October Conf.

Our October began in Utah for General Conference and to be with our Johns Family, along with Ondalynn and her new 12 yr. old, Julia, Seth and his 12 yr old, Preston, Crismon Jr. & Danielle from Boulder, and Emily & Bronson from Provo.

Friday evening was a special night as we took the 3 recent 12 yr olds, Kenna, Julia, & Preston to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to do baptisms. This was the first time for Julia & Preston. What a glorious experience for all of us to be in the temple together. Then, the wonderful opportunity to be in the Conference Center for some of the sessions of Conf. We love feasting upon the words of our leaders. It’s especially wonderful to see the grandchildren loving it, too.

We had so much fun being together. The Johns opened their home to all of us. Crismon & Danielle stayed with her sister in Provo. Of course, the Gardner's stayed at their apartment. Emily brought yummy food to help out. Her Chocolate Chip Cookies are divine! All the women went to lunch together on Friday which was fun.

Walking around the Conf. Center was difficult for me, so I only went to one session. I enjoyed a nice visit with Danielle on Saturday afternoon before the men returned from the Priesthood session. The grandchildren are always the highlight. Claire is so entertaining. Dad and I went to Elliot's school for a welcome back one evening. He is very smart and he caught on to everything very quickly. We attended one of Kenna's rehearsals for the musical, "Fiddler On The Roof," that she was in. She loves performing and she does so well. We also drove south to see Suzette Guerrero in her new home in Payson, the beautiful new temple there, and then went by to have lunch with Grandma Julia and Emily. Monday evening we took a drive up Cottonwood Canyon where everything turned cold and snowy. Gary was quite the quick driver around those mountain curves. We kind of felt like we were hanging of a ledge at times. We stopped for a spectacular sight at the top, before heading back down the mountain. We flew home on Tues. the 3rd and loved seeing beautiful Mt. Hood as we approached Portland.

Garage cleanup & new driveway

In preparation to sell our house someday, we had the garage and driveway concrete totally taken out and redone as there were significant cracks throughout. It has been quite a job to pull everything out and store it under our deck porch, or in the house, but it looks great.

The Vance's and the Caudle's came one weekend to pull out all the heavy things out of the garage and then put them under our deck. The next weekend after the concrete was poured and dry, they came Labor Day Weekend to help haul it all back. We couldn't have down it without their help! It was a Tongan family that did the concrete work. We were happy to help out this good LDS family.

Family Updates

Fall has begun and I love to see the symphony of colors in this beautiful world as it changes to a new season. A few updates from our family. The big news this week, we are so happy that Dallin & Janelle found the ideal home for their family. After living in a studio apt with their family of 6 for six weeks, they were so excited when the house finally closed and were able to move in this week. They have sacrificed over the years living in very tiny apartments, but now they have more room and a lovely place of their own. Julia applied for a teaching position with VIP KID, and was accepted. She will be teaching English to Chinese children over Skype. Because of the time change, she’ll have to do many early morning hours, teaching children ages 4-12 years of age. This will be a great opportunity for her. She just finished her first week teaching 8 students. Emily was promoted to a HR position in the corporate office for Stonehenge Skilled Nursing Facility. She was offered the job as they said of all the different care centers she was the most accurate of the HR’s. She is working in an office with mostly men, twice plus her age, but this is a new challenge that she is enjoying. Bronson continues working for Intermountain Health Care where he interned this summer as software architect. He is able to work most days from home as he finishes his last year of his Masters program at BYU. Vivi has started working at the Elementary School where their children attend. She works as the cashier in the cafeteria and she’s having lots of fun associating with the teachers and students there. Ondalynn continues to serve well as the YW’s Pres. in her ward. She now has two daughters in YW’s, too, which she loves and she is well loved by all the girls. Seth & Tiffany’s family are loving living in Eugene and they are making great improvements on their 100-year-old home. Gary Johns is taking an online class through BYU, that his company is paying for, which will broaden his abilities in his field of mechanical engineering. Bryan has been interviewing for a fellowship to follow after he finishes his Residency. Meredith keeps everything running at home, along with being in the last 4 weeks of her pregnancy. Crismon Jr. is in to his last year of his Master’s Program in Chinese Literature. Danielle is taking an advanced course in Suzuki training in Denver. She held a violin camp this summer with all of her 25 students. It was 46 hours of teaching in six days capped by a final recital at the end.