Introducing Mr and Mrs Jeffrey Boudrero

Becky and Jeff were married on September 19th in the Portland LDS Temple. It had been sunny all week and even the day before we had temps in the 80's. So for sure it had to be nice on Saturday, right? Well not so. We woke up to rain and cloudy skies. I must admit I was bummed. We had a tent outside and a reception to be held that evening. It didn't help that once we got to the Temple we found that there was a power outage and the Temple was working on back up generators...moving Becky and Jeff's sealing from Noon to 1pm. As I set there and watched Jeff and Becky go over to the records dept of the Temple and watch the worker hand write ( old school) everything about the 2 of them a peaceful and wonderful feeling came over me. Even though the lights were out Becky and Jeff were where they should be and they were and marrying in the Temple. The only room in the Temple that had FULL light was the Bride's room. As one Temple worker put it..."we have to make sure the Bride looks beautiful no matter if there is a power outage or not."
It was great to have family and friends be there for this special day. The sealing room had some light due to the power generators but it was a dimmer light that normal. In a way it made it all the more romantic and special. Obviously a day that neither Jeff or Becky will forget or those that were there could forget either. Vickie and OJ Hansen were able to be there for the sealing..it was special to have them there. Vickie and OJ and I go WAY back to the days of Bradford when I was 13 and investigating the Church. Vickie was at one point my seminary/Sunday school teacher and OJ was my Branch President. Vickie, aka "Yen ta" introduced Wes and I in the Fall of 1982. Several of Becky's Young Women leaders were also able to make it there...Marianne Thelin, Jennifer Thompson, Teri Lloyd and Jane Bleak. We also had members of Wes' family (we were sorry that Shelly was ill and couldn't make it)as well as Jeff's family in attendance as well.
Once the sealing was over and we headed outside for photos the skies seemed to have magically turned blue and the sun shone. As a matter of fact it stayed that way the rest of the day! What a blessing...a answer to MANY prayers!!
Jeff's family took every one out to a relaxing dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was nice to sit and visit and enjoy family and friends.
The reception here in Oregon went well..Becky was a beautiful bride and Jeff a handsome groom. They sure love each other a lot and Jeff treats Becky like gold. This was definitely one of those "spiritual paydays" that I have heard many speak of before. What a blessing for the 2 of them and how thankful I was that I could share in it.

After the reception here both Jeff and Becky headed off to British Columbia for a 5 day Honeymoon. They had a great time. Wes and I along with Bethany, Robbie and Bryan headed down to Layton Utah for an open house at the Boudrero home on the 26th. Here are a few photos from that day.

Elder Whitnah is loving Langen

Sean has been on his mission now for 9 months. Wow the time flies. He has been in his 3rd area for a month now. It is the city of Langen. Not quite as large as Dusseldorf and he's glad for that. The nice part about being in Langen is that he is close to the Frankfurt Temple. He had an opportunity with his Distrikt to attend the Temple last Tuesday. Sean thought it was great to hear the endowment in German. His German is coming along well and nearly all the time now the Germans can understand what he is saying. Which is great!
The Berlin Mission, where Becky served, is the highest baptizing mission in Germany as well as Europe. Sean has not had as much success thus far in having people show great interest but he is working his heart out to share the Gospel. He said recently in one of emails that his President told them at a Zone Konference that they needed to do things like the Berlin Mission was doing...he smiled and remembered some of the things Becky had told him about Berlin. Sean was surprised to see this piano in the Branch in Langen...pretty nice :) I am sure he has had chances to tickle the keys while there.
Here is his Distrikt at the Temple last week.
Sean said the Frankfurt Temple will be closed next Spring for renovation and he is glad to be able to attend it right now since he won't have a chance after that.

Where were you that September Morning not so long ago?

It has been 8 years since 9/11. A day that changed America forever. I had woken up early and went up to my oldest daughters room and ended up falling asleep on the spare bed in her room. The radio came on near 6am talking about a plane that had accidently flown into one of the WTC towers. Katie Couric of the Today show was talking and wondering how this pilot was doing and those on his plane as well as worrying about the tower. At that point I too thought...what a horrible accident. Then I heard as both Matt Lauer and Katie Couric reported another plane flying toward the other WTC tower...then I knew just as every American knew that the United States was under attack. This was not an accident but intentional. Those horrible people, even they can be called people that did this thought they could destroy Amercia. They thought they would bring this great nation down. What they didn't realize was that America is a land where people love and support one another. Especially when times are hard. 9/11, as horrible as it was brought our country closer. What still amazes me to this day is the number of those killed. Not that any life should be considered less than anothers but that many more could of and should of been killed that day. For some reason cars didn't start. Subway trains were late. People woke up sick or cancelled meetings to the WTC. My 2 cousins were ones that cancelled meeting there. One cousin in particuler had a meeting every Tuesday around 10AM. He decided the night before to cancel it. Many more could have been taken. The planes were not even full all the way. Even in all this horrible times there were amazing miracles and tender mercies displayed.

