EASTER SUNDAY

Dear Family,

Our busy week was capped by Easter Sunday Family Dinner. All went to their own wards, Roy and Alissa went home after church to Colorado. Later in the afternoon, we had a good showing of the family over for an Easter Dinner. Doug and his family, Emily and her family came up from Mapleton, Cathy and crew down from Bountiful, Becca and gang came from Heber, Bina and girls was there from California, Cheryl and her family from Holliday. Pretty good group with about 40 in attendance.

We had a dinner of lamb for the adults and chicken nuggets for the smaller bunch and the chicken nuggets were snarfed. It was a happy time visiting, chatting, sharing family stories and just enjoying our time together.

Here is a picture of Natalie and Madeline (two prom queens by the way) helping with the babysitting and keeping the little ones happy.

After we got the families together for another Family Night. Mom gave each family baskets with eggs that had a object inside to remind us of the last three days of the Saviors ministry on earth. There were scriptures that the kids read and we discussed Easter and its importance. I spoke on the Resurrection and we sang 'Love At Home"

Mom passed out the Kindereier (German Chocolate eggs) treat that we bought in Germany last fall and explained that these were not imported anymore but she had one for each child whereupon Andrew exclaimed, "Oma is awesome!" Very true!

We were about to close when Cheryl reminded us it was her daughter Olivia's birthday. We sang happy birthday to her. Then all who had a birthday in April mentioned they had had a birthday also and we sang 'Happy Birthday' at least ten times to the others. We ended on that happy note.

By the way Olivia will be baptized this next Sunday in Cheryl's ward at 6:00 PM this coming Sunday that I hope many can attend. We go to Michigan in May to attend David's and Niko's baptism in May. So great to see these grandchildren grow up and be baptized.

We love you all, Mom and Dad

MIKE AND RAYANNE'S EASTER EGG HUNT

Dear Family,

Saturday Mike and Rayanne hosted their Easter Egg Hunt at their Mapleton home which has been a yearly tradition. Rayanne has tons of plastic colored eggs and fills them with small candies. They hide them in their large backyard. There are rules: the toddlers get the lawn, little kids back a bit further in the ard and the older kids get the thorns and weeds of last years garden.

They pour out of the house at once and it is a conquering horde. The video clip shows these kids about to get a sugar high and out they run.

After a while their baskets are full. Here is Andrew, Anthony and Phillip with tons of eggs. Then they sit around and fill their baskets with the candies. Almost as much fun as Halloween.

In addition to preparing the Easter Eggs, Rayanne prepares a huge brunch. She made dozens of yummy bagels (sometime I will publish the recipe) There was tons of food for this brunch and it was so fun to see all the family there. Roy was there also with his family, Doug, Cathy, Becca, Emily and her family, Bina and her two as well and it was wall to wall family fun.

On the way home, I took two of Doug's kids and we managed to meet Roy and three of his boys met at Cabelas which is one of my favorite stores anywhere. Roy cashed in a gift certificate, the boys went wild at the laser shooting gallery. There wasn't a tent, hunting blind, cot, chair they did not try out. Here they are after I found them in a large tent taking it easy. Really fun.

It was a great Saturday. That night we had a dinner at our house for Doug and his family.

Slept well that night, Love, Dad and Mom

LEXIE GRADUATES FROM BYU

Dear Family,

We have had such a busy week last week! First, Roy and his family came down from Boulder CO to attend Lexie's graduation from BYU with a Bachelors degree in Microbiology. Lexie is Roy's oldest and has been living in our Condos with her sister Hannah in the Chatham apartments attending BYU. She earned her degree in microbiological and laboratory technician sciences .

Here she is in a spontaneous shout for joy with that accomplishment She is doing an internship as a laboratory technician and then it will be on the prowl for employment.

She did well and is the first grandchild to graduate from college and we are proud of her.

The graduation was long and a bit tedious. there were probably a couple of thousand graduating from that school. It was interesting as all walked to receive their diplomas that probablhy one out of seven or more walked across the podium with their spouse. Those study groups must have been pretty good!

