Dear Family,

This week we have been busy with the grandchildren. Maria's tribe came over Saturday. I was off to the temple praying about names for a new position in the Ward. Very strange how those answers come. I did not feel good about those name for one reason or not and I left the temple asking the Lord to let me know if there were someone else out there. Sure enough when I went up to the church parking lot for the HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY my man was there. I called the new Ward MIssion leader today and he will be sustained next week. WE had new people come out today, yet when the Ward started we only had 25 members there and after Sacrament there were at least 50. I talked last week, because of extra time left amd Bro Standing talked this week since there was on speaking calling in sick.

Last Friday Kyle went to SLC for a job interview at Hill Air Force Base. If the isn't a catcher nothing is! Our prayers are with you, Kyle. Cindy's Tribe came Friday. We went to the park to play scoccer and got home right before dark. The kids had fun running, kicking, bouncing the ball past the goal against grandpa, watching the Gordan Russel Football Team, rolling down the hill (don't tell mom!), and playing in the sand by the track. We started home when it started to lightly strinkle. It was a good excuse to come home. Shad was wet so we had to dry his pants in the dryer when he got back. He really didn't like the pink loaner sweat pants, but they were the only ones in the house.

This week the class has been studying clocktime. some students have become real experts! The other class is doing a power point on Portland all in Spanish. If you were to say I would use this technology 10 years ago I would have said you are crazy, but the kids know all about this technology so I am the expert with the Language and the students work very well by themselves on their power points.

Mom is busy with her genalogy as usual. She found somebody who is related to Robert Moosman in 1843. she sent the email for contact information and hopefully she will get some info back this coming week. She went to the library with some friends this week and they are finding info a bunch on their family names that needed to be done. As you know there nothing mom can't find for genalogy.

Hope your week goes well.

Love you all!

Dad

Summer Projects

Summer Projects

I know its been a couple of months since we have blogged but the summer has went by so fast. Heres a little peek at a couple of the projects that we got done in the last couple of weeks. Guy took a trip to Provo for a week and I got to stay home and recoup from a little bruised rib incident that I obtained while trying to cut down a bush...okay, so the cortizone shot had worn off of my right hand and I couldnt get the loppers to cut so I braced them against me...dumb move..the pain killers and a little rib brace made it possible for me to keep moving while he was gone. The bright side of all of that is that Guy was able to take Maria and her kids to Provo with him to see Missy. This is a little table that Mike had in his room that got a coat of paint...sorry Mike! The next picture is of my very green family room in the basement. It actually looks a different color than the photo...hard to describe but I am gonna leave it till probably next summer. Its alot calmer than it looks...honest...this is a bright sun day...in Oregon we dont get many of them. In the early hours and late hours it takes on an olive tint that makes it cozy feeling. Thats the cedar chest that I picked up a while back that finally made it out of the garage and a new table that I got at a garage sale. I love it. The older woman that I bought it from said it was old when she bought it. One day I will try to find out when it was actually made. The next photo actually show the room a bit. I think once I get pillows and curtains up that it will all pull together.

at least that is what I keep trying to tell myself. I had just started painting and realized that although it really was the color I had picked out...and planned on picking out, that my mother had painted a room that very color in my home once while I was growing up and I had wondered even then what she could be thinking. Ya leave an old lady alone in a house for a week and she needs something fun to do for entertainment. Imagine what my children would have to deal with if anything ever took my husband away from me for any real length of time! Daddy and I are slowly moving our stuff back down to the basement for the winter months. The whole renting it out idea is on the back burner for a bit. I am sure that daddy will want to blog about his trip but he was able to bring not only Maria and Kids back to Portland with him, but Mike too! Mandy stayed in Provo and worked and Mike came home to try to make some extra cash during the semester break.

We were so excited to have someone here to help us. He moved all the heavy objects all over the house for us. The TV downstairs again...all the books out of the den. The big desk out of the basement...etc. He pretty much worked from the time he got up until he crashed in bed but boy did he get a ton of my projects done. The biggest one was the floor in Guys old bedroom. It had been green since 1993 when we moved into this house. We were able to pick up a great deal on some really nice wide plank laminate at the Eagle Outlet in Sandy. The first day Guy and I tried to figure it out but it wasnt holding together. Mike worked for Dave that day. The next morning Mike came in to help us and he figured out the problem right off. We werent being mean enough to it and tapping the pieces into place so that they locked. By evening the floor was in and the woodwork trimmed to a matching color! Mike had boxed up all the books and the closet stuff and torn up the old carpet and pad in the first hour he worked...it would have taken us a couple of weeks to get that much done. Not only is the floor georgous but my hands are still functioning! if I had tried to do all that, I wouldnt have been able to move my right hand for a week! It was fun to be able to sepnd time with him and to see him working with his dad. He had so much to figure out and do when he got home from his mission about this time last fall, that we hadn't really just had time to hang with him. It meant a ton to get to do that. We watched a few movies and just pretty much chilled while he was here but it was probably one of the biggest highlights of the summer.The floor is actually a cherry color..the lighting makes it look light...oh well, I tried.

