Thursday, June 21, 2012

Hey Sparky!



We got our first week of zone conferences out of the way and then
we had a nice break with some wonderful visitors.  The Sparks
and Tanner Lemmon.
Meet our dear friends, Kerry, Tami and Tanner
Chris and I have known Tami for a long, long time and it is evident of
her friendship to take time out of their family vacation and spend
 some of it with us here in Canada.
I was so excited, I could hardly stand it.
We had such a great visit, we played games (I even beat Tanner
at speed, once), ate some yummy food (they cooked for us as much
as I cooked for them) and saw some of Edmonton.  We caught up
on lives back home, shared lots of laughs and shed a few tears.
It was beyond wonderful.
We all did a session in the Edmonton Temple.  It was very nice.
Kerry and Tami in our infamous temple stairs pose.
Then they took a picture of us.
Then a sweet couple offered to take a picture of the four of us.
It was all just grand, as Tami would say.
The very next day, we drove them around to see some of the local sights, 
we went across the many bridges and downtown and to the legislature 
building, what we so fondly refer to as
"The Ledge".
We've stepped inside before, long enough to get a drink, look around
the entry and sign the book, but we've never taken the tour.
Kerry wanted to take the tour, so we all agreed.

Tanner was especially thrilled, as you can imagine a 15 year old
would be.  He only wished there were a few more waterfalls
to look at along the way. ;)  I throughly enjoyed Tanner, he is
an amazing young man and I was very much impressed.
Above is a crest, if I'd really listened and payed attention, I
could tell you what it all means.  The lion and deer mean something,
the fortis on the lower left means stronger and the ET in the
middle, I think stands for the Edmonton Temple.  Pretty sure.
These are the doors that lead into something, I think its
where they meet to make laws and do their legislating stuff.
Beautiful wood work and marble.  As in any capital building they
brought in the best materials from all around the world.  Amazing.
They took us up into the loft area of the room and this was our
view from the other side.  Breathtaking stained glass.
These are the flags representing the areas of Alberta that participate here.
This was our sweet little tour guide pictured with Tami,
she really knew her stuff, we could ask her anything.
In fact, we had several questions, one of them being,
What is the queen's last name?  Have you ever thought about it?
They always refer to the royal family by title and first name.
Queen Elizabeth, William and Kate, Charles and Diane.
Elizabeth what?  William and Kate what?
Well her answer surprised us, they really don't have a last name,
the queen doesn't need one she said, everyone knows who she is.
True that, now you know.  It's simply Will and Kate.

Our time was short, but we tried to make the best of it.  We took them
to the mall so they could take in the grandness, then we deposited them
at the water park and let them play for a few hours.  We didn't feel like
we wanted to get in their way so we chose not to go, which was totally 
fine, we've been able to go with our family.  They took us to dinner one night
and cooked us Sunday dinner too, I've never felt so taken care of and relaxed.
We already had a assignment to speak in church, so they went with us and
met two of our fine missionaries.  They even found people in common
with one of the elders.  It was fun to have their support.  We are usually,
well always on our own.  It was nice to see familiar smiling faces in the 
audience.

After a few short days of playing, seeing, doing, eating, sharing
and just feeling loved, they were on their way.  Back home to Utah.
Thank you Kerry, Tami and Tanner for being such great people.
(Tami calls Kerry "sparky" hence the post title)

2 comments:

  1. That is interesting about the Queen...I still think she would need some kind of last name. Hmmm. I am so glad that they could come visit you! What great friends!

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  2. Oh we had such a good time. It was so good for us too. a little selfish on our part as we took you away from your missionaries, but we also wanted Tanner to see how mission life from the perspective of the mission president and wife go.. It was fabulous and though he probably won't appreciate the full extent of the visit now I think when he heads out to his own mission home he might feel a little bit more comfortable about the whole process. See blessings just keep coming from our friendship. Heather the Queens last name I quess could be from the house of winsor, though her husbands last name is Mt batton (probably not spelled correctly) Loved our trip to Canada was the high point of our whole year.Thanks again for letting us come. Can't wait til you get back home.

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