Josh Butcher Gets Married

This picture has been around a long time and I'm glad Linda found it.  Josh is on the left and has grown into a fine young man.  Matthew is next and is the same as as Cameron who is in the red suit.  Heather is the only girl in the picture and Thomas is on the far right.  Two grandchildren and three great grandchildren of my mom and dad.

On August 1, 2018, Josh married Mandy Edwards.  These are Mandy's sisters and their husbands.  We had a wonderful time at the Bountiful Temple.  It such a rich experience to have my mother attend these weddings.  For years she missed so many.  The wedding reception was held at a farm in Marriott-Slaterville and they had a soda drink area and a donut truck.  Jessie and Brookelyn soon learned how to take the red and white checkered paper that the donuts were on over to the truck and say 'more'.

Lisa was down with her family and we had a great visit.  We had not taken a 4-generation picture of Curt and his children, so we all gathered for this memorable photo op.  It's hard to get three 2-year olds to all look at the camera at the same time.  You also don't take their picture without mom and grandpa Theron.

This is the first of many marriages to come and we are so proud of Josh and Mandy for selecting the perfect place.  Congratulations.

September Family Visits and Updates

It is true - if you build it they will come; and we enjoy spending more than an hour or two with our family.

Curt, Mel and the threesome came down over Labor Day.  The kids loved the pool and before we knew it Jessie was up on top of the waterfall and jumped off.  He came up and said 'again' and jumped and jumped.  They also guilted me into going down the slide - twice.  If an almost three year old can do it, I guess a 60+ grandmother can.

Cleadus and his family stopped in and swam.  Bervins came over to visit.  Dillinghams and Goodrichs came to visit.  We are certainly glad to have a come to place and see old friends and enjoy new ones.

The end of the month, Marc, Brittney and their foursome came to stay.  We were enjoying lunch their first day here and Kacy decides to go into the pool without a life jacket.  Scary moment when you see a little head bob to the surface of the four foot side.  Brittney ran in and retrieved her and after all of our hearts went back into beating steady we declared she was okay.  This has always been my biggest fear of having a pool and just glad we were all poolside when this happened.  The rest of the weekend was uneventful. 

While Marc and Brittney attended Tuachan, the kids and grandma and grandpa celebrated Kacy's 3rd birthday.  She loved her Minnie Mouse.

Even though the house may not be big enough to hold everyone for the few days you visit, we love spreading out, pumping up air beds, and sleeping around.  Keep coming; there is always room for one more.

A Sunflower Party with Missionary Friends

Sister Sheryl Sullivan is a retired school teacher, a widow and a family history missionary.  She also loves parties.  Neala would have been so impressed.

I was invited to her September party - Sunflowers and Owls.  She keeps a Christmas tree up all year and it becomes her party tree.  It was decorated in sunflowers and owls.  She changes pictures on the wall, she changes the dishes in her cupboard to match the theme.  She goes all out.  I was impressed.

After dinner, we were given a blank canvas to paint a picture of sunflowers.  I used to love to paint and at one time wanted to be an artist, I just didn't have the gift for it and gave it up.  But, I painted this picture of sunflowers.

Meeting new people and trying new things is the best part of moving to St. George.

FamilySearch Update

Our family knows how much I love family history work and how we have served this past year plus at the St. George FamilySearch Center.  Well, I made my first family history conference presentation at the Family Roots Conference in St. George this past weekend (29 Sept).

Because I'm not a big presenter, I thought no one would show up, but was pleasantly surprised to have a room full.  It was a delightful experience.  I talked about one of my favorite venues - Descendancy Research.

Just thought you would like to know.

A 10 Year Old?

On September 9, Mason turned 10 years old.  My, my what a fast ten years that has been - for us, but maybe not for the parents.

He is a gentleman, a kind person, a loving grandson and curious.  He loves his Lego creations.  When they were visiting the end of September, Kacy didn't want to stay in her bed, she felt more secure sleeping by Mason.  That tells a lot about his character.

Happy Birthday Mason!!!  WE LOVE YOU.

Green Acres is the Place for Me - Gillettes Idaho Farm Visit

Rusty and Cindy Gillette are two special people in our lives.  We met them in Samoa, Rusty was teaching welding at Pesega and Cindy was helping in home economics stuff at Pesega.  We traveled all over the island with them and went snorkeling alot.

They have a 2500 acre farm in Gooding, Idaho.  They raise beans, seed beans, feed corn, potatoes, sugar beets, and lambs for the grand kids to show.  We have wanted to go visit for over a year and finally had a great opportunity to do so the 10th and 11th of September.  We were up north for Mason's birthday and just continued traveling north.

 Sugar beets

Theron had a great time driving the "self-driving" "gps" tractor.  He said it took a lot of skill to turn the wheel at the end of a row.  We ate a sugar beet straight from the field and brought home three cans of pinto beans for food storage picked directly from the combine.

There is a real science to farming and I for one am so grateful that we have farmers.  I like my food.

Theron and Rusty met with a solar company because Rusty is considering putting in a 1 megawatt solar system.  As Rusty said, we are so different and yet we are such good friends.  It is true; the people we have met on missions are some of the best people we know.

Just a little bit of personality analysis - Rusty talks fast and never finishes a sentence, he jumps from subject to subject and around and about his mind is just going, going, going in all directions.  Cindy's favorite phrase is 'isn't that right?'  I don't ever know whether it's right or not.

August Happenings

One of the most special activities of this August was a Stake Temple night at the St. George Temple.  We, as Temple and Family History Coordinators, (I'll never out grow this calling) planned a ward baptism activity.  We had adults and youth with one family.  In total we performed about 150 baptisms.

We finished the firepit in the backyard.  It has taken all summer to get the yard finished.  After the firepit was done, we completed the kitchen.  I'm so glad to have Theron around, he can do just about anything.

August also brings back to school time.  Taylor is sporting a new NO BRACES look and he and Cameron are starting 9th and 11th grades.  When did they get to be so tall.

Well, three of the four are off to school, but Kacy loves the action and she is attending dance now.  This picture says all about Tyce's excitement at being able to ride the bus and head off the Kindergarten.  Keep it up Tyce.  Let's see you do this your senior year in high school.

And our last entry for August is celebrating Taylor's first mountain bike race.

Our Daughter is 43 - when did this happen?

August 7, 2018, Adrian celebrated 43 years of being in our family. 
This picture was taken when Adrian was a little over a year old.  It has hung in our home since then and is mounted in Theron's great grandmother's frame.  Her smile is not at all indicative of how she was as a child; she was always obedient and happy.

As her mother, I can brag about her and tell her she is the most loved daughter we have (of course she is the only one), but we are so proud of her.  She has always had a strong testimony of the gospel, lives a challenging life with cancer and two boys who are now teenagers, and is the solid example of kindness and love.

Happy Birthday Daughter!  WE LOVE YOU!!!