Nice Day for a Fall Wedding

Saturday, October 10, 2009 was a beautiful fall day, and a big day for our family. My nephew Kenny went to the Salt Lake Temple with his beautiful bride, Megan, and they were married for time and all eternity.

Kenny picked Megan up and carried her across the threshold as they came out of the temple. That boy does everything with style!

Then he gave her a romantic kiss. Is this the same little boy who used to show me how good he was at hopping up and down on one foot? The one who wanted to be a "poirot" (pirate) with "jewlray" (jewelry) for Halloween? Yup, that's him!

It was fun for David and I to reminisce about our own wedding day not too many years ago at this same temple.

Two of my three handsome boys, Jaron and Michael.

My beautiful niece Nikki and her fiance, Stephen. They will be married in January in the Vernal Utah Temple.

Grandma taking a rest with the boys, Devin and Danny. There were 56 marriages taking place that day, so we did a lot of waiting around!

Devin wanted to practice posing for his wedding pictures someday in the future.

As you can see, I am most happy when I have all of my family (especially my boys) with me. We had a wonderful time and we felt blessed to be able to be there for Kenny and Megan's big day.

TV Church

We love Conference weekend, and not just because we get to stay home and watch church on TV in our jammies. We love hearing the words of our prophet, and being together as a family.

David made his famous guacamole and some homemade salsa to go with our dinner. It was a little bit hot for me this time, but the boys loved it!

It's always a treat when Michael can come home and spend some time with the fam. He goes to school at SUU in Cedar City, so he doesn't make the 4 1/2 hour drive more than he has to!

Wake up Devin! It's time to watch conference! He heard that alot this weekend!

Jaron was out too, but he did hear most of the conference talks. I think it just must be the comfort of hearing the voices of our beloved prophets and apostles. It's so soothing and relaxing, that sometimes it puts you right to sleep! We had a wonderful weekend just hanging out, doing a little shopping, eating and being together! Can't wait for the next TV Church day 6 months from now!

3 Clean Rooms

This is my son Michael's room. He is my returned missionary and in his 2nd year at Southern Utah University studying pre-med. When he comes home on weekends and during the summer, his room doesn't look this good.

This is my son Jaron's room. He is at BYU studying musical theater. He loves New York City and his dream is to perform on broadway. When he is home on the weekends his room isn't even recognizable.

This is my son Devin's room. He is in the 8th grade at Syracuse Jr. High. He loves playing the cello and dreams of being the next Yo Yo Ma. I cleaned his room this morning so I could take this picture.

As I was walking through my house today, I noticed these 3 clean rooms and realized that my boys are growing up. The biggest sign of them growing up is seeing fewer signs of them around our home. No dirty clothes on the floor, no candy wrappers under the bed, no fingerprints on the mirrors. I never thought when I was nagging at them to clean their rooms and clean up after themselves that I would miss seeing those signs that they were around. Don't get me wrong, I am a clean fanatic, and I love it when my house is neat and tidy. But it is also just another reminder to me that my children are going to grow up and leave me, get married and have children and lives of their own, and my life will become very different. Most of the time I embrace these changes and look forward to the days when I will have daughters-in-law and cute grand babies running around my house. But sometimes I miss the sound of my own children's feet running around the house and it makes me a little bit sad.

So it's quiet for the most part, and my house will stay clean, at least until Devin gets home from school and starts making a snack so he can do his homework while watching Wizards of Waverly Place, then pulls his cello out of the closet and starts practicing, then gets on the computer and blasts i tunes while chatting on facebook. It will be quiet until Jaron comes home this weekend and starts playing the piano and singing at the top of his lungs (which I love), and then invites about 40 friends over to watch a movie and make a huge mess in my basement. And Michael's room will stay clean until the next weekend he comes home and decides he needs to set up his tent and air it out in his room while spreading his homework out all over his bed and his laundry all over the floor.

Still, if I had to choose, I would choose having them around over having their rooms clean any day.

We took a trip to California to see some of the areas Michael served in while on his mission. This is at the cross on a hill in Ventura. I can't remember the real name, but it was a cool place. The cross was placed there by the first Christian missionaries back in the 1800's.

We spent a lot of time in the car, eating and eating and eating.....you get the picture?

