Summer 2008 update

It is a wonderful experience to have former missionaries visit us on occasion.  Elder Withers and his wife came for an overnight visit.

It had been about 4 years since we got the neighbors together for a little BBQ, so we had it in the middle of the cul de sac...every person came!.  Stan & Stan brought their guitar and banjo and we ate hamburgers, and delicious  food to the sound great music. Fine neighbors are a blessing.

Linda got to play grandma to little Clayton for a 5 days. What a pleasure to stay with Chrissy, Corbett and Marshall and their new little son....grandchild #10. A beautiful, righteous family!

Stephen, Jonny and Nathan had a weekend retreat at beautiful Santa Barbara for 3 days. It was a weekend of biking, kayaking, old movies and eating mom's good cooking.   

Summer 2008

Summer has been so fun and oh so very busy: We were happy to have had some family members come to visit in June. When the grandkids came we had fun with some favorite activities which included advancing trampoline technical skills, swimming in 6 inches of water with Katy in the kiddie pool, gardening with Grandpa and catching a few waves at the beach. Linda went to girls camp and youth conference and is becoming the pro on kitchen design. Stephen likes his bike rides with Bill Hansen when time allows and being involved with Prop. 8...defense of marriage initiative. Vote YES on Prop. 8, you Californians! We had some of our former missionaries and their wives come for an overnight visit. We are grateful for our special blessings every day. One of the greatest blessings is our family.

We invited our neighbors, the Tuckers,  to dinner and afterwards had a great evening watching a DVD he made of his family...he is quite a genalogist.  Get to know your neighbors...there are good people all over the world.

Stacy and Jeff visit S.B.  and while they were here,  they toured the beachy, tourist area and visited one of their favorite restaurants.  El Torito serves the best GREEN SALAD ever!

 

Stephen tried to be an influence for good in the life of his brother, Brian.  We visit him for an hour or two as we pass through L.V. on our trips to Utah.

Visiting with old friends from college was a fun, fun event for us.  Stay in touch with a few old friends and later in life you will cherish that relationship.

Email, Christmas cards, phone calls...they all work!

Attending church with our family gives us a sense of how your lives unfold.  Church service is a great blessing for us all.

Sammy is the assistant and Stephen is the trainer....tomatos, beans and zucchini, anyone??

Getting together to watch General Conference was a family experience.  The general authorities have some of competition for our attention with Amara around! She is too cute!

A highlight while in Utah was attending our 2nd missionary reunion.  It was a joy to see our missionaries living good lives and progressing.

Visiting Chrissy and Corbett and little Marshall was a delight. We visited the hospital where Corbett works and Sutters Fort, across the street.

Linda found a long lost cousin, Frank Hovey, who lives in Solvang. Our grandfathers are brothers and their spouses are sisters. His dad, Harold, was visiting  him, so Linda made a  visit to see them.  Harold showed Linda an old video tape he had of Linda at age 7, with her sisters singing on top of a picnic table at a family reunion.  Pretty funny!

In February, Mom and Dad drove to San Jose and visited Nathan and Lys and their 2 darling children.  We loved going to conference with them, playing with Sammy and Katy, eating their good food and visiting the park.  We love to visit our kids and grandkids and look forward to regular times together. How did we get a family full of such beautiful people???

As the president, Mom is involved with the stake young women and recently worked with her great counselors and secretary in planning the Best of EFY for the youth from 4 stakes.  About 500 youth attended the lecture and then a dance followed. Youth in this generation are so awesome.