Fairy Tale Up North

What a thrill to "move freely about the cabin" after sequester-ment!

We could not be more pleased that our oldest grandchild, Josh Stratford, married beautiful and charming Jaylene in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and most fitting for this Fairy Tale, their wedding luncheon and reception were in a castle in Lindon. 

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

 Jaylene is the youngest of 12 children and she had a dozen flower girl nieces and 14 bridesmaids.

This Mom loves and adores this wonderful son!

The radiantly-happy couple! 

 

The Olsens

The happy moms and dads

Rick's family minus Sister Katie Stratford, who is serving a Church mission in NYC. This is her second sibling wedding to miss! We iChated with her (she was dressed in her bridesmaid dress) and she was so upbeat and cheerful - what a doll!

 

What Fairy Tale is complete without a castle?

Head Table

Jaylene's sisters and sister-in-laws sang "Sisters" to words about Jaylene and Josh, then wrapped their boas around Josh's neck!

Josh and Jaylene were so excited that Roger's sisters brought Grandma Lois to the reception! 

 

I had a wonderful surprise at the wedding! This gal in the pic, Dixie (Brighton) Conger, was waiting for the bride and groom to come out of the temple that morning because her daughter is married to Jaylene's brother. Dixie is an Aggie KD sorority sister and I campaigned for her, singing and playing my uke and going around to the dorms, when she ran for a USU office 57 years ago! Such a Smaaaal world!

Josh and Jaylene played a marvelous piano duet and Josh, who had never really danced and would probably do anything for Jaylene, learned a lovely waltz with his ballroom dancer bride. Her Dad had been a Ballroom Dancer at BYU. It just might make you feel happy and young again to watch this!

After many attempts, we were unable to attach the video of their beautiful dance, so it can be viewed on my Facebook page, 

https://www.facebook.com/pamela.stratford.7/

 Pamela Gabrielsen Stratford

Scroll down to my post on Josh and Jaylene's wedding.

Off they went, down a sparkler-lit path of well-wishers to get in a horse-drawn carriage.

A fit ending to a Cinderella wedding!

Josh and Jaylene honeymooned in Maui and sent this text pic.

Clark and Christine Gilbert (Clark is our daughter-in-law, Emily's, brother) came over to Rick and Jodie's one evening to share their experiences when Clark was called to be a General Authority Seventy and Commissioner of Education in the Church. These two, as young couples, have been good friends ever since they lived in the same apartment complex in Palo Alto when Rick did an internship and Clark was teaching at Stanford.

We stayed to celebrate Mother's Day at Rick and Jodie's and Roger always takes pics of me to send to the kids.

Rick and Jodie invited her mom and dad, Kathy and Bart, for a Mother's Day feast of grilled flank steak, twice-baked potatoes, asparagus, corn on the cob and homemade rolls. Oh, and a delicious fresh strawberry trifle. And of course her famous fruit dip for the fresh fruit.

Rick and Jodie take Blakey on a Temple Walk almost every evening. We got to take him one evening and took some pics of this cute guy.

Blakey takes you for quite a thrill ride in his golf cart!

These two have a special connection!

I'll post more of this Fairy Tale trip up north next!

More Hugs - in Mesa

Mesa was our next break-out stop.

With two of our five kids living there, we got lots of big, loving hugs and they felt soooo good!

We drove to Mesa and spent a week being spoiled by our loving daughter, Stacy. Tom, an anesthesiologist, had flown to Ecuador earlier the day we arrived as part of a humanitarian surgery orthopedic team to correct birth and injury defects in children. Stacy was glad for the company while he was gone and she and her family always make us feel so welcome and loved.

Max and Luke are great huggers!

Maddy will be a high school senior next year and has grown to be so tall and beautiful!

Hugs after the twins' ball game

 

Hugs after Maddy's tennis matches

We arrived Saturday evening and soon left for a new experience - Tom's brother, Steve, and his family were visiting Mesa (they live in Palo Alto but have a home in Scottsdale) and he, along with his brothers' families, treated us to the new Disney movie, Raya and the Last Dragon, in a theater where you order, then enjoy dinner.  With all of the cousins, including Stacy's, Jimbo's and his kids and all of the adults, with social distancing, we nearly had the theater to ourselves!

Sunday morning we went to church in Stacy's ward and Maddy and I wore twinner outfits! After Sacrament meeting, we attended Priesthood/Relief Society in person for the first time and RS was a super special meeting!

That evening, Stacy hosted a dinner, inviting Ryan, Emily and family, Steve and Barb's family, Jimbo and Sham's family and Grit and Sherry. Roger grilled sallmon and marinated chicken tenders. We fixed chicken nuggets for the littles, and baked dilled carrots, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a giant salad with fresh citrus dressing. Stacy made homemade rolls and Sham brought her famous layered jello and brownies, which we had with lots of choices of ice cream.

