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 30^th, 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 23^rd and ended up having Oscar in the afternoon of the 24^th.  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 50^th 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

Judy Lynn and I got back to town at about 1:00 PM today, just in time.  Heather had her little Oscar at about 6:00 or so.  When we got to town we went to the hospital to see her, she was in labor but things were going slow at that time.

Heather before

It looked like it was going to be a while, so Judy Lynn and I went back home and unpacked the motorhome.  (Why is it so much more fun to pack the motorhome before a trip than unpack after???)  We were not even done when we got a text from Jay telling us that Heather was going to start pushing soon.  We started to get things ready to leave and before we knew it, we got another text telling us that Oscar was here.  The text only said 9 pounds,8 Ounces and 22 inches long.  So we went right over to the hospital and took a bunch of pictures.  Here are a few of them.

Heather and Oscar and then Jay added to the picture.  Happy new Mom and Dad!

Showing Gwen her new little brother

Oscar a little closer

Grandma Judy Lynn -- Cousin Sawyer, with Leslie holding little Oscar

Grandpa holding Oscar and little Quinn

Sawyer with his little note-pad and pencil -- Cousins Sawyer and Oscar

GOOD JOB Heather.  We are SO Proud of you!!!

As all of you that have read my September entry to the Arnell Family Letter, Judy Lynn and I are currently in Idaho/Utah for a couple of weeks.  We left Gresham last Thursday evening (late), drove to Pendleton where we spent the night in their Wal-Mart parking lot and then drove on to Jenn and Taurean's on Friday, arriving at about 6:30 PM.  We spent the night there visiting and getting haircuts (thanks Jenn).  On Saturday we drove on to Montpelier for my 50th class reunion.  We have been planning it for over a year and I think that it went over really well.

 

We held the reunion at the Oregon/California Trail Center there in Montpelier.  It was a nice place to hold the reunion with lots of space including a place where they served us dinner and also a theater where we held out program.

 
Fielding High Class of 60

The reunion started at 2:00 and Judy Lynn and I got there at about 2:30.  We had visiting until a little before 4:00 when we gathered in the theater to take some group pictures.  (Five attendees did not get in this picture for some reason.  Don't know where they disappeared to and why we did not notice the were not there?)

Judy Lynn visiting with a couple of my old "friends".
(Norene Eborn Thomas & Linda Minson Hammer)

After the group picture the Center broke us into two groups and took us through their "tour" and it was very interesting.  The tour described what that folks went through to get ready for the trek from Independence Missouri to Oregon or California.  They explained how much weight the wagons would hold and decisions that had to be made about what to take.  It was very interesting and made me VERY grateful for my "little" motorhome and out trip down from Oregon just the day before.

After the tour the center had arranged to cater a dinner for us.  Here are just a couple of pictures.

 
Left:  Judy Lynn and I ate with Wayne and Gaylene Keetch
Right: (LTR) Dennis Parker, Thelma and Dan Rich, Craig Wallentine, Craig's wife and Dennis' wife.

After dinner we gathered in the theater and had a program.  We had some of the class members take part.  We sang the old Fielding High School song.

Dan Rich played his trumpet (Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom's White)

 
A quartet made up of Flora Roberts Zollinger, Joyce Pugmire (Lynn's wife), Dan Rich and Lynn Pugmire sang a couple of numbers.
Linda (Minson) Hammer played the piano for all numbers.

We had the "local" MADD Hatters come in and to their program for us.  They did not charge us and it was fun watching them make fun of us "old" folks (including themselves).

After the program was over there some a little more visiting, but most folks started trickling out, getting old and not used to "late nights" I guess.  All in all, I thought it was a GREAT reunion and it was fun to see and talk to everyone.  We had a great class.

After the reunion we drove to St. Charles and We stayed with Mom from Saturday evening until yesterday just after noon when we left and came back to Richmond.  Here are a few pictures of our stay in St. Charles.

Judy Lynn, Brent, Jann, Dallas & Theresa

Three of her "boys" and their Mother
(Let's see, which boy is the more handsome?)

Dallas and Theresa left on Monday to go on a trip to Southern Utah with some friends (Todd Bateman and his wife) that they had planned before they knew (or remembered) that we were coming down.  So we did not get to see them much.  On Tuesday I borrowed Dallas’ pickup and drove Mom up Green Canyon and drove all over the place and ended up coming out on the Logan Canyon road just west to Beaver a few miles.  The trees are starting to turn, so the colors were beautiful and I know that Mom enjoyed the ride.

