We're Finally Moved In!

Today we finally moved our last item out of storage! After 8 months we have finally and completely moved into our new home! John cheered when he looked in the storage garage and realized he didn't have to move one more thing! Everything is on our property now....albiet, not all organized, but here! John's '53 Buick pulled in the drive way and settled in its new home....the garage. We breathed a sign of relief. Now to finish putting everything away or give it away.....that's the goal!

By the way, our mission president from our first mission to Romania, President and Sister Hansen, came to visit us yesterday. We had a great visit with them and spent several hours hashing over our missions. I hate to say it but, it made us a little homesick!

This week . . .

Three of our grandkids, Hannah, Charly and Nicolas, got to have their picture taken with Elder Christofferson this past Sunday. I told Hannah she may not get this opportunity again and she was very shy about it. She recently got her recommend to do baptisms in the temple and is excited for her first time to go.

I wish Spring would really get here! These darn deer won't leave the field next to our house and I know the minute my roses bloom they will eat them! We have a small herd of about a dozen that can't get it into their little heads that deer belong on the mountain....not the city limits of Draper! Well, I have to admit that the two little fawns are sure cute! In this picture they were just daring me to come closer. About a week ago we were at the cabin and their must have been hundreds of deer in this big open meadow. As we drove down a dirt road I saw a group of about twenty next to the fence. We stopped the car to look at them and they started to lope away. I rolled down my window and yelled, "You teenage deer, stop this instant, turn around and listen to me!" I was shocked when the whole herd immediately stopped, turned around, stood there and stared at me! They left me speechless. I finally said, "well, you can go now. I just wanted to tell you to mind your manners and not eat the flowers in people's yards. Be good deer and stay out of trouble." I'll be darned if those deer didn't turn around and run away as soon as I was through talking! It was the weirdest thing. I swear they listened to what I was saying to them!This last week, our Granddaughter, Zoey Sutherland performed in her class play, "A Comedy of Errors" by Shakespear. She got to play the role of the old father, who the King and everyone else, was trying to chase out of the town and kill. She did a great job and had to memorize a lot of lines!
Zoey is the "guy" with the white shirt, tan vest and white beard! "His" hands are also tied together with a rope! I didn't recognise her at first! Way to go Zoey!

Tatiana comes to visit Utah

As most of you know about Tatiana, I won't go into much detail except to say that she is the young woman we met the spring of 2004 in Romania. Tatiana was a beautiful girl who had the most severe case of Scoliosis we had ever heard about. She desperately needed surgery as the twisting of her spine was slowly cutting off the air to her lungs and would eventually (within a few years) take her life. Our mission President, President Hanson, talked to us and asked us if we wanted to try and find a way to get her some help. He couldn't do it with the other responsibilities he had going on and so we started this project. It turned out to be very discouraging. Many people in the United States tried to give money and get doctors to operate on her. Steve and Barbara Coombs worked very hard on this end talking to medical people but every one of them refused saying they had never seen a case as bad as hers and that she would probably die on the operating table and they didn't want to be responsible for that! Luis Espinosa, from Utah also spent a lot of time talking to doctors out of Utah. It was discouraging but finally, after four years, a miracle happened and the best Scoliosis doctors in the country and a hospital in Florida agreed to take on her project. Tatiana was operated on twice in January and after two months of recovery is now walking around, has a straight spine and is about three inches taller! She is still very fragile and has to wear a brace for another two months but is recovering rapidly. All the doctors and everyone who has worked with her has been amazed at her progress. A lot of people and organizations gave their time and tons of money to have this happen but, in so doing have saved the life of a wonderful girl. The Lord has answered so many prayers. It took a long time but the miracle happened, and God rewarded her faith and patience.
Last Tuesday Tatiana came to visit us for two days. She came to Utah to spend two weeks here so she could see friends, past missionaries, the Temple and go through the Temple for her own endowments. She also wanted to visit BYU and see what the school is all about. While with us we invited several past missionary couples over and had a little get-together for her with people who have all been concerned and have helped her in different ways. It was a touching time and Tatiana was very sweet and very grateful to everyone. The Boyle's, Lofgreen's, Reed's and Thomas' all came over to visit with Tatiana. There were many other couples who helped her but these few were able to give her a big hug and congratulate her on this wonderful new turn her life has taken.


Tatiana is pointing out Brad Armstrong's square in our missionary quilt. Brad flew to Florida and sat with her day and night after her surgery to give her support and be a translator for all the many people who cared for her and helped her recover. He is another person she will always be grateful to for the service he rendered in her behalf.

