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!