Summer Guests

I never realized that Boise is a convenient stop-off for a variety of places until we moved here.  Summers are full of temporary guests, often not visiting us directly, but stopping off here on the way to somewhere else.  The visits are usually not long, but offer some enjoyable opportunities to bond with people we don't usually get to spend much time with.  This summer has brought us an especially busy time with guests.  This past week one of our Mongolian daughters, Bayaraa Hopkins, and her family came to visit.  They are a family who loves adventures so Layne scheduled a river ride for us on Saturday.  It was 100 degrees that day, but the river kept us cool.  I learned that river rapids are classified from 1-5 in roughness.  Our trip included levels 2 and 3.  The 7 of us loaded up in a raft, guided by a darling girl, who led us down the Payette River for a 2 hour ride.  I've never done a ride like this before.  It was lots of fun, and much cooler than I expected.  Here we all are:  Ryan and Bayaraa, their three kids, Gordon, Nolan, and Gwenalyn, Layne and me.  Our guide is in the back.

We anticipated a wild and crazy weekend as, in addition to the Hopkins, we were also expecting Fremont friend, Margo Layton, and her two daughters, Gerald and Frances and kids, maybe nephew Rus, and son-in-law Cliff's brother Chris and his family.  We would have been mobbed!  But our weekend turned out to be much gentler.  Margo and girls arrived, as did Gerald and Fran and kids.  They all got along very well.  Rus didn't come.  And the Adams-Hart family decided to stay in town.  So we had a light, fun time on Saturday and Sunday.  By tonight everyone was gone except Ger and Fran.  Lovely.

Here are Ryan and Bayaraa Hopkins and their kids, Nolan, Gordon and Gwenalyn, with Layne.

Laura, Lindsay, and Margo Layton left us Sunday morning.

Tonight our stake held a special meeting to create a couple of new wards and rearrange the rest of us.  Our ward is now considerably smaller.  But we are in the same ward, meeting at the same time, in the same building.  I'm happy for the change.  Perhaps I will be able to keep up with the members who are left and actually remember who they are.  I'm hoping!

Hunter

In case I have not made it clear, we are now great-grandparents!  Cliff and Audrey's son, Chase, and his wife Morgan, had their first baby, a little boy, on July 5th.  They named him

HUNTER CLIFF ADAMS-HART

and he is a beautiful, perfect, little boy.  Chase and Morgan had a series of pictures taken of him and sent me a link to see them all.  I downloaded my favorites, and here they are:

Family Reunion

We are alone here in Idaho.  Apart from family I mean.  That is the only thing I don't like about Idaho.  So we were especially happy to welcome son Gerald and his family over a week ago, visiting from Taiwan.  Gerald was in charge of our yearly family reunion this year.  We've been talking about it and planning it for some months now.  It finally happened this past week.  It was such fun!

Everyone came here, to our Idaho place, and we found room for every body.  Everyone was here, plus a few extras, except for Ben and Jessica, who are spending the summer in Hong Kong.  Grandsons Miles and Vincent came a week early to spend some time with grandson Seth.  I loved having those boys!  They are unusually fine in intelligence, character and good looks.  I suppose you think I'm getting carried away, but look at these faces:

Vincent, left, has Seth's glasses on.  Miles is in the middle.  These boys had lots of fun together and even helped out a bit.  One of their main entertainments was playing with rubics cubes.  They worked on them for hours.  

The rest of the family arrived last Monday.  We began our week with a work project.  Ger really wanted a home project to "bring everyone together."  So everyone took great delight in tearing out our rather useless deck, which once surrounded a surface pool.  There is something about tearing things up that seems to be especially pleasurable.  Everyone took part.

The three boys put together a series of PVC pipes to form a structure for playing a game of 9 square.  They built it from a drawing Layne did up for them.  It turned out to be a very fun game that appealed to various groups all through the week.

We went to a water park, attended an outdoor play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", went zip lining, played volley ball, went shooting.  Chase organized target practice for the kids and all who went loved it, even the girls.

Chase and Morgan came on Thursday and stayed until Friday.  Since their little baby, Hunter, was very new, they didn't want to stay the whole week.  But they stayed long enough for all the girls to become quite enchanted with Hunter.  Here's Peyton holding him.

One of the best things we did was spend an evening at the Church.  Thursday night we had dinner there, I showed the family a slide show of Layne's and my life (in honor of our 50th anniversary) and another show on Carmen.  I have decided to do a show on Carmen every year so we never forget her. Then I taught everyone a line dance to "Elvira".  I have to admit that there are not many in the family who take to dancing.  That is a disappointment.  Basketball filled the rest of the evening.  It was a lot of fun.

