Last Few Days at Home

This past few days has been very busy with last minute preparations for the summer in Belgium. We have also gotten together with friends and family for goodbye socials. We first met at the Golden Corral in Pocatello. Dad's sister-in-law, Julie Lewis, and her son Nathan and his family were there. Then just last night the Gardners and Liljenquists came out to our home for dinner and a fireside chat. We booked a trip to Las Vegas the day after we return this fall to be there for Lance and Aubri's wedding. We are very happy they are going to make it official. We love them and wish them our best! Part of the joy of our past few days has been tending Taylor four days last week and once this week. She is such a delight and was more than willing to help Dad.

Nap Time

On Sunday Evan and Laurie's daughter, Kristina, and her husband of about a year now, Jared James, came down from Rexburg to share dinner and the afternoon with us.

It was very nice to see them since the previous time was last November in Las Vegas.  Then we made a quick trip to Idaho Falls to visit with Leslie and her boys. The purpose was to go to the new home they plan to buy and help layout the electrical work in the unfinished basement. Little Jaxon was very cute and is now crawling around easily. We have also Skype'd with Lindsy several times to share time and experience with Carter, Emilia and Avery. They are growing fast and are so lovable and cute! We continue to wish Ben a speedy recovery from his surgery. It is now with mixed emotions that we leave loved ones and friends again so soon after returning from our winter in Arizona, but look forward to new experiences we may never have the chance to do again. Bless Lance for being willing to take on the task again of caring for our home this summer and Aubri for her support of this effort. We know this will not always be easy.

Fulfilling a Promise and Father's Day

It was looking like there would be no camping nor fishing this summer until Alyssa decided it was time for Grandpa to make good on his promise to take her fishing. She had even caught and saved worms for this purpose. To accomplish this LaRinda, Trevor and family came up from Provo for the weekend. The kids as is typical of nearly all kids enjoyed playing in the creek Friday afternoon.



Brendyn, Corinne, Alyssa and Kaylie on far side

On Friday evening we roasted hot dogs and s'mores around the campfire in the back yard to the accompaniment of many memorable oldie tunes by the family accompanied by Trevor and LaRinda on their guitars.

On Saturday we tripped to Hawkins Reservoir a few miles from Downey, Idaho for the promised fishing expedition. The day was cool and breezy and the fishing was very slow but Brendyn and Corinne each managed to land a nice-sized rainbow trout. Unfortunately Alyssa, Kaylie and Grandpa all got skunked. But it was a fun time together and hopefully we made some memories in spite of the lack of fishing luck. Everyone picked up quickly with wind blowing and rain threatening late in the afternoon and and we didn't get a picture of the fish.

On Sunday morning we fixed Dad a nice breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs, fresh strawberries, granola and orange juice for Father's Day. Then we all went to Church and came home to a nice dinner after which Lance and Aubri came out to present Dad with a new Kindle and an Amazon gift card from all our children for his Father's Day gift. He also received a call from each of our kids who were not present. Dad loves each of our children very much and was touched by their calls and gifts. He also is pleased with the Kindle and spent much of the evening learning about his new toy. It will be especially nice to not have to pack heavy, bulky scriptures for the European trip. We also learned that we will get to tend Taylor most of our remaining two weeks because of an injury suffered by Aubri's Mom last week. In the mean time Dad and I are now off to take care of remaining business and packing in preparation for leaving in a few short days.

More Family Fun and Preparing for a Summer in Europe

We continue to enjoy the opportunity to tend little Taylor a couple of days per week. She is so much fun and is developing such a cute personality. It becomes easy to understand why my Mom and Dad became so close to Laurie as they tended her many days while we finished school before our move to Salt Lake City. Was it really that long ago?

Dad has put in many hours helping our yard recover from a rough winter. Several trees that died had to be replaced and the pond had to be dredged again to remove gravel washed down by high spring runoff. But now the lawn is recovering from the mouse chewing it got, the yard is mowed and blooming lilacs are beautiful this spring.

Leslie, Matt and boys spent most of a week with us earlier this month. Leslie did a beautiful job of restoring an old patio table with a new tile and pebble surface.

Baby Jaxon is as cute and chubby as can be and is very close to crawling. Brandyn, Travis and Dillan enjoyed playing in the creek, movies, television and chasing around the yard.

While they were here their Uncle Lance came out and taught them correct techniques for shooting both handguns and rifles. They all did well at target practice.

When all the shooting was over Brandyn and Travis made some interesting and creative toys out of the empty shell casings.

They also helped Dad with some of his yard work. We love the almost constant commotion associated with three energetic boys and it is always interesting as Dad and I look at each other after they leave and wonder why it is so quiet. Was it really that way all the while we were raising a young family? It must have been.

Over a four-day weekend last week we visited my sister, Jane and her son, Lee's family, in Boise for a couple of days and then went to Nampa to visit Dad's sisters, Sharon and Bonnie, and their families all living nearby. On Sunday we happened to be there for the blessing of Sharon's daughter, Donae and Chris's new baby boy named Lewis. We also visited Dad's ninety-three year old Uncle Horace and his wife Anna Marie whom he hadn't seen for several years.

Finally, after a marathon of emails, phone calls, doctor appointments, lab visits and a mountain of paperwork for the past three weeks we have airline reservations and apartments rented for our stay in Belgium this summer. We fly out on July 1st and will return September 29th in time for Lance and Aubri's wedding on October 1st. Laurene and I look forward to a lot of playing while the guys are working and hopefully we can work in a few weekend trips around Europe while we are there. I am excited for this new experience!