Father's day

Father's Day Weekend was filled with motorcycles, a concert..and finally a gathering with some of our favorite fathers.   Monson and Wayne got matching hats... ad Wayne cooked up some amazing teryaki, smoked chicken.  

We finally got to see Landon's family - their Covid quarantine is over.

_______________________

A few more June Happenings....We got together with our old YSA bishopric for food, fun , laughs and catch up...

The Batemans, The Watsons, Wayne and I, The Harrises

AND...

We were able to participate in the silver Jubilee..the 25th year anniversary of when our beloved friends the Edgar's got sealed in the Temple.  They invited us to do sealings with them.  

Bob Edgar, Lexi, Dani, Connor, Kira Anjawierden Edgar, Me and Wayne.  (There mom Laura is in the UK studying at Oxford) 

Garth Brooks Concert

Monson, Lexi, Wayne and I went to the Garth Brooks concert along with 50,000+ people at the Rice Eccles Stadium.  Monson gave Lexi these tix for her birthday because she’s a country music girl…and she knew almost every word to every song Garth sang… and then when Trisha Yearwood came out and sang 3 more songs with him…she was in HEAVEN! 

We are so grateful for Laura Belnap getting us these tix... The Belnaps were there as well, a few rows behind us. Wayne can still photobomb even from that far away.

It really was so fun.  I love these type of experiences  of shared humanity.. All singing our guts out to “Dance” or “Unanswered Prayers”  or “Shallow.”  It’s really a beautiful thing. And Garth knows how to entertain!  We had seats on the floor - 15 rows back..and it was just amazing. 

Windy Motorcycle weekend

 Motorcycle overnighter with the Butters, Haskells and Winslows.  

Wayne and I had a WINDY motorcycle overnighter Friday into Saturday.  Brad and Karen put it together with some of their friends, The Winslows and the Haskells.  We rode up through Evanston, over the backway into Idaho and Montpeiler then down the west side of Bear Lake.. Logan canyon  and then a hotel stay in Logan and going to the Logan Arts Festival.  We talked a lot and played fun card games… then Saturday back up logan canyon to Bear Lake over into Randolph and down Monte Cristo into Huntsville.  It was fun and did I mention how WINDY it was?  25 mph winds are NO BUENO.  It really was quite dangerous..and we felt the wind and almost tipped a time or two… Good Thing Wayne is an experienced Motorcyle driver.  

My Dad...

 

My Dad at Rachel Cole's wedding... 

My dad turned his back on the LDS church and Christianity when he graduated from high school, left his small, farm town of Fairview, Idaho and went to the University of Idaho in Boise on a boxing scholarship.   

It broke his widowed mother’s heart.   

Dad “sowed some wild oats” as they say. 

Dad joined the army and served in the Korean War for a time and while there he was befriended by an LDS guy who reminded him that he was a child of God. 

Dad went back home, got a mission call at age 25 and served in the Southern states mission traveling and teaching  with Elder Harold B. Lee, then off to BYU where he met and married my mom in 1959.  

Once dad was truly converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ he never looked back.  

It’s good for me to remember this.  For me to know that my dad had a faith-crisis-journey just like me. Just like so many of us.  

Dad didn’t talk much about his 6 + years away from God,   he really focused on  his God-years instead because they were so much richer filled with more faith, obedience, love and connection.      

I was blessed with a kind, Christ-like  father who enriched our family’s life for decades. He bore testimony of Jesus Christ til his last breath and I love this about him.   

Our Rainbow Party

We had our family Rainbow party! I know the kids really look forward to this and so do I .  We wore our colorful Rainbow clothes, ate colorful food.. I shared a book about YOU Be YOU…wanting my littles to remember to be the  Alfiest Alfie that ever Alfied, and the Taylaist Tayla…the Poppyest Poppy...etc….  Understanding that difference is good, that we don’t need to judge but just love. 

We  had a find the Color - and take a picture scavenger hunt..then off to the Butters Pool for a fun night swim.  This is a good tradition.  We totally missed the Buzelli’s  and Truman.  Landon got Coid - so they are all in quarantine and Tru wasn’t feeling well either.   So it was an ALLY party.

 

Summer starts

Alfie, Andrew, Sophia, George, Melinda, Lady, Poppy and Tayla.

First Family Swim... at Jill Allsop's pool.  We are so grateful to have her for our beloved neighbor.

All the kids loved jumping off the diving board over and over again.

Motorcycle with Brad and Karen, Angela and Guy and Shelly and Dan George.  It was a glorious day up over Alpine Loop then through Oakley and a stop at Coalville for lunch..

Dinner with our YSA Bishopric.  Mark and Terri Bateman, Ron and Jo Watson and Jeanette and Mark Harris.   We ate Lasagna and salad and laughed a ton.

Trans thoughts....

 There are some "funny" memes and gifs going around about Identifying as a pirate or identifying as a lawyer ... making fun of trans people and other LGBTQ souls.  (And  these are good Christian people sharing these over and over.) 

Where's the compassion?  Where's the Christ like love?   

IT's not funny... and if they ( who ever they are?)  ever sat and talked to my friend Jaime or  my friend's daughter B,  or spent some time with  one of our old YSA's- B.  They would know how difficult this choice - this crucible truly is.    

