Family Ties...

Anyone who reads these posts will know the kids and I have been doing quite a bit of traveling this summer. We've been to Springville, Logan and Vernal, UT, Pocatello, Rexburg and Ashton, ID and, more recently, to Steamboat, CO.

Each of these trips have provided us with numerous opportunities to create, strengthen and maintain relationships with our family and friends. Our trip, this past week, to Steamboat was, by far, my favorite trip of all. The trip was planned by my sister-in-law so they could baptize their son. They had actually planned a trip to Hawaii, but it fell through when their airline went bankrupt. In order to continue with plans for the baptism, they chose a location closer to home, but far enough out of state to provide a variety of activities for those who were able to attend.

Steamboat Springs is about a six hour drive (more or less, depending on potty/food/stretching/gas fill-up breaks). That is a rather daunting trip to take on, especially when traveling with children (and we had those in abundance)! The trip was planned from Monday through Friday, which meant each family would be required to take off some work and extracurricular activities would be neglected.

This brings me to the purpose for this post: In spite of what each family would be required to give up, there was a stupendous turn out. This little boy had 30 members of his family, immediate and extended, at his baptism. Most drove the 340 miles, some flew over 2,000 miles, to be there.

This is the family sitting on the bank of the river where he was baptized.

How awesome is it to have family, friends and neighbors you can always count on? What would we do without those people closest to us? How much more fulfilled are our lives because of the people in them?

I am so grateful to have married into a family, and to come from a family, of strong, loving individuals who look out for and support one another. My life is what it is because of the people in it. I have been surrounded by good, honest, hard working individuals who have inspired and uplifted me. They have helped mold me into the daughter, friend, wife and mother I am today. I only hope I can give back, or pay forward, the great abundance I have been given because of my family ties...