Scenery up Green Canyon

Little Sheep Camp
(Looks about the same as our Motor home!)

Up in the hills outside of Garden City

While in St Charles, I washed Mom's very muddy car and did all kind of fix-it jobs that needed to get done.  She says that I can fix anything, but only says it to motivate me to do it.  (You know, compliments will get you everywhere!)

Mom and her BLS just before leaving for Jenn's

We enjoyed our stay with mom Arnell.  She also loves having her family visit with her.  Wish we could have stayed longer, but we wanted to be with Jenn and her two kids for little Jaidyn’s 1^st birthday which is today.   

Jenn in the MH and Jaidyn and Bentley exploring the MH.

Enuf for today

September, 2010

Dear Family,

This is going to be a short one.  I am sitting in the MH out in front of Jenn and Taurean’s.  We arrived here at about 6:30 this afternoon.  We planned on leaving on Wednesday afternoon,  but with the motorhome rental scheduled ins/outs and the fact that the generator on our Phaeton chose this time to stop working delayed things until last night.

 We had the Phaeton rented out down at PIR (Portland International Raceway) last weekend to some renters from Seattle who come down to Portland to race some of their cars.  This is the second year that we have furnished a MH for them.  It is a nice rental because all they do is sleep in it and don’t accumulate any mileage.  During the checkout I had the MH all set up and was showing the renter how to use the AC.  I started the generator and then proceeded to walk to the back where the thermostat is to give instructions, and on the way back the generator just stopped and I could not get it working again.  I worked for quite a while, but finally gave up and went home and searched the Internet and called the Onan fix-it shop and they told me a few things to check.

I went down the next day I took my small generator down to them and spent some more time trying to get the one on the MH working with the hints that had been given.  No luck.  Long story (not so) short, I had to take the MH into the fix-it shop and wasn’t able to get it out of the shop until after 4:00 PM yesterday, so by the time I got home it was after 5:00.  We had Chad over to the house and everyone pitched in hauling things into the MH (just dumping the stuff on beds, sofas, etc. with the intent that we could put it all away later.  We finally did get off at 8:30 PM, drove a little over three hours to Pendleton and spend the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot there.

I got up early this morning, went into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things that I had forgot to throw in, little insignificant things like a comb and toothpaste.  We were on the road by 7:00 and had a nice drive down.  I listened to a book a lot of the way, and Judy Lynn finished one of her books and watched some “Wings” on our little lap DVD player.  LOVE traveling in the motorhome!

Tomorrow we are going to Montpelier to attend my 50th HS reunion.  I will have to report on how that goes next month.  Judy Lynn decided to go with me, but is not looking forward to it very much.  But I hope she knows that I do appreciate her being there with me.  It should be interesting to see a lot of my classmates that I have not seen… literally since graduation night… many years ago!

After the reunion, we will spend a few days with Mom in St Charles.  We will come back to Richmond for little Jaidyn’s 1^st birthday on Wednesday.  Judy Lynn’s Alder family reunion will be in Malad on Saturday (18).  Our time down here this year will be cut short because we found out just before we left that the Dr. does not want Heather to go full-term and is going to induce her a week early, so we have to be back home by the 24th of September.  Right now that is our plans and we can adjust our locations as needed. 

We are looking forward to seeing as much family as we can.

Till next month,

Love from Judy Lynn and Roger

We had a one-way motorhome rental from Seattle to San Francisco.  I took it up to Seattle a few weeks ago and this last week was the time to go get it.  It was a great trip.  The reason I decided to drive down was because Kelly's Jessica lives there in SF now and he wanted to go down to see her.  Airline tickets from PDX to SF were awfully expensive also, so an alternative method of getting there was explored.  My pickup is getting so old, I did not know if it would make it, so I rented a car from Budget and we picked it up from NW Portland at about 4:30 on Wednesday.  Judy Lynn took us down and after I got the car, Kelly and I just shifted what stuff we were taking into the rented car and took off.  It was rush-hour, so it took us a long time to get through Portland and on our way, but when we did we made good time.  The car was a little Ford Focus and it got really good mileage, much better than my truck.  Turns out that the savings in gas alone paid for over half the care rental  When we stopped in Medford to fill up with gas, I could not believe how little gasoline it took to fill the tank.

