WELCH FAMILY: August 2015

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Barton reunion-Mom and Dad's 50th

2015 was a special year for the Barton Family. On August 6th, it was Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary. Mom had been planning to have a special weekend to celebrate for quite some time. Her original plan was to go back up to Camp Jackson to the cabins there, but she didn't jump on that quite quick enough and they had no openings. So plans were changed and modified and the location was to be Bluff. In August. Can you say H O T?? But Mom rented additional space for us to use and it all worked out great. She rented an additional vacation home to provide sleeping space, as well as a room at the nicest local hotel, so that we had access to a conference room and the pool. We survived the heat and had a great time together.

We were going to start out our reunion with a cookout on the Blue Mts., but the weather had different ideas. We've had a really rainy summer here and that day was no exception. So again, plans had to change and we started with some family bowling in Blanding. It was a lot of fun to cheer each other on. It's been a very long time since I bowled and I have pretty much forgotten how.

Grandma, Hannah, Laila, James (Helped by Wendy) and Soren bowling, cheered on by the crowd...

Grandma, Hannah and James showing us their bowling form...

The little boys in the Barton Family - James, Soren, Charles and Ethan

Looks like Wendy got all the fun of helping the little people....

Jordan and Peyton going head to head...

Go Charles!

Soren got a strike! WooHoo!!

Scoreboard from the boys game

Then we all went down to Bluff and in the Conference room at the Desert Rose Hotel we had plenty to keep us busy. Mom had a couple of rug looms to work on, a quilt set up to tie, a puzzle, treats, etc. We also brought a cornhole game to help the kids pass the time.

Peyton really enjoyed working on the rug looms...He did more on them than anyone else I think

We had a quilt put up that would be given to Aysha and Chase for their wedding.
It was good to see so many people work on it. It got dubbed 'The Babymaker' LOL

We also brought a cornhole game, to get people to play with and against each other. It's good for all ages.

It works for 2 players....here Curtis and Ford are competing...

We learned about cornhole at MHS. It's often played at school activities and also Church activities.
It would be nice to have our own set.

We even got couples to compete. Here Shiala and Lindsey are competing with their hubbies. One player from each team stands at each cornhole. They take turns throwing the beanbags back and forth

Jordan and Ford on the opposite end....

Even the boys got in on the quilt-tying. Soren really liked it and declared he'd like to make his own quilt. :)

We ate our meals at Mom's house so that we didn't have to haul food back and forth.

finding some shade from the blazing Bluff sun....

Then went back to the hotel to play and swim...The pool there is THE nicest pool I've ever seen. I failed to get any pictures of swimming, as I decided to get in and enjoy it.

Soren learning how to tie a quilt...looks like he has a good teacher. I do not think I put in even one tie.
But Curtis picked up the slack.

we also played Greed, which no one else outside the Welch family had ever played.

Lots of scrambling and grabbing coveted treats...

there were even some tears when a coveted treat got taken by someone with better luck...

Wendy helped some of us look more beautiful. Shiala cut off her lovely hair, but it still looks great.
How can it not, on such a pretty girl?

All the Barton Grandkids and Great-grands, except Montana, Corbin and Ariel
Montana couldn't get the time off and Corbin was in training for Natl. Guard, in prep for deployment. I believe Ariel also had work and since Corbin wasn't going to be able to go, she stayed to work.

back row: Aysha, Matilda, Peyton, James, Cambria, Laila, Emerson, Jordan and Lindsey
standing in front of Jordan: Charles and Ethan
sitting in chairs: Shiala, Ford, Allie, Grandma and Kami
sitting on the floor: Soren, Zoe, Hannah holding Ane, and Olivia
Lying: Sadie

this is a much more realistic picture of them ;)

aren't they photogenic?

We ended the reunion by attending Church in the Bluff Branch and sharing in the potluck meal that they hold after church on some Sundays. I worried about overwhelming everyone with the hoards, but there was plenty of food. Jordan and Lindsey left to go back to Rexburg from Bluff. It was hard to let them go, didn't seem like nearly enough time with them and Emerson. Wish Rexburg wasn't so far away. Then we cleaned up the rental home and packed up, said goodbye to everyone and headed home. I'm so thankful for all Mom did to get us together and what she provided for all of us. There truly is nothing more important than family.

