The crowd started arriving at 4:00and we started to eat about about 4:30. Heather had me heat up my grill to warm up the flour tortillas and that was a good idea.  I could warm up six at a time and it would have taken forever to warm them one at a time on the stove in a frying pan.

Left:  Judy Lynn, Chad, Finn, Kortney (friends of Teri Lynn), “Birthday boy”Cort, Sawyer, Leslie, Reese (standing in front of Leslie) and Quinn (Back to us)
Right:  “Birthday Boy” Cort, Sawyer, Leslie, “Birthday Girl” Reese & Gwen

Left:  Sawyer, Leslie, Reese & Gwen
Right: (Part of) Kathy & John Ricker (Josh and Jay’s Parents), Josh, Todd (sitting), Judy Lynn, Teri Lynn, Reese, Sawyer & Heather

Birthday Girl Reese eating her cake.

Leslie & Reese  –  Leslie, Josh, Teri Lynn & Jacki

The food was delicious and company was GREAT.  John and Kathy (Ricker) came along with some friends of Teri Lynn’s and Randy.  We had folks wandering in most of the evening. 

 
Oscar before Haircut  — Heather & Jay (before his haircut)

 
Gwen, Finn Sawyer & Cort (before Finn and Sawyer’s haircuts.. old picture)

Sawyer… “In Process”

Finished Product
Sawyer, Finn, Jay & Oscar (I think that’s who they are)

A couple more… just for fun
(Strange, little Reese fits right in with her brothers!)

Gwen wanted her hair cut too… but for some reason Heather would NOT oblige. 
She was so sad and did not understand!  Heather tried to explain that “girls” did not cut their hair like that,
but that explanation did not help one little bit.
Gwen, Sawyer (Finn pushing car) & Reese

They did not get finished, packed and gone until after 10:30, pretty late for the little kids… but what a FUN Evening!

May, 2012

Dear Family,

Thank you Brent for delaying this family letterone day.  I cannot make any excuses… Ijust plain forgot.  We have had a fewdays of good weather and the only thing that has been on my mind has been toget the garden ready to plant and if that is not enough, I also I have beenhelping Todd get his garden spot ready also… and his spot is a lot bigger thanmine.  Last night it was after 8:30 whenI came in the house from tilling and I was tuckered and just did not thinkabout the fact that my family letter is due. I didn’t come in this evening until about the same time, but I committedto Brent that I would have this letter to him by midnight.

 The most recent event that I need to report forthis month was my trip to Idaho to see Mom. This time I/we decided to take Sawyer with me so that he could spend theweekend at Jenn’s planning with Bentley. We left early last Friday (5/4), traveled all day and got to Jenn’s atabout 6:00 PM.  Dallas had brought Mom toLogan and Jenn had met them and brought Mom to her place in Richmond for theday.  Mom seemed to have enjoyed the daythere with Jenn and the kids.  I droppedSawyer off and Mom and I headed to Nibley for the Dance Floor-show that Mat andKim put on for us there.  I reallyenjoyed the floor show.  Matt and hispartner surely do have a talent and they were fascinating to watch.  I actually made the trip to see my mom tocoincide with that floor-show and I am surely glad that I did.

After the floor-show, Steph and Rick invited Momand I out to their place for some visiting and some food.  We got to meet Kim and her folks and alsowere able to visit with folks that I don’t see so very often.  After the visiting and eating (thanks for theinvite Steph and Rick) Mom and I headed for St. Charles.  I spent all day Saturday with Mom, visited,went to Maxine’s while she did Mom’s hair and then we spent the eveningwatching Mom’s “Saturday night at the movies”. She has a series of TV programs that she watches and we enjoyed theevening together.  I even liked all ofthe programs that she watched… some better than others.

Sunday was Stake Conference in Bear Lake and Idid not want to attend that, so I got ready for church, put Mom in with Dallasand Theresa and I headed to Richmond to attend church with Jenn andTaurean.  I always enjoy the ride throughLogan Canyon and although it was still too early for much “spring”, I stillenjoyed the drive.  But when I got toRichmond, little Jaidyn had been sick, so Jenn and Taurean had decided to keepthe kids home from church.  I thoughtsomething was strange when I drove up and Sawyer and Bentley were outsideriding their bikes and Sawyer rode up to me and told me he was not going tochurch because he was on “vacation” and you don’t have to go to church when youare on “vacation”.  I have no idea wherehe got that from.

Jenn had invited Brent and Jan out for dinner soI could visit with them.  So theafternoon was spent visiting, eating, and visiting some more.  Brent and Taurean got to looking in to someof Taurean’s genealogy and were having such a good time.  Brent and Jan were good instructors and theyactually had some success.  Taurean’s Momis the only member of the church on her side, so there is lots of work to bedone.

Sawyer and I said out goodbyes on Monday morningand headed back for Gresham.  We stoppedin Boise and had lunch with Aaron who is there for the summer attending aschool to get a license for doing massages. Aaron thinks that his work will be much more broad if he can offer themassage as well as the facials.  We had agood visit.

Sawyer and I got home at a little before10:00.  It was a good trip and Sawyer wasa good traveler and did not ask “aren’t we there yet” once.  Thank you Sawyer for going with your Grandpa.  You made the trip much more interesting.

I also want to give a quick update on Judy Lynnand her “hot tub” lungs.  We went to thedoctor on the Monday before I left and the doctor took her off of oxygen duringthe day but she still has to sleep with the oxygen.  That seems a little strange, but for somereason her oxygen level goes down at night, so the doctor wanted her to sleepwith the oxygen for the month of May and at the end of May they will takeanother x-ray and see if her oxygen level during the night improves.  If it doesn’t, they may have to run someother tests… but they did not say.  Weare just hoping that her lungs will be healed enough to take her off of oxygencompletely.  Thank you all for yourthoughts and prayers.

The last piece of news that is really excitingfor us is that Jennifer announced to us this past month (well to us, longerthan that, but we could not tell anybody). She is due in September and found out recently that she is going to havea little girl.  So our family isincreasing one more time.  Congratulations Jennifer and Taurean!

I think that is all the news.  I hope that this letter finds you all welland happy.

With this letter comes our love to you all.

Judy Lynn & Roger

April, 2012,

Dear Family,
Happy April. I hope this letter finds you all well and happy.  Spring has sprung in Oregon and it is always so pretty up here this time of year.  All are welcome to come up and visit us to see the “green” any time!

