Welcome Home, Kay and Ken!

My sister, Kay, and her husband, Ken, accepted a mission call to spend 18 months in Tsuroka, Japan,

 spreading goodness.

And that is exactly what they did, by visiting the less actives, teaching English classes, 

doing service at the community center once a week and many other acts of service. 

They befriended and loved the Japanese people. 

They testified of and lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

They spread goodness.

Sunday, June 25, they reported their mission in their St. George ward's Sacrament meeting.

Many relatives and loved ones from both of their families came to St. George to reunion with them and hear their messages in what was a truly inspiring meeting. 

All of my siblings but Patty, and her husband, Hal (whose grandson was having his "farewell" for his LDS mission 

at the same time), were able to come and they stayed with Roger and I, 

and they arrived Friday afternoon. 

My brother, John, and his wife, Cindy, came from Caldwell, Idaho, and my sister, Joan, and her husband, Tom, came from Boise, and their son, Taylor, and their daughter, Whitney, also came.

We had a houseful, but Gabrielsens love to get together!

Friday night, before Kay and Ken's kids and Ken's siblings arrived, we met for dinner at Pizza Factory.

Saturday morning, the girls and Taylor slept in and I fixed a leisurely breakfast of raspberry muffins, 

candy bacon and berries with yogurt and granola on top; 

 The men grabbed muffins and met up with Ken at Sunbrook Golf Course for a 6:20 am tee time. 

There's a major heat wave going on, with temps hovering around 110 degrees for several consecutive days, 

so the earlier on the golf course the better!

They golfed 18 and we cheered them on when they passed the hole behind our house. 

Right after they returned from the golf course, Tom, Taylor, Whitney and Ken headed to Kanarraville, 

where they went on a beautiful hike through a slot canyon.

I had roasted a turkey breast before they came, and so Joan, Cindy, Kay, John and I 

had turkey and Swiss bagel sandwiches and some brownie cake I had previously made.

We girls helped Kay make food for the dinner she and Ken hosted after the Sunday meetings 

and we caught up a little, hearing beautiful stories of some of their experiences in Japan.

That evening, Kay and Ken went to dinner with the Hintons and we had some tasty Mexican food at Don Pedro's.

Sunday morning, Roger had to be at a 6:30 am high council meeting, 
then he delivered a talk in a ward in our stake ( a high council assignment) at their 9 am meeting. 
We had hard-boiled eggs with a Bobby Flay recipe for a tasty sauce to put on them and cinnamon toast the Right Way ( my kids and grandkids know what that means!). 

As I said, Kay and Ken's talks were inspiring and heart-felt on Sunday 

and they fed over 60 people at their home afterwards with delicious salads, sandwiches and goodies.

We loved getting to see and catch up with their beautiful daughters and their cute families!

How wonderful it was to have them back home and have such a good excuse to come together!
We missed you, Patty and Hal!

I think we survived the heat in a grand way and are so grateful for this part of our precious family!

He's Home From Hong Kong!

After two years of diligent study, teaching in Mandarin, constant sweating in the heat and, most of all, 

loving the people by serving the Lord on an LDS mission to Hong Kong, 

Josh is home!

Roger and I drove up north the day before so we could be at the SLC airport when he arrived.

He was coming in at 1:23 pm,

 having a three-hour lay-over in Seattle.

But I get ahead of myself. 

While we were getting ready to go to the airport, we received the following text 

from our long-time friend, Jane Madsen: 

(Our friendship dates back to when we taught school and carpooled 

 to South Cache Junior High School every morning together. 

 After we have both lived other places until about the last fifteen years, we both now live in St. George.)

Guess who I met in the airport in Seattle.  I was at McDonald's and missionaries were there too - said they were returning from Hong Kong.  I looked at his name tag and asked if he was related to Pam and Roger .  Small world in the church.  I bet you are in Salt Lake to welcome him home.  We have been in Spokane with Amy's family to ride the Hiawatha bike trail - on our way to San Diego to high school graduation for Daniel's daughter.  Talk to you soon.

Isn't that cool?

It's finally time!

