As per our agreement at the recent Family Reunion, we are to send our Mon Sun contributions to Craig every other month beginning this past October. Deadline is the l0th of the following month.
Highlight of the month, of course, was the reunion in St. George over the UEA vacation. It’s such a delight for Mother and me when we can have the whole family together. We always knew we had a great family; this adventure proved it again. The accommodations were excellent. The food was always tasty. And the biking/ hiking/ swimming/ golf seemed to satisfy everyone’s recreational needs. The Tuacahn (sp?) experience was a highlight. Overall, I thought Craig did a lousy job on this reunion.
Some of the things we decided at the reunion were to 1) Revive the Mon Sun on an every-other-month basis. We are to send our contributions to Craig who will collate them and send the finished product to all of us via e-mail. 2) We determined our Family Reunion next year will be a one-day affair (Saturday) and include all the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It will be in a park with a bowery and places to play football, softball, tennis, Frisbee football with possibly swimming and bowling accommodations near by. Sleeping quarters will be in homes with tents in backyards for possible overflow. Karla agreed to be point guard to spearhead this operation. 3) The St. George/Tuacahn experience was so much fun it was tentatively proposed we make it an annual affair. More on that as we move closer to Summer.
As I reviewed the October calendar I noted that between Mother and me we had seven doctor appointments. That’s scary! We also had a Samarus reunion the Friday before Conference. That is our Canadian mission group and we have been meeting for 55 years now. We used to fill a chapel - now we fit into the Relief Society room. This year Mother and I met the son of Ken and Millie Smith from London, Ontario. Those many years ago the Smith’s were taking the discussions from Mother and her companion. Their son is now the president of the stake.
Two things must be included in this newsletter even though they didn’t happen in October. The first is Riley and Rachel’s wedding last August. They were married in the Mesa temple followed by a luncheon. The best part was after everyone ate they moved the tables so people could dance. And dance they did! Especially Ryan and Doris, Rachel and Riley and then Doris with her two boys. The next morning we drove to Flagstaff for an evening reception. Again, excellent refreshments and again, dancing. This time Ryan, Doris and Riley’s dance teacher came and danced with everyone including Karla and Rachel and other young ladies. You would have been awed how smoothly and gracefully he helped everyone move across the floor.
Side note. Originally Karla and Norm and Mother and I were to drive to Arizona with Sandy and Craig. Unfortunately, the morning we were to leave Sandy had a bike accident and fractured her pelvis. Norm and Karla kindly stepped in and drove us down. And, fortunately, Sandy is almost fully recovered from her accident.
The other non-October event that sincerely touched my heart was the family’s response to my having to undergo cancer treatment again. Your prayers were felt. A priesthood blessing was answered. Food, phone calls, letters - they all meant so much to me. More than you’ll ever know. The Lord has granted me a reprieve - for how long, who knows? - but for now I feel great and have a renewed appreciation of the gift of life and what a blessing the Restored Gospel and our family has been in my life. I feel so close to each of you and thank you for your loving concern.
Norm and Karla:
Ryan-Everything is beautiful. Ryan is serving in the Bellevue Washington area, close to the temple. The ward is active in missionary work. Ryan wrote about this event with the members:
On Halloween night we went over to a part member family home for dinner. When we got out of the car to walk to their house there were some trick or treaters walking by and they said, "hey are you Mormon missionaries for Halloween?" and we were like, "no, we are Mormons in real life." it was pretty funny. We had a good Halloween night. We had dinner then got carmel apples and dipped them in crushed up oreos and peanuts and other good things. We are really good friends with this family and we had a great night. I really learned the value of good friendship with the members from Elder Bundy. That's how he did most of his missionary work was just by making really good friends with the members and then waiting for referrals through them. I learned a lot from him and i hope i an apply it in my missionary work.
Trent-The requirements of the accounting major at the Marriott School of management leaves Trent with enough time to eat, sleep and brush his teeth. He came to Karla's Sunday School class while I was teaching Isaiah and looked over my notes. I was hoping he could tell me a way to improve my presentation by using some advanced accounting principle. Well, accounting and Isaiah don't mix. We would like Trent to tell us how to get a larger tax return this year.
Kristin & Jason-They balance marriage, parenting, school (Jason) and working at home (Kristin). Kristin says it's challenging to work at home because you don't leave your work. The computer is always lurking close by, reminding you of a project to do. Jason will travel to Maryland this weekend to be a coach for Georgetown's Moot Court team. Damon coos, poops, eats and wants to have his parent's attention. We can hardly wait to have them in South Jordan for Christmas.
Amelia & GJ-Good news for them, GJ will be working at the large UPS facility in Salt Lake after Thanksgiving. The separation hasn't been easy for either of them. GJ wants to be with his family and Amelia and Lily want him home. We attended the Wild West Show for the Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the Events Arena in Hebewith Amelia and Lily. Lily liked looking at horses, but 90 minutes of horses was too much. Norm came to the rescue with a Sesame Street clip on his phone. Lily was content.
Norm & Karla-Norm is now the High Priest Group Leader. He has even more license to sleep, which he did during the last Welfare Meeting. To be sympathetic, he was at a Stake Leadership meeting that morning. Ask him about the cub scout, Boy Scout, Military and High Priest salute. I am a seasonal, full time customer Service Representative at Extend Health, a Medicare Insurance Exchange. I asked one retiree to read me the claim number from his Medicare Card. He read me the number then continued on to the next category, which was Sex, F or M. He said, "Sex, seldom." I tried hard not to laugh and responded, "It happens as you grow older." Any comments or opinions on that?
Craig and Sandy:
We had a fun family Halloween party. As you can see, we dressed up in costumes and had Halloween food--"Graveyard Greens"(Salad), "Dracula Fingers"(Carrots),etc. We played Halloween Bingo, Throw the Spider in the Pumpkin, Bobbing for Apples and sang along with Kaelynn as she played some Halloween songs and others on her guitar. Everyone had a good time.
We also took Jaimee and Brandon to the zoo. Jaimee said it is unfair that mountains get more water than deserts. We also learned from Jaimee that the reason some animals can live in the desert is because of "Friction". That is where they get water. So now you now.
Here are some pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment