October 11, 2010
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October Family Letter
October, 2010
Dear Family,
My goodness. I was talking to Judy Lynn last night telling her that the family letter was due again today and she commented that it always seems like we are writing more than just one family letter per month. That due date surely seems to come around more often than just once a month. One thing for sure is that we are not living a boring life up here. There always seems to be lots going on.
The big news of this month was the arrival of Heather and Jay’s little boy, Oscar Cleneth. Oscar was actually due on September 30th, but 3 weeks before the due date when Heather was in for her check-up, the doctor told Heather that she wanted to take the baby a week early so that the baby would not be so big (as Gwen) and Heather’s delivery might be easier and she would not tear so badly. So appropriate changes were made to schedules (more about one of those later) and Heather went into the hospital on the evening of the 23rd and ended up having Oscar in the afternoon of the 24th. Surprise, surprise though, when Oscar arrived he weighed a whopping 9 pounds 8 ounces (22 inches long), certainly not smaller than Gwen. But even with his size, Oscar came without prolonged labor or difficulty and we are so glad to have him here, healthy and that both mother and son are doing fine. Heather brought Oscar home from the hospital that Sunday. He has turned out to be a good baby. He gets fussy at times, but usually only when he is hungry and he DOES LET YOU KNOW IT! This morning Heather and Jay are out to Jacki’s having some pictures taken. I am sure that Heather will post a lot of them and I might steal some of them and post them on my blog.
Little Oscar Cleneth
BIG sister Gwen with little brother Oscar
September also included Judy Lynn’s and my trip to Idaho for my 50th HS reunion. The reunion was in Montpelier (our old Fielding High School has been torn down years ago) at the Oregon-California Trail Museum. I had been on the planning committee to the extent that I put together a web site and helped update it with information from each classmate that we could get information from. Fifty years is a long time and at the beginning of the planning stage of the reunion with Lynn Pugmire, I was worried about going to the reunion and not being able to recognize anyone. So I put together a web site and I think it turned out very helpful… at least it was for me. By the time I got to the reunion I already knew what most of the classmates looked like now. At the reunion I only had to glance at three of the attendees’ name-tag to be certain who they were. I was finally able to talk Judy Lynn into going with me. As we left I asked her if it was as bad as she thought it was going to be and her answer was “no”, so to me that was some evidence of success. It was good to visit with old friends. I was wondering going in what in the world I would have to talk with them all about, but that ended up not to be a problem. The folks were so friendly and there was lots of reminiscing and talking about the “good-old-days”. If any of you would like to take a look at the web site that I put together, let me know and I will give you the URL and tell you how to get in to the site. It was fun.
Fielding HS Class of 1960
We spent that weekend and until Wednesday there in St. Charles with Mom Arnell. It was good to spend time with her. I am so thankful she is doing as well as she is, that she can live in her own home that she loves, and that I have two siblings that live close and watch after her. Living so far away, Mom’s well-being is such a worry. On Wednesday we went back to Jennifer’s in Richmond and spent most of the weekend there.
Mom with my brothers and me (Where is Maxine???) — Mother and myself as we were ready to leave Bear Lake
We took Mom for a drive up Green Canyon and drove clear over to Logan canyon and then drove home through Garden City
Pictures show some of the beautiful colors we saw.
Jaidyn and Bentley in the “BUS” – Jennifer visiting in the motorhome
That Saturday was Judy Lynn’s Alder family reunion in Malad so we drove over and attended that. She still has three uncles that are still alive although her Dad passed away clear back in 1987. They had a good attendance and it was good to visit with all the families.
On Monday spend drove to Provo to visit with Shauna who was having problems with her car and could not drive it to come and spend time with us. On Tuesday we (sadly) left Jennifer and our two little grandchildren and drove the MH to Lava Hot Springs. We met Maxine and David there and spent two night there at a KOA Camp site with them. On Wednesday we went for a drive with David and Maxine taking the OLD highway from Lava to Bancroft and then over to Grace where we picked up a few bags of potatoes from a farm where David has purchased potatoes before. Back at the MH, Dallas and Theresa dropped Mom off to stay with us while they went on to watch one of their grandsons play in a football game somewhere near Blackfoot. Brent and Jan came over from Logan to visit for a while. In the evening Maxine, David, Judy Lynn and I went to Hot Tubbing for a few hours. The water was REALLY hot, but the gals enjoyed it. Well, I did too but could only get a small fraction of my body actually in the water. The air was cool, the water was hot, so I had to find a depth that made things equal out to feel “just right”. It was quite enjoyable. I felt I was radiating heat for days! Dallas and Theresa made it back to Lava, we spent the evening visiting and them, spent the night with us. Dallas and Theresa had to leave fairly early in the morning, and of course they took Mom. It is time for the cows to come down out of the canyons and Dallas cannot stand to be away from the farm so when they come, he is there to welcome them home.
David and Maxine’s 5th wheel next to our Phaeton
David and I prepared our RVs for travel and we parted, Judy Lynn and I heading north and they headed south. Judy Lynn and had a good day, traveled to Pendleton and spent the night at the Wal-Mart parking lot there and then headed back to Gresham the next morning. As I said earlier, Heather went into the hospital that Thursday night, so on Friday as we were traveling to Gresham, Jay kept texting us keeping us up on Heather’s progress. We got to Gresham a little after noon and made a visit to the hospital to see Heather before the baby came. Oscar made his appearance around 5:30.
Heather and Oscar
The rest of the month of September was spent wrapping up the motorhome rental business for this year. We finally have all of our motorhomes back, so I am trying to get them cleaned up, get those taken back to their owners that store them for the winter, and take care of some damage that has been done by renters. I will be doing that for another week or so, but having things slow down some really feels good at times.
I have been invited to sing with the LDS Madrigal singers who are performing at the Grotto again this December. I believe we will be doing a second performance, but I am not sure when and where. I always enjoy learning new songs and singing some of the ones we learned last year.
Kirk and Vynette’s Kevin was home on leave from the Marines and he brought Haley and little Carter for a nice visit. We enjoyed their visit and are so glad they came to see us and spend some time.
Left: Haley and Leslie sitting. Jay Jorden and Shanna in the background. All watching Gwen
Right: Haley and Leslie
Kevin with Carter and Leslie’s Finn – Finn and Carter
Well, I think that’s all folks… at least for this month. I hope this family letter finds you all well and happy. Please know that we miss seeing you all and get somewhat jealous whenever we hear of family get together that we cannot attend. Our congratulation goes to Austin on his mission call. We thought about him today. So sorry we could not be there with you all.
Love to you all, Judy Lynn & Roger
