Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Family Portrait














This was taken at the Salt Lake Temple April 2002 when Stephen and Stephanie were married. We're hoping for a new one in 2016 for our 50th anniversary.

Family Reunion April 2008

We were surprised to have most of our family with us during General Conference week this spring. Some of the grandchildren hadn't met or it had been a long time since they'd been able to get together. It was a joyous occasion and we all made a joyful noise!





Ralph took the eight and older ones to lunch at the MTC cafeteria and then to watch Sunday afternoon session in with the missionaries 19M, which is the largest meeting room at the MTC.









All 12 of our granddaughters were with us in April.
Front row L to R: Sara, Savannah, Sophie, Josie and Emily
Center row: Grandma Smith and Selah
Back row L to R: Katie, Hannah, Emma, Samantha, Eliza, Cosette






Twelve of our 15 grandsons were able to come to the reunion.

Front row L to R: Ira, Nathan, Luke
Middle row L to R: Grandpa Smith, Sawyer, Beau, Brower
Back row L to R: Damon, Roman, Christian, Brendan, Tristan, Tyler







Stephen and Stephanie and their three boys (Thomas, Hewitt and Donny) were in Philadelphia preparing for Stephen's graduation from dental school and Stephanie had just given birth to Donny on 24 March. I guess they were a little busy at the time.

Washington February 2008

We were invited by the Lacey and Olympia Stakes to participate in a recognition program of present and past stake presidents. What a wonderful opportunity we had to see old friends and to spend time catching up. That was our first time back since we moved to Utah in early 2000.







This is a photo of those young "punks" as they were when they were called to serve.









This is a picture of them seven years later when the stake was divided and Ralph was called to be the president of the new stake (and was promised by Elder Pace that the clock was still ticking and not reset). Elder Steve Pond accompanied Elder Pace for the change.









We were, also, able to spend some quality time with Erika, Marshall and their five children. We attended a school program, Tyler's basketball game, Cub pack meeting and many more fun activities before heading home through the mountains.

St. George in June 2008

We had a wonderful time driving down to St. George for the first time since we finished our Utah Provo Mission in 2003. We stopped along the way to visit the missionaries at Cove Fort and met a couple from Washington we had known while living there. We love it there!

We scheduled a "double date" with our dear friends, Beau and Kathy Woodbury, to attend the beginning of the 2008 season at Tuacahn. "Les Miserables" is one of my favorites and was masterfully performed by the ensamble. We all had giant slushies that lasted the whole performance!

It was a short vacation, but Beau and Kathy were the perfect hosts, making it restful and fun.

We first met Beau and Kathy while Beau was presiding in the Washington Tacoma Mission in the late 1990s. They were pressed into service in 2000 when Ralph presided in the Utah Provo Mission to be a counselor in the mission presidency over southern Utah. After serving there for about two years, Beau was called as director of the Kirtland Historical Site. During a visit with our children who were living in Philadelphia, we drove to Cleveland and Kirtland to see for ourselves the special place they spoke so fondly about. We were lucky enough to have them take us on a personal tour of the site and to spend two days with their senior couple missionaries and them. What a memorable time we had in Kirtland.

We couldn't leave St. George without stopping by to see the completed renovation of the St. George Temple Visitor's Center. There we met Sister Ruiz, a young Sister missionary from Mexico. There was a stunning sculptural exhibit there at the time! Such talent!