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)