Raspberries… just 2 months away

The first order of business is to give you an update on Judy Lynn.  This report is just three-days premature.  She has her next doctor’s appointment on Friday (6/13) and they will take another look at her lungs and they will be able to tell us then the lungs healing progress.  I think Judy Lynn is gradually getting her strength back.  Last night as we were walk those few steps into our home she told me that she isn’t as winded when she gets into the house as she has been. However, she is still using the oxygen most of the time.  During our last visit with the doctor, he told her that when she is just sitting or walking around the house, that she would not need her oxygen.  But a few days ago Jay loaned us a oxygen-level tester (the one that fits on your finger and measures the % of oxygen in your blood) and that gauge registers pretty low sometime even when Judy Lynn is just sitting, so she thinks that while she is sitting she just as well have the oxygen running, so that is what she does most of the time.  She has most of her color back and that helps with how healthy she looks. There for a while she was so white that she just looked like she wasn’t well.  We appreciate all of your prayers and concern.  I think she is improving,but it probably will be a long recovery to get her lungs back to where they were.

Judy Lynn went to church for the first time last Sunday (Easter).  Our choir was performing a couple of numbers and she has several of her family members that sing in the choir (Teri Lynn, Chad, Josh, Jay and me).  The song we were singing between speakers was “Did You See Him In The Garden” and it is a beautiful song and Judy Lynn wanted to be there.  She did go into the library to do “her job” after Sacrament meeting, but I went in with her and helped in her stead.  She has kept it pretty quiet in the ward about her problem, so she had quite a few folks come up to her and ask her about the oxygen apparatus she was wearing. That was the part she was dreading… having to repeat the story numerous times, but folks were very understanding.  We did not stay for the third hour, but I took her home.

The next thing to report is the trip that I made to Idaho to see Mom.  I had planned to go in February but Judy Lynn’s problem made me put that off for a few weeks.  When Judy Lynn got well enough that she could pretty well take care of herself, I decided to take this trip.  Douglas called one day to check on Judy Lynn and I mentioned to him that I was going and asked him if he wanted to go.  To make a long story… not so long, Doug decided to go and we also decided to go during Spring Break so that his Kelly could ride down with us.  We left early on a Monday morning (Kelly and I left Gresham at 5:00 and drove the hour to get to Hood River and picked Doug up at 6:00). We drove straight to St. Charles and arrived in Bear Lake at around7:00.  We stopped briefly in Paris to say”Hi” to Maxine and David and then drove on to St. Charles.  I had not told Mom that we were coming except I had Maxine tell her during the day sometime so she knew about us being on our way and so she would not have too long to worry about us getting there safely.

Left:  Roger, Brent, Dallas, Maxine, Mom & Doug
Right: Brent, Jan, Dallas, Theresa, David, Maxine, Kelly, Roger Mom & Doug

Left:  Brent, Kelly & Jann – Right:  Theresa & Doug

Kelly and his Grandma -  Dallas & Mom

As we were ready to leave
Mom, Roger, Kelly Dallas & Doug

Let’s just say that Doug, Kelly and I had such a grand time there in St. Charles (well… Bear Lake really).  Doug told me that he had not been to Bear Lake for a few years and Kelly had not been there for much longer than that.  Mom was having “good days” so our visits with her were delightful.  Maxine was so helpful in making sure that we had food to eat.  Doug got to visit with some of Garna’s family a couple of times. One day Dallas drove us around the lake and although it is still awfully early in Bear Lake for showing Spring intentions, it was still a pleasant drive with lots of good visiting.  Brent and Jan came over on Thursday and we got to visit with them and we took a few pictures.  I will attach one of them to this letter.  I don’t know if pictures show up in what Brent sends, but if they don’t you can go to my blog to see them.  Bottom line… we had a great time.Thanks to all of you who went out of your way to make our visit so memorable.

Last thing the month I have to report on is Jay’s operation.  It was scheduled for today and at the time of this writing he was just waking up.  Heather is with him at the hospital and we had Gwen and Oscar all day.  I commented to Judy Lynn a little earlier that it is surely a good thing that we had our kids when we were young.  Gwen is pretty good, but Oscar is full of energy and it takes the two of us to keep up with him.  You may or may not know of Jay’s problem with Crohn’s disease.  He found out he had Crohn’s while on his mission and has had times when it has given him problems since he has been back home. The doctors up here wanted to do some testing and had him swallow a little tiny camera so that they could take thousands of pictures as this camera went through his system.  Well, the camera got caught in one of the areas of his intestines affected by the Crohn’s.  So they scheduled today to go in and remove the camera and also remove that section of the intestines that caused the camera to get blocked.  So he went under the knife today and was in surgery for over three hours.  They ended up taking 14 inches of his upper colon and 8 inches of his lower colon. But they say he is Crohn’s free right now and he should have about 10years before the problem comes back.  He will be in the hospital for four days and out of work for about two weeks, so remembering him in your prayers would be appreciated.

Well, other than that, nothing is going on in our lives.  We send each of you our love…and once again my special thanks to the family who made our visit last week so enjoyable.  I just may do it again real soon!

With this letter we send our love… Judy Lynn& Roger

Dear Family…

This is going to be a short letter this month. For those of you who read my Xanga entry on February 26th, this will just be an update from that.Since that visit to the doctor, Judy Lynn has pretty well been confined to the house, not particularly because she could not leave the house, but because she did not want to have to leave with the oxygen contraption and it was easier for her to just stay home. We did venture over to Heather’s for Gwen’s Birthday parties, but other than that she has pretty well stayed here at home. She has not been back in her craft room only once since that time, so that should tell you all something.

 I have rearranged my schedule to pretty much stay around here to be here when she needed me. I have tried to do most of the cooking for the meals… which hasn’t been hard since one of the things that was affected was her appetite… nothing sounded or tasted good to her. I have done the laundry, grocery shopping, and whatever else that needed to be done.

However,after being hooked up to the oxygen, she started to feel better. Her terrible cough gradually left her after about the first week. This week was the week she was to go back in for a checkup to see how she was doing. Her appointment was at a little after noon on Friday, but we had to be there early so that she could go have an xray. I dropped her off at the hospital door and she headed for the check-in while I parked the car. This time when I got to the hospital she was already past the check-in and was waiting at the second check-in where we pay the co-pay and they tell us where to go. That Wednesday I took he there and dropped her off, she was waiting for me right inside the entrance to the hospital because she was too out-of-wind to go any further without a rest.

 We first went to xray which did not take too long and then went to the pulmonologist clinic… this time she was walking with her little oxygen tank, but did not need the wheelchair like she did before. When they came to get us to go into the exam room I asked if I could go in with her and they told me that I could if it was okay with Judy Lynn. Of course she wanted me there this time so I went in with her.