We stopped in Primm, Nevada to ride the world's tallest rollercoaster at Buffalo Bill's. Well, it was the tallest, in 1996, there's probably a taller one by now.

Me playing Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. This is the actual set where it was filmed. We are standing outside the door to her office.

More fun at the Paramount Ranch where Dr. Quinn, MASH, and lots of other shows were filmed. We didn't get to see the MASH set because the rangers had all gone home for the day. I was so disappointed, but maybe next time.

David and his three amigos.

Me and my boys.

We visited some members in Ventura that took good care of Michael while he was there, and Uncle Jay tried to fatten him up a little by cooking him lots of yummy food. When we got there, we were greeted by Apple Cranberry pie, a lemon tart and fresh homemade bread! I guess Uncle Jay was trying to fatten us up as well! The beautiful scarf was a handmade gift for me from Grandma Smith. What wonderful people they are!

We went to dinner at Andria's on the harbor with some of the people from the wards Michael served in. They were great company and we had an awesome time with them.

Having fun at the harbor in Ventura.

We found a cool hat store on the harbor, and Devin got one of his brothers to take this picture. I had nothing to do with it.

This is Shawn, a member Michael taught and helped reactivate in Ventura. He has a great story, and he was moved almost to tears when he saw Michael at his door. This was probably one of the best days we had.

We met Michael's mission president and his wife, President and Sister Murri.

We paid a visit to the first elder Michael trained, or his boy, Elder Smith. He is the one next to Michael. We made his companion get in the picture as well, even though he didn't want to.

Michael and Jaron playing on the rocks at Morrow Bay. I was afraid they were going to get washed out to sea.

We saw crabs, amemones, starfish and lots of other sea creatures.

Devin can't read very well.

Playing in the water at Ventura Beach.

Good times at the beach.

We laughed about this sign for at least an hour. It says: "Jesus, we need help! We need a truck."
We had a wonderful time visiting Michael's mission areas and meeting the wonderful people he worked with.

Stake Girl's Camp 2009

This year our Stake was able to go to the Heber Valley Camp. It was a beautiful place, and here is the whole group jumping for joy on the first day we were there.

This is Allie Jensen dressed up for skit night. Love the hair!

Brittni, April and Claire, some of our awesome YCL's.

We had a sunrise devotional as part of Laurel's camp. It was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

All the YCL's and leaders from Laurel's camp (except for me, the camp photographer!)

The high line or zip line was the highlight of the challenge course. It's a 25 foot climb to the top, then you walk across to the other side and slide down the zip line. It was a blast!!

Sister Mary Cook from the General Young Women's Presidency came to speak to us. Her talk was so inspiring. She is a wonderful lady.

Me, Shelley Thorne, Amanda Gibson, Brenda Smith, my first counselor, Lisa Chandler, Beehive advisor, Osa Summerhays, and my 2nd counselor, Heidi Brophy.

All the YW presidents and Stake leaders.

We got rained on the last night, and everyone was soaking wet and freezing, yet spirits were still high. We don't let a little rain ruin our fun! Girl's camp was an awesome, exhausting and spiritually uplifting experience. Thanks to all my girls and leaders who made it the best camp ever!

30 Years Ago, But Who's Counting?

The same day I attended my 25th HS Reunion, David had his 30th. We went to both, and had a great time reminiscing about the good ol' days. On the far right is Karl Mortensen, who went all through school with David, and in the middle is Cliff Olsen, who went to Utah State with David, and ended up marrying a girl David went to high school with, Sherilyn Hicks.

L to R: Karl Mortensen, Jeff Benson, David, Robert Yack.

Some of the graduating class of Union High School, 1979. Go Cougars!!

It's Been How Many Years???

It was my 25th high school reunion on Saturday, and after going back and forth over whether to go or not, I put on my big girl pants and went! I'm so glad I did! It was great to see some "old" friends and catch up on what is going on in their lives.

We played Name that 80's Tune, but the girls lost.

This is one of my best friends from high school, Marilyn Anderson Karl. She lives in Idaho now, so we rarely see each other.

This is my friend Sonnet Swain Hullinger, who has been my friend ever since I can remember. With us is her gorgeous daughter, Lizzie. Sonnet and I are conspiring to get her to marry Michael!

Those of us in attendance were jumping for joy that we are still alive and kickin' 25 years after we graduated! Way to go, class of '84!