June Happenings

We had the sad news on June 1, 2009 that Kent's sister Wendy's husband (Steve Lakey) died that morning. He had not been feeling well for some time. He was only 50 years old. Kent and I were glad that we could go to Oregon to be with the family for the funeral. This is Wendy's family--Qile, Jantzen, Darek, Ben, Jaimason, Shaunelle, Ryken, Brynn and Wendy.


It was nice to have all the siblings there with their dad. Wendy has been amazingly strong. We think about her often. Last week we got the news that Grandpa Sellers has prostate and bone cancer. He also has been feeling poorly for some time. Hopefully the hormone therapy will help shrink the tumors and we can enjoy him for longer. You can see how much he has shrunk the last few years. He used to be the same height as Kory and Kent. When we got the call about Steve, I was in Utah to help with Nathan and Suzie's move and to help with Dave and Sarah's children.

This is Solena and Samantha. Solena will turn 4 on July 7 and Samantha turned 2 on April 16. They are adorable and fun little girls who love to play Barbies and baby dolls. That's a good way to melt my heart.

Here's Bryce and Kobe before their baseball game. They have had a lot of fun playing, and thanks to all the "Practice" with their dad and mom, they are really quite good at playing baseball. It was fun to watch a couple of their games while I was there. We also had an UNO marathon some of the days. They are really good sports and understand how to play well on their own. We spent many hours laughing and playing games.

I had fun making these little dresses for Samantha and Solena while I was there. I enjoyed playing with them. It's so fun to see their personalities.

Spring Is Here!

This is the most wonderful time of the year! The lilacs are blooming (our backyard smells heavenly), the columbines are blooming, so are the iris and the poppies. This is a couple pictures of the Japanese Garden with the creeping phlox in full bloom. It just looks beautiful!


It's also graduation time and I got to go to the graduation for my niece, Jessica Anderson. This is Jessie with her siblings--Kelly, Jessie, Spencer and Mari. It's always fun when the youngest graduates. These are Connie and Brian's kids. (Kelly is due with a girl on July 15; Mari is attending BYU-I; Spencer works 2 jobs).

Kent was trimming the upright juniper in the front yard. He just kept trimming it because the snow had really damaged the shape on it. He kept trimming and trimming, and ended up with this cool palm looking juniper! We love it. Looks like it comes from the land of Dr. Seus.

Come on over and visit our gardens. After a lot of work to clean it all up, we are ready to play and enjoy!

10th Anniversary

This is the plaque at the Columbine Memorial. It is a very touching site.



The memorial is just over the hill from Columbine High School. We were there at dust last August.

Those of us who lived here have very strong memories of that day, 10 years ago today. A lot of healing can happen with time. But there will always be lessons about how we can get along better with others. We hope this was not in vain.

Easter

We have always had an Easter tradition of coloring eggs. Just because there are no kids at home doesn't mean we stop that tradition. JoAnn and Steve Calder are now our "Easter Egg" buddies. We are getting more creative each year.

We made a lot of fun designs this year. Now we are enjoying eating eggs every day!

New Zealand

This is a waterfall by Milford Sound. It is a fjiord
on the South Island. We took a boat ride out and saw
many beautiful scenes.

This is near Champagne Lake in Rotorua. It is like Yellowstone with natural geysers, fumaroles, hot pots, etc. It smelled like sulphur. It was a nice hike all around the site.

This is the Franz Josef Glacier. It's amazing to see all the different forms of nature.

Of course we had to take time to smell the roses. We saw quite a few beautiful gardens. These were in Christchurch.

Kye took his nap most days while we continued on our activities. He was a very good sport considering all the things we were doing. This is also in Rotorua.

Samoan Adventure

Kent took some dental supplies down to Apia to a dental clinic. He got to spend half a day working there with Ralph Downey. The people come in and the first ones get the services for the day.

We went to the market. This is where Nathan got his weapon. It was very cool!

We played at some beautiful beaches. Nathan and Suzie went out snorkeling for awhile and we got to play with Kye. He loved to be thrown in the air.

This is Rolayne on sliding rock in Papaseea. I did some cliff jumping and rock sliding--my first time! It was so beautiful. We looked at all Nathan and Suzie's blog pictures and we recognized many of the places. It was so fun to be there.

Like father, like son. This is at Papaseea when Kent and Nathan climbed up some rocks after diving from the cliffs.

Visit to Brian and Nicole's home

Rolayne and her Curves friends on the occasion of her 600th visit to the workout studio!

Rolayne made Matthew a beautiful, manly quilt for Christmas. He really thinks it's cool!

Rolayne, Kent and Lindsey made a visit to Brian and Nicole's over the Holidays. This is their very cool kitchen table. (Bar stools to come.) Note in these two pictures the new oak flooring Brian is installing. The varied grains, colors and widths of planking make for a rustic and beautiful effect. They should be proud.

A view toward the fireplace family room area with their new black chairs. Their home is looking very classy.