Ani, the ancient city.

James and his family were living in Erzurum, Turkey while he taught English at Atiturk University.  We had the opportunity to visit him there for a week or so.  What an amazing experience, not only for the things we saw, but especially for the people we met. 

These young ladies were students in James' class, dressed in the traditional fashon of the Muslim women.  They were some of the most warm people we have ever met.  

This is one of James' classes, and they were celebrating James' birthday.  They surprised him when he walked into the class.  They sure seemed to like him.

The young man here and I really connected.  He is actually from Iran, but studying there.  He is one of the most intelligent young men I have ever met.  His English was very good.  His name is Mortesa.  These people in Turkey were so very warm and inviting, something I would not have supposed given what I hear in the news media about the Islamic People.  It was just a great privilege to get to know these people.  Some of the student in James' class came from Georgia, Armenia,and other surrounding countries.  

These are the ruins of the ancient city of Ani.  Itt was founded in the fourth century before Christ, and was so much fun to walk through.  This is the gate through which we went in. 

These are the ruins of an ancient temple, I would suppose.  There were pillars and other decorative things lying around.  We were able to simply walk around among the ruins. 

My guess would be that this was once a chapel of other religious building.  It was towards the center of the city.

Looking across the river we could see caves, as those above which I would believe people lived in also.  Actually those caves are in the country of Armenia, which is across the river from Ani.  

This is the front of the gate to the city.  These parts were quite well preserved,   I have to believe there has been a lot of cosmetic help provided.  

This, again, is the gate looking to the right.  

I can never get enough of seeing these "really old" things.

 I will forever be indebted to James and Brit for their hospitality.

KATE'S BLESSING

Kate's Blessing

This is the entire Flammer Family at the blessing of Shelly and Jen's newborn daughter, Kate.  What a great experience to have everyone in the family together.  There are very few things this wonderful.

Of course if there is a get-together, there is food as well.  Everyone contributed and gluttony was encouraged.  I certainly did my part.

Here sits the mothers holding the five babies born during our mission experience.  We just have to say there is little in this life that brings the joy and happiness of being will everyone in our family.  What a blessing that is.

We never grow tired of holding these grandchildren  Shauna has Paxton, Rob and Trish's boy, Kate, Shelly and Jens', and Brooklyn, Kyle and Cassie's boy.  I have T.J. (Thomas James), James and Britt's  and Zac, Mike and Lauretta's.

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Did I mention we had food? 

Here are the "three amiga's holding Kate.  They are Avery, Rob and Trish's daughter, Samantha, Mike and Lauretta's, and Alissa, Jeff and Ikumi's.  

Before going home we went to the MTC to meet with the people who were taking our place.  These are Elder and Sister Brown, who were leaving the next day to go over to Sopron.  We were blessed to be able to stay with them when we returned to Sopron in April.  What a great couple.  

It was WONDERFUL to visit those wonderful people in Sopron again.  How we love them.

Arizona Nelson Family

Our trip to Flagstaff Arizona to the Nelson family reunion.  .

We picked up Shelly, Emily and Kate in Salt Lake City to take down with us.  Our first significant stop was in Kanab for a break.  It took us a little over eight hours to get this far and we had about another four hours yet to go. 

The girls needed a break, but no more than the rest of us did. There was a nice park we ate in and then we we walked around.  It was pretty.

The Reunion was hosted by Glen, Shauna's nephew's ranch a little west of Flagstaff Arizona.  It was very pretty there among the pines in Northern Arizona. 

There is a big building with a kitchen, large game room, and several bedrooms around the place.  Shauna and I stayed in Glen's main house.

The big room had several tables we could sit around the visit, eat, or whatever.  The younger people played some games around these tables.  

They had a big kitchen in the great room where we were able to prepare the meals.  I must say we did eat well there.

This is the building where we held all the activities.  Most of the above pictures were taken in this building. 

This house was next to the "lodge" and there were several people who slept there, Shelly and her two girls being three of them.

Adele, Neal and Sally's oldest daughter did some activities with the younger children.

Emily took a special interest in the shuffle board game.

Probably the highlight of the reunion was the annual dance created by Rhonda and performed by her, Kathy and Shauna,  It is a reunion tradition.

On the way home we stopped at Jacob's Lake, not far from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  This is a very pretty area with, as you can see, a lot of pine trees.

It was a lot of fun to see everyone again, and we express our appreciation to Glen and Sue for hosting the reunion.