Julia & Austin's Wedding

We are so thankful that Julia was guided to a choice companion, Austin Doutre, from Puyallup, WA. They met in a religion class at BYU-I in January of 2012. His sister, Dani, was a roommate and close friend of Meredith's. She had stayed in our home just before Meredith's wedding and we immediately grew to love her, so we knew he came from a good family. Since he lived just 3 hours away, we were able to drive to Puyallup and meet his family and get acquainted with them as their relationship developed into a serious one. The Doutre's are wonderful people and we feel blessed to be connected to them. We so appreciated my sister, Meredith Ashton for coming from Utah, as well as my nephew, Spencer & Melissa Ashton and their 5 children from Walla Walla, Washington.

We were so thankful all of our children could be with us for this special event. We missed Janelle, Bryan, and Gary and their children, but we are grateful everyone else could be there for this special event.
We drove up to Puyallup for the Open House on Dec. 27th, Thursday. It was held in their church building. Angela Doutre had it decorated so nice. It was such a wonderful evening meeting their friends. My sister, Kathi, lived in Puyallup, but unfortunately she was out of town and couldn't be with us for the Open House. Her daughters, Christiana and Amy were there. Our girls had so much fun visiting with them.

One of the highlights was on December 28th when we were all together in the temple for the first time with all of our children. We reach our goal to all "Be Worthy and Clean in 2013." We made it a few days before 2013! I shared that event in another post. There was a family dinner that night for Austin & Julia at our church house. Our friends Alice Lyle and Sherilyn Kelly helped in the kitchen. The Doutre's provided a nice lasagne dinner.

I prayed for months for good weather. Not something that usually happens during December in Oregon, but we were greatly blessed with a lovely day. They were sealed by Pres. Childs. It was a beautiful sealing and such a memorable, incredible day.

We returned home and had soup that Tiffany had gotten ready before we left. We had a short time to eat, and get ready to go to the church for the reception.

The church was decorated so nice by Ashley Williams Keyes. She also did all the food, salads, deserts, crackers and cheese.

The whole day was a reflection of Julia and Austin's good, pure life. They have kept themselves clean and pure and worthy to marry each other in the House of the Lord. Our cup runneth over with blessings.

 

Meredith & Bryan's November Visit

With several weeks off from school for Bryan, before Thanksgiving, they made the long drive from Glendale, AZ all the way to OR. The Johns' opened their home to them for a half way rest spot which was gratefully appreciated. Emily joined them for the last leg up to Portland. We had such a terrific time with them here. Can you see why? Look at this adorable face. What a joy to wake up every morning to her smiles and happy nature.

Cute Evelyn

Bryan always has to have a project. He heard that Dad wanted some trees down in our backyard. Despite the downpour of buckets of rain, Bryan stuck with it and with a hatchet cut down four trees. Our neighbors below us planted firs very close together. They have since grown very high and block our once gorgeous view to Portland. We need more light in our backyard and we're glad to have those trees down. We can't thank you enough, Bryan.

There were fun times with cousins. The Caudle's and the Vance's came over for Sunday dinner and visiting.

Evelyn & Daisy

Bryan, Meredith & Evelyn during our FHE

Emily shares gospel insights during our FHE

Evelyn loved this art project.

Happy Grandma with darling Evelyn

Evelyn ready to attend Aunt Ashley Williams Keyes'  reception.

Busy Christian was a delight to have around.

Cute Christian & Elegant Evelyn

Christian exploring during the reception.

Bryan & Meredith, no wonder they have such cute kids!

Meredith & Bryan didn't get a chance to dance at the reception. Finally, when they got home with no kids to bother them, (except for Grandma taking pictures!), Bryan put on some music so they could dance. 

Having Meredith & Bryan's family here for Thanksgiving was a wonderful treat. We're grateful Emily could come with them. We loved having her radiant spirit in our home and feel of her excitement after having recently received her mission call to Argentina.

Julia graduates from BYU-I

We made a fast, but great trip to Rexburg, ID leaving Dec. 13th and returning home on the 15th for Julia's graduation from Brigham Young University-Idaho graduation in Psychology with a minor in Marriage and Family Studies. We are so proud of our beautiful, wonderful daughter, "Julia Joy." She has worked hard and did well in school. Best of all, she was very involved in service. Last year she was the director of the "Adopt a Grandparent" organization. This past semester she served as Director over all the Service organizations.

