The Crowd Thickens

We rarely get to see our son Gerald, wife Fran and kids.  So while they were here with their Taiwanese English students, Chris and Jessica and kids decided to come for a few days.  Then Ben and his Jes and their kids also decided to come.  If you are counting, that amounts to some 30 or so people.  All here.  At the same time.  We could not turn that down.  So on they came and, for a few days, we had a wild, wonderful time.  As it turns out, the Chinese students really liked our kids and took great care of the little ones.  They went swimming, drove the ATVs around the area behind our house, played volleyball and, just in general, had a good time.  We invited our friend, Evan Green, to do a fireworks show for everyone one night.  It was so fun!  We had beds for the adults and the kids slept in sleeping bags anywhere they wanted.  It was crowded to be sure, but I'm so glad that we were able to host them all.

Here's an example of Evan's fireworks show.  He ties them to his arms and then moves around to music.  Pretty fun to watch.

Here is our houseful, with three of our families joining with the Chinese kids.  Gerald, Ben and Jessica with their families are all here!

Here is our newest grandchild, Olivia, happy on her brother Will's shoulder.

Seth and Angelica are now 10 and 12 years old.  

These three were all born the same year. Miles and  Jacqueline recently turned 13; Seth will in October.

Peyton and Angelica present a lovely contrast, and Alexis makes three sweet granddaughters.

 Monday the 20th through the 24th we all met up in Lake Tahoe for a family reunion.  All but Ger and Fran, who stayed at our house with the Chinese kids.  I'll be so happy when they can join us for reunions.  Reed and Dorothy arranged a place for us to stay--a big house that had room for all of us.  They also arranged a different activity for each day we were there.  Everyone got along great.  I made some family slide shows to show the kids each night and think they enjoyed them.  I'm thinking it is a good thing to include each year.  I showed them a total of 4:  one on Layne and his dream of flying (have a dream and work to make it come true), Layne's g-g grandparents, the Mortensens, who crossed the plains in the Willie Handcart Company (be willing to sacrifice for what you believe to be true), a review of Carmen's life (we must never forget that she is a part of our family), and a collection of pictures of family through the years being together (our family is stronger together than apart).  I felt so tender about the family at this reunion.  There is no one among them that I don't absolutely trust and love.  

The grandkids went fishing in a tourist trap pond and caught all of these.  We had a major fish fry!

Jessica happily entertaining Olivia.

I love this selfie of daughters Jessica and Audrey.

Here's the whole reunion gang!

I am noticing that we are definitely the old people now. There was lots of, "help grandma...look out for grandma...get that for grandma" and so forth.  Gotta look out for the old lady.  To be fair, we were the oldest people there by quite a bit.  So, with our family, we are the old birds.  I'm glad, though, that they choose to look out for us.  They could choose not you, you know.  Next year Layne and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary!  I can't believe that it could be here so quickly.  It seems like just a short time ago that we celebrated Mom and Dad's.  And they seemed to be pretty old at that time.  So I guess we are too.  Ger and Fran are going to plan next year's anniversary reunion and seem excited about it. They want to have it here in Idaho.  I like that idea.  Perhaps we can convert some of the kids to the beauty and fun of Idaho.  And that means that Ger and Fran will be at our next family reunion!

We returned from the reunion to Ger and Fran and gang for a few more days.  They all left last Monday.  It took us three days, give or take, to get things all cleaned up.  It is now all in good order. Now to get the old lady body back in shape.  I'm so tired!  And so is Layne.  We have been laying around, pretty much, since the kids left.  Except for one day devoted to ATVing with a group of dedicated riders.  I cut my finger pretty badly the day before so it was all bandaged up for the ride.  Our ATV gas pedal is maneuvered with the right thumb.  Mine was already touchy when the ATV day began.  By days end I could hardly move my right hand.  As we progressed along the trail, I tried every thing I could think of to press that pedal besides using my thumb; the heel of my hand, other fingers, left thumb.  By the time the ride was finally through I felt like I never wanted to go again.   Its taken a few days for my right hand to recover.  But recover it has so I'll quit complaining now.


                                        Here's some of the ATV gang, with Layne on the left.

I'm looking forward to a quiet August.  Think it'll happen?

Rain in July!

It has been unusually hot here in Boise.  By hot I mean 100 degrees plus.  That's usual for July and August, but this hot cycle began in June!  Partly to escape the heat, we headed for Island Park, near Rexburg, ID, where we have a family cabin.  Several friends came along with us.  It was 20 degrees cooler there, a welcome reprieve from Boise.  We had such fun!  We floated the river, saw Quake Lake again and drove through Yellowstone Park.  It was Independence Day week so you may imagine how many people were around.  Lots and lots.  But it was as if the Red Sea parted for us.  Everywhere we went we found space for enjoyment without lines or crowds.  I can't explain why since there were people everywhere.  It was a sweet time.

