Hi Grandma, I love you!

Packer and Harper

Harper is having fun watching Packer play soccer

this season. Packer has become an aggressive player and is loving the game. He attended a soccer camp in the summer with his whole team and they are really playing well!! He still stops to kiss his baby sister on the sidelines whenever he has a chance.

Cannon and Harper

Precious Girl

Holland and Harper

Holland are Harper are best buddies. When we pick Holland up from school, he always tells Harper about his day and what he did and how much he missed her. He usually comforts her when he leaves by reminding her that he will miss her, but he'll be home soon.

A picture is worth....

Forever, when I think of Mark and Harper, I will remember this picture. It's the first time I saw him lean down to kiss his baby girl.

Peter Averi following his Auckland Organ Concert

We are pictured with Peter Averi following his organ concert that was attended by 600 people. Peter is a wonderful non-member friend of the Church. He has performed on Temple Square in both the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall. He produces a weekly TV show titled: "Praise Be." We were introduced to Peter by his good friend Iain McKay who is the New Zealand Consul General in Utah. We visited with Iain in his office at Bonneville International in January. He has become a great friend to us.

Naylor Family Alaskan Cruise

We just got back from spending a week cruising Alaska. We were on the Royal Caribbean cruiseline. It was an amazing trip for the scenery. We saw whales, dolphin, eagles, even a bear.

This was one of the dress up nights while on the ship.

This was definately a cruise for nature lovers and scenic views. This was taken in Tracy Fijore. The glacier you can see up between the moutains in one of the largest moving glaciers in the world.

We took a helicopter ride out to another glacier. I think we all enjoyed the helicopter ride more than actually seeing the glaciers.

The most peaceful part of the trip was a kayacing tour through a Bald Eagle preserve. While paddlin we saw a 600 pound brown bear eating salmon and many eagles in the trees and flying above us.

Th is was a large glacier that we flew to in the helicopter. In the last 100 years it has moved 45 miles, creating an 800' valley below it as it moves towards south.

While in Prince Rupert, BC we took a really nice hike through the forest. The river that followed the trail runs norht in the morning and south in the afternoon. It's all dueto the change of tides. Powell was able to pass off some scout stuff during this hike. You know Suzi, take advantage of every situation!!!!

Just like on any cruise, the wait staff was great. The kids enjoyed goofing off with Messe from Turkey.

All in all we had a great time!!

Havasupai

I thought I would post a few pictures from a recent YM hike that Crew and I went on. It was to the southern end of the Grand Canyon in an area called Havasupai. It is named for the Havasupai Indian tribe that lives nearby the waterfalls. We spent four days swimming and cliff diving. The hike was 12 miles each way, but well worth the trip.

These are pictures of us cliff jumping. The picture on the left was a 45' cliff. I was the first person to do a flip off of it. The picture on the right was Crew and I jumping together off of a 25' cliff.

The last picture is Crew with his good friend David as they walked through the travertine pools.

Tongans going to Church

Some of you have asked about the Tongan clothing, especially the woven garments. Tonga is the most conservative and modest country in the Pacific. Women always wear skirts that cover their knees, usually ankle-length. You very rarely see a Tongan woman in pants. Sleeveless garments are not acceptable.

Men nearly always wear a wrap skirt called a

Tupenu (like a Samoan lava'lava') for church, work, special occasions. Even the Stake Presidents wear them to Stake Conference with a white shirt, tie, suit jacket and leather sandles. A few LDS men wear pants, but it is rare. Even men working in the fields wear them. All the Missionaries wear them. Over the tupenu men wear a Ta'ovala everywhere they go. This is a woven waist wrap made from the dried leaf of the pandanus plant. It can take 2 or 3 months to weave one. A very fine one can take 1 to 2 years to make. These woven items are very expensive to buy.