I planned to drive to about Shasta or Corning, but when we got there, I was still wide awake, so I just kept driving.  I picked up a Mountain Dew (diet, but with caffeine) in Medford and had a dose or two of that and since my body is not used to caffeine, it was wide awake.  I drove until about 3:30, still wasn’t very tired, but stopped at a Casino along the way nearing SF to go to the rest room and decided to just rest for a while in the car.  I slept for about three hours (until about 7:00 AM) and then awoke and was ready to go.  We were only about an hour from SF, so we drove in to SF in rush-hour traffic, but it wasn’t too bad.  We crossed the Bay Bridge and I was shocked at the toll they charged.  Last time I crossed it, several years ago, it was $2.00.  This time it was $6.  There were about 15 lines of cars waiting to go through either their auto thing or pay the money.  Can you imagine the money that would come in with folks going to SF for the day?  (I would go on into one of my rants about toll bridges and toll roads, but will refrain!)

Once in SF, we just drove around a bit.  I wanted to find Fisherman’s Warf where the hotel was where we were to pick up the MH later in the day.  We found that and drove through Fisherman’s Warf.  We then decided to go find Kelly’s Jessica’s apartment.  It was about time for her to go to work, so on the way Kelly called her and she was just going outside her apartment, so he told her to wait and we stopped, gave her the packages that Garna (Doug’s Garna and Jessica’s Grandma) had sent.  She ran them back up to her apartment and then we took her to work.

This is a picture of the street where Jessica lives and then a picture of her and Kelly standing outside the “gate” of the apartment where she lives.  This location did not give Kelly a “warm and fuzzy” feeling about having her 21 year-old daughter living in downtown San Francisco.  But she says she loves it there.  I can’t imagine why, but that is just a personal opinion.  There are MILLIONS of folks that like it there.

After we dropped Jessica off, we had a few hours to kill before the MH was to get there, so we first parked at Fisherman’s Warf and walked around (parking, $2.50 per each 20 minutes, so needless to say, we did not stay there long.  Then we drove to Golden Gate Park where we walked around and took some pictures.

Kelly and me with Golden Gate Bridge behind us

Partially hidden by clouds.

Golden Gate National Park and a cross section of cable holding the Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco and Alcatraz

There was a man behind this bush that moved as people passed to scare them

This guy is a several generation person doing this and makes his living doing it.

One of the piers

San Francisco Street-car

Another One

More random pictures of the streets of SF

The renters finally called us and told us they were at the hotel.  When we got there, I found out that although the hotel had told the renter that they had a place to park the MH, they just meant in their entry way long enough to unload their stuff.  So when I got there, they had pulled the MH around the corner and had it parked along side of the street using up two parking spots with the driver’s side about two feet out into the right lane of traffic.  The MH looked clean and not dents, so I picked it up and proceeded to find a place to park it for a few hours.  Kelly when ahead in the rental car and we FINALLY found a place clear down Embarcadero Street in the AT&T baseball stadium parking lot, and it cost me $35 to park it, whether five minutes or all evening.  What a rip!  So I parked the MH and stayed there while Kelly went back up to the Fisherman’s Warf area to turn back the rental car and then work his way over to the mall where Jessica works.  She was getting off at 6:00, so he just waited there until she got off work and then he took her to dinner.  I waited in the MH, first taking a long-needed nap and then I watched a couple of movies.  Kelly did not call until nearly 9:00 to say he was on his way to the MH via public transportation (Bart).  We agreed on a meeting location, so I pulled the MH out and proceeded to pick him up.  We were then on our way home.  I only drove until around 11:00 PM that night and we stopped in Corning where I knew there was… what used to be a Flying J truck stop… now a LOVE’S.  I fueled the MH (took a little more than the rental going down!)  I slept really well, but my sleep machine turned off a little after sunrise in the morning (MH batteries must be getting old), so that woke me up. 

Kelly took a picture of me driving the Crescdendo with my camera phone.

Motoring right along!

We got home a little after 5:00 PM, a little tired, but not too bad.  Still had enough energy to take Judy Lynn out for our “date night”, went to Sizzler and had Senior Salmon.  BUT… it was really good to hit my own bed that night.

