Spectacular September

A highlight for us was to visit the Gardner family in Madison, WI. It was so fun to play with cute 18-month old Elise. We were amazed at the ambition of Emily and Bronson in the many things they’re doing to fix up their home. They both have become handyperson experts. We were excited to get the new siding on our home during September. They said it was the last big job of the fall for them, so we're thankful it could get done. It will finish up in October.

Other September highlights included a fun Labor Day with our Vancouver families at a nearby state park. We were asked to organize our ward’s first activity in 18 months with 100+ attending the outdoor event for backyard dinner, mixing and even line dancing. Crismon is recovering well from a hernia repair surgery. The BYU Cougars’ success in football is helping him heal nicely :)

Ondalynn & Gary Vance family are back in school with 4th, 5th and 8th graders plus Julia, a high school sophomore. Julia attends early morning seminary co-taught by her father. Oldest child Sydney is at BYU for her first year (sophomore credit wise) and loves school and the social life. She even got to watch BYU beat Utah--a first since she was 6 years old!

Sadly, their two youngest, Isaac and Paxton, contracted COVID and had to quarantine at home. Fortunately, neither was very sick and rebounded quickly so they were playing on their community football teams within two weeks. Everyone else at home is vaccinated.

Late in the month, Sydney participated in her first choir concert with the BYU Women’s Chorus. It was an incredible experience to join with so many exceptional singers; making up for all the missed performances during the pandemic. The highlight, though, was being randomly selected to sing in the BYU combined choir in the Saturday session of General Conference.

8th grader Bryson is getting faster in the 800m in track, clipping 20+ seconds off his best time. He doesn't win any races, but he loves the challenge of trying to beat his own time. Julia referees kids soccer and continues taking voice lessons. 5th grader Isaac has begun playing the cello and dreams of being able to play like the Piano Guys.

Mother Ondalynn is substitute teaching at their local elementary school.

The family’s greatest tender mercy was that permits were secured to begin the preparation and building of Gary’s 159-apartment complex—a project 2+ years in the making. There was a near disaster when a nearby sewer line was broken, but it was discovered in time to address the problem before it became a catastrophe over the entire property.

Seth & Tiffany family in Eugene are on a busy track with Tiffany starting a masters program in Creative Writing for Children at Hamline University. It’s a low-residency program, so she goes to the university every 6 months for a 10-day intensive program and then does her coursework via reading and writing from home. Coincidentally the university is located in St. Paul so it will give Tiffany a chance to return and see dear friends from their years in Minnesota.

Seth has returned to teaching at the University of Oregon, where classes started in late September. He is LOVING being back in the classroom after more than two years away (when you count his sabbatical in Oxford and then the pandemic that moved everything to remote instruction).

Up the road in Corvallis, Jackson has started his freshman year at Oregon State, studying computer science and engineering — and has already found his “people” in various student clubs with hackers, roboticists, and anime aficionados.

Back in Eugene, Addison is a senior at South Eugene High School where he runs cross country, Preston is a sophomore and competes in rowing, and Asher is a 7th-grader and plays on the Timbers competitive soccer team.

The kitchen in their 1915 home is being completely remodeled — support structures moved, cabinets custom-built, the whole works — and the process is in Week 8 of about 12 weeks. They are excited about returning to normal cooking life, though everyone has figured out how to make do with a microwave and lots of cold cereal.

Shortly after the family returned from their trip to Alaska in early September, Seth took Preston on a one-on-one trip to Southern California for a few days to fulfill a dream of Preston’s: to ride some of the best roller coasters around. They came away with many thrills and great father-son memories.

Alice-Anne & Gary Johns family in West Jordan, UT enjoyed connecting with cousin Sydney (Vance) at BYU and took her on a tour of the autumn leaves in the nearby Utah canyons. They enjoy the tradition of regularly reading stories out loud. They recently finished the middle-grade novel “A Place to Hang the Moon'' by Kate Albus; highly recommended. 5th grader Elliot was especially enthralled.

Dallin & Janelle Lewis in Virginia cheer on 8th grader Dorothy who runs cross country and teaches eight piano students. Janelle was excited to get her vaccine booster as she has close contact with many at-risk patients in the skilled nursing facility where she works. Dallin got the royal breakfast treatment for his 37th birthday.

Daughter Vivienne and children continue to flourish in Vancouver. Viv started a masters in Education at Western Governors University. She also teaches Sunday School to the 14/15 year olds. Kaeley just turned 10 and 7th grader Daisy will be 13 years old on Oct 9. Oldest child Clark is a new freshman at Mountain View HS (where cousin Julia attends) and also attends early-morning Seminary.

