FEBRUARY/MARCH FAMILY LETTER

2008

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Lloyd & Nilda

Dear Family

Today is a double whammy: tax deadline and family letter deadline, so here is our half of the deadline.

So far this year I have been in the ER 4 times including a trip right after Priesthood meeting. I had a

gut obstruction and they put me on IV for 4 days,  they released me and next day I went for a colonoscopy.

Literary they found out I was full of air. I continued with a diet of clear liquids for a week. In total I lost

35lbs. in 7 days. For those interested, I am under contract with Nutra Systems. I truly hope this was my last

trip to the hospital, at least for the rest of the year.

 

Two weeks ago I went to a political meeting and I signed up to be a Salt lake County delegate for the republican

convention. My first meeting as a County delegate will be this Saturday the 19th.from 8AM to 3PM. It will be

interesting to get my feet wet in politics. Utah has an interesting blend on primaries and caucuses to learn from.

If  McCain can run as a president it at 72yrs. I can certainly do it as a delegate at 69 yrs. old. Forget Parkinson's Disease

I surely enjoyed the summer day yesterday (4/14) in the middle of the wintery spring days.

 

Last Sunday, April113, we attended Clief's ward for their sacrament meeting. Lorrie and Clief were the principal speakers.

Of course they both did a wonderful job. It was a very spiritual meeting. And.... that's all folks, until next letter.

 

Love to everybody,

Lloyd and Nilda

 

 

DARLENE AND BOYD

February’s Letter:

 

Dear Family,

     I have been putting off writing this letter because I haven't known what to write about.  Things seem to be the same, just everyday living.  We went to see Alysia and Hailey dance.  They are both quite good dancers.  They are going to St. George the end of the month for a competition.  I'm sure they will do very well.

     We have tulips coming up now.  When I see those I have hope that spring is coming soon.  It has been warmer the past few days, and it feels good.

     I am going back to church now.  It seems good to see the ward members again.  They made me feel like I was missed and they were happy to have me there again.

     I am slowly getting better each day.  I am still coughing and am short of breath and I walk almost every day.  My surgeon has released me now so I don't have to see him anymore but I will still have to go to the cardiologist for long term care.

     Julie and Larry, I hope you are both doing a lot better by now.  And Larry and JoAnn have a happy birthday!

     I love you all.  Sending hugs to everyone.

 

March’s Letter:

 

Dear Family,

It's time to write again.  I hope everyone has their taxes done and sent in because after today it's too late.  Yes it is the 15th of April and another deadline--the letter--is due.  Let's see if I can come up with something to write about.

     Conference!  Wasn't it wonderful?  I was able to watch all four sessions, and the first one, the solemn assembly, was really good.  Being able to stand in my own living room and raise my arm to sustain the new presidency (and all the others) was wonderful.  I enjoyed all the talks. 

    Spring in Utah is something else.  Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far and today it is snowing again.  Boyd mowed the lawn for the first time. It is greening up really good.

    Boyd is going to have cataract surgery tomorrow morning, April 16.  It shouldn't be too bad.  He says he is having a hard time seeing clearly and this should clear things up for him.  His right eye isn't as bad so we'll see if he will have it done in the near future or not.

     We are going to St. George next week for a few days, so I'll tell you about that next letter.

     We went to visit Lloyd and Nilda one time and also with Julie and Wayne another time.  We enjoyed both visits. We haven't seen Lloyd and Nilda since before Dec., so it was really good to see them again. 

     That's it for this time.

     Love to you all,

 

     Darlene and Boyd

 

 

 

Wayne & Loree (February Letter)

 

There isn't much to write about from our world this month. We haven't had a whole lot happen. Just the normal day to day occurrences, which is nice, I guess. One thing affecting us did happen, but it was just this last Sunday, March 9th. They changed our bishopric and Wayne was changed from second to first counselor. His duties will stay the same. So the only thing different is that when the bishop is gone or not available Wayne will be in charge. He's not really looking forward to that. He's never had to do it before. But I guess the Lord wants him to stretch a little bit more.

Wayne has been helping a neighbor get a double wide trailer onto his property. It's been a long haul. First, they had to wait until the snow melted. Then the rains began and now it's too wet to get on his property. He did bring them from several miles away to the next door neighbor's place. So when the weather is better he'll be able to just pull them onto his property.

We were sorry to hear about Larry's bout in the hospital. It reminded me of when Mom had her bleeding ulcer. I'm glad he's doing better. We are also grateful for Julie's complete recovery. What a blessing! You are a trooper and we love you. We are wondering how Darlene is doing now. I keep telling myself that no news is good news. We pray that is so.

It seems as we get older there are more physical hurdles to overcome in us. I myself seem to be doing okay. I still have a little trouble now and again with my heart not acting right, but it's not life threatening. I feel truly blessed.

