Mom and I hosted a bridal shower for Brook Bagley.  She worked with me at Marie Callendars, was a student at WSC and needed a place to live.  I offered her to come live with us.  Mom and Dad agreed.  I don't have specific memories of her but just a sense -- she had lots of energy, was a bit messy (poor mom and dad the two of us together must have been a nightmare), liked adventure.  She taught me how to kayak.  I learned in the pool of the apartments where she used to live.  She taught me how to roll.  We went kayaking down the Weber River.  The first little rapids I came upon I did everything I wasn't supposed to do--tipped over, let go of my paddle, and bailed out.  Easier to turn over in a swimming pool than in the river. :)

I look back and am amazed at Mom and Dad's willingness to host people in our home and allow stray cats and dogs to stay permanently or until we could find them a home.

After my mission when I was giving German tours at temple square I brought home a traveler who needed a place to stay--complete stranger--don't recall if he was German or not, I think he was.

Doug had a friend, Lauren from Belgium who lived with us for a semester.  When I went on my study abroad to Germany, I went to Liege to visit him and his family for a weekend.  The were the most wonderful hosts and showed me all around Liege, Brugge and Brussels.  It was all so beautiful.

Mom and Dad also hosted Cheryl Benally, a Navajo Indian girl.  She was a year younger than me and lived with us for 2 or 3 years.  I look back on that and my heart sinks a bit that I wasn't kinder; not that I was mean, I just don't remember really extending myself to make her feel really welcome and that she belonged.  We see Cheryl occasionally.  Every few years she'll pop by unannounced and visit.