Dear Children,
I had the treat of visiting Long Beach, Washington twice in one week right after we took Sunhee home. Long Beach is about 2 ½ hours away, across the bridge from Astoria. So, it is a bit longer travel time but it is a cute little beach town. The WorldMark there is a newer one and quite nicely situated right on the beach. Did you know that you can drive on the beaches in Washington? Weird. Anyway, on this beach there are really great biking trails and then a cape and lighthouse close by for hiking. We should plan a family trip there someday. PLUS, the town has the best bakery!!!
I went up with Grandma Maldonado on Monday and Tuesday. We got lots of game playing and warmed ourselves in the hot tub as it was pretty cold and wet. It was hailing one of the days while I was out for a walk. Actually, I was walking to the bakery to get a Devil Dog, for which the bakery is famous. A Devil Dog it a tube shaped chocolate bar filled with a heavy cream like a custard cream. YUM! Walking to the bakery to get pastries helps you feel better about eating them! We had to take the long way home since a storm had come in and there would most likely be snow on the coast mountain pass. We traveled down the Gorge and then crossed over on Cornelius Pass. I haven’t been that way in a long time. It was a long, wet drive and I wondered why I was returning in two days if Dad and I could fly anywhere, like say maybe . . .WARM Palm Springs, to celebrate our anniversary!
I did a “week’s” worth of work (good thing I can do it anywhere; well, that’s a bad thing also sometimes) including medical appointments in the two days at home. I am trying to decide how to go forward with my back and hip injury since I seem to be at a stalemate and I am looking at summer outdoor adventures coming up with fewer abilities than last summer. I plan to change doctors for a fresh perspective; I hope that will help.
Thursday afternoon, Dad and I headed back to Long Beach. Because of the drive time, it isn’t our first choice of coast stays but was the only place available (without camping out on the website to catch a last minute cancellation). The trip was very relaxing and we had a great ocean view room. This time we hit a dry afternoon and took our bikes out. Dad took a longer bike ride to explore some extra areas, which I hop
e I can do next trip to Long Beach. I am just getting used to being back on my bike. I have special bars that allow me to sit straight for most of my ride. We also walked the entire town and into the next town on one of the days. We stopped at each restaurant to take a look at their menu so we could find the best place to go to celebrate our anniversary!
Dad got an idea from Adrianne and Blake when they were here at Christmas. They ordered their anniversary cake (small version of one of the layers of their wedding cake), shared it with us and took two slices home for their anniversary. So, he secretly ordered a Beaverton Bakery banana cake, our favorite, and quite possibly one of the flavors of the cakes at our wedding. That was a fun treat. That covered our dessert for the entire weekend except one Devil Dog (since we had to make a Cottage Bakery visit while in Long Beach!).
On Saturday night we went back to a restaurant that we went to years ago when Uncle Scott and Aunt Carla came to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We went to Long Beach them and Grandma. I don’t remember it being so good but it was and we will have to visit it again! It is called the 42nd Café. It is gourmet home cooking.
We tried to go to the Long Beach ward for church on Sunday morning but arrived to an empty parking lot. They had stake conference in another town. So, we went back and sat on our deck overlooking the ocean, ate a Devil Dog and had our own Sunday School lesson as we studied the Isaiah chapters together in the Book of Mormon. It was kind of nice! I loved what I learned from those chapters, which is repeated over and over again, “for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” For all the mistakes we can make, the Lord is loving and ready and anxious to forgive us if we just ask and commit to improve!
At Aunt Karla’s suggestion, I checked out flight availability to Utah for Sarah Bitter’s baby shower on Saturday. It worked and so I went! Crazy! At the last minute I saw that there were seats left on Friday evening so I went down and was able to stay at the Brady’s. It was nice to chat with Bill on the way home from the airport and hear all the great things that he is directing to happen at Eli Kirk. I am so happy that they found him. The Brady’s are getting ready to have Bill’s sister and her family stay this coming week. So, I slept in a bed that they set up in Ainsley’s room. Heidi looks great and sounds like she is feeling much better. She always looks so cute when she is pregnant even though she suffers with some difficult side effects.