The kids went together and got us a porch swing for our anniversary.  I love it!  Once Chris and Cliff installed it, it became a magnet for just about everyone.  I think its going to be a wonderful addition.  I'm so grateful for a caring family.  We all got along very well.  There were no fights among the kids; everyone looked out after everyone else.  It made my mother's heart happy.  

Here's Chris and Jess trying out the new swing.

My nephew, Russell, and his three kids spent the night with us Friday night.  They joined right in with our noisy bunch.  All the kids wound up sleeping in bags together upstairs.  All the adults managed to have their own rooms.  Everyone was gone by Saturday afternoon.  We went from noisy, happy fun to a quiet, empty house.

Here's our family on Saturday morning:

Rayne, Cliff and Audrey Adams-Hart.  Chase and Morgan left for their home earlier.  Isaiah and Allegra are on missions.  They have an empty nest!  And they are grandparents!

OK SO THE PICTURE IS MISSING, BY REQUEST OF AUDREY.  BUT IT WAS OF THE THREE OF THEM MENTIONED ABOVE.  

Chris and Jess Gendreau with Peyton, Miles and Gemma.

Reed and Dorothy Galbraith with Vincent (right), nephews Michael and Ben, Timothy (right) and Bruce.  James stayed home to work and Scott is on his mission.

Gerald and Frances Galbraith.  Seth is left, Angelica is in the middle.  They brought two sisters from Taiwan, Yvonne on the left and Michelle on the right.

Our family is growing up.  There were missing ones this time.  I'm not sure how family reunions will go when the grandchildren are all grown.  That will be a new experience that we will have to figure out.  Like being a great-grandmother.  Which brings me to Hunter.  Chase sent me a series of pictures of him and their new family.  They deserve another post.  Which you undoubtedly have already noticed.  Life never stops bringing changes.  I'm trying to keep up.

July Rain

It is July 10th and it is raining outside!  We awoke to thunder, lightning and lots and lots of rain.  Wow.  It took me in; I could not resist stepping outside several times to take in the sights and smells of rain in the middle of summer.  The temperature is only 50 degrees as I write!  What a wonderful, wet intrusion into an otherwise dry, hot summer.

The wet view outside our front door this morning.

It has been a lovely week.  My Oakland Temple buddy, Nikki Larsen, and her daughter, Heather, spent the week with us.  Heather is a disabled, special needs woman with an innocent, loving heart.  They come each summer so Heather can attend a horseback riding camp.  She loves it and it gives Nikki and I a chance to spend some friendship time together.  Nikki has raised 5 children, three of them with severe handicaps.  Only Heather remains of her three special needs children.  Just about her entire adult life has been taken up with care-giving.  She does a wonderful job of it and is a lovely, bright, productive woman.  I so admire her!

Nikki and Heather

We spent a lovely July 4th with the Greens, again.  Nikki and Heather came along as we enjoyed BBQ and nice company.  Layne and I presented a patriotic slideshow for the gathering.  I'm so grateful to be an American Mormon Woman.  I can't imagine greater blessings than what these two conditions have provided.  Surely this mortal life offers nothing to equal it.  I believe the United States of America to be the greatest nation the world has ever seen.  I also believe that we are losing much that has made us great.  I watch with alarm the many changes that are quickly transforming our nation into a restrictive, immoral, godless society.  Yet there are millions of really good people here.  I hope there are enough of them to win the help and blessings of God in saving our freedoms and 

traditions.

Layne and I have been married for 50 years as of June 11, 2016.  Our celebration was small but we plan to celebrate all year!  I talked Layne into having our portraits done and we will soon have a collection of poses to mark this special time.  Here's our favorite of the poses.

Gerald and family were due to arrive here on Friday.  They didn't make it.  An extreme tornado warning for Taiwan led to the cancellation of all flights in and out of Taiwan.  The storm turned out to be underwhelming.  Their new arrival time is this coming Wednesday.  This time I hope they make it.  In the meantime, grandson Vincent arrived on Friday, along with Audrey, who came to visit her new and first grandchild, in Blackfoot.  Vincent came to spend some time with Seth and Miles.  Miles is due to arrive today with his dad, Chris.  We were hoping that Miles, Vincent and Seth, all born in the same year, would be able to spend this coming week together before the rest of the family arrives for our yearly reunion next week.  I'm sad that Seth won't be here until Wednesday.  But things happen for a reason and I suppose there will be some good that comes out of it.  I'll be looking for it.

