OREGON!!! WEDDING!!! FAMILY!!!

UPDATE First Great Granddaughter!!!

Monday started with a wonderful Mission Devotional by the International Zone. We actually had it in the JSMB instead of the COB auditorium. The problem we ran into, was all the badges were disabled so we couldn't get into the JSMB. They have started reconstruction, so they want to keep everyone out. We had to get the Security guys to open the doors for us. Anyway, one of the Elders that spoke is from Hong Kong. He shared several things going on with the Chinese research. He then showed a family Temple card that he took to the Temple a little while ago. He asked us to notice the date. He was born in 3030 BC. I can't even fathom that. All of the speakers were great. 

Once back at my cubicle I did some work on the Mission Leader Seminar as well as helping Sister Linford with a problem she was having with receipts. We left right after lunch as we had an in-home health appointment for our insurance company. The doctor was running a little late, so we ended up taking the rest of the afternoon off. There wasn't much going on so it was no big deal. That evening we had Family Home Evening. Elder Wilcox did the lesson that he presented in Elder's quorum a few weeks ago. He said it was much better at Family Home Evening because he had a lot ore participation. We had a wonderful discussion.

Tuesday started with our first in-person Zone Devotional in the COB auditorium. We decided we may do this at least once a quarter if not more often. President Jackson and his wife presented a great devotional. After the devotional I went to the Wellness Center. I studied scriptures, worked on the Zone quarterly history, prepared for our Team meeting, and had a short meeting with Matt. 
Tuesday started with our first in-person Zone Devotional in the COB auditorium. We decided we may do this at least once a quarter if not more often. President Jackson and his wife presented a great devotional. After the devotional I went to the Wellness Center. I studied scriptures, worked on the Zone quarterly history, prepared for our Team meeting, and had a short meeting with Matt. 

In the afternoon I worked on debugging the Receipts spreadsheet. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it except perhaps an error in the naming of it. I think it should be fine now. Then we had our team meeting. Silvia finally showed up to tell us what we were doing wrong with “training” our interpreters how to do their invoicing. Frankly we are not doing a single thing wrong. The system is the problem. I have brought it up for over two years now and they still insist the interpreters are not trained. It is complicated and even walking them through it step by step several times, some still just don’t get it. Apparently, Venky and Elder Linford are working with the interpreters now so, it is not my problem anymore. We came home early to pack for our trip tomorrow.

Wednesday started the day by getting up at 5:30 in the morning. We were on the road by 5:40. For the most part we had a very uneventful drive. We ate breakfast in Tremonton. We got a Dairy Queen blizzard around lunch time. We made good time until we got to Portland. Then it took almost two hours to finally make it to Canby. We had a nice visit before finally going to bed. 

Thursday, I got up early so I could watch the Zone Devotional since Sister Robison was supposed to do the presentation. However, she was not feeling well so Elder Johnson covered it. He had surgery on Monday to have 4 stints put in his heart. He looked much better then he has in a while. His presentation was about the Leadership Pattern course. For some reason, my microphone quit working. I could hear, just not talk. After the devotional I tried a Teams video call with Aaron and still couldn’t use my microphone. After that call, I went to the HP support app, and it fixed my microphone!!! I finished up my work with the Mission Leader Seminar. I don’t think I have any other work to follow up on. I did a few things for the Zone SharePoint site.

When that was done, we went out to Laila’s house so Steve could pick up his shield for Montana’s wedding. We had Elle with us. We stopped for lunch and then went to Deseret Book so Steve could get some new garments. Then we came back home. I sat outside with Elle while she played in the hot tub. Then we got ready for dinner.

Sassie, Paul, Carol and Erik all came over for dinner. We had a lovely evening eating outside and visiting with each other. Once everyone left, we did dishes, visited a bit more and then headed for bed.

Friday, I got up and did my scripture study first thing this morning. I played the Wii with Elle for a while before we headed back upstairs to work on a big puzzle. 

A little later, Sean took me to lunch with Paul and Jason. They meet for lunch every Friday for a HawkSoft business lunch. It was nice they let me tag along.

Once back home we spent the rest of the day working on the puzzle. We finally finished it just in time for dinner. At three thirty, Sean, MyLiege, and Elle went to pick up Anna and Alyx from the Trek. When they got back, MyLiege had to rush off to do wedding rehearsal pictures. The girls told us lots of things about trek. It was fun to see how much they were touched by their experiences.

The girls took showers and Sean picked up pizza. Then we had dinner. After dinner we watched the last of the Star Wars movies before finally heading for bed. 

Saturday was the BIG day for Montana and Lauren.  I got up and did my scripture study first thing in the morning. I did my nails a little later. We watched an afternoon movie called The Lorax and ate a famous grilled ham and cheese sandwich that Elle made. She is 9 years-old and made the perfect sandwich. Then we got ready for Montana’s wedding. We had to be there early for grandparent pictures, so we got there at 4:00. The wedding wasn’t until 7:00. They had a light dinner for us.

Around 6:30 more people started showing up for the ceremony. I was pleased that Season, Sara, and the boys came. Douhet, Kylee, and Alyson came. Laila and Tyus came. And of course, Sean and the girls came. MyLiege and Anna were taking all the wedding pictures, so they were already there.

The ceremony was somewhat Celtic in nature. It was very nice. Lauren’s wedding dress was gold and very regal looking. She looked beautiful. Elder Wilcox did a short Sword presentation to Montana and Lauren as well as the rest of Montana's immediate family.  Lauren had her own sword, so they took a lot of pictures with the two swords. It was perfect for what they wanted.

After doing some back and forth with President Leptich's Executive Secretary and Stake Clerk we finally got an appoint scheduled for Sunday morning to finalize our new Mission paperwork. 

Sunday morning started with our interview with President Leptich. It went very well, and it was so good to see him in person for our interview. He said he would try and submit it that day. After the interview, we headed to Molalla to attend our home ward. Since the trek was last week all the testimonies were from the kids and just a couple of adults. It was amazing and I was greatly touched. Then singing several patriotic songs just topped off a wonderful meeting. It was fun seeing so many people we know and love. We had an enjoyable evening visiting and playing games.

Baby Ruth!!!

FLASH!!! Our first GREAT Grandchild, Ruth Hawkins was born about 10:44 mountain time. I don't have any statistics yet. Mother and Baby are doing great. 

All our Love and Happy 4th of July!!!!
Mom and Dad
Grandma and Grandpa
Steve and Leslee
Elder and Sister Wilcox