We left Oaxca Monday July 13th and got into Las Vegas that afternoon, Our daughter Conni with her youngest, Wyatt, along with Heidi's daughter Zoe were there to pick us up. We grabbed a quick burger and hit the road for St. George. We made a stop at Conni's house to say hi to her husband, get her car and other two kids and drove on to Kanab. It is so wonderful to see family after a long separation, we sat on the front porch in the cool evening breeze at Robyn's house and visited, hugged, caught up on each others lives, and shed a few tears of joy.
During this 3 weeks we have been to a family reunion, a grandson's baptism, driven from Kanab across Utah to Southern Idaho to spent a few days with Jared, Jen, and family, where we went boating, went to the Logan temple, ate great food, played with grandkids, went to a movie and were pretty much treated like royalty, we then drove back to Kanab for the 24th had a great visit with my mom, my sister, my niece and her kids,went to the parade, then went to Lake Powell boating the next day with Dolye, Tara, and family and a few other grandkids, church Sunday and a drive to Central Az. with the 3 oldest grandsons to visit Kyler, Donna and Kayla, where we hiked to a beautiful waterful and rope swing, wandered the old town of Jerome and the shops, ate more great food and played cards and again were treated like honored guests. Then back to Kanab for our last week, we have gone swimming, played games, tried to watch an outdoor movie, had a birthday party,driven over Cedar Mtn. to meet Ross' brothers for dinner and a great visit, driven to St. George for bowling and dinner with the adults, visited, played games and just generally had everyone stop their lives to make time to entertain and spend time with us.
How grateful we are for family and for the amazing people our children have grown up to be despite our best efforts! Each one of them are raising great families and are doing such great things, we love them all so much and so happy to be their parents. It is hard to be away but we know they will take care of each other and that our Father in Heaven is aware of each of them and will take care of them. Life is good and is such a precious and wonderful gift!
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| Bowling, Robyn, Conni, Doyle and Tara, and Adam |
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| Boating in Idaho, Jared is a lucky dad with beautiful daughters and 2 handsome sons and nieces who love to come visit. |
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| EssiKate and Eliza Kate cousins can be best friends. |
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| Mclean and Jackson at Lake Powell |
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| Kyler, Clark, Zeb, Mclean, and Kayla, It was so much fun watching these cousins enjoy the day together. |
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| Looking down on Verde Valley, Az. |
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| Fossil Creek, Az |
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| What's up there Guys? |
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| Boating on Lake Powell |
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| Bekka at Lake Powell |
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| Fossil Creek, Az |
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| Fossil Creek, Az. Kayla and her friend Shyanna |
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| Grandma and Zeke at the 24th of July Parade |
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| Cousins playing at the reservoir in Idaho |
All good things come to an end, tomorrow we leave to fly back to Oaxaca, it has been a wonderful three weeks, we have made memories to last a lifetime and they will help us to get through the homesickness of the next 9 months. We love serving in Oaxaca and we know that we and our family are being blessed for that service. We love the temple, we feel that we grow and learn daily as we serve there and we are looking forward to being back, that being said it is hard to leave our family, these precious grandchildren make life worth living and bring so much life, love and joy into our hearts and lifes, Three quotes I saw recently seem to go along with what I am feeling today first" Being a family means you are a part of something wonderful, it means you willlove and be loved for the rest of your life. NO MATTER WHAT!" The second " I can't promise to solve all your problems but I can promise you won't have to face them alone." and the third by Michael J. Fox " Family isn't an important thing. It's everything." Family truly is everything and we have the best, there isn't any one who wouldn't do anything in the world for another. Love you all to the moon and back.
We were so glad to have you and to us you are honored guests. Thank you for coming all the way to Idaho to visit us. Thank you for all of your service to us and for the church. We have talked often about how blessed our children are to have 2 sets of grandparents that are so dedicated to their faith and to our Lord and Savior. What awesome examples you are and how honored I am to be a member of the Ross Ray Family. Family is everything. Today as we were going to visit my mom in the hospital Erika said that she loved to get together with family but it wasn't very fun for sad stuff. As I thought about that I thought how sad it would be to not have family during the sad stuff. I am truly blessed to having loving and supportive family all around in all times-joy and sadness.
ReplyDeleteJenny,
DeleteThank you, we love to come visit and we feel blessed to have kids that are dedicated to raising righteous families and who love the gospel and who love and serve our Lord and Savior also. Family truly is everything and we have the best! You and yours are just a continuation of ours and you are always in our prayers. We love your mom and pray she recovers quickly and fully.
That last comment was Jenny not Abby.
ReplyDelete