We moved to Washington

So for some time now Camille has been trying to get us to move to Washington. She has been lining up work for Barney and everything. She was diligent to the point we made the decision to do it. In late August of 2011 we made the move. Camille and Dan own the Duplex they live in so the other renter moved out, leaving it available for us. It is a two bedroom apartment. Quite a change for us form our two story house in Wellington but we are making t work for us. of course, we haven't moved everything up here. There just isn't room enough to hold it. We have gotten rid of alot but there is still much more stored in our garage in Wellington, for now. Barney had recently finished building (Camille and Dan and us) nice large storage sheds in the back yard. That has helped alot. Mostly he needs a good place for tools and a place to build stuff since he doesn't have a garage here. It has been great being next door to Camille's family. We are having alot of fun with the grandkids.
In Nov. we went back to Utah to do some work, handle some things with our renters and mostly to spend time having Barney work on the basement of a new house his sister Nancy recently bought (the house is not new. Just new to her.) We spent a month there. We returned home to Washington just before Christmas. We will actually be going back again at the end of Feb. for another month to finish up at Nancy's house so she can get it ready to start renting soon.
Since we moved here, I got called to teach early morning Seminary (again,like when we were in San Diego). I love it. Barney got called to be Cub Master. He is enjoying it. We love our new Ward. Friendly people here in Yakima, Washington.
Our kids and their families are doing well. Tamara has three kids. They are in the San Diego area, still. Brian is married, no kids, in the Navy again and in Honolulu, Hawaii. Camille here, three kids. they may be buying a house soon for us all to move into. Something that has something similar to a mother-in-law suite. Nice. Jennifer and Chad, no kids, are still in the Provo area. they are looking for house to buy soon. Amie has three kids now. they just built a new house in Helena Montana. Matt is on the SWAT team now there in Helena. He loves it. all are doing well.

Happy New Year 2012

Well you are probably thinking that it's about time i updated this blog, right? I think it's been a year or more. So much has changed since then. Where do I begin? Well, first of all the kids you see in past blog photos are not with us anymore. Kylon and Keyshaun both went home a couple of years ago. We were actual guardians of John and his brother Bryan for nearly four years.
Last year at Christmas time we were preparing to go to court with John. He had several charges against him. The first week of January 2011 we did go to court with him. He was taken back into Foster Care and removed from our home. We were no longer his guardians, for our best interest, according to the Judge. John went immediately to Price Detention for a month and then to the Richfield Detention because a placement was unable to be found for him right away. that took a few more weeks. Finally, he ended up in Cedar City in a home sometime in March. He seemed to enjoy it there. He was waiting to find out if Job Corp would accept him. They refused to take him because he was too risky so he stayed in Cedar City. He now needed to fly right in order to keep himself from otherwise going to a court ordered lock down facility.
Bryan, on the other hand was still with us. Bryan has had alot of anger issues for several years. Everytime he got mad he would run away until he cooled down. He was constantly going to Detention for a few hours to cool down. Once John was gone, I think Bryan thought if he ran and refused to come home then he would be sent to the same place his brother was. So ...... He did. And.... it almost worked, accept for the fact that the home John was in was full. thankfully. But, Bryan did get sent to Cedar City. Now he was near his brother. The bad part is, they went to the same High Schooack. So.... one day, John decides to run away and take Bryan with him. That was nice of him. They ran back to Price. I guess they were on the run for some time and then Bryan decided he had enough of that life so he turned himself in to the authorities. I guess they may have found John after that and he went to DT. A short time later, in a new home in Cedar City, John turns 18 this last Nov. They are dong random U.A. on him (routine process under the circumstances) and caused tham to search his room. They found several stolen MP3 players. He promises he won't run away because he has learned his lesson this time. He goes straight to his and packs his bag and slips out the window with his stuff. Again, he goes to Price. It's where his friends are. I have heard several reports of him being seen in the Price area. Stupid. He now has warrants hanging over his head. One from before and one just for running away. He is still a ward of the court until he finishes his senior year this year. When he gets picked up this time it will be jail for him and court and probably more. He is not making good choices.
We feel sad for John. As soon as John ran evryone huddled around Bryan to be sure he was protected from John and would not run too. I have talked to Bryan since then. He is doing well.
As far as we know, John is still out there somewhere. People are seeing him but not knowing that there is anything wrong with that. They don't know he is a run away. Sad. Something will happen and he wil get caught and it doesn't matter how long it takes. That is no life for an 18 year old.

Keyshaun

Here is our little Keyshaun

at the Park. Cute kid, huh!