Easter - April 12, 2009

Our youngest son, Danny, along with Chelsea and Blake, went to church with us Easter Sunday.It was very different celebrating Easter back in America again! There were no big plates of red eggs and only a few people sent me a text saying "Hiristos a inviat!" but we were blessed to be with our family again and that made it extra special. We started the Easter week with General Conference the weekend before. This was very wonderful for us as Elder Christofferson had sent us four tickets to every session in the conference center. We attended all sessions and were able to take some great people with us. One was an investigator, another an inactive member, another had been excommunicated years before and is slowly coming back to the church and last of all, a couple who are struggling as they are losing their business in this bad economic condition the country is in. I tell you this because it meant a lot to all of them to attend and feel the spirit that exists in the conference center. Elder Holland gave a beautiful talk on the Savior on Sunday morning and that was the perfect start of our Easter week. On Monday, John and I held Family Home Evening with all our grandkids and showed them the video on the Saviors last week of life and his crucifixon. At the part where Jesus was hung on the cross, one of our little 6 year old grandsons cried out and said, "stop this grandma, it's too horrible and I can't bear to watch it!" I was really touched that it affected him that way and felt like we had really helped the kids understand a little better the gifts that Christ had given each of us. On Easter weekend we held an Easter Egg hunt in our yard for our grandkids. We hid over 300 eggs and they had a blast trying to find them. We had a wonderful time.






On Sunday morning we were privileged to enjoy a beautiful Easter sacrament meeting and partake of the sacrament. In the afternoon, our family all came for Easter dinner and it was great to be all together at the end of this most special of all celebrations.
"Hooray for Easter!" Charly yelled out as Brandon reached her up to the sky!
My brother Sam, brought us his latest carved bear he had made. Each one gets bigger and bigger! They are all very cute!

Romania Bucharest Mission Reunion

Last Friday night,during the beginning of conference weekend, we held our mission reunion at the Wilkinson Center on BYU Campus. What a great night! I'm not sure how many actually came but it was somewhere between 150 to 200 people. Most of the missionaries were from our group but we had a nice showing from President Hanson's mission too. Everyone brought good food and we all ate and talked like crazy! The noise level in the room was pretty dang high! We also finished the missionary quilt and had it on display. There was a lot of surprise as people found their own little square and were able to see at a glance how many people made up our mission over the three years we served as mission president. Half way through the night we held a small program. Three missionaries talked about funny experiences they'd had and then President Ashby auctioned off four of his treasures from the mission to help the temple/education fund. They were (1) a CD slide show of Romania, (2) a gypsy twig broom (3) a new Romanian hymn book and (4) a license plate from Bucharest! (This was a big hit and ended up with a donation of $121.00!) Afterwards Sora and President Ashby said a few words and brought everyone up to date on the status of the mission. President Ashby had letters from President Hanson, President Lundberg, and President Geambascu from Oreada. The evening turned out very well and lots of hugs and stories were passed around. Yes, we have the best mission in the church! :)

Romania Bucharest Mission Reunion

The quilt is done! Whew! Just a note to let you know that our mission reunion is being held on Friday, April 3, 2009, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, in the BYU Wilkinson Center, room 3220. We look forward to getting together and renewing friendships! Dress is casual-nice. Food is pot-luck. The meat will be supplied by John and I. We would like to have several of you share a favorite mission experience....spiritual, fun, unusual, etc. Please think about it and call the us at 801-707-6875 if you would be willing to speak. There will be updates on the mission and comments from President Ashby. We will also collect donations for either Temple trips or education help for Romanian/Moldvian members. (Education help is only for members attending school in their own country!)

Draper Temple Dedication

This past weekend the dedication of the Draper, Utah Temple took place. John and I were privileged to attend the 11:30 session on Friday, the 20th of March. We went to the temple with a busload of people from our neighborhood (not enough room to park everyone at the temple) and after putting little booties over our shoes we were ushered into the temple. An instant peace fell over our group. There were about 2000 people attending this session and I figured we would be lucky to sit in a big closet somewhere in the basement, but, much to our delight, we were directed up to the top floor and John and I sat right by the door into the Celestial room where the dedication was being held. President Monson, his wife, Elder Packer, Elder Holland, Elder Eyring and other church leaders came in right next to us and sat down just a short ways from us. In fact, two of President Monson's body guards sat right next to us. We felt really blessed to be so close to the proceedings. The meeting had six speakers, Elder Marlin K. Jensen,(a Seventy) Elder Packer, (a Seventy), Presiding Bishop Burton, Elder Holland, Elder Eyring and then President Monson dedicated the temple. The choir was from our stake, the Corner Canyon Stake, and the music was Angelic! At the end everyone participated in the Hosanna Shout with our hankies. We then sang, The Spirit of God Like A Fire is Burning. The spirit was burning! It was powerful and you could tell this was now a house of the Lord....a different feeling than what we experienced while serving during the open house!

