Barn Raising~the Prologue

Our latest and greatest is to build a barn for our fruit~actually a glorified fruit stand that will have a walk in cooler and places to store and sell fruit. It will also have an office upstairs that can double as a guest room.

Dad and Gary are going to store their beekeeper suits and supplies in there too.

Dad purchased a horse barn plan and got bids and found out about ordering materials. He also went through the arduous process of meeting with the county to get permits and approvals from the land use people and the farm use people and the water and plumbing people, etc. you get the picture. It is really quite a gauntlet

Wid Payne was chosen to do the concrete work and that was just finished yesterday. The weather cooperated for the most part. Wid was putting the cure on the first half just as our Oreogn tornado was blowing thru. Thankfully, no damage was done.

We're HAMS!!

Lloyd and I (encouraged strongly by David Bennett) took the classes to become a HAM radio operator so we could be of more help in an emergency. We had 4 hours of class on Friday May 29 and then 4 hours the next morning and then we took our test. Dad and I both passed so now all we need is a radio. Brother Bennett is going to help us with that also.

Mike and Judy Morse and Michael and Sharon Painter also took the class so we can now all be HAMS together.

I learned a lot about electricity and some formulas to figure out amps and volts and ohms and watts which helped me last weekend when Dad and I took a class on how to buy a solar electric system. We are going to try to put in on the barn which is the next post

TWINS!!

On March 8, our daughter, Katie gave birth to twins! I had arrived on the 2nd. Most of us were under the impression that the twins would be born that day but after the doctor visit that morning, the doctor wanted wait until Sunday, the 8th. It was pretty hard news to bear, but in the end it all worked out very well. She was induced about 8 am Sunday morning and they were born a little after noon and weighed in at: Kenneth Maxwell~6 # 12 z and Evelyn Claire~6# 1 . They were born about 3 minutes apart and were a good size to bring home on Tuesday with no complications at all. We have all been very blessed. Katie even taught a class at the gym the day before they were born!

I was able to stay several weeks and hopefully be a help. Lloyd arrived on the 26th and the Smith clan arrived on the 28th and the babies were blessed on the 29th. We had over 60 family members attend church that day and then Katie and Mike hosted a brunch at their little home after the blessing. We were hoping that the weather would be nice as it had been the week before so the guests could spill outside~but it snowed about 6 inches that day. Amazingly, we all fit in the house and had a great time.

Lloyd and I and the Smith clan minus LaFawn left on the 30th. LaFawn was able to stay until the 11th and help with the little ones.

In all, it has been quite an amazing experience. Mike and Katie are great parents and they have wonderful support from their friends in the ward.

It also reaffirms the knowledge of the wonderful 'village' we have to raise these children. In my view, it is truly what every child deserves~to be loved and valued by countless friends and family and to be taught the true Gospel of peace and love.

Best Friends

Also while in Utah, I was able to connect with my best friends from high school. Cathy (My friend in the black) and I communicated over Christmas and realized that we would be in Utah at the same time in March so we planned to meet. In the meantime, I contacted Priscilla (light orange top) who lives in Orem and she told me that Susan lived in Layton so we all decided to meet at the wedding reception of Cathy's niece in Payson.
We talked for several hours and gabbed and giggled.
We all grew up in the same ward so they filled me in on the news that they knew and we talked about high school stories.
It is interesting to see that paths that we have taken. All of our parents have gone except Cathy's mother and we were commenting on how strange it seemed to be together talking about how our parents had gone. They were such a part of our lives!
Oddly, they had all known Lloyd before I came to know him in the 3rd grade. Before they built the school in our neighborhood and before I moved over to the west side, they attended Riverside School which was the school in Lloyd's neighborhood.
They had some funny stories about being in a grade school play with him at Riverside.
What a fun blast from the past!

What A Treat !

While in Utah helping with the twins, I took the opportunity to travel to Salt Lake on March 21 to hear my sister Becky perform on the Tabernacle organ. She is a guest organist on the Tabernacle organ about every 6 weeks. She performs for the tour that is conducted through the Tabernacle. She generally performs on Sunday at 2 pm.
She is a professor of organ studies at BYU-Idaho.
There were quite a few more tour patrons than usual because there was a Chemical Convention nearby and many choose to attend the recital. The concert (1/2 hour) was awesome!! She played some many powerful pieces. One even used the Bombarde which in the top manual and has huge reed stops on it that nearly blast you out of the hall. The organ also has an antiphonal organ which has pipes in the back of the Tabernacle.
Each guest organist is required to do the pin drop and the paper tearing exercises at the beginning of the recital to demonstrate the acoustics. They are also required to play their own arrangement of "Come, Come Ye Saints".
A lot of people came up to talk to her afterwards, so it took a long time for me to speak to her and by the time she offered to let me sit down and play a few chords, the next tour was coming through.
But, we did get our picture taken by some nice ladies from the South.
It was such a treat to be there and listen!

addendum

By the way-to add to the story.
Lloyd did not remember where in Germany he purchased the pendant or how much he paid for it from his poor missionary funds~
but we did learn that it is real gold and a real pearl.
What a fun discovery!

Something old~something new~almost lost

For the last few months I have been wanting a nceklace because the arthritis in my fingers makes wearing rings uncomfortable.

Around Christmas time Lloyd and I went looking at the Fred Meyer jewelry store at Tanasbourne where a member of our stake, Mark Taylor, is the manager. I selected a few pendants and tried them on. Mark would not let me see the prices-just Lloyd. I am sure that we would probably eventually received discounts on the price but on the way home Lloyd divulged the retail prices. They were all in the hundreds of dollars. So, in our'thinking it over' time I was cleaning out a jewelry box and found the pendant (originally with a chain) that Lloyd sent to me from his mission. I had thrown the chain away because it was always getting kinks in it. My cheap mind hatched the plan to just buy a chain and pull the pendant out of obscurity.

Lloyd didn't like the idea at first because I had wanted a new necklace and this did not fill the bill.

After a little while, he was OK with it and I put the pendant in a tiny ziploc , put it in the pocket of my purse where I keep my glasses and off we went to the jewelry store at Tanasbourne with a planned stop at REI in between to return Lloyd's hiking boots that had fallen apart in 6 months.

We made it to REI and went to the front desk to plead our case and they were very helpful~gave us a credit~and we set off downstairs to get new boots when I realized that I did not see the pendant in my pocket of the purse. I searched thru my purse, went to the car and searched and found nothing. I was then hoping that it had fallen out at home and we went downstairs, selected new boots and I was tempted to just pay for them at the lower desk but something told me to go upstairs and pay where they had help us so we would be recognized. I pulled out my debit card to pay and, at the base of the computer register saw my little ziploc!!. I reached over without asking and snatched it up and thanked the clerk profusely. She said that a gentleman had just turned it in. He had found it under one of the clothing racks. Off we went to the jewelry store to purchase a chain and have the pendant cleaned and it is beautiful!

This may seem like stretching it a bit but it reminded me of our lives. We can fall in obscurity due to neglect, apathy ,bad choices or whatever. It takes someone like our Heavenly Father to remember our great worth-pull us out of our hiding places and, with the help of a Savior and the gift of repentance restore us to a beautiful lustre.

I was released today from a calling that I thought would never come to me-especially after all our children had left our home. I have served for the past 5 1/2 years as the first counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. There is not room in this venue to tell of all the wonderful blessings that have come to me because of my service there. The opportunity was most appreciated and has changed my life in many ways. I wore my necklace today because it represents to me the wonderful worth of each soul to our Savior. I wish more of the world could know this.