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Royal Family, November 2017
(The miracle here is having captured all the grandchildren looking at the camera) |
On our way up north where the air gets cold,
Maralea reminded me that I’m gettin’ old.
As my mind seemed to be kind of in a fog,
‘Cause I totally forgot about our Christmas blog.
It’s the time of year,
(Oooh, the family letter)
For Royal Christmas cheer.
(Oooh, the family letter)
There’s been a lot of stuff we can write about,
And I’m stressin’ ‘bout stories I may have to leave
out.
But, at least what you’ll read is absolutely true,
And you won’t have to worry ‘bout any fake news.
It’s Christmas time,
(Oooh, the family letter)
A Royal year so fine.
(Oooh, the family letter)
Merry Christmas, Royals
(Christmas blog this time each year)
(Sing this to the tune of Little St. Nick
(Beach Boys) and it may possibly make sense)
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| The amazing Royal treasure! |
As Maralea and I were en route to watch the BYU football
team lose its ninth game of the season (this time at home against a 3-7 UMass
team that BYU pummeled last season), Maralea and I had the following
conversation as I enthusiastically began telling her about a new idea:
Mike: I have a new project I’m going to get
started this weekend.
Maralea: The
Family Christmas letter?
Mike: Wait. What?
Oh man, is it already that time of year again?
Maralea: Yep.
Mike: Can
you write it this year?
Maralea: Nope.
Mike: Why?
Maralea: Because
that would be torture for me.
Mike: How
is that torture?
Maralea: You
just write the letter, and I’ll do the rest of Christmas!
Mike: *sigh* Fine.
(Ha. I actually LOVE writing the Royal
family Christmas letter/blog/report/thesis.)
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| Jordan and Ashlee: the newest Royal couple |
We have had some remarkable events this past year. Our family grew as we welcomed Ashlee into
the Royal fold with her marriage to Jordan on May 4, 2017. Jordan and Ashlee became engaged in February
2017 in Las Vegas, with Ashlee excitedly announcing the news to us as follows: “I’m
gonna be a Royal!” Their wedding in
the Oquirrh Mountain Temple was awesome.
Jordan married into the wonderfully fun loving, ever hunting Greenwood
family!
Also in 2017, the path was
marvelously paved for our grandson Royal to be adopted by his father, Craig, on
June 15, 2017. We packed the
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| Royal and Craig: Forever father/son |
courtroom
with more than 30 family members from the Royal and Friedel clans for that
glorious occasion. It was the one and
only time in my legal career when I, as an officer of the court, could hardly
speak through tears of joy. (When I
asked Kelli if having Craig become the adoptive father of Royal was in Royal’s
best interest, Kelli began to cry as she responded: “Yes.”) Royal stood next to his daddy, looking up at
him with admiration as the judge asked Craig if he was ready to become Royal’s “forever
dad.” Craig looked down at Royal and
enthusiastically replied: “Yes!”
So, while Ashlee became a Royal in 2017, Craig legally adopted a Royal
(who officially became a Friedel).
It
was, without a doubt, another Royally great year.
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| A Royally enthusiastic Adoption Day crowd! |
We had a Fourth of July reunion in Utah that included swim
fun with all the grandchildren in Lehi, and attendance at the Stadium of
Fire in Provo together for the first time.
We loved watching Beckham, Aubrey, Zoe and Royal play sports this past
year. They are all such good little
athletes. Also, Kelli coaxed me out of
retirement to coach Royal’s flag football team in the spring with Craig and
Craig’s brother, Jimmy. (It had been 10
years since I was involved in coaching - but seriously, one of the coolest
things about coaching last spring was having Royal refer to me as “Coach
Mike.")
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| Royals going Fourth to serve well in July |
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| Go Cougars!! Spring Flag Football, 2017 |
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| It's a jolly holiday with Maralea |
Maralea and I served as Greeters at the UNLV
Institute for about nine months in 2017, which consisted of Maralea preparing refreshments
for 70-90 students every Tuesday and Thursday evening while I would show up to
hang out with the youth, play ping pong, and help clean up. Maralea was close to being overwhelmed with
the weekly demands, but she quite angelically fulfilled her assignment with her
ever bright perpetual smile and cute giggle.
