RHODIES, TRAINS, AND BIRTHDAYS

I keep checking others' blogs, wishing they would upgrade them!! I always think of a notation I read once on an ancestor of Dad's. The writer was listing the children of one of Dad's great-grandfathers, and he noted: "Wesley went west and was never heard from again." I felt so sorry for Wesley's parents and thought how hard life was then when they heard so rarely from family gone away. With blogs, email, phones, etc., we are privy to most of what is going on in our family members' lives in an instant. Thank heavens. When, I looked at my own blog, I realized that I hadn't updated my blog for a long while. So, here goes. Updating a blog is somewhat difficult when your life is really pretty ordinary and routine. We've been moving rooms around and having lots of fun re-decorating and re-organizing them as we go along. By moving them around, I mean that we've moved my sewing room upstairs. Dad felt bad because he feels I look sort of crammed into my new nest, but I love it!! We've created two guest rooms downstairs. One will serve as Dad's study, and we've dubbed it the "Kennedy" room and are filling it with mementos and pictures from the Kennedy side of the family. The other room, my old sewing room, is the Whitby room. We're still making trips at least once a month to see Grandma, and she's still doing well. We're doing lots of speaking at conference, firesides, etc. to drum up students for our class that will start on June 18. I'm feeling much better and am able to do a little more around the house.

We had a wonderful visit with Michelle and Kobe. They were able to come for a few hours, and they brought along Daegon, Kobe's cousin. The boys were really cute; they knew right where the toy box was with its 10,000 Legos. Daegon came upstairs with the St. Bernard, remembering that he played with the dog when he was here before. We had ice cream and cake and presents because Kobe's birthday is June 11. I didn't know Daegon was coming and bought an ice cream cake, and he's allergic to eggs and peanuts. He was a really good sport, and he gobbled down the Jello that I'd fixed. Kobe is a delightful, happy, loving little boy who starts kindergarten in the fall, and we had a wonderful visit with Michelle. She's as beautiful as ever.

Today Joan and Garth were here, and we took the railroad trip on the Hood River Railroad. It was a fun glimpse at the "olden" days of Hood River's history and a fun visit with Joan and Garth.

The yard is beautiful. The constant rain has brought on the rhododondrons and the gladiolias, so the lawn is alive with pinks and purples. Dad is working very hard on the yard, so it will be in pristine shape for the reunion. All is well. We love you all. Update your blogs and keep in touch. Love, Mom

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." - Jane Howard, "Families"