April 10, 2013

• April Family Letter

  Dear Family,
  For once when I sat down to write this month’s letter I did not have to sit and wonder what it was that I was going to write about.  For those of you who follow some of my family on Facebook you will know by now that Heather gave birth to little Otis yesterday.  They were scheduled to have him on Monday, but early that morning the hospital called and delayed things for one day… I think too many gals went into labor and there wasn’t enough staff or enough room for Heather.  So then Heather was to be in the hospital at 6:30 AM yesterday and the “process”took all day, but Otis finally arrived at just a few minutes before 11:00 PM our time.  As nervous father and grandpa was waiting all day… not so patiently I might add, it crossed my mind that maybe Otis would arrive on my Mom’s Birthday which is today (April 10th),but I REALLY wanted the baby to just come, so missing Mom’s Birthday was just okay with me.  Otis weighed in at eight pounds, twelve ounces… a pretty good sized baby for Heather being induced one week early. 

  
  Heather & Otis with Leslie looking on – PROUD Jay, Heather and little Otis
  
  Aunti Teri with Otis

  Gwen and Oscar spent the night with us last night and Chad stayed hereto help me since Judy Lynn wanted to be over at the hospital for the actual birth.  Heather had invited Judy Lynn,Teri Lynn and Leslie to be there for the birth.  Judy Lynn LOVES being there with her daughters and I know that Teri Lynn was so happy for the invitation because this one was the first she could just watch.  Thanks Heather for making the ladies happy.  When I finish this letter I will post some pictures on my blog for those of you that would like to see them. 

  
  Keeping Oscar and Gwen happy (It only takes food for Oscar)

  
  Gwen is a little more difficult.  Here is her “birdhouse” and she climbed on top and said she was “the bird”
  On the right she has my iPad that she got on to NetFlix all by herself.

  It is mid-day on Wednesday as I am writing this and Judy Lynn, Chad, Gwen, Oscar and I just got back from the hospital where Gwen and Oscar got to see their new little brother for the first time.  Gwen was so excited… some to see little Otis… but a WHOLE BUNCH to see her Mommy and Daddy.  I can tell that she misses them,but she was so cute this morning to thank her Grandma for letting her stay the night.   While we were there Leslie came with three of her kids, Jay’s Brother Jordan was there with his wife Shanna and their less than one-month old daughter Lucy.  But also while we were there Jay’s two sisters came so Heather’s hospital room was full.  But Heather really looked good and did not look like she had been through a birth process,but I guess once little Otis got positioned correctly, Heather only had to push once.  So we are proud of Heather and Jay for making Judy Lynn and I proud grandparents again.  And a BIG thanks to Chad for his help with Gwen and Oscar.  He was a huge help with Oscar and Oscar really loves his BIG cousin.

  
  Left:  Gwen & new little baby brother Otis.  She was excited
  Right:  I think Oscar and Gwen missed their Mom

   
  Oscar not quite so excited to be by his little brother!

  
  Three-week old Lucy (Jay’s brother Jordan and Shanna’s baby) with one-day old Otis
  Otis with Finn, Shanna & Leslie looking on

  
  Otis with Grandma and Grandpa

  
  No room to sit down, so I sat down and my buddy Finn came and sat with me.

  
  Truman, Lucy & Otis  & Otis in his new little outfit

  
  A BUNCH of Rickers
  Finn, Lucy, Truman, Otis, Gwen, Reese & Oscar

  
  Keeping kids entertained in a hospital takes some electronics.
  Reese & Oscar on chair.  Finn standing

  Today is my Mom’s 83^rd Birthday and I wish that I could be there to give her a BIG LLOONNGG hug on her special day.  I received a text with a picture from Maxine and it looks like she got her cake, some flowers and I see some cards there.  

  
  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

  I really planned on trying to be down in St. Charles for her birthday, but Heather and Jay did not ask about my plans when they decided to have a baby around that time.  So in late March, Leslie and I loaded up her four kids and headed out for a mini-vacation for them.  Leslie’s Josh was going to be tied up with his work 24-7 while he worked on a project, so Leslie decided that since Josh was not going to be home, she just as well go with me to Idaho.  She could visit with her Sister Jenn and family while I spend some time with my Mom.    

  We left Gresham on a Friday and traveled all day, but arrived in Richmond safely and was really happy with how Leslie’s kids traveled.  We had to stop a couple of times and let them eat and run around a bit, but I thought it was a good trip.We spent Friday night with Jenn, Taurean and family and on Saturday I caught a ride with Maxine from Logan to go to St. Charles (Thank you Maxine!).  I spent time with Mom on Saturday, cooked her breakfast and then in the evening I (watched her TV shows with her).

   

  
  Breakfast for mom.  LOTS of bacon, easy-over eggs and pancakes.