Wayne finally got tired of it and this is his reply:   

.  Ok - I hope this comes across in the spirit of love that is intended. I know of no finer group of men collectively and individually than the BBB’s. You each have qualities and attributes that I can only hope to someday achieve - and I mean that in all sincerity. 

I think it is very easy to take a super complex and nuanced issue like being transgender and oversimplify it with short anecdotes and analogies. Having met with and counseled a few transgender individuals let me suggest a few things that are very easy for us to overlook. 

The pirate analogy is not anything like feeling like you were born in t he wrong body. When we were young and wanted to be pirates, we were not afraid to let our parents know about it. We didn’t feel broken or scared or wonder how we fit into the great eternal plan. We didn’t have suicide ideation because we had this desire to be a pirate. 

Almost all Transgender individuals do not grow up thinking it would be so cool to be the other gender. They fight and wrestle with it for years alone, isolated and in the dark. The vast majority of parents and adults would not suggest and encourage that someone with those feelings should do anything surgical and permanent about it until they are old enough (an adult) to make that kind of decision, regardless of what the media would have you believe. 

My hope is that (and I’m not suggesting that you are not all this way already) is that we can follow the words of Thomas Monson's favorite poems. 

I have wept in the night

For the shortness of sight 

That to somebody’s need made me blind.

But I never have yet

Felt a tinge of regret

For being a little too kind

On Melinda’s dad's grave marker we inscribed the words “He was kind”. I can think of no greater tribute. 

______________

I'm always proud of my Wayne.   

It's not easy sticking up for the marginalized......but it's what we as followers of Jesus are called to do.  

Hayden gets Married

Jordan, ( Drew, Carson, Jacob), Laurie, Ryan, Laura, Hayden, Andrea, Gary, Nelson, Grandma Mary and Megan Call.

Hayden and Laura’s wedding weekend was excellent.  So much family time and many family ties and we just felt all of the feelings.  They had their reception on Friday night up in Uintah.. And then the Bountiful temple and a luncheon  at the Joseph Smith building. It was good to be in the temple and look around at Gary, and nieces and nephews and my own Monson and Lexi’s faces.  Marcie’s momma spirit was so strong.  We all felt her. We were sobbing..not just pretty tears, but gulpy, can’t keep it together tears.  Hayden started it and we all followed.  I gave him a congratulations hug, and then he grabbed me really tight and said, "I just need to hug my mom."

I am so happy for Him.  Hayden found a wonderful, kind hearted, supportive person in Laura.  Exactly what Marcie pictured for him.   

Gary, Guy, Angela, Hayden, Laura, Melinda, Wayne, Christine, Adam, Al and Liz.

Going to the Joseph Building aka The Hotel Utah was fun. Megan made Marcie's famous chocolate dipped heart cookies on a sucker stick. Gary reminded all of us of the Cole family joke/promise my parents made to us when we were growing up that if we could go a month without someone spilling water at the dinner table we could go to the Hotel Utah for a nice dinner.  We spilled water A LOT.  Every time it happened we would holler, “Hotel Utah”  and our month would reset.   We never made it.  But with Hayden’s wedding we were all finally there.  

Bre, Addison, Laura, Hayden, Lexi, Monson and Landon

Laila, Hayden and Laura

_________________________________________

Grandma Welch and Laila

 

I wear a lot of rings… My wedding ring, my 30th anniversary ring, my “W” family ring and my rainbow ring to show love, support and allyship with a group of GOD’s children who have long been pushed to the edges of our society.   ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎If just one person sees it and feels less alone.. then it’s worth it.  My hands may show my age, but my rings show my heart. 

More RING stories……. By sharing my ring pic I got a lost family ring returned!!

Wayne and I designed rings for our family in 1998. We got two gold ones for us and made silver ones for our little boys growing fingers. We haven’t known where Wayne’s ring is since 2010.

After posting yesterday I got a DM stating Elizabeth Wood. had found a gold W ring at the old Rogers Memorial Theatre parking lot and had turned it in to the lost and found. When the theatre moved they returned it back to her. She’s kept it for years and was shocked when this same ring appeared in my story. Miracles happen. I can’t believe Wayne is getting his ring back.

The ring is a W for Welch in a shield. The shield represents family. There are 6 sides because at the time there were 6 of us ( Laila wasn’t born yet). The band is a piano keyboard. Our family motto is “Harmony” so the piano represents that.

Harmony stands for Home, Attitude, Respect,

Maximize talents, Obedience, No guts no glory ( try things) and Yippee yahoo abba dabba do ( have fun). The little boys - at the time- helped come up with what the letters represented.

Meema Day

 Our first summer MeeMa day was at the Bountiful Chalk Art  Festival.  

When we got too hot we cooled off in the shady grass.

Alfie, Tayla, Poppy, Lady and Elsie all loved walking around to see the fun chalk pictures, and Alfie and tayla espceially loves drawing their own picture.  Alfie was determined to draw a a big dinosaur.  He got bloody fingers while rubbing in the colors on the jagged cement.    

We all went for Slurpee's and popcorn after.  

This colorful Cheetah was the kids favorite!