Women also wear either a Ta'ovala over their skirt or a kiekie which is a woven belt with numerous woven strands hanging down from it. They never show their knees. Almost everyone wears black. If you are grieving from a death in the family, you wear a Ta'ovala that is twice as long and comes up to your chin.

After you have been in Tonga a few times, you are completely at ease with these garments. The men have such golden brown skin that they look very handsome in their skirts. I think the same skirt on a palangi (a white skinned foreigner) would look rediculous. This clothing is a sign of respect in the Tongan culture.

With Peter Averi, Producer of "Praise Be"

We are with Elder Condie, Peter Averi, Ross and Barbara Cuff at a very nice restaurant in Wellington. Peter is a non-member but a very strong friend of the Church and perhaps the best friend of Iain McKay who we met in SLC before coming to NZ. Iain works for Bonneville International and is also the NZ Consul General in Utah. He introduced us to his good friend, Peter who has performed on the organ in the Tabneralce and in the Assembly Hall. Peter will present an organ recital in Auckland at our invitation this Sunday evening.

With MP Martin Gallagher at Church College of NZ

We are pictured here with Honorable Martin Gallagher who is a Member of Parliament representing the Hamilton area. Elder Hans Sorensen is next to MelRae. We have met MP Gallagher twice and we are hopeful that he will represent the Church's interest in the Birth, Death, and Marriage (BDM) legislation. This meeting was at the Church College of New Zealand in Hamilton. We were invited to give a Kirtland Fireside at the school's devotional the following morning for about 600 students. We have also been asked to give this fireside in Tonga whenever we have a free Sunday evening and they have even scheduled a Tuesday evening fireside for us in Vava'u, a smaller island about 300 km from Nuku'alofa. There have been from 300 to 800 attend each of these firesides.

With MP Peter Dunne in Wellington

MelRae took this picture of Ross Cuff, Honorable Peter Dunne, Elder Condie and Jackie McCollough in Peter Dunne's office in Wellington New Zealand. Peter is a Member of Parliament and he invited us to visit with him to discuss the Birth, Death, and Marriage (BDM) legislation that is under consideration. If passed, it would seal all BDM records until 50 to 100 years after a person's death. This would obviously restrict geneaological research in a major way. For this reason, we are spending considerable time meeting with various Members of Parliament.

The Ricks' Ranch

For the 24th of July, Pioneer Day, the Wardrop's went to the Ricks' Ranch, which is up by Strawberry Reservoir in Utah. The Ricks are our good family friends that live down in St. George. They have acres of beautiful land with horseback riding, repelling, fishing, 4-wheeling, etc. It is the ultimate outdoorsman paradise. In the morning we all went repelling off this huge (probably around 75ft) rock face. It was HIGH! Travis and Weston went first and were absolute champs! They were so brave. Jordan repelled several times like he was a natural. There were a few of us on the other hand that were not so brave; this included my dad and me. My legs were shaking the whole way down. As you can see from the picture my dad wasn't doing much better:) When he first stepped over the cliff he didn't use his legs to push his body out and ended up completely laid out, upside down against the rock face. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how he even made it down.
In the afternoon we went on a horseback ride and Travis and Weston were on their very own horses. Now these aren't just any horses, they're fox-trotters. If you have never ridden a fox-trotter before, you are in for a new experience. They ride like their name--always trotting! I'll tell you that it hurts to sit for about a day after only a 20 minute ride!
Overall, the whole day was packed full of fun things to do. When you're with the Ricks' there is never any down time. We all had a lot of fun, and Jordan had so much fun that he is considering making the Ranch his permanent residence.

Jason goes to the temple

In early June mom, dad, Shayna and Jordan were able to go through the temple with Jason for the first time. We all went to the Provo Temple. It was a really neat experience. Since then we've gone to the Mt. Timpanogos temple and SL temple with him. And then he also got to go to the Laie, Hawaii temple when the family went the end of June. The temple is such a wonderful place. The SL temple is so beautiful and magnificent. I hope we all live good lives so that we can be worthy to go to the temple and to recieve the blessings from making those sacred covenants. Grandma and Grandpa, what an amazing opportunity you have to be apart of bringing the temple and temple blessings to the wonderful people of Tonga. "I love to see the temple!"

