August Anemones

             August has been just like these anemones...bright and colorful, all different.  We have had such a variety of things happening, some incredibly wonderful and some pretty scary too.  We've had a Temple endowment, a wedding, a couple of receptions, a missionary farewell and setting apart, a visit from general authorities...both Elders and Sisters, starting school...one back home, a job promotion, new callings in the church-including Bishop and Sunday School teachers, an Eagle project, visits to and from some of our children, some amazing trips/vacations, ice-water dousings, an earthquake, and two scary car accidents.  We've also been blessed with an extension of our monsoon season, for which we have all been praying, and for which we are so thankful. In short, August has added so many varied colors to our monthly bouquet.  Anemones are the perfect flower to represent August.

An August rain is a little bit more unexpected than a July one.

Rachel took this amazing picture of a sunset from her house.

The August birthdays are just as colorful and special as the weather and activities have been this month.

Tyson's birthday is on the 14th

Brynlie turned 9 on the 17th

Camille turned 9 on the 17th

Brody turned 5 on the 17th

Bethany's birthday was the 18th

Carson turned 8 on the 22nd, and will be baptized on the 13th of September in Thatcher.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL

The Brown kids

The Evans girls

The Joel Biggs boys

The Alder kids

The Richins kids

The Thomas Biggs kids

The Daniel Biggs girls

The Daniel Biggs boys

The Jeremy Biggs kids

Josh is going back to the University of Nebraska, where he has scholarships. Hannah is going to attend BYU Idaho

Stetson is starting ASU.

We took a turn taking care of Grandpa and Grandma on the first weekend of August, while Nancy cooked for the Young Single Adult outing.  She had everything so organized that we really didn't have much to do.  Dad got Grandpa up and dressed and pushed him in his wheelchair to the family room where he insisted on giving Grandma her good-morning kiss before he did anything else.  I asked him what he would like for breakfast and he said, "Ask her.  She's lived with me for over 70 years...she knows what I want to eat better than I do!"  Then, later, when he was reading the paper, out loud, mumbling the words, I heard him say "Obama."  I asked him if he knew who Obama was.  He put down his paper and looked at me and said, "He's the president of the United States."  That was just 3 weekends ago.  Now he has slipped away from us so much that he is hardly even conscious anymore.  I am so not in the loop, though, and only know what I read in the emails my siblings send to each other, but it sounds as if he is really winding down.  I asked Dad to check on him when he went down on the 25th, and he confirmed my worst  perception of Grandpa's condition.  I don't know what will happen with the reunion.  Grandma says she's going no matter what and that Grandpa is too.  I think if he does it will certainly be his last Hiatt reunion.  The end of an era, for sure.  I can hardly imagine the world without him in it, always there for me with wisdom and love and encouragement.  He told me once that I could never imagine how much I would love my grandchildren.  I thought it wouldn't be possible to love them as much as my children, but he just smiled and said, "wait and see."  He loved you all so much and it has been hard for him not to always be able to recognize each one of you lately.  Because we live away from them and because I am old and not very strong any more, I haven't been able to participate in their care as much as I should or as much as I would like to.  But Dad has been their financial savior.  Grandpa lost so much money on scams that they were afraid they wouldn't  have enough to live on, and they never even knew how much they actually had.  Dad has organized and managed their finances so that they have had enough to live comfortably in their last years.  Grandma always mentions how thankful she is for Tom.

While we were there, Daniel and his boys, who were in Mesa for a visit, came by to see them.  When they walked in, Grandpa sat up and said, "Don't you have any pretty girls in your family?" Always the ladies' man!

They stayed with us in the condo, and although there was plenty of room, the condo never seemed so small as it did that weekend, with four big men living there with us...I should say "five big men living there with me!"

One of the main things they wanted to accomplish while they were there was to attend the Temple as many times as they could.  They had hoped to attend both the Mesa and the Gilbert Temples, but Mesa was closed for renovation.  They went to the Gilbert Temple several times in the 3 days they were there.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

One of the other things they wanted to accomplish was to attend a ballgame.  Well, Joel was able to get unbelievable VIP seats right behind the catcher.  They included an all-you-can-eat snack bar.  I'm sure with all those boys eating all they could eat, it was worth it!

Erika saw them on TV and took this picture!

Saying "Good-bye" as they headed back to Colorado.

Joel and Steph and the boys also came to visit us at the condo.