I continued to serve in the mission presidency while also working at the
Institute. I loved having another
opportunity to serve with Maralea as Elder and Sister Royal. We began serving together as ordinance
workers at the Las Vegas Temple in October.
After only one shift, I was abruptly released after being called to
serve in the Robindale Ward (YSA) bishopric with Bishop Michael Van and Tom
Edington. Maralea continues serving in
the temple. We both love our new
opportunities to serve.
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| Loved hanging out with the Lollar gang in Greenville, NC - Did we love the game? Nope. |
Maralea and I had season tickets to BYU football games and
followed the team around the country again this season. It was a rather forgettable year on the
Cougar gridiron (BYU’s worst finish in over 50 years). We attended away games at New Orleans (LSU),
Starkville, MS (Miss. State), Greenville, NC (ECU) and, of course, Las Vegas
(UNLV). In those four games, BYU went
1-3. (How could BYU lose to ECU and
embarrass me in front of my cousin Chuck and his family, who were cheering for
those pesky Pirates?) However, we still
managed to enjoy the season. In fact, we
love the traveling so much that the losing season was relatively painless
(well, except for losses to Utah, Utah State and Boise State . . . Fresno
State, UMass and ECU - I mean, come on . . . ).
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| Biking with Pres. and Sister Foote was Peachy |
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Picnicking in Peggy's Park with some of our
Georgia besties |
Our extended trip to the Mississippi State and ECU games
was especially awesome. In between the
mind numbing cowbell clanging Bulldog fan experience in Starkville, MS and the
Greenville, NC ECU Piratefest, we had an absolute blast! Maralea and I drove to Atlanta, GA to spend
time with President and Sister Foote (Dave and Christina), who are in their
third year presiding over the Georgia Atlanta Mission. It was our first time visiting them and
staying at the mission home. We had a
blast riding bikes through the lovely golf cart trails of Peachtree City, GA,
and enjoyed seeing President and Sister Foote in action. We got to spend time with our eternal
friends, Evelyn and Michael Warren, and visit their growing beautiful family,
basking in the love joy of seeing how the gospel seed planted in Evelyn’s heart
back in December 1979 has expanded to four generations. We always cherish spending time with Evelyn’s
wonderful family. We then drove to
Myrtle Beach, SC, to stay there for a couple days in Mom’s honor. Mom and Dad had gone to Myrtle Beach for
their honeymoon and, as I understand, Mom got sick on some carnival rides and
they had a not so great memory from all that.
Mom had wanted to return to Myrtle Beach one more time before she passed
away in May 2015, but just could not get healthy enough to do it. So, we went there and collected seashells
from the beach in Mom’s honor. We felt
her with us every step of the way.
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| Digging a moment at Surf City, NC, and proved once and for all that, contrary to Jan and Dean's representations in the early 1960's, there are not "Two girls for every boy." |
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| Just for fun, here's a picture of our Royal family at the same Surf City pier in 1962, with Grandma Cladie (Royal) in the center, Mom to the left, and Uncle Pittman by his sand rover thingy |
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| Suzanne took us on an Outer Banks sunset hike |
One of our big discoveries in October 2017 was that we have
a previously unknown cousin in Suzanne (Mills) Erskine. We learned about Suzanne a week before our
trip back east, so we were able to make arrangements to spend time with Suzanne
at her beautiful beach home on Emerald Island, NC. It was amazing to meet Suzanne and learn of
her story. The family connection we felt
upon meeting her was powerful! Suzanne
was born in 1945 under circumstances where my uncle was completely unaware of
her existence while he was serving in the military. All these years later, we have been given the
opportunity to welcome Suzanne into the Royal family. Without a doubt, it was love at first
sight. We truly loved Suzanne before
even meeting her for the first time. I
will never forget the feeling of sitting with Maralea and Suzanne on the back
porch of her Emerald Island home sharing personal stories in the darkness of
night with the sound of waves crashing on the beach. Quite remarkably, our family expanded further
in 2017 with the addition of Suzanne and her family.
