Jennifer

Cody and Molly

Cody on a bike ride

Birthday Party

Miles

Dear Family,

Happy Fall!  I love this time of year!  Lucy and I drove out to Payette to pick grapes and spent the next two days juicing them.

A little about our summer vacations…

     In June we cruised with Rick and Reba on the Golden Princess to Alaska, up the Inland Passage, through the Tracy Arm Fjords, with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway, then returning to Seattle stopping in Victoria.  Beautiful scenery!

     We flew to visit Steve’s brother, who lives near Fresno.  Missed our connection and spent hours at the airport.  A great short visit. After seeing there were no return flights when we wanted to fly back, we rented a car and drove 11 hours to get home.

      A couple of weeks later Steve and I drove to Glacier National Park, up to Calgary, Canada, and Banff National Park.  All very beautiful.  On our return toward Idaho, we got a flat tire, were towed to a small town in Canada where we spent the weekend waiting for a new tire (no spares for a BMW).  After that four day detour, we drove 12 hours, half of which were on road construction, in the dark.

     It was SO great to be home and no more driving!!  The next day we got our puppy.  We love our puppy, Cody.  He is a Maltese/Shih Tsu/Yorkie mix…a little fluff ball.  At 4 and a half months he weighs about 6 pounds.  He has been so fun and is now fully house-trained!  I am also going to puppy training classes with him.  We have our daily routine of walking in the morning, then riding our bikes – he sits in the front basket, and loves it! Then he plays with his sister, Molly, who lives next door.

      Ammon and family spent a few days with us in early August.  It was fun having them here.  Emily and kids came up for the weekend and we got together with Lucy and enjoyed family time.  A few weeks later I flew to Seattle and helped Angela prepare for Miles’ first birthday party – a camping theme.  The party was a great success.  It was held at a park with lots of evergreen trees so you really felt like you were camping.  Miles loved playing in his dark chocolate cake and loved all the attention.

 Love to all,

Jennifer & Steve

 

Priscilla

September 22, 2013
We had a wetter than usual summer which has left the land unusually green.  With it came mosquitoes.  I have not had this many bites since Alaska.  We are enjoying the garden produce.

I have enjoyed my usual summer activities with the stake primary.  In July we put on another fabulous 4th of July flag raising ceremony.  I conducted the children's races before the Pioneer Day parade, in which Isaiah rode one of our ward floats, Jim drove the float from our ward's high priest group (Can you imagine Jim in a parade?) [Every year each ward produces 2 floats for the Pioneer Days parade]  Bryan marched with the high school marching band and that left me to watch.  For the first time in 100 years it rained on our parade - just near the end we had a down pour.  In August we had 11 year old camp and Cub camp, Then last night we had a stake activity for 10 and 11 year old girls.  We went to Camp Silver Creek and had a campfire program.

Now I have two boys at ASU and things have quieted down at home.  I'm working at the junior high school as an inclusion aid where Isaiah is a seventh grader.  Bryan is involved in soccer, marching band, and serves as junior class secretary.

We were honored with a visit from Kevin, Penny, and Lynnette on their return from Mesa Labor Day. 

Yeah for our watch cat, Shadow.  She killed a snake in my laundry room this week.

Love you all and see you when ya can in person or here or facebook or whenever,
Priscilla

Dorothy

September 23, 2013
Dear Family,
    We had a very fun, but very fast paced summer.  It started out with us welcoming Kevin home early in June and Ariane receiving her mission call the end of June.  Heather left soon after for two weeks of being involved in the Nauvoo Pageant. Jason and Becky moved into their new home in Taylorsville around the 4th of July.  As soon as Heather returned, 7 of us went on a “temple hopping” vacation trip.  We were home one day and then went to the Tomlinson reunion. Then we had just barely two weeks of final mission preparation for Ariane.  She spoke in Church on the 11th of August and we dropped her off at the Provo MTC 3 days later.  A week later Marcus began his fall semester at SLCC, then Kevin, Penny, and Lynnette went on a 9-day road trip to Arizona.  The day after they returned, Kevin started his temporary job at the Utah State Tax Commission.  Now it’s the month of harvest and we are enjoying the fruits of the season, including tomatoes and zucchini from our garden.  The weather has been warm and lovely, and with the recent rains everything is green and beautiful.  Our family has been blessed over and over.  What an exciting and wonderful time to be alive and involved in the last days of the Lord’s Harvest. 

Heather on the stage at the Nauvoo Pageant with a visitor

mermaids at Bear Lake

Stalagmite Sand Castle created by the fam

Ariane's first day in the field

Now for a little more detail….
    Ariane received her call to the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  She loved her 13-day stay in the MTC but said it was way too short.  Her first area of assignment is in Lafayette Georgia, in the Chattanooga Stake, just 10 miles from the southern border of the mission.   Her companion is from Colorado and they are doing well.  I was impressed by the number of missionaries from the picture we were sent, who all began their mission on the same day… I was especially impressed that there were so many more Sisters than Elders. 

at the Logan Temple

On our family vacation we went to the Brigham City, Logan, Idaho Falls, Rexburg, and Twin Falls Temples.  In between our temple visits we spent a day at Bear Lake, we visited Alan’s brothers Robert, Albert, and Leland, spent a day at Craters of the Moon near Arco, Idaho, and looked at Shoshone Falls. Penny joined us for the first two days, but then she had to go back to work. 

awfully windy at Craters of the Moon

Kevin, Penny, and Lynnette drove to Mesa and back together.  Lynnette spent most of the time visiting her sister there.  Kevin and Penny visited the wards and some of the people Kevin came to love on his mission.  Penny was able to spend an evening there with a former missionary couple from her mission in Canada while Kevin went on a date.  One their way home they stopped in Snowflake and spent some time with Priscilla and her family.

Alan and I spend a huge amount of time with our church callings, but the benefits are well worth it.  We also continue to love our callings as temple ordinance workers.  We are very thankful for our testimonies.  We love our Savior Jesus Christ.  We know he loves us because we have been so blessed. 

May you continue to enjoy His blessings.
Love, Dorothy and Family

June 2013