The only news from my kids is that Tammy and her family are planning on a trip to California this month during Spring break. Ken is looking forward to seeing her. I'm very glad they are finally getting a real family vacation. Her daughter, Katie, will be baptized on April 12th. That's her last child. How time does fly!

Serena's son, David (our first grandchild) will graduate from high school on May 24th. And Ken & Shell's son, Steven, will graduate on June 24th. They have offered to bring us down for the ceremony.

Well, most of what I am writing about is going to happen in the future. Not much has happened in the past, as I said at the beginning. Don't know what I'll write about next month.

Love to all,

Wayne & Loree

Elaine –

My dear and loved family,

 

It’s been an amazing time since the last letter.  First, I spent time in Maui Hawaii.  It was beautiful and I love it.  The first week there was Billionaire Boot Camp, and when I say boot camp, I really mean it.  We were in class from 9am until 8pm and had 4 hours homework every night.  So the first week I didn’t see anything of Maui.  After that we (Lynda and I) stayed for an extra 4 days.  We went in a submarine to 130 feet below and looked at the bottom of the ocean.  Not much to see at that depth in that spot, not many colors, but some fish and they had sunk a ship so we could see that.  Then we went whale watching.  That was amazing.  We lucked out and went on a day that was windy and that is what the whales love to play in.  So they did.  We say so many, not more than a minute or two went by that we didn’t see one breaching or spouting in the distance.  Our captain took us as close as he could legally (150 feet) and we lucked out again and a pod came directly at us and submerged below our boat about 20-30 feet away.  It was beautiful to look at them so closely.  A wonderful day.  The next day we went snorkeling.  On the way we ran into a pod of between 100-200 spinner dolphins.  They were amazing to watch.  They jump straight out of the water and spin around then go straight back in the water.  Awesome!  Then we went snorkeling with sea turtles.  Exciting experiences, all.

 

In the boot camp I found out how I create "I'm not good enough."  In the "decide, commit, act" portion of my life, I have been in the past, almost deciding, kinda committing and sometimes acting.  Then I make meaning out of it and the meaning I make is "I'm not good enough."  Now that I am aware of that, I can do something about it and notice when I'm in the old behavior.  It's been very empowering.  Not only that, but I know it’s not true.  I am way good enough.  Actually, in God’s eyes, everyone is good enough.

 

I think I'm dropping out of school.  Actually I know I'm dropping out, I just haven't decided if it is before April class or May class.  Finances fell apart for me and I'm now in the empowerment side of that debacle and ready and willing to do something about it.  Of course, the workshops that I've been going to are helping tremendously (luckily paid for before the financial issue).  That's where I got the idea of marketing to churches and got excited.  Excitement is a good motivator for me.  I wrote this a while back, and have given my notice and I have dropped out of school.  It feels like when one door shuts, another opens and things are opening for me in relation to my seminars and my 1-on-1 work.

 

Yesterday in my meditation I got a new awareness about co-creating with God.  I decide, commit, act and then I let God decide what is in my best interest.  At any time that what I'm doing isn't working, I can re-decide, re-commit and act differently in order to get the results I think I want (I say think I want because I don't really know what's in my highest and best interest.)  It's kind of like playing a game of "Am I getting hotter?  Am I hot or cold here?"  I don't know the name of the game but I played it a lot as a kid.

 

Anyway, I'm in action and it really helps my disposition/mood/attitude.  I moved from hopelessness to hopeful to optimism to enthusiasm.  I intend to move into passion and then joy.  I’m also feeling mighty grateful, loved and supported.  So many people have stepped up and given me support in so many ways.

 

I am grateful to have my loving family also.  You mean more than anything to me and I love each and every one of you deeply. 

 

The saga continues next month….

Loving You,

Elaine

 

Larry and Betty  

So sorry to have missed writing in February's family letter.  I can't think of a proper excuse, except I just had the "I don't wanna's." 

I will do a short synopsis of February, and then I will report on March's happenings. 

 

          Ana turned 12 on her birthday, Feb. 17th; she graduated Primary and entered the Young Women program.  She seems to have been enjoying this new adventure.

 

          Lauren was called to be an assistant scout master.  Our ward is combined with Meadow Ward for Scouts; the Scout Master is from Meadow Ward, so this will give a balance of leadership to the boys.  Lauren is also enjoying this calling. 

 

          The scouts in both wards had their annual Blue and Gold banquet in February.  This year the theme was all about Chinese New Year.  After the boys received their awards, (KayLub earned some awards, but didn't receive his until at the next pack meeting), the boys got to get under a dragon, just like the Chinese do, and parade around the cultural hall making noises with musical instruments they had made as one of the fun projects they did during the dinner. All had a great time. 