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| Our little family reunion in Clayton, NC was an absolute blast! |
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A genuine southern porch picture was a must -
here with Stacy, Scott and Mackenzie |
Also as part of October 2017 trip east, Maralea and I also
got to visit Raleigh, NC, and meet with many wonderful relatives from the Royal
and Snipes side of the family, together with some of our sweet departed
mother’s dearest friends. Cousin Stacy
Pittman opened his home for a family gathering, which was a blast for us. We visited with Uncle Harry (the Guitar
Man, who 36 years ago gave me one of six Pittman guitars he made) and Aunt
Jean. Cousin Scott was present with his super
smart in math daughter McKenzie.
Others who came by include Mom’s cousin Gina Clifton. Gina was a little girl when Mom and Dad got married. She said Mom and Dad's wedding was like the prince and Cinderella that got married. Gina said:
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Loved seeing my beautiful Alabama marching
band baton twirling ace, cousin Debby |
Gina said: “They were the prettiest couple
the world has ever seen.” Gina said
she had a “very heavy crush” on Dad for many years, “even though he
married your mom - he was so handsome.”
She related a story of an occasion when Danny and I got inside a school
bus that was parked in the front yard of her home (her brother drove the bus for
school children). Gina said she was
babysitting us at the time. She was about
11 years old. Gina said that we somehow
put the bus in neutral and it started rolling.
She recalled getting on the bus in a panic and got it to stop moving. Gina said: “I don’t know how y’all did that but you done ‘bout scared me to death.” (She shared that story with so much amazing drama, I really cannot do it justice here.)
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| 1971, the last time I saw Cousin Debby |
We also met Linda Peedin, a niece of my Grandmother Snipes, Larry
Snipes, Ray Little, and Bessie Creech, along with Mom’s friends Mavorine McLeod
and Dorothy Sakow. My sweet cousin Debby
(Royal) Taylor and her husband, Manny, came by as well. (I only managed to speak with my cousin Karen
(Royal) Carr by phone because she and her family were busy moving to
Wilmington, NC, during the week of our visit, but it was nice driving past
Wilmington and waving hello from the northbound freeway. Seriously, though, we did offer to help! Right Karen?)
It was my first time speaking with many of these wonderful people in
decades - a truly amazing experience. We
felt so much love for them all and are grateful to have experienced such an
incredibly meaningful reunion.
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If the menu had shrimp and grits, we were
all over that! Here with Stacy, Harry and Jean |
Cousin Stacy took us to Mom’s childhood home in Clayton,
NC. It was much as I remember it from
the last time I was there as a 10 year old.
However, my childhood memories do not go much beyond the neighborhood
block. Mom’s school was about a block
and a half away. (The surrounding area
reminded me a movie set you might find at Universal Studios, where tourists
ride by in a tour shuttle with an explanation akin to: “And this is where
they filmed the series ‘Marie Knows Best.’”) I could picture Mom walking up the steps with
her books in hand, her hair stylishly bouncing back and fourth like Sandra Dee
as she excitedly entered to learn. (Mom
was the valedictorian of her high school class.) I gazed at the front porch of Grandma’s old
house where Danny and I used to sit in the swing watching the summer afternoon
thunderstorms that were so impressive to us.
We felt Mom all around us in Clayton, NC, and are so grateful for our loving
extended family. It is a privilege and
honor to be so connected to the Royals, Lollars, Snipes, Worleys, Pittmans,
Taylors, Carrs, Erskines, et al. We
returned home from our trip with a renewed love and appreciation for family,
and expressed gratitude to our Heavenly Father for blessing us with so many
wonderful people in our lives.
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| I decided that standing in front of things with my arms folded on our NC trip was really cool. But, it was sweet to visit the house where Mom grew up to be so incredibly wonderful. |
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| Here's a picture of Mom's childhood home in Clayton, NC, as I remember it - taken in 1962 |
Below is a little summary of how the rest of our Royal
family is doing.
