Family Reunion TIME! Banning Mills, June 27-30, 2011

Ten cabins, ten welcome signs to Banning Mills. It's Family Reunion TIME!

Poppy TIME and lollipop TIME


TIME for loving.....

.....and TIME for getting dirty

TIME for exploring....

.....and TIME for just rockin'

TIME for pool fun....

.....and TIME for volleyball competition

Zumba TIME

Talent TIME

DinnerTIME!

TIME to soar on the ziplines

Seth and Julie

Gary and Becky, Poppy and Grandma B

Beau and Amy

Jordan, Amanda, Jonah, with Annabel tucked inside

Jake and Emily, Cooper, Ethan, Luke

Christian and Rebecca with Amelia and Oliver

Jason and Claire, Ella, Lincoln, Q with Charlotte tucked away

On the Rocks!

Our favorite little people in all the world!

We had a GRAND TIME...all 50 of us!

May From Beginning to End

On the very first day of May, we are in line for the Atlanta Temple Re-Dedication. Josh, Dagmar, Gary, Jason, Jordan, Amanda and Claire all in the picture. Moroni is there, too! It was a wonderful and memorable experience...

Gary helping at our Ward Day of Service for Padgett United Methodist Cemetery

A belated birthday present for Gary - dinner at a hibachi restaurant. Dagmar, Espen, Lili, Sofi, Jasper, Josh, Becky and Gary. It was 'flaming' fun and good!

Julie and Seth in Hawaii, island of Oahu

Julie in front of the Hawaiian Temple

Dave and Jessica leaving for Israel at the Los Angeles airport. Poppy and Grandma Becky got Hannah all to ourselves along with her brothers and sisters while they were gone!

Mother's Day in California. The grandkids crowned me Queen for the Day, Gary and Beau cooked and cleaned, and Lara (Amy's sister) and her husband/children joined us for dinner. Happy day! I love being a mom and a grand-mom!

Izzy in all her glamour had her mom send me this on Mother's Day.

The Nerds, Jim and Emma, knew I would love this photo!

And here is Mamie Jane fisting her wishes. Photos are perfect gifts!

Here's Moroni again - on top of the Los Angeles Temple this time.

Jana and I met up with Beau, who lives just a few blocks from the temple. We did a temple session then Beau gave us a tour of his neighborhood, apartment (loved it), work office, famous Hollywood theaters, and finally dinner, finished off with the best bargain in West Los Angeles: a big scoop of ice cream sandwiched between two personally selected cookies and all for $1.50!

And here's the menu to prove it: 'Sandwich Cookies, $1.50! Very popular destination for the UCLA students, and for me! I'll be back...

We definitely splurged with these ice-cream sandwiches! Jana took over babysitting duties half way through Jessica and Dave's absence. She is definitely a 'one-in-a-million' great-aunt to the Sedgwick kids.

Claire and Jason, Billy Allred and his wife, Alli, ready to leave for Spain. Grandma Becky and Poppy got grandkids (Ella, Lincoln, Quincy) all to themselves again! We have definitely lucked out in May with getting better acquainted with some of our amazing grandkids.

Some of the fun things we got to do while Claire and Jason were gone: Attend Ella's kindergarten graduation.

Watching Ella bid farewell to Orrs Elementary. She'll be going to school in Augusta, GA for the next four years.

We got to cheer Lincoln on at his pre-school graduation. He is reciting, with excellence, his part in the program.

A hug and congratulations from big sister, Ella, who was all dressed up in her flamenco costume.
Sweet 'Q' thought Grandma Becky did just fine as his mommy for a while! But now that May is over, Grandma Becky is quite glad to be back just being a grandma...

April Adventures

Atlanta Temple Re-Dedication, May 1. We were fortunate to have

tickets for the Celestial Room. President Monson presided and

Elder Ballard conducted. It was an amazing and memorable experience.

Two bum-bums....ta da da da da da! Couldn't resist posting this

picture that Dagmar shared of Espen and Jasper.

Here I am with Elvis whom I had pretty much fallen in love with for horseback riding. He had

the smoothest gait and handled so nicely. Sadly, he was a fatality of the recent tornadoes.

In Blairesville, GA at the Tea Room for lunch. Becky, Jana, and Lucile.

We stole away for a few days in the north Georgia mountains.

Becky and Lucile in the hot tub at the cabin...love the shower cap! Love the lady

wearing it even more!

Our cabin, The Sweet Retreat, and it was sweet! Jana and Lucile

Gary and I celebrated our 38th anniversary in the hills of South Carolina at the

beautiful Red Horse Inn. Gary at a covered bridge nearby.

Gary checking in at the Inn

Looking out from the Inn toward the cottages

The view from the cottages to the Inn

Our own, private, quite romantic cottage, complete with a hot tub in the back

We invited several friends and neighbors to go to the Atlanta Temple Open House

during April. We were so happy when John and Marigold Watson, our Dunwoody neighbors, wanted to go. We picked them up, toured the temple, then took them to dinner. It was

wonderful to reconnect after such a long time - we moved from Dunwoody 16+ years ago.

We also were able to take Andy and Deb Conaway another time. Deb is my wonderful friend

who has gotten me back into horseback riding. Deb loves all living creatures great and small!

2700 youth from the Atlanta Temple District, at the Prophet's request, performed in a cultural production, Southern Lights, the night before the temple-rededication.

I helped sew the costumes for our ward, and

Ella helped me deliver them!

Each stake in the temple district had an assigned day to provide all the volunteers for

the Open House. I helped take the 'booties' off the people's feet as they exited the

temple. It was fun to see the Allred's come through and take their booties off for them.

Our 2nd Annual Back Porch Barbeque. Here is Gary visiting with Reid Galli and

Jeff and Wendy Stebar. President Stebar is lead architect for the Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania Temple and had a lot of interesting stories to share.

Gary with Dorothy Galli, a dear sister in our ward.

Hickory Hill Farm on the evening of the Back Porch Barbeque

Pink Ruffle azaleas in full bloom

We had our Easter Egg Hunt on General Conference Sunday

Ella found the Golden Egg!

Cousins on the back porch checking out their egg treasures.

L to R: Jonah, Lincoln, Ella, Lilian, Sofia, and Jasper

Above: Jasper eating his treats!

Below: Wayne coaxed Koda into watching conference...