Here we are floating down the river.  Such fun with Roger and Mary Ann Wilcox, and Larry Green.

Layne and I in Yellowstone's Grand Canyon.

The Galbraith cabin, in Island Park, Idaho

We drove home on July 4th, arriving just in time for a party at Larry and Pat Green's.  The Boise area celebrates Independence in a big way.  Every little town has a fireworks show.  If you are in just the right spot, you can be surrounded by them.  It is a joyous experience.  Independence Day brings strong feelings of love for our country.  I feel it every year.  Last Sunday I could not resist sharing my feelings about it at Church during testimony meeting.  I'm not much for bearing testimony, but each 4th of July, I feel compelled.  I felt come out of me an immense feeling of gratitude for the Founders, who established freedom, to be shared with all the world.  Shortly afterwards, our country also provided the chance for the gospel to be restored, meant to be shared with all the world as well.  These two great gifts lie in the middle of our mortal experience here in the USA.  How wonderful to be blessed to be here at this time.  We must never surrender these two great gifts.

I am alarmed of course with the latest Supreme Court decision on marriage.  First of all, they don't have the Constitutional right to decide for the rest of us what marriage is to be.  Now that they have, the category we call marriage will no doubt eventually be expanded to include all sorts of relationships, making the whole concept of marriage meaningless.  Once family life, as it has been for hundreds of years, is muddled, the effects upon our society will be fatal.  Still, I hold out hope that the righteous principles that have made this the freest, most prosperous country the world has ever seen will somehow prevail.

We arrived home from Island Park to cooler temperatures.  Then the clouds came.  Then the lightening and thunder.  And then the rain.  This is July and it rained!  Our days since returning have been filled with this wonderful weather, cooling and nourishing us and giving us such a show.  I love it.  Rain in July!

July promises to be filled with family.  Gerald, Frances, Seth and Angelica, along with 11 Chinese students from their school, arrived last Monday.  Gerald and Frances were exhausted from the long trip, and they thought the kids would be too.  Wrong.  They were full of energy and lots and lots of enthusiastic noise.  It is fun to have the house full of happy activity.  I love having Ger and family here with us once again.

Gerald and Frances' English students.  Well, Layne is an addition.  Seth is wearing the sunglasses in back.  Angelica is in front wearing the white shirt and red shorts.

My friend, Phyllis, left Friday to move back to Arizona.  She moved here just two years ago, but the call of home and family has pulled her back to her Arizona spot.  I hope she loves it!

Ger and gang left for Utah for a few days and will return to us this coming week.  Ben and his family arrive on Tuesday.  Jessica and hers arrive on Thursday, along with Ger and his.  Once everyone is here we will have some 30 people staying here, all at once!  Wow.  I hope we are up for it!

People and Stuff

I have felt the challenge of the people vs. stuff war since college.  Then it was a choice between doing necessary school work or bonding with friends.  Often I chose the friends.  But at a cost.  I've come to know, now that I'm an older woman, that people are the priority, just about always.  We have some challenging events coming up that I want to be prepared for.  I've got some goals set to make sure that happens.  But people keep getting in the way.  This past week it took the form of a trip to Utah to see my sister and her hub.  It felt more important.  So I went.  And it was a lovely time.  I need to know, on a regular basis, how Maryanne is.  I need to look into her eyes and take note.  I did that last week.  We had a good bond and made a little bit of a dent in the piles of family records that we have yet to go through.  There is so much to do, just with family history.

Here's an early picture of my mother, Mary Margaret Knox Kiser, that Maryanne and I found hidden away between sheets of paper that Mother filed away.  I think she is such a lovely girl.

I also visited an old friend, Frank Heiss.  He was our bishop in Fremont for a time.  He is a recent widower.  I've been a bit worried about how he was getting along on his own.  Seeing him has put my mind regarding him to rest.  He has rebounded and is happy and busy.  Most of his children are nearby and seem to be looking out for him.  He is a great example of joyfully proceeding through the dish the Lord serves.  He has some heartaches with some of his family but just keeps loving them and hoping for the best.  There are losses and gains, but with the right attitude, all can be made into gain.  He's done that.

Here's Frank, about 88 years of age.  He is full of personality and zest for life.

The drive to Draper, where Bob and Maryanne live, takes 6 hours.  I made the trip alone as Layne had things to do at home.  I enjoyed the trip!  I listened to conference, sang, thought about lots of things and enjoyed the view.  On the way home I visited very briefly with Layne's twin, Lynn and wife Camille.  I love those guys.  Somehow I'd like to overcome the Galbraith habit of rarely seeing each other.  It is so much fun to be together!  I also stopped in Odgen to see one of our Mongolian daughters, Marta, her husband and new baby girl.  So great to see her and take a look at their beautiful new baby.  So now all three of our Mongolian girls are happily married to American men and have babies.  So sweet to see.