Lake Powell with theWardrops!

The second home of the Lon Wardrop Family is now the beautiful, relaxing Lake Powell of Page, AZ. I know there are certain members of the family that would move there full time if they had the choice: Jason, Dallin, Jordan...just to name a few. Jordan and I were able to go with the family over the week of the fourth of July. We all had a lot of fun. All the boys are getting extremely good at the wakeboard, even Travis and Weston. They're incredible! As for me, Jason and Dallin say that I peaked on my first day three years ago! Oh well. Even dad is wakeboarding! It is quite the site!

We also all hiked up to Rainbow bridge. FYI you can't drive your boat back to the bridge anymore. It is now a 1 mile hike in the heat just one way! It's kind of one of those things you do once and probably shouldn't do again if you know what's good for you.

Members spruce up Tongan island

Here's the article written by dad that appeared in the church news 2 weeks ago. The church news also had a picture that was taken by dad. After you read the article, read all of dad's posts below (begin at "Mormon Helping Hands #1", and then work your way back up the page).

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga — More than 13,200 citizens of various faiths, beliefs and persuasions participated in the historic community service initiative that swept across Tonga July 21.

The service was performed in 25 locations, in 'Eua, Ha'apai, Vava'u and 20 locations across the main island of Tongatapu.

The massive turnout launched a two-month-long, nationwide clean-up program. The program was initiated by the Church, under its "Mormon Helping Hands" volunteer service program, to prepare for the celebrations surrounding the rededication of the Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple.

"We wanted to do something that would bring everyone together in a common cause," said Elder Sione Fineanganofo, an Area Seventy in Tonga. "There will be lots of visitors to the islands because everyone is invited to our temple's public open house, that starts on Sept. 29. We want the island to look its very best."

Prime Minister Feleti Sevele, his wife and granddaughter joined Elder Fineanganofo at Fa'onelua Park to greet the volunteers.

The prime minister expressed his gratitude to the Church for initiating the campaign, and to all citizens for coming together to beautify Tonga. He and his wife were the first to pick up rubbish, working side by side with other volunteers.

Volunteers were involved in painting more than 25 large buildings. Five buildings were painted at the Vaini Government Primary School, in addition to one building and a bathroom at the Lotolu Primary School. Eight buildings were painted at the Tonga College, Atele, and the clinic at Kolonga was also painted. In addition, a high school was painted in Vava'u and one in Ha'apai. Six classroom buildings and three smaller buildings were painted at the Nuku'alofa Government Primary School.

One group of volunteers gathered at the domestic airport. They cleaned up rubbish and hauled away 15 truck loads of green grass to various farms to feed the cattle. The trucks that hauled the rubbish were donated by local citizens and businessmen.

The volunteers reported that they were often approached by local residents expressing their heartfelt thanks and many residents also came to the street to offer food and water to the workers.

The "Mormon Helping Hands" campaign will continue each Saturday morning, and will conclude on Sept. 15 with Tonga's "Clean Up the World" campaign that is co-sponsored by the Church and the Waste Management Authority.

Mormon Helping Hands #5 (start with #1 below)

In this photo, we are with President Asiake Tukuafu of the Tonga South Stake (released today) and Cabinet Minister of Education Palefau and his wife at the Tonga Atele College where we painted 8 large classroom buildings (4 -6 classrooms per building).

We met the Hon. Rev. Dr. Palefau at his home about six weeks ago and he toured us around his very large and beautiful yard where we saw hundreds of "flying foxes" (very large bats) that are on the endangered species list. He also showed us his vanila plants and let us pick bananas from his yard.

Please view all of these "Mormon Helping Hands" posts in reverse order.

