Merry Christmas From Our Growing Royal Family, December 2021
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| April 2021, Royal Family Reunion (missing three who joined us later in 2021) |
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| Royal family railroad roundup, April 2021 |
Our family continued to grow in 2021
as we welcomed three more grandchildren to the Royal fold. It is an amazing blessing to see our
grandchildren grow and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ through baptism. We love being parents and grandparents and
cherish every opportunity we have to be with our family. The Royal family reunion was in April 2021 in
Las Vegas. Maralea and I were able to
attend BYU football games again in 2021.
(It was great to remember what life was like before COVID restrictions
kicked in. Beyond the BYU home games in
Provo, UT, we traveled to watch BYU play at Baylor (Waco, TX) and Georgia
Southern (Statesboro, GA). We also got
to see the Cougars play in Las Vegas vs. Arizona. Note: We did not attend the Independence Bowl (whew).) |
| Maralea and Mila on a lark at the park |
Maralea and I continue our work
together at Royal & Miles LLP, doing our best impression of Perry Mason and
Della Street - except Perry Mason never actually got together with Della (how
sad). (If you are unfamiliar with this
reference, feel free to Google “Perry Mason.”) Far more important than work in 2021 are the
milestone family events, such as the baptism of two granddaughters and three
grandchildren born and blessed (and those days are the very best). We have loved celebrating family birthdays in
person or via video conference (like FaceTime).
We just love being part of precious family moments and watching our
grandchildren grow. (We like to see our
children grow, too, and some even started getting a few gray hairs in 2021
(haha).)
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| BYU 26 Utah 17 (enough said) |
I was released from serving in the Robindale YSA
bishopric in March and have been serving as the Elders Quorum President in the
Bermuda Ward since then. It has been fun
having a calling in our home ward for the first time in 19 years. (I was called to serve on the Stake High
Council in 2002 and had callings outside the ward until 2021, which is pretty
crazy.) Maralea continues to serve as
the South Coordinating Council Communications Director, where she does . . . a
lot of communicating (ha). We love
opportunities to serve available to us in the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
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| Macie likes silly pic poses |
For Father’s Day, the children got me a one-year
subscription to a service called StoryWorth, which requires me to write
stories about my life in response to questions issued each week. It ends up taking a lot of time, but I have
really enjoyed it. (I am not sure if I
can keep it up through June 2022, but I am planning to do my very best.) At the end of the subscription, I will get a
book with all of my entries. (Just what
every father wants from his children: “Hey Dad, we are going to give you
fifty-two writing assignments over the next year. Happy Father’s Day!” (ha). Of course, I love it.)
Regardless of what occurs in today’s crazy world, one
thing that remains a constant for the Royal family is that we love our Savior,
Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and we
are eternally grateful for His wonderful plan of happiness which is
intended to lead us together back to our Heavenly Home as a family. Families are forever because of the atonement
and amazing sacrifice of the Son of God, who we choose to follow. Below is a little summary of what our Royal
Army has been up to in 2021.
The Brad and Whitney
Family
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| Covid Respite, Costa Rica, 2021 |
The Brad and Whitney family spent a lot of time at the
beach between Costa Rica, Los Angeles, and San Diego in 2021. The older kids started learning how to
surf. (They also love snowboarding.) The younger kids are just happy to be
there. Brad left Qualtrics for a smaller
software company called Qualified.
Whitney continues working with the EMBA program at BYU. Beckham and Zoe started an online business
selling homemade stickers - and they are now in the black!
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| Tiptoeing through the tulips |
MEOW!!! The
Cedar Hills Royal family brought home two kittens that live in their shed (and
are not allowed in the house). So, they
are officially a cat family now - BUT ONLY AN OUTDOOR CAT FAMILY! The year 2021 was spent introducing the kids
to a bunch of new things, including surfing, skateboarding, piano (kinda), drums,
and new foods line . . . breakfast burritos (expanding their palettes is a work
in progress).
Whitney has been working with the young woman, and is the
oldest young woman in the ward, often being chastised by the other leaders to
stop messing around with the other girls.
Brad just got released from the Elders Quorum Presidency after four
years. Kai loves trucks and trains, and
Mila turned one and is now walking.