 

          One more item, and then I'll move onto March.  Betty had developed an open sore on the back of her right leg.  It kept getting worse, and her leg felt hot to the touch.  Also, her blood sugar was very high and wouldn't come down to a reasonable number. So we took her to emergency at the University Hospital. She was put on I V insulin for the blood sugar problem.  They kept her there until they were sure it was o.k. The sore and swelling in her leg was diagnosed as cellulitis; she was given some antibiotics, and sent home. The medicine did the trick and she is better now.

 

          Now, as I promised, on the March.

 

          The biggest news most of you have probably heard about;  my unplanned stay in the hospital.  Let me fill you in on the details.

 

          On the night of the 6th, I had what I thought was very bad indigestion, which kept me up half the night.  I took the usual remedies: tums, soda and lemon juice, honey, and even tylenol.  I was unaware that my esophogus was bleeding, until the next morning, 7th of March when I got up to go to the bathroom to have a bm.  At that point, I felt very nauseated, and tried to get off the toilet so I could position myself to throw up.  Well, it happened so fast, I was not prepared for what happened next:  I threw up a bunch of blood!  At that point, I must have gone into shock.  I went to the bedroom and laid on the bed.  Lauren came in, and told me he was going to help me get up and get dressed and take me to the emergency.  All I heard was 'up and dressed', so I took that as a command, and proceeded to get up.  I approached to door to the bedroom;  I must have blacked out at that point, because when I came to, I was on the floor, Lauren was trying to help me up, and I remember telling him I couldn't because I was in great pain.  He helped me crawl to the bed, helped me up on it, and told me to stay there, and now he would need to call an ambulance.  I have never experience such great pain as I did then in my back.  (side note: the reason I blacked out was because I had lost so much blood so fast, I became very light headed, and when a person loses alot of blood that fast, which I did, the next thing is to black out, which I did.)  And, according to Lauren, I hit the door jam on the way down, and landed very hard on the floor. 

 

          The paramedics came, put me on one of those very hard boards, put my neck in a brace, carried me up and out of the house to the ambulance, and since I was not considered a life and death case, the ambulance driver seemed to take the scenic way to the hospital, and on the way, I could feel every bump and rut he ran over in the road.  It seemed to take forever to get to the hospital. 

 

          I was taken to the ER, checked in, and given a dose of morphine, and Betty says another type of medicine to help me sleep for a while.  I was then taken to a semi private room.  There was a patient in the other bed.  Betty and I got to know his family during the 3 and a half days I was there, which seemed like an eternity!

 

          They did a couple of tests on me while I was there: an endoscopy(tube down my throat with a little camera on it) to see why and where I had been bleeding, and a CT scan to find out how badly I had injured my back.  Both diagnoses were good in a way.  The CT scan determined I only had badly bruised my back; no broken bones of vertabrae; and the scope found a hole the size of a dime in my esophogus, not my stomach, and at the time it had stopped bleeding. 

 

          By the time I went home, I was walking painfully with a walker.  My back still hurt like you know what!  But I was more than happy to get out and go home. 

 

          The road back has been a long and difficult one.  At this point in time, my back is not hurting as bad, but it still gets very sore if I try to do too much, like lifting, etc.  And I have started going to a chiropractor to see if he could help the pain go away sooner.  It has helped.  Also, I have gone back to work, which Betty thinks is wonderful!  She was getting tired of having me around so much.  In fact, she mentioned one day that if this is what retirement is going to be like, she didn't want me to retire.  I do hope it is not what retirement for us will be down the road.  I want to be more active, so I am doing all I can to get this back pain to totally go away. 

 

          I turned 60 on my last birthday, March 19.  Betty and the kids planned a big surprise for me, and then when I hurt my back, etc., they wondered if they could pull it off. 

 

          On my birthday, the family enjoyed the usual cake, ice cream, and opening presents.

 

