"Please, no empty chairs."

My entire family was here this past weekend for my sister, Sarah's graduation. May I just say that I am so proud of my little sister. After getting married and having two beautiful girls she graduated from BYU. She inspires me, as does all my family. Spending time with my family is heaven for me. For many of us our families are growing up and moving away from each other for school, work, etc. This weekend I thought about what my family means to me... and I've decided that it's difficult to explain.

President Eyring in a recent conference address shared his thoughts about love and family:

"Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others. There is no surprise in that, since the Lord proclaimed those as the first and great commandments. It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey Him.

"Just as Jesus used a child in His mortal ministry as an example for the people of the pure love they must and could have to be like Him, He has offered us the family as an example of an ideal setting in which we can learn how to love as He does.

"That is because the greatest joys and the greatest sorrows we experience are in family relationships. The joys come from putting the welfare of others above our own. That is what love is. And the sorrow comes primarily from selfishness, which is the absence of love. The ideal God holds for us is to form families in the way most likely to lead to happiness and away from sorrow. A man and a woman are to make sacred covenants that they will put the welfare and happiness of the other at the center of their lives. Children are to be born into a family where the parents hold the needs of children equal to their own in importance. And children are to love parents and each other.

"That is the ideal of a loving family. In many of our homes, there are the words 'Our Family Can Be Together Forever.' There is a gravestone near my home of a mother and grandmother. She and her husband were sealed in the temple of God to each other and to their posterity for time and all eternity. The inscription on the gravestone reads, 'Please, no empty chairs.' She asked for that inscription because she knew that whether the family will be together depends on the choices each family member makes. The word 'please' is there because neither God nor she can compel another to choose happiness."

We are so blessed to have our families.

Many of us had just taken naps before these pictures. Can you tell?

Sarah's beautiful family.

So proud of her!!

My beautiful sisters.

The classic BYU grad pictures.

I am obsessed with my sweet nieces.

Alice still isn't used to the flash on our cameras. She always looks a little drugged. Don't you wanna just squeeze those cheeks?!?

Mr. Niu is such a natural with babies... hmmm...

Divine salad from The Trolley in Springville.

J-Dawgs... so yummy!

Celebrating the new grad and Gma's birthday with smiley face pancakes and a party.

Luvs!