Audrey and I drove to Blackfoot yesterday to visit grandson Chase, his wife Morgan and, especially, their new little baby boy. He was born on July 5th.  He was breech, which now means that Morgan had to have a "C" section.  She looked pretty tired.  But Hunter, their new little son, looked wonderful.  He is a lovely little boy, bright and healthy.  We held him, stared at him and took lots of pictures for several hours before we had to begin our journey back home.  It is a four hour drive to Blackfoot from here.  So we spent 8 hours on the road and about 3 hours visiting.  It was a bit grueling, but Audrey and I visited all along our journeys and that made it much more pleasant.  Still, by the time we arrived back home, we were both beat.  

It is so fun to be with family.  Audrey is a great conversationalist and Vincent is a handsome, pure-hearted boy.  And now comes my very important announcement:  I AM A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER as of July 5, 2016.  Introducing,

HUNTER CLIFFORD ADAMS-HART

Home Doings

The days in Idaho are long in the summertime.  The summer solstice was accompanied by a full moon this year.  The last time that happened was 70 years ago, so I guess you could say that the night of June 20th was sort of special.  So I took a picture of our yard at 10 PM.  Pretty amazing, don't you think?  I love the summer light!

When our children were young and at home in Fremont, CA, we took in quite a few people, at various times, to live with us awhile.  One of those was Mark Hiatt.  He was a young man then, single and, temporarily homeless.  Home computers were pretty new then, and Mark had one.  To our 10 year old Benjamin, they were magical indeed.  Mark taught him how to use his and Ben was captured.  It was the beginning of a fascination with computers that has never ended.  

Mark moved out after his short stay with us.  We have kept in touch.  As it happens, he now lives in Idaho Falls with his second wife and comes to the Boise area once in awhile.  They came to visit us on their latest trip here.  Mark and his wife both have health issues now, but they are vibrant and involved with some of the good things of life.  We enjoyed them through this past weekend.  Here they are:  Mark and Kathleen Hiatt.

Once in awhile I mention to Layne that it would be nice to have a date night.  He isn't much interested.  I suppose that is because we spend lots of time together without it.  But it occurred to me that a fun thing to do with him would be taking some short outings where we could explore some of the local sights.  Day trips.  There is much to see here and many places of interest are not far away.  For instance, we live just a few miles from the country town of Emmett.  It is just over the hill from our place, but we never go there.  So I looked for places of interest there and found the Black Canyon Falls.  I've never heard of it but it was close and sounded interesting.  So I talked Layne into making the sort drive today.  He awoke this morning about to begin his usual routine, at home, hoping (I'm very sure of this) that I would forget.  But I didn't.  So we got in the car and headed out to Emmett.  We drove through their vintage downtown, which reminded me a little of Delta, Colorado, near my folks Cedaredge home.  I loved seeing the shops and taking in the feel of the place.  Though he wouldn't come right out and say it, I think Layne enjoyed seeing it too.

We continued our drive out into the countryside and soon came upon the Black Canyon Falls, built in the 20s to redirect water to the farmers.  It was a lovely little dam, located next to a beautiful arrangement of grass and trees called Rose Park.  We took in the Falls and walked through the park.  Then we drove on.  We eventually came to the town of Horseshoe Bend, which happens to have a store that serves the most delicious huckleberry ice cream.  So we each had some for lunch.  By the time we wound our way home we had spent just two hours on our adventure.  Layne is already forming plans to make this particular trip again.  Hah!  He liked it!

Here is Black Canyon Falls, near Emmett.

Layne in Rose Park, near the Falls.

50 Years

When I was young, I dreamed of marrying and having children.  Five children, I thought, would be just right.  I planned how I would care for them, teach them, love them.  Raising my family of five children (as I imagined I would have), took lots of effort, thought and prayer.  But I gave no thought at all about parenting them when they were grown.  Being a grandmother never entered my thoughts or plans either.  I suppose I somehow thought I would never be that old.  But here I am, with adult children and 23 grandchildren!  Somehow it just happened.

I mention all this hindsight because yesterday was our Golden Anniversary.  Layne and I have been married for 50 years!  I didn't even plan on being 50 years old.  Wow.  Time passes without our noticing; without out permission.  Suddenly, it seems, we have arrived at this milestone.  It seems but a whisper of time has passed since I first decided to marry Layne and we began our life together.  The passing of the years has brought undeniable changes in just about every aspect of our lives.  But I still love my husband.  In fact, I love him much more now than at the beginning of our relationship.  Love is a leap of faith when we are young and deciding to take the love plunge.  But time either waters it or starves it.  Our love, happily, has been watered.  

