L. C. Gabrielsen Sr. Family Reunion, 2015

Bless my Aunt Nedra!

She is my dad's sister, and many years ago, she decided it was important for the Lyman C. Gabrielsen, Sr., (my dad's dad) offspring, who have become more and more spread out across the country, to get together 

every two years so they could know each other.

Here is our family at the very first reunion at Nedra and Ray's in Oakley, Idaho in the 1980's.

Beautiful Nedra!

Now, out of my dad, his two brothers, sister and their spouses, 

I have just three aunts left:

Aunt Nedra,  Aunt Grace (Married to my dad's brother, Al)

and Aunt Gary (married to my dad's brother Ron).

Two years ago, when Uncle Al and Aunt Grace's family hosted the reunion, Uncle Ron and Aunt Gary's family volunteered to host in June of 2015.

We were invited to their son, David and his wife, Loriann's, lovely home in Draper, Utah.

That is David in the orange shirt with his mom.

Loriann was in a horrible boating accident just eight months ago. 

The blade to a motor boat cut her head, 

and she has had brain surgery and her femur was badly broken, but her recovery has been miraculous!

With each other, we shared similar thoughts and feelings 

about our life-changing experiences as we were recovering.

We each felt the Lord guiding us through each day, and we neither one felt any bitterness 

toward the one who had injured us.

We are both just so very grateful to still be here to watch our families grow.

This is my cousin, Ron and Gary's oldest son, Joe.

Joe's wife Laurie, is a delight! She is sitting by her son and holding her grandson.

Their backyard was beautiful and it was wonderful to get acquainted and reacquainted with new generations.

All of my siblings and their spouses were able to attend:

Patty and Hal, John and Cindy, Kay and Ken and Joan and Tom.

Roger and I were so tickled to have three of our five kids and several of their kids there:

Rick, Jodie, Sadie, Katie Abby and Blake; Stacy, Sydney, Londyn, Maddy, Luke and Max; Mindy, Jack, Charlie and Fiona. For various reasons, the others couldn't make it and we missed them!

Stacy, Maddy, Mindy holding Fi, Joan and me

Rick Blake and Luke

Cindy and Jodie

John with his cute grandsons 

Cousins Fi, Sadie and Syd

Cousins Katie and Londyn

Add in Charlie

Jack, Max and Luke

There were fun things for the kids to do.

Aunt Grace had a knee replaced not quite two weeks ago!

She just celebrated her 85th birthday, and she is amazing!

This is her oldest son, Dr. Skip. 

He will always have a special place in my heart for his care when Mindy, 

then 8 years old, had a serious health problem.

We always enjoy catching up with each other - 

he's a special guy!

 And I love his wife, Karleen.

When we lived in Ogden, we were in a book club together.

Nedra's oldest son, Scott, is on the left and he is the Speaker of the House for the State of Idaho.

Evan is Grace's son, and he and his wife, Teresa, have both done great work in life - 

Evan is an engineer and Teresa is a professor at BYU and has initiated new programs to aid autism.

 Each family was asked to give updates on their family members.

Nedra's warm and charismatic son, Eric, is from Oakley.

Nedra's darling daughter, Leslie (in the striped shirt), with her husband, Will, and some of their kids

Sharing a story with Cousin Joe

There are so many good things that came from this fun reunion. 

I loved catching up with my aunts and cousins and meeting some of their kids and grandkids.

And I loved for our kids and grandkids who could be there, to get acquainted with some of the loved and important-to-me people in my family history. 

I have always been so proud to be a Gabrielsen.

I hope this tradition will carry on for generations to come!

My Special Guy

This is the man I married 48 years ago in December.

He is the father of our five kids,

 and 25 grandkids call him Grandpa.

I honor him as my husband and as a dad 

and I shared some thoughts 
and some Daddy pics of him on a past Father's Day click  here.

Friday, we began a small celebration of this Father's Day 
by going to Vegas for a one-to-one on our Mac.

It was Restaurant Week and we had a three-course lunch at Joe's Stone Crab - delicious!

We shopped and found some shirts for Roger on a great sale at Under Armor and some things 

for me to take on our vacation in August.

Sunday, our church meetings were extra-special with a visiting daughter sharing experiences 

and spiritual thoughts about her father, an 87 year old stake patriarch in our branch.

