March 2019

02 February - 2017

As you recall, the buzz words for January were COLD, SNOW AND ICE – three of Blaine’s least favorite words. When Christine asked if we could come to California and help with an enormous task, we jumped at the chance to get away from the cold.!

Prior to our going to Proberta, we drove to Susanville with hopes of visiting Nancy. We had a check for her for her portion of Brian’s home that sold and wanted to give it to her directly. I decided to knock at Nancy’s door for a long time and it wielded results! Nancy, thinking I was Karen, finally opened the door. While Nancy had changed a good deal physically, she was indeed Nancy with her gorgeous hair intact! She initially was concerned for her animals that had escaped but once Blaine made efforts at retrieving them, she showed interest. Blaine gave Nancy a warm touch to her face meeting for the first time, and we both expressed delight in seeing and talking to her. She explained her health issues and their care and explained her pet concerns. She was subtlety grateful for the check. She is clearly a very bright lady and we felt our visit a success, albeit her declining our offer to give a ride to the July reunion.

On to Proberta, CA to assist Christine in pricing the humongous amount of items that had belonged to Linda, David’s sister who had passed away. We worked steadily on this project for a solid week, even when Christine was away assisting Emily. Sadly, the weather wasn’t ideal, both rainy and windy. Towards the end of the week, we stayed the evenings with our good friends, Harry and Connie Hunziker. We went out to dinner, played cards, and had the wonderful dessert of frozen fruit from the Yonana machine and went on the longest hike ever. But in the day time, we were hard at work! Blaine was delighted that our “pay” for this was in the form of a record player. We were glad to help Christine since she really needed extra hands.

Our next stop was to visit our wonderful Lau family in Grass Valley. We had a terrifying drive to their home because of the driving rain. Wayne thoughtfully prepared two different meals for us while Robyn was concerned that we watch disturbing Dateline shows. Indy was delighted to miss school for a day. We also exercised with Robyn by doing a zillion squats from a video as well as going to a circuit class the next day. The next few days were leg muscle hell. Jackie Popov and Pat Skidmore were happy to see us but the pleasure was ours after completing Blaine’s business at the college offices.

We headed on to Cameron Park to see Ben and Sage. While Ben was very thin, Sage was a cutie who definitely frightened us with her good/evil stuffed cat. She was excited to show off her snake and her dogs and tell about the things in her room. .

Flooded fields and roads met us as we traveled along to Bakersfield before heading to Adam and Monica’s. Fresh Tomatoes, hiking around Pinnacle Peak, Temple, Jump Street, Burton’s bragging rights, Moana are a few words that describe our activities. It is a joy to watch the children grow and develop their personalities. Burton is much more reserved than Roxy who has such a strong sense of self. Burton loves boy things – especially sticks! Monica and Adam both have a strong sense of self as well. Adam is the nurturer in that family while Monica is a great nutritional cook. Both work hard in their careers. Kids do grow up as evidenced by our going to Stake Conference and observed Burton and Roxy sitting quietly, enjoying coloring and snacks in a reverent way.

Our Bullhead City stay at the Sunset Suites apartment was filled with exercise and golf scrambles. We were put in groups of five with people we didn’t know, initially taking us out of our comfort zone. Yet most of our team members showed great tact at our inexperience and we enjoyed getting to know new people. On the rainy day, no one did well. Val was on my team the last day. Julia was everyone’s hero with her wit and sassy talk. Our gang loved seeing “The Lion,” a movie with the importance of family as the main theme. We cheered for Rachel Russell as she crossed the finish line of a ½ marathon at Lake Mead called “Saints and Sinners” on a very rainy day. Woody treated afterwards at a Brazilian Barbeque where we were stuffed but only half as stuffed as Rachel who really put it away.

While in Bullhead City, we followed the hullaballoo of the possibility of the Oroville Dam flooding which was on national news. 300,000 people below the dam had to evacuate their homes which included both Yuba City and Marysville. We both wondered how many families had their 3 day emergency supply kits ready. Our prophets and apostles give instructions for good reasons.

Before heading home, we returned to Glendale for a day of soccer practices, birthday party plans, and Roxy’s birthday party for her turning FOUR years old.

It was a joy being with Monica in her time of triumph. She worked steadily on the party details making the Princess Poppy Piñata, the Troll candy bags and the troll headband party favors weeks in advance, leaving food details for the day of. After the soccer practices, with the two at varying levels of interest, we dashed to Walmart for the fruit bowls and veggie trays supplies. Monica was a skillful kitchen wizard at this. The party at the selected park was spectacular; again Monica at her best and Adam taking charge of the RV and piñata hanging. The moms put together the Troll headbands for their children who loved the party. The highlight was the cupcakes with the troll hair on top.

The buzz word for this month was FAMILY: seeing and meeting Nancy after 20 years, helping Christine with her family, being with Harry and Connie, staying with the Indy, Robyn and Wayne Lau, visiting with Ben, helping Adam and Monica with birthday party details as well as attending Burton and Roxy’s soccer games and hanging out with Julia, Woody and Val in Bullhead City. That’s a lot of FAMILY!