Mom, Julia & Dad after graduation at BYU-I.

I'm sure the greatest blessing while attending BYU-I was meeting and falling in love with Austin Doutre from Puyallup, WA.

The Convocation was held in the Convention Center. We happened to be on an aisle row and by chance Julia was close to the beginning of the graduates to march in during the Processional and she came right by us. That was so fun to see her and for her to see where we were seating. We watched her to her seat and she sat right on the first row in front of the podium.

Rosemary M. Wixom, the General Primary Pres. gave the Address to the graduates. Pres. Clark had us give a moment of silence in remembrance of the tragic deaths of 20 children and 8 adults in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, CT, that morning. 

This picture was taken at the Hinckley Chapel for the Convocation of the Human Development Dept. where Julia received her diploma. We were privileged to have Pres. Kim B. Clark there along with Rosemary M. Wixom both as speakers.

We are so proud of our graduate!

Emily rode with Crismon & Danielle from Provo and arrived in time for the graduation. We drove from Gresham on Thursday as far as Twin Falls. Crismon met some customers we had in Malad Friday morning, then we drove on to Rexburg early that afternoon. Hyrum & Sundee were so generous to open their home to our family. We visited with them briefly before the ceremonies that evening. Julia & Emily and Crismon & Danielle stayed there that night and we stayed in Idaho Falls.

We felt blessed to run into Jarom Rial, a friend from Gresham, who could take some of Julia's boxes home with him. That was a huge help as we were both loaded down completely. Dad also had a chance to connect with Ron & Kay Butterfield, Reliv customers, and friends from Ajo. They joined us for dinner. We were pretty rushed with getting Julia moved out of her apt. We enjoyed going on campus and meeting her boss, Gloria Bradshaw in the Religion Dept. She spoke so highly of Julia and expressed how she didn't know what they were going to do without her. It was a momentous day for us!

November Elections

Like everyone, we were wrapped up in the Presidential Election. We were hoping and praying that Mitt Romney would win over Barack Obama, but the results came in fairly quickly that it wasn't going to be. I was stunned, as many others were. Our country needed the skills of Mitt to turn our economy around, as well as many other reasons. What a unique privilege it would be to have a Mormon in the White House with such high moral values. The day seemed to drag on. I finally went on a walk, and then began racking leaves to keep my mind distracted.

We had been campaign team leaders for Scott Hansen's State Senate campaign. We joined friends and other fellow campaign leaders for the results at Heidi's Restaurant in downtown Gresham that evening.

Crismon, Rich & Nancy Monnie watch election results come in. 

Cathy was an incredible Volunteer Coordinator. Scott & Cathy gave this campaign their 100% effort. He was fighting an unbeatable battle with a very liberal incumbant. It's a sad situation to see some of the corruption involved in various government levels. We needed a man with such caliber as Scott, but it was a very disappointing loss. Someone who has been involved in politics for years said he had never seen such an organized campaign as Scott's run for Senate. Hundreds of volunteers knocked on every door in the district, as did Scott. Dad Crismon & Vivi spent one Saturday morning in that campaign and I joined others in doing telephone campaigning several nights.

Cathy & Scott Hansen (Janelle's Mom)

Wedding Day for Sam & Carrie Caudle

We've had many choice young adults marry out of the Young Adult ward, but our hearts are especially wrapped around Sam Caudle & Carrie Johnson. She joined the church a little over a year ago. Sam was instrumental in helping her understand the Book of Mormon. Sam is Brett's cousin. The love between Sam and Carrie grew over the months and they were married November 10th in the Portland Temple. She spoke in our Stake Conference the week before their marriage. You can read more about it here. Crismon performed the Ring Ceremony later that day. He always does it with such love and explains Heavenly Father's plan so beautifully. I know he soothes many hearts of those who couldn't be in the temple. Unfortunately, her parents who had disowned her because she joined the church, didn't come to the Ring Ceremony. But, gratefully, a few aunts and uncles supported her in attendance.

Brett & Vivi and family were there. We love seeing our grandchildren every chance we get.

Daisy & Clark with Grandpa & Grandma Lewis