Brad, Whitney, Beckham
and Zoe
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| A Royal Moana Halloween |
Brad and Whitney continue to reside with Beckham (6) and
Zoe (4) in Cedar Hills, UT. Brad is the
Vice-President of Sales at Orca Health and Whitney is in her second (and final)
year of the BYU MBA Program. Beckham and
Zoe love attending school. They both
play soccer. Beckham is enamored with
all things Hot Wheels and Zoe loves Moana. Beckham regularly beats me at Connect Four
and completely wiped us out in Settlers. (He’s definitely a gamer.) Beckham and Zoe
enjoy making musical recordings with their dad and playing with cousins. They all love the Dodgers and Whitney made it
to a World Series game. But, the 4-3
series win by the Astros made their family even more Dodger blue. Brad teaches Gospel Doctrine in his ward
while Whitney serves a Cub Scouts leader.
Their family experienced the total eclipse of the sun in Idaho on August
21, 2017, while those of us in Las Vegas were treated to clouds and rain. (We were very jealous. But, thanks to the Weather Channel we got to
see the total eclipse occur in Oregon, Wyoming, Illinois, Missouri and South
Carolina.) We got to share multiple
Cougartails and BYU Creamery ice cream with Beckham and Zoe at the BYU/UMass
game (which was way more fun than the actual game). Below are a few cute quotes from Beckham and
Zoe:
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| The Royal family in November |
Beckham (to Brad): “Can we get a palm tree? It'll remind me of Royal and the other people
I love in Las Vegas.”
Brad (to Whitney after she dyed her hair purple): “Your
ears are purple.”
Zoe (now aware of her mother’s purple ears): “Now you're
going to be a wizard!”
Beckham: “Hey Dad, sometimes when I eat soda, my nose
gets sparkley.”
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| CUTE COUSINS! Beckham and Zoe with Aubrey and Royal at Jordan/Ashlee's reception |
Craig, Kelli, Royal and
Finley
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| A family November to Remember |
Kelli and Craig moved into their first home in Las Vegas at
the conclusion of the year. Craig and
his father, Jim, did a lot of work on the home with the help of Craig’s
brothers. It looks great. Finley started walking in the summer, well
before he turned one, and is a blast to have around. Kelli now has her own little salon that Craig
and Jim built for her. (Kelli loves
doing all things hair.) Craig enjoys his
work as a trust/estate attorney for Solomon Dwiggins & Freer, Ltd., in Las
Vegas so much that he moved his family to Summerlin just to be closer to his
office. The biggest event of the year
for Craig and Kelli was Royal’s adoption, with Craig becoming his forever
dad to seal the deal. Finley’s
mobile development was also big news, quickly going from crawling to walking to
climbing so well that not even gates placed at the kitchen entrances could pin
him in.
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| Royal and Finley love gettin' all churchy |
Finley loves playing with the
Great White Shark that watches faithfully over Nana and Papa’s kitchen, which
will get him primed and ready for Shark Week 2018. (I copied over 20 Shark Week episodes
from 2017 to get us by until then.)
Royal got to attend two BYU football games this season (he was asleep by
half time at UNLV). Royal said he plans
on playing both football and basketball at BYU after serving his mission, all
to be arranged for an October return so he will be back in time for Halloween. Below is a conversation that took place as
Royal and his cousin Aubrey helped Papa put up Christmas lights over
Thanksgiving Weekend (for context, I was wearing a blue and gray BYU shirt):
Aubrey: Papa,
what’s your favorite color?
Papa: Blue
Aubrey: Do
you like, gray, too?
Royal (laughing): Yeah,
Papa. Do you like gray because your hair
is gray?
(Poor Papa gets no respect.)
