Extended family – Letters from Home

Can’t wait

Paige and her family are coming to visit soon. I can’t wait.

A winter storm in the South has caused a delay in my parents’ departure to Puerto Rico. Richard and I picked them up from the airport after a rough start to their journey and they are staying with us for a couple of days. This unexpected visit has been wonderful for me, a tender mercy from Heavenly Father, who knows my heart. My parents are anxious to be in their assigned mission, but they have taken some needed rest here before their big adventure continues.

My parents’ farewell

This is a photo of my parents and my siblings. My parents are off to serve in the Puerto Rico San Juan mission and they gave farewell talks today in church.

My nephew John gave his mission homecoming talk today too. He just got home from Argentina.

Christmas 2024

Thanksgiving weekend snapshots

Richard prepared the turkey this year in his smoker.

We visited Richard’s parents who were staying at Shari’s house.

It was a busy work day inside and out at my parents’ house, followed by a trip to a Mexican restaurant.

We gathered to cheer for Elder Ross

I couldn’t get photos of everyone as we hosted this gathering, but it was a nice day with loved ones.

Weber 2024

Today we go back in time a few weeks for a post about our Sanchez family reunion.

The theme this year at the Weber cabin was Wogworts, our version of “Hogworts” from the Harry Potter books. We did this theme in 2017, but the younger kids asked us to do it again so they could participate.

There were many magical classes offered. Here is the potions class, ready for students.

There was a sorting hat that “spoke” the assigned house to each child.

My sister planned an escape room for the older kids while the younger kids had little classes outdoors.

My job was to run the wand shop. The kids decorated wands and wrote down spells (things they could say) that would make people happy.

There were enough wands for anyone who wanted one. My dad carved about half of them. 🩷

Cousins of all ages here. Tim is being a good sport playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

It wasn’t possible for the entire Ross family to be present for the family portraits, but that’s okay. These representatives are awesome.

Our woodworker Mark spent a lot of time carving more wands.

Daniel and Mark harvested some fun boulders and rocks from the Smith and Morehouse River to bring home. This big one is now in our front yard.

This is the moment that Mark met his nephew for the first time. 🩷

We couldn’t stay all week, but Mark stayed several days longer than the rest of us. He relished the time with his cousins and grandparents.

Here is something on the smaller scale that represents the Weber experience, the tiny hot cocoa mugs which have been on the table at the Weber for 50+ years. Each can hold a few sips of hot cocoa and there is just enough room for one big marshmallow.

There is so much I could say and show from this cabin experience. Not pictured are the big family portraits, the Virginia Reel, tubing in the river, the duckie races, etc. I simply don’t have photos of everything. As always, the experiences live in memory and take on new qualities with time.