After we returned home and changed clothes, Roger grilled steaks - I know it was Father's Day, 

but he is our Master Chef on the grill! 

I made a corn, onion and sweet pepper dish, mashed potatoes and sweet pickled cucumbers and onions 

to go with our steaks.

And what could be better than Croshaw's lemon pie with sour cream topping?

With phone calls from all of his kids throughout the day and night, 

this was a very happy father!

Samuel Gabe - "Sosa" - Receives the Priesthood

We love an excuse to visit Missy's family in Boise!

Sam turned twelve years old on June 12, same birthday as my sister, Joan. 

And, of course, that special birthday meant that Sam could choose to become ordained 

and become a deacon in the priesthood.

He was excited!

We made it a two-day trip to Boise, stopping on Thursday night to stay with Mindy's family.

She and Jeff prepared a delicious marinated steak dinner with grilled veggies and pineapple 

and creamed cauliflower. So good!

After dinner, we hurried to the baseball diamond to watch Jack play. 

Jeff is the coach, and Jack got some great hits. 

He's going to be a good little player. 

After a sudden cloud burst, everyone scattered, then they called the kids back to finish the game.

The bleachers were wet, and Jack's foot slipped when he jumped off, and he broke his arm.

Luckily, his Grandpa Brent checked it out first, put it in a splint, then later Jack got it cast, Ninja Turtle-style!

Next morning, we drove to Boise and celebrated Sam's birthday.

Each of the kids performed a talent for us on piano, guitar, singing, jumping on the tramp and doing gymnastics. 

We all shared one thing we like about Sam, and he was beaming!

Jedd told him he could choose wherever he wanted to go out for dinner, and he picked Chick Fil-A!

He loves that chicken sandwich!

We got to the Boise Farmer's Market early.

We had some tasty samples of unique food and the yummiest thing was the little mini fried-to-order doughnuts rolled in cinnamon sugar and dipped in maple icing. Yum!

We returned home to fix Cuban paninis and Miss Claire sat up to the table just as big as anybody!

Long story short, but after plans changed a couple times as to when we could get together, 

my high school friend, Dana, and I were able to have a wonderful chat. 

After her husband died about three years ago, she sold the farm in Parma and found a charming home  

in a Victorian-style neighborhood in Nampa.

It was so fun to catch up with her and Roger is such a good sport to go with me for our visit.

That evening, Jedd and Missy treated Roger and I 

to a delicious dinner at Gramercy Park Grill (wish we had taken a pic),

then we returned to their home to watch McFarland with the kids.

What a great message that movie has!

We all enjoyed it.

Their church block starts at 1 pm, so Missy fixed a pancake breakfast, then we got ready.

Grandma got a quick pic with this little pixie.

In Sacrament meeting, Sam recited the 13th Article of Faith and told an experience he had working on the computer in Family Search, which the bishop had heard about and asked him to share.

He was so articulate and we are so proud of him.

When we returned home, we took pics.

 Here are Grandpa Roger, Dad Jedd, Grandpa Wendell and our newest deacon.

Doesn't Sam look handsome in his new suit?

Also, Jared was advanced to a teacher.

What a great kid he is and he has set such a fine example for his brother.

We enjoyed a delicious meal of Sam's favorites - appetizers . . . 

. . . barbecued spareribs . . .

. . . corn on the cob, water melon, pineapple and Jedd's roasted, herbed potatoes. 

And, not pictured, we had Sam's very favorite, cheesecake with fresh strawberries.

The other Grandma Pam helped Anders with his ribs.

Having to be in Ogden the next morning, we left just after 6 pm 

and Missy rode with us and slept on Grandma's couch Sunday night.

She had a photo shoot with the other two founders of HowDoesShe in SLC at 9 am, 

then she caught a flight back to Boise at noon.

I had a hair appointment with Jessica, and Roger, Chyrrl and Grandma met with her tax CPA at 11.

Grandma took us to lunch at one of her favorite places, Chuck O'Rama. 

The one in Ogden really does have good food, and it's a steal - especially for seniors!

We stopped at Mindy's briefly, then drove home to St. George.

Another great road trip to visit our kids is in the books!