We left at the same time as Daniel and got back to Safford in time to pick up our friend, Una Mae Larson for church.  Dad and I were sustained as Sunday School teachers that day.  I was released as a Relief Society teacher.  We teach the 14 and 15  year olds.  Mary brought dinner over for us after church, and then Thomas and his family came to visit later.  This picture is of Henry and Jared and me, enjoying Dora together.  

The next day I went to Rebecca's to make corsages for the wedding reception.  I'm glad there is still something I can do to be useful.  

That afternoon, Dallin brought Sara over to choose an afghan for her shower gift.  He said her favorite color was red, so I had picked the one I thought she would choose. I was wrong.  It's a good thing she got to make her own choice! She picked the blue and white one you see at the end of the bed.

On Thursday of that week, the girls gave Sara a bridal shower at Rebecca's house.  It was beautiful and fun and there was a lot of good food.  I met her mother and her friend from school and her younger brothers.

On Friday morning, Sara went to the Gila Valley Temple to receive her endowments.  Her mother and friend were able to go with her, as well as so many members of her new Biggs and Evans families.

After the temple, Dallin's family invited the grandparents to go to lunch with them at the Manor House restaurant.  

All that day and the next, Rachel, with her super right-hand girl, Mary, and other helpers, put together a beautiful, unique reception for the almost-newlyweds.  Yes, they had a PREception.  They weren't married until the next morning, but that didn't stop them from having a great party the night before.  

Here is Rachel, putting on the final touches to make everything perfect.  There are more pictures of the decorations in Rachel's section.

Pinning on the corsages...another thing I'm good at.

The newly enlarged Evans family...including DeWitt, who was sad at missing another family wedding.

I took pictures of some of our friends who came to the reception.  Of course they're Rebecca and Scott's friends too, but these are some of the ones special to us. 

The Taylors, Holts, Emerys, Nevins

Debbie McHugh, Penny Whetten, the Konopnickies, McHughs, Browns

Jeremy & Erika and boys and Mary and Tyson

Hayden, Luke, Carson, Rachel & Tony, Brynlie, Ellie, Brianna, Camille and Lindsay

They left through a sparkling tunnel of well-wishers.

The next morning, the 9th, we rushed down to Mesa to be with them in the Temple, where Dad sealed them for time and eternity.  We have had some lovely, cloudy days in August, thanks to our extended monsoon, but this was not one of them!  It was a scorcher!!

~Waiting for them to come out.

On the steps of the Temple...the beautiful bride and the handsome groom.

The proud and happy parents and grandparents

The Evans family at the Temple

That afternoon, Esther hurriedly put together a last-minute birthday party for Brody at the Organ Stop Pizza.

The next morning, Sunday, the 10th, we went to Joel and Stephanie's ward, the Constellation Ward, where he was sustained as Bishop.  He and Stephanie were asked to speak.  They both gave wonderful talks, but I really enjoyed hearing Stephanie tell about Joel's ability to make friends of all kinds of people.  She said when she first met Joel at EAC, people flocked to him, all of them calling themselves his friends...and they were.  She was surprised at how different they all were, from each other and from him, but he didn't mind that, if he even noticed it at all.  I remember that he used to gather a motley crew of friends when he was a kid, too, and I worried about some of them and if they would have a bad influence on him.  But it wasn't long until I realized that he was having a good influence on them.  People became better because they were Joel's friends.  I especially remember his crazy basketball team at EAC.  He gathered, returned missionaries, active and not, pre missionaries, active and not, all ages, sizes and colors and they had a basketball team that practiced on our driveway. They were called the Stickmonsters. They even had a Stickmonster yell. 

We were invited to attend his setting apart, at which President Barkley gave him a beautiful blessing...I could tell that he had very tender feelings for Joel.  Thanks to Stephanie for this beautiful picture of Joel and the Bishopric.

Stephanie fed all of us at their house after church.  We all celebrated Joel's new call, without Joel even being there.  He was already busy with his counselors and the Stake Presidency.  We didn't even see him at all before we left to go home.

The very next weekend we went to Mesa to pick up Daynen so he could drive with us to Colorado for Porter's missionary farewell.  We have been missing so many Sundays this summer that I'm sure the Bishop is worried about our eternal salvation.

~We had lunch with the boys from the office on our way down that Thursday.

Joshua was staying at Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt's house for a few days, so we had him come to visit us at the condo while we were there.  

He was still cooking for Red Robbin, but took time out to go to Matta's with us for dinner.  El Charro was closed until Labor Day...we'll see, won't we? 

