Our visit with my parents came to its inevitable conclusion today. Last night we had a nice Family Home Evening with them as we talked about Isaac soon being ordained as a priest and the importance of the sacrament. Toward the end of the lesson, Dad asked Isaac to read one of the prayers and he did very well (spoke clearly and precisely). It was fun to hear thoughts from both my parents and our family about the sacrament and its importance to each of us. This will be the last time we will see my parents as they will report to the Missionary Training Center on August 17th for their third mission. Unfortunately, they will be shipping out to France about a week before Ben reports to the MTC on September 2nd. I guess since they have served in France twice before (my father three times), they are not required to spend 6 weeks in the MTC but can leave almost immediately. A bit of a bummer for Ben (it would have been fun for him to be there with them at the same time). I'm glad we spent some time with them after visiting all the National Parks. It was nice to take a break from the traveling and to be with them before they leave. Jen took some nice pictures with me and Ben and Isaac with them and Ben and Isaac with them. After hugs all around, we left Cokeville to drive to Utah and Joanna and Chad's home.
When we arrived, the Stowell cousins immediately showed us their new (well, new to us, I don't remember how long it's been in the back yard) trampoline with netted sides to keep people from falling off and convinced Isaac to go out and jump on it with them. Isaac kicked off his shoes and followed them outside to spend some time jumping with them; it was fun to watch him. I couldn't help but take some pictures of him from inside the house (I didn't want him to suddenly feel self conscious about me snapping pictures; by the time he realized I had, it was too late ☺). Also, the movie Ant-Man was released last week. Being that it's a Marvel movie and I've raised two Marvel geeks, Ben has been very anxious to see it (he's been talking about it for weeks). Jennifer and I realized that with all the weekend activities planned once we return home from our trip if we didn't watch it now Ben might not be able to watch it at all before he leaves. Consequently, we called Joanna to find out when and where it was playing in her area and asked if she and Chad would be interested to see it. When all things were said and done, she found a place where it was playing for a reduced price and she, Chad, Merritt, Heather and Heather's good friend Kim joined us. We had a good time and everyone stayed to watch the credits (it doesn't happen very often when we go to movies with other families)!
I enjoyed the movie. I've been quite impressed with the Marvel Studio's efforts and felt this was a good origin story. Because of the early deals Marvel made with other studios before going out on their own and being bought by Disney, they've had to take some heroes or groups not considered to be "top tier" (Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, Thor) and turn them into viable franchises. Ant-Man is, in my opinion, another example of this process they've developed. Like Guardians of the Galaxy last year, I wasn't sure if I would like the movie, but I was, again, pleasantly surprised. The movie had a nice mix of humor and action. -Spoiler Alert!- My favorite scene of the movie was the battle of Yellowjacket and Ant-Man on the Thomas train. With their size at the time, it felt as though the combatants were hurling significant train cars at each other. When the camera pulled back and the audience was treated to what the fight looked in "normal" perspective, the "reality" of the desperate train battle was very funny. To see the smiling face of Thomas growing ever larger as it bore down on Yellowjacket, I could understand his reaction. The results in normal perspective, however, were hilarious. -Spoiler Over-This is most likely (I suppose there could be another one in his future) Ben's final theater movie before he enters the mission field. He was very happy he saw it. Tomorrow, we go missionary shopping for him and the reality of what will happen in about six weeks from now will creep into our vacation. We'll see how that goes. ☺
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