Loved

Sometimes in our lives we are blessed to have a friend that changes our lives in a positive way. I feel overly blessed to have such a friend in my life. How grateful I am that she is my friend. I will never forget the Spirit of the Lord prompting me to get to know her. She had just moved into our ward to live with her mother-in-law after the death of her father-in-law. I felt that she needed a friend. Of the many times I have felt the Spirit that strong, I am so grateful that I listened. In those eleven and a half years we have been more like sisters that are friends. We have been asked if we were sisters and I always answer "Yes" quickly because I feel that strongly about our bond. Ann has come to my aid multiple times when I needed someone to listen. She let me cry about the death of my mother. She has cared for me when times were difficult. She has helped me paint countless hours when I moved into my home, helped me decorate it, given me advice, and loved me. Somehow, she has felt that I have helped her in similar ways. We have walked miles together, cried together, laughed together and been there for each other. We have watched our boys play football together, and our kids play in a concert together. There is nothing she could ask that I would not go out of my way to accomplish for her or with her.

Over the years, I have been able to capture the faces and love of her wonderful family. I do not have all the photos I have taken, only those that were digital. I thought it might be fun to portray some of those family photos here so time could be seen.





Ward Halloween Party!



This picture was taken this week as she prepared to send her oldest son out on a mission. It was easy to take these pictures but so hard to edit them as I thought about the change that will come as she moves from the area I live in. She and her family are moving this month, two plus hours away from me. Our friendship will now be tested in a different way. We will have to fight to keep it strong as distance will separate us from spending a great deal of time together. But I have heard that those relationships that you fight for will stay strong. We will still be able to cry and laugh over the phone and through email which makes the distance not too great. The knowledge of the life after this one reminds me that we will continue to have these relationships after.



Thank you Ann for being one of the very best blessings that has come into my life. There are no words to describe how you have affected my existence. I love you! :)

St. George

This entry of my blog occurred at the beginning of our trip to Utah this summer.



Alan and I were married nearly 20 years ago in the St. George Temple. Last year at this time I realized that all of my kids would be old enough to be in the Temple at the same time this year so I thought it would be neat if we could all journey to St. George this summer and be in the Temple together. Specifically St. George Temple because we were married there, and because I have a lot of family history there with my Great Grandfather being the head stone mason there at the Temple. The other reason being that in that particular Temple is where the sealing ordinances came into effect to start our family as a forever family.

We drove two different cars up to Utah. One car got ahead of the other so we said that we would meet at the Temple before going for dinner. The majority of the family drove with me and Alan and Megan drove in his car. As we were waiting for Alan and Megan to get to the Temple the rest of us sat on the grass and were talking about where we were standing when certain pictures were taken on our wedding day. The last time we had been in St. George Tessa and Josh had been little and Megan and Seth had never been there. How sad it was that we had not been back for way to long. I was glad that we had that moment to sit and chat on the Temple grounds.

After dinner and spending the night we got up and proceeded to the Temple to the baptistry. I loved being there with all of my children. I cannot describe the feelings I had as we all sat in the baptistry chapel together and then in the beautiful baptistry while Alan and my kids were in the font. I hope this is another one of those experiences that the kids remember for the rest of their lives.



After taking this photo, we went around to the side and the kids had a re-inact some of the spots where we had our wedding photos taken. They were being funny, but obviously those pictures had an impact on what they were seeing. I am so glad that we went and partook. :)