Sham, Steve, Wesley (Jimbo and Sham's), Jackson (Steve and Barb's), Max, Cy (Jimbo and Sham's) and Lyla ( Steve and Barb's)

Jimbo, Sham, Wesley, Jackson and Max

It was wonderful to get to be with our wonderful son, Ryan, his dear wife, Emily, and Ben, Becca and Sarah!

Ben and me with cute Sherry

The cousins all have such fun together!

Grit and Sherry, Tom's parents

Emily, Sarah and Ryan

We were so blessed to stay in the Young's beautiful home for a week!

Roger and I plan to replant some of our front yard, so Stacy gave us lots of ideas. Her front and back are so lovely and inviting!

We love the look of this triple "tree"!

Stacy took us to some plant nurseries for ideas.

Stacy, as well as Ryan and Emily, treated us throughout the week with delicious food. Phoenix area has so many great places to eat!

We got to watch Max and Luke play baseball and they are both amazing players! Their team is so far undefeated and they are a big reason why!

Maddy, who is in the off-season of cheerleading, plays on her high school tennis team, who are also undefeated and we watched her serve several hot aces! She is a great little player!

A real highlight was seeing and hearing a concert of, Lamb of God, in a movie theater. What a magnificent work by Rob Gardner on the life of Christ! The soloists, the instrumentalists, the glorious music were a genuine thrill! And, as we were standing outside our theater in the complex after our viewing, marveling at what we had just experienced, a kindly gentleman approached us and introduced himself as the composer's father, and soon after, his mother joined us as we had a wonderful conversation about their son and how it had all come about.

What a happy, relaxing time we spent with our loved ones! It was so soul satisfying to catch up with them in person! There's nothing like being physically together!

The night before we left for Mesa, we enjoyed a delicious beef stroganoff dinner at Anne and Jay's and I made a Granny Cake.

It felt so good to be able to socialize with our friends again!

After dinner we went back in time at the Carpenter music concert at Tuacahn. I have never before heard anyone sound like Karen Carpenter - her voice is so luscious on her low notes and so unique - but now I have! Especially in her low register, she sounded just like her!

 ,

Getting back to real life brings such joy! 

 

UNSEQUESTERED!

Lois, Roger and I have had our two vaccines, waited out the time and 

Up North we headed!

Couldn't wait to spend time with Lois, and, 

Big News!

Guess where she wanted to go for lunch!

Two days in a row!

After staying away a year, she was ready to go out to eat! She said, the next morning after our first lunch,
"I thought about it in bed last night and how good it tasted. Let's go again today!" That made Roger and I so happy! She's had her ups and downs this past year and we are thrilled that she's on a big up.

Lexie, Scott and Sharie's daughter, a cosmetologist, comes to her home to do her hair.

We stayed with Rick and Jodie, then drove to Lois's each morning and Sunday, their family drove out to see her. 

Blakey loves Grandma Great!

We love spending time with this amazing and beloved lady!

While Ryan's family was in town for their spring break, Mindy and Jeff invited their family, Rick's family and us over for dinner and to spend the evening. Most had not seen their newly-renovated home, which is so very lovely!

The guys (Sadie's Joe, Jake, Josh and Pete, among others) played bball in their sport court - Jeff LOVES the Jazz.

Mindy and Jeff's cool living room

The kids are growing up - Sadie, Ben, Abby and Josh's fiancee, Jaylene.

Jodie, Sadie and Jaylene in Mindy's spacious kitchen

A few days later, we headed further up the road to Boise to stay with Missy, Jedd and kids. How wonderful to be with them again and able to give them hugs and kisses! They always make us feel so welcome and loved!

Claire loves their stray cat that came to their home on a Halloween!

This little Claire is after our own hearts!

    The kids woke on St. Patrick's Day to green water in the toilets, tipped over furniture, green milk, 

treats and their favorite cereal, Lucky Charms!

We had a Luck O' the Irish dinner of corned beef, cabbage and carrots, green mashed potatoes, green jello, 

Missy's grape juice and mint and chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

We headed back to Rick's for Jaylene's shower on Saturday. Kathy, Jodie's mom, took lots of pics that Jodie will send me as soon as she gets them and I will then insert them. It was such a lovely gathering of Jodie's sisters and sisters-in-law, Mindy, and Chyrrl and Susie brought Grandma Lois!

Jaylene is an absolute doll! We all love her! She is absolutely radiant when she talks and she makes our treasured Josh so happy, which makes us so very happy!

They made an engagement video together that gives you a peek into their happiness together.

To view Josh's wedding video:

Go to youtube and in the search bar, type - Josh and Jayleen April 5, 2021 and watch the video.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Blakey!

 We were so excited to be un-sequestered and able to visit loved ones again! We're off to Mesa on Saturday!