Whitney married Conrad Petrich on June 1, 2012 in the St. George Temple. Conrad had a big family that attended the wedding along with many Barben relatives. A lovely reception was held in St. George, Utah with many family and friends in attendance. The bride's mother's family held a party in their honor a week or so later as they were able to come then since school was out and the drive was quite a distance to come only for 2 days. We had a barbeque, swimming, singing and dancing and got to know Conrad better. He will be a fun addition to our family.
The 3 older cousins attended an Especially for Youth activity that was scheduled the week they came. They had such a great time with speakers, dances, etc. they hope to make it a tradition.
The younger were envolved with a cousin's camp held at the Timeshare in St. George and enjoyed non stop fun- swimming, ping pong, games, a few drama games and practicing for the care center program which they never got to do. ( but perhaps another time or back home in Carson some can do it). Some took a tour of Brigham Young's winter home and a great art gallery that portrayed the special event that took place in the St. George Temple with their 4th great grandfather Wilford Woodruff.. Grandparents told ghosts stories but decided to tell the good ones where spirits had returned to give family members comfort and peace or even ask a favor as happened to Wilford Woodruff. Some went boating and others went to Zions National Park. Some went on a hike to Red Cliff's. Two mishaps happened but it all turned out fine. Bret fell in the water while trying to do a risky climb but only his and Micheline's cell phones were damaged and one dried out. Kirsten was going on her long run for 8 or 10 miles and fell and hurt herself. She was in such pain but after a nights rest she was going to live. After a few days she was hiking again. It was the only thing that could slow her down. She is the type that wants to try every adventure she can find. We had about 23 cousins there all together.
A few days before the reunion we heard on TV the news of a boy from Nevada who was climbing without his gear at some waterfall area around Provo. He had fallen to his death.We knew his wonderful grandparents who worked with us at Reno temple. We soon found out that Victor had been with him with other youth from their Church group at BYU and had tried to keep him alive while the ambulance got there 45 minutes later. He was the type that was ready to meet his maker so it was not such a great tragedy. He will have much good work to do now in Heaven.
The next night we just happened to turn on the TV to America's got talent and saw the performance of Little Ozzie who is also a Doak descendant from Alexander Arthur Doak's grandfather. The kids couldn't believe that I knew him and corresponded with him a few times via email. He is a very nice person and his name is Linn Doak.
Before the reunion I had a very vivid dream of my father George Meacham. It was so real. I realized later that he must have been with me in spirit helping with all those cousins. He was a strict discipinarian and a middle school teacher and didn't put up with much nonsence. I am grateful that he could be my dad and taught me quite a few things also.