That was the excitement for the week.

August, 2010

Dear Family,

I was sitting in my chair just settling down for the evening and maybe watch a little TV.  I got up to go out to the garage to help Judy Lynn set up the drill press so she could drill some holes in a piece of wood to make a set-up to tie bows.  As I was passing the computer, all of a sudden I remembered that today is the 10th, and the family letter is due to Brent by midnight, and if I do not have the letter to him by then, I will have the WRATH OF BRENT pointed at me, and NOONE, and I mean NOONE would want the Wrath of Brent centered around them.  So I dutifully sat down to begin. 

As usual, July is one of the busy months for the motorhome rental business, and this month was no exception.  Our June started out pretty slow, but from the middle of July to now, things have been really hopping.  I have had to make several trips to Seattle to deliver and retrieve motorhomes, more than usual because at the beginning of the summer we were not getting too many bookings, so we decided to book everything we could get.  One weekend I went up to Seattle three times.  A couple of weeks ago I flew to Las Vegas to retrieve one from a one-way renter.  It was a fast trip.  I flew down on Wednesday, drove late into the night and then came on in to Gresham the next day.  I thought about the family living in Las Vegas and others along the way home wishing I had time to stop and visit, but I had to be home for Friday so I had to move right along.

I did want to tell you one thing that happened on the way home form Las Vegas though.  I was driving the MH just past the Oregon boarder somewhere and my cell phone rang.  It was a good friend of ours, Dennis Tanner.  He and his wife Jeanie are about the same age as us, and they used to live in our ward so our kids (they had five) grew up together.  Years ago when I started working the motorhome rental business, Dennis wanted a motorhome, but did not think he could afford it on his own, so he bought one to put in the fleet just like I did.  He first got a 27’ Class C, and then a couple of years ago he upgraded to a 30’ Class A.  So I have worked with him a lot with his motorhomes over the years.  Sometimes he would even check his own out to the renters and sometimes when he was busy I would do it for him.  This spring he called me and told me that he would not be putting his motorhome into the fleet this year.  His wife has been having some health problems and he did not know how many years she would be able to go with him in the motorhome, so they decided to take theirs out of the fleet and would just use it a lot this summer.

In the telephone call, he asked me if I had any MHs to rent for that coming weekend (remember, this was Thursday).  The way he said it, I thought he was joking, but found out that he was in The Dalles (about 1-1/2 hours up the Columbia Gorge from Portland) stranded.  He had Jeanie and some of their family with him in the MH and a van with more grandkids following.  They had stopped in The Dalles to get some fast-food for the grandkids and when they got back in his MH, it would not start.  They were on their way to Mountain Home (just south of Boise) to a big family get-together and so were in a fix.  I told him that the only MH that was available was the one I was bringing home and that it was damaged some, but not hurt mechanically.  I told him I would call the owner and see what his plans were for fixing the MH.  I did so and found out that the owner’s fix-it guy could not fix it till the next week, so gave me permission to let our friends have it.  All these conversations took place over many miles of travel, and by the time I got it all put together, I was only about one-hour away from The Dalles.  Dennis could not believe his good fortune, not only in being able to get a motorhome, but that I was driving his way and I was going to be able to DELIVER it to him that quickly.  I called home and Judy Lynn got Kelly to jump in the Denali to come and get me, and he and I arrived at The Dalles at about the same time.  We found Dennis and his family and watched them move most of their “stuff” into the motorhome I had with me.  His motorhome and the one I was driving were very similar, the same length, the same floor plan, just two motorhomes made by different manufactures.  They were in a hurry because they had lost almost the entire day, so they looked like a bunch of ants moving things around!  It took them quite a while to make the exchange, so Kelly and I left before they completely finished.  I could see that my watching was only making Dennis worry, so I just politely asked if I could help any more, and when he said “No”, he and his family thanked me profusely and Kelly and I left for the one and one-half hour drive on in to Gresham.  It made me very happy to be able to help a good friend and I know they also appreciated it.  Someone on their side was looking out for them.

On the 19^th of this month I will be going to San Francisco to pick up another motorhome.  I am trying to get Kelly to go down with me to see his daughter Jessica who is living down there now.  I will have to let you know later if we are able to put that one together.  I can just see me driving a 34’ motorhome downtown SF looking for where Jessica lives, but that is the plan.  We will take her to lunch or dinner or something.