Crater Lake..Another Stamp!

Here is a picture of mom on our return trip from Klamath Falls visiting JP and Jen a couple weeks ago. Doesn't mom just look beautiful!

...And Dad, not so beautiful!

Thanks to Allison and Guy, here we are on mad hunt for "Cancellations", which stamps the location and date of your visit, much like a cancellation of a postage stamp. You can see I am all grin in getting another cancellation in my passport booklet!

So this is the location where you get those famous cancellations, that I would never would had known, if it were not for Guy and Allison introducing us to this activity.
Thanks..., only another hundreds of national locations to go. I am sure we all will be seeing much more national parks in the future!

One Hot Momma

So Guy and Allison have inspired us to get these old bodies moving. I did 2 miles of a daddy jog this morning at only about 75degrees and look like this. I need to add a few things to my run. A headband for the sweat and a lighter shirt...the shoes luckily arent causing any blisters...or wait, maybe thats cause they arent actually moving very fast or far! We will keep you posted. Oh, Daddy went 5 in the neighborhood this morning and just got in...nope...no red face or sweat...I am not going to let that bother me..it feels good to be moving!

I THINK, i am getting the hang of this!

You must note that for as long as Tyler Keith has been sitting in his carseat, this is not too bad of a picture. You might just fill in the words he is thinking.... Are we there yet?.... Do I ready get to celebrate the 4th any where but in this car seat? or I hope you know there is a limit to sitting in this carseat! Tyler ready was a trooper taking in the 105 heat, living in a motel while away from home, and sitting in a carseat!

Somehow, when we went down into the caves, Brayden fell asleep. No, problem, he was fun to carry; only problem was carrying him up the quarter miles coming out of the cave climbing 300 feet. Needless to say, alittle rest came with the tour at this point !

Brayden is having fun! What was that you were saying grandpa? I think this was coming out of the park where Guy and Alison ran 4 miles. Yeah!... in preparation for the 26 mile Marathon in St George, this coming October. We were on our way to the bus to get back to the van, so we could continue our visit that day to the caves and then to the rest of the missions and then to the old town sections of home and finally for the fireworks (what we saw).

Once again, Brayden enjoying the boat ride on the canals of San Antonio. This was really a great place to see a lot of San Antonio without walking a step, other than boarding the boat. The tour guides were so informed on the oldest and latest facts of San Antonio. This was a must if you go and see San Antonio!

Nothing like a quiet rest in the hotel after visiting all day with the sight of San Antonio. Tyler seems to be glad to get out of that car seat!

Thanks again Guy and Allison for the fun time we had in your great state of Texas.

Yes we will be back!

Love, Dad and Mom

More Trip!

Brayden found in the flowers in front of the San Anotnio Temple! The Angel Moroni seen on a clear Sunday!

Opps! Brayden got into this shot too!

Now there is a a good shot with Grandpa and Grandma with grandchildren!

HERE IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!

Love you all,

Dad

Lots of Pictures!

Coming out of the caves in San Antonio.

Riding the boats in the canals of San Antonio!

Brayden inspecting a oven at the one of the Missions of San Antonio.

Grandpa building Brayden's spaceship with an Alien soon to be added!

Confused!

So I got all these pictures I want to post. What is the best way to get them on my blog:
1) Post all the pictures first and then write my comments ... or
2) post one picture and write comment and the next and next and next picture with comment.
Or does it matter?
Confused

Guess who we met at the airport going to Dallas?

