Ellett Reunion...

Remember back in 2013 when I was so excited to meet my great Aunt Edna?  She is my grandma Brown's sister and their maiden name is Ellett.  Every year there is an Ellett reunion.  I was so excited to move up here so I could go to them now and MEET RELATIVES!  We just missed the 2013 reunion when we moved here.  2014 my cousin Chrissy said she and I were going to put it on.  I would ask her about it now and then and it always got shoved aside for more pressing matters in Chrissy's life.  I understand that, but was so sad not to have a reunion.  This year, she had even more going on (shoulder replacement, her father passing away ~ Uncle Cleon) so I told Jeanine (Great Aunt Edna's daughter) that she and I just needed to make sure it happened!  It's a potluck after all so how hard could it be!?  She got me the most recent list they had of addresses and we made up a flyer and mailed it out!  We got the Lindon hall reserved - which is where they always have it - and we were set!  I know we didn't have a complete list of all who should be there, and someday I hope to have more names!  My biggest goal was to see what the posterity count of the Joseph Henry and Clara Bell Shiner Ellett would be.  Don't know if we will ever get that current, but we have updated it a lot!  And as I meet more Ellett cousins we will get it even more current.

I purchased paper goods and made some cute centerpieces (just mason jars with pictures in them) and I also put together a computer file of Ellett family pictures to share with anyone that would like them.  Several of them brought a thumb drive and we were able to give them the pictures.  That thrilled me!  I can't even explain how excited I was to meet all these new people (my mom's cousins).  They are all elderly and as sweet as can be!  Two sisters Cora and Clara are 89 and 91 I think, and they were so much fun!  They live right here in Orem so I want to go visit them and see what more I can learn about family history.  Maybe they have some old hidden pictures or negatives somewhere too...a  girl can dream!  Aunt Lew and Curtis came up from Wayne County and of course Uncle Valoy and Aunt Elaine came, they live right here in Pleasant Grove.  I really enjoyed my afternoon with all these people and when I met my mom's best friend/cousin Mona, oh I wanted to cry!  I have all their addresses now and I will be keeping in touch with all of them!  Why do I feel so much closer to heaven and my mom when I am around her relatives?  What a wonderful day!  Many thanks to Jeanine for her help and encouragement in getting this reunion off the ground!  And to her sister Clara for making the homemade rootbeer!  Yum! And of course to Dave for being right there to help with whatever I wanted and who is my biggest supporter!

 Arva Dean and Scott Squire

 Clara Pueblo and Cora Burgess - Cora is spunky!

 Aunt Lew and Curtis Cook

 Aunt Elaine

 Uncle Valoy

 Roma Kenney (she too was good friends with Mom)

 Mont Ellett and his 2nd wife Diane

 Freeda Harris (she and I matched!  She said she was great friends with Mom too)

 Jack and Trudy

 Jeanine Taylor ~ my cohort!

 Clara and Trudy (sisters to Jeanine...how their sister Sharon is missed this day!) and Mona's daughter and Mona!

 We had people bring memorabilia to display...that was so wonderful to see some of these items!

 This little camera is as small as my hand.  It belonged to Aunt Edna...the bedspread underneath was crocheted by great grandma.  All those tiny stitches!

 A picture of Joseph and Clara someone brought that I hadn't seen before...

 Cora modeling great grandma Shiner's cloak (reversible)...Cora was more than happy to strike a pose for the camera!

 Mona with her daughter who brought her

My Mom, her best friends Juanita Taft and Mona Ellett

Oh Deer, and a Dear...

I have posted about this before, but we have deer that like to come through our yard.  They are getting to be quite frequent visitors!  Now they lay down and rest under our trees in the back yard!  One day it will be two bucks, another day it will be one female deer, and THEN, one day it was a momma deer and her TWO babies!  They are so cute!  I was so surprised to look out and see them!  I spent most of the afternoon just watching them!  They followed the momma down to the front acreage, and then up the driveway...I was so afraid they would go out onto the road and get hit by a car!  But she led them through the fence and down into the neighbors in the cul-de-sac.  I wonder where they went from there.  I often wonder where they come from and where they go!  Another DEAR we have is Zander.  He is so much a part of our family.  And he is so cute!  I have to take cute pictures now and then and send them to his mom at work.  He is also a climber now!  He has all of us wrapped around his little finger.  And he is in his element if he gets past my barriers and finds the DVD shelves!  Here are just a FEW of the latest Deer and Dear pictures we have.  

An evening with Kimberly Smith...

I was finally actually able to meet Kimberly Jo Smith and her son Bryan Davis in PERSON!  They needed a house to do their fireside in so I volunteered mine!  It was wonderful to have them here doing their fireside and singing their songs.  It was a more intimate setting and I enjoyed it even more than the one I went to at the chapel last year.  I had just read her book (which I had never heard of and was just given to me by my in-laws) and was so excited to know she was doing one of her firesides close to my home.  Now it's a year later and she was IN my home doing her presentation.  It was lovely!  I wish more people would have come.  But those that were here really enjoyed it.  Her story is amazing...growing up the great-great granddaughter of Joseph and Emma Smith and not even knowing who they were or what they did!  She is the same age as me.  I can't imagine growing up and not knowing my heritage.  It was her drive to know her heritage (and constant inspiration from the Holy Ghost) that led her to the truth.  Our niece Jenny McKinney has made friends with Kimberly and Bryan and she arranged this fireside.  I was so grateful to meet them in person and hear their story again.  She is moving back to Missouri, but when she comes to Utah, she is welcome to use my home ANY TIME.  A pleasure and honor to meet the Smiths!  Now I need to meet Gracia Jones...another great-great granddaughter (or is it one great?) of Joseph and Emma.

 Our niece Jenny, Bryan Davis and Kimberly Smith (and one of Jenny's friends) in MY KITCHEN!!