Meredith & Bryan Williams family is doing well in Graham, WA where all but one (of their 5) are in school after a year and a half of virtual instruction. They all enjoy their teachers and after-school activities, including horseback riding, dancing and karate. As new homeowners, they’ve made Home Depot their “second home” and have worked a miracle in turning a backyard of large boulders into a grassy, safe playground for family games and barbecues.

Crismon & Danielle Lewis family have returned to living in the Big Apple. Crismon is back in class at Columbia University and Danielle continues to teach violin, both privately at a local music school. They recently joined the Swain family for an early Christmas trip to Orlando where they visited theme parks and took in a memorable airboat tour through the everglades. A few days later, Crismon also made a quick, one-day trip to Boston for a niece's baptism. Also he has been called as ward clerk and enjoys working closely with the bishopric.

Julia & Austin Doutre family in Lacey, WA are busy. Austin completed a half-marathon with Bryan (Williams) in west Seattle. The trail overlooked a gorgeous view of the Seattle skyline. Julia finished reading “Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown” by Steve Sheinkin and would recommend it for older teens and up; great fast-paced nonfiction! Julia, as ward Primary president, is busy preparing for their Primary sacrament meeting program.

Emily & Bronson Gardner family in Madison, WI where they’re working a miracle with their home and yards where they regularly see wildlife walk through their property, including a flock of wild turkeys. Their highlight was a long-overdue visit from Elise’s Lewis grandparents in mid-September. Bronson also has been called as a counselor in his elders quorum presidency.

August Accomplishments and Adventures

It’s wonderful to FINALLY have the schools in the Pacific NW open for the children to go back to school. They only had a few months last spring to go to school, and that was just two days a week for a few hours. Otherwise, it has been about 18 months since they were in school on a regular basis when everything began closing in March 2020. The parents are SO happy! We hope the schools can stay open. We were pleased that Pres. Nelson encouraged members to get vaccinated and use masks when social distancing is not possible.

We are happy for Gary & Ondalynn. They recently closed their partnership with a capital partner and closed on land for their first project; construction of a complex of apartments. This is a huge milestone for their business. Gary has worked extremely hard over the last 2.5 years to make this happen. We are grateful for some consulting jobs he has had to keep them afloat as they ventured out on their own. Also, Ondalynn was a substitute teacher before the pandemic hit. Other great news from the Vance’s, oldest daughter Sydney is a freshman at BYU. This is a new experience to have the first one leave the nest! We are so proud of Sydney for having the courage to audition for Concert Choir, although not accepted, she was chosen for Women’s Choir.

Seth & Tiffany and family just returned from a “Once-in-a-Lifetime” trip to Alaska. They had an incredible experience on a flightseeing tour around Denali. They described it as “an otherworldly experience. Even a spiritual one, in a sense--entering that sacred space way up in the mountains that is accessible in no other way, and which feels awfully close to heaven in several ways. The highlight was landing at 5, 500 feet on a glacier, one that’s an estimated mile deep of ice!” They loved connecting with Bradford & Virginie, and Dayna & Glen’s family. Jackson, their oldest son, will be starting OSU later this month. He has worked the past year for 1Password and recently was promoted to a developer with the company.

Alice-Anne & Gary (Johns), oldest, Kenna, just got her driver’s license. This will be a big help to busy mommy, Alice-Anne. We are grateful for the miracle in their lives that their baby Oliver was able to get off a feeding tube, and finally be able to nurse and breathe at the same time. Miraculously, his vocal cords have begun working about a year sooner than expected! Alice-Anne serves as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake YW’s, and Gary as their Ward Mission Leader. We had a delightful visit with the Johns in the middle of August. They introduced us to Pickleball! Dad Crismon is a natural.

Vivienne recently was hired by Evergreen School District in Vancouver as a Media Assistant covering two schools each day. It’s convenient because she is just 5 minutes away from the Vance’s and ourselves. Daughter Kaeley (4th grade) is going to the same Elementary School as her cousins Isaac and Paxton (Vance). She is able to drop Kaeley off at the Vance’s to walk with the boys to the bus stop as she has to leave earlier in the morning. Daughter Daisy is a 7th grader in the same middle school as Bryson (8th grade), and her son Clark (freshman) is in Mountain View HS with cousin Julia, a sophomore. She is serving as a SS teacher for the 15 year-olds. She meets in our same building, but she is in a different ward, but our same stake.

Dallin continues to teach America and the Enlightenment, and Literary classes at Southern Virginia University. Janelle is working as a Speech Pathologist in a Rehabilitation Center. Their four daughters are happy to be back in school this year.