Its been awhile since we have added to our blog. We are home now and settling in a bit. The last few weeks have been filled with fun. I will let Guy fill you in on all of that part. I just want to tell the world today how very much I am loving having my husband around. So many people worry about what they will do when they retire. We havent officially entered that phase yet, but Guy does have his summers off and we are enjoying every day together. Since we have gotten home from Texas we have been filled with YSA events. We took the girls back to K.Falls, painted the trim on the front of Jens house...by the way, JP has done a beautiful job of relandscaping the front of their home. With the trim done, the house now looks like it fits right in with the rest of the expensive homes in their neighborhood. Anyways, back to our update. We left their place early and hit Crater Lake on the way home. Daddy got his stamp! It was a beautiful quiet break for us, and we still made it home in time to greet the YSA kids on the dock downtown as they boarded the boat dance on the Portland Pride. We had a ton of kids turn out for it....and the best part for us that night was that there were plenty of chaperones ,and since we had done it already a couple of times , we were heading for home by 11pm! I was pretty sure we'd have to be up till 2am so that was a very welcome bit of news. Sunday we had the luncheon to put on and visitations and then monday night was FHE. During the day we worked on the gardens and cars and even bought some new perannuals to plant. Guy helped his parents paint and touch up their house on those days. Last night the ysa girls had enrichment at Gibbs. We made homemade pizza and the girls made dough to take home with them. We had a real good turnout. Guy had a stake High Priest meeting. Theres something going on every night except Friday and we are hoping to go out to dinner that night or something fun to payback , or say thankyou to some of the wonderful people that are in our lives. I have been thinking lately about how incredibly lucky we are to have each other and the lives that we have had. Its because of the blessings of living the gospel and having wonderful family and friends that share our lives...and lifestyles. We have missed much of the hardships of life by holding tight to that rod. Life brings pains and trial...but it all just is easier to deal with with the gospel and an eternal perspective on things. I am rambling and so I will turn this over to Guy. Just know that you are the joy in my life and that I am so thankful for each of you. (Especially my dear sweet eternal companion)

Now how can I top that? I love you too!

Dad

Birthday Blog!

Happy Birthday! Never tell the age of a women, but do the math, Mom was born in 1965 or was it 55. Anyways, we wish you a Happy Birthday, what ever the age! Cathy remains the love of my life!

Doesn't she seem ageless with this picture which ws taken this morning on her birthday, ! We love you for all you do for the family. She is off to do the family genealogy with Sister Standing. We will be going to Texas to take the girls to see their cousins and visit Guy and Allison and see Brayden and Tyler.

Last Saturday, we met at my parents to celebrate Father's Day with Scott and

Donna, John and his family, and ours (Dave and family was in Bend). Then afterwards, we went to two wedding receptions.

We met at Jake and Cindy's last Sunday to celebrate all the Birthdays and Father's Day. Then in the evening we had a great Fireside by President Baird. He spoke on covenants.

Jen and JP were in Utah visiting their sister and brother, Melissa and family and Mike and Mandy all stayed at their aunt and uncle, John and Sue Richards. They returned to the beach at Seaside this week, and we will join them at the end of this week.

The YSA Ward is doing fine. Uncle Scott was released from his YSA calling as a Bishporic member and called into the Stake Presidency in McMinnville.

JP continues to work in Klamath Falls in administration fora Middle School. Jake has some little jobs this summer waiting for the big job coming up in October. Justin continues working for graphic art Company in Provo. Guy continues to work with his Construction Company in Texas, Kyle has a job working construction in Portland, and Mike continues his schooling in Provo. We are very blessed to have everyone still working or going to school.

Love you all,

Dad

Much has happened since last writing! Last week was full with a Temple Session on Thursday, Interviews on Wednesday, FHE on Monday and yesterday we got the lawn mowed cars washed, repacked our 72hour kits and wedding reception and a movie all in the same day!
The week before Cathy and I got to visit Jen and JP in Klamath Falls for a couple of days. They are all doing great. I had a special time going to Jacksonville with McKenzie on a field trip. We got over to mom and dad's for Mother's Day. They seem to be doing fine. Dave and Addrianne and Scott and Donna were there at the same time and so we spent the evening visiting. We dont see enough of each other. Grandma and Grandpa will set out for Provo this Thursday. Cathy will accompany them and return in two weeks. Missy has all kind of projects to be done and mom is looking forward to seeing them all. Hopefully All of Provo will rejoice! (At least for those in our family). Mike and Mandy will have school and work but mom is hoping to spend time with them too. As well as hitting her favorite place in the world to do geneology for a few days.
We had a very productive day for the Sabbath. Meeting always start at 7:30 and I go till 3:30pm with the last of our interview. Then back for a Fireside at 7:30pm. The message was great but for some reason there was not that many in attendance. Unlike our temple session (last Thursday), we had like three YSA Wards and of those attending our Wars surpassed all other Wards with 16 from our Ward. Yeah! I guess the sun was out since many came to meetings sunburnt today in church.. Somethings always happens when the weather changes. The warm spell is suppose to be around for the next week. The fans are going full blast! I can't wait till summer. Watch out heat, it can only get warmer!
We love you all!
Love,
Dad