 When the doctor came in he spent quite a bit of time with us. He took Judy Lynn off the oxygen and told her he wanted her to be off it while he was doing the examination so he could test the oxygen level in her blood without the oxygen hooked up. He talked with her for a while and asked her how she was doing and how she was feeling. She told him that she felt lots better and was able to getup and do some things. He then told her that when we were there a little over two weeks ago, he considered keeping her there in the hospital. But since he was able to get that CT scan scheduled that night before we left, he decided he would let her go home. If he could not have scheduled it that night he would have kept her overnight to watch and get the CT scan.

He asked us about the hot tub and was supportive when we told him that we have decided to sell it. He said he was sorry, but that if it were him he would NOT take a chance.

After she had been off the oxygen for a few minutes he put the machine on her and she varied between 87 and 92. When we were in there that Wednesday afternoon, her test varied between 82 and 86. They do not want you to go below 92. So she is better, but he says that her lungs still show a lot of “???” (He called it a name but I cannot remember what it was, but I took it to mean there was still a lot of infection showing.) But he did

lower her oxygen flow from 4 liters to 2 liters and also told her that when she is sitting in the chair doing NOTHING here at home, she could take the oxygen off,but before she gets up out of the chair to go do ANYTHING, to put it back on.She is also supposed to sleep with it still hooked up. So we felt a little better, but they are not going to check the oxygen again for two weeks and her next xray will not be until April 13th. So I think that will certainly affect the timing or our spring trip in the Phaeton… if we get to go at all. By that time in April I will need to be getting the garden ready to plant and also working the yard. We will have to see, but it does not look good at this point.

 So, that is an update. Judy Lynn is getting around good and I am starting to leave her for short periods of time. Monday will be a test because I have a tailgate with the Phaeton at the Portland Timbers soccer game and will be gone most of the afternoon. She says she will be alright and I think she will be or I would not go.

 
Judy Lynn at the compute with her oxygen apparatus

 Thank you all for your telephone calls and your prayers. We really appreciated them. This one was a scary one for us and we are so thankful that they finally figured it out and that she is on the mend.

 We hope this letter finds YOU all well and happy. I will provide an update in a couple of weeks.

Love to you all, Judy Lynn and Roger

A few pictures just for fun

 
Gwen and our raspberry patch before and after tying.
(A job I DO NOT like to do… GLAD IT IS DONE for another year, Thanks Chad for your help!

 
These are all voluntary raspberries that have grown over the years
The MESS before tying and after tying to the fence.

 
I have a mess in my garden.  I was not here to till it in the fall before the rain came and volunteer rye grass and an awful week have taken over. 
I have some work to do!

Heather wears head-bands and Gwen got hold of a bunch of them and just pulled them over her head.

If you read my February Family letter entry I mentioned that Judy Lynn had been sick for quite a while… in fact since the beginning of January.  At first she just did not feel well, then it turned into  a cold with a bad cough and conjunctivitis in both eyes. She got drops for the eye infection but they didn’t help.   It kept getting worse so she went to the doctor the beginning of February and that is when she was told that she had pneumonia… which I mentioned in my letter.

She got the treatment for pneumonia but it didn’t help. Judy Lynn kept getting worse and was so bad that walking from our family room to the kitchen or the bathroom would wind her so that she would have to sit down and rest before she could return.  Last Monday and Tuesday she got so bad that I was really starting to worry.  She was coughing all night and during the daytime would cough so hard that it would cause her to throw-up.  She has lost 8 pounds or more over the past few week and was hardly eating anything .  We talked to her doctor on Tuesday and she said that there wasn’t anything that she could do and that the appointment at the hospital on Wednesday with Pulmonology would be the next step.  The appointment was Wednesday afternoon and I dropped Judy Lynn off at the entrance to the hospital and she could not even walk in and had to sit at the entry until I parked the car and came in to help her.  We checked in and made our way to Pulmonology where we did not have to wait very long before they took her back to the exam room.

I was waiting out in the waiting area and it wasn’t too long before I heard a voice asking for”Roger” and I thought, “What the heck”.  I looked around for another “Roger” and since no one else responded, I said that I was “Roger”.  The gal said that I needed to come with her back to the exam room and you will never believe what went through my mind during that short walk back there.  But when I walked in to the exam room, Judy Lynn was sitting there alive and seemed to be in control of herself, so I immediately figured the WORST that I thought was not the case.  When the doctor came in an started to explain that I had two options.  Either I was going home tonight and empty the hot tub… or Judy Lynn would have to go live with friends or relatives for a week or so.  Then he went on to explain that Judy Lynn has a problem in her lungs called “hot tub pneumonitis”.  This is due to an allergic response in her lungs related to a bacteria called Mycobacterium avium that commonly grows in hot tub water.  It rarely is a problem with folks, but it looks like it is with Judy Lynn.

Her condition was bad enough that the doctor had earlier called and requested a CT scan within a day or so, but while we were there he changed his mind and said that he wanted her to have the scan before we left to go home today.  Then had put a little clip on her finger and it measured the amount of oxygen in her blood and it was way down in the eighties, way too low.  No wonder she couldn’t walk more than 20′ feet without getting winded.   We had to stay right there in the room while they connected Judy Lynn up to oxygen and told her that she would need to be on it for two-to-four weeks.  Once they got her hooked up to a portable oxygen tank, they then took her in a wheelchair to the other end of the hospital where they do the CT scans.  We had to wait for a while, but not too long and then the scan didn’t really take too long.  They could/would not give us any results of the CT Scan, so we were free to head for home.

Judy Lynn was still in the wheelchair and it had a place for the oxygen bottle, so I pushed her to the next stop a pharmacy next door to pick up the prescription of prednisone (steroid)  that she is going to have to take for a few weeks.  Thank goodness we had the wheelchair because it was far enough that she would not have made it.  We had a little wait at the pharmacy.  I wheeled her to the inside of the front door and then went and got the Terrain and drove it to the door and then went in to get her.  So I loaded her and the oxygen tank, tubes, etc. into the car and we were finally on our way home.

We did not get home until 7:00 or so and once I got Judy Lynn in the house and settled, I went right out and started draining the hot tub.  That was so sad.  While I had the drain pump in the hot tub I went back in and fixed Judy Lynn some dinner.  She ate a half of a sandwich and I had some shrimp and a salad.  While I was finishing her dinner the “oxygen guy”showed up with all of his “stuff”.  You should see what the guy left.  We have this one machine about 2 feet square that plugs in to electricity and makes the oxygen for Judy Lynn. It is connected to her via a 50′ long blue tube which allows her to move to just about the whole house (not to the bedroom bathroom, so I will have to move that unit to a more central location so that Judy Lynn can go anywhere she wants to go.  They also left 6 little canisters of oxygen that goes on this little cart that she can take with her if she wants to leave the house. They also left a huge tank that is a spare in case the electricity goes out or the “unit” stops working. So we are all fixed up.  However… Judy Lynn is already complaining about how awkward it is going to be to get anything done.