BYU does such a great job. We have 18 degrees from BYU just in our immediate family; 15 Bachelor degrees, two Masters and one Phd. That does not include the spouses so even though Mom and I graduated from the University of Utah, we have a warm feeling for BYU.

Her is Mom Allisa, sister Hannah and our graduate, Lexie. There was a get together of the family at Cafe Rio.

Mike was there in his robes from his own department graduation. Mike is a tenured professor int he department of Electrical Engineering . He sponsored one student for a Phd and a couple of student who received Master degrees.

Here is Oma, Opa and Mike outside of the Marriot Center.

It was a great time. I was sitting there in the Marriot Center and had a flashback to the day Lexie was born. She was born in Providence Hospital when Roy and Alissa lived in Michigan. IO was making my surgical rounds in Providence and dropped by the Labor room. Roy and Alissa had participated in the Lemans birthing procedure training. I entered the room and there was Roy with his feet up on the bed, checking his watch and saying,"I think it is time for a contraction" and then there was the contraction and then after a couple of minutes he announced the approach of another.

I just laughed at the scene. "Roy are you trying to tell Alissa how to have a baby?" Alissa yelled, "Don't make me laugh!" Well the delivery went well and they had little Lexie who has been a doll all her life.

Way to go Lexie and congratulations!

Love, Mom and Dad

JOSH HAS HIS MISSIONARY FAREWELL

Dear Family,

Josh received his mission call to the Houston East Mission and goes into the MTC this week. Josh is our second grandchild to go on a mission and is Emily's second son that she and John have sent on a mission.

Josh has been at BYU, Idaho this last year and has done well.

We are proud that he has qualified himself to go on his mission.

The whole family who were in Utah, drove down to Mapleton for his farewell. We took up a good bit of the chapel. Josh gave a great talk on Priesthood Leadership which was his assigned topic. I am proud of Emily and John for having their second son leave on a mission. Johnny as you know got back from his Mission to Greece and is studying bio-engineering at the Y. He will be doing an internship at the Huntsman Cancer Center this summer and will be staying with us.

Emily and John had a geat brunch for Josh, The Wirthlins and the Hickeys were all there, there were two Grandpas there as well as all the other cousins. Here is a picture of some missionary cookies that Cheryl delivered for the brunch. Everyone brought food. There were about 70 people there and Emily did such a good job.

After it was a bit quiet, I had Josh and his brother, returned missionary John, give us a First Discussion before he goes to the MTC. He had the essentials down pretty good and it felt so good to hear that discussion again. In the picture you see mom Emily, Dad John and John and Josh as "missionary comp0anions". He will do a great job.

That Sunday later in the afternoon. I attended a special meeting in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. It was a meeting of Stake Presidents and Bishops in Davis and Salt Lake Counties where the creation of single adults stakes was presented. The Stake I am associated with will be dissolved. They are apparently keeping the current Bishops in their assignments; there will have to be several Stake Presidents called and am not sure what they are doing about the Patriarchs. There will be another meeting this Sunday in the Conference center for all the Single Adults in the valley so they can learn where they will go to church.
Exciting times and this is a good move.

Lots of action this week; Bina comes, Roy and his family will come to Lexie's graduation from BYU, our first college graduate among the grandkids.

Proud of you all, love, Mom and Dad

APRIL BIRTHDAYS, TRIP TO COLORADO

Dear Family,

We have about 19 birthdays in April and we try to remember them all. We had a big celebration of Roy's birthday in Boulder, Colorado a couple weeks ago.

On the left is one of my favorite pictures. I snapped a picture of Mom on her first Mother's Day fifty years ago outside of the Cambridge ward chapel in Boston. I was a third year Medical Student, we had no income, but we were thrilled with the arrival of our first child, "Little Roy".

It was Roy's fiftieth birthday and Doug thought we should go up to Boulder and surprise him for this landmark birthday.

Here is a picture of Roy and his family 50 years after the picture above. There is son Aaron, wife Alissa, oldest daughter Lexie, Adam and Sam and daughter Hannah. Just missing son Ben.

