This is going to be a long one. With so many happenings in the last month; I have neglected to write. So, here it is: It is great to travel and see all of you and it is always good to be back home. August was a blur of excitement and travel, including Clovis to be with Carla and Scott for Laura’s baby shower, Orem with Grandma Bitter to see Adrianne graduate and play with Heidi’s family, Las Vegas with Morty, Aaron and Nate to attend our SendOutCards convention and then Sacramento to take Grandma Maldonado to the Patterson cousin reunion in Stockton.
The night before all this travel we took Grandma with us to see Les Miserables. It was her Mother’s Day present so we had been anticipating it for quite sometime. I had got our seats right when they went on sale to a group to which I belong so our seats were excellent I thought. We have seen Les Mis at different angles and this was a new one but we loved it.
Dad stayed home finishing up his work on the temple when Grandma Maldonado and I flew to Fresno the next morning. He said that he would have loved the opportunity to ride bikes w
ith Uncle Scott while we were all busy getting things ready for the shower. Dad is still in the market for a new bike; we went looking again last week. Dad came home one day after a pour at the temple and said he felt like he had just ridden another 100 mile bike ride! Most of the time these days, he works with too few helpers.
It was fun to be in Clovis and help Aunt Carla with her final shower plans. She always has things so well organized. I love working in her kitchen. It is a perfect size and I love the work area in the center. The baby shower was at their clubhouse; it is beautiful there. That means, though, a lot of moving things back and forth but it was well worth it.
It was a gorgeous event and there was lots of family there to make it even better. Katie came in on Friday night. Denise, Sarah, Michelle and Asteria drove down and back on Saturday and even Aubrey, who had just had an emergency appendectomy two days earlier, drove down with Shawn and the boys! It was wonderful to see them even if it was for a short time. They are all so kind to make a huge effort to get to family events. Aubrey is doing much better now and back to running even 11 miles at a time to run with Shawn in the RAGNAR run from San Francisco to Napa on September 16 to 17. We are flying down to their home take care of the boys while they run.
After the work of the shower, I mostly relaxed the rest of the time in Clovis. Carla and I walked in the mornings and did some swimming. My doctor said I could do a little bit of laps so we also walked in the pool. We also spent an afternoon in the pool with lots of the grandchildren. Their community pool area is so luxurious; it feels like being at a resort. Speaking of resorts, I saw Scott and Erin’s home for the first time. They live there in Quail Lakes now; their back yard is the lake. They have a fishing dock just off their back porch! It is a beautiful place.
I decided to come home for a day in between each of my trips just to reorganize myself. Basically, that gave me enough time to do laundry, repack my suitcase, recycle junk mail and get rid of junk emails! The trip home from Fresno was unusually odd going through security. It is such a small and empty airport but it took a surprisingly huge time to get through security. I wondered what kind of terrorists hide out in the Yosemite area! I have never been so scrutinized and asked more questions of who I was with, who was I meeting . . . except when I traveled from Israel to Egypt when I was on BYU’s Study Abroad program over 30 years ago but that was to be expected between those nations.
Dad and I traveled to Utah together to be at Adrianne’s graduation. When we landed Adrianne called and asked if we wanted to meet them at their possible new home, a townhome in Pleasant Grove. We caught up with them and got a tour of the place. It has a small fenced-in yard that they want to garden in and then beyond the fence is a huge community playground with lots of picnic table and benches. It would be a fun gathering place. Adrianne and Blake have plans to repaint and fix it up a bit. Their plans are uncertain as to how long they will be in Utah but they would just like to keep it as a rental when they leave. As of this week, all financial papers, inspections and all that stuff is done so they are just waiting for the bank since it is a short sale. We hope it happens this week as we have ONE weekend that we could come and help, September 23 through the 26. That is what we are planning.