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| Royal and Finley are excited to do some Costco shopping together |
David, Kambria, Aubrey
and Macie
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| The David/Kam fam |
David and Kambria enjoyed year one in their new house in
2017, now residing in Murray, UT. They
have worked hard to get everything just right and Aubrey is quick to tell
everyone entering their house: “You have to take off your shoes.” (She is relentless. I discovered that if I ignore her, Aubrey
will quickly run for reinforcements by way of her mom and dad. “Mommy, Papa isn’t taking off his shoes!” I leave them on just to watch Aubrey
panic.) Macie loves dancing to Papa’s
adapted
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| Aubrey and Macie love their new home |
version of the Beatles song “Little Child” - modified as “Little
Macie” (sung enthusiastically with a guitar, harmonica or even via Youtube
karaoke). David loves his work at
Visible Equity and is moving to an exciting new position there. He feels very blessed with his
employment. Maralea introduced Aubrey
and Macie to run hugs earlier in the year, which has become a favorite
bed time activity for us when we visit.
I love sharing smoothies with the girls.
However, Aubrey became less of a fan after I made a grapefruit
concoction and got her to enthusiastically drink it while recording on video to
preserve her priceless reaction. David
serves in the ward Young Men’s Presidency (second counselor) in their Murray
ward while Kambria is a ward missionary and Gospel Principles instructor. Aubrey prefers to be sung Fight Song
and Thunder and Lightning as Papa lullabies at bedtime, while Macie is
cool with just being rocked to sleep with Papa slowly humming his Little
Macie song. Below is a recent quote
from Aubrey:
Aubrey: I
wanna watch The Crunch
Papa: The
Crunch?
Royal: She
means The Grinch
Aubrey: No, I
don’t. The Crunch. I wanna watch The Crunch Steal Christmas.
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| Cousin time is always cray-cray play-play |
Jordan and Ashlee
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| Jordan and Ashlee - Marital Bliss Day 1 |
Jordan and Ashlee are enjoying the life of newlyweds in
their first married apartment while Jordan enters his last semester at BYU in
Provo, UT. Jordan has post graduate
plans to pursue a career in physical therapy.
Ashlee works as a supervisor in the corporate office of Bella Ella
Boutique, while Jordan is employed at Fyzical as a physical therapy
technician. Jordan achieved the family
distinction of being the first and only to win a BYU intramural championship
when his mens volleyball team worked its way through the losers bracket to lay
claim to the much desired Champions T-shirt that so eluded the rest of
us. (I was on BYU intramural teams in
three different sports that all lost their respective championship games - so,
no T-shirt for me.) Jordan and David
teamed up in a summer beach volleyball tournament. (They played well together and displayed sweet
brotherly love, which is always noteworthy.)
Jordan and Ashlee bought their first car as a couple in October.
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| The Royal couple can boogie oggie oggie |
(Yay for surviving married major
purchases!) They enjoy hiking many of
the great areas surrounding the Utah Valley and Ashlee introduced Jordan to the
Lehi Rodeo in the summer (yee-haw). One
of their most memorable adventures was camping out outside the football stadium
to get good seats for the BYU/Utah football game in September, after which
Ashlee said: “Never again!”
(Ashlee got Jordan to leave the BYU/UMass football game at half time to
go shopping at Ross. So, they are
definitely making progress in the mastery of marital compromise.) Jordan serves as an Elders Quorum instructor
in their married student ward while Ashlee serves as the Ward Music Chair. Ashlee loves to cook and Jordan loves to eat
- a perfect match!
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| Jordan and Ashlee attend their first BYU football game as Brother and Sister Royal |
Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year
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Maralea happily displays her Apple watch
as my forever Royal Valentine |
The spirit of Christmas does so much to bring warmth into
our hearts as we consider blessings so bountifully showered upon us. Even in times of trial, challenge and
darkness, the Savior’s light remains constant, like the North Star, ever
lighting our way. All we have to do to
enjoy lasting happiness in any and every circumstance is look to Him and
live. We are grateful to parents who
taught us to accept, embrace and follow Jesus Christ, living with His light in
our hearts. It is especially gratifying
to see our children and grandchildren walking “as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8-9.) We hope to ever honor our family, both
immediate and extended, in the way we live through 2018 and far beyond.
Here’s to a Royally Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
With love, Mike and Maralea
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| Wham bam love this fam! (They're down with selfies. I only got the top of Aubrey's head, but otherwise not bad.) |
Christmas Blog Overdrive! WE WANT MORE PICTURES!!
