Phoenix Birthday and Thanksgiving 2024

We made plans to go to Scott's to attend Evan's baptism. 

As days passed, more events were added to the calendar. 

Celebrating Graham's birthday

Pie Night

Thanksgiving Feast.

Corinne and her family also came for all the events.

It worked out beautifully for us to stay at Ben's sister Becky Olsen's place. 

Just 10-15 minutes away from Scott.

Becky's family had plans in Utah so she offered her home to Corinne's family and also us.

Her home was big and comfortable and we really enjoyed sharing time with Corinne's family there.

Let's begin.

Our family heirloom ride on train that we bought for Corinne now resides at Scott's house.

All of our grandchildren have taken rides on this little train. 

Garrett and Clara wanted to relive the wonder of it.

Sunday we all attended church with Scott & Jess.

Jess's family also were in attendance to all of the events.

Here is a very nice picture of Evan with his Mom and Dad.

This is the crowd that were in attendance at Evan's baptism.

Evan asked me to play the piano and Grandpa to give a prayer.

We were happy to be on the program with him.

We took these pictures after the baptism. I'm so happy to have these wonderful pictures.

We are only missing Shannon in our family photo.

We made an appointment to perform sealing ordinances in the Phoenix Temple. 

Most of Jess's siblings were also able to participate. I really enjoyed that. Jess set is up for us. 

Graham celebrated his sixth birthday the day before Thanksgiving. All of the little grandchildren with parents went to see Moana 2 together. Corinne and I also came along. 

Graham wanted a donut birthday cake.

Just hanging around.

Aunt Jess is the best. She let the little girls help with pie preparation. Look how happy Clara is.

This is our master Pie Baker. Look at that spread! Even though I didn't sample all of them, 

I know they were all delicious. Jess is amazing. 

 Jess puts cards identifying what each pie flavor is. Aren't they all beautiful!

Everyone served themselves. 

Thanksgiving Day. Here are our hosts Scott & Jess. They are a great team in the kitchen.

I love watching Scott with his family. 

Jess wanted a picture of the perfect plate of the Thanksgiving offerings.

Helper Scott 

All kinds of choices. My favorite was the sweet potato casserole one of the brother-in-laws made.

We sat down to dinner later than planned. The tables were all decorated so nicely. 

We had a Daly/Thornton table minus Clara. She got to sit at the little people table

.

Of course, I'm on dish duty. It's my special place.

We all had a good time together. I'm so glad that Corinne's family also came. 

There were a lot of McGuires so we needed a few more of us Daly's. 

Priesthood Weekend Events at Corinne's 2024

The first weekend of January 2025, Fred and I flew to Corinne's for some very special events.

Sunday morning we went to her Bishop's office so Henry could be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood to the office of a Deacon. Spencer was ordained to the office of a Priest. Garrett was able to participate in the circle to ordain Henry and Spencer as well as Spencer also being in the circle for Henry. Corinne did some extra foot work to get that scheduled. It was so nice to be able to be there.

After church, Corinne took some pictures of Garrett for his Missionary plaque in the church foyer.

On Monday, Fred and I went to the Church Museum with Corinne and Clara. In the section where they highlight each Prophet, they have created a passport activity for people. Locating certain items among the displays. Clara enjoyed that.

We took the family out to dinner at Red Robin for the fun of it. 

After the Museum, Fred and I went to visit Fred's aunt Carolyn Daly. We were able to see her new home and also meet up with Fred's cousin Brian who is temporarily living with her. 

On Tuesday, we drove down to Sandy to go out to lunch with Craig and Lynette. It is always so fun to see them. 

A few hours later we went to the Bountiful Temple with Corinne's family so they could perform Baptisms. It was Spencer's first time to be able to baptize. He baptized Ben and Garrett. Garrett then baptized Spencer, Henry and Corinne. We were witnesses for all of those baptisms. Another special event that Corinne did lots of preparing for. 

Wednesday was Garrett's big day. Last minute washing, packing and organizing and going to the MTC in Provo.

A pleasant surprise was Garrett asking Fred to give him a blessing. Fred isn't praying yet, they were just getting situated so I thought it was okay to snap a picture. 

Garrett's final meal was at Leatherbys which is known for their outstandingly huge and delicious ice cream. Between the five of us, we bought three desserts. Totally way too much ice cream, but it was so delicious and fancy looking. 

After lunch, we split up so Corinne, Ben and Garrett could go to the MTC as a family. These pictures are ones taken by them along the way. We did drive by just to see how the MTC looked and where they had probably gone into to drop him off. 

Such an awesome and happy picture.

Off he goes to his missionary adventure in Peru. A very exciting day for all. 

After the MTC event, Fred and I drove to Springville to see Camille and Brian Brower from our Bremerton days. It was as though no time had ever taken place since we saw them last. I think they moved away from Bremerton in 2007 or so. She hasn't changed a bit. So happy and joyful!

From there we drove back up to Provo to meet Rick and Wendy Cloutier at Zupas. We met them when we first moved to Bremerton. They also were newlyweds and had been married a few weeks before us. We have kept in contact all these years. Lasting friendships are pretty special.

On Thursday, Fred and I took it easy at home. We didn't have any committments until evening. Corinne, Ben drove down with us to Salt Lake. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory at the City Creek Mall. It was an especially beautiful restaurant. After dinner, we took a tour of the Conference Center and attended the Tabernacle Choir's evening practice. It was amazing. A beautiful sight and such beautiful music. Both choir conductors led a few pieces. The speed at which they made corrections or adjustments and then instantly went to recording was unbelievable. Amazing!

Fred and I stayed at Corinne's home this time. We had such a lovely time. We are so happy to watch her family progress. We'll be back there in March for Richard's Homecoming.