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| Rainbows in the icy snow |
The Craig and Kelli
Family
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| The Friedel Fuller House |
Craig and Kelli welcomed Lennon Love into their family in
November. She is so cuddly and
sweet. Kelli was ready to deliver on
November 1st but her doctor had her wait just over a week to finally
meet Lennon. We watched Royal, Finley, and Monroe for most of that week since Kelli was ready to go at any
moment. It was very exciting for all
when Lennon arrived and her three older siblings are anxious to help orient her
to life in mortality. Royal played
lights-out flag football in the fall and excels in school and loves playing the
piano. Finley loves trucks, kites,
scooters, and remote control cars. He
also loves life in pre-kindergarten and playing pretend games with his little
sister, Monroe. Monroe loves singing
(especially “I Can Sing a Rainbow” which she sings all day long), holding
her soft pink kitty and blankies, showing off her Mommy-created braids, and
talks nonstop. Lennon loves The Beatles
(she just doesn’t know it yet (ha)).
(Her name is a tribute to her Beatles loving Papa.)
Craig enjoys his work as a trust/estate attorney for Solomon Dwiggins & Freer, Ltd., while serving as a ward clerk and Kelli loves her work as the CEO of Royal, Finley, Monroe & Lennon LLP, while serving as the ward primary chorister.
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| Halloween 2021, about a week before Lennon's arrival |
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| Kelli's birthday dinner |
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| Lennon meets her siblings |
The David and Kambria
Family
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| David and Kambria welcome Ryder |
David and Kambria love their family life in the land of
Oz (Riverton, UT). They welcomed Ryder
James to the family in October and his three older siblings are so happy to
show their little brother the ropes.
Aubrey loves reading, drawing, and solving math problems. She also loves bike riding, rollerblading,
playing with friends, and helping around the house. Macie loves her life as the family Disney
princess (she wakes up daily thinking about which princess she wants to be and
dresses accordingly). Macie also loves
reading and drawing. She has become a
master bike rider and scooter racer, and also loves playing with friends. Aubrey and Macie love being big sisters to
their two little brothers. Benson loves Curious
George, his basketball hoop, anything else with a ball, and exploring. He also loves being the caboose passenger
when his mom and dad go for bike rides.
Ryder is little and cuddly. He
appreciates all of the family's love.
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| Aubrey and Macie are all FaceTime smiles |
Kambria serves in the primary presidency of the ward
while David teaches in primary and serves as the ward tech guy (i.e., he is in charge of turning Zoom on/off, aka the Zoom Czar). David and Kambria had a big family trip to Hawaii in May and enjoyed
that time with the Finch family. David
recently planted three trees in the backyard of their home to provide shade and
help keep balls from sailing over the fence in the future. David enjoys his job as a product manager at
nCino, Inc. Kambria loves life as
co-founder and president of Royal Fam & Associates.
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| Aubrey, Macie, and Benson meet Ryder via FaceTime |
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| The kids get some Daddy time as Mommy and Ryder rest |
The Jordan and Ashlee
Family |
| Reese is so excited to be a big sister to Madden |
Jordan and Ashlee moved into a new house in 2021 to
accommodate their growing family. They
welcomed Madden Jay into the world in July and Reese loves her new family role
as the big sister. They have done a lot of
work fixing up their new Lehi home in the past few months, which has been
exciting. Jordan loves his new job as
NIL marketing manager at OhanaX for BYU Athletics. It is his dream job and we are very happy for
him (hoping that we will now be more “in the know” of all things BYU
sports (ha)). Ashlee took a hiatus from
piano instruction after Madden was born.
Ashlee served as the Activity Days Leader in her ward until Madden was
born and Jordan serves in the Sunday School Presidency of their Lehi ward. In addition to loving her new title as Big
Sister, Reese loves spending time with her family, playing with Blue (the
Greenwood family “I love chasing tennis balls more than you’ll ever know”
dog), and running around outside (she is adventurous). Reese loves to smile and hug everyone. Madden is starting to smile and seems happy
to be hanging out with so many cool people on earth.
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| Madden was so excited to arrive at his new home |
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| Reese loves her new little brother |
More 2021 Pics
Below are some additional 2021 family pictures with giddy anticipation for many more in 2022.
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| The three newest family members to join us in 2021 (from left in order of birth date): Madden, Ryder and Lennon |
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| Benson for two! |
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| Aubrey and Macie welcome us for a visit |
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| Reese turned two! |
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| Royal and Monroe visit Papa's office |
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| Grandchild drawings are sweet |
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| Brad and Kai prepare to fly |
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| Beckham, Zoe, and Kai wait for a Costa Rica eruption |
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| Mila is on track! |
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| Finley gives little sister a sleigh ride in Pine Valley |
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| We love grandchild texts, too! |
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| Dinner with Great Grandpa Royal |
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| Kelli's birth announcement - March 2021 |
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| Dad's 87th birthday |
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| Reese likes blue balloons and turning two |
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| Royal was October Student of the Month |
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| Finley helps Roe through the doggy door |
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| Official Sponsor of our April 2021 family reunion |
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