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
Mike came home this past Thursday night and will return on next Wednesday. Mandy came home Friday and will return Thursday of next week. (Friday we went to mom and dad's for dinner with Mike and Kyle and Maria and family). They came home for Mandy's best friend marriage ,Angelie Lindthort, soon to be Staal. We meet his whole family from Holland on Saturday (dinner at the Gibbs and temple Saturday evening). Does anyone speak Dutch? It was fun to meet them (Angelie in-Laws). The wedding will be this Wednesday.
FLASH: Saturday in the afternoon, I cut my finger while cutting some carrots for Mom's roast to be served Sunday for our family gathering. Not the best timing for cutting a finger since we had to go out to Kaiser to see if I needed stiches. Fortunately, the cut was too wide, I took a chunk out abut 1/4 inch wide x 1/2 inch long, so they bandage up the wound and sent me on our way. Darn those carrots! The finger is fine, just have to watch it for infection. I t is all bandage up and will get better day by day.

Well, Sunday was a big day also, since we had Ward Conference and I had to speak as well as the Stake President. This evening we had the big dinner over at the Institute, since the home is getting too small for all to meet in. Jake and Cindy and Family, Mike and Mandy with The Gibbs, and Maria and Kyle were all invited. We tried to get the Standings too, it would have been a great bishopric special (but they did not make it)! I am glad things will settle. At least I won't speak for a week or so. Busy till 4pm with interviews and then right into the dinner so I did not leave the church building from 7am-7pm this day! It was good to see family, but I will sleep tonight!
Love you all!
Dad

Family Letter!

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
We have anxiously been waiting for this weekend because of General Conference. What a weekend it has been! Do you have a favorite talk? I like Elder Holland, Bednar, and Perry as well as the Prophet's talk. There has been much to build us up and help in these troubled times. May we all do our part in finding an area of improvement and make a change for the next six months. I know I have made notes and will be discussing those things with my wife. What about you?
We Love and pray for you often. Next year we might go down and experience conference in person. I have never been to the new conference Center for General Conference. I do remember back in the day when Conference was in the old Tabernacle. That was the last time I went to conference. We would get up early and drive down to SLC at 4:00 am in the morning to stand in line to get into one or two sessions. Thoses were the days when the Tabernacle held only 8000 people. A large number in its own right, but today the number is something like 22,000.
I got the lawn mowed between session yesterday, and the cars washed in another. All in all, it was a productive day. I got to stay at church between session to watch the church news portion and see all the hightlights of 2008-2009.
Kyle comes home with the family this coming weekend. He gradutes on Thursday. Congratulations, Kyle!
Hope things are going well with you all!
Love,
Mom and Dad

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
Don't you think my title is So orginial! We have spent the Spring Break, just doing what "spring break" indicates: working around the house and yard.
Mike and Mandy drove in this morning at 5 am. They have come for a quick wedding of Mike's old time friend: Ryan Hunter. Mandy has got up and is off doing the hair for the wedding party after just three hours of sleep. (Poor Girl!) Mike is up too after 4 1/2 hours. He says lets go shopping, hang out: sounds like he has the right idea for a quick vacation. The wedding will be later on in the day 5pm so plenty of time for play.We will have a chance to have Kevins fiance get to know us this afternoon too, as she will be with Mike and Mandy for the wedding. Most of the group of boys that Mike grew up with will be at the wedding and then come here to visit later in the evening. Kevin is away at boot camp right now.

In the mean time today, our Ward is involved with March Madness over at Mt. Hood Community College... playing basketball all day against the various YSA Wards in this region. We have our honor to protect, since we took first place last year. This year it could be all different, since the Ward changes ever 4 months and those playing last year are almost completely different! Cathy and Patti enjoyed a quick catch up for a minute at the game and then Cathy got to go with the Sister Missionaries to give a discussion in Sandy before heading back for the wedding.
We got a load of garden soil from Estacada Nursery yesterday (funny their price is cheaper than the local nurseries, and even with the delivery it was better to go with JP's old home town!). Now we have never been great gardeners, so hope for the best for our new raised garden. Any suggestions on what you want fresh out of the garden?
We got to spend a day at Mom and Dad's, Thursday. We did some spring cleaning over there and went out to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner with them. Thanks Mom and Dad! That was fun, of course no one ever over eats when they go there. Ha- ha

Friday afternoon we drove to Stevenson, about 30 miles up the gorge, to help with a Family Fair that a friend from the ward and her mom put on at the fairgrounds there. We volunteered last year too and it is a lot of fun. This year they had a talent show as part of the entertainment and one of our Young Adults, Brantley sang a number of songs for it. He has an incredible voice and has alot of songs that he has written himself. He reminds me of Michael McLean alot. We enjoyed his songs so much that we almost...I repeat....almost got up and did the swing to one of his songs! Most of the night we were taking care of the cheesecakes ect..needless to say.it was a fun night.