Last Thursday evening Douglas and Garna threw a surprise birthday party for Kelly down at the bowling alley near us.  We had ALL (except Josh and Chad who were on the Priest high adventure along with Kirk and Kyle) of our family that live up here at the party including Jacki’s sister Monica and her three girls that were down here visiting while Brian and Chase were at scout camp.  It is the first time that Judy Lynn and I have been bowling for many years, probably twenty or thirty.  We were VERY rusty.  Way back when I was not a really good bowler, but would average 135 or so.  Well, we bowled two games and I did not break 100… close… in the 90s the second game, but not so good.  It was pretty funny watching Sawyer and Quinn trying to get that heavy ball down the lane!   We had a great time with all of us there together and have decided that we will have to go again some time.  Thursday nights are dollar nights, so we all can afford that!

Here are some pictures of Kelly's BD party:

Kelly cutting his birthday cake

Left:  Randy, Teri Lynn Jay, Kelly, Douglas, Garna, Kenny

Right:  Someone messed up!

Kelly, my bald spot, Heather -- Courtney, Quinn, Bailey & Sawyer

Finn and Gwen wondering what is going on

Heather, Teri Lynn and Gwen

Here are a few pictures showing the excitement of having a 16 month old in the house.

Gwen went missing one day and here is where we found her

Gwen figured out how to get from her crib to the dressing table.

Guess she thinks it is fun watching things from the dressing table drop to the floor.

I guess that’s enough for this month.  A few more weeks of rentals and then we should become human again.

I hope this letter finds you all well.  Know that we love you, Judy Lynn & Roger

July, 2010
Dear Family,
We were supposed to be in Malad this weekend to listen to Judy Lynn’s brother’s son Logan report his mission and never made it.  We planned to go right up to the last minute, but things just did not go together with the motorhome rental stuff, and it is a good thing we did not go.  I have been swamped both yesterday and today with “unplanned” things that needed immediate attention and I needed to be here to take care of them.  I hope that Logan knows that we are proud of him and wish that we could be there with him tomorrow.  Sorry Logan.

We have had Jennifer and her two children, Bentley and Jaidyn up here for two weeks.  Shauna also came up from Provo and spend a week with us, so we had a house full, but a very enjoyable time.  While the kids were here we had lots of family get-togethers so the cousins could have a chance to play and get to know each other.  I will post some pictures here in no particular order.  Just showing the kids (and sometimes parents AND grandparents) enjoying each other.

The kids spent a lot of time on the trampolines.  Quinn and Sawyer showing they can do a somersault

.

Uncle Todd getting to know Jaidyn and Bentley

Gwen talking to Jaidyn and Chase with Jaidyn

Bentley and Sawyer being "ushered" out of Grandpa's garden.

Not supposed to be there without Grandpa!

Look at Bentley's "humble" face, but no guilty look on Sawyer!

Three Cousins

Sawyer and Bentley (Bentley not looking too happy!)

Andy why do we buy these kids toys when they can play in the cupboards.

(And one of them without anything on???)

Grandma and Finn - Jay teaching Finn how to "NAP" (Sawyer in background)

Grandpa giving the kids a ride in the "train"

Kids loved it and we could not get them off!

 I other big news I guess is that our ward was split last month and Judy Lynn and I are NOT happy about the changes.  The good news is that Teri Lynn and Leslie are still with us in the Powell Valley Ward.  The bad news is that we have lost just about all of our close friends into other wards.  We have been in the same ward as our good friends the Dickeys since we moved here to Gresham 40+ years ago and we have raised our families together.  They and the Kearsleys along with many other really good friends have ended up in other wards and our hearts are hurting pretty bad.  It will take us some time to get used to this one!  One good note though is that the Widmers are back in our ward, but they are never here in Oregon so we don’t get to see them much.

Summer started out really cold and wet this past month, but the past week has made up for it with temperatures up above the comfortable level.  We have had a bumper crop of raspberries and are now starting to pick the blueberries.  We have had onions for a long time, but our carrots and squash are still just coming.  I do enjoy my garden.

