Debbie and Earl and theirs came from Oregon for most of a week. What a delight to have them here again! It takes a large dose of gall to haul 1/3 of my grandkids off to the west coast for years on end. Everybody pray that they will move to Utah. You will have to out-pray Earl's parents, who live near them, but go for it! Then they can travel to Oregon once a year to see Earl's parents.
Debbie and Earl have a large and lovely old home next to a hazel-nut orchard. Here are photos:
They are renting at the present time in Molalla. The tire swing is behind the house. Behind the swing is the nut farm. I have no idea what Ben [above] is doing, but he may encounter turbulence if he decides he wants to take that sucker out of his mouth for a breather.The Saturday after Christmas we put of the Christmas decorations., including a tree we stole from the Redwood forests at Yosemite. The dang thing is taller than the Chrysler Building and has more lights that Las Vegas.
Actually this is not our tree. I think ours is taller. Putting it up just after Thanksgiving is a good thing because that allows me nearly a month to get back into the Christmas spirit before Christmas.This year we made the decision to put lights outside again, an activity I have managed to avoid for the past couple of years because I don't do ladders. This is an article of faith with me. Ever since I fell from one at our Ogden apartments, I have made a determined effort not to climb anything I can actually fall off of. But outside lights at Christmas require elevation, and I know Lydia is not going to climb up anything unless it is to save one of her children or grandchildren. So I bought some and stuck them up and they look . . . like Christmas lights.
These photos are among the best I have ever taken. OK. Not the best. I had no coat and no tripod and it was 12 degrees. But at least it is visual proof that I did hang outside lights.
Danny decided that Mom and I needed a new TV. He installs systems for Dish Network, and convinced all the kids that they should contribute appropriately to a fund designed to get us a high definition television. He made it work and the day after Thanksgiving, the kids bought a 50" high def and Steve and Danny hung it on our wall.
These two photos of our new TV demonstrate the only two things TV is actually good for: sports and prophets. I have liked having the BYU games in the house again, and watching the Jazz once in a while. Lydia likes some of the Law and Order reruns and she watches a lot of news and weather. Of course the gift of the children requires us to spend our retirement on a cable package that will have us living under an overpass with a shopping cart before long, but stuff sure looks good in high definition! Want to come and watch a game some time? Or General Conference?OK. Gibbons kids. We are going to start having a family temple night once a month. We will plan to meet and go together for those living close. For others in Oregon or Maryland, go on your own if you can. We think we will try for a 6:00 or 7:00 pm session on the first Tuesday of each month. Let us know if that will work for you. I have felt impressed and constrained to ask all of you to participate in this with us. My own experiences working in the temple each week have given me an increased testimony of how much this matters. And mom goes every week, of course. I mean EVERY week.
Thanks for your comments o these blogs. Life is good and the church is true.
Dad and Ted