 
Judy Lynn & her Oxygen setup

Cort “Consoling” his Grandma

So,that pretty well took up most of the day.  I did finish draining the hot tub and left the sliding door to the patio open to help air-out inside the hot tub room.  We don’t know what we are going to do about the hot tub.  It is such a nice hot tub too… and she was so excited when we got it for her at Christmas time (see my Christmas posting).  We talked about moving it outside and just keeping it for the “family” because the grand-kids love it.  But that is a very expensive thing to have around for just others to use.  That will probably not be my vote.  I don’t know if any of the kids would want to buy it and we won’t give it away.  I guess we will have some time.  The doctor said it will take 2-4 weeks for Judy Lynn’s lungs to heal… but the damage is completely reversible.  And if it clears up with the hot tub gone, that will be a good indication that was what caused the infection.  But if does not clear things up, they will have to look for another cause.  What if we find out that she is allergic to ME!

Today (Sunday) Judy Lynn is doing much better.  She does not get winded nearly so quickly and she is starting to eat again.  Last night she said that she only woke up coughing a couple of times.  I did not hear her, so either I am getting used to her coughing or she isn’t coughing… the latter is what I am hoping.  She did feel strong enough to go over to Heather and Jay’s to attend a Birthday Party they were having for Gwen.  Her birthday isn’t until Tuesday, but they wanted to have some friends over on the weekend.  I took a few pictures.

Gwen playing with something before the party

 
Jay Entertaining the kids

 
Teri Lynn ALWAYS “fussing” with one of her nieces or nephews!  This is Todd and Jacki’s Quinn

Chase, Chad, Randy & Judy Lynn

 
Teri Lynn and Leslie’s Reese

Gwen and her three candles

 Gwen blowing our her candles.

Gwen and her “cake” (Cupcake)

Gwen with her “Birthday Loot”

February, 2012
Dear Family,
I don’t know why the 10th of the month always seem to roll around more than once a month… at least it seems like it. I keep telling myself that “time flies when you are having fun!” There are a few things I need to tell you about.

First I should update you on a “family health” issue. Almost from the beginning of January, Judy Lynn has been complaining because she is always tired. At first she had a cold and it seemed like it took forever to feel somewhat better from that. Then her eyes started to turn red and run. She finally did call the doctor about her eyes and they prescribed some eye drops for her to use. As most of you will remember, we usually go for a week in our motorhome around our anniversary time on the 23rd (celebrated 44 years this year!). It came time to start packing up to go and Judy Lynn just kept putting it off saying that she did not feel like going. To make a long story short, I FINALLY convinced her to go to the doctor yesterday and she found out that she has pneumonia. It is not a severe case, but they told her she needed medication and some rest (not bed rest… just rest). But they also wanted to have a specialist check out her eyes and they also said that her heart was beating too fast, so they set up two appointments for today, one for her eyes and an EKG for her heart. So right now, I think that we have things under control; at least we know what we are dealing with. I will do my best to take care of her.

Heather’s Jay has also had some health problems that have caused us concern. He spent a few days in the hospital and we thought it was his Crohn’s that was acting up. They think it might have been gallstones. Then this past week he had an “episode” with his right side going numb and we thought he might have had a stroke, but after spending most of another day in the hospital they said it was a “complicated migraine”. Enough of that Jay!

The other “event” was a quick trip to Idaho/Utah the middle of the month. We had been looking for a replacement car for Shauna for a long time. We spent quite a bit of time on our fall vacation looking and could not find anything. When we got home I contacted a friend of ours that finds cars and fixes them up and sells them for a living, so I told him about what we wanted and he started looking. He finally found a car that we thought was nice and Shauna could afford. So I took the weekend of the 13th to take it down to her. I drove from here to St. Charles on Saturday the 14th, spent the night with Mom and had a good visit with her. On Sunday I got up and took Mom to Sacrament meeting and then Dallas and Theresa were taking her to Idaho Falls with them to see their grandson ordained an Elder, so I headed for Utah to deliver the car to Shauna. Shauna was at work so I just met her during her lunch break, showed her the new car and gave here some instructions on where all the “bells, buttons and whistles” were. When her lunch break was over, I got in my old 1995 white Grand Am and headed for Richmond to spend the night with Jenn and family. I spent a lovely evening with them, stayed for a while Monday morning to play with Jaidyn who was asleep when I had arrived the night before. It snowed a skiff there in Richmond overnight and I was a little concerned about the drive back. The roads were a little slushy until I got to Preston, then wet most of the way to Pocatello, and then dry until I got to the Blue Hills between La Grande and Pendleton. It had snowed the night before and the roads got packed before the snow was cleared, so the inside lane was covered with packed snow. The outside lane appeared to me to be sand covered, but they were making the trucks put on their chains, I guess to slow them down because the outside lane was never really slick. But old Grand Am made it just fine. I was worried that I might get stuck somewhere, so I took food, sleeping bags, flashlights, etc. to be prepared just in case. But we made it back just fine and found everything here at home in good order. It was a quick trip, but it was really good to spend some time with Mom and some of the family. Since I enjoy driving, I decided that I should do that more often while Mom can enjoy my visits.

Todd and Jacki’s little Quinn turned 5 last month and she thinks she is really grown up. I was bringing her home from school last week and was going to take her to Heather’s to play with Gwen and she was quite put out with me. She said she didn’t want to go play with “little kids”. I told her that she was a “little kid” and she indignantly told me that SHE WAS FIVE and GWEN was only TWO! Grandpa needs to learn not to mess with ladies and their ages.

Well, guess that is all for this month. I hope this letter finds you all well and happy, and know that we send out love.
Judy Lynn & Roger

I cannot believe that it has been since we were on vacation that I have updated this blog.  I will try to do better.  I thought that I would post our family Christmas letter and add some pictures.  First I will show you what Judy Lynn and I are getting each other for Christmas.

We have a hot tub again!

New (to us) Hot Tub

Cort wanted to be the first to get in.

Gwen thought it the hot tub was okay too!

