When I think of my family, I think of them as the main reason I am on Earth. They are almost everything to me, and, in a very real sense, they are everything. I am a Christian who happens to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some people will tell you Mormons aren't Christians. What they MEAN to say is that we are not Protestants. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the center of our beliefs. We would be nothing without His Atonement and Priesthood and Plan of Salvation.

If you want to know more about that click "a href="http://www.lds.org">here.

Without roots of some kind there are no family trees, and we have had fun and challenges tracing ours back on both sides. Check it out on ancestry.com.

I was lucky enough to grow up with two parents who love me, two broether who tolerated me when we were growing up then magically became the best big brothers in the world after we reached our teens and grew into adults. Pat and Mike are amazing. My parents are incredible.

I got married when I was 22 and am still married to the same great guy 4 kids and 11 grands (so far) later. We have our share of waterfalls...sad tears and happy tears as we gather for wedding, babies, celebrations, and goodbye-for-nows. I feel sorry for people who have no concept of the hereafter. What great joys and further life and challenges await us there!

We have some friends who feel almost like family, and we treasure them dearly...they come and go because somemes people just have to move geographically, but they are always very good friends. These include but are certainly not limited to: The Watkinses, Scomas, Marshalls, Kemppainens, Basgals, Scarboroughs, all the Indian Beach bunch, many of our kids' childhood friends and adult friends, and some good people who have helped our parents and been good friends to them.

We also consider our critters to be members of our family because if we didn't they would have a conniption fit. That privilege does not extend to eating at the table or being inside the house in good weather, but it means they are sometimes a bit spoiled. While we have varied from a managerie of almost 20 down to our current two, we have had many critters over the years. In the past few years we have lost some really good "friends" as the breathed their last breath, and we still especially miss: Sierra, a gorgeous chestnut gelding who died at age 28, Misty, our small cloudy white Arabian mare who was under 20, Belle (Pixie Glen Indian Summer), our 15 year old Sheltie, and Kimo, our son and dtr-in-law's wonderful snowdog.

Some pets, like good people, are irreplaceable. 1

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