And that will have to do it for this month.  It is 11:57, late and I wanna go to bed.  So until next month, please know that we love you all and pray for you each night.  We enjoy reading Xanga updates and wish more folks would do that.

Love to you all,  Judy Lynn & Roger

It is Wednesday and I am up in Everett Washington (north of Seattle).  I have been up in the Seattle area since Monday.  I left Gresham at 3:30 AM on Monday to be up in Seattle for a 9:00 AM Call Time for a “GIG” that I contracted to do last week.  It is for episode 11 and 12 of the TV program on the TLC/Discovery channel called “What Not to Wear”.  I had never heard of it  before, but Judy Lynn, Teri Lynn and Leslie have all watched it some and knew about it.  I am furnishing a motorhome for the lady “talent” that is in the show.  Her name is Stacy London.  There is another MH sitting to the side of mine for the other talent (male) Clinton Kelly.  Monday they were taping right downtown Seattle next to Safeco/Quest sports fields in a little park called Pioneer Square.  The taping for that day was “recruiting” (I think… they don’t tell us much) and there were surely a lot of folks there wanting to talk to Stacy and Clinton, I guess to try to get on to the show.  I literally just sit around and do not much of anything.  I offer my services to the coordinator (who hired me), but she never has me do anything, so that day I sat outside the MH and would like to have frozen to death.  It did not rain, but was overcast all day and too cold to be sitting around.  I got there long before the “Call Time” (Movie set lingo) and they finally let us go at around 6:00 PM.  I drove the MH down to Tacoma and we stopped at one of the casinos there and ate dinner (and no… I did not gamble one cent (but probably would have dropped a coin or two in the slot machines if I had had some coins in my pocket).  Just north of Tacoma along I-5 there is a rest area there that also has water and a dump station, so I dumped and filled with water and then just spent the night there at the rest area in the MH.

Tuesday morning the call time was not until 10:00, so I thought I would be able to sleep in some, but when the darn sun hit the MH my body told me it was time to get up and that was the end of sleeping.  The location for Tuesday was very nostalgic.  We parked in the parking log of the Boeing Air Museum right along Marginal Way South.  Let me explain why that location is “nostalgic” for me.  When I graduated from Utah State and accepted work for The Boeing Company in July of 1967, the first office that I went to every day was just a little north of where this museum is now located (it was not there back in 1967).  I worked in what they called “Plant II” for a few weeks and then they moved me to the SST (Super Sonic Transport) building just a ways south. where I worked on finding a way to detect the quality of spot welds on titanium.  It was a fun job, like going to “play” with electronics every day.  The museum location where I was parked was in between the two buildings and as I was driving by I saw both buildings.  I wish I had not been driving a MH because I would had stopped and taken pictures of the locations to keep.

We were at that location all day and I got some “free” time when Stacy (note I am on a first-name basis with this gal) is out of the MH shooting the video.  I have been to the main museum across the street before, but had never been to the west side.  The have the first 747 that was ever built parked there.  It is the one that flew in to Boeing Field one day while I was working there and Judy Lynn and I watched it land there for the first time there. 

1st Boeing 747

They also have a Boeing 707 that was “Air Force One” during and after the Kennedy era. 

Boeing 707 used as Air Force One and the British Concord

Cabin of the Concord - Sign telling speed and how high it flies

Concord cockpit and Jet Engines

There is also a 727, a 737 and one of the British Concords parked there.  I went through most of them and took some pictures.

Left:Clinton and Tracy with "Contestant" fixed on this episode.
Right: Off to the right you can see the crowd around and folks watching.

I also got some “distant” pictures of the video being taken, but as I told you, they don’t tell us much, so I don’t know for sure what was going on.  We worked a long day on Tuesday and I did not get away from the parking lot until after 8:00.  I did not want to spend another night at the rest area, so I called Devon and Udel Hirschi and asked if I could park the MH in front of their place and they said I could so I drove down to their place in Kent and had a good visit with them until bed time.

