COME UP TO THE MOUNTAIN

I was privileged to be a leader that helped our ward youth get ready for the Draper Temple Celebration, which was on May 29th.

What an awesome experience! We only had two months to prepare for this task. But the youth pulled it off and might I add, they made it looked effortless.

Seven thousand youth (Draper temple district), ages 12 to 18 participated in this celebration. Each Stake had a choir and dancers. Our Stake was assigned the Farmers dance. We practiced Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so if a youth couldn't make one night they could come the next night or go to both. We practiced at the Conference center only a couple of times. Dress Rehearsal was the first time all 7,000 kids got together. What a site that was!

My favorite part of the celebration was the ending when the Temple that was hidden rises up in front of the mountain, then a woman and a man climb the stairs when they are almost to the top their children come out from behind some rocks and then the family finish climbing the stairs to the front doors of the temple. It was breathtaking to say the least, I cried, EVERYONE CRIED! What a testimony building experience for our youth!


The next night was Oquirrh Mountain's youth celebration. They had the same music, but they had their own dances and costumes, I wish I could have seen them! Carlee got to be a part of this celebration. I am so very proud of her! She was a rollerskating car hop from the 50's. She said she had a blast!






















President Monson was at both performances. We sang "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" as he entered the Conference Center. He spoke to the youth and all eyes were on him. As he left the center all the youth were waving to him, he stopped to talk to them. What an awesome experience for our Youth!

SCANDINAVIAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL

This is becoming a fun family tradition, if only the weather would cooperate! The Rudel's and Curtis's visited the Strong's in Ephraim this Memorial Day weekend. Three years ago we set up tents out front of Grandpa Bills and Grandma Ellen's home and had a blast, but the last two years have been cold and rainy, but we still managed to weather the storms.

We also combine Grandpa Bills birthday with our visits. That's always been a nice added bonus.

We start out with the parade in the morning. Grandma Ellen fixes lunch for us and then we go over to the festival and walk around to see all the creative booths and try out a few of the tasty foods. The kids go on a couple of rides and that is about the extent of our stay in Ephraim. Oh the most fun and the one thing the kids really look forward to is riding the ATV's. It wouldn't be Ephraim if we didn't take the kids to see the Elk Farm.

Hear are a couple of pictures from our adventure

The most fun part for the grandkids is the candy that they collect

Getting ready for the big ride!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA BILL

ON MAY 26TH

HE WILL BE 82 YEARS YOUNG

MEMORIES OF MY MOTHER

*I loved her tickling my arm in church
*I loved her yummy warm homemade bread
*Her famous pies
*Bringing home roast beef sandwich's from banquets at the Hotel Utah
*Famous banana splits with the Book of Mormon club
*Five white cleaned and ironed shirts for the boys every Sunday
*3 beautiful hand made dresses for the girls every Easter
*She loved pansies and yellow roses
*She had a beautiful manicured rose garden on the side of the house
*I remember her gorgeous red roses surrounded by white bridal wreath next to the front porch
*I loved summer nights sitting on the front porch with my mother
*I loved watching her work in the kitchen from the open grate in the bathroom upstairs
*Santa brought us the most beautiful decorated Christmas tree every Christmas Eve/mom must have stayed up all night for that one
*Sunday dinners, roast beef or roasted chicken, mashed potato's and gravy
*Family reunions at Bear Lake, mom was always in charge of something big!
*Many years of service in the Primary and PTA
*She always made each of her children feel that they were the special one
*I loved her warm arms giving me hugs
*She loved me unconditionally
*I always had a bad day if she didn't give me a kiss before she left to go somewhere
*When she lost her sight she was amazing to watch as she learned how to read braille, she continued to cook and clean, she never gave up
*Her grateful attitude even in her darkest hours were an inspiration to me

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLER

Tayler admiring all of her presents

A great Elmo Cake!