Well Doug and three boys and Jim Pack, Roy's great friend, drove up in Doug's van. Mom and I fly up there and Lexie and Hannah were on the plane with us. Bryan flew in from Michigan. They were first to meet Roy and they totally surprised him! Alissa picked us up and drove us to their home and Roy was totally surprised and busted. We had such a good time, presented gifts, recalled milestones and just reveled in the moment. I am not sure who was most troubled, Roy for turning 50 or me realizing that I was 50 years older as well.

Well the Boys just had to have fun. Here is a picture of Jim Pack, Roy, Bryan and Doug in front of the Spyderco Knife factory.
I was getting woozy in the store, maybe because of medication, got into the van, drank a lot of water, ate pretzels but the thing that brought up my blood pressure was a spirited discussion of our current President of the USA. You should remember that this is a better vasopressor than even a shot of adrenaline and can be useful when you are feeling woozy and the blood pressure may be a little low.

We went to Roy's gourmet shooting range and had a literal blast. We did not have enough time there. Jim brought a computer monitor that we used as a target.

We dashed off to a special dinner that Alissa organized with family, friends and work associates and it was non stop fun. That night we blarbed watching an action movie.

The next day we all went to church and someone snapped this picture of us all sitting in the overflow area. We then went to Roy's house and left riding down with Doug, Nate, Spence, Tom Tom, Lexie and Hannah. It was an eight hour drive, sometimes in a blizzard as we drove over the passes. It was a fun filled trip and we totally surprised Roy. I am proud of him and what he has accomplished since that first picture was taken 50 years ago.

With Love, Dad and Mom

LDS CONFERENCE WEEKEND

Dear Family,

We had a busy week during LDS General Conference. It is a great time of instruction, counsel and reunion. I love General Conference and each year appears to be better.

The first thing we had was a meeting of Collegium Aescalapian which is a society of LDS physicians. We went to the dinner Thursday night during which President Uchtodorf talked about the Church's extensive humanitarian program. On Friday there was a papers presentation and the best thing I have ever heard there was a talk by a Sister Brunner from South Africa. She was born on a ranch in the Transkei in South Africa, and had two Xhosa nannies. She learned to speak Xhosa which is a clicking language. She joined the church and went on a mission. Since she spoke Xhosa fluently she was sent to those people who number eight million. She began translating church material in Xhosa.

This is what is said about the language. Xhosa is a tonal language that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said with a rising or falling or high or low intonation. One of the most distinctive features of the language is the prominence of click consonants. Xhosa is written using a Latin alphabet-based system. Three letters are used to indicate the basic clicks: c for dental clicks, x for lateral clicks, and q for palatal clicks Tones are not indicated in the written form’. She was asked to translate the Book of Mormon in Xhosa and did so. One of the best talks I have ever heard!

Friday night we had our Munich-Austrian Missionary reunion. The numbers have decreased over the last three years as many have married, finished school and followed careers elsewhere but it was great to see those who are still in the area and could come. It was great to see everyone. Each spoke for a minute on what they were currently doing. President and Sister Lutz Sommer was there. He is President of the Munich Stake and reported on what was going on there now. So great to see them also. We had about 40 - 50 thee including little kids.

Conference started on Saturday and Saturday evening was Priesthood Meeting and the tradition is that as many sons and son in laws and grandsons come to the meeting in our ward and after we have a steak barbecure. We always did this and in Boston, the treat was a trip to Mc Donalds and Doug remembers that it was Roy who got the Big Mac because he was a Deacon and all the others got the plain hamburger. We continued this in Michigan and went to Big Boy or Beau Jacques. When we moved to Utah we found that everyone in the valley had the same idea and we had these celebrations at home. We cooked 12 New York Strip steaks, smoked ribs and Mom made her traditional ice cream cake. I asked everyone to summarize the talks and they did well.

Mary and Mark were in town babysitting Cheryl's kids while they were in China. They brought the kids over for conference. Mom made conference paketes for everyone which included a notepad, conference bingo, conference quizes. word searches and plain paper to take notes. They did a good job in the beginning and there were prizes for those who had legible notes.