Hope your Spring Break was as good as ours!
Love,
Dad

Nates Special Day!

Nates Special Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE! Nate came to Grandpa and Grandmas house today to buy his birthday present. His Birthday was actually a few days ago but today we are celebrating together today. First we went to the video game store and Nate looked everything over and decided on a DS game...Kung Foo Panda and then we hit Mc Donalds for a Happy Meal which we expecially requested a spiderman toy...but to our dismay we ended up with an
American Idol headset that plays music...an okay toy. And then we went to the bank to get more money and then out to Walmart to get a Wilson baseball mitt...an A200 and then an alien out of the gumball machines. What a day. Nate liked everything about the shopping trip. He thinks the middle picture is the best. Now we are going hme to watch Bolt with his brothers and sister. We had a great time. When his mommy was a little girl her grandma and grandpa used to take her shopping by herself on her birthday too....a fun tradition. Hopefully we will be able to spend some one on one time with all our grandkids this year...

Wonderful Busy Week

Dear Family,

This first pictures has to do with Scott and Evelyn who were playing before the family Blessing of Coleman Paker. We were excited to witness the blessing.

The next couple of pictures are from the blessing of Coleman Paker. Four generations of hands. Now that is impressive.

Another picture of the blessings with 4 generations again!

The last picture is the breakfast before leaving on a meeting with Elder Brinkerhoff at the Oregon City Stake Center. What a meeting that was! President Dykes of the Oregon Portland Mission was ther too. We left that meeting with a clear vision of the missionary work in each ward and direction for the coming weeks. From that meeting two Saturdays ago, we have been going forward looking to our Easter Sunday. That will be a great day for our Ward. I spoke today in Sacrament Meeting rolling out the plan for "Invite a friend". It will be a great occurence !

Jennifer and gang arrived on Friday and stayed the evening till Sunay morning.

Yesterday was a good day. Our Ward met at Skate World (for your information was the first date where Jake and Cindy held hands after his mission) to have a 2 hour session with only our Ward members for skating, pizza and birthday cake for Sister Gibbs. Happy Birthday Sister Gibbs!

As a family, we all gather at 6:00 pm at the Institute to have the blessing for Coleman Parker Richards. We got some cute shots of Coleman with male members, hands and gathering at the blessings. We were grateful for all family members and friends that came.

Another pictures shows Grandpa. He sure enjoyed his time with Chase Richards. Chase kept on turning off the music grandpa was plays and would laugh and laugh. That kept us rolling with laughter. Sunday Jennifer and the gang went out to Church in Estacada and then spent the evening with JP's parents. They will be going to the coast for Spring Break. We plan on staying around home front and doing so jobs here at home. We will be going out with Scott and Donna and mom and dad for dinner on this coming Thursday. That should be fun!

What do you have plannned for Spring Break?

I know that Guy has us all "hands down" with his vacation in Florida. They blessed Tyler this Sunday in one of the local Bishop Offices. They will be visiting Sea World and Disney Animal World and lots more. Love to see you Spring Break Blogs!

Blog on!

Love,

Dad

Getting zzzzz's

So its 2:20 am and I just got off the new.familysearch site. I have been on it trying to get things cleaned up for the last couple of hours. Earlier tonight I talked with Maria about a book that I picked up on the exchange rack at the library. Its called The Ruins....yup, I had also just gone to the redbox and seen that it has been made into a movie...an R rated movie at that. I was about half of the way into the book and so far hadnt encountered anything that was R rated it just seemed like a silly sy fi book to me....and I had glanced at the ending to see if the people made it off of the hill and it appeared that they had....so I decided to skim the rest of the book...I hate to leave a book in the middle...anyways, it took me about an hour or so to skim through the rest of it and then an hour of laying in bed listening to daddy snore, wishing that I hadnt. I was wrong about my assumptions from reading the last couple of pages....the whole group of kids got wiped out on this hill by carviverous vines....okay...sounds dorky but even skimming and not really reading the whole content was enough to give me the eby jebbies...it reminded me of when I was a kid...probably 4th grade and we were at a girls slumber party and someone told me about a girl who got an ant up her nose and it made this big bumb that she eventually poked at with her fork and a ton of ants came out! Yup, I remember it to this day! I dont think this book hit me quite that hard because there was stuff in it that was inconsistant and that bugs me when i can find obvious flaws in the writers stuff....but enough that I wished I hadnt pursuded it. The thought of vines growing inside someone is gross...now if it had been tapeworms or something then I would have been having nightmares! Why do we do stuff like that to ourselves? Even knowing...I should have just put it down and then I would not be up at this rediculous hour telling you all how stupid I am. Oh well, some good came out of it. Instead of laying there in bed listening to daddy snore, I decided to get up and do something productive cause you can bet you lucky stars that I am gonna be sleeping in tomorrow morning. Daddy will get up in 3 hours to start his day and with my luck...I will just be finally settling in. Theres some advantages to this getting old stuff after all! This whole thing reminds me of the saying from the old FHE movies about the snake that the kid picked up and carried up the mountain with him and then it bit him...well, ...."You knew what I was when You picked me up" ... Sweet dreams!

