Monday, January 24, 2011

Yesterday was such a wonderful, memorable day. Our family started arriving to spend the weekend with us on Friday. Clay and Samantha and their family came, as well as Jason and Tiffany and their little ones. Brent also flew in from Grand Island. Friday night we ordered in pizza and just spend the evening visiting and playing a few games. (We are a family that like to play cards)

Saturday morning I got up and made cinnamon rolls. It seems that all the grandkids and all the grownups like my cinnamon rolls, especially when I put chocolate chips in them. At 11:00 AM, we went to the Stake Center. Paul and Alison's oldest daughter Hannah was baptized a member of the church. Her birthday was the 23rd of December but wanted to wait till this weekend when all the family would be here.Hannah had asked her Aunt Jennifer to talk about baptism and she also asked if I would talk on the Holy Ghost. I was honored to do that. She looked so cute. I was so proud of her for her decision and her commitment to do the things that are right.

Hannah ready to be baptized

After the baptism, we went to our ward chapel and were met there by Tiffany's family and then we witnessed the blessing of their new baby Kinley. She was blessed by her father Jason. I was so proud of him. He did a wonderful job blessing his new baby girl.

Kinley

After the blessing everyone stayed for a luncheon. Alison had made BBQ and there were lots of salads and desserts. It looked so pretty and was so good.

We have a wonderful family

All the grandkids but Tyler. We missed him.

 A good friend, Carlie, was there and brought her camera. She took some family pictures for us. I really wanted a current one. It's hard to stay current when the family keeps growing but it will be good to take a few pictures with us.

Saturday was such a nice day. We are proud of Hannah. And to be able to witness Kinley's blessing the same day was a real treat for us.

Sunday, Gene and I talked in church prior to leaving for the mission field. Our family was all here as well as all my siblings except Enid in Helena and Allene who lives in Tetonia. As we sat on the stand and looked out over the congregation all I could think was WOW! How lucky we are to have such a wonderful, caring, supportive family. We had lots of nieces and nephews, cousins and good friends come to support us.
Our topic was the new Young Men/Young Women's theme for 2011 which happens to be the 13th Article of Faith. I focused my remarks on 'and in doing good to all men.' I talked about our baptismal covenants to bear one another's burden and exercising charity. The scriptures tell us that Charity is kind and I encouraged everyone to be kind. It's something we can do and do today. Gene's talk was based on the principle of Faith. I was proud of him. He did a good job.

We felt good about the meeting and are glad that it is behind us. By the time Gene and I arrived home, Samantha and Tracey had the luncheon ready to go. We had set up tables and chairs all over the house, downstairs, the living room and the family room. We weren't sure what to expect and didn't quite know how many to expect for dinner. We had thought we would have quite a few. We were happy as we walked in the back door to see the house full of people we love. We figure we had about 70 people here for lunch. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch, BBQ's chicken sandwiches and lots of delicious salads. Oh course, yummy desserts too. Many people contributed and I'm a firm believer that many hands make light work.

My siblings, from left: Bruce, Lenore, Pauline, Nathan, Loy, Shelley and Sheldon

We couldn't have had a nicer day. The weather was perfect and we were thankful for that. It sure made it easier for those who were traveling. By late afternoon things started to quiet down and people left. Jason and Tiffany are still here and will return to Scottsdale on Tuesday and Brent will fly home today. Again, how thankful we are for all their love and support. We do have a wonderful support group and we are just so grateful.