It was fun to be around the excitement of the girls. They have such cute and amazingly different personalities. I went to help Heidi with Bountiful Baskets at 6:30 Saturday morning. That is a ton of work! But, it is always fun to be somewhere where you hear everyone say how great the Brady family is as soon as they find out who I am. Jenna had a school friend’s birthday party so Heidi and I took Ainsley and Rebekah with us to the shower so they could play in the built in play house at Dave and Karla’s home (Aunt Karla’s invitation). Everyone had a great time and we met up with Adrianne there.
Of course the shower was beautiful and it was good to see Sarah. With them living in Texas, it will probably be few and far between to see Jon and Sarah. Karla and Kari had planned a fun game in which we all won candy, which we sorely needed! Dave was right in the mix doing much preparation and clean up, just like Dad would have been! Even though there are many years between them, they have many similarities, even which little heh . . . heh chuckle sounds the same.
Afterwards, so Heidi could concentrate on her Saturday afternoon toy room project, Adrianne and I took the girls to play at her playground and see the ducks. The girls enjoyed feeding Adrianne and Blake’s ducks some spinach and egg shells. Ainsley was enthralled with the baby ducks in the house, Taco Bill and Gumbo, (named purposely to remind them that they are future food) but not as crazy about the noisier ducks in the yard. She loved feeding them but stayed a distance away. The girls love the playground at the Severson’s home! It was an amazing day in Utah; the sun was shining and it was actually WARM!
Our time was too short but I had to catch my Saturday evening flight. I was hoping to be able to sit in my Relief Society for once. I have a new calling, Compassionate Service leader, and I need to get to know the sisters a bit better. In the coming months, I know I will be doing lots of calling to help a family in the ward who just had triplets almost three months premature. But, at the last minute I was in Sunbeams today. Oh well, best laid plans.
Anyway, when Adrianne took us back to the Brady’s and then me to the airport she talked of wanting to go family camping in June in Utah. Let us know what you think and when the best times would be. Dad and I will be in Las Vegas from at least June 6 to June 10 and I no longer have Girls Camp the last week in June since it was changed recently to July.
When I got home, I realized that I should be gone more often. Dad seems to get lots more done when I am away. He washed our sheets, mowed the lawn right before the rains started again, drove to visit Scott and then came right back to feed the missionaries! And I thought I did a lot in those 24 hours!
Scott is preparing for his last days before a marathon run for which he has been training. He didn’t think he was going to be able to do it since he had some injuries to his big toes. I think it is because of the poor shoes that he wears. Can you believe all the fancy equipment that people get to run marathons outside his walls and what he does with what he has? Well, he finally has agreed that he needs to buy real running shoes. Of course, they only sell them one choice of Nike shoes and they charge the prisoners a premium price so a good birthday present coming up for Scott would be a donation to his funds since he sends his library job money to Kyre. A donation to his commissary fund has to be done through the state of Oregon in a special way if you are interested. Wouldn’t it be nice if a company like Nike could donate shoes to local prisoners who are training for marathons or athletic events to encourage and reward them for trying to improve themselves!
This afternoon I took Anna Callais to see her triplets in the NICU. They will probably be there for another 8 weeks. I expected the girls to be much smaller since I knew they were all about 2 ½ pounds each. They are of course all connected to many tubes and monitors but are all gaining weight. It is a miracle what the medical world can do.
I am thankful for my health and the health of all my family. Have a wonderful week ahead. We are headed back to Utah either Friday evening or Saturday morning. We are going to see Rebekah’s Music Man dress rehearsal since her play is while Kyre and the children will be here PLUS we have four family birthdays to celebrate in Utah; now it is five since Jen, Bill’s twin, will be there also. And that is not counting Bryson and Klaire who also have a birthday in the next two weeks. Our March Madness!!!!
