The week just before school starts is a tough time to catch people home. We have had a good week however as we were able to find some people home that do not have children and some that we had appointments with that welcomed us into their homes.
  Last Sunday we had a great meal and appointment with another family that had previously lived in our ward. They also invited a friend who has recently become active in the church to have dinner with them. This sister has just moved close to our church building but is just across the street that makes the boundary between our stake and the Hyrum stake. We had a nice dinner, shared a message and found some information about the new ward the friend has just moved into.
  We had a dinner the next night with a family in our own ward. This family has four children now. The children are bright and delightful to be around. The parents are excellent examples of people who teach their children correct principles and the children make decisions consistent with their teachings. We gave a message and had some fun activities concerning family history. The mother made a comment on Facebook that the children really enjoyed our lesson and were working on their My Family books that we left with them.  We really enjoy the excitement that is generated when we talk about starting young to keep records, pictures, and stories of their families and ancestors.
 We met a couple of new families in our ward and enjoyed those visits as well. It is fun to meet these people. Of course, Ruth crochets when we are traveling in the car and makes hot pads. A strategically placed hot pad often opens up conversations that sometimes would not happen without them. It is just exciting to welcome people into our neighborhood and invite them to join us in worshiping the Lord in our chapels.
  On Thursday evening our daughter Korinne came with her son Brayden for a visit, primarily for George's birthday.Friday night  we went out for a wonderful Mexican dinner, thanks Korinne, it was delicious. Saturday we were up early and went to Eureka. Every year the town celebrates Silver Days and several of the family decided to celebrate George's birthday while the celebration was going on. We drove out and insisted we stop at the parade gathering place. I refused saying we needed to go to downtown so we could watch the parade. At that point Ruth informed me that I was going to be a participant in the parade. Elizabeth drove her hard top convertible and Nick sat on the trunk and I in the passenger seat and we threw candy to the children along the parade route. They put a big sign on both sides of the car wishing George Castleton a Happy Birthday. Following the parade and having lunch at the city park, we had a birthday celebration at the Memorial Building with cake and ice cream. All of George's siblings were there with their spouses; Keith (who along with Nick planned the party), Kaylene, Ron, TeTe, Hallie, and Collette were there as well as Korinne and Brayden; and JaNeel(Nick's daughter and her family). We had a chance to visit and enjoy the cake and ice cream. It was a full and fun day by time we drove back to Cache Valley.
  Today Korinne and Brayden left for Montana, we went to meetings in our own ward and enjoyed all the meetings with our friends in the ward. This week was a mixture of missionary activity and family celebration which was all enjoyable.
We were happy to be with family and spend some valuable time with each of them. Thanks to everyone for making it a special time for all!