The Best is Yet to Be

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Six Months in Franklin, TN

We moved into our new home in Franklin on October 31, 2013. It's been a wonderful adventure and now at six months----here are some pictures of a few things that have taken place in Franklin

Welcome Flowers from Langfords

Welcome flowers from Smiths

Our very first guests were the Cruzes - all
seven of them - Lori, Scott, Emma, Ben,
Josh, Lydia and Afton - on November 1,
2013, but we didn't get one single
picture, sadly - thanks for coming

Brad Barber sent us our very first
postal mail in Franklin

Calls from our sons and their families
were most welcome.

Our new home

Our First Day at the temple as Temple President and Matron

Our Temple presidency - Allens and Rickards

Sextons visit on December 19, 2013 - Sydney, Tanner, Connor

Outdoor Christmas lights - very humble

Indoor Christmas Decor

Langfords visit December 28, 2013 - Carter, Claire, & Jared

Nativity outside our temple - December, 2013

Doing genealogy

Brunch

We met and enjoy spending time with our second cousin, Susie Brown

It was a cold winter!

All winter Sharlene swept leaves away from the front door

Sharlene's first birthday in Franklin - flowers from Troy and Dan

Birthday cards mark the day

The one tiny snow we had all winter

Celebrating Lisa's birthday in Franklin - David, Lisa, Connor, & Tanner

Love our temple

Mother-Daughters annual Book Club - in Franklin

New place to eat - Wall Street Pizzeria

Found an old favorite in old-town Franklin

Afton, Lydia, Sydney & Claire count money and candy

First-ever Easter Egg Hunt in Franklin - We love these grandchildren - thanks for visiting!!

Table setting for Assistant Recorder and Wives Dinner in our home here in Franklin

We continue to discover new things to do in and around Franklin. Next post, we'll share some links for those places and some more pictures. Meanwhile, the past six months have been grand. Thanks to our Knoxville children and their families for their constant love and support. Such a blessing to serve and such a blessing to have support from our family.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Utah in October

In October we went to Utah to receive three days of training for our new callings as Nashville Temple President and Matron. Our temple president’s seminar took place in the Salt Lake Temple and our meals were all on Temple Square, with our hotel a short walk away.

The seminar was an incredible experience that we will never forget. We were able to receive instruction from each member of the First Presidency, several Apostles, and members of the Seventy and Temple Department. A highlight was going on a temple session with the other 52 new Temple Presidents and Matrons. It was truly a special spiritual experience. We came back to Tennessee feeling better prepared for our new callings.

We spent most our time attending the seminar, but we were able to squeeze in many other things:

--Visit to Syracuse to see Russ’s sisters and various family members

--Cristy Valentine took us on a personal tour of President Monson’s office

--Lunch with Joel and Jenica in downtown Salt Lake City

--Dinner with Sharlene's cousins: Paul and Bonnie Oscarson, Judith Nielsen, Bob and Chris Brown, followed by visiting and dessert at Oscarson’s home

--Taking care of Andrew and Sam while their parents were in Arizona where Brad received his second Regional Emmy.

--Shopping in City Creek and the BYU Bookstore

--Delicious home-made breakfast at Sue and Ramon Sanft’s

--Picnic at Olympic Park with Cara and Will Dahlquist’s family, Randy Thorpe, Zach and Aunalisa Thorpe, Angela Christensen and family, Allie Sexton, Eric and Heidi Thorpe’s family, Joel and Jenica’s family, Brad and Susan’s family. All braved the cold.

--Visiting the Lehi Barbers

--Visiting the Provo Barbers including lunch in the Harris Fine Arts building with Brad

--Visiting an old friend from Knoxville (Mike Gibson)

--Visiting Provo Bakery, the building of the new Provo Temple, BYU campus, etc.

--Celebrated Sam's 4th Birthday

Our welcome gifts & seminar packets at the Hotel Raddison

The Tabernacle Choir sang for us

Handcart Statue

Lunch with the Griffins

Lunch at the Church Office Building

Salt Lake Temple

On Campus with Brad

Cousins Allie and Ashley

Picnic at Olympic Park

Russ with Angy and Christian

Eric and Heidi Thorpe and boys

Sam, Spencer, and Lincoln

Susan, Angy, and Jenica

Allie, Cara, and baby Connor

Go BYU!!

Jonah, Hale, Koen, & Silas in Lehi

Happy 4th Birthday, Sam!

Home-grown pumpkins

Table cloth crocheted by Elaine gifted to us on this trip

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

My amazing sister, Cara

I have a very unusual situation. And by “situation,” I mean family relation. I have two older sisters and two younger brothers. My mother had many miscarriages, so I always felt very blessed that I got to grow up in a family of five children. And I love each one of them.

But what I didn’t expect is that I would get the wonderful surprise of another sister many years after my mother died. My father remarried Jean and to them was born my younger sister, Cara. Cara is much younger than me and much younger than my children. We always laugh when we talk about her being the aunt to my much older children.

My sister is amazing. Cara is wife to the wonderful Will Dahlquist and mother to three darling boys. The oldest, Lincoln will soon turn 4, next comes Spencer who just turned two, and baby Connor is about 6 ½ months. Cara not only takes care of her three little boys, but she also is a professional photographer (go to her web site here), trained in HypnoBirthing and works at HypnoBirthing Utah. She’s also an advocate of Empowering Fearless Birth and was a speaker at this year’s conference. Did I also mention that she is an artist? She is multi-talented. She throws the most marvelous parties and is a fantastic cook. There is so much more I could say about Cara, but I mostly just want to say that I love her and am so very proud of her. I stand all amazed at her maturity and talent. And she’s just a really nice, nice person and friend to all.

Not only is Cara a loving wife and great mother, but she has weathered some pretty difficult trials in her very young life. For instance, the birth of her first baby: Lincoln spent the first 6 weeks of his life in hospitals starting with his birth at Orem Community, then to Primary Children’s, and finally to Lucile Packard Children's in Palo Alto, California. Instead of Cara bringing home her first born baby, he was air-lifted to California, with Cara and Will traveling there shortly after. She was amazing during this time! If you want to read Cara’s story of Lincoln’s journey go here. And I could tell you the story of when her husband Will had a car fall on him and the long struggle with his recovery. But Cara and Will are resilient and they managed these challenges with grace. So I’ll stop talking and share some pictures. I have more of when Cara was younger, but I was too lazy to scan them, but I’ve included a few.