  On Sunday I took her to Church and Maxine invited Mom, Dallas and me over for Sunday Dinner at her place in Paris (Theresa was having trouble with her back and could not go with us).  Monday I spent the morning with Mom and then used Dallas’ truck (thanks Dallas) to drive over to Maxine where she fed us again and then we also watched“Les Miserables” on DVD with her.  I had never seen the play, read the book or seen the movie, so I was glad that Maxine was there to tell me what the story was all about.  I don’t enjoy seeing poverty and ugly scenes that depict how awful us humans can be to each other, but I did enjoy the movie…I think mostly because Maxine was there to help me make sense of it.  Several years ago Judy Lynn and I were invited to go to the opera “Phantom of the Opera” and I COULD NOT figure the plot of the opera, so I eventually just sat back and enjoyed the music.  So this experience was MUCH better thanks to Maxine.

  
  Mom all “dudded” up for church. 

  On Tuesday I drove Mom over to Richmond and she spent the day with Jenn and Les and all their kids.  I was worried that Mom would get tired and want to leave and go home, but she did great, just watched and talked to her great-grand -children and I was glad they could get to know her better.  Brent and Jan came over for a while to visit with us and that was nice.  On the way to Bear Lake to take Mom, we all went to the Golden Corral to eat so that I could get my fill of yummy shrimp.  A trip to Idaho/Utah would not be complete if I did not get a good meal with shrimp.  I took Mom back to St. Charles and spent the night with her and then caught a ride back to Logan with Dallas and Theresa.  Theresa were going to Logan so Theresa could tend Rick and Amanda’s kids while Amanda went to her doctor, one of the last ones before their baby was due to come.  While Theresa was doing that, Dallas ran me to Richmond.   Thank you Dallas and Theresa for that ride back to Logan and for the use of your truck on Tuesday. 

  
  Right: The lawn I mowed just before leaving for Idaho
  Left:  Mom’s yard.  Doesn’t look like I will be mowing that lawn any time soon.

  
  Bear Lake STILL frozen over

  
  Left:  Visiting with Mom
  Right:  We all walked to Bentley’s school to get him

  
  Bentley and Reese playing out front of Jenn’s

    
  Jaidyn & Reese on Tramp -  Jaidyn and Finn on swings

  
  Bentley helping Reese down the slide with Jenn watching – Finn just “Hangin” there in the swing.

  
  When they are tired of playing outside, this is a little less strenuous.

  
  Leslie, Jenn, Brent, Jan
  Roger & Mom

  
  Golden Corral – Notice the chocolate fountain in back of Sawyer and Bentley… quite a hit!

  Wednesday night I drove in to Brent and Jan’s and spent the evening having Brent show me that program that their kids had given them for Christmas, Ancestry.com.  I wanted to know more about it and what I thought would only take a few minutes ended up being an all-evening adventure because I got so interested in what I was doing and the information that I was finding. We left of Thursday for the day-long drive back to Oregon. 
  Thanks Jenn and Taurean for putting us all up and for the fun visit.  Once again I thought that the kids did really well and it was a good trip back. 

  The Thursday evening before we left Oregon we went over to Kirk and Vynette’s to an open-house for Corrine as she returned that day from her Mission in Brazil.  Corinne looked GREAT and she sounded like she really enjoyed her mission.  It was also fun to spend time with family.  Corinne, we are so proud of you.  Again, for those who want to go to my blog, I will post some pictures there.

  
  Douglas, Corinne & Kirk  — Josh, Vynette & Kirk

  
  Corinne giving Grandma Garna a hug after 18 months… then Doug got one too

  
  Corinne & Aunt Judy Lynn — Leslie, Corinne & Judy Lynn

  
  Cortney, Olivia, Kenny, Corinne & Kyle
  Judy Lynn, Leslie, Corinne, Garna & Kirk

  
  Kelly with Truman & Reese  — Chad with Reese (have to pass her around some!)

  Spring is arriving in Oregon… only interrupted by frequent rainstorms.  I have had to mow the lawns this year since almost every month because we never had a frost hard enough to cause the lawns to freeze and turn grey, so they just kept growing.  I caught a period in-between spring showers to till my garden.  I will wait until later in April to plant, waiting for the first batch of weeds to sprout so that I can till them under and that seems to lessen the weeds I have to deal with after planting.  We have had flowers blooming all month and things are so pretty and colorful.  I love spring.

  
  Garden plot after tilling and before.

  
  Raspberries and blueberries starting to come alive

  
  Peas I planted in February

  
  With the saga of the hot tub over, we have decided to turn the hot-tub room into a playroom.
  I took the windows out and will replace them with a couple of insulated windows.
  More info on this as I get the work done.

  I hope that this letter finds you all well and happy and that you find that life is good. 
  Love to you all,  Judy Lynn & Roger

  • 8:42 pm
  • Leave a comment