September Family Week

 This week away from the Training Zone has been a precious time with the Riverton Rogers and the Eliasons.  We had a delightful trip over Alpine Loop with Keith, Kim, Talisa, and Kira.  The colors were magnificent. 

 Talisa

 Kira

 Talisa was thrilled to toss the colored leaves about and Kira was eagerly looking for more to throw. 

 Kim, Keith holding Kira with Talisa in front. 

 Kim and Keith

 Keith and Kira

 John

 Keith with his precious daughters. 

 We also enjoyed time with the Eliason family.  Amelia and Lillian don't hold their bottles.  In fact, recently  the babies carried their bottles to Kristilyn so she could hold it while the little ones drank them.  Any excuse is a good one for cuddling!

 Amelia is walking with confidence now. 

 Lillian watches Amelia check out the heater vent.

 Kristilyn walks James and Grant to and from school with the babies in their double stroller.  The boys are in an all-day Kindergarten--English in the morning and Spanish in the afternoon with a native-speaking teacher from South America.  The curriculum is the same except in the afternoon everything is in Spanish. 

 Friday, Kristilyn and I took the twins to the Church History Museum to the Primary Exhibit.  Just like Daniel Carter, a few weeks ago, the ship was their favorite thing.  Above you see Grant and James fishing.  Below you see the curious faces of Lillian and Amelia. 

 They were delighted to climb in and out of the "water" and to play with the fish. 

 This photo gives a better view of the area.  The water was the perfect height for the babies to climb about.

Lillian loves kisses, even from a soft crab. 

 Grant and James were intent on fishing and would return again and again from other activities to "catch fish for dinner." 

 Amelia and Lillian check out the large mirror in the Spanish dancing area. 

 Grant and James talk about the importance of planting a garden. 

 Lillian and Amelia loved driving the truck. 

 Grant and James loved building with the large, light-weight blocks. 

 They are proud of the "Parrot" they constructed. 

 This is a photo-op with the Angel Moroni at their  request. 

 Lillian can now wear bows in her hair. 

Grant and James build many special large Lego cars and creations for the girls to play with.  Today was their Sacrament Meeting Program.  They sang with gusto.  They read their long talks well.  James was pleased that he got to choose his talk about his favorite prophet, Samuel the Lamanite.  "Grant had to talk about President Monson because that was his assignment from the Primary." 

This has been a busy time for us to do some deep cleaning and home repairs in the house as well as some needed yard work including pruning trees, planting tulips and pansies, and getting the flower beds ready for winter.  We've also had time to walk and visit our neighbors and do some retirement things.  It will be wonderful to get back to the Training Zone tomorrow.  A week's change of pace is sufficient for rejuvenation and desire to be back in the mission full-time again. We have the best of both worlds.

Visit from John's family

We enjoyed having some of John's family to visit.  Dave and Tam had been in Idaho to her sister's 50th Wedding Anniversary. 

John, Kathryn Ann, Lillis, Frank, Tam and Dave

 Dave, Tam, and Amy were delighted to share the news that Dan Roger's son Colton has received his mission call to serve in the New Zealand Auckland Mission.  He enters the MTC on November 7, 2012.

 Julie was delighted to introduce Jason to Amy and her parents because they had never met. 

Siblings--John, Lillis, and Dave.  Dave's back surgery is doing very well and he can again move without pain.  We had a fun  time visiting and learning about Dave and Tam's mission experiences to Japan. 

Changes in the Training Zone

          This has been an unusual week for us because of the program changes.  Our computers had been upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7.  This was no problem for John because his home computer and the one he uses for special zone administration is Windows 7.  My laptop is Windows XP so I had to make some major adjustments.  Added to that we were given the draft manual for Family Tree which will replace new.FamilySearch.  We had some previous training but didn’t know that we would be teaching the new program.  Sister Pethel and her committee have done a remarkable job in creating a very usable guide for Family Tree.  It is great to be able to attach documents with links to establish proof and document changes.  We only had 3 ½ days with our students but they were marvelous days because we were blessed in many ways.  