Way back when we first moved back to Oregon in 1986 we purchased a hot tub.  At first it was located in our garage, and then we did a remodel and added a hot tub room to the house.  We had that hot tub for many years and then it go to the point where no one was using it and it would just sit there for months without use… and sometimes without water.  We finally gave it to our friends the Kearsleys and turned the hot tub room into an office which it has been since we started the motorhome business in 1998.  But for the past few years with Judy Lynn and I “getting more mature” we have missed the old hot tub that really does a good job of soaking away aches and pains.  So we decided some time back to get another one and have been saving for that.  We finally decided that this Christmas was the year so we started shopping while on vacation in Idaho/Utah and thought that we had found one, but that fell through.  So when we got home we started looking on Craig’s List and on the Internet and found the one pictured above.  We had it delivered on the 10th of December.  We actually purchased it weeks before but I had to clear out the office to make room for the hot tub and that WAS A CHORE.  I can not believe how much stuff you collect while trying to run a business.  I have been sorting through stuff for weeks and am still not finished.  We finally just had Chad come over and help me move the rest into one of the bedrooms and I am sorting through the stuff as I have time. 

We had the hot tub delivered on December 10 and we have been getting into the hot tub almost every night (Judy Lynn every night but I have missed a couple of nights).  One of the reasons we got the hot tub was because Judy Lynn would awaken during the night with RLS and have to get into the shower and runs hot water on her legs for quite a while.  We thought that she could get in the hot tub and run the volcano jet that comes up from the bottom right on to her leg and that would help.  But since we have been soaking in the hot tub before retiring, she has not been awakened with the RLS.  We don’t know if there is a connection between the evening soaking and that.   Only time will tell.

Then, not to long after we had purchased the hot tub for Christmas, our big-screen TV int he family room went out.  It was not that old.  We purchased it right after Christmas in 2005.  It was a 60″ Sony and it has been a great TV only it was a “projection” type and there was a light that had to be changed every so-many hours.  The first time I changed it (I could do the change myself), the replacement light cost over $300 (OUCH).  Since then it has gone out three more times, but the cost has come down to under $100 which is still quite expensive.  This time when it went out I just assumed that it was the light, so ordered a replacement light from Amazon on the Internet.  When the light came, I put it in and that did not fix the TV.  So I had to call the fix-it place that we use and have them come out to see what was wrong.  It ended up being a $900 projector plus the cost of the installation, so we decided that we would not spend that kind of money on an old TV.  As the repairman was leaving he suggested calling Sony.  He said that it was a known problem and Sony had extended their warranty of that part over and over again until just a year ago, so there might be something Sony would do to help.  So I called Sony and as soon as I started talking to the technician, she knew just what was wrong and said that they did have a replacement program and sent me an email outlining what it was.  It ends up that we got a replacement for half price, and this new one was the LED technology as well as 3-D.  We don’t have any 3-D movies nor the glasses necessary in order to watch them, but we now have a new TV also (definitely NOT planned for this year)

This is the new TV mounted on the wall with the components on the TV Stand

This is the old TV with the components in the cabinet to the right.

I called Goodwill and they recycle old TVs, so I loaded the old TV into the Sonoma and took it down there.  As they were wheeling the old TV away through their door, I could not help but have a twinge of sadness go through me.  I know the TV was a “thing” and could not precipitate feelings, but the old thing had provided a lot of nice entertainment for our whole family over the years.

So shopping for Christmas this year has been fun.  Judy Lynn and I have PROMISED each other that the two above items are more than we should have received from Santa, so we are not putting anything under the tree.  Cort asked me the other day why there weren’t any presents under our tree and when I told him that the hot tub and asked him if he wanted to help me move the hot tub to be under the tree he just got a kick out of that.  So he decided that the hot tub and TV was our Christmas was a good Christmas and it was okay to leave them where they are.  This is not “our year” for Christmas so we will only have the “locals” here with us.  Todd and Jacki are going to Bremerton to be with Brian and Monica (Jacki’s sister), but we will have Teri Lynn and the “Dobles” here with us.

And finally, here is our Family Christmas Letter and a few pictures of our family.

 

OOPS, I see that the writing on the copy of the letter is not big enough to read, so I will cut and paste the verbiage.

Christmas,2011

Dear Family & Friends,

It seems I start this letter every year making some comment about the year going by so fast, and this year it isn’t any exception.  It is really hard to believe that 2011 is drawing to a close.  We have had a great year though.  Our family continues to grow adding Todd and Jacki’s Avie and Leslie and Josh’s Reese to our family.  As usual, I will try to summarize the highlights of each of our kids (that I can think of as I write this), and then close with telling you about Judy Lynn and my year.

 Aaron John still lives and works in Big Sky Montana. He spent quite a while home with us and left to go back for the winter season right after Thanksgiving.  He had been home with us for over a month and we have enjoyed having him here with us.  Before he left he gave his Mom one of his facials and body massages… and Judy Lynn says it was “WONDERFUL”.  Aaron sure does have the “touch” for that kind of thing.  I think he still likes it up there in Big Sky, but the economy has made the business somewhat slow.

 Teri Lynn, Randy and their three boys still live in a home just a short distance from us and we see some of them almost every day.  Chad just turned 18 and is active in his HS Concert Choir and the school’s special singing group, The Barlow Sound.  We just attended his Christmas concert and it was very good.  Chase turned 14 this fall.  He plays baseball in the summer and basketball in the winter.  Cort turned 9 in May.  He is now in the Cubs program and seems to enjoy that.  Cort still isn’t so much into sports, and continues to spend a lot of time working at his own “work station” in his Grandma’s craft room. Cort takes after his Grandma in that he is a very good artist and quite“crafty”.

 

Todd and Jacki live close to us and Todd keeps busy tending his “farm” and his 2000trees.  Little Quinn turns 5 in January.  Todd and Jacki welcomed little Avie into their family on Todd’s birthday in March.  She is such a cute little gal and we are so happy to have her as part of our family. Todd continues to work in the HVAC field but changed companies this past year. Jacki took some time off work when she had Avie, but is back to work now and is doing well, but is very busy with two little girls and a full-time job.  It is a blessing that she is able to work out of her home. 

 Leslie and Josh also welcomed a new little girl into their family in May.  Little Reese was born on May 13^th.  She is a cute little gal (looks a lot like Sawyer did when he was a baby… but don’t tell him!)  Josh is still YM President and Leslie works as the YW Sports Director.  Little Finn turned 2 in November and is certainly in his “terrible twos”, very active and quite noisy.  Sawyer is 5-½ and started kindergarten this past fall. He continues to be very inquisitive and smart enough to figure everything out.  His favorite play-toy is his Mom’s Ipad and he makes it do things that I cannot figure out on mine!  We get to see the two little guys  and Reese almost everyday especially during the summer because Leslie continues to help me with the motorhome business.

