House O' Sullivans

We hosted a family dinner in our back yard to honor Nate before he drove home to Colorado Springs.  (Thanks Johnsons for letting us borrow and helping us set up a million tables and chairs AGAIN!)  Nate just left Colorado for Afghanistan again, so today is a fitting day to post these pictures.  Kristen, Mary, and Newel were there with their families as well as Grandma and Paka and  Uncle Leroy and Aunt Cupcake with guest appearances by BOTH Lemmons--truly a rare and delightful treat.  Sterling Lemmon has been Nate's friend forever.  Nathan met him in elementary school.  He first observed Sterling, fist clenched, hitting a brick wall over and over (he wanted to get tough) and knew they were meant to be bffs.  The Lemmons are LEGENDARY in White family folklore. A rare occurrence--five of the six White siblings appear in one place at one time.  Look at us!  We could definitely be a gang.  (Just missing Beezer.) So...

Nate was released from his post in Afghanistan for some R and R (even though he's only been deployed for two months).  The story is that Captain White is taking command of a company at FOB Kessler and needed to get his resting and relaxation done before that happens.  Nate is currently stationed at FOB Walton near Kandahar and sleeps in a giant tent with 19 other men.  Extreme heat, the smell of burning tires, and the incessant sound of giant diesel generators are his constant companions.  He said that it took him SIX DAYS to get back to Colorado Springs (where he lives when he's not in Afghanistan) because the plane he was on kept breaking.  Honestly!  We were lucky to get to see him; he and Jessica drove out to Salt Lake.  Several hours of driving was definitely a sacrifice after six days of crazy travel.  We were REALLY HAPPY to see him and to see Jessica.  These pictures were taken on August 19th when we all met up at Redm...