Roy has a good plan which he has used for years. He gives his kids $1.00 for good notes on each and every conference talk. On Monday, they go over the notes, discuss conference and get the rewards. Maybe there should be other incentives but this seems to work in his gang. A few years ago when asked what the Prophet said a reply from the youngest was, "Be nice, don't fight, don't bite" Now however he was able to note that Pres. Packer loves the scriptures and discussed his talk. Anyway, conference was great!

After conference, we had a visit from Sister Muench who came over from East Germany to visit her daughter Katje and husband Dan and the grandchildren. She came out for conference.

It was great to see her. I gave my fireside in her Cottbus ward when we were in Germany in October and she drove us down to Freyberg for Steffi's wedding. Small world in the church.

We had to dash over to Doug's. Doug was called to the High Council; I ordained him a High Priest and he was set apart on Sunday night. Here we are with Doug.

Well we were pretty bushed by the end of the week. It is April now and we have 19 birthdays in April! Roy turns 50 this month and it is unbelievable what has happened to time. Lexie graduates from BYU and will be our first grandchild to graduate from college.

More later.. love,

Mom and Dad

VISIT TO SPOKANE, "ZANDER'S" BAPTISM

Dear Family,

It has been a busy two weeks. Mom and I went to Spokane last week to visit Jeff and Tammy, Rob and Eva and their families. They know how to throw out the red carpet!

Jeff picked us at the airport and drove us to Rob's eye clinic where I had a thorough exam of my eyes and got fitted with a great pair of sunglasses.

We drove to Rob's other office and met him for a terrific lunch. Bina's husband Scott was there ins Spokane looking at a dental position. That afternoon they all went out and played golf. Scott is a scratch golfer.

Here is a picture of Opa getting swarmed when I pulled out the Ipad with games. That is little Luke climbing on with Leo coming up as well. Luke reminds me a lot of what Rob was like as a little guy, very strong and strong willed. All the kids were cute as could be.

While they were out Tammy put some ribs in the smoker for the evening feast. Jeff went overboard again and had some live Maine Lobsters flown in and Tammy and I steamed them over kelp.

Scott came over and we had such a good time. All the kids were there and they got their fill of lobster and smoked ribs.

Eva brought over their new little daughter, Elena. What a cute little girl with sharply defined features. She was good as gold and
Eva looked so happy. This is our 73rd grandchild.

On Friday, we celebrated Anna's eighth birthday with a party at a roller skating rink. All put on shoes and had a ball skating around. Mom and I sat this one out, hard enough to keep upright without wheels on your feet. There was pop and pizza and it was such a happy time. Rob took a gigantic spill when he first put on the shoes but got his sea legs and skated with the girls.
Saturday was Zander's baptism and we were able to have that individually. There was a very nice program: his older brother, Julius, gave a great talk on baptism. We had the Family Farm Singers sing "Nearer My God To Thee" in four part harmony. That was Rob, Eva, Jeff and Tammy. The original group included Al and Paul. All had lived on our farm in Michigan at one time. They sounded great!

I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Jeff did the confirmation. It was a very sweet moment.

Forgot to mention that Rob brought over 3lbs of Elk Steak and we ecided to make jerky. We went to Cabelas a second time and we bought a great dehydrator and made the best Elk jerky. It did not last long as the kids ate it with moe delight than candy. I had a few pieces as well.

that night, Zander wanted to go to a restaurant to celebrate so Julius, Anna, Zanderand the grown ups went to a Hunters restaurant where they serve game meats like elk etc. Since i still have about a 100 lbs of Elk meat int he freezer, I ordered something else. It was another great celebration.

Sunday we all went to Jeff's ward, Jeff taught a lesson and Tammy did as well and Eva went in and made good comments. Rob brought over the best Elk Chili that I have ever eaten for supper. It is so hard to lose weight with a steady diet of family celebrations. We had such a marvelous time and we thank Jeff and Tammy, Rob and Eva for their great hospitality. We always have a grea time in Spokane and we are proud of our grandchildren there.

Love, Mom and Dad