My wonderful sister weekend going to St. George

I just had the most fun weekend you can imagine. I went with my two sisters to St. George, Utah to hear my other sister's new Book of Mormon hymn program that she helped write with Janice Kapp Perry. They got a standing ovation and were signing autographs afterwards. It was such a thrill!!! We gabbed and laughed all the way down and gabbed and laughed all the way home. We surely solved all the worlds problems. We stayed with Bev's son Steven and wife Bonnie and he designed, landscaped, built and decorated his home and man was it impressive. They were a blast to visit with. Two 1st cousins were also there from Canada that we got to know a little bit better. I saw eight of my bro. and sis. along the way(Carolyn is on her way home from a mission as we speak.) We saw Kolob canyon on the way home and Beverly took me up Cherryville and Onieda station by Preston to see all the gorgeous leaves Friday. What a memorable experience that I will treasure forever.

We had another smashing year at Red Fish Lake. Twenty nine of our family of 35 made it and we sure missed the ones who weren't there. When we arrived it rained hard for an hour but Seth's tarp made fixing and eating just fine then it cleared up for a beautiful evening. The next day everyone (except the smart ones...ha) hit the FREEZING cold water for lots of fun. Jory brought crafts that the kids all loved. My favorite part is the late night talks. We think we are SO funny(I'm sure no one else would.) We had a fun skit night that made us laugh and bawl. Brynn's violin song, "Arron's Boat Song" brought me to tears. Riding the bikes morning and evening is also a blast plus the food is to die for. We had four marvelous days. Thanks fam!!!!

While we were gone there was a terrible storm. Many south of us got hailed out. Our basement got a little flooding but nothing too bad. Probably just enough to make my carpet smell the rest of it's life. Thank goodness it wasn't worse.

We delivered Keaton to the mission training center today. We drove to Salt Lake Tuesday night and went to the movie "17 Miracles" about the handcart company and man, once again I was in awe of the sacrifices and faith of our pioneer ancestors. They put me to shame! The next morning we got up at 5:30 and went to a session in the SL temple which I had never done before. It was SO interesting to see the pioneer decor and the magnificence of that great temple. It took the pioneers 40 years to build it. We dropped Keaton off at noon and there were clean cut, enthusiastic missionaries everywhere. This is truly an experience of a lifetime for these stripling warriors! Boo hoo for me, I miss him already!

What a weekend! Keaton is leaving for the mission training center Wed. for a few months to learn Spanish, then he will fly to the Mexico Villahermosa mission for two years. We had almost the whole family home for the weekend and Keaton gave a talk in church Sunday(many tears shed.) We were just overwhelmed with love for our family and will miss Keaton more than we can express but are so pleased that he wants to serve a mission for Jesus Christ.

Some of the fun were, picking asparagus in the barrow pit, a picnic at the Craters of the Moon, the gabs till 1:30 in the morning, the guys went shooting, the grand kids singing around the piano, the grand kids making a fort in the basement with blankets, four wheeling, badminton, trampolining (is that a word...no) fishing, and of course eating and eating and eating. There's nothing better than family!!!!

We had a lovely memorial day weekend despite the cold, rainy, cloudy weather. Mitzi and family plus Kelsey, Chase and his roommate came home. So we had eight adults and two children which is a perfect size crowd. That evening they had smores around the fire pit plus some great visiting till 11:30. Sunday,after church we enjoyed our traditional Sunday dinner then we all crashed. We had the perfect family home evening. We sat around the kitchen table and ate candy popcorn, then went around and everyone shared their favorite scripture or thought. Remember if you have teenagers...the key is feed them while it's going on, make it short, and involve everyone as much as possible. We hit the cemeteries then watched, "Forever Strong" an uplifting true story. That night they yelled and laughed playing "Rage" till midnight while I crashed at 9:30. I woke up at 4:00, read, walked outside for 45 minutes then we all ate at the Moore ward breakfast. Everyone did a lot of shooting and four wheeling all day. Now they've all returned home. It sure is fun when the family gets together!

We had a memorable weekend. Keaton decided he wanted to go to the Twin Falls temple since he'd never been there, to prepare for his mission so we realized that it was a pretty central location for all our family so we invited everyone. Jory was at women's conference and Travis had baseball games(he's the coach) but everyone else was able to make it. Friday night we all kind of did our own thing for supper then most of the in-laws baby sat(they were super good sports!) so the siblings could support Keaton and we had all nine children in the temple at once. We were thrilled that Christy was able to come and Kelsey and Brynn(oldest grandchild) also did baptisms. Meanwhile back at the hotel the grandkids never tired of swimming. When we got home many swam till midnight. Later in our room do you think we could sleep! NO Finally at 2:00 we turned on the t.v. for about an hour then we tossed and turned the rest of the night. Sat. morning lots more swimming then we all got our own fast food and hit Shoshone Falls. This area is all pretty new to us and it was spectacular! The wind was short of a tornado Friday but we really lucked out on Sat. with gorgeous weather. This was the most priceless mother's day gift I could even imagine. Thanks to my wonderful family for one of the highlights in my life!!!!