We're away from our family for three years so others can be with their families for eternity...

Families are Forever…

We're away from our family for three years, so others can be with their families for eternity.
     But we do get to be with them for a few days every six months when the temple closes for semi-annual maintenance and deep cleaning.
   We flew in to Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 3, and flew back to San Salvador on Monday, March 12.
     During that time we were able to be with 5 of our 7 families, and 20 of our 32 grandchildren--10 granddaughters, 10 grandsons; my 92-year-old mother, my only sibling, Janice; and a niece, Vickie.
Sunday...March 4
     We went to Church with Julie & John, Jacee, Jackson, Maddie, and my Mom, Verna Albertson.
       Then all our Utah families gathered for dinner:
Gary & Kathy, McKell, Abbey, Jacob, and Isaac.

Steve & Natalie and family - Kelsey, Kimble, Carter.
Kelsey had just driven up from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, on her spring break.

I didn't get a photo tonight of Steve & Natalie...here's a family photo of them from "My Pictures" computer file: Steve & Natalie, Kelsey, Cortney, Kimble, Carter.

Here's David & Julie, Josh, Anna, Sam, and William...we'll have more photos of them when we post about the next Sunday, March 11 when we did Church and dinner with them.

Here's Abbey, Anna, Jacee, Jackson, Jacob, Maddie, Sam, Kimble, Carter, and Isaac at the kids' table at Julie & John's home...

Same g-kids from other end of the table.

   Here's Kathy, Gary, Grampa, Julie, Steve, and David.

After dinner, Josh showed us the fox trot and other dances they just learned at his Jr. High...and since we are a dancing family, most everyone joined in.

It was so wonderful to be with family that I didn't take time out to get a photo of everyone together until some had left.  Here is who I did get a photo of...
Front: Jacob, Jackson, Sam, Carter, William, Anna. 
Second row: Grama Eileen, Grampa Walt, Steve, Great-Grama A.
Back: Josh, David, Julie, Julie. (Yes, Josh, age 14, is almost taller than his dad.)

Later that evening, my sister Janice came to see us...

Janice and I said goodnight to Mom. She is the one who started the: "Night, Night, Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite" which is a bedtime saying throughout the family.

And that was our first full day in Utah with our families there.


The next morning was exciting when Julie and John woke their kids up very early with the surprise:
"Get up....we're going to Disneyland today!"

And that adventure will be another post.