22 May 2016

Hey everybody,
   It's been a cool, rainy week here. Now today it's warmer, and the sun is shining, but the wind is really something.  Moose and I just got back from a walk, which was quite nice until we turned around to come home, and faced a headwind. Dad finished the fenced in area outside the back door for Moose, and he's tolerating it pretty well.
   Ben, I am looking forward to hearing about your trip to Indiana. I saw one video, and a comment from Jason Dalton that made me think you might have gone to see the Farmers while you were there.
   Dad is at Aimee's and James' house today, before going to Coeur d'Alene for meetings, then on to Jackson Hole a few days after that. I'm looking forward to having him home again next Friday.
   The picture below is from just before lunch today. Gran and Grandma looking at some family history together.
   Work has been pretty crazy this past week. Of the six of us who work most closely together, one has been gone on an Alaskan cruise, one's brother passed away, another's father passed away, and were both on bereavement leave, and another threw out her back and missed 3 days. Luckily we've had low census, but a very high percentage of psych patients...
   Election day was good...of course Dad had no one running against him. Jordon Stoddard and the other Commissioner that Dad works closely with, both were re-elected. Karey Hanks was elected as State representative for our 3 county district, and best of all, we got a new Prosecuting Attorney! Hopefully that will make Dad's next term less stressful.
   Happy birthday to Anne!  Grandpa and I didn't get to talk with you on your birthday...you were at Mutual. Here's hoping you have a wonderful year of being 14, and enjoy all your activities, friends and family! 
   Love to each one of you. Have a lovely week.
Mom/Johanna/Nana




Good Morning,

Well I'm going to sneak this in this morning before going to church.  I've been asked to speak today, making Christ the center of our lives is the topic I was given.  I'm feeling fairly prepared, I've got plenty of subject matter to go over.  I'll be the concluding speaker so I don't really know how long I'll have.  Last week for example the 2nd speaker only left about 5 minutes.  Anyway, I'd appreciate any support prayers that I can get.  Thanks!

I was able to go visit with Lance and Ruth last week when I was in Indiana.  They live about an hour south of Indianapolis.  I drove down after our meetings for that day.  They live out on the east side of Columbus in a beautiful tract of homes that all have very large lots.  I'd guess they have 3 acres.  The house is very nice with a huge porch that covers the entire front of the house.  We had dinner and visited for quite a while. Sariah came home after dinner so I was able to meet her as well.  It was great to see them and catch up on each others families.  They even had some helpful suggestions for my talk today.  With all of their kids out of the house as of this summer they are going to move back to Colorado.  Sterling already lives here, and Ruth has a sister that lives in Brighton.  The 2 younger kids will both be at BYU so it makes sense to head back west. Lance is still working for Cummins, but his job allows him to work from home.  He'll just have to travel a few times a year.  I didn't think to take any pictures of them or us together, but we did go through a huge binder they keep of all the Elmwood Lane stuff in. I'll attach a few pictures of what they have in there.  

I've also attached some pictures of downtown Indy and some from the racetrack.  I didn't get to meet anyone famous, but I was within about 15 feet of Mario Andretti and I saw AJ Foyt drive by on his golf cart.  I was very impressed with the downtown area.  It was very clean and not overly crowded.  I'd like to visit the area again if I get a chance.

Since getting home from that trip I've been busy catching up on work, camping with the scouts, and we all spent the weekend with the Bezzant kids. Lynsey was in charge of two parties last week that went very well.  The first was a combined activity for the youth in our ward, and the second was the Josephs end of year class party.  One of Josephs soccer teams is done for the season.  The last game was last Saturday.  He played in two games that day and both were wins!  No soccer this weekend with Memorial Day.  But we're hoping for some good games next week.

I am in shock that June is right on top of us.  This year is going WAY too fast!  When we made all our plans for June it seemed so far away, and now here we are. Well I better go get dressed for church.  Looking forward to hearing from everyone.    

Love,

Ben, Lynsey, Joseph

 

Post Script from yesterday's email...
Thank you, Sam, I'm grateful that you and Natalie had the opportunity to hear Elder Rasband speak, and that you took the time to record your thoughts and share them with all of us. Elder Scott said once, something about the best way to be able to show Heavenly Father our appreciation for spiritual insight we receive is to record it in some way, and that this will also make it easier for us to retain those thoughts and feelings. I plan to reread your letter more than once. Love you, Mom