WEEKEND REPORT

Dave's Getting Married in the Morning -
Saturday morning that is, June 28th, we joined David Reynders (my nephew) and Yvonne Murphy (his bride) and a host of other family and friends in the Fresno Temple. It was a great day and we were glad to be there.

"Choose a companion you can always honor, you can always respect, one who will complement you in your own life, one to whom you can give your entire heart, your entire love, your entire allegiance, your entire loyalty."

President Gordon B. Hinckley

Ensign, February 1999, 2

Reynders Biggest Loser - $100 PRIZE Awarded
8 week competition comes to a close
Top 3 winners were announced at the wedding dinner.
Annie Spiel/1st PLACE, Adam Spiel/3rd PLACE, Houston Blair/2nd PLACE

The Thrill of Staying in a Hotel -
Fun for Sam, but oh my aching back!!!!

Blessed Baby, Reagan Reynders - This picture was taken Saturday night at the wedding reception, but none the less, it represents our Sunday doings. We got to be part of the joy displayed by my nephew, Robert. Paige and he are so pleased with their little girl and we are pleased for them. Robert blessed his daughter, Reagan Reynders, who was 11-days old, Sunday, June 29th.

"I am a child of God,

And He has sent me here,

Has given me and earthly home

With parents kind and dear."

by Naomi Ward Randall

"Honey, I'm HOME!"

Hugh has served in the Lancaster Stake presidency seven years and he was released last night at our stake general priesthood meeting. It is the same meeting he was sustained in seven years ago. This will certainly be a change in our life. He will miss the opportunity he had to render service in the stake, but he will now get to serve in other ways. It will be interesting to see where he will be called next and maybe, just maybe, we'll have him home more.

Happy to have Daddy home.

Janna, Becky, Hughie, Tom, Sam, Martha

"When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
Mosiah 2:17

"Let Us All Press On"

Last month the Lancaster Stake revamped all the ward boundaries. I was in the Juniper Ward. Now I'm in the Sierra Ward. I was the Primary Music Leader. Now I'm the Relief Society Secretary. I have been very busy with a number of things and the creation of our new ward has been part of it .

Our first Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment meeting

in the "new" Sierra Ward, Thursday, June 12, 2008

"Let Us All Press On"

Martha Blair, pioneer of old

Terri Wick, Stake RS President - Guest Speaker

Sharon Beesley, modern-day pioneer

The faith of our fathers—I love that phrase.

For many members of the Church, these words bring to mind valiant pioneers who abandoned the comfort of their homes and traveled by wagon and on foot until they reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I love and honor the faith and courage of those early pioneers of the Church. My own ancestors were living an ocean away at the time. None were among those who lived in Nauvoo or Winter Quarters, and none made the journey across the plains. But as a member of the Church, I claim with gratitude and pride this pioneer legacy as my own.

With the same joy, I claim the legacies of today’s modern-day Church pioneers who live in every nation and whose own stories of perseverance, faith, and sacrifice add glorious new verses to the great chorus of the latter-day anthem of the kingdom of God.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf,

“Faith of Our Father,” Ensign, May 2008, 68–70, 75

The Competition

It's Mud Run Saturday, June 6th, at Camp Pendleton, CA. Our white-headbanded team is stoked and ready for the competition. Rick Blair, Chelsea Blair, Billy Blair, Brandon Pyper (Chelsea's brother), and Tommy Blair.

Sticking together through thick and thin!

"We did it!" This was the last main event of our reunion.

"Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success."
--Henry Ford (1863-1947)

The Reunion Continues

Last Wednesday night (June 4th) we celebrated the two babies one-year old birthdays, Ammon (May 3rd) and William (June 3rd). It was a spaghetti dinner with cupcakes, ice cream, and some special gifts. It was fun!

Thursday was our day in the temple. Tommy was going through for the first time. The grandkids and Sam were outside with Becky, Zoe, and Janna. When the rest of us came out Zoe took pictures for us. We won't be together like this for at least another two years. Then we went out to eat, all 17 of us plus Zoe. It was a great day!

"When you come to the temple you will love your family with a deeper love than you have ever felt before.

The temple is about families."

Richard H. Winkel,

“The Temple Is About Families,”

Ensign, Nov 2006, 9–11

Camping in the Sequoias

This is just a glimpse of our reunion doings.
Ammon Dedman and me (Grandma) - sitting around the campfire, examining his goods from the Cousin Safari.

Our reunion started Sunday attending church together. The next three days we were camping in the Sequoias. We ate, hiked, sang, had a Cousin Safari (a treasure hunt), laid and swung in the hammock, had what I titled "Pine Cone Wars" (shooting pine cones and rocks with the water ballon launcher), water slides, devotionals, talking, and whatever. We also burned lots of wood trying to keep warm. We were glad to get back to civilization today. We had some good times, but it sure got cold. Everyone held up in spite of the weather. We know this is a special time together before Tom leaves on his mission and Rick and his family return to Okinawa.

"Parents should act to preserve time for family prayer, family scripture study, family home evening, and the other precious togetherness and individual one-on-one time that binds a family together and fixes children’s values on things of eternal worth. Parents should teach gospel priorities through what they do with their children."

Dallin H. Oaks, “Good, Better, Best,” Ensign, Nov 2007