Temple Trip (to one temple!)

Before Bryan left on his mission four years ago

he and I took a Temple Trip to Chicago, Nauvoo & St. Louis.
Brandon desired to do the same thing,
but didn't care which temples we went to.
We decided because of work schedules and time constraints
to do a Utah Temple Trip.
The original plan was to go to Vernal, Manti and Oquirrh Mountain.
We arrived in Vernal late Monday night only to
discover the next morning that the temple was closed for cleaning.
We did get a picture of Brandon in front of
the dinosaurs before leaving Vernal.
After a 3-1/2 hour drive to Manti
we finally were able to do some temple work.
When we finished in the early evening,
we decided to cut our trip short and head home.
One temple is better than none!

This Summer Brandon has been to several temples
Washington, D.C. with Ben & Alyse
Rexburg and Mt. Timpanogos with Elizabeth
and Salt Lake, Jordan River and Draper with his friends
(This is Brandon, Dylan Payne and Andrew Abeyta
who are both in the MTC now)

White Coat Ceremony

I have been slow in blogging because life got in the way!
A couple of weeks ago Harold and I went to
Richmond Virginia for Ben's White Coat Ceremony
at the Medical School at Virginia Commonwealth UniversityThis the Egyptian Building where the Parents Meeting
was held and Ben has his classes.The White Coat Ceremony was great.
Each medical student walked in carrying their white coat.
As each student's name was announced
one of the medical staff placed the white coat on.
Ben had Dr. DiGiovanni who had interviewed him
help him with his white coat.
The Medical Students then took the Hippocratic Oath.

It was an amazing opportunity to be there and

we are so pleased with Ben & Alyse and the things they are doing.

Fall Sports

With school starting that also means

SPORTS!
I love watching my children play
even if it means driving them to practice after practice!
Gwen is playing Soccer
and so is Blake.
Brad is playing football for Murray.
Brad is one of the captains for the team.
They won their first game against Ogden.
Friday they played in at the Rio Tinto Stadium, but sadly lost.

But there are many more games to come this fall!

And They're Off!

Twenty-eight years ago when Harold and I
had been married almost a year

we loaded up a U-Haul Truck and
headed for the Pacific Northwest.
We had both lived in Salt Lake or Provo
for the majority of our lives
and this was a very new experience for both us.
We arrived in Seattle, Washington after 2 days on the road
to an apartment that we had arranged for
through a friend of Harold's.
This was the beginning of 4 wonderful,
yet challenging years of dental school.

We knew nothing about Seattle or
the University of Washington before we arrived.
(In fact we had been planning on going to Chicago
just a few weeks before.)
We were dirt poor and at times
we couldn't even afford to heat our apartment,
but just wore several sets of sweats
when it was 50-60 degrees inside it!
I got a job in the Nursery at Swedish Hospital (and later in L&D),

we started managing the Fifteen-O-Fifteen Apartments
and Harold attended Dental School at the U of W.

It was challenging, but it was a wonderful time in our lives.
We made many wonderful friends that we still stay in contact with.
We were very active in our LDS Ward and learned how to serve.
We were "damp" all the time
because it seems to rain everyday in Seattle,

but most of all we became close as a couple.I have been thinking a lot about those times in our lives

because Ben and Alyse left this week for
Medical School in Richmond, Virginia.

They took Brandon with them for their
3 long days of driving across the country.Ben drove his Honda . . .While Brandon rode with Alyse in her car.And off they went!

I hope that they will enjoy their "med school" experience
as much as Harold and I enjoyed our "dental school" experience.
We will miss not having them close,

but I am a little jealous of the stage in life they are just beginning!And of course I made the kids pose for one last picture

since they will not all be together until at least 2012!

Summer Fun

I keep thinking that life is going to settle down and won't be so busy.

But with a big family I don't think that is going to happen.
Our family has been having a wonderful summer.
Some of the recent highlights include:Bryan bought a "new to him" car -- a Mazda 3
Brandon returned from the Hill Cumorah Pageantand we celebrated his Birthday!Blake joined all the College Students
for the 24th of July Rodeo in Spanish Fork
Three Lily-white boys went to the Water Park
for the 24th of July along with all the girl cousins!We had a Allen G. Brockbank Family Reunion at our house.
Harold's parents and Uncle Brent and Aunt Anne were there
along with many of Harold's siblings and cousins and their children.My children were so tired of having their picture taken
that they just kept up what they all love to do best --
texting!!!
And Gwen decorated a cake at Activity Days.
Of course it had her favorite theme --- BYU!

This summer is going by much too quickly
and it won't be long until we will be back into a routine.

I am going to miss the lazy, yet busy days of summer!

The Healing Spell

I just finished reading "The Healing Spell"
by Kimberley Griffiths Little!

Kim was my roommate at BYU and
now lives with her family in New Mexico.
This is her 4th book and I think it is her best so far!Kim had a book signing here in Salt Lake nearly 2 weeks ago
and I took Gwen and her friend Maddie.
For those of you who have daughters age 11 or above
this is a great book about love, life and forgiveness.
(Boys would enjoy it too!)

Patriots and Pioneers

The Fourth of July is one of our Favorite Holidays.

Since we moved to Murray many years ago,
we have enjoyed going to the Parade which goes down State St.
For the past several years, the boys have slept in Harold's office
and gotten up very early to save a spot on the street.

This year instead we went to the Sunrise Service
where Blake was part of a tribute to Murray Veterans.
He highlighted a veteran from World War II.
He did a great job, but he almost got upstaged by . . .

the Clogging Grandmas!We then headed off to the Parade!
We were not in our usual spot by Harold's Office,
but down by the high school where Brad and his friends
had slept out and saved us a spot.We did all the usual fun . . . We waved flags . . .Yelled out people we knew in the Parade . . .
(these are the tellers from our bank!)
and caught lots of candy!

Most years one of our children have been in the Parade.
This year it was Brad with the Football Team.
We also enjoyed the fireworks at Murray Park.
Our celebration continued the next night with
the Prince Family for more food and fireworks!
Celebrating the great freedoms we enjoy
does not get any better than this!It was just a couple of days later that Brad and Blake left for Trek
starting our celebration to honor our Pioneer Heritage.