Freedom and Family

July was a very fun month. It was such fun to have Tiffani and her family here to start it off. Thankful for families who love one another. Erik, Shanelle, and Asher came for a visit, which we loved. That day Dad finally got his MRI test in Salt Lake. Kristin and her family were also there. It was a household full of fun. Dad's test was good.

Asher, Tiffani, Erik, and Shanelle

David, Baylie, Kristin - When family is here, there is always food.

Erik, Kolton, Shanelle, Dave

Shanelle, Kristin, Baylie, Asher

July 4th we were so excited to go to the Stadium of Fire in the BYU football stadium because the twins were performing. They were in the Las Vegas’s Zions Youth Symphony and Chorus. It was amazing. Clara played her violin and Lauryn was in the percussion section. They came early to practice on the football field for several days. They were extremely excited because the Jonas Brothers were the main act. 

Zion' Youth

Before everything started, there were fireworks. Something went wrong and 18 people were hurt because the fireworks went crazy. An ambulance had to take a few to the hospital with one woman in very bad shape. Fortunately everyone was later released from the hospital. 

Finally it was time for the Jonas Brothers. The crowd went crazy and stood for an hour and a half and sang right with them. It was so loud and everyone had such a good time.

Guess who wore these Funny glasses?

When they finished, there were hundreds of beautiful fireworks in the sky. It was amazing. The drones were the favorite. It was unbelievable. It took us an hour and a half to get home because of all the traffic. Our home is only five minutes away but we just couldn’t believe the traffic. What a great night. One to remember. Kristin and Baylie wore ridiculous glow glasses. What a great way to feel the joy in this country of freedom.

The next day Kristin and family flew home because the Saturday flights were way too full.

The next evening Erik and Shanelle held a barbecue in their backyard. Dad brought the tri-tip and everyone brought whatever they wanted. It was a feast and so much fun. We love when the family gets together. We are so blessed.

Clara, Jayden, Molly, Rowan, Dave

Triplets - Ava, Lauryn, Clara

Lauryn, Tiff, Grandad

Erik, me, Grandad, Kolton

Ava, Nixon, Clara

 Parker and Jessa

The Men

The 6th we worked in the garden and watched the air balloons go over our house. We love that.

Sunday Dave and Cameron left for Vegas and we went to sacrament meeting with Tiff and the twins. It was a great testimony meeting.

Monday Dad had an appointment with Dr. Healey whom I taught in third grade. He has 10 children and we are very satisfied with him. Dad was feeling like he was passing a stone, but the doctor just couldn’t agree. As we were leaving, he stopped us and said, “Pull up your shirt.” Immediately he said it was shingles. Sure enough, it was. We have had our shingles shots and the booster. He said that Dad was lucky because without the shot, he would be in bad shape. It is slowly getting better.

Wednesday we found that a guy had tried to hack into our computer. Tiffani immediately took over and stopped our bank and took the computer to Best Buy and they had it for several days. Thank goodness for help.

Thursday we had planned to go to the Taylorsville and Layton Temples with the Ruth and Max When we got there, we showed our recommends and found that mine had expired three days before. We were so disappointed and ready to do eight names and I just cried. I had not looked at my recommend for such a long time. I had no idea. We felt so badly that we went back to Orem and ate a yummy breakfast at Kneaders. When we got home, Ruth taught me how to crochet a bit, but by the time she left me and got home, I had lost it. Oh well.

Friday Dad worked in the garden and I washed the kitchen window with Dad staying right there. It is so good to look out at the garden now.

Sunday, the the 14th I got my new recommend. Never will I be without one again.

Monday Dad pulled out of the garage and found a can of paint thinner on the top shelf had busted open and poured down the side of his truck. He didn’t know what to do so he called Scott and then Clint Washburn. Clint sent him right to a special car wash. It was amazing. They got it right off and didn’t even charge him. There are so many good people in this world. It was so wonderful to see it so beautiful again. 

Tuesday the 16th Kristin and the kids came back. Kristin and Baylie cooked candy and cookies for the Bayles Colorado Family reunion. They also made Navajo candy. Our home smelled delicious and they worked so long and hard.  We did a little shopping at Costco and Baylie and I bought matching nightgowns

We stopped in a food truck park in Moab. It was delicious and so much fun.