Meredith & Bryan and their five children are getting settled in their new home in Graham, WA. It was quite the adventure to move from Maryland all the way across the country. They have been working very hard to remove piles of rocks in their backyard and plant grass. Bryan started working in the NICU at Madigan Army Hospital and is really enjoying it.

Crismon & Danielle have moved from Las Vegas back to Manhattan for classes to begin again at Columbia as he continues to work on his PhD in Ancient Chinese History. We are so excited they are expecting a girl in January!

Julia & Austin are loving living in a nice two-story home in Olympia, WA. They have a beautiful park that backs up to their home and they have easy access through the gate in the backyard. It’s fun for them to be just 45 minutes from the Williams family. They have gotten together for great adventures to the beach, and the zoo together. We have loved having Julia and Dallin (3) stay with us this weekend while Austin is in Utah to say goodbye to his parents who left for a 23-month mission as area welfare specialists in the Brazil São Paulo West Mission. Austin is still working from home for Puget Sound Power. Julia is the Primary President in their ward.

Emily was recently released as YW Pres. and now is serving as primary pianist. Bronson is working extra long hours due to the pandemic in his job with Epic (medical software). They are enjoying the fruits of their beautiful garden before fall. Check out Emily’s Instagram for pictures of their amazing garden. They had a concrete patio poured after removing their deck. They have worked so hard remodeling their home and transforming their yard. Emily did mommy and me swim lessons with Elise. It’s hard to believe Elise is now 18-months and attending nursery.

Crismon and Vivienne traveled to Utah the middle of August to see our Johns family and for us to attend my 51st Class Reunion in Logan.  Along the way, we connected with my sister Kathi and found that she was driving that day, too. We ended up seeing each other at a rest stop! The chances of us being at the same location, at the same time was crazy!!! I think that must have been designed by our parents in heaven. We had a delightful stay with Stayner and Yufei near Boise on our way down. We toured the Meridian temple grounds and celebrated William and Elizabeth’s 5th birthday. It was a treat to see Corwin & Lynette and tour their beautiful new home. It was wonderful to connect with my stepmother, Julia, my sisters, Meredith & Kathi, and Geoff’s family and Randy, Norene, and missionary son, Corbin, who was in the middle of his MTC-at-home experience. We also enjoyed a wonderful visit with Pres. Allen & Janice Litster, Crismon's mission president. He is a sealer, and he gave Crismon some good counsel, but best of all, we were invited to come to their family sealing session that night. It was a sweet opportunity to be in a sealing session with them, and Alice-Anne and Gary joined us, too. We also visited downtown SLC with our Johns grandchildren and saw up close the major, incredible renovation of the SL temple to be earthquake sound. Pres. Nelson wants this temple to stand through the millennium. 

We love living closer to family, and we relish time together. The NW families are good to reach out and serve and help each other. We appreciate their service to us, and the Facetime, Zoom calls, or phone calls from family far away that help us stay connected.

 

July Journey's

Following our family reunion the last week of June, we moved into a relaxing, yet busy new month of July. The morning, as families were leaving, the painters arrived to begin painting the entire inside of our home. As soon as that was completed 10 days later, the carpet layers came the next day to install all new carpet. While those projects were in progress, we also had new vinyl put in our Master Bath, and Bryan (Meredith’s husband) spent several days painting over dated wallpaper in our bathroom, and completely transforming the look.

Finally, on July 16th we could begin moving into our home. On Saturday a good team of ward men came to help, along with Meredith & Bryan’s family, Julia & Austin, Vivi, and Seth and his boys. The Vances were in Idaho for a family reunion, but we managed well by moving in all the furniture and boxes from the garage in just 30 minutes. We especially appreciated a brother from the ward who stayed and helped with a number of handyman projects. We were so grateful for everyone’s help, with the Williams’ and the Doutre's working into the evening, before finally heading home. We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s great effort.

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at the Williams home along with the Doutre's. During the first two weeks of the month when we were “homeless,” we were grateful to stay several days with Julia & Austin near Olympia, and then Meredith & Bryan’s home in Graham, near Tacoma. While there, I loved seeing my sister Kathi, who was staying with her daughter, Amy Beam, just an hour away. The last week before moving in we stayed with the Vances. Family support is the best!

We are enjoying our new ward and getting acquainted with many as we have begun serving as ward missionaries, focusing on the less-actives. We loved having a discussion in our home for a man from China.

Crismon was called as a sealer. Ondalynn & Gary and Vivi went with us to the temple for Crismon to be set apart as a sealer by Pres. David Garner. I was also called to serve again in the temple as an ordinance worker. I was also set apart by Pres. Garner as a temple worker. He gave me an incredible blessing regarding my health. We both love serving in the temple, It was a sweet experience being in the temple with Ondalynn & Gary, and Vivi while the temple was basically empty because of COVID. Later we were so happy to finally attend an endowment session. It’s difficult to schedule for temple work as the slots to reserve online fill up so quickly. But that is a great thing!