Josh went back to Omaha after he finished his summer classes here.  He had a calculus class that he found he didn't really need for his major at UNO, so wasn't even going to take the final.  But he decided that since he had already put in so much work, he might as well take it even though he hadn't studied a bit.  He passed and got the credit!  Proud of you Josh.

~This little red car is the one he drove back to Omaha, where he re-enrolled at UNO (University of Nebraska, Omaha).  He had to do a lot of overhauling to get it road worthy.  He said it was a lemon!

That night, we had Esther and Shad's family over for Dilly Bars.  We were going to ask them to go to Matta's with us, but Josh's only free time was at 3:00, so we settled for Dilly Bars instead.  We also took that opportunity to give Brody his birthday present.  I found this darling Ninja Turtle costume at an after-Halloween sale.

Early the next day, Daynen and we drove to Colorado, where we were welcomed by the family.

The cousins were glad to be together again for the last time...for a while.

Albert was working on his Eagle project, so Saturday was devoted to getting that done.  A new charter school was opening the next week and it was being housed in an old warehouse.  So Albert's project was to create a parking lot and drop-off-pick-up area in front of the warehouse/school.  It turned out to be a huge job.  They had been working on it for a couple of days already and still had to spend all of Saturday on it.

Daniel said that he and Dad were "gravity," holding down either end of the painting template while the others painted the lines.

My job was to entertain Jonathan.  We got along great.

When Dad sat down, Jonathan warmed to him, too.

We all took a break and went to lunch before getting back to work.

They not only work hard but play hard too.  This magnetic race track was a favorite.  Dad even got involved. I watched.

We attended Church with them, and both Porter and Shadrach spoke in Sacrament Meeting. They were both very good and sounded like returned missionaries already.  Shadrach spoke about preparing ourselves to take the Sacrament.  He cautioned us not to take it casually or thoughtlessly.  Porter spoke about taking upon ourselves the name of Christ when we take the Sacrament.  Actually this is something I have given some thought to over the years.  Think how important our good name is to us.  One of Dad's cousins has a son named Thomas Biggs.  He is a young kid and was a student at EAC for a semester.  He has long hair, tattoos, piercings, etc., and though he is basically a nice boy,  I was uncomfortable having someone walking around wearing Dad's name and worried that he would not be a credit to it.  That is, I think, how it is when we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.  We must do everything we can to bring credit to His name.  For good or bad, people judge His church by those of us who profess to bear His name.

~Dear, sweet Shannyn gave me a shoulder massage.  It was wonderful. 

We had meatballs for dinner that Sunday

Porter pinned Bolivia on the missionary board.

We took an afternoon drive to see the cliffs that Porter and Shadrach climb.  They are so steep and dangerous looking but they love it.  Daynen saw some good shots for his movie, so he hiked around a little, taking pictures.

I asked the girls to pose as we were getting ready to head back to Arizona.  I don't know if they were glad to see us go or were just posing enthusiastically :-)

We met Jeremy in Globe, where we ate a Chinese dinner and then he and Daynen went on home to Mesa.

The 22nd was Carson's 8th birthday.  He invited us to lunch at the El Charro.  The wait staff came and sang to him and gave him free fried ice cream.

Then that afternoon he had a swimming party at our house.  It rained a little in the morning and made Mary nervous, but it was warm and fine for the party.  They even had a shark piñata.

The weekend of the 23rd was a major event for the sister auxiliaries in our Temple district.  Members of the general boards of Relief Society, Young Women and Primary came to Safford to conduct  training meetings.  The Young Women were in charge of the luncheon on Saturday and Rebecca was in New Jersey that day for Dallin's reception.  So, of course, her talented counselor, Rachel, stepped up and did it all.  And by all, I mean ALL.  She decorated and cooked and prepared all the food.  I went the night before to help her make flower arrangements and I ironed the table toppers, but that is all I did.  She did everything else.  The next day, Mary and I went to her house to make the chicken salad on crescent roll sandwiches, the peppered turkey and cream cheese on bagel sandwiches, and tomato-basil-cheese skewers.  She had it all prepared; all we had to do was put it together.

That night...Friday night...Rylie and Isabel were in a wreck on their way home.  Rylie had gone to pick up Isabel in Solomon and actually fell asleep at the wheel.  It was almost midnight and she didn't realize how tired she was.  Their car was ruined, but they were mostly ok.  Rylie hurt her wrist and her chest was sore, I think from the airbag, and Isabel had a bruised face from the airbag and from hitting her face on the door.  Other than that they were fine.  How thankful we are that they were being watched over and that they were protected...and that they had their seat belts on.  Just as they were leaving, Rylie insisted that Issy put on her seat belt. In Rachel's section you can see what a narrow escape they had.

