FEBRUARY 2016

We had a very busy February, but so much fun!

We hosted the Janulis for about 6 days as they came up for Rootstech 2016.
They invited us up to the closing day when it was Family Free Day.

We had a lot of fun at the Family Search area where you could put your own faces in old photos...
So here is Dana and I.

And here are Scott, Me, Dana and Ed.

We have been eating a LOT of panini with the panini maker Austin and Laura gave us for Christmas...I bet we use it at least 3 times a week.

I smiled when the leftovers  looked like a heart...perfect for Valentine's Month!

I was able to take Ed and Dana on a tour at the temple.  Being able to do Speical Guest tours has been such a blessing to Scott and I this whole month!
They loved it and cannot wait to do a session there next fall!

The Janulis and I went to the Norman Rockwell Event at BYU Museum of Art and really loved it!


Scott and I went back the next week so he could also see it.
What a great artist who was able to use his talent to bless so many people over such a long period of time!

We had several sealings to go to this month including this one up in Logan for Quincy and Ashley Wilson.  Quincy's Mom is the one who quilted my mission temple quilt when it was all completed.  She was my quilting angel!

Speaking of Angels...Jenna found this amazing glass star made from scraps of the new Provo City Center Temple for us...can you tell how much we would love this???

Addie entertains us all the time.
One day I found her all taking over my blanket upstairs!  So cuddly!

And I got my latest grandbaby ornament handprint for Klay.
I love my ornaments!!  We love our grandbabies!!

This last week we were able to get into the temple with Jennifer and Jon...technically in March, but oh well.

The boys were really cute and well behaved with the extended tour we took and we loved our time in the temple together!

I also got one of my missionary friends from the MTC to come down from SLC to go with us.  (Makenna Seymour)











And this is our latest group of missionaries from the MTC!  They are amazing!
We get pretty attached in 6 weeks!

Another RM sealing for Nick Stevens and Alyssa and we met Qwinton Brothers, Stuart Farrens (a member from AZ) and Ben Crane.
We never know who we will see when we go to a sealing!

I have been working more on our photo/blog history from our mission and ordered photos for the rest of our scrapbook up to date...still plugging away on it!!

WELCOME JANUARY 2016

 January 1, 2016 found us up early so we could be at the new Provo City Center Temple ready to help host General Authority tours.

 We had spend much of the second half of December training tour hosts and getting familiar with the tour route ourselves, learning more each time we visited.

It was COLD, COLD, COLD those first few days we were there so we stayed bundled up as we hosted.

 We got to associate with the nicest people, senior couples in the area who helped in the theaters, the Sister missionaries and all the volunteers.

We met really great GA families as well.  Scott and I helped host:
Sister Esplin and family
Elder Hamula and family
Elder Gavarett and guests
Elder Holland and family
(We briefly spoke with the Bednars)
Elder Walker and family
Elders Golden and Bateman and their families.


 They had "Missionary Week" which overlapped with our GA tours, which really caused some great traffic jams, as missionaries will do anything to just be at the temple with people...all day long!  I ended up being there every night as supervisor/organizer.  It was a miracle really, that it all worked out!  Great event.

What we were really excited about was the chance to take our own family through the first Saturday of January.  Breanna, Elliot and Braden joined us for a great tour!
It meant everything to us to be in this special place and to share it with people we love!!

(Oh, and going to Brick Oven afterwards was pretty nice too!)

 We got some pretty great photos afterwards too!!

Speaking of pretty great...:)




The following week we helped host our "Special Guest" tours.  Mostly we were in charge of keeping things organized and keeping hosts with groups and moving things along.   We were at the temple daily organizing and supervising.
By January 14 we were mostly done with our responsibilities in Public Affairs.

I only went back once to host a Spanish group of inter-faith that came down, and Scott has gone a couple times to help host.  We may have a few more opportunities for special tours, but they are harder to do with the public tours going on.

Braden had his surgery to put in a post, or dental implant, to put a tooth into the space he has had since birth...no tooth ever grew in one spot.

He loved the laughing gas to keep him relaxed, and now has a place they can attach a crown next month.  He was a happy camper!

We are really enjoying having him at home this year.  He goes to the gym with us, and keeps us entertained daily!

 We are also entertained by Addie...yes, she loved it when I made birdcages this year for preschool...and immediately stuck her head inside one of them and just enjoyed it.

I left my "cold bag" on the couch one day and came back to find a special surprise inside as well.

We enjoyed having Aaron, Michelle, Lori and Carole down for a Home Evening this month.  We had dinner together and the kids played with all our new Christmas toys!  That's Matthew in the photo...growing up SO HANDSOME!

