Family History Night

Yesterday we had to make a trip to St. George for a doctor's appointment for one of our kids, so we decided to take all the kids a long and make a day of it. Ryan and I went and did some temple work with Weston while my parents watched the rest of the kids. It was really nice spending one on one time with him. He chatted about his friends and school and his plan for getting an Ipod (he's been saving up the money and he's almost there....actually he has enough money but we told him he has to get two merit badges for scouts before he can get it).

We had lunch in the temple cafeteria afterwards. Mmmmmm, roast beef for Weston and Hawaiian Haystacks for Ryan and I. Then we raced back to my parent's house to drop Weston off and pick Emmett up for his Dr. appointment. After we got that taken care of we went back to my parent's and had the rest of the day to hang out and chat.

My mom made her famous (to us!) Beans Chalupa. Oh, my. It's so so yummy. I need to get her recipe....I mean, how do I not have this already? I don't know.

We played a bit of hide n seek with the kids in their backyard.

My dad brought out some homemade raisins he dried himself. The kids gobbled them up!

 

And then it was time for a Friday Night Family Home Evening.  A couple weeks ago Ryan mentioned how he thought it would be cool to do some genealogy nights with each of our parents and have them talk about their families, what life was like when they were kids, etc.

So, we asked if my mom and dad would be willing and they were game. I'm so glad Ryan thought this up because it was really fun. They got out photo albums and talked and shared stories.

My Mom shared a bit of what it was like growing up in Star Valley, Wyoming. She showed us the pictures of our ancestors who first came to America from Liverpool, England. She talked about her dad being a kid during the Great Depression. He came from a family with 14 kids (wow, right?!) and sometimes all they had for dinner was a piece of white bread with water on it and sugar. So sad and so hard to imagine life being that hard.

My Dad talked about his ancestors and how they came over from the Isle of Man. My great great (and then some) grandfather was George Cannon. He made the death masks for the prophet Joseph Smith after he was killed. Apparently, death masks were something that were commonly done at that time. Somehow they made a mold of the deceased face using melted wax.

Also, it was interesting to learn that one of our ancestors is Hosea Stout, who was the chief of police in Nauvoo, Illinois. Cool, right?

My dad shared pictures of me as a little girl and him and my mom when they were first married and their kids were tiny.

My mom made yummy lemon bars and we ate and continued to chat and share for quite some time. Finally it was time for us to motor on home. It's always hard for us to leave. I love being around my parents and I wish we lived closer to them. But, luckily, they're not too far away.