FUN IN SPOKANE

Dear Family,

We had a great time in Spokane. We had great family get togethers. We had a dinner at Jeff and Tammy's where Jeff went all out. I showed Tammy how to smoke ribs in Jeff's new Father's Day present, a Smokintex smoker. Jeff went out and found a 3lb lobster with two smaller ones and that was a treat. We had several family home evenings there, went to Church with Rob and his daughters. Rob and I did a tour of some "hobby" stores and it was a great time. I showed Tammy how to use their Pasta making machine and we made yummy egg noodles and fettuccine.

Two days after the cataract surgery, We decided we would go fishing on Lake Ponderay which is in the panhandle of Idaho and not far from Spokane. This is a lake about 60 miles long and 1000 feet deep. The Navy carries out unmanned submarine and torpedo testing here.

Here is a picture of Rob and Jeff checking out the charter boat. We ran nine poles and fished at various depths. The fish wrist watch (a watch that you give the GPS location and it predicts the best fishing time) predicted 10:30 AM and sure enough we began catching a few Lake Trout.

Here is a pretty good "Bull Trout" that we brought in and had to release because Bull Trout are endangered and there was a huge fine if you keep them. I thought that was "bull" as well but we complied. We caught five Lake Trout, put them on ice and drove back home where Rob cooked them to perfection.

I had a great time with the boys.

Love, Dad

EYE SURGERY IN SPOKANE

Dear Family.

We have two weeks off from our Temple assignment. They close the Temple twice a year for cleaning and repairs and when called, we were asked to take our vacations when the Temple is closed in January and July. That cramped our travel a bit but keeps us out of trouble.

This time we went to Spokane to see Jeff and Tammy, Rob and Eva and their children. Eva left for France to attend a family wedding in Paris, (how cool is that?) and Mom watched Anna and Julie and spent a lot of time with Tammy and her kids.

Rob is in a very nice opthamology practice and is one of the retinal specialists. He had arranged with one of his partners to take care of a cataract in my good eye.

I did n0t realize how much of my vision I had lost; I could not read, could not drive at night, and all sorts of corrective glasses did not work. So it was up to Spokane and to Rob's practice where I had a cataract removed from my left eye, (the right one had been previously removed).

It was very slick. You sit in this comfortable chair, they put in a little IV and then gave the Versed and I was out. They did an orbital block that I was unaware of. It did not take long and I could hear them say, "Don't move!"

The patch came off the next day and wonder of wonders, I could see at very long distances. I could see street signs, store signs, individual trees and all of a sudden I could see to infinity without glasses. It is most wonderful! The plastic lens they inserted is to focus at infinity so close up I need correction and we are fiddling with that. I need 3 diopters to read my Blackberry and 2 Diopters for intermediate.

I thought of what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians ( I Cor 13:12) in his treatise on Faith. "For now we see through a glass , darkly". This statement describes walking through life with Faith because we do not always see the distant so clearly. This describes my vision before the cataract surgery. Clearness of vision is such a wonderful gift.

We seek clarity in out lives. We try to see direction in the future, clarity in our decision making.and to see clearly is so wonderful in all applications. To see clearly and discern good from evil, right from wrong gets easier with time. To see clearly the difference between good, better and best requires requires very sharp vision.

I am so grateful to be able to see anything clearly again.

Love, Dad

FOURTH OF JULY

Dear Family,

Another big family celebration is the Fourth pf July. We try to gather to our little place in St. Charles, Idaho for a family bash.

This time we had about 50 there with most of the Utah families in attendance. Bryan, Scotty and Heidi came from Michigan.. Emily and here family stayed with us in the farm house in addition to Cheryl's six kids. The others rented the log cabins next to the church.

Thing were pretty well organized with each family to prepare one meal and others assigned clean up. The yard was a hayfield and after that was cut, we had a large playing field.

>Mom and I did the first breakfast. On our large outdoor griddle, we did pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon from the wild hog shot last month. . They went through four pounds of bacon in one meal. In addition we threw on some pork chops so it was a Cracker Barrel breakfast.

The girls prepared a lunch and it was off to the lake and beach. We got the Ski boat going and Paul H spent two days giving kids rides on the boat and pulling them on tubes.

>Late in the evening, we gathered and watched movies. We were watching Napoleon Dynamite. I mentioned that they filmed it in Preston, Idaho which was just over the mountains from where we were. The next day, two carloads wanted to go on a Napoleon Dynamite tour of Preston. Bryan did a Google search and got the GPS points for the sites.

This was not quite like the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg but was fun nevertheless. I was surprised that the grand kids knew this movie so well. They knew every scene and every line. Why can't they memorize scripture as well

So we went to Pedro's house, to the steps of Preston High School, visited Kings and the DI. We went to Napoleon's home and to the BJ Malt Shop (where time travel and relationships were discussed). We went to the Cuttin Coral where Pedro bought the wig. I could not believe I was doing this but the kids had such a good time and it was the high light of the trip to Bear Lake,

Here is the group in front of Napoleon's house and a picture of Catherine with her sideways pony in front of BJ's malt shop. We came home and watched the movie again and everyone hooted that they had been to that exact spot.

On the night of the Fourth, we had a huge fireworks display. We went to the St. Charles ward on Sunday. There must have been at least a thousand people there.

Then it was back home. What a great time we had with everyone. Emily and Rebecca helped so much with the food and the guys got all the equipment and toys started.

We will be in Spokane this next week visiting Rob and Eva and Jeff and Tammy.

Love, Opa

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