Keyshaun

This is Keyshaun. He has been with us now for two weeks and will likely go home later in the summer. He is 8 years old and a good kid. He's alot of fun to have around.

Kylon

Ok, so it has been some time since I blogged. Sorry about that. Life has been sort of busy around here lately. On Easter we got a 14 year old boy named Kylon. He was here for a couple of months and then left last weekend. I will post his photo. Nice boy. Then as soon as he left they asked us to take another young boy. And I do mean young. Sort of. He is 8 years old. Wow! We have had him for a week tomorrow now. do I know how to do young kids? I am not sure. It's not like I have grandkids nearby to practice on all the time. I am so nervous. I had to buy some kids books and toys. I was blessed to find a book in the thrift store right away that was teaching me how to deal with my Eight Year Old. Wow! Awesome. I love it. It helps alot. My younger friends have helped too with many ideas. I signed him up for day camp Monday to Wednesday and on Thurday I take him to a group therapy program that takes kids hiking and works with them that way. It's lots of fun. Friday is bonding time for the tow on us :0). We will plan play dates with friends at the park nearby and other fun things together this summer. I am sort of getting the hang of it. We both takes naps in the early afternoon. I am not sure who it helps more, him or me. He may be here a few months or so. He is such a sweet little guy.

The photo here is Kylon.

We also got a new dog. (Photo above.)

A "Red Heeler" almost a year old. She is a very sweet dog. Barney said"she fills an empty spot in his heart since Buddy got hit by a car and died on Christmas day". We have had "Baby" for a few months now. She is still an outdoor dog and she loves it but sometimes Barney lets her come in. She is house trained and is pretty good but lots of hair everywhere. That not just because of my cat either :0) who is a big male Silver Tabby who may have a MaineCoone mix. Sweet cat. Kitty is his name. (Photo Above.)

Ok - so after some smaller March snow falls, Easter is tomorrow and we actually had a few snow flurries today but nothing stayed on the ground. There was probably much more snowfall on the mountain passes nearby. But finally - the snow has melted all around us (not in the mountains yet) and the weather is warming up to 60 degrees or more. No jackets usually (on days when it's not windy anyway). It feels great. More sunshine to warm our faces and our souls. We are smiling again. We've actually been out doing yard work. We're not couped up inside any more. It's awesome.
Happy Easter to all. General Conference was awesome today. I can hardly wait for the Sunday sessions. We finally got our TV antenna hooked up today just in time for Conference. Yeah! We've had it since around Sept. or Oct. when we shut off our cable TV hookup. It's been great without TV. We have occasionally rented or borrowed movies or watched over and over again the few we own.
Lastnight we got boy #3. 14 years old. Don't know yet for how long. Nice boy. Jr. High with our boy. Nice.
Our friend, Dede's dad, died lastnight. Sad. Last week my uncle Hal died. The weekend before that we were in Calif to another dear friend's funeral who died too young from cancer. So much going on. It makes me think they are needed, to do so much Missionary work, on the other side. We will miss them all. Good bye dear friends and family. Until we meet again.

More Feb. snow

Ok, some of that deep snow has melted. Not much though. We actually had a week that I thought was warming up alittle. Somewhere around the thirties during the day time. Nice. But colder nights. Then....... MORE SNOW ALL DAY YESTERDAY!!!!!! Two more inches of very wet white stuff. It has been melting fast and trying to run into my basement. I have to work hard to keep it from getting in. In the Spring we will fix the problem but not in the snow and mud and frozen ground. Lots to do. We will start with a huge back hoe and move alot of cement and dirt.
Barney, yesterday, on his birthday, left in the middle of the snow storm, they could hardly see, for California with his friends, Kurt Flegal and Keith Abarham to see their friend Denis Asprey who was then in the hospital due to complications with his cancer, but later released. They wanted to cheer him up. What a nice surprize for Denis. They will be home in a few days.
Leah is right. You are definitely acclamated when you think that 40 degrees is warm. We actually went out without a coat for several days. We still had a long sleeve shirt on. Ok, maybe not long sleeves everyday. We were rebelling and got out the summer shirts for a few days there. t felt so good. We even found some awesome sunshine for a day or two. We so needed some sunshine. It felt so good. We miss the sun this year. Enjoy it where ever you are that you have sunshine these days. Tell me where you are so I can come and find some too. I'll only stay until, oh maybe June or July or so, after the "June gloom" goes away. Everyday we pray for sunshine. We only want it to snow in the mountains. That's where we need it most for use later this summer. We try not to complain much. We will need the moisture later on, to drink and grow, etc. Soon enough it will be July and we will be wishing for cooler days and weeks. San Diego is looking better and better. Or maybe St . George.