August Visitors and Events 2014

 I am cheating a little on the first photo, as it was really the last day of July...but we need to start an August post.

We started the month with some Phoenix area friends stopping to take time with us.

We had Linda Spesia and Janelle and Diane Broderick over for dinner this week while they were attending the Family History Conference at BYU.  I did not realize how hungry I was just to visit with friends!  We have been SO BUSY trying to settle in and having company and getting used to our new callings, that we have not really had time just to talk!

THANK YOU FOR COMING TO SEE US!

Next we met up with our dear friends the Morris' from our Mission Presidency.  They were in town to attend the Ogden Temple Open House in preparation for their involvement in helping put on the Phoenix Open House in several months.  They got lots of ideas of what to do and what NOT to do from their experiences here.

Again, it was delightful just to have time to visit with people who know us and our background.
THANK YOU MORRIS'!

We had another Returned Missionary come visit the end of July that I missed getting in the photo.  TALITHA MORRISON and her Mom stopped by one night and it was just so great to visit!  She is adorable as always and doing so good!  We look forward to seeing her more often when she gets into school!

Mid August I hooked up with Nicole Okeson Ellis...the first Sister I went out teaching with when I arrived in Phoenix 3 years ago!  OH THE MEMORIES!!!
We had the best time visiting  and catching up and giving advice to each other!  That's what Sisters are for!

And to top it off, I got a mini recital in my kitchen!  Nicole is a professional flutist so it was really an honor to hear her!  We look forward to going to some of her concerts this winter at BYU as she is getting her Masters.
















Finally!  The day arrived when DANA could come visit us in Utah!  This is us at the airport.  On my personal blog I have all the temples we have visited and all of SLC that we visited so far!
Dana is my dear friend from AZ that lived by me and was baptized while we were living there.  She is up staying with us for BYU Education Week.
We celebrate daily the Gospel in our lives and how blessed we both are to have it and each other as Sisters!

 Saturday we were invited to a sealing in Mt Timpanogos Temple where we ran into a bunch of our Returned Missionaries!
L to R: Logan Van Kampen. Juan Castanos, Michael Nield, us, Brady Jones, Joseph Barley and Harrison Wardle.










NICE BOOTS Logan!!


















The Bride and Groom!!!
Danica and Adam O'Neal!!!

It was a beautiful sealing with great advice from the sealer.  He talked about the sealing room being an extension of the celestial room...same chandelier in miniature and everything!  The promises contained in the sealing ordinance are very special!

It was an honor being with this great couple and we hope they are super happy in their new move to Washington!

Look for a couple more sealings next weekend!



 This has been a busy 8 days for us...3 temple sealings to go to... so it is the BEST kind of busy!


Friday we were privileged to attend the sealing of Carlos and Jaine Arias.  Once again, the sealer did a wonderful job of helping them see the blessings of obedience to the temple covenants and he was so funny and kind.  We loved meeting Carlos family from Venezuela.  They are genuine and loving people!  They are off to a great start!

 They chose the Bountiful Temple to be sealed for all eternity.  I had been at the Ogden Temple Open house earlier that morning, so it was truly a special day!

 Saturday took us up to Rexburg Temple for the sealing of Tony and Brittany Pollmeier.  We were pretty excited about this one.  In the waiting area we met Brittany's Mission President and Wife from her mission in Russia.  This will become more and more common to have two RMs marrying...Love it!

I was SO EXCITED to meet Tony's Mom that I had talked on the phone with his whole mission!  I hope to get a photo from her to add to the post.  She promised.

And what better than to be there with Jeff Griffin, former companion to Tony but happy to see him with his eternal companion!  It was like old times being at the temple together!

 This was our first time inside the Rexburg Temple and it was just lovely!

CONGRATULATIONS to Carlos and Tony this week!

While we were in the area, we arranged to meet up with Aubree Fluckiger who lives in Rexburg.
She is one of our amazing first Sister Training Leaders...and we KNOW she was in the right place at the right time to bless the lives of the influx of Sister missionaries when the big wave hit!  She is as beautiful outside as she is inside and it was so great to visit with her again!

 These next couple of photos are the Nield Famlly with us...we did not have a tripod on us so we took two to get everyone involved!


 It was an  honor to meet the parents of Michael.  As one of our assistants, we got to know him a little more than some of the missionaries and we knew how much he loved his family and what great people they were!



It was fun to meet his brother Josh as well whose mission overlapped Michaels by about 6 months.  They live in Pocatello.

 Also in Pocatello was Sam Blackburn who had only been home from his mission for 4 days!  I am sure it surprised him when I messaged him that we were in the area, and his sweet Mom invited us for dinner!  What a treat!

 We had a great time visiting while eating one of our favorites...Hawaiian Haystacks! YUM!


We learned how Sams mission blessed him and his family. 
We learned the story of the tarantula in a box...ask him about that sometime.

And, we got to tell his Mom what a great son she has and thank her for sharing him with us!

THANK YOU DEAR FRIENDS FOR THE VISITS!  We love you!