The red SUN....?

What does this mean to you?  The red SUN

(red because of all the fires in St. George)

Cameron Temple Endowment

Cameron was able to receive his Temple Endowments today.  He had to be there with his father (escort) at 11:00 am and the rest of us were there for the 12:40 pm live session.  In attendance was, Grandpa Gary, Grandma Holly, Grandpa Doug, Grandma Bette, Doug & Suzie, TJ & Jenn, Dave & Nancy McGriff, Rob & Janet Autrey, Brian and Sharri.  He had a great experience and was overwhelmed with all the information. Also, Nancy's father, Norman Anderson, who is a temple sealer, talked to Cameron about the endowment after the session.  Then we all went to the Temple Cafeteria and had a great lunch/dinner with all the family.  We are so proud of Cameron for wanting to go on a Mission and to be worthy to go to the temple.  He will be going with Grandpa Gary and Grandma Holly weekly to a different temple in the Utah Valley until he enters the MTC on October 7th.  We love you Cam!!!

Letter from Cam's Mission President

Cameron finally received a letter today from his Mission President from Texas Fort Worth Mission.
To sum it up it says,
"Congratulations on your call.  We are pleased to be able to welcome you and look forward to serving with you in this marvelous work.  We will be excited to greet you at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport upon your arrival from the MTC.  The Fort Worth area of Texas has four seasons.  The summers get hot and humid (90 to 100+ degrees).  Winters can be very cold (30 to 0 degrees), icy conditions and lots of rain-usally.  There is no set normal for our weather so you need to be prepared.  Again, welcome to the Texas Fort Worth Mission.  May the lord bless you as you prepare thorugh obedience and prayerful study." 
Sincerely, Wright J. Thurston
Cameron was excited to have some contact from his mission and mission president.  We haven't started counting yet, but he will be leaving us in about 6 weeks.  Where does the time go?

PHS Fine Arts Social

Provo High had their annual Fine Arts Social tonight.  They invited all the students and their families for BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs.  So we decided to go and support the fine arts.  First, Erika said that she didn't have to bring anything, which we thought was kind of odd, but went with it.  Second, when we got there, it didn't look like there were any other families their but us and the McGriff's.  Third, they were BBQing on the smallest BBQ we have ever seen, so it took a while to get a hamburger that was cooked.  Fourth, there were no condiments for the hamburgers, not even ketchup and mustard.  There were lots and lots of chips and cookies, and cups, but nothing to put in the cups.  There was one good thing was that we were able to meet the boy that Erika always texts.  His name is Thomas Elder.  He is in the band and plays the drums in the drum line.  He is in the yellow shirt in the picture to the right.  Yeah, the picture that Erika and Heather who wouldn't sit close to Thomas.  What's up with that.  Anyway, Brian said when we were done with our meal, that we will probably not go next year, and just let Erika go.

Photo Booth on the Mac

When we went to Grandma Holly and Grandpa Gary house for dinner on Sunday evening. Brian pulled out his Mac laptop and entertained the kids with a program called Photo Booth.  Brian and all the kids were having a great time taking pictures and making them silly.  We all were laughing so hard after picture after picture.  Brian saved some of the funny ones, so here they are.  Hope you get a good a laugh as we did that evening.  "Laughter is the best medicine."

Our family was able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication today at 3 pm.  This is the 2nd temple dedication that we get to go to this year.  We attended the Draper dedication earlier this year.  This is a once or twice in a lifetime that we get to do this.  What a great opportunity for our family to be a part of.  Hopefully, we will get to go there for baptizms and sessions when it is open.

Adamson Family Renion

We had the Adamson Family Reunion today at noon at Tamra's house (formerly Grandma Janet's house).  All the cousins were in attendance with all the kids.  So, Brian, Christi, Chad, Julie, Mandy, Jennifer Ellen, Tamra and Laena.  Grandma Bette and Grandpa Doug were also there.  We started out by getting family pictures taken.  All the individual families were first, then we did the big family and all the kids last.  We had lunch, snacks, dessert and many many other food items.  It all tasted so good and we were so full.  Tamra then got out the blow-up water slide for all the kids to play and splash on.  It was huge and the kids loved it.  Brian has been scanning in old pictures from his Grandma Janet's box and fixing them in Photoshop.  Tamra, Julie and Brian put together some photos and Tamra put together a slide show and then we all watched it together.  We made copies for everyone on a DVD, so they all could have the pictures.  The two pictures above are of Grandma Janet and Grandpa George.  We are so glad that Tamra decided to host a reunion for all the cousins.  We don't get to see some of the cousins very often, so it was good to get together and tell stories.