          The following Saturday, they had me believing we were going to a baptism for one of Julie's grandkids, but when we got to Julie's house, I got the biggest surprise of my life:  upon opening the door, Julie's front room was changed to look like Grandpa Vernon's studio, and there stood Julie, not dressed up for a baptism, and Steve fiddling with his camera.  It turned out there was no baptism at all; the baptism was a ruse to get me to dress in my suit, so we could have family group pictures taken.  Even Lauren had shaved his beard off just for the ocassion.  Also, the girls all had their hair done the Friday before; Betty had told me I needed to baby sit, so they could go get their palms read.  That was also a ruse to throw me off track.  It worked!  Betty even got me to go get my hair cut that same morning.  And to top it all off, Lauren got my boss, Kristi, in on the surprise. He had personally arranged for me to have that Saturday off without my knowing about it.  The Thursday before the big surprise, I called Kristi to ask her if I could have Saturday off for the baptism.  She made me feel like it was too late, and went into a spiel about how she really needed me there; so I gave in and told her I would be there.  She wanted me to worry like sometimes I do about getting to work on time.  The family group was scheduled at 12 p.m.  I kept looking at my watch, and wondering why no one seemed to be in a hurry to get me to work on time.  I was supposed to be to work at 3:00 p.m. It was 2:00 p.m. and we were still at Julie's.  Steve takes the pictures, and then downloads them onto his computer.  At 2:15 I was sweating bullets, because I just knew I was going to be very late to work, and the family was still looking at the pictures on Steve's computer.  Finally, they all came into the kitchen, sat down, and then Lauren said, "Shall we tell him now?"  The consensus was 'yes'!   They then broke the news to me that I did not have to go to work after all, they had arranged with Kristi for me to have it off.  You should have seen the look of pure relief and wonderment on my face as to how they pulled all of this off without me having a clue.  It seemed everything worked out as they had planned; except the dinner part:  Lauren had planned to take us to a place where the cooks entertain you while they cook your dinner in front of you, but alas, when we got there at 2:30, we found a sign that said open for dinner at 3:30.  We were an hour to early; So Lauren took us to an all you can eat Chinese buffet.  We had a great time despite Lauren's dissapointment.

 

        Kendra has been called to be the chorister in Relief Society, and Betty also has a new calling:  one of the teachers in Relief Society.  She was asked one time to give a lesson; the Relief Society Presidency was so impressed, they submitted her name to the bishop, and of course, as they say, 'the rest is history'!  She gives the second lesson of the month out of the Joseph Smith manual. 

 

          One last item and then I will close this letter. 

 

          We are having the upstairs bathroom redone. Lauren, Jason,(Lauren's brother-in-law), and a friend name Jim, have been working on it for the past couple of weekends. We have chosen to tile around the bathtub, and tile the floor.  We got a new window, toilet, sink and cabinet for the sink to sit on, new light fixtures, and a wall cabinet with mirrors for the wall above the sink.  Also, Lauren is going to paint the ceiling and walls that are not tiled.  When we are through, it's going to be absolutely beautiful.  Then we have planned to do tile in the downstairs bathroom, but we won't be doing that for a while. I think Lauren is getting tired, but he and the other two are doing a great job.  We are all excited!

 

          That's about it for this time.  I just hope the rest of 2008 turns out to be much better than the first part of 2008.       

                                                         Love you all!

                                                          Larry and Betty

 

Wayne and Julie

Dear Family,

 

Here it is, the last day we can write for this time and I’m hurrying to get it done.  I have been so busy at work because I only work until 2:45 so I can go get radiation at 3:15.  Then I go home.  I am half way done with radiation and I’m feeling pretty good.  I do get tired B but my husband says Aso do I.@  For me though, it’s certainly better than having chemo.  As I look back, I can’t believe how sick I was.  Don’t want to do that ever again.

 

I guess we have to go all the way back to Feb. since I didn’t write last month.  The kids planned a surprise birthday party for Wayne for his 60th (boy he is getting old).  They made a video and had Hawaiian dancers come and entertain.  He was really surprised and it turned out wonderful.

 

After that was over, we went to Park City and stayed the weekend (it was President’s day that weekend).  My boss gave us access to a condo and we had a great time.  Joe and Amanda stayed with us the whole time, Steve and Valerie and kids and Teresa and her kids came up for the 18th B which was the holiday and also Wayne’s actual birthday.  The boys (and Valerie) went skiing and we just enjoyed the day at the condo.  The kids went swimming while we watched.  It wasn’t a swimming pool that I would have wanted to swim in, but I did get in the hot tub.  I couldn’t bare showing off my bare head yet so I bought a swim cap.  I don’t like people starring at me.

 

My hair is growing, little by little.  I have about a half inch now.  I’m not so timid about wearing nothing on my head now days.  In fact, I went to work yesterday without it.  It wasn’t intended, I just left the house and forgot that I hadn’t put my wig on yet.  Everyone says I look pretty good, but I’m not convinced.

 

March was just a normal month.  I started radiation on the 25th, which will last 6 weeks (30 treatments).  My last treatment will be May 5th, and then we will celebrate.  This has been a hard 6 months, but I’m glad I’m on this end of it. 

 

The only thing I can think of that was GREAT news was we found out Steve and Val are going to have a girl in August.  They waited to tell us she was pregnant until they found out what gender it is.  After three boys, we are all excited about another little girl in our family.  That will bring my total to 14 grandchildren.   Wow, when did that happen.

 

That’s all the news.  With all of us having health problems, you would think we’re getting old or something.  Well, not me.  I refuse to get old.  I’m going to stay as young as I can for as long as I can.

 

Love you all,

 

Julie and Wayne

 

 

If you have any problems or questions e-mail me at thj2u@yahoo.com