Yummy

Kristin ordering

Kristin had reserved an Airbnb home in Dolores for us, her family, Tiffani and Cameron. We found that it was way up in the mountains on a dirt road. We were very nervous. When we finally got there, it was a beautiful home right in the middle of the forest. It was perfect until we went to bed and heard so much thunder and saw lighting right in our bedroom. I just knew it was going to be a forest fire because it was so loud. We survived and had a great time. The next night was wonderful and we saw deer and little animals and even a dead mouse in the house, fun memories.

The reunion was wonderful. It is always great to be together. We fear that some will not be around next year, but hope for the best. 

Justin and Kristin

Kristin, Julie, Mikki, Morgan, Tazie

Shawn and Kelly

little ones

Mark and Gary

Grandad, Lyman, Jean, Preston, Alisha

I have no idea of what this picture is supposed to mean.  But I like it.

Goat ropin' (the little kids had fun trying anyway)

This is the beautiful view of the Mesa Verde we see from the Ranch.

We love the beauty and memories of the ranch in Colorado. There is no other place like it.

Sunday was a beautiful testimony meeting and then we headed home filled with many wonderful testimonies and memories. George’s sister, Julie Ann was rushed to the hospital in Durango for some heart problems. She is doing better now.

We realized it was our 56th wedding anniversary. We had all forgotten! We stopped and had dinner in to Cortez to celebrate before we all headed out.

On the way home, Jalen and Baylie climbed on the same cliffs our kids did when they were young.

Kristin and the kids flew home the next day and were able to visit with our friend Brad Wilcox while waiting for their flight. He is such a wonderful man and does so much for the youth. We all love him. It was a special time for the kids.

Tuesday the 23rd we prepared for our trip to South Carolina and the beach at Charleston. Wednesday we flew to Columbia and Thursday Kristin rented a large car so we could all get to the beach in the same car. Tiffani and Cameron flew into Charleston and we picked them up at the airport. Kristin had found us a great Airbnb a block from the beach. Perfect. She brought food for us so we didn’t have to eat out. We stayed all day at the beach and found many treasures in the sand. Kristin had brought a pop up so I didn’t have to be in the sun. We also had boards to use in the water. It was just a perfect day. We watched the Olympics when we were not at the beach. So fun.

We did whatever we wanted for the next several days. No agenda, just fun. We spent the mornings at the beach and the afternoons watching the Olympics. We loved the little sand crabs at the beach. I took many pictures, but it was very hard because they just jumped down in their little holes.

Baylie and Jalen loved the beach as we all did

David drove down after work to join us Friday night. He loved the beach too. Everyone just had so much fun.            

Our beach home

Sunday we went to church in Charleston where a young man from Tiffani's ward is serving a mission. She is very close to him. There was such a great spirit in that building. He looked so good and was so thrilled to see friends. His mission president was one of the speakers and Tiffani talked to him after the meeting. He had such a good report on the missionary. It was just perfect. 

Elder Jace Jimaii, Tiffani, and Elder Jennings

Kristin's family with Elder Jimaii

After church Kristin took us into Charleston to see the beautiful homes there. It is such an old city with so much history. We went to an outside market place with rows and rows of beautiful things to buy. Again, what fun. We ate there and visited the candy shop. We had such a good time.

Afterwards we took Tiffani and Cameron to the Charleston Airport where they flew back to Vegas. Cameron was excited that he could join us in these family gatherings.

The rest of us headed back to Columbia. On the way, we stopped at Cypress Gardens. It’s a beautiful swamp where several movies have been filmed. We rowed our own boat through the water. It is so beautiful and Kristin had wanted us to see it. We made it just in time before they closed. 

Under a beautiful bridge (it was in the movie The Notebook)

Early the next morning we flew back to Utah. We were happy to return home and find our garden was thirsty, but still beautiful.

  

We enjoyed watching the Paris Olympics. They were so good and the USA was amazing

The Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ is everything and we strive to do our best so we can return to our Father in Heaven and continue to live with our families. It is true and we must live so we can always be worthy of such blessings.

We continue to be thankful for our two missionaries. Cameron is on a service mission in Las Vegas and is enjoying everything.

 With his Mission President

Camden is serving in Poland and writes such amazing letters. The language is very difficult but he is doing great.

The Restored Gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ is the only way back to our Father in Heaven and have our families together forever.  It just doesn't get better than that.  

We love our family so very much and pray for you always.