The most exciting news since
my last newsletter...
Jessica delivered Ammon on
June 25. We are on the plane to
meet him right now. He is a cute,
mellow, little guy who just started smiling. Jessica, Michael and Quin have adjusted well to this wonderful
addition to their family (with occaisional meltdowns).
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| Baby Ammon |
I completed a weekend-long
CERT training and joined the Nashua team.
Community Emergency Response Teams respond to emergencies and assist
paid professionals (often first responders on the scene). Jonathan will attend the next training
as he was busy at a Ham Radio event.
He joined a club with his friend Murray and he's been studying for the
next level of licensing so he can operate the equipment he's already purchased:) He also bought a second cargo trailer
and his latest project is fabricating metal hand carts in case we have to go
off road when the "guacamole hits the fan."
Our garden had a slow start
with some erratic weather. Also
with too many chicken in the coop we started letting them out in the back yard
and they got into the greenhouse a few times. They destroyed the spinach and
kale but left the radished and tomato plants alone. We added a screen door and put chicken wire on the open side
of the greenhouse and everyone is much happier. Now the garden is really producing and with the abundance of
cucumbers and zuchini I have been canning pickle relish. I also pressure-canned most of white meat from our own chickens to add more protein to our food storage.
I was released as Relief Society
president last month after 2 years 9 months. I learned a lot from serving in Relief Society and really
grew to love the women in the ward.
It was a big time commitment, however, and I had a hard time juggling
everything. Now I'm back teaching the four year-olds. Whew! It's fun to be in Primary with Jonathan. He plays the piano during singing time
and then visits my class.
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| Castle in the Clouds |
We took a fun day trip with
Curtis to "Castle in the Clouds" in Wolfeborough, NH. I had free libary passes and sold
Jonathan on the idea because in addition to being free there was a large
classic car show event there. It's
a large estate and mansion built with
the state of the art technology at the turn of the century by a self-made
millionaire. We had a great time in spite of rain clouds obscurring the view of
Lake Winnepesauke.
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| "View" of Lake Winnepesauke |
This has been a summer of
change and growth for Trevor in many ways. He is more aware of his need for help and has worked hard
with counseling and medication. He
is really pushing himself to learn new things and make social connections. He often attends FHE with the student
ward that meets in Lowell, MA and is taking music lessons.
Curtis has had a fun
summer. His extended school year
program focused on lots of outdoor, team-building activities with a field trip
every Thursday. Stake Youth Conference
was a unique experience as he went with 120 people on three tour buses to
Palmyra. They went to the Smith
farm, sacred grove, Grandin building, Palmyra temple and of course, the Hill
Cumorrah pageant. He is ready
to attempt the DMV drivers test as soon as we get back from Oregon. He is way more excited than we are.
Jason is driving to the
family reunion with his girlfriend, Isa.
We're looking forward to seeing him and meeting Isa. He recently changed jobs and will start
next week working at three different storage units in Salt Lake area. He plans to start taking night classes
at LDS business college.
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| Jason and Isa |
Well, we're on our way to
Oregon for 10 days. Next
newsletter will be about our family-event
packed trip that will include a memorial for Carl, family reunion, wedding
reception for nephew Berkeley and baby blessing for Ammon.