We can never have enough pictures from the year, so below are a few more just because there are so many things we want to fondly remember. (Plus, pictures are always more fun.)
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| Finley is a deep thinker! (Hey, what happened to his left sock?) |
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| Royal got choritos for his birthday |
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| Aubrey is ready to bake |
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| Beckham and Zoe are ready for a Nana/Papa hotel pool party |
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| Ready for the Greenwood family Sunday dinner extravaganza with Jordan and Ashlee |
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| Maralea, Kelli, Royal and Finley went to Reno to visit Mama Kelly |
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| David had a beard in 2017 |
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| Macie wonders what happened to Papa's beard |
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| We took some time to play at the Murray, UT Chick-Fil-A |
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| Royal on his first date (ha) - at Lego Batman with Kennedy |
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| Finley graduated from his walker, but he loved it back in the day |
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| Jordan and Ashlee got engaged on Royal's birthday |
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| Zoe and Aubrey take a short play break |
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| Celebrating Beckham's soccer victory |
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| Royal is ready for the 2018 football season to begin |
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| I guess this picture may be a collector's item, here with Ty Detmer back when he was still OC |
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| Easter Weekend on the Murray, UT Royal family front porch |
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| Grandkids take a break from family pictures to just chill |
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| Nana worked hard for grandchildren smiles on Family Photo Day |
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| Aubrey and Royal - front porch time |
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| Cousin brother/sister games are fun |
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| Macie and Nana take a pickelball break |
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| Aubrey can't leave it alone |
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| Beckham brought Sharkey to Thanksgiving weekend family pictures |
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| Zoe picks her spot on the teeter tot |
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| A trip to at Temple Square but asking grandkids to look and say Cheese wasn't fair |
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| We love Nana/Papa swim time |
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| Royal and Aubrey are primary lovin' cousins |
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| Everyone smile for an elevator selfie |
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| Aubrey relaxing in the July shade |
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| Zoe is very bubbly |
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| Nana helps Finley get ready to walk, rock and roll |
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| Royal, Beckham and Zoe cool off in the Las Vegas heat |
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| Leona is cool with son-in-law selfies |
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| Kelli teeters with some Royal tots |
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| Great Grandpa Royal on Finley's first birthday |
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| Aubrey and Macie buckled up in the Hot Cherry |
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| Beckham smiles for miles |
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| Jordan and Ashlee, Timpanogos Temple day (followed by Chuck-O-Rama goodness) |
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| Friedel Family church day |
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| Aubrey and Macie take flight |
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| Beckham takes pride in his ride |
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| Beckham and Zoe had a successful Easter egg hunt |
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| Aubrey loves backyard chalk art |
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| Our four little ones - on Jordan and Ashlee's wedding day |
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| The grandchildren got tired of waiting for Jordan and Ashlee to exit the temple |
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| With Jordan and Ashlee now married, the kids are ready to par-tay |
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| At our last Royal wedding reception for a while |
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| The reception was Chip and Dale time |
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| Family hike after Jordan and Ashlee's wedding day |
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| Mother's Day always brings warm memories of a life well lived |
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| Royal graduated from pre-school cheek to cheek |
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| Macie loves Temple Square |
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| David and Kam had a Florida swamp getaway |
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| Mmmmmmmm good! |
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| ROYAL ADOPTION DAY! |
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| Grandkids love pool parties!! |
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| Maralea turned our backyard into a water park for Las Vegas summer fun |
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| Nielsen's Custard is awesome! |
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| Thanks for the ice cream, Nana! |
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| Another family visit, another Papa selfie |
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I absolutely loved serving with these great men for several years
(from left: Me, James Cavalieri, Jack Snow, Rob Richardson) |
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| Aubrey was happy to see Royal at her birthday party |
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| Things were looking up for Aubrey's birthday party |
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| Maralea pulled over the Sequoia for this picture when the odometer turned to 200,000 |
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| BYU game with these cuties |
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| BYU/Utah game selfie - David struggled to cooperate |
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| BYU/Wisconsin - Love warm football game days |
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| Royal and Kennedy at Trunk or Treat |
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