Mormon Helping Hands #4

I think this is the photo that was published in the July 28th Church News. The man in the background is a stake patriarch and the young lady in the water was a hard working girl that bucketed the water out of the pond so she could get to all of the rubbish. This fountain is in the Fa'onoula Park where Prime Minister Feleti Sevele welcomed more than 2,000 workers who cleaned up the park and the waterfront.

Mormon Helping Hands #3

Yes! MelRae and I actually participated in picking up the rubish in addition to traveling throughout the main island to take pictures and to thank the volunteers on each project. Notice the woven coconut palm leave basket that was used by everyone. The members actually spent much of the previous week weaving these baskets to demonstrate the use of bio-degradable and reusable rubbish containers. We also brought along 2,000 large black plastic bags from New Zealand that really came in handy because we had many more workers that we had baskets.

Mormon Helping Hands #2

David - Standing with Prime Minister Sevele and his wife and with Elder Fineanganofo. We received a hand delivered engraved invitation from the Prime Minister the follwoing week to attend the Prime Minister's Reception and a Military Parade the next morning for the King's 59th birthday. The invitation was delivered to our Tonga Service Center and, of course, we had already left for Auckland so we had to decline the invitation. For better or worse, we are now recognized throughout the islands and treated almost as equals with all of the cabinet ministers who we have met with to coordinate this major project.

Mormon Helping Hands #1

July 21st at Fa'onoulua Park in Nuku'alofa, Tonga at the launch of our very successful "Mormon Helping Hands" campaign. 13,207 citizens participated on five different islands in 25 different locations. 1,654 were not members of our Church. In addition to picking up rubbish in preparation for our temple open house and Tonga's hosting of 300 - 400 heads of state at the Pacific Forum, we also painted 28 school buildings on five different campuses. I was interviewed on Tonga's evening TV news and I wrote a media release that was published in all five newspapers in Tonga and it was also the top story on the Church Newsroom Website (ldschurch.org) for a full week. The article was also published in the July 28th issue of the Church News along with one of the 400+ pictures that I took. This picture has MelRae standing next to the Prime Minister's wife along with the Prime Minister (Feleti Seveli) and Sione Fineanganofo who is our Area Seventy in Tonga.

Junior High Ground Breaking

We've spent alot of our summer doing stuff for the school. With Holly on the board of directors, we are there almost daily so she can work on plans for the new junior high, hire staff for the junior high and elementary school, prepare for big events like the ground breaking and the teacher barbeque, etc. Holly says she'll never need to build a house because instead she is going to build a school. We are very excited because the new junior high will have a 500 seat auditorium, a full size gymnasium with wooden floors and bleachers, baseball and soccer fields, dance studio, science labs, computer labs, etc. Holly has been involved with every aspect of the building, so we all get to weigh in on the color of brick, carpeting, paint, etc. We really feel like this is our school!

At the beginning of the summer we had the ground breaking for the junior high. The school is being built adjacent to the elementary school -- so it will all be one campus serving 1000 students. Several city and state dignitaries attended the ground breaking including Utah's Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert, Greg Hughes from the Utah House of Representatives, Draper's mayor, and city council members. Governor Huntsman was invited but was having shoulder surgery.















Part of the excitement of the groundbreaking is that the sale of the land was completed literally hours before the groundbreaking. The land was purchased from Noal Enis, a lifetime Draper resident. His home remains on the corner of the property (the land for the elementary school was also purchased from Mr. Enis). I included a picture of him below. The school presented him with a beautiful picture that was signed by every student at the elementary school. Mr. Enis presented the school with his watering key (like the "key to the city"). The watering key has been a big joke because Mr. Enis was more concerned about how the school was going to handle his watering rights than he was about the multi-million dollar sale of his land. He insisted that the school pay the few thousand dollars to purchase his watering rights. Only Grandpa Noal would understand the significance of someone's watering rights.

I also included a picture of the Lieutenant Governor and State Representative.