Although Michael wasn't here on "the day" he came the weekend before to attend the wedding of his good friend Derek Smith who lost his wife a few years ago in an ATV accident leaving him a single father of 4. Michael brought along his sidekicks Lilly and Laura. Jessica and the older kids stayed home because she had a concert to perform. It was a quick trip but such a pleasure to have our son and grandkids in our home.
Kelly, Gary, his son Brian and wife Miriah and their two kids arrived on Wednesday evening. Kelly came completely prepared to take over cooking this biggest dinner of the year. Selwin and Brianna, Simeon and Steph joined us for lots of good food, laughter and high-volume chit chat. It was a lovely day.
On Friday, in an effort to keep people happy and energized, I loaded them in the car and took them on a "mystery trip" to the Family Search library. At the front door, Gary told me he knew very little about most of his family ... didn't even know the name of one of his grandmothers. When he repeated this to the missionary at the front desk, the man suggested he set up an account to see if there was any information.
A little aside ... Gary's grandmother, I am told, crossed the plains with Brigham Young and the early church pioneers to Salt Lake City - the second largest "exodus" in world history. Soon after they arrived, his grandmother - as the story goes - got her feelings hurt and as such left the Church and took all of her posterity with her ... or at least Gary thought!
Gary set up an account and then we left for other destinations. When we got home at about 5 p.m. Gary queried whether he could access his Family Search account from his own computer or had to go back to the library to do so.
Then the miracle occurred. Gary got back into his account and began putting in names he knew which resulted in generations of his family popping up! By 11:30 p.m., only Gary and I were still awake ... and he had traced 5 family lines back to the mid-1500's. It was an astounding experience for both of us.
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