By the way, last week I was put on "Security duty" at the temple and when I walked in the room to report I was the only woman there. The man is charge said, "Hello, Sister Ashby". I said, "How do you know my name?" Well, in all of the three months of open house time, you are the only sister to have been put on security...it was easy to remember your name!" I was so surprised. I thought I would be put in the parking lot directing traffic and wore a warm coat and heavy shoes but no, they took me up to an office in the upper part of the temple and I got to watch everything going on in the sealing rooms and Celestial room. I had a walkie talkie and checked in periodically. Other than handing out water and answering questions I had no problems! But it was such an honor to serve there. I felt so lucky! The funniest thing was when all the security people left for their positions they told us to be sure and act like proper High Priests and to remember we were not a part of the Swat Teams or Bomb Squads! "I-Yi Sir!", I said while laughing at the irony of it all. On Saturday John was in charge of a group of men in the temple parking lot and enjoyed his service there. He met and renewed acquaintances with several general authorities he knows.

Today was the last day of the dedications and we are excited to be able to attend a regular session at the temple this week. The crazy thing is that we have to call and make reservations to attend as so many people are excited to use this temple. I just love it! It's so wonderful to be a member of this church!

In thinking about the Draper temple dedication, a friend of mine, Allene Lemons, made some comments on her blog about the Kirtland Temple and I thought you might enjoy reading them here:

"As we are preparing this week for the dedication of the Draper Temple, the dedication of the Kirtland Temple was of interest to me. The dedication of the Kirtland Temple was on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836. Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter and celebrates the Savior's triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Unfortunately, we won't be dedicating the Draper Temple on Palm Sunday--that would make the date easy to remember-- but our dedication will be the week before Palm Sunday 2009-- and maybe in our old age we can remember that date. I hope you all remember our New Testament lesson when we discussed the people of Jerusalem spreading palm branches on Jesus's path as he was entering Jerusalem. The waving of palm branches symbolized his triumph and victory as the King of the Jews entered the city but for us it really symbolized Jesus's triumph over death and sin that was going to take place on the week following (that's what Easter is all about). At Jesus's entry into Jerusalem, they also cried Hosanna. The word Hosanna, in our LDS Bible Dictionary, means "save now" and Psalms 118:25-26 adds to "send prosperity." Isn't that interesting? (See http://scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/h/45). This Psalm was chanted anciently at the Feast of Tabernacles. The palm fronds and this Hosanna shout have been a celebration of the Messiah in all ages. Think about this as you attend the dedication."

"Back to the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. It took three years to build and cost between $40,000 and $60,000. The Saints at that time were very poor. I can't help but think about the Draper Temple dedication and the cost of building a temple in 2009 and the serious economic problems that the world is facing. Our early Saints had great faith that they would be blessed spiritually if they completed their temple. It may not be a monetary blessing that we need today as much as a spiritual blessing."

"Well, hundreds of people gathered early on the morning of the Kirtland Temple dedication hoping to get a seat in the temple. The doors opened at 8 AM. Only about a thousand were able to be inside so many had to be seated at a schoolhouse and return the following Thursday for the services to be repeated. Aren't we thankful to our Bishop who has interviewed us and issued us a time so that we don't have to arrive so early?"

"The Kirtland Temple dedication began at 9 AM and the services were seven hours long. Three hour block meetings are easy compared to this. Sidney Rigdon conducted, Sidney Rigdon gave the opening prayer and Sidney Rigdon talked for 2 1/2 hours. Then, Joseph Smith was sustained as the Prophet. They had a 20 minute intermission. Then, Joseph Smith spoke for a short time. There was the sustaining of officers and leaders. Joseph Smith then prophesied that if they upheld these men that the Lord would bless them. Joseph Smith offered the dedicatory prayer. There was an acceptance of the dedication by the congregation. The sacrament was passed. Various testimonies were given. Sidney Rigdon gave some closing remarks and Sidney Rigdon gave the closing prayer. Then they had the Hosanna Shout. This was interspersed with hymns and one of particular note was The Spirit of God which was composed by W. W. Phelps for this occasion. Now, there are lots of promises about the blessings of temple attendance in the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer found in Doctrine and Covenants 109."

Hannah Hiner does Shakespeare

One of the fun things about being around our family again is going to the kids sports and school events. Hannah had a starring role in this Shakespeare play! Awesome girl!