3 weeks till Becky and Jeffs' wedding

In 3 weeks from Saturday Becky will be married. It's an exciting time for her and our family and Jeff and his family. I just had to post these pictures that were taken of them. I thought they turned out really well. A friend of Becky's took the pictures and this girls' family owns a scrapbook company in Utah so they will make the invitations as a wedding gift for Becky and Jeff. That sure helps!
As usual Becky is pretty organized and hopefully her day will go well without a hitch. She has had her colors picked (lime green, black and white) since June, her wedding dress has been purchased and things are set for the Temple and the reception to follow later in the day.
I am hoping for nice weather. Septembers in Portland Oregon are never always predictable. Sometimes it can rain the whole month while other years it is dry and hot. I'll take dry, even if it isn't that sunny. The world is ahead of them and so much awaits them both.

Pennsylvania and Ohio : Family Vacation 2009

I am still jet lagging and feeling a bit sluggish after a 2 week trip to Pennsylvania and Ohio. I had my class reunion this year and was hoping to find nice airfare to go and $198 RT sure made it a great deal! Once we had that taken care of we decided places we wanted to go and see and visit. Hershey Park was one of them and Bryan couldn't wait to go there. A few weeks prior to leaving Becky opted to come with us. It was great to have her along. Her last trip as a "single chick". Hershey has grown a lot since the last time we were there but it's a fun place to go and on warm sunny days you can still smell chocolate in the air :)
It was a great day at Hershey..temps in the mid 80's with very low humidity..we went on nearly every roller coaster as well as as other rides at the park. By the end of the day our feet were sore and ready for a soak.




After Hershey we decided to head off to Ohio. We had always wanted to visit Kirtland and see the Church History sites there as well as make a trip to Cedar Point. Cedar Point is a place Wes has wanted to go each time we have gone back East but we never fit it in before. We visited with one of Becky's former roommates, Mollie Weisman (who we found out is actually a cousin after some genealogy ties) and Mollie's family. We attended Church at the Kirtland Ward that is real close to the sites as well as the historic Kirtland Temple.




I really had wanted to take photos inside the Temple but that is not allowed. It is interesting how the Temple is talked about by those who guide you through it. They are not LDS and to them the significance of the Temple is merely treated as "history". As I set there and tried to imagine what Joseph Smith talks about in the D&C as he and Sidney Rigeon are visited by Heavenly Messengers including Jesus Christ it was really amazing..yet the Spirit is not there really. You can feel it strong on the property that the Church as restored and owns.


On Monday we were off to Cedar Point..the land of roller coasters. Another hot and muggy day but once again we made the most of it. It was great having Mollie along since she is from Ohio.



After Ohio we headed back to Pennsylvania for an 8 day visit with my parents and family and extended family as well as family reunions. We only had 1 day where it rained..that was pretty lucky. the 15th of August was Becky's 25th birthday. We had a cake for all the those who had birthdays that month. My brother in laws Mike and Jack, Becky and my nephew Matt. I can't believe I have a 25 year old! Mom made sure that we took a picture of my sister Mary with Becky and with Mom. Becky is 25, Mary is 50 and my Mom is 75. We had our family get together at Bingham. This is a small village where my Mom grew up. There is still an outhouse on the property and no running water. Mom has kept this property since her parents died and it has been a great place for family gatherings and get togethers.









After the family reunion I headed off to Bradford to attend my High School reunion. It was great to see so many that I had not seen in SO long. I had hoped that some of the people I went to school with would be there but they didn't make it..too bad, we all had a fun time. The school I attended only had 47 graduates and of those 21 were in attendance. Many that I knew since first grade. It was a great night.




It was great to be back in my hometown for a while. I hadn't been there since 2005 and with my Dad just coming out of surgery it was nice to be closer to him for a while. You really learn to appreciate your family a ton more when you are farther away from them. Tears are always shed as we hug and kiss good bye with hopes that it won't be another 4 years till we all see each other once again.