Summer visit with the Williams

There is so much laughter, fun, craziness, and joy wrapped up inside the walls of the William's home. We had a wonderful visit with them for about a week. We divided some of our time with Dallin & Janelle's family in Virginia. Meredith is amazing how she keeps everything going while Bryan keeps an incredibly busy schedule at Walter Reed hospital where he is working on his 2nd year of his Fellowship. Their home is nestled in a cozy cul de sac, with welcoming friends for the children to play with any hour of the day.

We have never been to a Cirque due Soleil show before, and we were blown away by how amazing it was. All the acrobatic moves on bicycles, unicycles, etc., was incredible! It was so generous of Meredith and Bryan for paying for us to go. The National Air and Space Museum in Virginia was fascinating. A special day for Dad was taking Evelyn on the metro to the heart of Washington DC to the National Mall to see the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the National Museum of American History. No one loves museums more than Grandpa, and Evelyn was a good sport to spend hours with him looking and reading everything possible, and not getting lunch until close to 5 pm. She was so good, Grandpa bought her a necklace that she thought was great.

We loved spending a day a Butler's Orchard in Maryland where they have a children's dream with a huge slide down a steep hill, imaginative playgrounds, animals to pet and feed, and much more, including picking lots of blueberries and blackberries which made a very yummy cobbler later that day. This was the Vance's favorite orchard when they lived in Maryland. We went out of our way by about 20 minutes on our way home to go by the Vance's townhouse in Gaithersburg. Grandpa went with Bryan, Evelyn, and Christian to skate park and he marveled at all the tricks and skills they have on their skate boards. We took Hudson, Jocelyn and Bryan to see the latest "Lion King." Along with fun at their nearby parks. We loved hearing Meredith teach her Adult SS class. She does so well. We would connect with Dallin and Janelle's family at the Cafe Rio about halfway between each of them to catch the ride to or from Dallin's place. That was a fun place to land!

July 4th and more...

Highlights of July have included following Seth’s family as they have toured Belgium, France, and Austria for 25 days. They had an amazing month of adventures. Gratefully they have finally arrived in the UK, now in Oxford, and as Seth said, “all connections seamless and complete” through it all. Crismon Jr. and Danielle were in Europe for a month, too. Their travels took them to Prague, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Slovakia, Zurich, Swiss Alps, then a week in the English countryside and catching up with Seth’s family there. In my journal one night I wrote, “Seth’s family climbed the Eiffel Tower today and we cleaned our garage.” :)

We have been busy packing up and dejunking in preparation for Vivienne’s family to move in to our basement the middle of August. We’re grateful we still have a home with some extra bedrooms to house them as they make this transition in their lives.

We have the tradition in our stake for a 4th of July celebration in the morning with a flag raising and patriotic program. Crismon usually speaks briefly at the end. They then feed over 400 people a delicious pancake breakfast. They have figured out how to have every one served in less than 15 minutes. It was a beautiful day. Crismon and I enjoyed a nice walk on the trail on this fun holiday. Bryson participated with his friends to make a huge American flag with chalk on the street near their home. I love seeing them salute the flag.

July 10th was a special day for Clark. He entered the Portland OR temple for the first time to do baptisms. We're so happy we could be with him on this important time in his life. We're grateful for the family history work that Crismon and Danielle have done. We were able to do baptisms for Danielle's ancestors. Clark also prepared for the youth trek in his stake by walking many hours. He had a good experience that week, and yet challenging ones, too.

The Vance's all came over on Saturday, July 20th to help work in the yard. Dad hasn't been able to do the yard work as in the past since the injury to his elbow. They were a great help! The next day, we celebrated Paxton's 7th birthday. It's a joy to live close to our Vance family. Cute Sydney worked with the Sister Missionaries one day and had a terrific time. We're so grateful she is planning on going on a mission. She turned 16 in June and she went on her first date with her Dad, flowers and all.

On July 23rd, Crismon and I traveled to Richland, WA. where we met up with 185 youth from our stake and leaders as they started their Trek at the Columbia River temple where they did about 3-4 baptisms each. It was incredible to see all of this come together so smoothly. The temple presidency and workers were amazed with the reverence of the youth. It was a special way to begin their journey on this Trek. We changed into Pioneer clothes and headed to Bing Canyon where the Trek took place on the church farm there. As Crismon calls this desolate, dry place, “It’s more Wyoming, than Wyoming.” Crismon spoke to the youth at the fireside after dinner. We then headed home.

We enjoyed having the Linton family in this area for their family reunion the last part of July. We loved visiting with Myreel & Larry as they arrived a few days early. Saturday evening was a fun gathering at our Pavillion of friends of the Lintons, and members of the old Gresham 3rd Ward. Before the friends arrived, we had pizza and visiting with the Lintons, the Vance’s and Vivi. We were happy to host Bryce overnight before he headed home. We had a few one-on-one visits with some of the family as they stopped by our home to pick up Seth’s car, or needed items.

June with family

The end of the school year brought concerts, talent shows, promotions, and other events to see the talents and accomplishments of the grandchildren and their participation in these events. We went to Eugene for Asher & Preston’s promotion from ACE Academy. Tiffany taught this year as a Kindergarten teacher. Daisy and Kaeley performed so well at their school talent show. Demonstrating their great gymnastic skills. Bryson and a girl were given the privilege of reading the names at his 5th grade graduation. He is an outstanding student in many ways, and was honored for his service as a safety patrol. Bryson tied with a girl in his class as ASB secretary for the year.

We were invited to Elder John & Karen Blunck’s home for a Brunch with all the stake presidents and their wives in the two Coordinating Councils that he presides over. These are special occasions with wonderful people. 

Celebrating Father's Day with the Vance's is always fun. We loved the sunshine and the Sunday walk around their park. We're grateful for such wonderful Dad's in our family. Sydney turned 16 on June 23rd. She had a very fun birthday party, a mystery dinner put on by her mom.

The highlight of the month was the “Cousin’s Camp” for the cousin’s 10 years of age and older. (We were sorry that Dorothy & Evelyn from the east coast were unable to attend.) Ondalynn & Gary hosted the event in their home. The theme was “Mission (Im)Possible.” They planned 3 days of nonstop fun, which included; Agent Code Names* Improv Games * Pizza Bake-Off * Campfire and Night Games* Swimming and Water Balloon Fight * Escape Room Activity * Murder in the Dark (with a twist)* FHE with Grandma & Grandpa* Movie Night and Movie- Making * Taekwondo training by Asher and Games in the Park * Gospel Discussions with Uncle Gary and Aunt Ondalynn* TED talk on Coding by Jackson* Lots of bonding time with Lewis cousins. a memorable 3-day party for 11 teens and tweens! Vivi had the cousins from 7-8 at her house with a mini-version of Cousin Camp for them. 

We were glad that Alice-Anne & Gary’s family could come up for 8 days for the event, spend some time in Seattle, and also have time to do many jobs around the house that were needed and wonderful to get done. I was so happy to get the cupboard's cleaned, stained and then Gary and Austin put hardware on them. It looks much better.

Julia & Austin came down on Saturday to join in the Surprise Birthday Party for Tiffany’s 40th. The Vance’s were in San Diego for a Family Reunion, but all of the other NorthWest families were together on Sunday evening to have dinner and farewell for Seth & Tiffany’s family as they left for the UK on Monday, July 1st. We will greatly miss them this year, but we know this Sabbatical will be great for Seth as he does research at Oxford, and an amazing opportunity for the whole family.