Brandon and Emilie's Wedding

The ASHBY FAMILY!
On February 19th we had 15 grandkids but on February 20th four more joined our ranks! This is the whole bunch of us!

February 20th our son Brandon married Emilie Eldredge Wasdon.....a girl he has known since 1st grade. John'[s brother, Ray Ashby, performed the wedding ceremony and joined their two families of four kids each.....eight is great!

The wedding was held at Wheeler Farm and they had a lot of family and friends from high school attend. We are super happy for this new family and pray for their continued happiness and a long life together.

Emilie has three daughters (Sydney, Aubrey and Sophie, and one son, Isaac). Brandon has two boys, (Alex and Raistlin) and two girls (Aurora and Grace).

Brandon and Emilie shared this story about the way they came together:

Early September 1981, Emilie was 6 and Brandon had just turned 7, it was first grade... the friendship had begun. We were good friends all through grade school, Emilie saw Brandon as someone she could run to when kids were being bullies, someone to confide in and someone that would always treat her well. Brandon saw Emilie as a cute soft hearted friend that was always nice to him no matter what, he always admired her kindness to everyone and how she made every situation fun.

We had home room together in every grade except 3rd grade. In fourth grade we got in trouble for meeting up and "chit chatting" in Mrs. Neilson's reading wagon. Later in the 4th grade we were in charge of being clowns for an assembly. Emilie was a clown juggling and Brandon was her nemesis court jester stealing her juggling balls, it was a total blast and never to be forgotten. The crowd loved us! In the 5th grade we were chastised and threatened to be sent to the principal's office for talking too much to each other in class, at one point the teacher had to move us across the room from each other. We could also be seen in LC5 walking around together, meeting and talking to as many people as we could get away with.

The sad day came when Lone Peak Elementary was built and we were separated for 6th grade.

When 7th grade came, the reunion was sweet and genuine. The hug was long and deep and the reminiscing of the friendship began. We knew we were kindred spirits, but shied away from stepping forward into "liking each other" and both resolved to the idea that we were just best friends. That wasn't without a few hopeful slow dances at the afternoon middle school dances. By the way, the hugs never did stop...

Our friendship remained as we grew. In 10th grade our mutual friend, John Gillings asked Emilie to the prom at the last minute. Brandon was bent that he didn't know she hadn't been asked yet and kicks himself to this day. Emilie then moved away in the middle of 11th grade. When Brandon found out his heart was sad, he knew he would always miss her.

Seventeen years later... Brandon was going through a picture album of his Sprucewood elementary days and saw Emilie's picture and vowed in the morning to search for her on the web. That next morning a work friend coaxed Emilie to join Facebook. The first friend invite she made that day was Brandon Ashby... Neither one knowing the other was now single! (go figure!)

Getting hooked up again was interesting, after a 3 hour phone call and many Facebook chats, our schedules were finally free enough to have a date!! (The anticipation was torture) The first date began with that same long deep hug from long ago and we both knew we were home. All holiday plans changed as of that night. We got all 8 of our kids together and went to the cabin for the holidays.

Friday, January 16th, was a really frosty evening; we drove to the Gateway mall for sushi. We were supposed to go ballroom dancing right after, but Brandon took a detour and asked if Emilie had ever been to the roof of the LDS Conference Center. Next thing we knew we were racing up flights of stairs, our breath blowing out steam and our nose hairs frozen. We got to the last flight of stairs and saw that it was chained off, not to be entered without a tour. After standing there for a few moments looking at the view, Brandon said, "I think we should jump the chain and go up anyway!" So, off we ran up the last flight of stairs hoping we wouldn't be seen. When we got to the top we followed icy pathways along running steamed fountains and snow capped evergreens. When we meandered around far enough out of sight, Brandon sat down and pulled Emilie to his lap. He sweetly said, he knew that she was a blessing in his life and never wanted a life without her, that his love was pure and that he had always loved her, he said that we had always been best friends and planned on staying best friends from here on out. Then he said, "I have a question to ask you...." He dropped to one knee and said, "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?" Then he opened the ring box. Emilie looked into his beautiful eyes and answered, "Absolutely yes!" Then the tears began... It was a magical night! Yes, we still did go dancing... and it was on cloud nine!

Grandma's Bird

While living in Romania our grandkids felt sorry for us because our bird named "Dimples", died. For Christmas they surprised us with this new little addition. We named him Pepper and he is learning to get along with the family. He was quite fiesty and didn't come to people very easy, but each week he is getting a little better. We think he must have been in a big cage with a lot of other birds and no people interaction before making it to the pet store. He had only been in the pet store two days when our grandkids picked him out and bought him.
Charly doesn't quite trust him but he likes to climb up her shoulder and pick oon her head. He thinks he's the King and so far I think he's right!

