We've Been Grow-ing!

Little did I know when I married Steve that he was a descendant of pioneers who sacrificed much for their testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ by joining His latter day church. His parents were part of the missing generation.  Not only does he have pioneer ancestors, he has famous ones.

 On July 27 & 28, we joined with 2500 of his closest cousins in the Grow Family Reunion.There are over 9000 descendants who claim him as a father, grandfather, great grandfather, etc.  Henry Grow had four wives, and Steve comes from the first wife, Mary.  Henry was a bridge builder and was asked by Brigham Young to build a tabernacle for worship.  He was probably the only Mormon man who had the expertise to build this amazing building.  It is one of the architectural wonders of the world for its time.

 1500 members of the group met in the Conference Center on Friday night for dinner.  Each person could choose between chicken enchiladas, lasagna or salisbury steak.  Most of the kids preferred the chocolate cake or cheesecake.  Who needs salad?

 It was fun to have Steve's sister, Kathy and her husband, Brent join in the group.  After the dinner we attended a special family fireside in the tabernacle.  We heard from several family members including general authorities, Marlin K. Jensen and C. Scott Grow, both of whom assisted in getting the facilities reserved for this special event.  We also heard a fabulous piano solo and several numbers from the Grow Tabernacle Choir.  It was very memorable.

 The next morning Steve, Heather and Hilary attended family history presentations down at temple square.  They loved all the information they gathered about Henry and his experiences building the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall on Temple Square.  Meanwhile I had fun taking all of the kids swimming--all except Jameson that is. We were also missing Tanner as he stayed in Idaho to attend camp.

 That afternoon before everyone went their separate ways, we had a special "behind the scenes" tour of the Tabernacle.  It truly is an amazing building.  And I found out that I married into an amazing family. 

 The kids enjoyed the fountains in front of the Conference Center while our geneology buffs reviewed some of the historical information from their morning workshops.
  Let's keep the Grow-ing going!