Love you all. Mom
I had the treat of visiting Long Beach, Washington twice in one week right after we took Sunhee home. Long Beach is about 2 ½ hours away, across the bridge from Astoria. So, it is a bit longer travel time but it is a cute little beach town. The WorldMark there is a newer one and quite nicely situated right on the beach. Did you know that you can drive on the beaches in Washington? Weird. Anyway, on this beach there are really great biking trails and then a cape and lighthouse close by for hiking. We should plan a family trip there someday. PLUS, the town has the best bakery!!!
I went up with Grandma Maldonado on Monday and Tuesday. We got lots of game playing and warmed ourselves in the hot tub as it was pretty cold and wet. It was hailing one of the days while I was out for a walk. Actually, I was walking to the bakery to get a Devil Dog, for which the bakery is famous. A Devil Dog it a tube shaped chocolate bar filled with a heavy cream like a custard cream. YUM! Walking to the bakery to get pastries helps you feel better about eating them! We had to take the long way home since a storm had come in and there would most likely be snow on the coast mountain pass. We traveled down the Gorge and then crossed over on Cornelius Pass. I haven’t been that way in a long time. It was a long, wet drive and I wondered why I was returning in two days if Dad and I could fly anywhere, like say maybe . . .WARM Palm Springs, to celebrate our anniversary!
I did a “week’s” worth of work (good thing I can do it anywhere; well, that’s a bad thing also sometimes) including medical appointments in the two days at home. I am trying to decide how to go forward with my back and hip injury since I seem to be at a stalemate and I am looking at summer outdoor adventures coming up with fewer abilities than last summer. I plan to change doctors for a fresh perspective; I hope that will help.
Thursday afternoon, Dad and I headed back to Long Beach. Because of the drive time, it isn’t our first choice of coast stays but was the only place available (without camping out on the website to catch a last minute cancellation). The trip was very relaxing and we had a great ocean view room. This time we hit a dry afternoon and took our bikes out. Dad took a longer bike ride to explore some extra areas, which I hop
e I can do next trip to Long Beach. I am just getting used to being back on my bike. I have special bars that allow me to sit straight for most of my ride. We also walked the entire town and into the next town on one of the days. We stopped at each restaurant to take a look at their menu so we could find the best place to go to celebrate our anniversary!Dad got an idea from Adrianne and Blake when they were here at Christmas. They ordered their anniversary cake (small version of one of the layers of their wedding cake), shared it with us and took two slices home for their anniversary. So, he secretly ordered a Beaverton Bakery banana cake, our favorite, and quite possibly one of the flavors of the cakes at our wedding. That was a fun treat. That covered our dessert for the entire weekend except one Devil Dog (since we had to make a Cottage Bakery visit while in Long Beach!).
On Saturday night we went back to a restaurant that we went to years ago when Uncle Scott and Aunt Carla came to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We went to Long Beach them and Grandma. I don’t remember it being so good but it was and we will have to visit it again! It is called the 42nd Café. It is gourmet home cooking.
We tried to go to the Long Beach ward for church on Sunday morning but arrived to an empty parking lot. They had stake conference in another town. So, we went back and sat on our deck overlooking the ocean, ate a Devil Dog and had our own Sunday School lesson as we studied the Isaiah chapters together in the Book of Mormon. It was kind of nice! I loved what I learned from those chapters, which is repeated over and over again, “for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.” For all the mistakes we can make, the Lord is loving and ready and anxious to forgive us if we just ask and commit to improve!
At Aunt Karla’s suggestion, I checked out flight availability to Utah for Sarah Bitter’s baby shower on Saturday. It worked and so I went! Crazy! At the last minute I saw that there were seats left on Friday evening so I went down and was able to stay at the Brady’s. It was nice to chat with Bill on the way home from the airport and hear all the great things that he is directing to happen at Eli Kirk. I am so happy that they found him. The Brady’s are getting ready to have Bill’s sister and her family stay this coming week. So, I slept in a bed that they set up in Ainsley’s room. Heidi looks great and sounds like she is feeling much better. She always looks so cute when she is pregnant even though she suffers with some difficult side effects.
