The Spectacular Month Of June - Missionary Moments, 50th Wedding Celebration & Family Fun~

On June 6th, one of the sisters we serve with, Sister Hinchcliff was transferred.  Sister Casinas new companion will be a Sister Denison. Here is our farewell photo. Sister Casinas, Sister Williams (LeAnn) and Sister Hinchcliff.  All the sister companionships that we have served with since September of last year have been outstanding missionaries. 

Baby Katalina, our Grandson Jacob, Dana, Sagan and Katalina - Our son Sean, Mary and Katalina - 

Roger, LeAnn and baby Katalina

We were able to attend the blessing of our 4th Great Granddaughter. She was named Katalina. She is our 5th Great Granddaughter. Our only Great Grandson, Sagan also received a name and a blessing in his home. We enjoyed our family time with them. 

Photos of Michael's Eagle Court of Honor~

I loved being able to fly to  Spokane, Washington to attend the Eagle Court of Honor for my Grandson, Michael. It was a tender moment. I am so proud of him. I felt sad that my dear husband couldn't attend. 
Michael also graduated from High School on that Sunday. I felt sad I couldn't stay for that special moment. He had a big party to celebrate both his Eagle and his graduation which I was able to attend.  
Here is the reason my dearest husband couldn't fly to Washington with me. We learned that the Vitreous is fluid material that as you age will pull away from the Retina of the eye. There is some pulling away on the right eye but more so on the left. With Roger it is pulling a way and causing a small hemorrhage in the left eye. The danger is that it can cause a retinal tear or detachment which would require surgery. It will continue to pull away no matter what. He will need to go in immediately if he has certain symptoms. Meanwhile, he needs to be near medical care. He has a return appointment to check it on July 10th. 

We had the unique opportunity to attend a 3 hour missionary devotional with Elder David A. and Sister Susan Bednar. We received some powerful teachings on how the Spirit of the Holy Ghost works within us and how as missionaries we can bring the Spirit to our meetings. We learned that we can teach with the spirit but those we teach must bring that spirit into their own hearts in order to believe. He and His sweet wife bore powerful testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ. The missionaries were told that they were reserved to come to earth at this time and that they are valiant servants of the Lord. Our dear President Lansing and his wife also bore wonderful testimonies of the Savior and missionary work. We were truly spiritually fed. 

We celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary on June 13th. We took some ancestral names to the Salt Lake Temple to do temple sealings. We had a wonderful time doing the sealings. We spent some time in the Celestial room pondering upon the day we were married 50 years ago. It was a beautiful experience. We then went to lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We had such a marvelous day and evening together. 

Our reunion with our daughter and granddaughter.

Our Anniversary week has been extra special. Our middle daughter Jenni and her family came on Monday the 12th to spend the week with us. They were kind and took care of our dog, Sammy while we went overnight for our anniversary. 

On Friday, June 17th, the rest of our children started to come for a family celebration. Only our oldest daughter Christina wasn't able to come. We all met at the Market Street Grill for dinner. We had just started to order when our daughter Christina and granddaughter, Sariah showed up from Australia. We were so overcome with joy and surprise that she did come after all. We a great time with them all.  

Here are all of our children except for some of Christina's family. This was joy filled moment. 

Left side; Sariah, Jenni, Michael, Travis, Amanda, James, Amber -

 Right side; Christina, Roger, LeAnn, Mary, Sean, David, and Tiffani~

On Saturday, June 18th, our children planned a 50th Wedding Anniversary party with our family, extended family and other loved ones.  

Here are misc. photos of our fantastic evening with family, extended family and beloved friends~

We had such a good time talking with everyone that came. We felt so loved by so many. It was a spectacular evening. 

The evening was magical. We cut our beautiful cake and even danced to our song; Blue Velvet by Bobbi Darin. It brought back memories and was very romantic. 

A really sweet surprise came when my two Sister in laws came with some of my nieces and nephews. I started to cry because they came from Las Vegas, Nevada and St. George, Utah.

Gloria, my sister in law and LeAnn -

 LeAnn with my sister in laws, Amparo and Gloria -

 Gloria, LeAnn and my nephew, Gabe~

Our dear family from Las Vegas, St. George and Utah - Love all of them so much! 