My sister, knowing that no family was here to celebrate with, offered to come and help us celebrate.  So she and husband, Bob, came on Thursday and stayed until Saturday.  We had a lovely visit and they treated us to dinner as their anniversary gift.  Maryanne is much more sparkly since her brain surgeries.  She moves better and is less weary.  It was good to spend time with them at our place instead of my usual visit to their home in Draper.  I feel blessed by their care of us.  Family is so nice to have!

We spent our anniversary talking, telling Bob and Maryanne goodbye and having dinner with our neighbors, Jim and Ines Wilkey.  They are also celebrating their 50th this year.  It was lovely, but not particularly special as a Saturday celebration.  But I plan to celebrate all year!

I feel inclined, just for fun, to share what happens when Isaiah gets ahold of my iphone.  He's in the MTC now, but last week he was at his mischievous best.  This picture is one of a series of interesting poses.

On the Road

Visiting family is a joy to me. But getting there...not so much.  Layne and I decided to drive out to California and spend a week with our family there, and take in grandson Isaiah's missionary farewell.  Isaiah is headed to Louisiana this week for his two year mission.  We hurried our drive so as to be with Isaiah when he went through the temple for the first time, a week ago.  It made for a tiring trip.  But it was worth it to be with Zay in the temple.  His departure this week empties Audrey and Cliff's nest.  Audrey is in mourning.  I remember those days of seeing my own family grow up.  I mourned my empty nest too.  For awhile.

Here's Isaiah all decked in his missionary duds.

Chris and Jess also came to support Isaiah.  It was so joyful to be united with all of our mainland children!  We loved spending time with all of them together.

Chris and Jess.

Peyton (Chris and Jess) playing with Olivia (Ben and Jess).

Isaiah with the Gendreau family.

Jacqueline and Alexis (Ben and Jess) and me.

Our week with family was going to end the day after Isaiah's talk, but our dear friend Lila Bringhurst died quite suddenly.  Her memorial was this past Saturday.  Layne was asked to speak at it, so our week's visit moved to the week following Isaiah's farewell.  As it turned out, it was a good time to be with our California bunch.

Three of the grandkids had promotions and one, James a graduation ceremony.  Between us, we were able to attend all of them.  I so love those grandkids!  Our week was full of fun times every day.

Jacqueline's Promotion, here in pink with her friends and sister Abigail.

James at his graduation with girlfriend, Bella.  Both are scholars!

The Reed and Dorothy family:  Timmy, Vincent, Layne, Dorothy, Bruce, James, me and Dorothy's sister, Emily.

Timmy, caught up reading.

Bruce, in his brother's graduation hat.

Vincent with a Rubric's cube.  He can solve it in 26 seconds!

I really wanted to visit my cousins and my Uncle Mike, who turns 97 in August.  I've lately been regretting not spending more time with this part of my family.  But visiting Uncle Mike isn't easy.  He lives in Healdsburg, which is a three hour drive from Audrey and Cliff's home in Mountain House.  We decided to make the trip with my cousin Judy and her husband Stan.  We had a great visit on our way, spent several hours at Uncle Mike's, then headed back.  My cousin Michael met us in Healdsburg.  Judy and Stan are great people, with tender hearts.  I like them very much.  Uncle Mike looked good; healthy.  He can't hear very well so it is hard to tell if he missed some of our conversation or was confused at times.  I think Michael is struggling with his health a bit; he acted like he didn't feel particularly well.  I wish I could spend more time with all of them.

Layne with Stan.

Uncle Mike and me.

Judy, Uncle Mike and Michael.

Lila Bringhurst's memorial was this past Saturday at 4 PM.  It was in Fremont.  Her children presented her life very well.  Layne spent 5 minutes at the end on the basic gospel message.  He did a fantastic job.  I believe it was the best memorial I've been to.  The chapel was full of people from our Fremont days.  People that I love.  I felt embraced by their affection and friendship.  Their names flowed into my mind; no one was lost to me.  It was a joyful experience; perhaps a little piece of heaven.  Relationships really are the joy in life.

We rushed out to our car to begin our journey home soon after the end of the memorial Saturday.  We had to be home by 11 AM on Sunday to speak about pornography.  Again.  So we drove until 1 AM, slept 4 hours in Winnemucca, then drove the remaining 4 hours to Idaho Sunday morning, making it to our meeting just in time.  Wouldn't you know, our presentation was one of our best.  Perhaps being exhausted adds a bit of soggy whimsy.  Or perhaps the Lord gave us extra blessings because of our marathon efforts to keep our commitment.

It is Monday and we are so happy to be home.  As wonderful as it is to be with family and friends, being home has its joys as well.