~Making lunch

Esther invited the Mesa kids to a "Masa Monday."  Dad and Thomas happened to be in town so they got to go! I was jealous, so I ordered Sonoran enchiladas from the El Charro so I could participate.  They were very good.

On the last day of the month, we went to the Evans' house to an early birthday celebration for Lillian (she will be 18 on Wednesday) and to see the pictures from their amazing trip.  I was exhausted just looking at the pictures, so I decided that's the best way for me to make a trip like that.  They had a wonderful time, though and will remember it forever.  See the pictures in Rebecca's section.

Ok.  I keep seeing this on Facebook and Instagram and I can see the value of it.  It is something fun to do that gets people's attention and increases awareness of ALS.  But as far as really helping, unless they contribute money as well, I think they are just all wet...and cold.

GETTING WET...COLD AND WET

Isabel and Ellie

Marlie and Luke

Hannah, Harrison, Shadrach

El Charro was challenged by Casa.  Delores and Isaiah took the ice.  Frank Palma did the honors from on top of the  El Charro van.  I think Thomas stood by, nice and dry, and took pictures.  His mother raised him to be smart:-D   El Charro actually contributed money to the cause.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE FAMILY

NATHAN & SHAUNA

Nathan has been in San Francisco this month on business and he happened to be there during the biggest earthquake since the one during the world series in the 80's!  Fortunately, it was across the bay and though he definitely felt it, he wasn't ever in danger.  He also wasn't ever where he could get pictures of any earthquake damage.   

Bethany and Palmer have moved into a nice, new apartment building.  Bethany took this picture when they were on their evening walk.

The inside.  Isn't it nice for them? I can remember our first apartment.  It was one of Grandmother's and we were so thankful to get it.  We had some cast off chairs from Grandpa's old office, an old couch that Grandmother gave us instead of throwing away, which we covered with an old bedspread.  There was already an old, green, little formica dining room set in the house and she gave us a king-sized bed for Dad's graduation...which was 4 years later.  Until then, we slept on an old double bed...good thing we were young and skinny then!  We also had a brick and board bookcase, which was my favorite, and Nathan's.  (He loved pulling out the books.) It was rough and not modern or fancy but we loved it. Of course, both Bethany and Palmer have good jobs, and this is a different day.  Kids today have more than we ever dreamed of. And we had far more when we started out than our parents ever dreamed of.  I'm glad to see them so cozy and comfortable.

Bethany has also been promoted to "Banker" at her job at National Bank in Omaha.  She is so good with people and I know she is doing a great job for them.

I saw this photo on Instagram and didn't even need to look at who posted it because those beautiful eyes could belong to no one else.

Hannah is having to say "goodbye" to her friends as they all head their own ways to school. She is going to BYU Idaho and is excited about it.  She has already been face timing her new roommates and is comfortable with them.

She has been working as a receptionist at a dr.'s office, so she now has to train a replacement before she leaves for school.

Josh spent some time with Grandpa and Grandma this month.

Their basement flooded and they had to have it professionally pumped dry.

The family enjoyed a rodeo.  Yes, Nebraska has rodeos.  I guess the midwest was the wild west before the far west became the wild west. :-)

Happy Birthday Bethany

JOEL & STEPHANIE

Stetson does so many fun things with his friends.  They went camping and water skiing.  Maybe more that I don't see on Instagram.

Skiing in the bunny suit? Crazy! Even crazier is to take a selfie while skiing in a bunny suit!

He got together with some of his former missionary companions.

This amazing cloud picture was posted by Docker.  He takes such beautiful pictures, but he is never in them.

Crew and some of his bicycle friends on the first day of school.

DANIEL & CONNIE

This is a really neat family connection that Connie's mom discovered.  Her mom is the Karen Walker at the bottom of the page.  Five generations back, she discovered that her great-great grandmother, Sarah Jane Taylor, was the stepdaughter of Shadrach Ford Driggs.  Sarah Jane Taylor's mother, Cecelia Harvey Taylor, a widow, married Grandfather Driggs when Sarah was very young, so she considered him her father.  This was a plural marriage, his only other wife besides our grandmother Eliza.  Shadrach and Cecelia had two other children together.  

Porter got some Bolivian money so he's all ready.