LDS Motion Picture Studio Tour

The McGriff family invited us to go with them on a tour to the LDS Motion Picture Studio in Provo. It is located by BYU and you have to wind back behind some retail building in a woody area with the Provo River running by it. We didn't even know it was there in the 15 years we have lived in Provo. Only Erika and Sharri went from our family. Brian, Cameron and Riley didn't want to go, because they thought it would be boring. So, we were greeted by Pete (our tour guide). We walked to a woody, forest like area where they have built little houses in a village. The houses are only half done and the inside is not finished at all so they can use different scenes and backgrounds inside when they are filming. The last film that they filmed there was Joseph Smith movie. We walked to the 2 sound stages and then to the costume room and the big room with all the props. We even were able to see the Book of Mormon prop. We then went over to the building where they do all the sounds, mixes with sounds, editing and music to add the the film. We were at the tour for about an hour and a half. It was so interesting and we were glad that we went. We highly recommend that if you can get a tour time, to go and see it. It is amazing and pretty cool to see and watch.

First Day of School

Riley and Erika started school today. We can't believe that the summer is already over and we are back in the swing of doing school again. Riley stated 7th grade at Dixon Middle School. He was a little bit nervous, because he has to find 7 classes, instead of staying in one class all day with one teacher. He has some great classes, including Science Honors and Young Astronauts. He gets to ride the bus again to school, which we are happy about. Last year was hard for him to have to ride his bike or wait for a ride. Erika started 11th grade at Provo High School. She was able to get her license and drive herself to school and back. She has some hard honors classes this year, like Creative Writing Honors, Zoology Honors and Calculus, but her fun classes are Orchestra and Child Care. Erika and her friend, Heather, went to the beauty school salon and had their hair done up for school pictures. Aren't they beautiful young ladies. As for Sharri, she has been back to work at Independence High School since July 29th, but the last few days have been busy with registration and new students. Here we go for another great year.

IHS Faculty BBQ

Every year at Independence we have a Faculty BBQ for all the staff and teachers and their families.  We have it back in the Pavillon and we all bring something to go with the BBQ hamburgers, chicken or steaks.  While we were waiting for the hamburgers and hotdogs to cook, the sprinklers went on in the back softball field.  This was not a problem, until they switched stations and it was going to get the Pavillon all wet.  Riley had taken his Rip stick to ride around while we were visting, decided to take it out to the sprinkler and shield it from getting us wet in the Pavillon.  In doing this, he became very wet, but you know Riley, he loves water.  While doing this Sharri's co-worker, Cassie mentioned what a good kid he was, then all of sudden, her kids decided to join the party and get wet too.  She was not very happy with me and Riley, but they had fun doing it.  We finally were able to get a hold of the custodian to turn off the sprinklers, and by then Riley needed to go home and change.  What a funny boy, but if you ask him, it was worth all the fun.

Doll Cake Again....

Erika and Sharri decided to make a Doll Cake for the YW President(Sista Hill) for her birthday. Sista Hill bday was on Monday, but the cake just wasn't going to come together until tonight. Erika & her friend made a card and then we called Sista Hill to see if she was still awake. We told her that Erika needed to see her right now and that something was really wrong and bad. Erika, Heather, Rachel, Nancy and Sharri all went over with the Card and Cake and sand the death Happy Birthday to Sista Hill. She was so surprised and happy. She said that she won an auction when she was little of a doll cake and she has never had one. Sharri will just have to add this masterpiece to her portfolio, again. It was fun to give something back to Sista Hill, because she is always giving to the YW and leaders. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SISTA HILL!!!

Sleepover with Cousins

We had the Stovall girls (Cortney, Lindsee, Anna & Kimber) come Sunday night for a sleepover, fun and to give G. Doug & G. Bette some quiet time for a day. The first thing they wanted to do was go swimming, but not on Sunday, but they tried to convince us. Instead, we took them on a walk to the Harbor Park and they played on the swings and play area for an hour. On Monday, they swam twice in our pool with Riley, had lots to eat all day and then we all went to Brick Oven for Dinner. We had a great time with them and we think they had fun too. We heard that they talked about it until midnight with their grandparents.

The New Car

Today we went to Park City to purchase a new car for the Brown Family. We purchased it from the Belcher's Towing. (Sharri's uncle's) It is a Silver 4 door 2000 Ford Focus. We mostly purchased it for Erika to drive, because she doesn't not like driving the big van. She even drove the new car home from Park City, through Heber and down Provo Canyon without any worries by her mother. We stopped in Heber to get gas and a car wash for it and then we stopped at Dairy Keen for lunch. When we arrived home, Erika wants to clean it up and make it look nice. It has it's little squeeks and squaks, but what do you except from a used car with 122,000 miles. It has a few scratches, but that is okay too, because then Erika won't be so worried about banging it up. (Not that we want her too either) So, Erika is going to be taking her driving test next week, and then she can drive to school. She has only had her leaern's permit for 1 year. So, here we go with another driver. We can't wait until Erika is more confident about driving on the freeway.

