Forever Family Moments~

Wow, it has been a while since I have posted about what I have been up too. My life has been busy with spectacular activities and great family moments in June and July. We attended a High School Graduation for our Granddaughter, Sarah. We then held our Bi-annual Family reunion. There has been a birthday, holidays and other celebrations to enjoy this past two month.

As mentions in my July 24th, post; my dearest Aunt Alene passed away. This has been hard because she is the last of that generation in my life. 

I have had many tender moments to reflect upon the importance of family relationships and my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

On June 8th, Roger and I drove to Spokane, Washington, to attend our Granddaughter, Sarah's graduation. We had such a good time there. We lived in Spokane for 15 years; it still feels like home. We were able to connect with some dear friends while there. We had a delightful time with our Daughter, Tiffani, Dave, and their children; Sarah, Kaitlyn, and William. 
My daughter has been blessed with a creative spirit. Her home was decorated to the hilt for the celebration of Sarah's graduation. The artwork in the photo below displays examples of my Granddaughter's paintings. She received recognition at her High School for her artwork. 
The center photo on the right is of her Great Grandmother and myself. My Grandmother, Dora and I were both nurses. I am pleased with her desire to be a nurse. She will be attending BYU-Idaho. 

There was a large Graduation party for her and her friends on Saturday, June 8th. The lower right photo is us with her other grandparents; Rose and Ron and our friends, Steve and Nancy. 
 Sarah graduated with honors and was a Salutatorian and gave one of the graduation messages. We are so proud of her. 

On, June 13, 2019, my dear Eternal Companion and I celebrated our 52nd Wedding Anniversary. We went to the Salt Lake Temple, where we were married and sealed for eternity. We did a sealing session for 6 ancestral couples. It was a very endearing part of our day. 
Later we attended a great movie and went to dinner. It was a fantastic celebration. 

Our daughter, Jenni, Michael, and their children; Alyssa, Emma, and Ben moved out of our home into a new house about 20 minutes from us. I will miss them on a day to day basis but excited for them to have their own home. This was on Father's Day. It was a calm and sweet day of remembrance. 

We were able to attend the Birthday Party of our dear friend's son, Diago. He turned 8 years old and will be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latt-day Saints in July. We had a good time attending this fun event. 

My children and grandchildren started to arrive for our Family Reunion on June 29th. My youngest daughter, Tiffani and her 3 children; Sarah, Kaitlyn, and William came on June 30th and then my oldest daughter, Christina, Brandon and their children April, Abbey, Faith, and Levi arrived on Sunday, June 30th.

My husband and I had been working hard to get our home prepared for 12 total children and Grandchildren to stay here for a few days. On Monday, July 1st, we added three more grandchildren to the amount that were here until, July 3rd, the start of our reunion. We had a busy and delightful time with all of the 15 family members in our home.

Tuesday, July 2nd, we took a few of our grandchildren to the temple to do Baptism and Confirmations for their  Ancestors. My husband was working at the temple. Timely tender mercy occurred when he was able to be in the baptistry at the same time that we were there. He was able to do the confirmation for the baptisms. This was an exceptional spiritual experience for us all. 

In the evening, the children spent the time making posters for our missionary Granddaughter, Sariah, who was returning home from her 18th-month mission in Sacramento, California. Two other Sisters from her mission were also coming in on her flight to the Salt Lake Airport. I loved the photo of the two cousins; Ben and William in the upper right-hand picture. They were busy doing the dishes together, it was adorable.  

 Our dearest missionary granddaughter arrived at the Salt Lake Airport around 1 pm on July 3rd. At that moment we had 5 of our 6 families plus some from her father's side at the airport to welcome her home.

We had 4 of our 6 children serve missions for 18months to 2 years, and that welcoming home moment is so heartfelt. We were all in tears as she came into her mother and dad's arms. She then went around and hugged us all. 

We came home, and everyone quickly got together to pack our cars with clothes and food as we set off for Scofield, Utah, where we would be staying in a vacation home. We had a few glitches, but everyone was finally there by 8 pm, and we then had a family devotional that my husband and I gave.

Our grandchildren loved being together and immediately started to enjoy being with each other. All different ages played with one another, regardless of who was young and old. 

We had a fantastic 4th of July Celebration. In the early morning, my husband was up and helping the children fish. Because of the rains in Utah, the Scofield lake was high and came up close to the home. They were able to do their fishing right off the deck. Over the three days, most of the children caught at least one fish and many more. The adults had fun fishing too. 

Later in the day, we went to a park in Price, Utah and enjoyed the late afternoon and evening there, and a few fireworks. 

Here are the photos of our family. 
Roger and LeAnn top left photo. Top Middle photo is our oldest son, Sean, Mary and two of their children Jeffery and Josh. The top right photo is my Grandson, Jacob, Dana, and their
 two children, Katalina and Sagan.
 The center-left picture is our daughter in law, Amanda, and their children Ryley, Kason, Karlie and her friend Kaylee, Haven and Layton; missing are my son Travis, and his son's Austin, who is on a mission and Ethan.  Center-right a photo is my son, James, Amber and their two children Taylor Jo and Averi; missing is their son, Christian.
 On the bottom left, the picture is daughter, Christina, Brandon, and their children Levi, Faith, Abbey, Sariah, and April. The bottom middle photo is our daughter Jenni, Michael and their children; Benjamin, Alyssa, and Emma. The bottom right picture is of the daughter, Tiffani, Dave, and their children, Kaitlyn, Sarah and William. Tiffani was talking to her missionary son, Michael, so he is on the cell phone as part of the photo. 
Other missing family members were our grandson, Jed, Jessica, and their children; Jadyn, Lilly, and Myah. There was Joseph who is in basic training with the Navy and Jonathan. We had a total of 39 that came and 12 not at the reunion. 
It was a little sad about having empty chairs. 

The collages above and below are some of the many activities we had. It was so much fun watching all of the children interrelate with one another and enjoy being together. There was a lot of playing, enjoying games, swimming, boating, and fishing and just having a great time. 

My sweet hubby spent a lot of time helping his grandchildren fish. He never did catch a fish himself. We had a fish fry with 47 fish that were caught.

 Our final night there we had a closing devotional with our family. The children surprised us by singing the hymn, "Love One Another," with two extra verses that my dearest husband wrote in 1978. It is a favorite in our family.  I have shared it below. It was a tender moment, and we cried tears of joy. Then our beloved Sariah shared some of her missionaries experiences. The spirit and truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ were felt tonight. 

We got up early on Saturday, July 6th, and cleaned the home and packed our belongings. It was a glorious three days of family fun. 

Although there were more events for July, I will share them later. I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the things that have kept me extremely busy in the last two months. I have really missed blogging but have tried to keep up somewhat with reading my favorite blog post. 
Love and hugs for all!