Dillon's graduation

We attended Dillon's graduation at Utah State.  He did it!!!  We are so proud of him and we look forward to the next few years of his life.  He told us he will finish out the automotive classes he's been taking at the tech school.  He was specially selected to be in this program and he also received a scholarship for it.  He has fixed up and sold many cars the past few years and made some money doing it.  He plans to have his own business after he serves a mission for the church.  Anyway, you'll have to ask him more. :)  Very talented young man. 

 

Now we're off to St. Louis, MO to see Madison's graduation and attend Olivia's dance recital!!

Mission

Today we spoke with the doctor on Thursday and he is nearly finished with our paperwork and will soon send it to our Bishop.  Once the Bishop gets that we will make an appointment with him to go over everything.  The paperwork should be all done by then.  Next after that will be an appointment with the Stake President.  So..... getting closer.  :):) 

Family. It's what's forever!

On Sunday we stopped over to the graveyard in Fielding to visit Morgan and Logan's grave (Tia and Deren's two little ones).  We cleaned the grave and left some flowers.  Love those two little ones.  I regret that I forgot to get a picture while we were there. :(  The headstone is so sweet. 

Memorial day was spent with Catherine, Jeremy, Matthew, and Brett at Tia and Deren's house and family.  We enjoyed the farm, especially the boys.  They got to gather the eggs from the hens.  So cool!!  And then Tia let us take the eggs home.  As many of you know they just hatched some chicks and so the boys got to see and pet them.  It was funny to watch the boys warm up to those feathery little things.  Their dog Cass was carefully watching over the chicks to make sure the boys took good care of them.  See in the picture.  I personally enjoyed the lilacs and irises.  Tia had a bouquet of the lilacs on her table.  Nice!  Then we had a picnic at their house and watched the boys play in the mud.  Their favorite was the swing in the huge willow tree in the front yard.  Thanks Tia and Deren and family for a fun cool awesome day!!!

 

We cannot attend Anthony's graduation on Friday because they only got so many tickets and there weren't enough, so we went to his seminary graduation.  Funny thing about that, he was scheduled to lead the opening and closing songs for this, but he was late because of a soccer meeting and no one knew that.  And Julia didn't know he was supposed to lead the opening song and so when they said his name her eyes got big and she jumped up, knowing he wasn't there yet and went up and asked the announcer if she should do it for him and of course they said yes.  Then he announced that a prettier version of Anthony would lead the song. :):)  Then Anthony came in while she was leading.  Way to go Julia for covering!!!  He gave her a big hug later.  :)  We are really proud of Anthony and all his accomplishments in seminary, school, soccer and many other things.  He received a scholarship from Utah State University!!  And you all know he is leaving in August to serve a mission for the church in Armenia. :)  Proud of you Anthony!!

May Birthdays & Anniversaries

We want to wish a happy May birthday to our fabulous kids and grandkids:
Damia 17 on May 3rd
Aubrey 16 on May 5th
Austin 20 on May 15th
Lincoln 7 on May 17th
Grady 2 on May 18th
Payton 14 on May 19th
Tegan 8 on May 21st
Cody 36 on May 29th
Roan 1 on May 29th

May Anniversaries  Congrautlations!!
James and Julia  22 years
Amy and Nate   6 years
Scott and Leora   20 years
Bruce and Millie   14 years

Busy Times

Since we will be in Florissant, MO for Madison's graduation on May 31 which is the same day Tegan is going to be baptized, we invited him and his family over for a picnic in the park.  We had a lot of fun.  VJ came too. :)  We hope Tegan will have a very nice baptism.  We will be at Leah's from May 30th to June 6th.

Then we were invited to Grady's birthday party.  Becky made a choo choo train cake that was really cute.  Becky was pretty excited to finally have a place big enough to invite people over.  So we had a good time with them.

On Tuesday the 20th of May we drove to Shelley for Braden's graduation.  We are so proud of him and his accomplishments.  He has a scholarship to Utah State, but before that he plans to serve a mission for the Lord.  He's been called to the New York, Rochester mission.  He said he's very excited about it.

The next day we drove out to Bruce's (Joe was busy with  flight school students :) to get our teeth cared for and to have him fill out the dental part of our mission papers.  Bruce is the best dentist!!  Millie is waddling along and is due to have her baby around the middle to end of June.  She looks like that baby girl is going to pop out any minute.  We had a really nice visit with them.  Some time you all should go pay them a visit.  It is beautiful out there!

Grandpa's Good News!

Grandpa found out from the doctor that the blood tests show that the Hepatitis C is now in remission!!  He finished the medications a couple of weeks ago and he is finally beginning to feel more normal.  He biked a little bit and helped with a yard project here at the condos today.  He is pretty happy and so is Grandma!!  Thank you for your prayers in his behalf.  We know it has been a big help in this 3 month long ordeal.  We also know the Lord is watching over him. :)

Good News :)

Grandma went to see the cardiologist today.  He said the result from the heart monitor pretty much concluded that I do not have atrial fibrillation.  I just have odd heartbeats ( I guess there is a medical term for that but....)  He did say my cholesterol was a little on the high side and that I should lower it through a low-carb/low-fat diet and exercise.  I can do that!  Because of the damage in my heart from the heart attack years ago, he would like to put me on an ace inhibitor to strengthen my heart muscles and lower my blood pressure which is sometimes 130/86 -- not too bad but a concern for him. (side effects of the drug: a constant cough) :(:(    I told Dr. Khodokov I would think about it.  Not ready to commit.  I want to see if there are other ways I can do that without the drugs.  Ideas anyone?  Also, I need a good remedy for sleeping better at night (other than drugs!!).  I know that will help all areas of my health. 