We find ourselves returning occasionally to the Mount Hood Stake for important events, like a 90th Birthday Open House for a dear friend, Utahna Kerr and also attending the funeral of another longtime stake member. It gives us the opportunity to reconnect with wonderful friends in the stake where we lived for more than 30 years,

We are thankful for many blessings of living close to family, like celebrating grandson Paxton’s 9th birthday. We constantly see the Lord’s hand in our lives and the lives of our loved ones as there have been some serious health issues with some immediate and extended family. We love the gospel!

A Joyful June

This has been a landmark month for our family. On June 4th we closed on our home in Gresham. On June 9th we noted that it had been 32 years since we moved from Phoenix to Gresham. Then on June 11th we closed on our new home in Vancouver. We were not going to be able to move in until July 1, but we were so thankful for the blessing that the owner and his family were able to make the home available to us earlier than expected and we started moving in on Tues. June 15th. We were having a family reunion beginning on June 26th, so we were so grateful that we had a home to host our family, along with the Vance’s home for people to stay. We were able to save on a month of storage and a week long stay at an Airbnb.

Other important events were attending Sydney’s orchestra and choir concerts in person. We were thankful they could perform at least one time during this pandemic year of restrictions. Then, Seminary graduation in-person for Sydney (Ondalynn), and the next week for Jackson (Seth) in Eugene. We watched virtually their high school graduations. Attending a graduation party for Sydney one evening, provided the opportunity of meeting some of our neighbors and members of our new ward. On June 17th Meredith flew in early from Maryland with her 3 youngest children, as the moving van with all their belongings was arriving sooner than expected at their new home in Graham, WA (near Tacoma). This made it possible for her to help us get settled in our home, and for us to watch her children for several days while she unpacked their new home without the family.

Crismon & Danielle came several days before our reunion to spend some one-on-one time with us. We loved relaxing and visiting with them as we drove to Gresham for Crismon to see one last time his childhood home, and other meaningful sites. One day we went to the famous estate in Portland, the Pittock Mansion. Amazingly, after 32 years in the Portland area, a first time for us! By Saturday evening the 26th everyone had arrived.

We had a wonderful 6 days together. The most exciting moment of the reunion was when Alice-Anne surprised us and flew in with her precious (“our miracle grandbaby”) Oliver that I hadn’t seen yet (photo). Because he was in the NICU for the first month of his life, I didn’t get to see or hold him when I was there helping Alice-Anne for two weeks soon after his birth in March. I can’t express how amazing it was to have her come. Ondalynn and Seth’s families had been in Utah the previous week and they brought 3 of the Johns children home with them. Gary, and son, Spencer, arrived a few days later to make Alice-Anne’s family complete. While in Utah, the Vances, the Johns, and Seth’s family were able to attend the Annual Smith Swim Party. It was wonderful for them to see many of our Smith family. Bryan (Williams) had to stay in Maryland until the end of the month. Gratefully he was able to leave a few days early. He drove across the entire USA with their two older children in record time. As a doctor, he is used to working 24 hour shifts, and he pushed through, arriving in time for the last day of our reunion. This meant that we were ALL together as a family for the first time! It was incredible to have everyone—all 47 of us—there!

We began with a Sunday Devotional and a memory video by Emily about the home we just left in Gresham (where everyone grew up). The first few days of our reunion we were experiencing record heat for the Northwest of 109 degrees, then 115, and 116 degrees! This was a once in a millennium event! We escaped the heat by going to the Oregon coast where it was 60 degrees cooler. We spent two days (at separate times) at a beautiful lake north of Vancouver where everyone loved paddle boarding, blueberry picking, and one day the families participated in a service project helping us with needed fixup, planting flowers, and putting in pavers in our backyard. We were so grateful for their tremendous help. That evening we had a BBQ and terrific time at the Gee’s backyard (Tiffany’s parents) where there was a fun slip-and-slide, and a zipline that kept the grandchildren going nonstop. The Gees moved from Dallas to Camas last August, and we love that we are now in the same stake with them, just 12 minutes away. What a treat for Seth’s family to have both grandparents so close to each other.

One of the greatest blessings of this year was when we received the joyous news that Crismon Jr. and Danielle are expecting a baby. We are so grateful for the medical advancements that have led to this mjracle. They return to NYC to continue his studies at Columbia in August. She has an early January due date.

Earlier in June, Alice-Anne, Seth & Ondalynn's families were all able to be at the Smith Swim Party which was a fun time for them to see their Smith cousins.