It was fun to be around the excitement of the girls. They have such cute and amazingly different personalities. I went to help Heidi with Bountiful Baskets at 6:30 Saturday morning. That is a ton of work! But, it is always fun to be somewhere where you hear everyone say how great the Brady family is as soon as they find out who I am. Jenna had a school friend’s birthday party so Heidi and I took Ainsley and Rebekah with us to the shower so they could play in the built in play house at Dave and Karla’s home (Aunt Karla’s invitation). Everyone had a great time and we met up with Adrianne there.
Of course the shower was beautiful and it was good to see Sarah. With them living in Texas, it will probably be few and far between to see Jon and Sarah. Karla and Kari had planned a fun game in which we all won candy, which we sorely needed! Dave was right in the mix doing much preparation and clean up, just like Dad would have been! Even though there are many years between them, they have many similarities, even which little heh . . . heh chuckle sounds the same.
Afterwards, so Heidi could concentrate on her Saturday afternoon toy room project, Adrianne and I took the girls to play at her playground and see the ducks. The girls enjoyed feeding Adrianne and Blake’s ducks some spinach and egg shells. Ainsley was enthralled with the baby ducks in the house, Taco Bill and Gumbo, (named purposely to remind them that they are future food) but not as crazy about the noisier ducks in the yard. She loved feeding them but stayed a distance away. The girls love the playground at the Severson’s home! It was an amazing day in Utah; the sun was shining and it was actually WARM!
Our time was too short but I had to catch my Saturday evening flight. I was hoping to be able to sit in my Relief Society for once. I have a new calling, Compassionate Service leader, and I need to get to know the sisters a bit better. In the coming months, I know I will be doing lots of calling to help a family in the ward who just had triplets almost three months premature. But, at the last minute I was in Sunbeams today. Oh well, best laid plans.
Anyway, when Adrianne took us back to the Brady’s and then me to the airport she talked of wanting to go family camping in June in Utah. Let us know what you think and when the best times would be. Dad and I will be in Las Vegas from at least June 6 to June 10 and I no longer have Girls Camp the last week in June since it was changed recently to July.
When I got home, I realized that I should be gone more often. Dad seems to get lots more done when I am away. He washed our sheets, mowed the lawn right before the rains started again, drove to visit Scott and then came right back to feed the missionaries! And I thought I did a lot in those 24 hours!
Scott is preparing for his last days before a marathon run for which he has been training. He didn’t think he was going to be able to do it since he had some injuries to his big toes. I think it is because of the poor shoes that he wears. Can you believe all the fancy equipment that people get to run marathons outside his walls and what he does with what he has? Well, he finally has agreed that he needs to buy real running shoes. Of course, they only sell them one choice of Nike shoes and they charge the prisoners a premium price so a good birthday present coming up for Scott would be a donation to his funds since he sends his library job money to Kyre. A donation to his commissary fund has to be done through the state of Oregon in a special way if you are interested. Wouldn’t it be nice if a company like Nike could donate shoes to local prisoners who are training for marathons or athletic events to encourage and reward them for trying to improve themselves!
This afternoon I took Anna Callais to see her triplets in the NICU. They will probably be there for another 8 weeks. I expected the girls to be much smaller since I knew they were all about 2 ½ pounds each. They are of course all connected to many tubes and monitors but are all gaining weight. It is a miracle what the medical world can do.
I am thankful for my health and the health of all my family. Have a wonderful week ahead. We are headed back to Utah either Friday evening or Saturday morning. We are going to see Rebekah’s Music Man dress rehearsal since her play is while Kyre and the children will be here PLUS we have four family birthdays to celebrate in Utah; now it is five since Jen, Bill’s twin, will be there also. And that is not counting Bryson and Klaire who also have a birthday in the next two weeks. Our March Madness!!!!
Love you all. Mom