Geneology...I am doing it!

A few nights before we left for Texas I was up all night thinking about my geneology. I joke with other people who do geneology about similar times in their lives...we call it when our dead people are bugging us and wont let us sleep. It usually only occurs when I am not making headway or have stopped doing the work. I havent submitted any new names to the temple since about October of last year. I knew they were changing the temple ready portion of the process and hurriedly submitted enough names before the change to keep us rolling for a few months. Those names were almost complete and I had a couple of babies come, a wedding, thanksgiving and Christmas to keep me sidetracked during that time. But now all of that has settled down, and I was being told....get back to work. I had no idea where to start, but with a YSA baptism coming in two days, I knew I needed to just jump in and get some names ready. I worked on submitting some names from a file that I already had. Had to go to the gen library for training on how to submit under the new program and then get the names typed in and searched through the data bases to clear. It has been a 10 hour job for the last two days! I have learned a ton about the new.familysearch program. Its amazing! At first I was complaining to myself that it was harder than the old process...but not really once I got into it. Actually it checks and double checks for duplicates through ALL of the old programs in the past that the church has. I was amazed that out of 350 names I only ended up with about 100 that actually needed work done! I also found out that that one particular line...I can send the work to someone else who is more directly related than I am to do the work! I was super excited about that cause that leaves me clear to return to my own more pressing people here in the USA in more recent years. I am going to try to show the connections between all of them. Kenneth Mosman , the author of the books above, was an amazing geneologist. He was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, but he was driven by the spirit of Elijah and gathered all the names of the Mossman families he could find anywhere. My mom, Betty Mossman, contributed to a couple of his books and corresponded with him a ton. It amazes me what they accomplished without the help of computers. All of that was done by post! What I am hoping to do is to tie the families together because I do have a computer to help me. My mom worked her whole life on this line...and after her death we found the missing info and link...one that took us back to 1600 in Germany. Theres about a 50 year gap between them and the Scotland group. I would love to find that link! I am sure that my parents are helping prod the work along on the other side as we work together to accomplish this. Guy helped me get a new laptop while I was in Texas that should be here soon. I am up and running again....at least I will be if they let me sleep! Anyone out there that would like to help search, just let me know and I will divy out areas and jobs!

What a wonderful week

We had the most wonderful weekend visiting with Guy and Allison. I had no idea that the Dallas area was so huge. I was somehow thinking it was the size of Boise or something in my head. When we were flying in and I could see all of it, my first thoughts were of my poor kids coming here all alone and trying to figure it all out and settle in. My next thought was, Well, they did alright, didnt they. In that moment Guy went from being a young man in my eyes...to being who he is. Sweetheart, dad and son...a grown man. I have to confess I shed a little moment of tears over that thought, as each mom does when she realizes that her job of raising is over. But the weekend that followed was filled with wonder and awe at what Guy and Allison have done and become. Their home was organized and beautiful and filled with love and hugs and teasing. It was also filled with discipline and learning. I had to laugh a little when Guy took us to that airport on upon leaving and he was still listening to Scripture Scouts on the way! I was so proud of them all and thankful once again that Guy has found Allision. Whenever I hear that line from Jerry Mcquire that says "you complete me" I think of these two. I also was impressed at how Guy pitched in and did the cooking and picking up. He said he didnt remember ever doing a dish when he was a kid....that shows how soon we forget the past. Its true as a teen I never made him do them. By then his jobs were mainly around the outside of the house, and trying to play sports and get okay grades...mostly I tried to make sure he got a few hours of sleep and vitamins during those years...but as a child, believe me, they all did dishes and cleaned bathrooms! Mostly for points on their Dads workcharts!..but somehow it seems to have transfered into adulthood. Its the seeing the results of all those FHEs and time spent trying to teach them ,that never seemed worth the effort at the time...that testifies to me that the principles of living the Gospel in every way is the right way to happiness. We were talking about how hard it is to go to church with the kids at the age they are...of the countless hours out in the halls and meetings where you didnt get a word of what the speaker was saying. It would be easier to stay home...but the pattern needs to be developed and ingrain inside of their souls. Once its there, we are promised, that even if they roam, they will return. I know this to be true. Its just fun to see them figuring out and following in the same paths that makes it all rewarding at the end. Guy and I had a wonderful time getting to know the grandkids. Grandpa spent a ton of time playing with Brayden and his toys. They also build numerous forts out of blankets. After they were sufficiently hidden, daddy would come and be the giant and find Brayden and tickle him till he got kisses. I spend the sweetest hours in the evening holding Tyler on my chest and reading. I love it when they are small enough to curl up and rest on you like that! This was the first time I have left Portland that I wasnt excited to get back. We miss them a ton.