Here is our girl, Marta, with her husband Matt Hansen, and their new little daughter, Madeline.

Somehow we find ourselves amazingly busy.  Here in Idaho, where we know so few people, we seem to be almost overwhelmed by opportunities to spend time with the few that we do know.  It is the people vs. stuff quandary all over again.  I find myself just caving in to the people demand and enjoying it.

Company

People fill my cup.  I find that I love having company and our past week has been full of it.  My Oakland Temple friend, Nikki, was here for a week with her daughter, Heather, who attended a horseback riding camp.  Nikki is a special person who has had many difficulties in her life yet is lovely and happy.  I so enjoy her company and loved having her with us.  I tried to make her stay especially comfortable and relaxing.  Below is Nikki and me, followed by her daughter, Heather, with Audrey and me.

While Nikki was here, Audrey drove over for a few days, bringing grandson James along.  James is 17, and the tall, silent type.  But he is so pleasant and helpful.  He just feels good.  We spent many of our evenings outside, watching the sunset and taking in the warm breeze as it cooled us and lifted the neighbor's flag into the evening air, adding to the magic of the sunset.  It has been very warm here the last two weeks.  I'm not too fond of that and spend the middle of the day inside.  But the evenings are glorious; the sun doesn't set until 9:30 or so.  I talked Layne into leaving our blinds open at night when we go to bed.  Sometimes I can see the last of the night light and the stars emerge.  Sunshine floods our room in the mornings, which I love.

Here's James, scratching the cat, Cherry's, belly.  She is brazen in her demands for belly scratches!  James is working on making a path to our compost with flagstone.  He did a nice job.

I bought pillows for the new front porch bench and I find that sitting there is quite pleasant.  It is a good place to study the New Testament, which I'm trying to do daily.  I'm quite taken up with the life of Christ and realize, more than before, how difficult His whole life must have been.  He was so alone in His mortal errand.  I imagine Him anticipating His upcoming Atonement and how He must have dreaded what He knew would be unbelievably difficult.  Yet He did it.  Surely if He can finish the most difficult task in all Eternity, I can finish my challenging tasks.  I find the thought of it inspiring.

Here's a picture of one of our sunsets.

Miles Presents

I love being home.  It is lovely to have a space that is organized just so and feels so embracing.  But when the chance comes to leave and visit family and friends, that is not to be turned down.  So when daughter Jessica invited us to come to Normandy Park and attend a science fair for Miles, we decided to go.  It is close to an 8 hour drive.  Since being here, driving time feels different to me.  Hours on the road don't feel all that badly to me now.  I brought things to do along our way and the time passed pleasantly.  For me.  Layne was driving so he was much happier to be done with the travel.  We arrived at Chris and Jessica's early in the afternoon.  Miles gave his science presentation that night.  He dressed way up for it, sporting jacket, tie and even a hat.  He and two friends gave a presentation on global warming and what we can do about it.  The gym at school was filled with such politically correct science projects as saving the trees, addressing bullying, body consciousness, accepting homosexuals and transgenders, etc.  I found it rather disturbing that there wasn't much of conventional science there.  Miles and friends did a great job of presenting but the bias of the teachers was definitely present.

I love visiting the Gendreaus.  The kids are always very happy to see us and bonding with Chris and Jes is always rewarding.  The kids seem happy and motivated.  Not much of spirituality among them, which I wish I could do something about.  I worry that without a spiritual footing, the kids will fall into the dark holes that surround them in our increasingly caustic culture.  They are so precious and good.  I had a sweet visit with Jessica and, in general, the visit was lovely.  I love living closer to them, even as I miss being farther away from my California kids.

I talked Layne into stopping to visit our friends, Gary and Nora Jacobson, on the way home.  They are just a few minutes off the freeway and about half way between us and Gendreaus.  This time we stopped.  It was so good to see these precious friends again.  We raised children together and, while in Fremont, they were among our best friends.  Nora is struggling with her health now.  Her sister, who lives with them, has Parkinsons.  Time brings its challenges for sure.  In spite of theirs, Gary and Nora were their same upbeat selves.  We so enjoyed our time with them and, even though it has been a long time since we've seen them, the years melted and it was as if we had never been apart.  I believe the best friendships work like that.  Layne mentioned that he was very glad we stopped.  A late arrival home was worth it!

Our neighbor, Jim, has been talking about displaying a flag in his back yard for some time now.  Jim will not be suppressed in his plans and he managed to finish the big flag project this past week.  A huge flag pole now reaches up to the sky with a beautiful American flag waving in the breeze.  Our back yards open to each other, so our view of the flag is,  perhaps, even better than his.  And so our sunset views are now accompanied by our flag, waving its greeting in the spring winds.