Porter was set apart as a missionary by his stake president, assisted by his dad.

Then he went out to the chapel where he met Elder Oakes, a visitor to their regional conference.

Elder Oakes also shook hands with Connie and the girls.

Devynne and Brock went on a super trip to Canada for Devynne's birthday.

We saw this family wall as we entered Daniel and Connie's house. She painted the tree herself.

Devynne and Brock also went on a high-adventure bear hunt.  See their camouflage...mud?  Fortunately, they didn't see any bears! 

They also went fishing.  They live quite a high-adventure life!

Eagle project planning meeting

The first day using the new parking lot.

Shannyn is going to play volleyball this year.

REBECCA & SCOTT

~The beautiful ring and the beautiful bride.  Dallin took Sara with the family to their Rocky Point vacation.  He gave her the ring while they were there.

Yea Rocky Point!!!

Eating at one of their favorite restaurants in RP.

Polly and Lillian driving to school.  It's fun to have a sibling in high school with you. Rylie and Isabel are also in high school together, so as well as sisters, they all have cousins. How fun!

Getting ready for the big wedding day

I loved seeing my girl when she was home for 

Dallin's wedding.

And here are Dallin and Sara in all their eternal glory!

Canning peaches! I wonder if those are Oregon peaches.  They surely look delicious.

Camping with the Atkinsons.  Taylor was to be best man at his friend's wedding, so they camped out rather than renting an expensive hotel room.  Such frugal newlyweds! It actually looks like fun.

Dallin and Sara in their new apartment at school.  Her first home-cooked dinner.

On the bottom left is the restaurant at which they ate after their wedding. 

And the gravestone is of a school friend of Sara's.

After their honeymoon...a Mexican cruise...Dallin and Sara were driving to New Jersey for the reception there, and had an accident.  It had been raining and the car hydroplaned around a curve in the road.  Thankfully, neither of them were hurt and they got to their destination eventually after some delay and repairs.

The New Jersey reception

After the reception, Rebecca, Scott and the girls went on a super tour of the Northeast.

Beautiful  scenery.  Here they are with Dallin at Sara's grandma's house in Tom's River, NJ, and also on the boardwalk at the shore in Tom's River and admiring the skyscrapers of NYC from their 25th floor room in the hotel on Times Square that Joel arranged for them.  They had VIP arrangements.

Central park and jumping on the Brooklyn Bridge. Manhattan, including the Temple.

They saw one of their good friends, Whitney Larson, who is serving a mission in NYC.

They even explored a gloomy NYC alley as well as the bright lights of the city.

After they left the city, they went to New Hampshire and Maine, making Jeremy so happy and nostalgic all at the same time.  In fact, they kept in touch with him so he could direct them to lighthouses and other interesting things.  They were in Joel's mission area, too, since he spent some time in New Jersey. 

Maine

They saw a lobster farm and also a lobster trap like the one Jeremy brought home from his mission and still has.

They were just driving by and saw this house, and decided to stop.  They got the chance to visit with this old Finnish man...in Finnish, no less.  He was so glad to have them come.

They took the "Freedom trail" tour in Boston...self-conducted by  Scott, the best tour guide ever.  Since we have ancestors on both sides of the family who fought in the Revolutionary War, it was very interesting to them. You are all true "Sons and Daughters of the Revolution."

JEREMY & ERIKA

They had beautiful family pictures taken last month, but when I saw this one on Facebook, I couldn't pass it up.  You know how I am about handsome men!

Jeremy and Erika were in Safford for the wedding festivities and they came to visit us.

I think Reygan is very smart.  In fact, Jeremy says she is the most mature member of their family.  I don't think she's a beast, though.  This is Daynen and his friends shooting another movie.

I'm so glad Reygan and Hannah keep in touch.

They had a torrential downpour one day and took some pictures playing in the rain.  I remember that when we would visit cousins in NC, where it rained often, Phil and Jan and I would always get excited and run outside to play in the rain.  My aunts and uncles thought we were crazy.  "Don't your kids know enough to come in out of the rain?" they would ask.

Jeremy & Erika with some of their PA friends.

RACHEL & TONY

Brynlie and Camille celebrated their 9th birthday while we were in Colorado.

Isabel loves soccer...I can see why.  Actually, this is the son of Tony's manager who had just come by to watch her play.  He was one of Polly's Crackers from last month.

Luke is starting orchestra.  He chose the viola.

These are pictures of some of the vignettes and decorations Rachel put together for Dallin and Sara's reception.

