TWINS!!

On March 8, our daughter, Katie gave birth to twins! I had arrived on the 2nd. Most of us were under the impression that the twins would be born that day but after the doctor visit that morning, the doctor wanted wait until Sunday, the 8th. It was pretty hard news to bear, but in the end it all worked out very well. She was induced about 8 am Sunday morning and they were born a little after noon and weighed in at: Kenneth Maxwell~6 # 12 z and Evelyn Claire~6# 1 . They were born about 3 minutes apart and were a good size to bring home on Tuesday with no complications at all. We have all been very blessed. Katie even taught a class at the gym the day before they were born!

I was able to stay several weeks and hopefully be a help. Lloyd arrived on the 26th and the Smith clan arrived on the 28th and the babies were blessed on the 29th. We had over 60 family members attend church that day and then Katie and Mike hosted a brunch at their little home after the blessing. We were hoping that the weather would be nice as it had been the week before so the guests could spill outside~but it snowed about 6 inches that day. Amazingly, we all fit in the house and had a great time.

Lloyd and I and the Smith clan minus LaFawn left on the 30th. LaFawn was able to stay until the 11th and help with the little ones.

In all, it has been quite an amazing experience. Mike and Katie are great parents and they have wonderful support from their friends in the ward.

It also reaffirms the knowledge of the wonderful 'village' we have to raise these children. In my view, it is truly what every child deserves~to be loved and valued by countless friends and family and to be taught the true Gospel of peace and love.

Best Friends

Also while in Utah, I was able to connect with my best friends from high school. Cathy (My friend in the black) and I communicated over Christmas and realized that we would be in Utah at the same time in March so we planned to meet. In the meantime, I contacted Priscilla (light orange top) who lives in Orem and she told me that Susan lived in Layton so we all decided to meet at the wedding reception of Cathy's niece in Payson.
We talked for several hours and gabbed and giggled.
We all grew up in the same ward so they filled me in on the news that they knew and we talked about high school stories.
It is interesting to see that paths that we have taken. All of our parents have gone except Cathy's mother and we were commenting on how strange it seemed to be together talking about how our parents had gone. They were such a part of our lives!
Oddly, they had all known Lloyd before I came to know him in the 3rd grade. Before they built the school in our neighborhood and before I moved over to the west side, they attended Riverside School which was the school in Lloyd's neighborhood.
They had some funny stories about being in a grade school play with him at Riverside.
What a fun blast from the past!

What A Treat !

While in Utah helping with the twins, I took the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake on March 21 to hear my sister Becky perform on the Tabernacle organ. She is a guest organist on the Tabernacle organ about every 6 weeks. She performs for the tour that is conducted through the Tabernacle. She generally performs on Sunday at 2 pm.
She is a professor of organ studies at BYU-Idaho.
There were quite a few more tour patrons than usual because there was a Chemical Convention nearby and many choose to attend the recital. The concert (1/2 hour) was awesome!! She played some many powerful pieces. One even used the Bombarde which in the top manual and has huge reed stops on it that nearly blast you out of the hall. The organ also has an antiphonal organ which has pipes in the back of the Tabernacle.
Each guest organist is required to do the pin drop and the paper tearing exercises at the beginning of the recital to demonstrate the acoustics. They are also required to play their own arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints".
A lot of people came up to talk to her afterwards, so it took a long time for me to speak to her and by the time she offered to let me sit down and play a few chords, the next tour was coming through.
But, we did get our picture taken by some nice ladies from the South.
It was such a treat to be there and listen!