 Jeff and Becky still live in Maricopa Arizona.  Jeff finally was able to find employment with Micro Chip down there at the beginning of this year.  He was much relieved to finally find something.  Judy Lynn and I went down to see them in April and again this past October. Becky continues to work full-time also, but mostly during the evenings, so often they pass each other as one comes home and the other leaves for work. They seem happy down there.  We keep hoping they will someday move up closer, but doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon.

 Heather,Jay and family moved out of our home into a home of their own earlier this year.  They found a little town-house that is very nice.  Gwen continues to be a “ham” (like her dad) and will be three in February.    Little Oscar Cleneth turned one in September.  Jay works in the Stake YM and Heather is a counselor in the YW.  They both play on a soccer team that plays most Saturday evenings.  Josh and Todd play with them.  Leslie, Heather, Josh and Jay (and families)continue to spend a lot of time together. Quite an “arrangement” they have to have almost all of their family activities… on both sides… together. 

 Jennifer,Taurean, Bentley and little Jaidyn still live in Richmond Utah.  Jaidyn had her 2^nd birthday in September.   Bentley is 4 ½ and still has his winning smile.  Taurean continues to work full time and is working towards applying for medical school, so he still has lots of schooling in front of him. We were able to spend some time with them both in the spring and again this fall.

 Shauna continues to live in Provo, working for Wal-Mart and also part time for Papa John’s Pizza.  She just got the job with Wal-Mart earlier this year, so she has been unable to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas because they are busy days in the stores.  She had made a few trips to Richmond to visit with Jenn and her kids.  She loves them and constantly is playing with them. 

 Judy Lynn and I continue to stay too busy.  Judy Lynn still spends a lot of time in her “craft room” and comes up with and makes some of the most fascinating creations. She still puts on her Stampin-Up classes and has quite a following that continue to come and let her share her creativity.  I still keep busy (mostly during the summer months)with our motorhome rental business.  We keep hoping to retire from that, but so far have not been able to give up the advantages that the business brings.  We took our annual spring trips to Utah/Idaho and Arizona in the spring and then again in the fall.  We left on September9^th to be in St. Charles to spend Dad’s 100^th birthday there with family.  All of our children and their families were able to attend, so we took the opportunity to take some family pictures that we had not taken for several years.  We spent a couple of weeks between St.Charles and Richmond.  All in all, we spent two months tripping down there.  On our way from Utah to AZ, we stopped at Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Four Corners, Monument Valley and many more stops on our way.  We planned on spending a week on our way and in AZ, but it took us a week to get down there. Then when we had been in AZ for a week and were planning to leave on Monday, Saturday evening as we were driving to see some friends, Judy Lynn looked at me and said, “I am not ready to leave Arizona”, so I said, “Let’s stay another week” and we did.  So we were gone from home for exactly two months and did not get back home until November. 

 We are well and happy and love our lives.  We love having a lot of our children and grandchildren (10 of our 12 grandchildren) living close.  Teri Lynn, Leslie, Heather and their families all live in our ward and we take up about a row and a half.  Todd and Jacki live in our Stake.  We continue the hints to Aaron, Jeff, Jenn and Shauna to move closer.  I guess we are fortunate to have as many as we do living close.  We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and as always… the VERY BEST of everything for this coming year.   We hope and pray that all of us will keep Christ and the example He set forefront in your minds as we celebrate Christmas and especially throughout the coming years. Judy Lynn and I are so grateful to Him for His example for us to follow,as we know that it is in this life that we learn and grow to what we will become.

 Love to you all, Judy Lynn & Roger

A couple of pictures.

Picture of our “ENTIRE” family

We had an Arnell family reunion on September 11th commemorating the 100th birthday of Dad Arnell (see last blog).  We were fortunate enough to have our entire family there with us so we took the opportunity to have Brent’s Julie take some family pictures of us.  Indeed we are proud of our family and love all of them dearly!

Mom and her FAVORITE Son

Aaron with his Mom after his month-long visit with us this fall

Teri Lynn’s Family
Teri Lynn, Randy, Cort, Chase and Chad

Todd’s Family
Jacki, Avie, Todd & Quinn

Leslie’s Family
Sawyer, Finn, Josh, Reese & Leslie

 
Becky and our Jeff

Heather’s Family
Heather, Gwen, Oscar & Jay

Jennifer’s Family
Jennifer, Taurean, Jaidyn & Bentley

“My Girls”
Heather, Leslie, Teri Lynn, Becky, Shauna, Jacki, and Jennifer

Gwen and Oscar
(Couldn’t help but throw this one in!)

Couldn’t find a picture of Shauna alone.
 Taurean, Jenn, Judy Lynn and Shaua

I will close now by wishing all who read this a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.

I cannot believe how long it has been since I updated this blog.  No excuses for before we left Oregon, but I have a good one from then on.  I have not had good enough Internet service that allowed me to update any photos.  Whenever I tried, the upload would time-out.  But, we are down in the Phoenix area parked outside of Jeff and Becky’s home in Maricopa.  We got here Saturday afternoon and plan to spend just over a week here.

 
Motorhome and Terrain out to the side of Jeff & Becky’s

We began our Fall travels on September 9th, traveling to Idaho to attend my Dad’s 100th Birthday celebration.

Mom Arnell did not know we were coming. We surprised her on Saturday by “appearing” at her home
Left: Shauna, Judy Lynn, Teri Lynn (glasses only), Quinn, Roger Grandma & Chad (with back to us)
Right:  Shauna, Judy Lynn, Cort, Teri Lynn, Quinn, Roger, Grandma & Chase (explaining who the “tall” fellow is)

Grandma with Leslie’s Reese
Grandma with all of our grandchildren
Back: Chase (holding Todd’s Avie) Grandma (holding Reese) & Chad (holding Heather’s Oscar)
Middle: Cort, Finn, Bentley, Gwen
Front:  Sawyer, Quinn & Jaidyn

Grandma and Teri Lynn

Reese and Avie (caught them holding hands… sort of! 

Bentley & Jaidyn

Chad

Gwen on the horse

Oscar and his Aunt Shauna & Aaron

HUMM.  I KNOW this button MUST do SOMETHING!
Gwen on 4-wheeler

Oscar and Jaidyn

Sawyer, Gwen & Bentley — Gwen “thinking”?