We had a great time in Utah and just especially loved the fact that Adrianne and Blake seemed excited to do things with us. They took off the two days we were there and just did what we did; it was a blast. We even hiked the Y at midnight one night. Good thing! It was hot while we were there and even at midnight, it was refreshing to walk through pockets of cool air. We were able to visit with Dave and Karla to see their new home one night and Adrianne and Blake tested out their hammock on their deck off their master bedroom. Wow! That is the home I would have picked. I thought that their home in Coto de Caza felt like a resort . . . this home feels like a European resort. It has a very Mediterranean feel to it which I happen to LOVE of course; it’s my roots! The four of us were able to go visit Bill’s work. It is quite impressive how they have realized what a valuable asset Bill is in t
his short space of time. He has an exciting announcement to tell the family about his work at Eli Kirk!
Heidi and Bill had two French girls staying with them for a week of International dance events in the Daybreak area. We traveled up Friday night after graduation with Blake and Adrianne and enjoyed the street party and dances right in Daybreak. They have such a wonderful community. We went back up to Heidi’s on Sunday after going to the Sev
erson’s ward with Grandma Bitter, bringing all our leftovers from Adrianne’s graduation party. It was a great visit even though it wasn’t very long. We traveled that evening to take Grandma to the Horne Family Picnic in a park in Salt Lake. That was fun to see all those relatives also. When we finally get around to seeing those relatives, we wish we could make more connections with our grown cousins.
Adrianne’s graduation ceremonies were quite nice. I LOVED the fact that the crowds were so much smaller than in April. We even were able to get photos at the cougar! Heidi and the girls were able to come down for the convocation on Thursday. They all looked so cute. It is fun to be around their excitement. Cecil O Samuelson spoke on living in challenging times but reminded us that these times are of no surprise to the prophets of course. He told us to believe in the positive confidence of the prophets and D&C 64 where it tells us that all things come to pass in their own due time. He warned us to be wise, thoughtful and relentless and lean toward proper priorities and be of good cheer.
An alumni speaker admonished us to make a difference in the lives of others and to be a light to others with goodness and kind deeds. Craig Christensen taught that by small and simple things, great things come to p
ass. Telling us to take one day at a time, he told us that a journey of love begins with a single step and to take that step. He asked us to work on seeking to feel the spirit each day and work for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Finding ways to serve others was a theme in all the messages.
After preparing for the graduation dinner at Grandma Bitter’s on Saturday, Adrianne and I dashed up to the Bountiful Temple in between cooking and the party to catch a short glimpse of Kyrra Hathaway coming out of the temple. It was fun to see the whole Hathaway family. We were there for less than 10 minutes but it was worth it to show them that we cared. We dashed back home and finished preparing for our quests. Adrianne had planned a burrito bar which made for a pretty easy dinner for a large group. It turned out quite nice.
Dad and I decided to stay an extra day and spend Monday afternoon with Heidi and the girls before flying home late Monday night. Heidi took us to their lake where we used their community kayaks and took everyone out of the lake. It was so much fun.
Home for one day in Beaverton for doctor’s appointments and reorganizing, I headed to Las Vegas earlier than Dad for our SendOutCards convention meetings. He finished up some work and delayed his departure until Friday which was best for the concrete business. Even though we plan to replace our concrete income with SOC and have residual coming in for a possible mission, we must remember that rebuilding the concrete business is what started our interest in SendOutCards! I appreciate the messages and feelings I get when involved with the leadership of the company as they fit in so nicely with the Gospel.
We enjoyed especially the bonus of staying at Aaron’s home. We learned that Nate is moving out to an apartment closer to town so we will miss the casual fun evenings that included his humor in the mix on our subsequent visits. We hope he will be able to come over for those kinds of evenings when we visit Las Vegas. We saved a rental car fee by sharing Aaron’s car and taking him to work before our meetings since Bally Tech was close to where we needed to be. That was nice since the prices were kind of high there. We were able to do a little yard work and even spend a little time at the TV shop before leaving. I also was able to have lunch with my high school friend, Joy Concannon Burleson. The boys always are great hosts.
I had a little over a week at home before flying with Grandma Maldonado to Sacramento for a Patterson cousin reunion. But, I squeezed in a lot of work in those few days considering two days Grandma Maldonado and I spent in the emergency room over at the Sunnyside facility. She was having a lot of chest pain and couldn’t get a hold of me so luckily, she called Carol Stanger and Carol drove to the church where I was playing volleyball. Luckily, even after spending that night in the emergency room and then returning again the next day when the doctor called her to come back for even more hours of testing and waiting, they found nothing wrong and she is fine and traveled great to California.