This is where we stayed. The Adams House.
Mom rented it for the weekend so there would be enough places for everyone to stay.

It is one of the original homes (after the cabins) built of sandstone...

It was fun staying in a historical home. It had some fun quirks and eccentricities, like all older homes.

The back patio and enclosed porch area

Walking to Church on Sunday...Bluff is like going back in time. Such a slow pace of life there. In all the years my parents have lived there we've never driven to church when I've gone with them. And nothing like adding our numbers to their branch totals. It was a full house.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Ford & Shiala are sealed

We headed to Provo on the 14th of Aug to prepare for Ford and Shiala's temple sealing. It was a day we had been hoping for for quite a while and we were thrilled it was here. There is just nothing like being in the temple with your children, and being there when they make those sacred promises, covenants and commitments.

Shiala and I had been making preparations for a while, including making the table decorations on the cheap and deciding on a menu and getting it ordered and ready to go. Then the time came and we just hoped we had taken care of everything we needed to take care of.

They had chosen to go to the temple for their endowments prior to the sealing. So that event took place here in Monticello on Aug 11. What a special day. A day that we thought at one point could be years in coming, so we were so happy when the it didn't take years to reach that point.

Shiala, Ford, Kassie and Curtis-Monticello Temple

For the sealing we got to the SLC Temple, along with a zillion other people (**Including the Piano Guys, who were in the marriage waiting room the same time we were!) on Saturday morning. Finally our group was called and we went up to the sealing room. It was awesome to see Ford and Shiala come in dressed in their temple clothing. The sealer spoke to them for a bit and then sweet Kami was brought in. The ladies in the children's room had done a good job of dressing her up and taking care of her. She was so cute, smiling and saying hi to everyone. She was being very friendly and had all of us smiling and chuckling. However, when they sat her on the altar she instinctively knew that it was a sacred moment and she became quiet and actually laid her little head down on top of her parents' clasped hands. Such a sweet tender moment.

One other tender mercy was that Shiala's mom was able to get a recommend and be there for it. She thought for a time that she wouldn't be able to be there, and it was a hard thing for Shiala, but she had decided she was going to go ahead anyway. So when we learned that she was going to be there, it made things just that much more special. Shiala's friend, Bronwyn and her husband were there, as well as Shiala's brother, Bryan and his wife, Heidi, and a couple of aunts and uncles. And she thought she'd have no one there.

We went to the east side of the temple to take a few pictures on the steps, but I didn't get one. We didn't take many because there were other newlyweds waiting. Then we headed back to Orem to get the reception/dinner ready to go.

Shiala wanted to have a little reception/dinner after the sealing since they hadn't had a reception when they were married. We didn't have much of a budget, but tried to find inexpensive ways to give her what she was longing for. She wanted decor in shades of lavender and silver/gray. Live flowers are so expensive, so we opted for these pomander balls that we made, using a flower punch, styrofoam balls and pearl headed pins. We got the glass candlestick holders at Dollar Tree. We also bought a bolt of lavender tulle off amazon, as well as some silver tulle. We asked Nicole if we could use her pewter serving pieces and she helped us find an arch which we decorated with silk wisteria that we ordered off Amazon. What would we do without Amazon?!? We ordered all the food from BYU Food to Go. It was so nice to not have to prepare all the food, just pick it up and eat it. I think it all turned out very nice, but not overly fancy. I hope Shiala was happy with it. It was nice for them to have a place to be greeted and congratulated by their family and friends.

Pomander balls we made
lots of time spent punching out flowers and pinning them on

some of my crazy boys at the SLC Temple.
I did not get any other pictures at the temple, sadly.

Isabelle made a cute chalkboard sign for the reception.

Wisteria arch

We had the reception at Nicole's ward building
What would we do without Nicole for party advice and help?!?

Food table on the left, ice cream sundae dessert table

We are so thankful for the love and support of all who made the time to be there for Ford and Shiala. Family and friends are so good to us and we are so blessed.