I have been very bad - no post since early April! 

In that time, we painted the garage door, Brice came for the summer and we visited Matt and Emily's house over memorial weekend.

You remember that our house was very dark with dark siding, windows, doors and garage door.  We put on much lighter siding last fall.  It clashed with the windows and doors, but we didn't like the dark siding that came with the house.  Also, the birds and squirrels were poking holes in our house.  We put light trim around our windows.  Painted the doors different colors, but what should we do with the big and dark brown garage door?  Replacing it would be expensive, so we decided to try paint.  We scrubbed it with comet and floor soap.  Painted it once without success as the brown shown through.  Painted it again which covered the brown and looked pretty good.  Let's hope it will last.  (If not, we might have to move out)

You will note the motorcycle in front of the house.  That came with Craig and his family - much to his parents chagrin.

Brice received an summer job with a software company that works for John Deere.  He works in the same office that I do.  We we though that working in the same office would solve transportation problems as he is without a car.  He decided that he didn't like starting work at 6:30 am and found my bicycle.  That worked pretty good, except that my bike was in storage for three years and hadn't been used very much since then.  The tires might have been a little old.  After two or three flat tires between our house and John Deere, we both all new tubes and tires.  So far, knock on wood, no more flat tires.

Brice is lonely.  Breanne had to stay in Prove for the spring term.  She is coming next week and we are excited to see her.  I suspect that Brice is a little more excited that we are.  Anyway, Brice has been brave.  I don't think that he is entirely convinced about this baby thing.  He has been spending quality time with Owen and Kent. 

We had a good visit with Matt and Emily and their family over memorial weekend.  Everyone from here went - mom, dad, Brice, Craig, Heidi, Owen and Kent.  It was good to have someone besides myself for Zach and Quinn to jump on.  Brice was their favorite target.  Below are some pictures from a hike in a park near Emily's house.

And of course, we had to stop by the Machine Shed on the way home . . .

Love, Dad

This past weekend we went to Spokane where Hannah and Andrew had a reception with Andrew's family's friends. They hadn't lived in Spokane for a couple of years, but they still had lots of friends. The reception was very nice. Martin, Cindy, Sammy and Cortney came. Julie, Amanda and Grandma Wright came. Cliff and Diane came. Lucinda and I came.

While in Spokane, we drove to Coeur d'alene, Idaho. It is kind of a tourist town next to a beautiful lake which is surrounded by pine tree covered mountains. There was still a little snow on the ground. We had lunch at an all you can eat Brazilian barbecue buffet. We ate way too much.


The next day we went to downtown Spokane. There had a very nice park there next to a waterfall. Lucinda loved the carousel and the tram ride.


Name that relative:

Pictures from Hannah's wedding. Hannah absconded with all the pictures that Bev took, but we had a few on our camera.










The princess has lost her slippers


Levi's new friend



Decorations for the reception:


Off to face the world:

It has been a busy few weeks for us as we get ready for Hannah's wedding. Hannah picked up a sheet while we were in India for a bedspread. (She is always planning ahead.) Lucinda finished tying it with the help of Heidi and Emily. Neither Hannah nor I were much help. We put in on our own bed to she how it looked. For you that are interested in this sort of thing, the sheet was not very square which made the tying much more difficult. You can see the happy elephants dancing around the edges.


Even though I didn't help with the quit, I too keep busy. This is what our new bed looks like. It came out pretty good - even if I say so myself. No one has found, or at least we kind enough not to mention, the obvious flaws in the workmanship.

It didn't have a center brace which made the bed much bouncier and also tended to sag in the middle. I thought that was s design feature. Not everyone agreed so I had to put a block under the middle for support.


Andrew arrived at our house this week. He thinks that driving from Washington state to Iowa is too far. It took him three days.

Yesterday Hannah went to the temple. The weather was warm and a little rainy. You can see the buds on the trees and there were lots of tulips in bloom in beds around the grounds. Craig and Heidi and their family drove down. Emily and Matt and their family came too. Afterwards we all went out to dinner and had a good time.

This coming week will be a busy one as Hannah is getting married on Thursday with a reception on Friday. You're all invited!

Big event this week. We added two more names to our family flag - Alice and Kent. OK, we're a little late. Don't be too hard on use.

You will note Andrew is hanging on by a tread. Don't worry Hannah, there is no subliminal or deep and dark hidden agenda, I just thought you should be married before we added him to the chain.

We are extremely happy for our children and grand children.

Love,
Dad

We are getting closer to getting our bedroom decorated. Lucinda made curtains for one window. We used our old curtains on the other window.

As Owen and I were wandering around the basement, he spotted a dump truck. He was so excited. Unfortunately, the ground is wet and frozen outside. But there is lots of sawdust downstairs. I hope his mom appreciates how clean sawdust is compared to dirt.



This last weekend we visited Emily and her family. She is the den mother in the school's cub scout pack and it was the blue and gold banquet. She made some really fun table decorations. The theme was outer space. How did she do with her aliens? We had a good time.



Take me to your leader . . .

I hope that everyone has heard by now the Craig and Heidi had a baby boy last Monday. Heidi and baby Kent are doing just fine. Heidi's mom is here helping with the baby and just loving it. Her mother will be here for about a week.

I had a life changing moment this last week. When we started the new Sunday school year, I opened my Book of Mormon and Nephi fell to the floor. The binding is shot after so many years of use. Now you may say that getting a new set of scriptures is no big deal. Well, how about all the happy faces, holes punched and random scriptures that were underlined with a child's hand writing? It just won't be the same. I hate to admit it, but I bought a large type version. See - a life changing moment. (By the way, Bev's book mark, that she gave us so many years ago from South Africa, is still hanging in there.)




Did I tell you that mom and I are memorizing a seminary scripture each week? I should have been more sympathetic to all of you that had mom for a seminary teacher - she is tough. No 'whereas' for 'wherefore', no 'but' for 'that', no 'will' for 'shall' and no 'then' for 'it came to pass'

Hope everything is going well for all of you.

Love,
Dad