Call time on Wednesday was not until 10:00 AM, but it was way up in Everett, so I ate breakfast with Devon and Udel, visited for a while, looked around their yard at the fence I helped him put up way back when (probably has been replace a couple of times by now) and also went down into their basement where I had helped Devon finish the basement bathroom.  He has stained and painted it different, but still looks basically the same.  I then than thanked them, said my goodbyes and headed north towards Everett.  I got up there way early and found a shady part of a parking lot and waited for the coordinator to call to tell me where I was to park the MH.  Once the MH was parked, the “boring” job continued.  All I do is to go into the MH each time Stacy leaves to go “shoot” to empty the wastebaskets and in general “clean-up”.  But she is very neat and clean, so that is probably not even necessary.  The only folks that really go in the MH with her is her make-up person and her hair stylist… who has quite a job with her long hair.  (Incidentally, I have seen Stacy in [huge] curlers… probably not the way she likes to be seen in public.

(Thursday, June 24, 2010)  I am back home in Gresham.  I finished yesterday up in Everett at a little before 6:00 PM, but by the time I got everything packed up and put away, it was after 6:00 before I got on my way.  It was a long drive and I did not get home until nearly 11:00.  It was good to be home.  I just parked the MH out front, unpacked what I had to have and left the rest for morning.

Here are some more random pictures taken during the three days:

The two motor homes for the celebrities.  Note the "SL" on my door for "Stacy London"

Stacy and Clinton with Clinton's make-up person talking on 1st Avenue on the first day of the shoot

Left:  Stacy & Clinton walking to motor homes after a shoot

LUCKY ME!  (She really has her arm around me.. and mine around her!)

Clinton and me

Just a quick note about our first meeting with our new ward (same name, Powell Valley), but about half of the members are new from the other wards.  Meeting wise it was a very SAD day.  The good news is that Grant and Colleen are back in our ward and Teri Lynn and Leslie are also still in the ward with us.  We were REALLY worried about that.  The bad news is that we lost Neldon and JoAnn Dickey (who has been in the same ward since we moved to Gresham 42 years ago) and Keith and Sharon Kearsley, most assuredly our best friends in the ward.  There are many other friends that are not in our ward now, but the names would not mean anything to any of you, so just to know that our hearts were cut in half is sufficient information to let you know how we are feeling right now.

And last of all  today before I finish this blog entry, I want to express a very heartfelt thank-you to my family who remembered me on Father’s Day.  The cards and gifts were heartily appreciated.  After church all of us that live up here got together at Todd and Jacki’s for a steak fry.  Edie’s (Judy Lynn’s friend and our choir leader) husband was away at Boy Scout Sogus training, so we invited her to join us.  Everyone chipped in with food and, once again, “fun was had by all”.  Thanks Todd and Jacki for opening your home to us all.

Randy, Teri Lynn, Leslie Edie, Judy Lynn Jacki & Todd

"The Boys" doing what they do best! (Chase, Cort & Chad)

Quinn and Sawyer drawing

I hope all you Fathers had a GREAT FATHER'S DAY

 Enuf for today.

June, 2010

Dear Family

Summer will be here in a few days and we have had so much rain that it certainly does not feel like summer will ever get here.  The strawberries and raspberries are almost three-weeks behind schedule.  Today I went to check out a motorhome and I had to wear a coat… in JUNE.  (Grumble, Grumble, Grumble)

But in spite of the weather, we have had an eventful month.  Of course Memorial-Day weekend is our annual weekend out at Barton Park with friends and family.  From our family there were Teri Lynn, Randy and their three boys; Todd, Jackie & Quinn; Leslie, Josh with Sawyer & Finn; Heather, Jay & Gwen.  Todd’s Jacki had invited her Mom and her Mom’s boyfriend up from Phoenix.  Also Jacki’s sister Monica and brother-in-law Brian with their three girls and their one boy came down from the Bremerton (WA) (west of Seattle) area.  Brian and Monica brought one of Brian’s cousins down also. I know that most of you do not know many of these folks, but wanted you to know about “our crowd”.  The whole group consisted of 13 camping sites of which our family (mentioned above) took five of them

We went out there on Thursday afternoon.  It had been raining so I was a little worried about backing the (heavy) MH into our “spot”.  The spots are just grass, but I got in there alright.  The Widmers and the Kearsleys went out at the same time, so we had company right from the start.  Friday afternoon the rest of our family and friends started arriving.  It had rained some during the day, but had stopped by the time they got there so we could set up without getting all wet.  Friday night was “steak night” so everyone brought their steaks over and I cooked them “to order” on my grill.  Of course by that time, everyone had brought other food, so there was food all over. 

