Dear Children,
I’m determined to not get so behind this fall in
writing to everyone. Lots of great
things are happening in the family that I will try and keep you aware of. Although, many of you communicate by FaceBook
and know things way before I do!
Dad and I couldn’t resist Shawn’s suggestion to come
down tow weeks ago to the Oakland
A’s game that they would be at. So on
Wednesday we hopped on the earliest flight, since the later flights were
looking too full, and flew to Oakland
for a day. How cool is that! Luckily Katie was also flying out about the
same time and she gathered our security documents for us since lines at the
airport were SO long. We also were able
to walk through security with her and miss those lines as well. Now that is service!
We were on the earliest flight but we were delayed due
to mechanical problems and we kept coming back to the gate each time we pushed
away. We arrived in Oakland just in time to go to breakfast with
Shawn, Aubrey and the boys and then head to the stadium for batting
practice. Due to having a night game the
day before, they didn’t have a regular betting practice but Gregory and Bryson
did hang out by the dug out in hopes of getting some signatures. It reminded me of many years ago when you
boys tried getting signatures.
Aubrey has the boys signed up in a children’s fan club
and there are lots of games that the boys can play for prizes at the
ballpark. They left with banners,
baseball cards and even plastic batting helmets!
It is always fun to see the boys cheer the team
on. They are serious fans. The weather
was perfect for a ball game and although we started in the two dollar seat
section, we moved closer so our whole group could sit together. Some of Shawn and Aubrey’s friends came to
the game as well. Plus, the A’s won and
we even saw a home run.
After the game we went into Oakland to a cool bakery that serves one kind
of pizza a day. The flavor was a pesto
recipe which Shawn and Aubrey said was kind of tame for some of the flavors
that they have had there. We also went by Grandma Hawkins home (Aubrey’s
grandma) since she hadn’t been feeling well.
Our grandchildren are sure lucky to have so many great grandmas in their
lives.
Our flight home kept getting delayed and by the time
we left from the gate, it was as late as the latest flight out for the day so
our arrival home was a bit late for having left at 4:00 that morning. We later learned that the flash flooding in Las Vegas was the reason
for our delay. I texted Aaron and he
said that there was even debris floating in the roads over by the Las Vegas airport during
the storms.
The day after Oakland,
I drove to Albany
to pick up Sunhee and Meeja. We had a
fun weekend with them. They just love to
come and play. Sunhee can’t get enough
of our new game, Ticket to Ride. Maybe
it is because she is so good at it!
Plus, she is a little organizer and she takes care of everyone’s scoring
before they have had a chance to think about it. Playing the game Sunday after dinner made us
late to return to Albany. Sunhee and I had played right after church
and the game went so fast with two players that we didn’t calculate enough time
when we added everyone else playing after dinner.
I had a Hillsboro Chamber meeting on Friday morning so
I dropped the girls off at Grandma Maldonado’s and then returned with a prize
that I won, a darling bucket filled with candy, pop and popcorn. It was a perfect prize since Meeja told me
she brought the Smurf movie for us to watch with her. That afternoon we went to Grandma’s bowling
alley, the one that we can walk to from her place. I bowled for the first time in a long time
and maybe it wasn’t the best decision as I can really feel it now. Although, I am getting back to most of my
regular routines. I am happy that I am now doing a jog-walk interval and each
time I go back to the doctor, she expands it.
My goal is to finish the next triathlon in less time.
Since Dad had to get up very early for his Beaverton, Banks and
Beyond Century ride, we had a fairly early evening on Friday, mostly just
playing games after the girls were done playing on the trampoline. Meeja woke up very early also so we had some
nice quiet time planning out some achievements in her new Faith in God
booklet. She loves to secretly serve and
surprise others to make them happy. She
was in charge of our morning service project that included cleaning out the old
raspberry vines, chopping them up to go in the recycle bin and sweeping up
afterwards so it would look great when Dad came home. She liked giving Sunhee and I our jobs! We accomplished a lot more than planned so we
found ourselves rushing to be ready for the neighborhood block part at noon.
It was nice that our neighborhood gathering landed on
the weekend that the girls were here.
They love playing with the neighbor girls and this time Sunhee made
better friends with one of the twins, Nicole Duda. The neighbors are went in on
renting a bouncy house so that kept them all entertained for hours.
Speaking of neighbors, the Jorgensen’s have grown out
of their home and just this week purchased a home just off of Scholls Ferry in
Jaime’s parent’s ward. It will be so sad
to see them go. I will miss little
Carter’s greeting as I drive into the cul-de-sac. Whenever he is in the front yard, he is all
smiles with a huge wave. I am doubly
disappointed about their move since an investor bought their home and there
will be renters in that home from now on!