So I downloaded two of the same picture by mistake...any ideas on how to remove one of them? I tried the edit posts but couldnt see any way to remove it...

Computer Labtop Experts!

Computer Labtop Experts!

Dear Labtop Experts!

Mom is ready to buy a new labtop computer. What are all the bells and whistles we are suppose to have? Does anyone know of some good buys out there? Melissa, Maria, Kyle, Justin?

Let us know of your musts and where the sites on computer to get them.

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
This week has gone just as fast as ever! We were in the Temple , yesterday, with one of our most recent endowed members. What a beautiful expereince. I had one interview before we went to the Temple. Mom came in between her Stake RS Activity. They had a whole day of activities of which I took her from. Thanks, Mom for being with me all day! We miss the good old days of serving in the temple, getting up at 5 am and staying till noon. The Temple just opened again after cleaning the last 3 weeks. We are always glad when it opens again. Are you making use of the Temple? What a quiet and serene place to visit for heavenly glimpes and moments of inspriation. The temple will lift you to higher ground. Go as often as you can!
This Sunday we have had a beautiful day of testimony and lessons. Mom taught the Gospel Principles Class, since we did not have a teacher show up. You know she always does a great job, even if she was given a moment's notice. Tonight we will go to a CES Fireside with Robert Hales an Apostle of the Lord speaking. There was a message of how to rise to higher ground. #1 Couple need to know that marriage is forever. #2 Know the doctrine and importance of the temple covenants, then go there often. #3 Choose the spiritual/eternal over the temporal blessings. #4. Once you have found you eternal mate, no need to look anymore! #5. Avoid contention- better to let off a little steam before the whole pressure cooker explodes. Work on a change of heart, work on improving your relationships, learn to apologize. #6 Live within your means, use a budget. #7 If you have the spirit of the Holy Ghost, it will never take you off higher ground. #8 Study and pray. Scriptures remind us who we are.
Then, I got to talk to Kevin Arnell's Branch President after church today reporting he went to church his first week in boot camp. We are proud of Kevin right now for the choices he is making in his life. I guess his Branch President told the recruits today at church that it is a good thing to become active while you are serving, it will make you a better military man. He is a vetern Marine himself and seems to have the respect and honor of the recruits. They have a very high missionary rate because those serving bring their non-member friends to the Branch, baptizing 5-6 per month!
We are excited this week to leave Thursday to see our #18th Grandson, Tyler Keith Hill. We will return the following Monday. Stay tune for that adventure next week. Braydon loves to play so I am sure we will have some tales to tell.
Grandpa Hill is doing fine. I get to see him about 2 or 3 times a week. After reading this month's message from President Monson; I, too, want to pay tribute to my Dad.
Over my life, I don't think I could find a finer person to model my life after. He has always been there when I needed a blessing, haircut, advice, guidance, saving bonds, example or help. He has set the finest example a son could ever ask for. I know he has always had the best interest of his family in mind, or anyone for that matter. He is patient, prudent, faithful, loving, kind and follows the advise he gives to all he has married (DC 121:41-42).
When I was young, I always thought I would like to be just like my dad. Now that I am older, that statement couldn't be truer. When I remember those many years ago when he started back into activity , I think he realized when he took us back to church as a family, that the one who needed the church most was himself. And use the church , he surely has. Thanks again for that, Dad! I don't think I have ever seen a member take more serious his calling, both great and small; even his home teaching is just as important as anything else he does. I could learn a lesson or two from that. ... Especially at the end of the month when I am rushing to get all my visits done!
I remember him telling me once," I have so much time to make up for those inactive years of my life." To this day, he pay a little extra in his tithing just to make square those lost moments. He has served as Young Men's Secretary, Stake Missionary, Stake Mission President, High Councilor, Bishop, Stake President's Counselor, Temple Sealer, and Stake Patriarch and more. But more important than all this, is his sacred role as a Father. It is with great respect that I mention those words and only wish I could do half as well. I truly hope that we all will be one great eternal family in the heavens to come. I love you so much, Dad! Thanks for all you do for our family.
Love,
Dad