Jenn putting Jaidyn on the 4-wheeler with Sawyer and Gwen — Oscar

Roger & Judy Lynn with Mom

Jennifer with Todd’s Avie — Jennifer and Taurean

Great Grandma with Avie and Quinn  — Quinn

Roger with his Mom

Teri Lynn, Randy & Family
Chase, Cort & Chad

Family “hanging” after dinner
Left: Josh, Finn, Leslie, Jacki (holding Avie) & Jeff
Right:Jeff & Becky, Taurean (standing) and Todd


Brent & Jan

Left: Jacki (holding Avie), Jeff, Becky, Taurean, & Todd
Right: Todd with cousins-Brent’s Dallas, Maxine’s Brad & Dallas’ Daryl

Finn Wondering why all of the excitement

Happy 100th Birthday Dad

Up at the cemetary singing “Happy Birthday” to Dad, Gary Lee and Shauna
(all have the same birthday… but Shauna has the advantage of being with us in person!)

Mom with four of her children — Dallas says a wrench hit him.  Is that right Theresa?


Random Pictures:
Gwen, Finn & Jaidyn  — Sawyer, Bentley & Quinn

Chad and Reese — Shauna with Sawyer & Quinn

Josh and sober Finn

Jenn & Heather

Chase & Reese

Todd, Jacki & Family Avie and Quinn

Mom Addressing the family

Finn is HAPPY!

Judy Lynn, Theresa, Maxine & Jan (at Brent and Jan’s)
Roger & Jaidyn in the Motorhome

Projects

This is the December Calendar project Judy Lynn is making with each of her daughters

Judy Lynn’s little rocking chair she gave to Jaidyn
(after some major repair by me with the help of Loran Hirschi)

Left:  Jan helping Brent get ready for his concert performance
Right:  Mom and Dallas

Lunch at CHUCK-A-RAMA
Mom, Roger, Judy Lynn, Jenn, Jaidyn, Taurean, Bentley, Maxine’s Stephanie & ??, & Maxine

Sunday in Richmond with Jenn, Taurean & Family

Now we will leave Richmond and start our trip down south towards Arizona.  We left on October 8th.. last in the morning because it was so hard saying goodbye to Jenn and Grandkids.  First stop was Provo where we spent Sunday and Monday with Shauna.  I left for a while in the morning and traveled to Salt Lake to attend the funeral of my 2nd Cousin Lauraine Pugmire Arnell.  He is the father of Mariam and Corinne that we grew to know well when they would come and spend summers with us to pick raspberries as teenagers.  Dallas, Theresa, Maxine and Mom were there and I got to sit by them and visit some.  We parked the MH at the side of Maxine’s Melissa that lives there with her family, but did not take any pictures.

On Tuesday we headed towards Arches

 
All of these rocks have names, but I only remember the right one called the “balancing rock” or something like that.

This is the famous arch, but we did not walk up to the arch.  It was quite a walk and Judy Lynn was wearing sandles.

More rocks… think the right is the balancing rock again from another angle

Now to Canyonlands

Again, all of these have names that I do not remember

The next day was spent up at Mesa Verde, fascinating day!

These folks built their dwellings under the cliff

It was fascinating to learn how these folks lived.  Cannot imagine how they stayed warm in the winter.  The dwellings are up at the
8000 foot level.  I cannot even figure out how they got up there (or down there)  (Coming from one who is traveling in a motorhome)

We began Friday by stopping at Four Corners where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet

Judy Lynn and I standing and touching all four states.

Intersection & a further-out picture of me touching all four states at one time.

On to Bluff Utah, a small town out in nowhere land settled by Mormon Pioneers
 

When the pioneers finally got to Bluff, the build their little cabins in a circle.  Family ancestors have restored many of these cabins.

Judy Lynn to the side of a well — The cabins in a circle.

Left:  Check out the chair that doubles as a table
Right:  Blacksmith Shop

Inside their church  — Relief Society Meeting House

Outside of church

On to Monument Valley


There were tons of rocks and formations and we literally spent all afternoon driving on an almost impassible road to go out into the valley to see them.  WE could have had a tour on benches on the back of a pickup truck for $75 EACH.  We decided to drive our own car.

Me standing by the side of “the Cube”

And that about catches you up.  We are here in Maricopa with Jeff and Becky and will be here for a little over a week.  The weather is HOT (supposed to be in the mid to upper 90s every day this week).  It was supposed to cool down for our visit… after all, it is OCTOBER.  Not too many plans other than just to visit.  Colleen and Grant (Widmer) are living down here for a few months in their new home they purchased last year.  I don’t think they plan to be back up in Oregon until April of next year.  Also, Keith and Sharon (Kearsley) are down here for a couple of weeks for the baptism of Angela’s Austin last Saturday and the blessing of their new little baby yesterday.  We may try to get together with them.

Well, so much for now.  I will not promise an update before I get back to Gresham since I won’t know about Internet service.  But there shouldn’t be much excitement to report anyway.

Dear Family

It is that time again when I need to look back a month and try to figure out what I have been doing that would be of interest to most of you.  The summers are especially hard for me when I try to do that because of the nature of my summers.  They go something like this.  Today we checked some motorhomes in from rentals and began the work of cleaning them up for the next rental.  Oh, and later we checked out some motorhomes to some renters so they could have a good vacation.  Oh, and by the way, we checked some more motorhomes in and out today.  See how exciting!  I guess the good news is that we do have some rentals.  With the gas prices they way they are, we were worried, but we are having about the same amount of business as we had last year except we have two less motorhomes which hurts some.  I did pick up one additional small Class C motorhome this past week, but it is way late in the summer for it to do us much good this year.  It is certainly a busy time of the year for us but we are more than half-way through this year’s rental season and look forward to our vacation coming up in September and October.  No babies coming this year, so maybe we will be more free and not be held to any time-frames.  Sounds good to me!

We did have a bit of excitement that caused some concern.  A little over a month ago, Judy Lynn stepped on the side of an uneven cement crack/edge and sprained (she thought) her ankle/foot.  It hurt her pretty badly and her foot was swollen some, but she thought that she had just sprained.  After a few days when it kept bothering her and did not seem to be getting better, many of us (friends and family) tried to get her to go get and x-ray and get it checked out.  She wouldn’t, but after walking on it for a month and it still hurting, she finally made and appointment and went in to have it checked… and guess what… her foot was broken.  The bone was not broken clear through and I think they said it was a “stress fracture”. The doctor told her to wear the “boot” that we have and also told her to stay off her foot for a while, but did not put her in a cast.  Judy Lynn really had a hard time with that with all of the motorhome work that she is used to be doing… she is in charge of the kits, keeping the clean and ready for rentals.  Her doctor then had Judy Lynn go to see an orthopedic but it was a couple of weeks later and that doctor just told her not to “run, jump or skydive”.  He seemed to think that the foot was healing okay.  Her foot still hurts her some when she is on it too much during the day.