The big news here in Beaverton Ward is that the Brandt family is moving to Colorado. They found a school that might help David with his autism and their other son who has slipped under the radar with so much attention on David the past eight years. I had a dinner party here for everyone that we have visit taught together for the past 18 years; hard to believe it has been that long!
Our plans to stay in Sacramento with BreeAnne had to change at the last minute Friday night so we were able to stay with Aunt Denise, which was fun. When we learned we would be there, Aubrey and the boys changed their plans and met us there for some swimming fun. They are so fun to be around. The cousin reunion in Stockton on Saturday was a big success. Grandma had brought lots of old ancestor photos and information and she had invited a cousin that had never been to a reunion before, Roxie. Roxie has more photos than anyone since Grandma Jamison lived with her family. Mom brought a scanner and we tried to scan all the old photos that people brought but learned later that some of the scans didn’t work. But, still, it generated a lot of interest in family history. I don’t know that side of the family very well since it seemed we always gathered with the Maldonado family while I was growing up in Hayward so it was good to get reacquainted. One of the cousins, Vicki Wynn, just visited Portland this weekend to visit her sister, Melody Bush, another cousin who worked for Grandma at House on the Hill. So, we had brunch with them Saturday at Grandma’s home.
I came home from California in time for Labor Day here. Dad and I went to th
e Street of Dreams in the morning and then the State Fair in Salem later that afternoon. The main reason to go to squeeze in the fair was a chance to see Kyre and the grandchildren. They were there to see a concert by Selena Gomez so Dad and I walked around looking at the exhibits until their concert was done. Then they went on rides. We have always avoided that part of the fair but it was fun to see them enjoy it. Aunt Lynn’s daughter in law brought them to the fair. Their family is so kind.
Morty is visiting this weekend for the Oregon game. He goes with a friend, Nicole Gable. This time they drove her doctor friend who purchases their tickets so they get better seats. They happen to be neighbors of Peter Jacobsen so Morty met him Saturday morning. Morty said that he is a hoot. Towards the end of the game, Morty and Nicole were able to go sit up in Peter Jacobsen’s suite on the 50 year line of Autzen Stadium! Good news for Morty since he had such a bad burn on his head.
We had a great visit with Scott where he reported all his summer sports accomplishments. He is still keeping track of his Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine trek and is farther than he expected with all of his elliptical training and 10K runs. He also joins in with “beach” volleyball (a little patch of sand in the yard) and now is on a soccer team. That is quite an accomplishment since many of the team players are mostly Hispanic. It is quite an honor to be chosen to be on a team and he is enjoying getting used to the game again after all these years. These things help to keep him active and busy. He learned from his Branch President that President Rheinwald, whom Scott has come to love, recently ran into President Child. Scott was so happy that his Branch President was able to have a conversation about him with his old priesthood leader especially since President Child who speaks so highly of Scott.
This weekend Adrianne wa
s in the Yuba Lake Triathlon that her company sponsored and Nate hiked the 8,000 Meter Challenge to hike the three tallest peaks in California in 24 hours. We are waiting to hear news of those events. We know that Nate made it back; good thing since the news was broadcasting about the missing hiker in that race!
I will close with another thing that has occupied too much of our time for the last couple of weeks. While we were in Las Vegas, a drunk 18 year old slammed his daddy’s Lexus into our fence for two hundred feet until he hit his last tree and finally wrapped the car around it. He was “unharmed” but there was a tremendous amount of damage. On Sunday afternoon, when Katie called asking if we knew we had several large holes in the fence, we knew nothing! It will take lots of hours of clean up as glass and car parts were everywhere, even many feet into the grass so we are wondering how to go about getting every trace gone so we can again walk barefoot in our back yard. This picture is after much clean up. Dad built a temporary fence this weekend as we will have to wait until he has more time to repair the fence. The young man bent and even sheared off many of our metal posts that were embedded a foot into our concrete wall so the concrete wall in spots will need to be redone. Oh please, consider the ramifications of poor decisions!
Have a great week! Love, Mom
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