Here are photos of our precious Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren~

 1st photo; Sarah, Taylor Jo & Grandma - 2nd photo; back, Emma; front, William, Benjamin and Jeffery -

 3rd photo; Alyssa and Kaitlyn~

 Averi, Alyssa, Kaitlyn, Karli, Taylor Jo, Sarah and Sariah~

 Great Granddaughter, Jadyn, Grandson, Jonathan, Great Granddaughters, Lilly and Myah, Granddaughter in law, Jessica, Grandson, Jed, Granddaughter, Gillian, Grandsons, Jacob, Jackson, Granddaughter in law, Dana with Great Granddaughter, Katalina~

Grandson's, Ethan, Christian, Michael, Son, Travis, Grandson's Austin and Joseph~

Here photos of family and long time friends~

Top Left photo - Roger and LeAnn with Roger's sister Gloria and husband, John
Top Right photo - Best friends since 8th grade; Danelle, Roger and LeAnn and Paul. 
Lower Left photo - Roger and LeAnn with beloved friends; Toni and Steve
Lower Right photo - Cousins Chad and Lisa with Roger and LeAnn

This is a photo of our dear friend; Jean and Carol. My husband helped Jean to get baptized while on his mission in Northern California 52 years ago. Her daughter Carol was taught and confirmed a member of the church by my husband at that time. They came and it was a very special moment for us. 

Jean, LeAnn and Carol ~

On Friday and Saturday night we had 18 of our Grandchildren sleeping at our home along with two couples. It was an amazing two day.  Too say that it was a busy household doesn't describe it at all. We had such a good time with them. Then on Sunday they all attended church with us and we celebrated Father's Day and our granddaughter, Sarah's birthday. We were assigned talks in the Sacrament meeting we attended and it was fun to have them there. Luckily, we had our talks prepared before all of the weeks events. 

 We celebrated the 16th birthday of our adorable Granddaughter, Sarah. It was fun to have the entire family her to celebrate her special day. 

                        The photos below are of our families on Father's Day~ 

Here is our oldest son Sean's family -

 Jonathan, Jackson,Mary, Joseph and Joshua, Sean and Jeffery  

Next Photo; our grandson, Jacob with Sagan; Dana with Katalina ~

Here is our 2nd son Travis and His family - 

Top row; Austin, Justice and Ethan - 2nd row; Karli and Travis

Bottom row: Amanda, Haven, Kason, Ryley and Layton ~ 

Our third son, James and his family.

Taylor Jo, Amber and Averi, James and Christian~

Sariah, our Granddaughter, Christina, our daughter, Jerry and Sheena, plus our Sammy~

Here is our Oldest daughter, Christina. She stayed until Thursday and then returned to Australia. While she was here, my husband's brother Jerry and his daughter Sheena came over for a visit. It was so fun to have a night with them. 

Our daughter Jenni's family - They traveled her from Arizona 
Michael, Jenni
Alyssa, Emma and Benjamin
 

Our youngest daughter, Tiffani's family. They came her from Washington. 

Sarah, Kaitlyn, Tiffani, David and William, Michael~

The first photo below is of our new Sister Denison and Sister Casinas. We had a great service opportunity with them. We helped a sister that we are presently teaching the family, prepare a birthday party for her son. Her husband will be baptized in July. She was making Tamales so we offered to help her. It was really fun. 

Here are some photos of our Grandson, Austin receiving his Eagle. We weren't able to attend the Eagle court but I did want to share this special time. He's an awesome young man and we are so proud of him. 

The month of June has been filled with wonderful moments of celebration. Our 50th Wedding Anniversary was so lovely. It was like being in a magical dream that we didn't want to end.  We have enjoyed beyond measure our times with our family and other loved ones.  We are forever grateful for all that each of our children did to provide such a treasured event for us. We testify that Heavenly Father loves families and we are thankful for our Eternal family.
We had some marvelous missionary experiences this month. We love all the individuals and families that we have the opportunity to teach and serve. We feel deeply blessed by our loving Heavenly Father. We are enjoying our mission very much!
We have had many treasured memories that I have tried to capture on this blog post which will be a journal entry for this precious month. 
Wishing everyone out there a extra special month of July. I'm looking forward to great things to come!😊💖