New Experiences for us OLD FOLKS

Dear Family,

So we went to the Sweet Hearts Dance this Friday, did you say we were a week behind? Well, that is what the YSA do! The dance was great! We got dressed up, I don't think it was all that formal, yet we were the only ones in Tuxs! Thanks Mike for the use of your vest, of course YOUR tux won't fit me, I wonder why? Anyways, I am still down for my weight around 8-12 pounds weight loss depending on the day and what kind of feast we have. Don't have me count my weight tomorrow since we will have Cindy Jake and family over tonight! The meal will be great! I spoke today on the Book of Mormon in church, today. Do any of you have any stories to tell about the BofM ... when you were young or older? I need to remember for my next talk. I do remember when we use to read in the basement and we would have half the neighborhood and it was especially fun when we had the return misssionaries. I would have practically any language they wanted to read in my collection of Books of MOrmons.. Of course, my favorite language was Spanish. Then there was Melissa who would call me on my translation when it came my turn to read. "Dad I don't think you should make the literal translation like that." We try our best at it!

I got to use the new apron mom made for me. Do you like it? I got to help in the kitchen before the Cindy's family came over. I made some cookies, the drink, and ate a few cinammon rolls just for test! There are so good, I have been fasting all day!

Well, the family is here. Got to go!

Love,

Dad

Family Letter!

Family Letter!

Dear Family,
This was mom's finding this past week in her effort for junking! Yes, it is a cedar chest. We washed it and cleaned it up. Nice little box! Actually its a huge box. We measured it and it will fit perfectly covering the whole of Guy Guys closet! Its about 2 feet deep and about that wide. Since it is cedar we will use it to stick all those precious things we have accumulated over the years in. The best part being that we can close the lid and have it unseen! We are slowly trying to convert that room into a den/ comfy room for us to hang out in.




Now you see our other projects for the day , the TV Home entertain System and the sensor light for the garage. Both were as much fun to install as they will be to have. It took about 5 minutes to instal the sensor light and then it took us about a half an hour to play with it afterwards, moving here and there throught the garage to see where it would go off! A fun game. I literally was dragged out of the garage....only to meet my next task of the day. The theater system.


We were fortunate in that the instruction manual was pretty good. It didnt take long at all to plug in all the wires for the amps...but the trouble came when we tried to get the regular stations on the tv. After a ccouple of hours playing with it on our own, Kyle called and he walked us through the steps and troubleshooting our system until it finally came together! Imagine our joy to find that we have 20 stations! The problem with the instalation was that we hadnt initialized our new little converter box yet and we didnt have the wires running into the tv hooked up properly. After we got off the phone with Kyle we sat in wonder at this incredible new addition to our room. Stay tuned for next weeks additions. I have decided its time to let Cathy have a new computer! PS. I could hardly keep my head up at church this morning cause I sat up late watching the new channels! Thanks for all your help Kyle, would have never figured it out without you. love to you all, mom and dad

Family Letter!

Family Letter!

Dear Family,

I caught a bug, and mom made me stay home today!

Last Thursday, we had a great experience at the temple and afterwards meeting on the third floor for a chapel sesssion. President Hansen and President Shultz spoke. Inspiring! I hope you are attending the temple as much as time will permit. We were told that the Lord would not put further burdens upon those who were busy completing this work and that angels would watch over us.

So last week was Finals at Franklin High School. Pretty low key, until I got a call from Cathy stating that Dad went into the hospital at noon, again. Dave had taken mom home and I spent the night, so I could go with mom to pick up dad the next morning. He was going to go home that same day, because it was not as bad as before; but when he mentioned a shooting pain going to the jaw, the doctors decided to keep him over night for observations. You can imagine how fast he wanted to get out of there. The next morning, he called at 6:45 a.m. to let us know he could come home. We checked out about 9:00 a.m. They found nothing to attribute to the heart problem, just as before. In fact, he was given no restrictions and was told to continue the same as "usual". He could even mow the lawn, but he already decided to give the responsiblity to a lawn service company.

The next step is to put a monitor on his belt that would take a picture of his heart when the problem is occurring. It sort of sounds like the Joseph Smtih Story: " for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know...". The "MORE WISDOM" will be this monitor/camera ... That is, if the heart act ups during the next few weeks to a month that he wears it. Anyways, mom and dad are enjoying being back together at home again. Keep them in your prayers and call them from time to time.

Love,

Dad