Fun With Friends

It's always fun to have friends come and visit us while we're here on our mission. I just thought it would be fun to do a blog on some of those who we have been able to spend time with. When we were up in Park City Sharee and Ed Peterson and their kids came up and we spent a lot of the week with them. Sharee was a missionary in Chico in our ward and we became wonderful friends. We just saw her last Friday when she came to Salt Lake City to attend the temple sealing of Sister Rushton (Hollie Ziegler now) who was her companion when she was in our ward. We were able to go and see her there too alsong with Sister Dawn who was also serving in Chico. What a great reunion. I don't have those pictures yet so I'll have to add it later.

Don and Sue came up and we had a great 3 days together (when we were not working on the square). It was so much fun being together. I can hardly wait for them to come up again.

Diane and Wally Sonntag came and saw us several times. One time was when we were in Park City. We always had so much fun with them. They own a condo in Holiday and have children living in the area so they come out often. We convinced them that Temple Square is a perfect place to serve a mission so they sent in their paper and are now serving here with us. It is so wonderful seeing them on a consistent basis.

Corine and Howard Hurst were already serving a mission here on Temple Square when we arrived. We've always had a special place in our hearts for Patriarch Hurst because he gave 4 of our 5 children their patriarchal blessings. He is so funny and everyone here loves them both so much. They will be leaving this Wednesday after faithfully serving their mission for the last 18 months. Here is a picture of the "Paradise three-some" taken right after Sacrament meeting in the Joseph Smith Building on the second floor outside our chapel. We will miss them so much!

Doug and Sandi Anderson have come out to see us also. What great friends they are! I miss our walks and talks together and all the fun times we've had in Paradise. They are some of the busiest parents I've ever seen as far as constantly traveling to see one child or another. Their children live all over the US and it was great for them to take time to come and see us. I hope they will do it again.

We also had a fun visit from the Mains. They wanted to come out and see all the Christmas lights on Temple Square and the programs that were going on so they called to see if we had room for them. We said "OF COURSE!" It was great fun having them here. Unfortunately I came down with the flu and was in bed for part of the time so I can't say that I was the best of hosts. They were so gracious and understood completely. We'd love to see them again.

Of course our kids, Keith and Lorene Tovey, had to come out here to see "Mom and Dad". They didn't stay as long as we'd like but we had to share them with some of their biological family too. We always laugh a lot when we're together so it was so much fun having them here.

Diane Westmoreland and her friend came and stayed with us for a few days. They wanted to spend a lot of time at the geneological library. We all attended the Pioneer Day parade together and had great seats to see it. It was very hot outside but we still had a great time.

Joe and Kleina Montgomery have stopped by to see us several times. A couple of weeks ago they came by after spend the day at the history library and we went to dinner at the Lyon House Restaurant. We have many years of memories to talk over. It's great having them live here in Utah so we can see them often. The other day the Storms, Eric, Michelle and daughters came by and saw us. We didn't know they were coming so we didn't have a camera to take a picture of them but it was so fun to have them surprise us and stop by. We've also seen the Embletons, Ogdens, Marina Dobbs Shepherd, Denise Peguese, Donovan Platt, The Rich family, Jennifer Hepworth and some of her children, Dan and Sally Penman and Dan Boone and others. We hope that all of you, as our friends, will feel welcome and wanted at any time. Hint, Hint!!!