Introducing Evelyn Celeste Goodwin!

They plan to call her "Ava". On June 7th our seventh great grandchild was born here in Corvallis. She was 8 lb. with dark hair and adorable as can be. Mom and Dad are doing just fine!

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James Blake's wedding

It was a beautiful spring day, dry and sunny with a slight breeze. The walk to the top of Chip Ross Park was delightful.  Eldon was asked to marry them in the sight of all her relatives. Another ceremony will be in Hawaii at the Blake family reunion.

Kristy wrote the service and it was beautiful. She quoted 1 Cor. 13 about charity in modern language and it was perfect for a wedding ceremony. They pledged to each other and exchanged rings. At the end Eldon asked them to kiss as man and wife.

James and his family--Jayden and Joey from his previous marriage, his sweet new wife Kristy, and their daughter Abigail

Mr. and Mrs. James Blake after the ceremony

Mother’s Day in New Hampshire

Jessica and Quin and I flew to New Hampshire the same day Jason was flying home from Nevada. We planned to all be there at the airport when he arrived. Unfortunately his plane was a half hour early. We looked around and couldn’t find him and finally Sheryl has the inspiration to go look out front. There he was on a bench waiting, feeling like the guy in R.M. whose family had moved and didn’t tell him! It was great to see him again.

At the airport

It was fun to watch Jason decompress, which he was very eager to do! He watched a lot of movies and played video games with his brothers. We worked on clearing out a space in the basement for him to have a room. He wanted to go to his favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings, which had gotten outlawed on his mission. (It was a pretty worldly place.)

The Dodge guys relaxing in the hot tub

A new shipment of chicks arrived

Sheryl with her girls

Right after this photo he climbed in to retrieve the green duck

Farmer Sheryl

Jason and Quin at a playground

Hanging out with Grandpa

On Saturday I tended Quin for several hours while the Dodges took Jessica and Jason to the temple.

We also drove out to the Audubon Center and saw the displays of animals. Jonathan checked the beehives while Sheryl, Jason, Trevor and I walked out to the lake.

Today it was quite amazing to hear Jason speak in church. The topic assigned was missionaries and  mothers. He was quite down to earth. First he told how difficult the mission was especially because of the heat. He said people ask about the converts, but the one he was most excited about was himself. He said he learned to listen to the Spirit there and the Lord helped him. He quoted Harold B. Lee: “The most important of the Lord’s work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes.” He said mothers do so much of this work and his mother has been a good influence for him. He said she had been quite irritating and nagged him to go on a mission, but he’s glad she did. He said now he is glad to become a member missionary and looks forward to becoming a Dad someday.

This afternoon we all went to the beach while Jason went to the student ward. He got a calling--ward mission leader! Which he was excited about even though he had complained about all the ward council meetings he had had to attend.

Pictures from the beach:

Four generations

Curtis and Trevor

Trip to Victoria BC

The first day we stopped in Lincoln City to shop at the mall. Then we visited the Tilamook Cheese Factory for squeaky cheese and ice cream. Then we stopped at Cannon Beach because it’s famous. We stayed in Seaside at a cool motel with a kitchenette.

The next day we drove all morning in the rain to Port Angeles and caught the ferry to Victoria. We passed by the Empress Hotel and stayed in a Super 8!

The following day we spent several hours in Butchart Gardens. We were the second car in the parking lot. It’s not very crowded this time of year. The tulips were in full bloom and were spectacular. So many varieties. It would be hard to say which garden was our favorite.

The Japanese Garden

The Italian Garden

Ross Fountain

The Sunken Garden

Our final day we visited the Royal BC Museum and then wandered around the inner harbor.

The woolly mammoth

Trumpeter swans

The Empress Hotel

Chilean cuisine--prawns and mussels with lots of curry!

Farewell to Victoria. We enjoyed the ferry ride going back as the weather was sunny.

Christmas in Central Point

Plenty of chocolate!

Esther was home for Christmas!