Sunhee wanted to map out and organize a bike ride
after the neighborhood party but the girls were enjoying playing with neighbors
in our yard after the party too much and the time got too late. I think that Dad was a bit relieved not to
get back on his bike after 100 miles earlier in the day. This ride took him longer than the Utah Lake
one. But then, he was riding with the
neighbor, Mike Faulkner, and Dad slows down and rides with people to make it an
event instead of a race. This was Mike’s
first century.
We had also promised Meeja that Saturday night was
movie night with the movie that she brought to share. It was a cute little movie, more than I
expected with the title of the Smurfs.
We didn’t get any ping pong games in on Friday or Saturday so I promised
Sunhee we would get to that after church.
We can’t have Sunhee and Meeja for a whole weekend
without having spaghetti at least once so that was our Sunday meal. Although, having it at the end of the weekend
didn’t allow Sunhee to have the leftovers for breakfast and lunch all
weekend. The girls are good to help with
the meal and the clean up after meals.
Meeja read the recipe of Halboji bread on her own and made it herself,
another goal in her Faith in God booklet.
Grandma Maldonado came for dinner and games afterwards
and then we headed to Albany. The girls were sleeping at their other
grandma’s home on Sunday night. We
stopped at Kyre’s so everyone could see each other. Adam and Alina showed us their new school
clothes since they had gone school shopping that weekend. I also was able to see the animated Beaver
that dances and sings a Justin Bieber song that we sent for Alina’s eighth
grade graduation. It was very, very
cute; I had just seen it online from the SendOutCards catalog and knew it was
one Beiber thing that Alina did not have yet!
I guess grandma’s can sometimes indulge in their grandchildren crazy
obsessions!
Everyone is back to school. The Brady’s went back a lot earlier than
anyone else. They have a great charter
school that Jenna and Rebekah attend.
With Jenna in the first grade, she and Rebekah are on the same schedule
so they can walk back and forth from school which is helpful to Heidi. Today was the first day for most children up
here. We are anxious to see the family
again at the end of the month for William’s baby blessing on September 30. Dad
wishes we could squeeze some extra time in for a run up to Snowbird for
Oktoberfest. Wendi has said that she can be there also. I imagine that William has changed quite a
bit since July!
We will be in Utah
again for Grandma Bitter’s birthday weekend, October 12-14. Since one of my college roommates from the
east is going to be there that same weekend, we are going to try and get many
of the roommates together for lunch one of the days. That will be fun. Our next travels take us to Las Vegas for the bike ride hat Dad and Aaron
are doing. We will see Wicked that same
weekend. I just heard that Phantom is no
longer in Las Vegas;
I had always hoped to see it on that stage.
Oh well, we really have seen it enough.
Nate is home from Israel
so I hope that we get some details and pictures of his trip.
Over General Conference weekend we will be in Clovis. Dad and Uncle Scott are going to run a
triathlon for Aunt Carla, myself and a few of the Tobler’s friends. The swimming part will be very nice as it
will be in their pool and then it will be fun to relax and enjoy the conference
weekend.
Speaking of General Conference, DeLys Ostlund had an
interesting insight on a scripture in Sunday School. It is the part right after Nephi has prophecies
about the murder of Seezoram. In fact
she had me read the last scriptures in Helaman 9 and then onto Helaman 1. As I read Helaman 1:10 I thought, “This is
weird that it describes everyone walking away from the prophet.” And it
came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they
divided hither and thither and went their ways, leaving Nephi alone, as he was
standing in the midst of them. DeLys
gave it a modern day meaning by describing what happens in her home over
general conference weekend how, as the prophets speak to us their inspired
messages, we walk in and out of the room as if it is nothing to hear that
revelation. It is true; we need to be
paying close attention and not taking advantage of such a great blessing.
Dad and I both worked on Labor Day until late
afternoon. We went on a bike ride during
the dinner hour and we could smell everyone’s BBQ. So, when we got home, Dad ran to the store
for some hot dogs so we could have a quick BBQ in his fire bowl on the
driveway. We even roasted marshmallows. We hope that you had a fun Labor Day
weekend.
Mark your calendars for next year. As I said, I was too late to get an Oregon coast property for next summer so I went ahead and
booked Running Y which is located in Klamath
Falls. It is by
Crater Lake so that would be a great day trip
or two. We will have a 3 bedroom
Chalet. The problem is: it is August 28
to September 4. Dad and I will stay the
whole time down there and we suspect that whoever can come, will come as long
as is able. It goes over Labor Day
weekend so hopefully that will help some of you. I still wait-listed us for the month of July
at the coast properties. We will see if
something else comes up in the next 6 months that isn't so close to school start for some of you and at the beginning of school for some.
We love you, Mom and Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment