St. George and Arizona to Visit Family and Friends

On Thursday, April 26, we headed down to St. George and spent that afternoon and night with Janet and Lynn Snow.  Janet took us to see the Jacob Hamblin home, Brigham Young’s winter home, and the visitors center at the temple.  We had dinner with them at their home. 

On a bench outside the Jacob Hamblin home, we skyped our stake president, President Galt, and he released us from our mission.  We will have an official interview with him next month. 

The next morning, we joined Valerie and Curtis Mahon for breakfast, and then they took us out to the Mountain Meadow Massacre sight which was very moving.  

We reconnected with Snows for donuts and another picture.

After lunch, we went to David and Debbie Wonnacott’s home (David is my cousin).  

They had my other cousins, Linda and Dahlen Hall and Laurie and then Uncle Bill and his second wife Ginny joined us for dinner.  Uncle Bill didn’t quite remember me, but it meant a lot for me to see him, probably for the last time. 

Saturday, we headed on down to Maricopa, AZ, where we spent the night with our dear DR friends, Vicki and Chuck Rucker. They were some of our dearest friends on that mission. 

Monday, we headed up to Phoenix to have lunch with my cousin Deanne and her husband Bill.  I haven’t seen her since my father’s funeral in 2004, and I don’t remember seeing Bill since their wedding reception when I was a teenager!  They took us to a Mexican restaurant and then back to their house where Deanne showed me Grandma Wonnacott’s school notebook and some photos I hadn’t seen. A very nice visit.

We then went to Joann and Rick Decker’s home – Jaclyn’s parents.  That night we were with Jaclyn’s parents, Rick and Joanne Decker.  They took us to dinner at a very good Italian restaurant.  It was so good to visit with them, especially about Ben and Jaclyn. 

On Tuesday, we went by the Mesa Temple and Family History Center and ran into Edith Haws from the DR.  So good to visit with her (she and Wallace are hosting a dinner at their home on Wednesday night for some other missionaries and us.)  The next day we met with some women who have an impressive company which prints illustrated stories of family histories.  We might use them to print the stories that we want to do for our family - We will figure things out after we get back to Georgia.

That night we went to Sydney and Vance Lee’s home, from this mission.  We then went to Sidney and Vance Lee’s (friends from our recent mission).  They have an interesting home which includes three laying hens (a black and white French hen which lays pale green eggs, a South American hen which lays dark brown eggs, and an American hen which lays light brown eggs). 

Wednesday, we joined Karen MacLaurin.  We had lunch at a fun restaurant and then joined the Ruckers at the beautiful Gilbert Temple where we did a number of sealings. 

  That night we joined other DR missionaries at the Haws’ house – Edith and Wallace Haws, Marilyn and Leon Button, Mary Lou and Dick Roberts, and the Ruckers.  It was so special to just visit with those dear folks again – nearly five years!

Thursday, after spending the night with Karen, we drove to Rob’s brother Dan’s home and spent the night.  Rob was able to record Dan’s history for him. 

So many places and friends last week – we were in 7 beds over 8 days!