My Oakland Temple friend, Nikki Larsen, arrived for the week yesterday.  She and daughter Heather will attend a horse riding camp for the next 5 days.  Although I rarely talk to Nikki in between her yearly visits, we instantly connect.  Already we've had some wonderful conversations.  I'm looking forward to a sweet week ahead.

This and That

I am loving this time of year.  Our skies are full of clouds, wind, rain and sun.  We had the most amazing lightening storm last Tuesday night, just at dark, about 10 PM.  Lightening flashed between the clouds every few seconds for what seemed like a long time.  The sky lit up above us and thunder filled the air.  It was amazing.  I've never experienced anything like that before.  California, you know, has no such sky works.  A hard rain soon accompanied and then followed the lightning, along with lots of wind.  It was impossible to ignore such a show.

Our neighbors, the Wintersteens, invited us to visit a park full of American flags on Memorial Day last Monday.  The field there held flags for a large number of veterans.  We discovered that we could buy flags and attach a name and military organization to each one, and post it with the other flags.  So I bought one for Layne and one for my father.  We labeled each one and placed them with the other flags.  As I walked through those flags I could see the soldiers they represented in my mind.  It was an emotional experience for me.  I could feel the spirits of those soldiers.  Being surrounded by those flags brought such feelings of love and gratitude that we have men and women who are willing to put their lives on the line for us.  For our country.  I'm so grateful for them!  And that we have military men in our family.  We were able to bring our two flags home once the display was over.  I plan to display them in the yard when the occasion calls for it.

Layne holding his flag on Memorial Day at the Park.

Layne and I among the Flags.

We've been playing with our ATVs a bit lately.  Playing.  Layne also.  Layne.  He isn't much of a player you know.  Yet, for some reason, he is into this.  I'm happy to see it.  So we are joining friends and going on several ATV trips this summer.  I think I'm excited.  It is fun to drive them.  We rode through the foothills next to our development this past week.  It was great until I had to drive down what appeared to me to be a pretty steep hill.  That scared me.  But I did it, once Layne led the way.  And I made it out alive and unscratched.  So perhaps I can manage this.

View of our neighborhood from the foothills, when ATVing.

We are still taking singing lessons from our opera-oriented teachers.  Brett and Sue Hamilton are professionals and we are lucky enough to have them teach us.  It has been a revelation to me.  I'm actually learning how to use my voice and how to breathe better.  My mediocre voice is also improving somewhat, although I wouldn't want to display it too openly.  The Hamiltons performed at a local hotel Friday night and we were lucky enough to get tickets for it.  Wow, what fun to see professional singers up close and observe how they handled themselves, mistakes and all, in stride.  It was such fun!  There were even people there that I knew, which is such a joyous thing considering our limited experience here.  Since we don't get out to things like this much, it was an experience worth noting, and, hopefully, repeating.

I will say that Idaho is providing us with a multitude of new experiences and new friendships.  I'm enjoying that.

Treble Clef

I've been singing with my singing group, the Treble Clef Singers, for three weeks now.  Saturday night was our last performance, for family and friends.  We've been singing mostly in Old Folks Homes, and a couple other places.  It has all been very comfortable as the audiences are easy to please.  It is a great format for growing confidence.  I'm definitely not as scared of singing in front of people as I used to be.  In informal situations that is.  Singing for friends and family was a bit more stressful, even in a group.  But, much like giving a talk, once we got going the fear left.  My ladies are a lovely group ranging in age from 30s to 70s.  We costume up, make up some choreography and sing.  It has become a very rewarding and fun activity for me.  Our group has adopted Layne as their token male and he performs something at each of our concerts.  So we are the "couple"of the group.  This time around Layne and I sang a duet, "Old Black Magic".  My ladies were very supportive of our efforts.  I found my courage singing this with Layne and learned to belt out my part.  This is a major step for me.  My usual singing effort involves blending in and, if possible, not being heard.  So this was a milestone.  I found that I liked it and was not nervous.  It feels good to face this fear.

Our singing instructors have committed us to sing as a quartet at Church.  Hum.  That is an altogether different kind of singing and it scares me to death.  I may be about over Treble Clef fear but singing in Church crosses the line.  Except in the choir.  Lots of voices there and I can hide if I want to.  But before the summer is over we will be singing in a quartet during sacrament meeting. Sigh.  Face the fear, right?  I'm afraid my voice will turn to a frog.  I'm afraid of singing flat.  I'm afraid of losing my breath.  All the fears overcome in Treble Clef are alive and well in Church.  Can I possibly get over this?

It has been stormy this week.  I love it.  Thunder storms are to continue throughout the coming week. It is an open week!  I have all sorts of plans for accomplishing my own personal goals.  Here's hoping I can stay the course.

Our singing group at the Friends and Family performance.
I'm in the back, in the green hat.  Good view, eh?