Nicolas isn't afraid and tells me he will train Pepper for me! Well, we'll see about that!

CATCHING UP! August and September 2008

Has it been seven months since Romania?? It's hard to believe we've been home that long but it's true! It's surprising how long it takes to get yourself settled and organized in a new life again but we can now say that we are finally there. Recently someone told me they had checked our blog many times and if they looked again and saw me one more time in the bathtub they might have to do something drastic! I was very surprised as I didn't think anyone would care that much about checking my blog once our mission was over. But hey, if even one person is interested then.....I'M BACK! I am going to do a quick "catch-up" of the months from August 2008 through January 2009. After that, I will try to be a little more detailed and do a better job. However, they say pictures are worth a thousand words so, if you like, scroll through the following pictures and you will get the highlights of our last few months. I'm starting with the first part of August, 2008 . . . . .
You can tell we are home....back to the family reunions! This month we attended the Benjaman Ashby family reunion and got to renew friendships with John's counsins and Aunts and Uncles.In the middle of August, The Manti Temple was the site of our neice, Dawn Ashby's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and John's family were in attendance.
John is here with his twin sister, Kelly, his older sister Marian and Marian's husband, Wes Johnson.
The Wedding party!
On August 11th, 2008 all of our family went to Island Park, Idaho for a family vacation. We had a blast. We floated the Snake river, road our motorcycles and four-wheelers, hiked, cooked out, visited Yellowstone and Old Faithful, and just had some great family time together. There was one sad experience that put a damper on the trip. While driving into West Yellowstone a motorcyclist, while traveling very fast, crashed into a car behind us, flew 100 feet into the air and hit the side of the road onto a piece of lawn. John and I and Nikki and Bart quickly stopped and went to help the man. We did all we could until the paramedics arrived but he died shortly after they picked him up. He was well known in the auto racing world and it was sad news when it got out. This was a very sobering experience for us and one we won't forget.
Sheila, my sister, and her husband Dan White visited us from Canada and were able to go on this trip with us. Here they are exploring the Snake River.Nikki
Sara and Hannah prefer the tube to the row boat.
This trip brought lots of smiles and Char gives us a big one.This day was a big one for Charly and Grandpa.Here we are at Big Springs, standing at the head of the Snake River. It's a beautiful spot and the water bubbles out of the ground, cold and clear.The mountain climbing caravan!

Bart and his two babies.....Charly and his Rhino!Almost on the Two Top mountain....
You can't have a big group without something breaking down....Jeremy lost his motorcyle and we loaded it up on the back of Joe's four-wheeler.....we got it out!John and I walk with the Hiner family on the board-walk through the Yellowstone Hot Pots.
Bart, Nikki, Hannah, Nicolas and Charly.Old Faithful still be "old faithful"!Charly plays with the bears!NikkiDan and Sheila....the cabin cooks!Anna White and her "wolf"!
The Sturdy Family reunion!
Joe and his fishin' boat.
On August 30, 2008, John performed the wedding ceremony of our neice, Jody Sturdy and Ray O'Connor. It was held in the forest by the Columbia River in Washington. It was really fun to be a part of their special day.Jody and Ryan listen intently to the seriousness of the covenant they are making with each other.

They are very happy and excited about this new life they have started together.
The bridesmaids were Ryan's and Jody's sisters, and of course, Jody's dog.
This is Jody and Ryan with their parent's.
This photo is Joe and Pauline's whole family.
During the month of September we all worked hard on remodeling and fixing up the house we just bought. We changed all the flooring, a fireplace, two bathroom and the kitchen. It was a lot of work but worth it in the end. Here Danny cleans up some of the fireplace mess.
The kitchen has new appliances and countertops, hardward and dark wood trim here.
The back yard of our house.
My dad, Joe Sturdy, is an expert on American History and the Civil War. He has won National Gun competetions and even restored a Mormon Battalion gun for Pres. Hinckley's son.
In September, John and I, my brother Joe and his wife, Pauline met dad in Nephi, to commemorate and dedicate a monument to our war veterans. They asked dad to bring his cannon and represent past veterans in American History. He didn't blow off the cannon (like he has many times while I was growing up) but he answered a lot of questions and was a hit with the townsfolk. He was also commissioned by another town to build them a cannon for their city building. Joey and John look over the cannon in this photo.
I loved the flag waving off to the side with dad and the cannon in the back ground. So many people have given so much to make America what it is today and we can never be grateful enough.
In these photos dad is having a lot of fun sharing his knowledge of past wars and their big guns!