Bear Lake

Bear Lake is up and running. Doug and I and Mom have made two trips up there. The first was to open the house and get things ready. It was beautiful up there in early June. There was plenty of water around in the fields and everything was so green. The house was fine... no vermin and everything functioned. Doug was a powerhouse of energy and we did so many projects. I cut all the grass, Doug managed to start the various machines and we hauled the two AT V's up there. We pulled the boat out of the garage and of course did the shooting chore. It was great. Barbecues and great food.

Doug and I and Douglas, Nate and Spence did another trip up there to haul up the "Induna" mountain car. I have debated on selling it but we have so much of ourselves into the building of this unusual four wheeler that I was not sure I could part with it. That little go anywhere truck is built! We put it on the car hauler trailer and strapped it down with these huge straps and the Ford Pickup pulled it up over the passes with no trouble. That diesel really pulls. It gets good mileage as well and we averaged 14miles/gallon pulling that loaded trailer.

When we got there, we found we had trapped a skunk in the Haveaheart trap. This was placed out in the field away from the house. We had to dispose of this and Doug almost got sick. We cut the grass again, and rather than cook in the house, we ate out. The stuff at the Bear Cave up the street was not as good as I remembered it but the raspberry shakes were great. We stopped at the Bear Steak House on the way home and it was probably great for Bear Lake but we can do better with the grill. The kids filled there tummies for the ride home.

Doug and his family have been up there for a week. Doug did a lot and had a good time. They took the ATV's up mountain roads and pulled them around with the Induna and trailer. Doug got all the toys registered in Idaho, Induna, boat and ATV's so they are legal. In Idaho, you can put plates on an ATV and drive down the roads legally so the Polaris has plates.

One huge project that Doug managed was putting new doors on the garage. Men came up from Home Depot in Logan and put up two modern garage doors so it will be easier to get in and out. So many projects to do up there. The place looks so cool with its blue roof. When we repaint the house, I want to put up blue shutters and flower boxes under some of the windows and we will have a proper little Bavarian home.

We will got up the last weekend in June and get ready for the big Fourth of July event. Rob and Eva and their family and I think Jeff and Tammy and family are coming down from Spokane. Bryan will be there for a split second as he Roy and Doug and the boys are leaving for their high adventure backpacking trip in Wyoming. It will be a blast. Looks like the lake is OK and we can put in at the North Beach.

Well that is the news from St. Charles, Idaho

Yet another Grandson

It has been such a bumper crop of grandchildren this year!

Rebecca just had her little boy. On Friday the 13th!!! This is grandchild # 64 and # 100 in appearance in our immediate family counting Mom and Dad, all the children, their spouses and their kids!

We were thinking of having a reunion where everyone wore a T shirt with their number of appearance in the family. Mom would be of course # 1, I # 2 and so on so Becca's little boy would wear # 100!

We are so happy for Becca and Paul. There was of course drama with this arrival. Becca called last evening and reported that she was having false contractions. We discussed whether Mom should go down last night just in case. "No we will just see what happens". I could tell in her voice that she would have the baby soon.

Paul called this morning and said they almost pulled a Rayanne and Mike having the baby in the car. Becca laid down on the floor of the hospital elevator and started to push. The baby was born before they got to the delivery room but thankfully not in the elevator. Becca was also born on a stretcher and they took Mom into the OR and managed to get their OR fee. So Becca duplicated her own birth! When Paul called, they had been in the hospital 20 minutes.

So much wonderful high drama. Cheryl always asks about her birth and I simply said that Mom went into the hospital and had a normal delivery. The drama started with the birth of Rebecca who was taken to the hospital by her oldest brother, Roy. Roy freaked out when the nurse came into the waiting area and congratulated him. I had taken all the kids to our place in Northen Michigan so Mom could have a rest. Great family stories!

We feel so blessed, out of proportion to what we deserve. We are so grateful for you all. Our cup runneth over.

Dad

Mary Yesterday

Alsion thinks I should be fair and show the picture of Mary before her delivery yesterday. Well I copied the picture from Mary's blog so I guess it is alright to show it.

This is another baby that grew straight out. I must say there are a lot of hormones around the family just now.

Alison developed a prehensile foot when she was so anteriorly big. She can sweep the floor with her foot and pick up everything without bending over. My mouth fell open when I saw her do it.

Well four more coming and we are rooting and praying for all of you.

Summer is here (almost)

It has been so nice here in Salt Lake. There has been plenty of rain and the hills and foothills are covered with green growth and the tops of the mountains are capped with snow. It is as pretty as the mountains in Bavaria. Our lawn is lush, the bushes that the deer ate all summer have rebounded. Our little garden of a few eggplants and tomato plants are in and growing. Our rose bush that we planted last year is starting to bloom.

With this spirngtime and early summer we have had a bunch of new grandchildren. Tammy had their little girl and last night Mary had a little girl at Providence hospital in Michigan. Rebecca may correct me but I think that is grandchild #63 and 99th place in the family! Four more coming including Gemina! This is wonderful news.

We went up to Bear lake and had a two day trip there. The first day was driving with Doug driving. We took the Ford pickup and trailered the two four wheelers up there. I cut the grass and Doug did a million projects all on Saturday and we drove back Saturday night. It is also very green and there was plenty of water in the fields. Could not tell about the lake but Doug (who rode up to the North Beach) thought we could put in the boat there. We took the boat out of the garage. Mom took Doug's carpet cleaner and cleaned all the ruge. The place looked great!

