Julianna's Baptism

Julianna was baptized by her dad on June 27, 2009.  Shelley, Russ, Nate, and Angie joined her in Dallas to celebrate her 8th birthday and attend the baptism.  Deborah's mother also  drove down from Wichita Falls to attend the baptism.  It was nice to see our oldest grandchild taking this important first step.

Hawaii-Kauai

View from lounge chair.
Do I need to say more???




Kee beach-best snorkling.

Spouting horn-Poipu

Yes, Emma

came. Very

quiet-Waimea Canyon

Hike to the falls-Traveling

companions

Lorette and

Robin

Kayak up, yes up, the river

View from room, not bad

This view is what I woke up to

each morning

Kalapaki Beach-just steps away

Graduations in Agoura

Michael graduates from Agoura High and Rick from Lindero Middle School. Both are on to bigger and better things.

Kent Wood

I have been in California for the last 3 days, visiting Uncle Kent Wood a few times. He was looking much better yesterday and responding to me with thumbs up and smiles, eyebrow raising, etc. so I rewarded him with a foot rub (or tortured). He is still on the critical list because he has the tube down his throat for breathing and another tube inserted into his lung to inflate it. While he is in this condition the doctors have instructed the family not to disclose that Kathy has passed away. He seems to be aware that something is wrong, but has only asked about her once. His children told him that "Mom is safe." As soon as the tubes are pulled (maybe Thurs of Fri) they will gather as children and have to tell Kent about his sweetheart. There are very tender feelings among all the kids as might be imagined, but absolute confidence that Kathy is a celestial person. The love that the whole stake and Kent's friends and relatives have for both he and Kathy are overwhelming.

The good news is that his neck is not broken and they expect a full recovery. Daniel has started a blog with updates on Uncle Kent:

http://kentandkathywood.blogspot.com/

Spectacular Fall

"You're going to brake your neck" I've heard the warning a thousand times - and this time they were right. Just 100 yards from the end of the ride I drifted a few feet off the trail and got my front tire tangled in some deep weeds. The laws of physics dictate that when the object your are riding stops suddenly, bad things will happen. So over the bars I went, right onto my head.

I earned a night in the hospital and several more appointments with my hand doctor and my spine doctor. Fortunately the arthritic gunk in my spine will help things heal quickly. The broken knuckle might take a little longer.

Next time I'll try some training wheels.

More Michael

Michael graduated from Agoura High last week and is anxious to move on to BYU. He was also named first team all CIF DII Southern section and all first team county. A photo that was included in the story and short recap are found in the link below. Psych is one of my favorite show also.

http://www.venturacountystar.com/photos/galleries/2009/jun/19/all-county-boys-volleyball/1991/

Sad and Solemn News

Keith called me to tell me that Kent and Kathy Wood were returning early this morning from girls camp. Kent is in his 10th year as stake president of the Folsom stake. They were in a serious car accident while exiting Hwy 50 near their home. Kent broke his neck, fractured vertebrae, broke an arm, has a huge gash on his forehead and has a punctured lung, but is in stable condition in the hospital. Very sadly, Kathy lost her life.

Ironically today is June 20, the four year anniversary to the day of Matt and Jessica's accident.

Our hearts are broken for their family and our great love for some of the most Christ like people I have ever known.

Dahlism:

Happiness is not

a reward-it's a

Consequence.

Suffering is not a

punishment-it's a

result.

BIG NEWS!!

Guess what?!!
Nicole got accepted into a very prestigious internship at Lockheed Martin. She will be doing 6 month turns at different jobs either in the Bay area or a number of places around the country for the next two years. They only took 5 out of tons of applicants, so hats off to Nicole!!

A note about tender mercies: Nicole was transferred from a particular project several months ago that just recently got canceled (that means that many may loose their jobs). Her current project may get canceled in the near future too, so this move into this internship comes at a pivotal time. In the mist of life, I hope we look hard to see the tender mercies.

Brooke's Palo Verde High School graduation was held at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center.

Brooke graduated from Palo Verde High School this past week.  She will be attending BYU this fall.

Dahlism:

Decent people are

easy to attack.

Elijah's Baptism

Real Men and their bikes. We headed out to Saratoga Springs in search of some good road biking. Connor and Gabe tested some mountain bikes at a biking park (their favorite cycles ran $6,000 each - dream on). Connor had horrible allergies and kept asking me to ride faster so he could get back to an air conditioned car. Peddling as hard as I could, I was no match for the fast and furious. Dave seems to think that it has nothing to do with my bike, just a "slow motor".

Cannon Video Time!

For those of you who remember the old muppet sketch... The kids have a CD with this on it, and love it! They sing along so often, we figured they were ready to take their show on the road.