Saturday was a pretty good day; it did rain some but not enough to stop any of the activities.  The kids literally just get lost there in the park and you hardly ever see them.  The road down through the camping area is paved, so it is great for bicycles, tricycles and all kinds of kid’s toys.  The girls were out there on the road drawing with colored chalk.  There are swings, and other playground equipment, horseshoe pits, etc., so there is always plenty to do.

I cooked a big breakfast on my grill for our group for all three mornings.  Saturday was pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs (to order), orange juice, and milk.  Sunday morning was bacon, hash-browns, eggs (to order) and the same drinks.  I was going to have a “special” breakfast concoction on Monday consisting of hash-browns cooked and then eggs folded (cooked) in with cheese on top.  BUT… the family (mostly the girls) thought that sounded gross, so the default was back to pancakes again.  I had prepared that “dish” a couple of years back at a father-and-son’s outing and the boys loved it… of course, boys will eat almost anything.

Saturday evening most of our family went back to Gresham to attend the family gathering of Kirk and Vynette’s Troy who got married in the Las Vegas temple a couple of weeks ago.  Troy has been attending BYU on his way to becoming a doctor.  Troy met Alex there at school.  Our kids have got really close with all of those kids, so it was good to see them again.  Doug and Garna were there, all of our family, and a few close friends.  It was good to see Doug and Garna and spend some time visiting with them.  Vynette had prepared lots of GREAT food.  Visiting while eating… who could ask for a better evening?  We stayed late until we knew that we had to get back down to the park before the park gate closed at 10:00 PM.

Newly Weds Alex and Troy

Left:  Kirk and his new Grill - Right:  Judy Lynn & Doug (with back to us)

Food ga-lore

Left: Douglas stoking the "camp" fire - Right:  Heather & Jay (Chad and Chase with backs to us)

Left:  Alex, Troy & Kelly - Right: Troy, Douglas & Josh

Barton Park is close enough to home that those of us that wanted to could come home and go to church.  After counting donations, by the time I got back to the park the GIANT potluck was in full swing.  This potluck is getting to be a “tradition” and we have many in our ward that know about it and come down just for that.  We probably had 150 folks there eating.  Good times!

Monday I cooked the aforementioned breakfast and then started the cleanup process.  We finally got home mid-afternoon.  It was not raining and my lawn was high enough to turn in the sheep, so after unloading the MH, I mowed the lawns and putzed around a little.  By the time night-time came, I was tuckered.  We watched TV for a while and then to bed for a very welcomed night back in our king-size, sleep-number bed!

However, the “good times” for our existing ward is going to be short-lived.  Three weeks ago they announced in our sacrament meeting that this coming Sunday (13^th) the ward boundaries of us and two neighboring wards are going to be realigned.  One of the wards has continued to shrink for many years because the zoning (and other regulations) has prevented affordable housing.  Twice before over many years, members have been carved from neighboring wards to infuse the numbers of that ward.  The last time was while I was Bishop and that is when we lost Josh and Jay’s family from our ward.  I have already been released from my Finance Clerk position (which I have LOVED).  We don’t know if Judy Lynn will keep her calling as the Ward/Stake Librarian or not, but since most of the Stake callings are staying put, she just might be able to.  Josh and Heather already know what their callings are going to be, but the rest of us will have to just wait.  Pray for us for UNDERSTANDING!  These ward boundary changes are very challenging!  There are so many very close friends and family that are involved.

Aaron has been with us for over a month.  This is his “Spring Break”.  He was here with us in Gresham most of the time, but took a couple of weeks and went on a “train trip”.  He purchased a one-month pass on Am Track which allows you to go anywhere Am Track goes for a month.  He went clear back to Chicago and then Michigan and Minnesota.  He said he had a great trip.  This past Monday we took him out to dinner and he left to go back to Big Sky on Tuesday.  He was going down the SE Idaho way (Twin Falls, Pocatello, and West Yellowstone).  I think he was supposed to be back in Big Sky tonight, but have not heard that he made it.  We enjoyed his visit.

Aaron Saying Goodbye to his Mom

I guess that just about does it for the month of May and the first part of June.  Spring has sprung, strawberries are on, and raspberries and blueberries will not be far behind.  Love this time of year.

Strawberry Short Cake

YUMMMMM

Take care all,

Love, Judy Lynn & Roger