Helping McGriff's with Sheetrock

Tonight, Brian, Cameron and Riley went to help our neighbors, The McGriff's with some new sheetroock in their carport. The sheetrock had fallen a week before just out of the blue. Pretty scary when you hear a loud crash and wonder what it was. They had to replace 6 new pieces of sheetrock on the roof of their carport, so they needed Brian and Cameron to help hold it up. Not sure Riley was that much help, but he sure wanted to be in the middle of it all. Cameron mostly help cut and lift it to Brian, Dave and Grandpa Anderson. Brian and Cameron also took care of the dog, Daisy, to make sure she was alright with the project. They were able to get it all up in an hour. Now they have to mud it again and paint, but we think they can do it all by themselves.

Girls Camp Reunion

At Mutual tonight, we had our Girls Camp Reunion at the church. We gave the girls their certificates for certifying and a fun award. We then showed the slide show that Sharri has worked on for the past week to 20 mintues (around 400 pictures). Cameron helped with the slide show on importing the songs and showing it at the church on a projector and laptop. Cameron also burned DVD's of the slide show to give all the girls and leaders. We then had peach & cherry cobbler for refreshments that we didn't get to have up at camp. Thanks to all the leaders, parents and great and fun girls who made this years girls camp a great success. Now Sharri has 6 months to rest from her labors and planning. THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!!!

Erika's new calling

Erika was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Laurel presidency and set apart today. There are only 3 Laurel's in our ward, so they all received a calling. Claire is the President and Heather is 1st Counselor. Claire's mom and Sharri were reminsing about when they were just in the nursery and how they have grown into beautiful young women. We are so proud of Erika and hope that she will have fun with her presidency. We Love you Erika!!!!

Funeral for Jason McDonald

We received a phone call on Tuesday evening that Brian's cousin's husband (Jason McDonald) was killed in a car accident. Brian's cousin, Wendy McDonald was killed in a car accident a year and a half ago and now her husband is gone, leaving 4 children. Brian, Sharri, Grandpa Doug, Grandma Bette and Christi all went down to the Funeral today in Cedar City. We were so sad to hear this news, but it was good to be with family today. Most of Brian's cousins were there as well as his Uncle Norm. Jason has 8 brothers and sisters, so there were alot of family from the McDonald's side there. He was buried next to his sweetheart in Enoch, Utah.

Here is the article from The Spectrum Newspaper about the accident.

CEDAR CITY - Utah Highway Patrol identified Jason McDonald, age 38, of Cedar City, and Adaline Anna Moore, age 12, of Peoria, Ariz., as the victims in a fatal crash Tuesday that was likely caused by lost tire tread and high speed, according to a UHP report. McDonald, a father of four, was the owner of Three Peaks Auto. He lost his wife, Wendy McDonald, in a vehicle accident Nov. 10, 2007. Semi-truck driver Leslie Kaufman was convicted earlier this year for Wendy's accident, pleading guilty to third-degree felonies of automobile homicide and possession/use of methamphetamines, Iron County Attorney Scott Garrett said, serving 0-5 years in state prison. McDonald's 18-year-old son, Justin, suffered serious injuries Tuesday and was said to have stabilized at Intermountain Medical Center, where he was taken by LifeFlight.
A family friend who works with Wendy's father, Norm Forbush, at the Department of Motor Vehicles, said the grandfather was with Justin, but was unsure of his condition as of Wednesday afternoon. An 8-year-old female cousin was taken by LifeFlight to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, but a name and condition have not been released. Daughter April McDonald, age 14, suffered head and spine injuries and was taken to Valley View Medical Center, along with a sixth passenger, Emily Carpenter, 18, of Cedar City, for head injuries, according to a UHP report. Jason McDonald was driving a 2003 Ford F-250 eastbound on state Route 144 Tuesday about 3 p.m. when the right rear tire separated, causing the vehicle to go off the left side of the road and roll twice, according to the report. The vehicle struck a dirt embankment, changing the roll to an end-over-end rollover and vaulting the vehicle into the air, according to the report.
The vehicle landed nose down on its front end, the impact violent enough to separate the cab from the vehicle frame, according to the report. McDonald and Moore, who sat in the rear left seat, died at the scene. All six occupants wore seatbelts and none were ejected from the vehicle.