Gideon loved his presents centered around Mr. Potato Head and Batman

The highlight of Christmas was skyping with Zachary. They had thought of questions to ask that focussed on his work. He sounded happy and enjoying his service. The language is still a large challenge. It sounds like he eats some pretty strange food there.

Christmas is coming!

We went to Portland to hear Brenda's concert, the Cantico Singers in a beautiful old church in downtown Portland. She had to audition to get in, they're that good. It must be intimidating to sing with such an elite group! Brenda and her two friends, Heidi and Allyn did "Away in a Manger" with a guitar.

Thanksgiving in New Hampshire

Getting to the Dodges was an exercise in planes, trains, and automobiles! We left the motel at 4:20 am in a shuttle van to the airport. The first leg to Chicago was uneventful. But about a half hour out of Manchester they announced the landing there was precarious and they were diverting us to Providence, Rhode Island! That was interesting. The plane was entirely full (we couldn't even sit together) so that was a lot of people stranded. Some were rather upset. We were trying to figure out how to take a train northward when this nice young man from Chicago who worked for GE helped us. He hired an Uber taxi to take us to the train station in Providence. We saw the capital building on the drive. There we took a commuter train up to Boston where the route ended. Sheryl and Jonathan came down in a snowstorm to fetch us. It took them longer because of the bad roads. The trickiest part was getting connected with them in a cold driving rain, but we finally succeeded. We got to their house about 10:30 pm. The power was out. Which meant no lights, no heat, and no water!

On Thanksgiving day first they dug out. They have a system. Jonathan does the front with a nifty snow blower and Sheryl clears off the deck. They have to make a path to the chicken coop.

Then they hooked up the generator and cooked a turkey and pies. A nice family from the ward joined us. The food was all delicious.

Grandpa peeling potatoes. Notice Jonathan's apple pie.

The power came back on Thanksgiving night. We slept in Curtis' new queen sized bed which was very nice. He is a gentle giant. We had fun playing games.

Sheryl and Jonathan recently made a new countertop. It started with a leak under the sink which inspired Jonathan to put in a new deep granite sink and faucet and so they re-did the countertop while they were at it. It is chips of granite in a filler that went right over the old countertop. It looks great!

Another interesting thing was Jonathan was harvesting honey on Thanksgiving. He shakes the honeycombs out of the frames and then melts them by or on the pellet stove and then puts the stuff through a strainer. The wax hardens again and separats from the pure honey.  It's a pretty messy operation, somewhat like canning fruit!

The day after Thanksgiving we drove out to the Audubon park where Trevor has set up an active beehive with a nice poster explaining the life of bees and how honey is made. The hive has windows you can open and look in through the glass at the bees and the honeycomb. Pretty impressive.

On Saturday Sheryl and I went to a baptism of a young man. Sheryl played the piano. He will be a fine addition to their ward. That night was a eagle scout court of honor for an Elder Parker who's leaving on his mission to the Portland Oregon Mission this week. He will be a super missionary. He has been a good friend to Trevor. In fact, seeing how the ward treats Trevor and Curtis makes me sure they are in the right place at the right time. And they are contributing to the ward too, not just receiving. It seems to me that Sheryl is nurturing unity in her Relief Society. They all love her.

Trevor loves playing the guitar

The highlight for me was attending Relief Society where Sheryl gave the lesson. She was genuine and humble. She started with a couple of personal challenges that brought the Spirit immediately into the room. She talked about 5 myths she's discovered that women believe:
1. A good woman puts everyone else's need first.
2. If I'm a good parent my children will turn out well.
3. If I'm a good person I will be blessed and free from problems.
4. What I do and how I appear determines my self esteem.
5. If I do enough good it will cancel out the bad I've done.
She had a lot of discussion, particularly about the concept of a love jug. If you're constantly pouring into others and not being replenished, you'll run dry. The best connection for replenishment is the Savior. Her lesson touched my heart and made me realize I'm enough. I'm enough!