Families are forever and I'm glad they are.

The end of a college semester always brings with it some notable events. This year's events were 2 Miller family grandsons and grandson-in-law graduating from BYU and 2 Miller family grandchildren getting married. I love my large family of siblings and my large family of children.  I feel like my team, people who have my back, is full and strong. Some of the challenges of a large team, however, are that having a lot of people means having a lot of schedule conflicts. People live in far away places, so no one expects everyone to come to every event, but those that make it are rewarded with being part of important memories.

 Mobilizing a large group can be arduous as we try and decide where we should eat and then wait for everyone to alternately realize that they need to go to the bathroom, or they forgot an item or need to pick up something or someone on the way. Travelling in a convoy means someone's going to get dropped at a light or an exit. And we just have to plan for the fact that some in our family are spatially challenged (me) and will spend at least part of the time being lost.  This occurrence has been diminished, however, by our best friend, Garmin. These are the human factors, but like a vein of gold threading through the temporal was the divine.

The whole time I was in UT with these humans I'm related to, I felt the "God loves us and isn't far away" feeling. I found tears escaping at the slightest tender gesture and sometimes just the beautiful sight of people that are mine. This was explained when I heard this wise counsel, "The spirit of Elijah is recognizing the divinity in families.

Joseph F. Smith said, "There can be no genuine happiness separate and apart from the home, and every effort made to sanctify and preserve its influence is uplifting to those who toil and sacrifice for its establishment. There is no happiness without service and there is no greater service than that which converts the home into a divine institution, and which promotes and preserves family life."

I was blessed to spend two of my days with my parents in Manti. They live in a house that my father bought from my Grandpa. It sits on 5 acres at the mouth of the canyon. My mom decorates and beautifies and preserves memories and my dad gardens and tends to his chickens and paints in his cellar and carves images on the dead trees in the yard. They also sacrifice and care for each other and establish happiness in their home. My dad is on dialysis 4 days a week.  He receives this treatment hooked up to a machine in his bedroom. Mom is now his nurse. She changes his dressing, makes sure every instruction is followed and tells my Dad to be careful. My heart melted when I saw Mom tenderly caring for Dad. My heart melted again when I saw that Dad, the patient, had gotten up early to prepare and bring his sweetheart breakfast in bed.

And then it was "Happy Mother's Day" to me when I watched my sons with their baby girls. When I saw Jacob with Isla, I asked him if I could hold her. He said, "No." It took me by surprise. My sweet daughter-in-law explained., "Of course you can hold her. He's just not very good at sharing." A son that loves to be with his baby all the time? I love it.

Aaron's wife has a tradition of going to "BYU Women's Conference" with her mom every year. I think it's a lovely tradition. The tricky part was that Women's Conference was on the same day as my niece's sealing in  the Salt Lake Temple. Aaron's response was, "Spend the day with my baby girl driving up to SLC and hanging out with family on temple square? Easy." I have to admit I was impressed as I observed him managing baby, stroller, diaper bag, food, diaper changes and conversation with relatives like a champ.

And guess who was at the temple? More family! It's hard to describe how a heart feels when it encounters loved ones it hasn't been with for a while. I love those dear faces of nieces and nephews I've known since they were born, coming home from missions, finishing college, returning after marriage and parenthood, growing up overnight and becoming some excellent citizens. As we all know, one of the best parts of life is coming home and this was coming home.

And then two wonderful people were sealed in the temple of our God for time and all eternity.  Thank you, Amanda and Ben for letting us witness your happiness and love.

The fun wasn't over. We took the party north a couple hours to our next rockin' venue- more sisters, more nieces and nephews. I thought I was going to help, but the Christensens had things well in hand. A perfect menu was planned with a perfect strategy in place. The husbands played with the well-behaved children as everything came together beautifully. There was even time for a relaxing game in the backyard.  All that cheerfulness and calm attitude was so foreign to me.  I thought I should start having a hissy fit so they could experience virtually what a proper day before a wedding should be like.

And then the next wedding happened with all the lovely cherished souls in attendance and then it was time to return to my home to see my husband and little ones. My life is blessed to be sure, and as an added bonus, my journey to see family included detours that reunited me with dear friends. Heavenly Father is kind.