We will go up again for a one day trip and haul the "Induna" Toyota FJ cruiser up there and park it in the yard. It runs great and will be handy putting the boat in. Doug and I will go up next weekend.

Rob and his family will come down to Bear Lake for the 4th of July vacation. Jeff may come but may not as Tammy is getting over a wound infection. Roy, Doug and Bryan are coming back for a day or two before leaving for a backpack trip in Wyoming while we are all up at Bear Lake. The house survived the winter and the grass and fields are green. It is such a gorgeous place. Speaking of gorgeous, here is a picture of Mary's 9 lb 12 ounce baby girl.

Al's Transformation

The picture above is Al a few days before the birth of little Henry LeRoy. She was ready!

The lower picture was at the baptism of Mary CLare. I did a double take and had to look a little more closely to realize that the baby was now out and not still in. The profile you know. We are waiting anxiously for Mary who is due any minute for her second miracle baby.

All the best... Dad

More Grandchildren

Tuesday, May 27th

Never a dull moment. Last evening I got a call from Suz; she had broken her water and was in the hospital trying to have a baby. They put in an epidural catheter wand were giving her constant analgesic. She called me and reported that not much was going on. An hour later she called and said she had a 6 1/2 lb baby boy and send me a picture over the phone. He had that look on his face like, "Now where am I and what is exactly going on?" Suz said they did not have the contraction monitor on right and she said I do think I feel something and they looked and there was the head. Suz is in good spirits.

Well I think that is # 62 grandchild and # 96 in the family counting the original parents (me and Mom), all the children and the grandchildren... actually he is # 97 in the family because I forgot to count Julie. I have not gotten a certified number from our in house CPA, Becca.

Mary called my family excel file to update the last few grandchildren and come up with a current birthday list. She is the recorder!

It was birthday time again. Mom and Mary Clare were on Saturday. I bought Mom a European game out of wood, a Labyrinth" that requires a bit of dexterity to play. Saturday, we had Mary Clares baptism in our ward and families from Bountiful, Highland and Mapleton were there. It was a great baptism. The grandfathers, me and Jon Huntsman talked on our baptisms and the Omas, Mom and Karen Huntsman spoke on the Holy Ghost. It was great! After there was the party at Cheryl's.

That evening we had Dave and Neal Marriott over for dinner. He was my Elder's Quorum President and she was the Relief Society President when I was the Bishop of the Weston Mass. ward. We went out as mission presidents the same time. They went to Chile. They were gone two weeks when their 21 year old daughter was killed by a truck when she was jogging and we discussed the loss of beloved children. It was fun however to reminisce great old times in Mass.

Sunday, we had Doug and his family over for dinner and had fish on the barbecue grill. We went to the graveyard and put flowers on our grandparents grave. I am always moved when I visit Anna Hirschi Wirthlin's grave as she was the one that started the family in the Gospel joining the church in Geneva, Switzerland, at age 20 and then bringing her boyfriend, Leopold Wirthlin, to church and baptism also in Lake Geneva right after church.

Yesterday was Memorial day and we had a super barbecue at Al's. Paul's parents were there from Bloomfield Hills, MI. Paul did barbecue baby back ribs and brats. It was great. We did not get the plants in because of the rain.

I start back in the temple today.
We love you all, Mom and Dad


(Mary Clare is in the middle)

Busy Weekend

We seem to keep busy even though we are unemployed. This last weekend was great. Friday evening we attended the Huntsman Education Awards for excellence in teaching. Principals, teachers and volunteers are honored with a $10,000. prize. Cheryl and I are judges but we are outnumbered by all the teachers who are also Judges. This is truly a great thing that Jon and Karen do each year. Ten awards are given.

Saturday, Doug and I went to the shooting range with Douglas (whom I sprung from a house jail because he was behind in his reading). We had such a great time...the range was empty and we had the whole thing to ourselves. The weather was perfect and the rifles were shooting very accurately. Doug did three shots into one hole at 100 yards. Douglas was peppering cans and things at 30 yards. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was busy all day. I had my early meetings in Paul's ward. I then had to arrange a stake ward missionary zone conference at 4:30 in the afternoon to which 50 came and we had to supply the eats as well. Cheryl helped make a chicken salad and Mom put on her usual great spread. The theme of the meeting was planning a spiritual baptismal service.

Then we had to host a fireside right after that in our home. This was one of my original missionary groups from 50 years ago. They called us on Thursday and reminded us we offered our home and by the way when you offer the home you also get the speaker and serve the treats. Mom did a super job of treats and we got Sam Park to speak on Joseph's Tomb (Joseph Smith). We were bushed!

Monday, I attended a Reid school awards luncheon at the Lion House for Madeline and Douglas. Cheryl came after I left and Paul was there. They tried to move me out of my seat and I refused to leave my Grandkids (Paul and Madeline) and while this was going on, Madeline was texting her mother, "Dr Reid is trying to kick Grandpa out of his seat!" After lunch we walked over to the church office building where I spent the afternoon answering the medical hot line phone in the missionary department.

Tuesday morning, I was in A Fib so Doug arranged for me to go to the hospital where I was cardioverted again. Doug as been a real help.

So that was the busy weekend.