Our August - 2 Weddings, 2 Reunions, 1 80th B-day, 2 Kid and Grandkid Visits and 1 Funeral

Grandson Jared and McKenna Get Married

On the morning right before the marriage sealing in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, these big smiles say it all. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jared Smith

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger are so happy that Jared found this special girl.

McKenna and Jared's grandparents

Some of Jared's family who were able to go to the temple ceremony with them

The wedding luncheon was held at Archibald's at Gardner Village.

We took a few pics before everyone arrived, then forgot to get pics when everyone got there! We had a delicious Italian buffet.

I love this pic of Missy and Jedd!

Their reception that evening was held at her grandparents' beautiful backyard. There were large photos on easels scattered about.

Such a lovely setting for a bride and groom!

Mother/Son dance

Sister, Mindy, with her two daughters, Adelaide and Fiona

My dear friend, Karleen, came early and Jedd took good care of her before we arrived.

These 3 were best friends with Missy in high school, Janica Moran, Emily Crabb and Emily Maylin, and Missy was so thrilled to see them! Roger and I also enjoyed catching up with these cute girls, all grown up!

The bride and groom made their get-away from up top of the yard, down the steps that were lined with guests throwing rose petals as Jared and McKenna passed by.

Cousins Maddy and Ben and Maddy's boyfriend, Drew, holding rose petals

Roger Stratford Family Reunion, 2024

Ryan and Emily did a great job planning our family reunion this year, and because we were already gathered together for Jared and Kenna's wedding, we held our reunion the day after at the best. venue. ever. - Rick and Jodie's pool and pickle ball court, where we held our last one. It is the perfect place for a family reunion - THANK YOU RICK AND JODIE!

Group hug greetings with cousins . . .

. . . and adults!

Blake was over the moon with all of the cousin and aunt and uncle love he received that day!

We played some fun games - brain teasers and relay races. We took several shots of this "rock, paper, scissors" relay that everyone, kids and adults, really got into!

Here are the winners collecting their prizes!

I can't describe how good Grandma and Grandpa felt to have most of our family all gathered together and having fun with each other!

Each of our 5 kids came with pics and narration of what their families have been up to the past year, and we watched them on Rick's giant tv screen in the pool house. 

I love it how the cousins just pick up where they left off from the last time they were together!

After lunch, the kids had fun in the pool and hot tub . . .

Loving mothers/daughters

. . . and a pickle ball tournament was played.

Roger was partnered with cute granddaughter, Katie, and they won some games together.

Pickle ball champs, Sadie and Joe

We were able to get a pic of us with our 5 kids. We usually forget to get a pic when we're all together, which isn't very often these days.

Cafe Rio's fixin's were delicious for dinner.

Gathering up of their things before they say good-bye . . . 

. . . we all agreed it was a great reunion and we all love to be together!

On August 12, Missy and Ellie came for a couple of days to St. George to get Ellie moved in to her room at Utah Tech University. I fixed them a new French dip recipe I wanted to try out. Good! 

Ellie's new university home 

Jedd, Missy and family got very sad news that Jedd's only sibling, Dustin, passed away. He was only 52 and he left a sweet family - wife, Christine, and 4 great kids, 3 of them studying at universities. We were all shocked and so saddened by this talented, smart and funny guy's death.

Stacy flew in from Arizona for the funeral, so Missy had her sisters (also Rick and Jodie and Roger and I) to grieve with her. It was such a beautiful funeral with almost 400 in attendance. Almost all of Malad was there!

Back home, we had Ellie over for Sunday dinner before she started her first classes the next day.

Gabrielsen Siblings Family Reunion

Patty planned a wonderful get-together for her siblings and their spouses focusing on our heritage, and we looked forward to it all summer. It kicked off on Thursday, August 22, with a fabulous, from scratch menu of recipes from our Norwegian and Swedish grandmothers and great-grandmothers. What a Heritage Dinner it was!

Kay and Ken came a day early to help Patty prepare the food. Patty made what she could even before that. She is such a wonderful chef, always tasting until she gets her food just right. Roger is the master meat carver of the family and he was recruited to cut up the roast chicken and the next night's ham.

Patty set such a lovely table with her beautiful Scandinavian candlesticks, dishware and her Norwegian runner.

Patty made the dough and Joan rolled out these marvelous rolls flavored with cardamom and pearl sugar.

We had Swedish meatballs with mushroom gravy, boiled red potatoes, roast citrus chicken with lingonberry sauce, cucumbers and onions fixed 2 ways and garden tomatoes. . . and two yummy cakes for dessert - one soaked in fresh orange sauce and Grandma Irma's sponge cake.

And we had an amazing breakfast the next morning - l to r, blueberry crescent rolls, bacon, hash browns and a sausage and cheese breakfast casserole.  We had to keep up our strength for the busy day ahead! (wink wink)

The men (John and Ken aren't in the pic) golfed 18 holes at Elkridge and the women collated the books Patty created about our Heritage Tour last summer to Norway, Sweden and Denmark and the tour Patty, Hal, John, Cindy and Ami took 23 years previous to ours. 

Hard at work

The golfers didn't take any pics, but Roger took a great wildlife pic.

Cindy scoring the ham

The 2nd night we had another delicious dinner made in Patty's kitchen.

We all had so much fun chatting and catching up, with the a.c. on low, and the highlight of the evening was Tom telling his stories. At first, he said he couldn't because we weren't around a campfire in the dark, so we turned off the lights and off he went, thoroughly entertaining us with them. And even some of Roger's Wilson Boy stories were added in to the great evening.

8 o'clock sharp the next morning we were on the road to Logan, stopping at Cracker Barrel for a delicious breakfast. We met up at the Logan Cemetery at Mom and Dad's monument, placed flowers on their graves and spent sentimental time reminiscing about relatives who are buried in that beautiful cemetery, including both sets of grandparents and many forefathers and their progeny.

Kay and Ken's daughter, Shonna, and her family met us at the cemetery and took our pictures. Then, when we left on our way to the Wellsville cemetery, we all met at the Gossner Cheese Factory to buy cheese, frozen jam and Bluebird chocolates and we grabbed a pic with this very special niece and her cute son. 

Our mother's mother, Libby's, mother, Elizabeth Fox, died when she delivered our grandma, and her barren great-aunt, Sarah Park, and her husband, James, raised her. She always spoke so highly of them and she paid for this monument years later.

Always a treat looked forward to, we stopped at Maddox Ranchhouse Restaurant in Brigham City for lunch/dinner for homemade rolls and cornbread sticks, halibut and country-fried steak. The highlight was the chocolate pie and fresh peach pie. We had to wait for over an hour in late afternoon, but it is great food. We all said goodbye there, then Joan, Tom, John and Cindy headed for Boise and Caldwell, and Kay and Ken headed to their daughter, Michelle's, home near SLC and we headed to stay at Rick and Jodie's in North Salt Lake. We've all loved to be together through the years, going on many trips together. What a fabulous reunion it was! Thank you, thank you, dear Patty, for making it happen!

So many unforgettable memories were made in each of these happenings, and we weren't through yet! A big birthday for Roger and another granddaughter wedding also happened in August.

Stay tuned!