            John’s student came on the bus from Springville.  He retired from BYU after serving in risk management for 10 years following a long career as a fire fighter.  He was very knowledgeable in all types of programs and systems and had extensive experience in new.FamilySearch.  He had already done the tutorials for Family Tree which is just being introduced.  By the end of the week, both he and John were working on their own files in Family Tree and frequently conferring  with each other for additional insights.   

My student was a descendent of some of the earliest members of the Church.  Her second great- grandmother was Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Heber C. and Vilate Kimball.   Helen was sealed (only) to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1843 but they never lived as husband and wife.  Helen and Horace Whitney, son of Newel K Whitney, fell in love after the martyrdom of the Prophet.  My student didn’t have records of whether they were sealed to each other though they were married and had a large family.  She said that her family had a letter from the church says that Helen and Horace had been sealed.  I felt strongly that we needed to go to the Family History Library and look at the Nauvoo Endowment book as well as Susan Easton Black’s 50 volume set of early members of the church from 1830 to 1848.   It was sweet to find that Horace and Helen were married and sealed in the Nauvoo Temple on 3 February 1846, as the pioneers were leaving and just days before the Nauvoo Temple was closed.

 As I told John my experience, he was not aware of the Nauvoo Temple Book in the reference collection or the blue Easton-Black books of early members.  I was because I have used those books in my own research.  Our assignments are not by chance!  If we had had each others student, the remarkable things that happened would not have happened.

Labor Day Weekend 2012

We had a fun Labor Day weekend with our Utah family. 

Mark and Krisitlyn celebrated their 12th Anniversary in Park City so we got to have their children overnight.  Amelia and Lillian love the magnets on the refrigerator. 

 We took them up the Kennecott Copper Mine.  The open pit mine continues to grow.  The metal for the medals for the Olympics came from the mine. 

 James and Grant were fascinated with the models and the construction equipment.  They remembered going there two years ago with their cousins. 

 Monday morning we met at Julie and Jason's home in Orem where they conducted the Labor Day Olympics.  Front row:  Julie holding Amelia, Kira, Talisa, Kristilyn holding Lillian, James and Grant.  In the back row are Jason, Keith, Kim, John, Mark, and Kathryn Ann.

We had appropriate Olympic music and spirit as Jason MC'd the games and Julie helped define the rules. 

 One of the first events was the broad jump.  Everyone got a turn but you can see the competitive spirit for the three finalists!  Keith

 Mark

 Jason. 

 Amelia and Lillian chewed on the ring toss.

 James and Grant won the three-legged race easily!

 The couples were pretty serious about the games too. 

 The younger set  watched and cheered!

 The wheel barrow race was  run three times--once with the men in front, once with the women in front, and once with the children.  Filling the bucket with a sponge relay was exciting and nobody minded getting a little wet.  We had a a wonderful time playing games in Julie and Jason's back yard until lunch time.  All of the participants won prizes.  It was an extremely fun, well organized activity that we all enjoyed. 

 Lunch was great!  We all brought our own sandwiches and everyone brought something to share.  Keith and Kim brought cantaloupe and watermelon from their very own garden  which was the sweetest I've tasted this year!  Kim also brought some homemade taco sauce. 

 After lunch we headed up to Bridal Veil Falls but stopped by Julie's workplace--Imagine Learning. 

 I had no idea how many businesses there were down in the River Woods area.  Jason had also worked in that area and I think that maybe Brandon did also.  I had been to the shops and restaurants but wasn't aware of the many business enterprises that are headquartered there.  It is a beautiful area. 

 Talisa, James, and Grant make a train to go down the slide at Nunn's Park, across the road from Bridal Veil Falls. 

Keith carries Kira.  It was a beautiful day and the leaves were just starting to change color.  

 Grandpa and Grandma tended Lillian and Amelia while everyone else took the trail up to the falls. 

 Talisa

 Keith and Kim

Julie and Jason near Provo River.  They made the day fun for everyone!

 Grandpa tried out Grant's bike. 

 Mark and Kristilyn

Another view of the wheel barrow race with the women in front!

Neal, Katrina, Daniel, and Anna had the weekend home in Idaho together.  Melody and Brandon were in Las Vegas.  Desi spent Saturday night and most of Sunday in the hospital again with kidney stones in Colorado.  It continues to be a difficult situation.  We missed the other half of our family but were grateful and delighted for happy time with the ones who were here.