Rachel and Rylie visited Grandma and Grandpa when they were in Mesa.

Sister Oscarson, YW General President, came to the Auxiliary Training Meeting in Safford, and Rachel got to spend quite a lot of time with her.

This is a special, hand-picked choir of young women who sang for the training meeting.  Rylie was invited to sing and had been to practices, but couldn't participate because she was in bed, miserable and sore after her accident the night before.

Here is her car.  She hit a stop sign, ramped a water-filled ditch and tore up a steel post before crashing into a tree.  See the airbag on the passenger side.  They are truly lucky to be alive.  

Putting up chiles and four-wheeling

ESTHER & SHAD

Shad has made an exciting career move this month.  He and another attorney have decided to go out on their own and start their own firm. He will still have an office here, in Safford, and one in Tucson, as well as the one in the Valley.

~Brody, celebrating his birthday at an impromptu pizza party.

Back-to-school ice cream.

Happy Birthday Brody!

Better than a ninja turtle any day! Anyway, he's all ready for Halloween, no matter what mood he's in.

Esther has started a preschool upstairs in her house.  It is the "All Stars" preschool.

THOMAS & JENN

Maya is starting preschool in Thatcher and loves it.  I just hope it is as good as Esther's All Stars.

Hyrum on the first day of first grade, and Maya at her preschool.

Maya loved the Princess Bride.  And all the kids loved Brody's birthday party

Maya really enjoyed having so many handsome boys around.  She hit it off with Joshua, and I can't believe I didn't get a picture.  Of course, most of the time she was with him was in church.  After church, she latched on to Tayte and Daynen.  She reminds me so much of Rebecca...and myself.

I asked Kirtlyn to repaint my flag sign.  She did a really good job.

She and her dad went to a 50's Father/Daughter party.

They went to a Knudsen family baptism before the wedding and had some family play time the day before that.

While they were there, they and Josh also checked out the old Biggs home in Lehi.

MARY & TYSON

On the first day of school, the Richins kids came home to a personal candy gram for each one of them

This is Tyson's birthday cake that Mary had specially ordered at Basha's

The kids took balloons to his office.  He is now a financial planner with the Edward Jones company.

Birthday blessings.

Carson was so excited to be going to his first Cub Scout meeting.  He memorized the Law of the Pack before his first meeting.  I hope it was everything he hoped it would be.

OUR MISSIONARIES

~DEWITT~

~LEVI~

~PARKER~

~PORTER~

SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT

I was talking to Isabel the other day, around 6:45 a.m., when she came by the house on the way to school, and she was saying how much she wanted to be able to sleep.  She loves to sleep and can't seem to ever get enough.  My suggestion about going to bed earlier didn't particularly interest her.  I told her you have to be either very young or very old to be able to sleep whenever or wherever you want to.

Well, children, that was August.  Truly amazing, awesome August.  I know I debated about whether to do it or not, but I had responses from many of you, so I think I'll continue the blog as before.  Thank you for sending pictures.  I have loved sharing your activities and trips through pictures, and I know those who look at the blog will enjoy them too.  

We have some picture-taking, family-bonding activities coming up in September, one of which is the Hiatt reunion on the 20th and 21st of September.  the family picture will be on Saturday afternoon and we are supposed to wear our Biggs League shirts.  If you don't have one for someone in your family, just have them wear a gray shirt.  This will be Grandpa's last reunion, so you may want to go for that reason.  Of course, he probably won't even know if you're there or not...Grandma will, though.  If you're going, be sure to get Karen the money ASAP. Also, the Ellis Biggs family reunion is at Carrie's on November 15th.  And definitely start making plans for the Tom Biggs family reunion at Nathan and Shauna's on July 4, 2015.  It will be worth the effort, I promise.  Omaha has as much to offer as other places around the country, besides the opportunity to gather with the family.  We'll call it Dad's 74th birthday celebration and my 70th birthday celebration.  Then you won't have to do anything for our birthdays :-) 

We love you all so much and are so thankful for your efforts to live righteous lives and to teach the Gospel to your children.  We were asked to teach the 5th Sunday lesson this month about finding joy in family relationships.  Loving the Lord and keeping His commandments, loving each other and having fun together are good ways to have a joyful family...even if things are not perfect, and even if we still have problems...and we will...but if we love the Lord and our families, we can walk together through our difficulties.  I really believe in the enabling power of the atonement, that the Lord can make us better than we are and that we can have joy in our family relationships.  I believe that our families can be our soft place to land.