Month: September 2012

  • September Family Letter

    September, 2012

    Dear Family,

    Where in the world did August go? I look back and the whole month is sort of like a blur.  I hope that is not particularly a sign of things to come.

    It has been a busy month. Of course August is our busiest month with the motorhome rentals, and although we had a couple of motorhomes less to work with this year, they were all kept quite busy, so that kept us busy. Ours is really a family business. I take care of the motorhomes, keeping them in good working condition,getting them to where they need to be and do (most) all of the check-out/check-in.  Judy Lynn takes care all of the kitchen and linen kits, keeping them washed and in the rentals as required.  Leslie does all of the booking and correspondence to get the paperwork ready and arrange for me to meet them.  Heather cleans the insides of the motorhomes (with occasional help from Teri Lynn and Chad) and Chase (with occasional help from Chad) cleans the outside. So with everyone doing their part, things go pretty smoothly most of the time.  SOME DAYS NOT!  We try to keep those days to a minimum.

    The rental season is winding down though for this year.  I do have a few rentals in September (one I will tell you about in the next paragraph) and a football “tailgate” in October.  Every little bit helps.

    The good news is that we have had a pretty good summer.  The not-so-good news is that Leslie had the nerve to rent out our Phaeton this year right at the time we are supposed to leave for our vacation.  The Alder Reunion is always on the 3rd Saturday of September and we always try to hit that.  Additionally this year, our Jennifer is due with her new little baby girl on September 18th, so that worked out great for timing.  Well,this rental is going out on Wednesday the 12th and does not get back until the 23rd.  So, for the first time in many years, we are having to drive our car down to Idaho/Utah for the reunion and also to be there for Jennifer’s baby.  Although it is due on the 18th,she went to the doctor and she is far enough along that the doctor wants to induce her on Friday (14th). So we plan to leave Gresham early on Thursday and travel to Boise and be there by 2:00 PM where we will stop at Aaron’s school and he is going to give his Mom a massage.  He is looking for folks for his internship, and his Mom is happy to oblige.  After the massage we will travel on to Richmond and should get there in early evening.

    The plan now is that Jennifer will go in the hospital and have the baby on Friday.  I will take care of Bentley and Jaidyn while all that is going on. Saturday is the Alder reunion, so we will take Bentley and Jaidyn with us to the reunion to help so that Taurean can be at the hospital with Jenn.  Jenn thinks that if everything goes okay tha she will be able to go home on Sunday.

    We will stay in Richmond for the week helping Jennifer with the kids.  I hope to be able to drive to Bear Lake to visit with Mom for a day, but will have to go with the flow with that one.  We will then leave Richmond on Friday to drive back to Gresham.  The Phaeton comes back in on Sunday and then I have to be in Seattle Monday afternoon with it for the first tailgate for Seattle Sea-hawks games.  We will be home for nearly three weeks with the second tailgate being on the 13th of October.  We then plan to pack the Phaeton and start our belated vacation.  We will go back to Richmond and also go and spend some time in Bear Lake with my Mom and family.  At some point we will head for Arizona and plan to spend a couple of weeks down there with Jeff, Becky and Shauna.  We are thinking that maybe we might even stay there and have Thanksgiving with the Arizona family, but that is subject to change because we have not bounced this off Jeff and Becky and so don’t know their plans for Thanksgiving.  We don’t know when we will go back to Gresham. When we are ready I guess.

    Note in the paragraph above that Shauna is now living in Arizona.  She moved down there this past month.  Wal-Mart transferred her to a store in Mesa, right on the border with Gilbert.  She has wanted to leave Provo for over a year now and was either going to Arizona or come back up here to Gresham.  She decided on Arizona and we think that is good.  She can live there for a while and if she does not like it, she can always move up here, but if she does not give-it–a-go down there, she will never know. So far, so good for her… other than her car air conditioner quit on her,but I think that Jeff and Becky’s brother are helping to get it going again.  Arizona in August without AC is not a good thing.

    Happy Birthday to Dad, Gary Lee and Shauna (tomorrow).  I always think about Gary Lee and my Dad on the 11th, wondering what they are doing and if they are thinking of us… which brings up and interesting question. Will we continue to celebrate our “birthday” in the life after this one,or will be celebrate the date we enter into that realm?  Of course, then I wonder even if we will be keeping track of time.  Well, enough of those thoughts without any “for-sure” knowledge.

    I hope this letter finds you all well and happy.  We are doing well, looking forward to our vacation and spending time with family and friends.  Julie, we will be bringing you some blueberries,so get backing that home-made bread.

    Love to you all.  Judy Lynn and Roger

    P.S.  While I was writing this letter, Judy Lynn was talking to Jennifer on the telephone and Jenn says that she has been having contractions all day, so maybe she won’t wait for us to get there to have her baby.  Stay tuned.

     September 17th Update:

    Since I wrote the above, little Madison has arrived


     

    MadisonAnn Stewart Born 09/12/12 at 0432. Weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz. 20.5 inches.

    You will note that I did not get this posted on the 10th like I usually do.  Too many things going on at the time.

    Judy Lynn and I left Gresham on Thursday and drove all the way to Richmond in one day (a chock for us as we are used to taking two days in our motorhome.  If you note the dates you will see that Jenn did not wait for us.  We arrived at her place just hours after she got home from the hospital with little Madison.  We have been here in Richmond since.  We attended the Alder reunion on Saturday and it was good to visit with relatives on her side of the family.  We will stay here until Saturday and then as stated above, head back to Gresham for a couple of weeks to tend to “business” then load up the Phaeton and start our “real” vacation.

    As I also said above, stay tuned!