This picture was taken just a few days ago when her foot is supposed to be getting better.
This is what it looks like sometimes at the end of the day when she has been up on it too much.

Both Kelly and I had a birthday this past month and we celebrated them appropriately.  For mine we got together as a family and ate and visited.  For Kelly’s, we got together at the bowling alley and bowled a couple of lines and then went back to our place and cooked some hamburgers.  I have been thinking seriously about having this past birthday being my last one.  I am crowding that age that I have always considered “OLD” and I refuse to go there.  I haven’t figured out how to stop it though.  But Happy Birthday to us and thanks to all of you that remembered.

Some pictures taken the night of my Birthday get-together.

Left: Jacki (w/ Avie), Leslie (w/ Reese), Josh (w/ Finn) Haley, Kevin (Kirks oldest boy) and Jay (w/Oscar)

Right:  Kelly and Judy Lynn (holding one-day-old Preston… we think is what they are naming him)

Haley and Preston

Heather & Teri Lynn  -  Teri Lynn and Oscar

Leslie’s Sawyer and Teri Lynn’s Cort on the Tramp  -  Todd’s Quinn in her “Photo pose”

Some more random pictures (didn’t take many this past month)

Leslie’s Reese and her head band that got down over her eyes and not liking it one bit!

(Judy Lynn and I think the band would give the poor kid a headache!)

One partial picking of raspberries

Left:  Finn in his highchair (where he spends lots of the day while at Grandma’s because he will not stay out of mischief)

Right:  Fin dressed up with all kinds of things… but don’t know what that would make him dressed up as?

Finn… walking in Grandpa’s footsteps… or shoes!

I had the water on the lawn and had left it for quite a while.  There is one place in the back lawn where I once dug a trench that has sunk some, so is lower than the rest of the lawn.  That was filled with water and Gwen found it.  We missed the picture of her laying down in the water but you can see from the last picture that she is wet from head to toe and quite happy about it.

Follow the sequence here.  This is Gwen again.  First picture of her sitting funny in one of the bar-stools.  The second picture is her putting her foot through the rungs in the chair and the third picture not being too happy about not being able to get her foot out!

With that I will close for this month.  I hope that this letter finds you all well. Love to you all, Roger & Judy Lynn

July, 2011

Dear Family,

I love this timeof year.  Our strawberries are abouttwo-thirds through their season; our raspberries are in the middle, and ourblueberries are just starting (I picked three ripe berries on Friday).  I am eating onions, radishes, lettuce andpeas straight from the garden.  I nevermake a trip to the garden without grabbing a hand-full of something to snackon. 

Peas and raspberries for a “snack” – Strawberry Shortcake

One picking of raspberries – First blueberries of the season

The only thing marring enjoying thegarden is the “getting busy” part of the summer with motorhome rentals (thegood news is that we have rentals, the bad news is that it surely does makelife hectic).  This weekend was nottypical, but we had two motorhomes come in and five go out.  Busiest weekend so far, even more so than the4th weekend.

We didn’t do muchon the fourth.  I had made arrangementswith Kelly to go to his work at Lowe’s and pick up some fruit trees that werethere at half-price and I took them out to Todd’s and he helped me plantthem.  It is the wrong time of year to beplanting trees, but Lowe’s guarantees them for a year, so if they die I guessthey will give me some live ones:).  Inthe afternoon we went out to Todd’s and ate dinner out there and watched Toddand Josh put on a small fireworks show for us and the kids.  Then we left and went home where Teri Lynnand family were waiting for the BIG fireworks display put on by our neighborboys.  They purchased some $300 worth offireworks and lit them all.  Some of themwent a LONG way up in the air.  And thatwas our 4th.

This past weekendwas our ward overnight outing and they had asked me to cook the breakfast.  Judy Lynn and I had planned on spending thenight in our motorhome out there, but things came up and the Rickers took themotorhome to their Ricker reunion instead and I just went up early on Saturdaymorning to cook the breakfast.  It was alot of work, but there was a lot of food and everyone said it was good and thisis the second year they have asked me to cook, so don’t think they would ask meback if the food had been that bad last year. I am glad to have that done though.

Tomorrow I amtaking our Conquest motorhome up to Seattle for a rental up there.  That always takes most of the day, but is apleasant drive and I really don’t mind it. We have several rentals up in Seattle every year, but only book onesthat are one-week or longer.

June was a bigmonth for Leslie’s little Sawyer.  Heturned 5 on the 29th of the month and he had a little party over at thepool/Rec room and invited a few of his friends. They really love the water, and of course the scads of food that Lesliehad for them.  Earlier Sawyer graduatedfrom his Pre-School and they had a graduation with cap and gown and the wholelot.  He was surely a proud little fellowthough.

Sawyer & his graduation certificate – Sawyer and his Mom Leslie

Sawyer’s “graduation” outfit – Ricker family with “The Graduate”

Rick family – Teri Lynn & Nephew Sawyer

Would you believethat Judy Lynn and I have had a whole month with the house all to ourselves…well almost.  We have lots of visitorsduring the day with Leslie, Heather, Teri Lynn, Chad and Chase all helping uswith the rental business.  While Leslieis in the office working, that leaves little Finn out here with Judy Lynntrying to keep him in check, which is quite a chore.  Let’s just say that Finn spends a lot of timein the high-chair watching TV.  Judy Lynnfell a few weeks ago and sprained her foot (we think) and it still hurts her,so she has not been in good condition to be chasing Finn around… thus thehigh-chair.  But we found out that Lesliehas to do the same thing at her home at times, so we don’t feel too badly…well, we do a little bit for poor little Finn… and he hasn’t even made it tothe “terrible twos” yet!

How can I possibly be any trouble?

Todd’s Jacki hashad to go back to work.  She took her12-weeks off after having Avie and that ended a couple of weeks ago.  Her mom was here to help up until this pastweek, so we are all going to need to pitch in and make sure Jacki has the helpshe needs.

A few more pictures with comments:

Quinn had a dance recital that we attended.

Here she is in her little dance dress.

Todd, Quinn, Jacki & Avie – Judy Lynn & Roger with our little “Dancing Girl”

One day I was eating a snack of celery with peanut butter and left to answer the telephone.

This is what I found when I returned.  The little snitcher!

Judy Lynn & Avie Jean – Oscar getting around

Quinn & Cort on Tramp – Gwen & Sawyer are on the other one

Well, I can’tthink of anything more, so I will quit for this month.  I hope that this letter finds you all welland getting along fine.  We love and missfamily.  Come and see us sometime!

Love, JudyLynn& Roger