February 28, 2010

February 28, 2010

Today, we had our Stake Conference. The theme was the "rescue". Do you remember the General Conference when President Monson referred to Joseph Mallard William Turner's painting "Life boat and Manby going off to a stranded". This painting the prophet renamed "The Rescue". I am sure you can see the many symbols depicted in this painting. We spend many minutes discussing the symbolism in this painting one Stake PEC Meeting. Look at those on the shore not being able to particpate in the rescue, those in the boat going out in harm's way, and the light shining from the storm itself. We came up with great suggestions for these meanings. What are your interpretations?

Anyway, we went to the temple this week, (another rescue). We went out for a couple hours visitng those in the Stake that might need a visit, yesterday. We had leadership session talking about why visitation are so important and these resuce principles. We had the traditional adult session as well as the regular session, on Sunday. The Mt.Hood Ward sang in both sessions with their choir. It was so beautiful. I got to sing with the tenor section since they were a little short. It was so fun to be with the YSA! Our Stake President basically threw out his talk during the Sunday session and went with the spirit talking about what we need to do as families to get back to the basics. He said he had such a good talk, but isn't it so much better when the spirit whsipers to go in another direction? (I definitely would have trouble with that!) He trully was speaking from the heart directly for our Stake for a good 25 minutes!

Can you imagine what you would say, if you had the keys and mantle for your Stake. It was not anything new: Stay to the bascis : Prayer, Scriture Study, FHE, Serve, and magnify your calling. ...Fathers lead out! Mothers tend to your children. Children prepare for the temple and don't let anything get in your way to stop you from that goal! So there it was in a nut shell.

We love you and so much enjoy the telephone calls, the special FHE at Cindy's ( WE are meeting once a month and talking about family stories and answering questions of the children). WE can do FHE ovver the internet if you have any questions out there for grandpa and grandma Hill. The technology is so great. We even had a three way converstion on the telephone today with mom, jen , and missy! Thanks Melissa on telling me how to hook up! The days are going so fast!

WE are planning on having Jake's friend over to help get the kitchen prepare (Eric). Kyle, once again... Thanks for getting us started. We would never of had the heads start without your early lay off. Kyle, did you get your clearance to be on the base yet? Mandy, how is the baby coming along? Your early morning sickness is past thanks goodness! Mom, has not been able to shake this sickness. She emailed her doctor to gets some antibitics. She got a blessing yesterday, so she she be on the mends. Guy is coming March 10 and will be leaving the following Monday. We hopefully will have a family dinner for all who can come on Saturday (Dad and MOm have already penciled in the date). Maria how is the house closing coming along? Melissa is loving not having the dog to clean up and that goes with that. We are hoping to get the a new kitchen soon (Spring Break). We got our taxes but still are a little short so everthing will be coming soon since our contract has finally settled (almost 90% correct on that part). We will be getting some back pay from the contact that should have settled a year and half ago. Also, I will be teaching credit recovery for the next couple of months after school on Thursdays (8 WEEKS), so the kitchen money is coming along. The temple is so fantastics on WEdnesdays nights. Just love it! ...Go to the temple, if you need extra blessings (WHO DOESN'T NEED EXTRA BLESSINGS!). It is so neat to be there with dad on his same shift. We were able to work on both sides of the veil last week. So neat, what a pay day! Mike, hope your studies are going well! Can't wait till the grandchildren come in a couple weeks. Mom is already planning activities. We live for your visits and time together. It comes so far and few as we get so spread out. All the more important to plan those trips to come home now and then! ...or should we plan a reunion in Utah this summer? Got to keep the juices and creativity going, so we can keep this family close if not in body; then in spirit, at least! This summer we will be PARTICIPATING in the Hood to Coast at the end of August. Keep your training going. Mike is up to 7 miles per day when he is able to get out. You go boy! Guy say he needs to get started training for his 26 mile marathon in Nashville, TN around April 24th weekend. Wow, Guy what numbet of marathon is this for You, anyways? Way to go! Jake is working again around Kaizer near Salem. JP, how is your foot from last week's run? Scott& Donna , Dad and Mom, and ourselves will be meeting at AppleBee's tomorrow for dinner. We enjoying getting out with family once a month.

Well, got to go!

Love you all,

Dad

We went back to the temple last Wednesday! It is so great to be back. We still are in the beginning stages, but we are on the same session as Grandpa Hill. That is a dream come true. Did I mention, it is great to be back in the temple.

So ever since Kyle has gone back to Utah, our kitchen has stood still. Thanks again for preparing the kitchen for the cabinets. We will order as soon as the income tax money comes back! Stay tune for that to happen soon. Mom say the order will come a week after you put it in.

This weekend, Mckenzie came up with her dad. He is running a race ... 31 miles plus or minus... he took a wrong turn so it was maybe a mile more. Anyways, McKenzie came to spend some time with us on Saturday and into Sunday. WE went out and celebrated her Birhtday at Red Robin with her other grandparents, later we went shoppin, and then some more shopping and finally some shopping. We got some good sales and watched a good movie in the evening.

Monday Portland Public Schools is voting on a contract...the first one in about 1 1/2 years over due... that they might approve! Hopefully the same benefits will be in place.

We are excited for Kyle, new job in Utah, Mandy for a baby girl, JP for running his race, McKenzie for coming to Gresham and celebrating her birhtday, Katie for staying Kalmath Falls to play her last game before Regionals, Mike for working on his school, all the men in our family still working and having jobs, all the dauthers who are raising righteous familes and the list goes on and on.

Love you all,
Dad

ing.

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