Grandpa is still feeling the effects of the medicine even though he has been off them nearly a week.  The doctor told him it could take a few weeks before he will see a difference.  In the mean time he tries to do a little here and there.  What a trooper!!

A Quote

I love this quote from Elder Timothy J. Dyches from General Conference October 2013.  It gives me a great deal of hope and peace of mind:

"....remember “all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”³ Have faith and patience in the Savior’s timing and purposes for you. “Be not afraid, only believe.” (Mark 5:36)  

I forgot to tell you!!

We started our paperwork for another mission.  We will request to stay in the US and go for one year.  Other than that we will just do whatever.  Our available date is October 1st.  Sooooo..... we'll see what happens.

But remember we were headed for New Zealand and landed in Germany the last time. :)  This map is on our wall and the push pins represent where every person in our family has gone on or will be going on their missions.  Its been fun to look at. :)  Educational too.!!

We're Back!!

We decided, well, I guess it was me who decided, to start this blog again.  Since I have a hard time remembering who I've told what (sorry Julia :( ), I figured if I put the blog out there you could see what's going on in our lives.  I know there is Facebook, but not everyone does Facebook, nor do they read their emails.  So we will try this. :) 

We just got back from a trip up to Amy and Nate's and Leora and Scott's.  We had such a wonderful time at both places.  Amy had a concert with the Seattle Ensign Choir and so we attended that, which was excellent!  Annabelle is growing big and smiles adorably much of the time.  Emma starts kindergarten this fall and is a big help to her mom.  Carter loves to give hugs and always has a ready smile.  We took a trip with Amy and Nate and the kids up to the peninsula and saw the ocean and a natural jetty and lighthouse, a beautiful rain forest, and a gorgeous lake called Crescent Lake. We ate at a place called Fat Smitty's and they make the largest hamburger ever!  I ate most of mine. We rode the ferry back home and saw the beautiful night lights of Seattle!!  Mother's Day was really nice and I enjoyed hearing from all of you!!!  Nate fixed breakfast, yum, and Nate's family and Nate and Grandpa fixed a delicious dinner, and my Honey gave us some gorgeous flowers of roses and other pretty flowers. 

Grandpa was feeling pretty awful most of the time, but he still went with us and did the best he could.  He is now off the medications and so hopefully in a few weeks he will be feeling better.

Monday we left and drove to Leora's in St. Maries.  Ava is growing, walking, starting to talk and is just darn cute.  Paige was finishing up her project in 4H of cooking dinner with her class members for their families, so we went over to the senior center and had dinner made by Paige!!  Potatoes, ham, salad, veggies and pineapple upside down cake. It was sooooo good!  We were all so proud of her.  She is also a great pitcher and had a home run the other day.!!!  Jessica joined us for dinner there and we got to spend some time with her afterward.  It was really good to see her and enjoy her smiles and grown-up-ness.  Love her!!!  She gets to utilize her talents by painting a mural at the pizza place where she works.  Ashley is doing great.  She just finished a season with track and field where she ran the mile in about 7 minutes.  Wow, I can barely walk a mile in 30 minutes!!  Way to go Ashley.  She will be a senior next year and plans to go on to college in forensics.  She was gone most of the night to a track meet party so we didn't get to see her too much and so I ended up not getting a picture of her.  And I don't know how Scott got out of it :)  But I didn't get a picture of him either.  But they are all doing well and accomplishing great things.

We spent the evening enjoying their property.  It is gorgeous up there!!  Seriously, you guys, you are missing out by not taking a trip up there to see them.  They have beautiful forests, lakes for boating, fishing, swimming, and a river right by their house and places to hike or just sit and enjoy the scenery.  Well, Amy too.  The coast is also very beautiful, and the forests and they likewise have lots of lakes!!  And the best part is to visit with Amy and Leora and their families.  Well worth the trip.!!!

Our next trip out of town will be to Braden's graduation May 20th.  Then Dillon graduates May 29th, Anthony May 30th, and then May 30th through June 6th we will be gone to Florissant, MO for Madison's graduation and a short trip to Nauvoo.  Then next month don't forget the Hoggan reunion June 14th and the Skeem reunion June 21st.  And I hear that Mikala is giving her farewell talk in church on the 22nd!!  Tegan is getting baptized the end of the month!!  Lots going on the next two months.

Happy Birthday to all the May Kidos:  Damia, Aubrey, Austin, Lincoln, Grady, Payton, Tegan, Cody and Roan.

I meet with the cardiologist on Friday and I expect he will say I am good to go!!  I am feeling good and I know it is everyone's prayers and faith that has made all the difference.  Thank you so much!!  Grandpa will meet with his doctor next week.  They will take more blood tests and then we will see if the Hep C has been eliminated.  We've been praying for that!!  He is really really glad to be off the medications.  We will let you know the results.

We love you all!  You are so wonderful!!  We love to hear from you and what's going on in your lives!  Call, email or leave messages on this blog.  Or start your own blog back up!  Anyone interested in starting a Family Blog??   Hugs and Kisses!!