 I don't think I have ever seen each of the members of this cute family so excited!

And they weren't the only ones!

Roger took a panorama of everyone waiting at the bottom of the escalator 

for their returning missionaries to arrive.

There he is!

Mom went running into his arms!

Dad's turn!

Now Blakey!

 Hi, Bro!

These are happy tears!

Now it's Grandma Pam's turn. . . 

. . . and Grandpa Roger's!

Then we each took a turn for a pic with our handsome, happy to-be-home missionary.

Brother Blake

Sister Abby

Sister Katie

Sister Sadie, who will be leaving for her mission to Cambodia in August.

Mom Jodie

Dad Rick

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger

These missionaries also returned home from Hong Kong on the same flight.

They were so tickled to be together and you could tell how much they loved and respected each other.

Returning back on the walking sidewalk to get in the car.

In went Josh's luggage, the posters and the balloons.

What a happy crew!

Are you hungry? What would you like?

Evidently they didn't eat many sandwiches (Josh's favorite) in Hong Kong,

so we made a stop at Spanky's.

So good to be home!

Josh opened up his suitcase and showed his family a couple of ties with Chinese characters 

and a little battery fan. 

Those were his souvenirs. 

This kid is about the most unworldly kid I know. 

His souvenirs he keeps close to his heart 

and he has shared some of them in his emails every week -  

his experiences, his enlightenments about the scriptures and his love for the people.

Josh couldn't wait to get his fingers on the keyboard of their piano.

What a thrill to hear him play!

We also brought Blake's birthday present.

He loves books and his shirt says, "I dominate the field."

That evening, Bart and Kathie picked up Mandarin take-out on their way from Ogden, 

and three of Josh's returned missionary friends came over. 

Mindy, Jeff and family also came to see Josh, 

and the walls of their home rang with noisy happiness!

 We returned home Saturday afternoon, after stopping to shop in a few of our favorite up north places.

All of our family members who live up north had other plans for Father's Day - 

Rick and Jodie and family left for Hawaii Sunday morning 

to celebrate Jodie's parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary with all of the Nilsons, 

Lois was going to attend a farewell for a relative and Mindy and Jeff wouldn't be home,

so we celebrated Father's Day together in St. George.

After our block of what were very special meetings, we barbequed steak and marinated shrimp on the grill 

and had baked potato, asparagus and ice cream pie.

Our children were fortunate indeed to have this fine man as their father, and I thank Heavenly father every day that he picked me to help him raise a family.

This was a very, very special weekend!

Lind Family Stay-Over

St. George is located right on the main artery freeway to Las Vegas and southern California,

so Roger and I get stay-over visits when some of our traveling families pass through.

Mindy, Jeff and kids spent a week going to Disneyland, Universal Studios and the beach, 

stayed in our home on the way going while we were in Mesa, 

then stayed with us for a couple of nights on their way back home up north.

So fun to have the kids visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Charlie, Jack, Addie and Fiona

Roger grilled some salmon and we made roasted potatoes, corn and tossed green salad for dinner.

Miss Addie set our table so pretty!

I had made an ice cream pie a couple of weeks before that I had stored in my freezer 

for whatever company we had next. 

I had had extra whipping cream to use up, 

so I tried a new recipe to simulate those yummy drumstick cones. The crust is made out of sugar cones, 

then there is chocolate ganache spread on the crust, 

then the homemade vanilla bean ice cream, 

then a chocolate shell with nuts on top. It was a hit!

The kids swam both days they were here and Roger and I swam with them on Saturday.

We played Marco Polo for awhile and just played in the water.

Miss Fi is scared of the water right now, 

so she watched the fun, sitting on the highest step of the pool sometimes.

Mindy got pics of the kids making towers, and they actually made a four decker with Charlie on top, too, 

but she didn't get a pic of it.

Fiona and I sang along with lots of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and other Silly Songs on the iPad.

After we showered and blow-dried, we got a quick pic with the kids  

before they headed home late Saturday afternoon.

It was another fun time with our littlest grandkids!

We're glad I-15 passes through St. George and brings our kids and grandkids to us!