We had a RM stop by with his family when they were in town for one of his BYU swim meets, Cameron Lindsay and his family.

And as usual, we are at the MTC with our branch of missionaries learning Italian.
This is Sister Swensen from our branch, who we took over to meet up and HUG her brother, who was leaving for S America the next day.
It was a sweet chance for them to say goodbye for 2 years.







Our Sunday Dinner Groups seem to get bigger and bigger...because many of our RM's now have someone to bring along!

Front: Andy Marble, Juan Castanos, Nicole Barton, Kassie and Ethan Bruegger, and Jacob Baldree.
Back: Us, andrew and Sam Ripley, Joseph Barley, Jordan Freeman and girlfriend, Garrison Nuttall, Racheland Joseph Cotton, Kyle and Natalie Dayton (her brother).

It was Natalie's birthday so I had hurried home from the MTC to bake a birthday cake for her!
She is adorable!!

And just so you know...we even get OUT sometimes...here is proof that we even go to movies, STAR WARS to be exact...looks like we had the theater to ourselves!  And we practically did!

We really love our missionaries at the MTC.  We get close to them in the 6-7 weeks they are with us!

We loved one Sunday when it snowed really good, the perfect snowman snow!

DECEMBER 2015

We started the month with a drive through of the Thanksgiving Point Light Festival.  It was beautiful and colorful and the whole way through we were MISSING OUR GRANDCHILDREN!!!

We kept saying...Oh, Brooklyn and Evan would love this...

...or Bennett and Carter and Klay would love this!

Braden went up to Breanna's class to help her one afternoon and the kids were super excited to have him come.  He is a superstar to them!

Well, Jazz forward Derek Favors has a program that encourages volunteerism and Braden submitted his photo and eventually got enough "LIKES" online that it got Derek's attention, and Braden won tickets to a Jazz game and got to meet Derek after the game!

Pretty cool!

Breanna talked me into doing a SANTA RUN with her this year.  What could be better than a 5K with milk and cookies at the pit stops???

So, as we are pulling into the parking lot for the race, Scott says "Gee, I guess other people had the same idea as you to dress up like Santa.
He did not know it was the theme of the race...he is just used to us dressing up crazy for races.  FUNNY!

We had a great time running together and yes, we had a cookie after the race!

The boys headed down to Las Vegas to meet Austin there for the BYU/UTAH football game.

It was party weekend for them.  Areas at a Venezuelan place...

Braden in the original "Gun Show"

And of course a historic game where BYU was down 0-35 and came back to ALMOST win!
I was attending 2 sealings in Bountiful that day and listened to the game on my way home that afternoon, crazy!

 I wish you ALL could have been at Breanna's class when the "Christmas Elf" delivered the stockings you all helped put together!

The kids were SO EXCITED about the smallest details in each stocking.  Yes, even getting a comb was thrilling.  They LOVED the hats and promptly put them on so proud to have their own hat.  It was so rewarding to see them looking at all the things that YOU put inside for them!  THANK YOU and we will see if this can become a new tradition!

One morning in December I got up and the front door looked like this...

There had been a terrific storm that blew snow all over the front of the house, it was so pretty!!

Christmas Eve we went up to Carole's home for lunch and got to meet Breanna's boyfriend Elliot.
He is such a NICE person!  We really like him a lot...and so does she!!

Then it was down to LeAnn's house for a lovely dinner...really so good!
And the traditional Nativity acted out by all!

We just loved how well the twins played their parts and how serious they were about it, well...when the owls were not being a part of the story :)

Nathan did a great job saying his lines as head angel.

I just had to put a photo of the incredible dessert we had that night...delicious and so pretty!

I had laryngitis so I could not sing, but I loved hearing all of you singing and Jenny playing the piano!

Christmas morning was the best with Braden and Breanna.  We get up whenever we feel like it and take our own time.

Scott looking at a cute calendar from Jenna and family.

We got a panini maker from Austin and Laura...so it was breakfast sandwiches...egg, bacon and cheese!  Mmmmmmm!!

Then the traditional SANTA HAT WALK on Christmas morning...OK, we started the tradition last year, but who's counting?
We saw some cool long horn cows today.

Then it was up to the MTC to help missionaries make Christmas phone calls for several hours while I am pretty sure our kids napped!

You can see I am looking at framing materials here...we received a beautiful Brian Kershisnik print called "The Nativity" that is one of our favorites, from one of our returned missionaries.

It will be a nice reminder all year round of the importance of the Savior in our lives, and how PERSONAL that can and should be.

BRADEN #StopScurvy BYU