to try our luck and no horses there either. I guess we will have to try another day. For Sean, that will be at least a couple years since he goes to the Missionary Training Center in a week.

Sean's Missionary Farewell

Grandma Wilma and Sean

We are glad Grandma Wilma and Grandma Sherry could come from California for this special week. We came up from Powell on Saturday and stayed the weekend. Sean is leaving on his mission from the Livingston Ward

The Sacrament Meeting on Sunday went well. Page and I spoke and then Lacey sang "His Hands" (which always makes me teary!) then we did leave Sean about 10 minutes to give his talk. Sean did a great job on his missionary farewell talk. Grandma Sherry gave the opening prayer and Lacey gave the closing prayer. The opening hymn was "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go", the Sacrament hymn was "I Stand All Amazed" and the closing hymn was "I Believe in Christ".

The Bozeman Stake got Sean a Missionary Plaque. It will hang in the Livingston Ward foyer for two years.

Page made sure there was plenty of food at Sean's Open House on Saturday night

Grandma Sherry wore her Argentina flag colors

Sean showed everyone where the Buenos Aires West boundries were at

Karen McCann and Sean

We had a great turn out at Sean's Open House. The Melin's opened up their home for us. It was a great evening on Saturday

Sean and Mike in their Mission T-Shirts in Powell before we headed up to Livingston for Sean's big weekend