Sissy helping Tayler with her presents

Yesterday was our little Tayler's Birthday. I love to talk about my grand kid's birthdays because it is a time when I can reflect on them and them only! Baby Creed's birthday will start us off next February, but Syd's was the first Birthday for 2009, her birthday is also in February. Since January we have had one birth and four birthdays and we are only into May! But now we will slow down and we wont see anymore grand kids B-days until August.
Tayler was so excited about the whole party she was genuinely surprised at all her gifts. She literally squealed at every present she opened, I laughed so hard. It was so fun to watch Carlee helping her little sister open her presents. After the party Carlee disappeared, I think she was excited to put together Tayler's 4 wheeler that her mom, dad, Grandpa Dick and Grandma Ruth gave to her little sister. I called later in the day and Carlee said that the 4 wheeler was still charging. I wonder if that 4 wheeler is going to visit Ephraim when the Strong's go down to see Grandpa Bill and Grandma Ellen? Thank you Strong's for a fun day. We loved being with you and also getting to visit with Soupie's family. We are so blessed to have our little miracle baby with us. We love you Tayler.

THE PIANIST

What an awesome night! I got home a couple of hours ago, but can't seem to sleep, so I decided to write about our chorale practice we had tonight. I sing with the, "Sally Bytheway Chorale". We practice on Thursday nights and we are only a couple of practices away from our performances in May. Natalie was invited to play along with our accompanists, Pat with the song called "Cindy" by Mack Wilberg. It was the first time they got together to play and they were awesome! Might I add, Natalie had the hard part, their fingers were just flying over the keyboard! It was hard to concentrate on my singing because I was so caught up in their playing. We have a mini orchestra that accompanies us on several songs also. They come four weeks before our concerts and practice with us, they are also wonderful! I am so excited about our four concerts in May! I am especially proud of our daughter Natalie. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Strong for giving us that piano when Natalie was just a little girl. You would be very proud of your granddaughter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN

Logan had a great birthday, we were happy to host his party and loved having our family guests. Logan wanted his birthday theme to be designed around Pirates. So we all had to wear eye patches, etc and get into the spirit of it all. The grand kids had a lot of fun with the patches jewelery etc. Even Papa John joined in the fun.

Shannon made a "Pirates Treasure Chest" cake, Logan was thrilled!

We even hung a pirates flag.....Argh ..... Mattie

Logan got a lot of money from his Grandpa De and Grandma BJ.....I guess you could say he got a lot of loot! The Parrot Pinata was the most fun for the kids! Carlee finished it off in one big swat!

April 18th.......a very special day.

It's hard for me to separate the two birthdays. It's a day shared by two of my favorite people. Logan is a very lucky little boy to share his birthday with his Great Grandpa Ralph. Logan doesn't realize it now but he also shares some of Grandpa Putnam's talents. Drama (acting) being the most dominate of the characteristics. When Grandpa Putnam was a young man he had his own acting troop and they went around putting on plays. He was a great actor and singer. It's fun to watch this little guy act out scenes of all kinds and come up with new ways to catch his audience's and hold them spell bound. I think he could come up with his own troop, Sydney would be right there by his side, I would suspect that Savannah and Tayler would be right behind Sydney. It's fun to see them in their own little worlds acting out their own little plays.

CELEBRATING EASTER

We had a wonderful day with a special program at church and having the family over for dinner. I hadn't thought about getting together for Easter because John and I were planning a trip out in the desert when it gets warmer. We'd take the four wheelers and we would roast hot dogs and marshmellows with everyone. But I'm glad Soupie asked if we were doing anything. Her family got together on Sunday so we didn't get to have them on Sunday, but we had breakfast Saturday morning with them, thank you for the beautiful plant! The other family members came over Sunday after church. Even Grandpa and Grandma from Ephraim came for dinner. The grand kids had an Easter Egg Hunt and the adults sat around and visited. So thanks family! We are so glad you want to spend time with us. We love spending time with you too. The only thing missing about the day was not having our Cali kids here. But it sounds like they had tons of fun when you read their blog, but we missed them anyway! We hope the rest of our family and friends had as much enjoyment as we did!