Las Vegas, Kansas City Birthday Week!

 
 
 
 


To get more details about what happened this week, go to the Valuesparenting blog so I don't have to write it twice. All different pictures and details about dad's birthday. You all wrote and sent such GREAT things. Dad was overwhelmed! Just to explain the pictures, these big moose were just standing in the road one morning when I drove up the road to the house. It was a mom and her BIG calf! This is right by the barn!

Also, I forgot to mention in the Valuesparenting blog how much fun we had with Jonah and Saren! They drove from St. George (Jonah picked up his car there). We had a fun breakfast in our lovely little suite and then we took Jonah to his car and Saren and I went shopping at the International World Market. Jonah and Dad joined us later. It was so fun to see all that gorgeous stuff and we found a rug that I'm so excited about for the great room. Thanks to Saren's great expertise and "ins" because she is a "buyer" we got 2/3 off the price! It was still a lot of money, but we are ever indebted!

After a good talk and a little dinner, we sent her on her way and we went to the big concert! They paid KISS to come as a special Halloween treat I guess. They were out by the pool and two songs was about all we could take. The Entrepreneurs are good folks and the food was terrific! Just thought you'd like to know your parents were at a KISS concert over the weekend.

Kansas City was so fun and your messages meant so much to dad as we were far away from home. Another landmark birthday! Can you believe it's been three years since we celebrated his 60th in Bali! How time flies!

Last Call, Witches and Pumkins

 

 

 

 

HAPPY DAY! We are so delighted about having the huge family meeting on a conference call yesterday!!! When we finally got everyone on board after all the bantering, it was an unforgettable moment when Charity read her mission call! If someone hadn't said, "No tricks Charity" just before she started reading, I would have thought she was kidding for sure when she read "You are called to serve in the London South Mission"! There was a stunned silence, as it wasn't guessed by anyone...with the possible exception of Eliza at the last moment. It was the last mission anyone thought of, just because it almost like being assigned to the next best thing to heaven! What pure joy it will be to have her back among all those saints that we love so dearly! Josh, Jonah and Eli have planted a lot of seeds there! Josh says the Wandsworth Ward he served in there was 95% black. Eli said the missionaries who were serving in the other Wandsworth Ward were great, dedicated missionaries and the ward was about 40% black. She will have an opportunity to teach people from many countries and a lot of people with interesting teeth! Many of her companions will be British. FUN! She can start teaching from day one (although it will take her about two weeks to really get a grip on the language again. That accent can really throw ya'!)

So today we tried to get our feet back on the ground! I left for Logan at 7:15 this morning for a "I Didn't Plan to be a Witch Convention" sponsored by the American Mothers. They really went all out and even had a production number at the first and a lovely mother and bunch of little kids sing a song that was adorable.

When I got home I went to Pottery Barn and found some great plates for Thanksgiving! Eli and Julie helped me decide and haul them out! After a late lunch at a new place at Trolley, they came home to watch the Red Sox game wherein the Red Sox were so far ahead that they got bored and carved pumpkins and made cookies. Here are a few pics from the day. We look forward to the ones of Charity there in Boston with Saydi, Hazel, Charlie, Shawni, Elle, Lucy and Jeff, who arrived later. It was so fun to have so many on the phone at the same time! Congrats Charity. January 18th is perfect timing to go to the MTC will give us time to get have fun and get you ready to leave!

Love to you all,
Mom/Linda/Grammie

Lost Friend and Found Nieces

 

 

It's hard to remember to blog instead of email updates and pictures. I keep thinking I can't do it until Eli get here to remind me about how to upload pictures, but he's here (with Julie) so I'll just have to nab him in a minute to help me. This is such a good way to keep thoughts and pictures together!

Well, my dear friend Marsha (one of our gang memebers) whom I went to visit in Tucson with my friends when she was about to start her 5th round of chemo for ovarian cancer finally succumbed and went to heaven which she was quite sure did not existed. I talked to her last summer when she traveled through Idaho and up to see her family in Idaho Falls when she thought she'd found a miracle drug and was feeling better than she had felt in years, but she suddenly took a turn from the worst and died.

Her family who were not members settled in Montpelier when her dad worked for the railroad so it was fun to see them all together again. When he was three years old, her little brother Bud used to read to us from the cereal boxes at breakfast after a slumber party and delight all of us. He played three lovely pieces on the guitar at her memorial service on Saturday in Idaho Falls. I went with Polly who read something she had written about Marsha's life that was masterful(she had taught school with her and worked as a waitress with her). A woman minister read scriptures and assured them that Marsha still lived and family and friends just stood and said their remembrances of Marsha. She was a remarkable social worker and a great Chritian even though she didn't call herself that! We were so glad that we went! The other gang members all had big family issues and couldn't come. Polly and I had a great time talking and the 7 hours in the car really flew by!

The most exciting part of the journey was finally finding my long lost nieces, Robin and Kristy, who had called last summer and found us! They are Bill's daughters, my dad's son from his first marriage to Grace. Bill was a wonderful, quiet, gentle man who sadly was an alcoholic. He passed away right after my dad did and we totally lost track of them. Robin came to Dad's funeral 28 years ago and Kristy we haven't seen since she was a teenager. They are 49 and 50! One got married and we didn't know her married name and the other has fetal alcohol syndrome because their mother was also an alcoholic. So sad! Anyway, they have both been through horrendous marriages and divorces and are now together again, taking care of each other which is so wonderful. Robin has helped Kristi raise her two children and has supported her emotionally (and maybe a bit financially) while she went through nursing school. She is now so proud to be an LPN (liscensed practical nurse). Kristy's son Jeremiah is living with her at the moment and going through a divorce. He has a two year old. Darn! Anyway, we got totally lost finding them because I guess Map Quest doesn't do trailer parks, but they finally came and got us and we had about an hour together before we had to go to the memorial service. We took family pictures so they could see their grandparents and great grandparents and updated pictures of the Eyres and Carvers. It was so fun to see Robin looking so much like her grandmother Grace, whom she had never seen! It was a good day!