Our beloved husband, father, brother, uncle and friend, Jason Allen McDonald, passed away on July 28, 2009 in New Harmony, Utah. He was born January 18, 1971 in Las Vegas, Nevada to John Alexander and JoyLynn Bushman McDonald. Jason married the love of his life Wendy McDonald and we are certain a joyous reunion is taking place as Wendy preceded him in death in 2007. He graduated from SUU and was heavily involved in scouting for over 19 years. Jason had a deep love for youth and was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having a genuine and enduring testimony of our Savior and of his faith in the Lord's plan. Anyone who knew Jason was touched by his great love of life. He loved his family, outdoors, recreational vehicles, dutch oven cooking for scouts and girls camp or even in his own backyard. His deepest love was for his four children and their mother, Wendy. Our family is forever changed for the better for Jason's presence in our lives. His love lives on in his children and in each of us. Jason, we will miss you, most of all for the camping, parties at your house, our teasing uncle and our treasured times at the sand dunes. Jason "you were the real deal - who never let anyone go without. When you knew there was need, you were the first one there. Your children, family and friends love you and will miss you dearly. Jason is survived by his children, whom he adored - Justin, April, Hunter, and Garrett McDonald of Cedar City, Utah.

Sharri & Erika at Girls Camp

We survived Girls Camp last week. We left on Tuesday, July 21st at 7 am and came back on Saturday, July 25th at 10 am. We had a great time with 8 girls and 5 leaders. Our first day there we spent 3 hours on canoe's, the giant twister and confidence course. It was hot and sunny and alot of fun. Our ward theme was MISSION POSSIBLE: Young Women of Value. We were top secret spies, so we had a bag of spy accessories, bandanas, knit hats (made by Grandma Holly) and T-shirts. The second day we went on a 3 mile hike all around the bowl of MIA Shalom. It was so beautiful and green. We had the girls carry a raw egg on the hike and they were told it was there most prized possession. We assigned Erika and Heather to be the Tempters and try and get the other girls to throw their eggs or drop them. We likened it to how sometimes Satan tempts us and fools us even our closest friends can make us do bad things. By the end of the hike, only 4 eggs remained unbroken out of 11. The third day we did certification and crafts. We made bracelets out of pop tabs and pictures of christ with mode poge. We had to lower the flag that evening and had to do our HERO spotlight. The girls did awesome and our spotlight of our hero, Kevin Santos, was very touching and special. We invited Kevin's mom to come up that night. She was so happy and gratiful for our girls to pick Kevin. The last day was the 24th of July. We had pioneer activities, like rag rollers, button spinners, three legged races, stick pull, human knot and nail hammering. This was alot of fun for our girls and leaders. Later that day the Bishopric came and we had a days of 47 parade, where each ward was assigned to make a float. We didn't have much time to come up with something, so since we were TOP SECRET spies, we told them that someone stole it. We had testimony meeting that night with the Bishopric and then Saturday morning at 6 am we were up and packing up to get back home. We arrived at home at 10 am and Erika and Sharri both showered and slept for a few hours, until we had to unpack the trailer. We are still recovering from the lack of sleep from last week, but it was worth it in the end. Sharri took over 850 pictures and will be having a Camp Reunion slideshow on August 4th for all the girls, leaders and their parents. We finally are done with planning and doing Girls Camp. Thanks to all the leaders that helped out and made it a great success and a memorable experience.

Texas Fort Worth Mission

Cameron invited both his grandparents down at 6 pm for a BBQ and to open his mission call tonight. He is going to the Texas Fort Worth English speaking mission. He enters the Provo MTC on October 7th. He is reporting on September 13th, 2009. Funny thing about it all, is that Sharri's brother moved to Dallas Texas last September, so Cameron's mission will be only an hour away from them. We told Cam that there will be plenty of opportunities to eat TEX MEX. He loves Salsa. If he thinks Salsa in Utah is hot, wait until he gets to Texas. He is sending off his acceptance letter on Monday and then the letters start pouring in and the lists and planning. We are so excited for him and know that he will be a great missionary. WE LOVE YOU CAM!!!

Mission letter came today

The letter came in the mail today for Cameron's mission call. He will be waiting to open it on Saturday, because Riley is at Scout camp until then. He invited both his grandparents to come down at 6 pm to open the letter. We are trying to be patient and wait. We asked Cam if he was going to peek before he opened it and he said NO WAY, not until Saturday with everyone. We are so excited for him.

Riley to High Uintah Scout Camp

Riley left this morning at 4 a.m. with the scouts in our stake to Vernal, Utah to the High Uintah Scout Wilderness Camp at Windy Park. It is a 4 hour drive, so that is why they had to leave so early to get there to check in by 8 a.m. It is approximately 30 miles north from Vernal. Some of the highlights about this camp is Campfile programs, 4 major trails, Polar Bear Dip, Fishing, swimming, canoeing, archery and rifle shooting. He will have the opportunity to earn 25 merit badges while he is there. He will be there until Saturday, July 18th. Here is a link that has a little video about the camp. http://www.utahscouts.org/openrosters/ViewOrgPageLink.asp?LinkKey=21838&orgkey=290#prog

Bro. Brockbank and Bro. Fillmore are his leaders, so he will eat well and we hope he has a great time. Three other scouts went with him from our ward. Someone told us that the mosquitos were really bad and the mud, so we made sure to send him with rubber boots and tons and tons of mosquito repellant and anti-itch cream. We will add pictures later.

Riley's new calling

Riley was set apart as the new Deacon's Quorum President. The bishop asked him a week ago and told him to pick 2 counselors and a secretary and let him know in a week. He was sustained in Priesthood meeting and set apart in his Quorum. His counselor Nate Robinson was also set apart. The other counselor, Will Kirkwood and secrtary, Bryan Ryan were not at church this week, so they will set them apart another time. Riley is also the Senior Patrol Leader with being the Deacon's Quorum President. We are so proud of him for accepting this calling. He will be a great leader and example for the Deacon's.

Family Pictures & Oquirrah Temple Open House

Since Milan and his family are in town, Grandma decided that we should have family pictures taken. We meet at the Garden Park Chapel in Salt Lake and one of Milan & Sarah's friend's took the pictures. We were dressed in White shirts and Jeans. It started out to be a rainy and cloudy day, but by the time we started the rain and clouds were gone. It was a beautiful day for pictures. We were there from 11 am to 12:30 pm. We then stopped for lunch at Apollo Burgers in Draper and then headed home. We were home for 3 hours and then we changed into Sunday clothes and headed to South Jordan for dinner at the Golden Corral (which Grandma & Grandpa paid again) and then to the Oquirrah Temple Open House. Our reservation was 7:40 pm and we ended around 9:30 pm. It was very similar the the Draper Temple Open House, except all they had tents set up all around the temple for the 12 minute movie and Refreshments. There were alot of stairs in the Temple and no carpet, so it was really noisy and crowded and sweating hot. We were glad when we were done and went outside for a little bit.

Alpine Slide & Coaster

Riley had to have his scout Physical this morning, so Sharri drove him down to Provo at 8 am and went back to Park City around 11 am. We had lunch in the hotel room and then we decided to go to the Alpine Slide & Coaster while we were in Park City. This has become a great fun tradition for our family. We all love it. We left to go and ride them around 2 pm. The lines for both rides were very long. We didn't remember having to wait so long before. All of us rode the Alpine slide and Brian and Riley did the Coaster. After the couple of hours of waiting we went back to pick up Grandma & Grandpa and went to dinner at Wendy's in Kimball Junction. When we were done eating, the boys went back to the hotel to go swimming and the girls went shopping at the Outlet Mall. We all had a great time playing and staying with family this week. Thanks to all the Evans family for the fun we had together.

Boating with Doug

Today we went Boating with Uncle Doug and his family at Jordelle. Uncle Doug had just purchased a new boat and he invited us to come and spend the day with him. We meet him around 1 pm. There were 12 of us all together. Doug, Suzie, Brandon, Kaden, Easton, Grandpa, Sharri, Riley, Milan, Sarah, Carson and Ethan. We first got on the the boat with a little mishap with Grandpa falling face first inside the boat. She scraped both shins getting in, but he is tough and was okay for the day. Then Doug took us to the middle of the Lake and decided that he wanted to wake board first. Suzie at the wheel of the boat, pulled Doug. What a showoff....!!! He made it look so easy and fun. Then Milan decided to try it and was able to do it with some style. Then Doug blew up the 3 man raft and all the kids were able to ride in it being pulled by the boat. First, was Brandon, Easton and Ethan. What a good sport Brandon was to ride with the little boys. Then Riley, Carson and Kaden went in it for a while. Then we got Grandpa, Sarah and Suzie together in it. What a great laugh they had as well as the rest of us watching. Then Doug and Milan together with Suzie driving trying to flip them out. We had alot of fun watching and playing with Doug and his family. We left around 5:30 pm back to the Hotel room. Jenn & TJ and their family came up for the evening and we all went to dinner at the Flipping Burgers. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for buying us all dinner. In turn all of us gave Grandpa and Grandma their birthday present. A $400 gift card to get them a new oven.