mike and ruth

We had a fun evening with the grandkids at the park while their Mom and the new baby took it easy. The evening was cool and a little breezy, just perfect for this kind of outdoor activity.

On Tuesday we had the carpet people here and they put new carpet down in the family room, the stairs to the basement, and the basement hallway. We think it looks really nice and it is great to have pad under the carpet with fresh paint. Thanks Kristen for all your hard work to get this done. She did most of the painting and helped select the bright colors. Melodie came home during this project and was put out of her room, bless her heart! She also helped with the ceiling in the family room and the hallway painting. Mel’s room is next, and we hope to get it done in the next week or so, as soon as we can get everything out into another space. Then the bathroom and we will have an almost complete renovation since the flood last summer! I took a few pictures so you could see what things look like now the painting is done and the new carpet is down. Kristen wanted to have us put the entertainment center by the north wall next to the stairs. What do you think? The sectional is placed all along a single wall which makes it look VERY long (it is!) but will accommodate everyone so all can see the screen at the same time, comfortably. Do you notice the changed curtains? The old ones are still OK but they are quite bleached by the sunlight from the past 12 years so we are trying some others that Mom got on sale somewhere and didn’t use in the kitchen. We hope you like it, and look forward to your visits during the summer.

Daphne fell off of her bed this afternoon and got a nice bump and bruise. Her mom was very worried but after a blessing she seems to be alright. Grandma and I got to take care of her for a little while while her Mom and Dad went out for a treat. She had a good time reading books, wanted the phone when grandma was talking (but didn’t want to TALK), and was a very good girl. We found that she was especially fond of holding, listening to, and looking at . . . . . my iPhone!. It is almost exactly like her Dad’s iPod Touch which she gets to play with once in a while. It was a very effective attention-getter for about 15 minutes. Then when it was time to go home she had a hard time giving it up. We had a good time together.

Today we witnessed the graduation of several hundred soldiers in the National Guard from around the country at Camp Williams. This was the culmination of a two-week intensive training for leaders in the guard. Quentin was among them and invited us to come. We sat with Sharisse, and with family members and children of other participants. We all stood for the National Anthem sung with great feeling by one of the soldiers without accompaniment. There were opening and closing prayers, which impressed us. One of the leaders got up to present special awards to two of the trainers who were being transferred to help train our soldiers in other locations in the world. Before doing so he pointed out that there were three young people in the front of the audience who immediately put their right hands over their hearts for the singing of National Anthem, and he commended them for doing so. The main speaker got up to speak and sat down in about one minute. Wow! It was nice to hear him commend those involved using only a few words and then sit down. The graduates were called up by training groups and by name, and congratulated by their trainers and leaders one by one. There no yelling or other of the usual rude interruptions during the ceremony that we frequently see from the audience at graduations these days. It was quiet, orderly, and really nice. The audience was small but very supportive. Congratulations Quentin!

We love our family! It is so fun to visit with the grandchildren who live far away when we can, and to have family nearby so we can get to know them well and they can get to know us too. We try to visit with them as often as possible. Thank goodness for telephones and for blogs, and other means by which we can keep in touch with each other. Family events where we get together with extended family are less frequent but very meaningful because they don’t happen so often and because we see our relatives from previous generations we used to spend a lot of time with. Now we and they have our own progeny to spend our time with so our ties, although strong as always, are less often revisited with activities together. Reunions are fun each year or few years, and it is always good to renew our relationship with our extended family members. We look forward to seeing them this coming summer!

Devin and I arranged for a Skype session today. It was morning for us, evening for them. We were at home in Utah, they were at their home in Finland. We missed each other a few times but we got together at 9:10 am local time, which was 6:10 pm Helsinki time. They had already had their dinner! When we started, they had not done this before and although I could see them I could not hear them. They could see and hear me so we gestured to each other a little bit to understand. Soon Devin found a small lapel microphone that he plugged in, and then I could hear them too. HOW FUN! We chatted about the weather differences there and here, about their new house, about their adventures getting to school because they still don’t have their own car, and about the large snowfall in Helsinki. Josh said they had to have someone help them because they got into a snowbank one day. The plows appaarently can’t keep up with the snowfall even though they try, so Devin said the snow on the streets was a lot like Rexburg Idaho was. (Emily did not disagree, so it must be like that!) They showed us their playroom but the rest of the house will have to wait until they get their wireless network running. I feel bad that I didn’t think of taking screen captures while Peter was very close to the camera. Well, next time! Josh also said he has been ice skating, and that at school they “played in the snow all day today”. They didn’t see any of the Olympics but heard that Finland was in the semi-finals for hockey. I have heard that Skype has a tool that will let you save the video session, so I will look into that soon. We chatted for almost 30 minutes and then when the kids could no longer let each other hold the microphone without wanting it themselves, “it was bedtime” so we ended our conversation. What an amazing experience! Next time we need to sing some Primary songs together, won’t that be fun? Maybe a little home Evening Lesson could be a part of what we do too. We look forward to seeing them again soon!

We live close enough to the MTC that taking little items to the local delivery company is fairly easy when we find something we want to ship to friends and relaties we know in the MTC. Here Kristen and Amy have finished preparing a “care package” for Sara, now in her last week at the MTC. If you want to write or send something to her before she leaves the country you have better do it right away! Please remember extended family members who are serving missions in your prayers. We want to be better at writing to them and hope you will also try to write to them more often too. We all know how meaningful letters from home or from relatives and friends are. I remember looking forward to the mail and reading about what was going on in the lives of others. Lets not “forget” them! This time of the year when it is getting warmer I am certain that it is just as hard for them to be in class (or out proselyting) as it is for our children and grandchildren. Thank you for your service, Elders and Sisters!

We were quite surprised to hear of Uncle Ralph’s passing as we were preparing to leave town for a family event in Idaho, causing us to miss the funeral. His death saddened us, but we were further saddened not to be able to participate in the services. We pray for comfort to the family. Here is the obituary:
“Frankland Ralph Kennard passed away unexpectedly Saturday December 26, 2009 in Bountiful Utah. Ralph was born October 21, 1925 in Lovell Wyoming, the second of three children born to Frankland James Kennard and Elinor Scholes. Elinor, his mother, passed away when Ralph was five years old. Several years later, when Ralph was nine, Frank married Gladys Bischoff. Subsequently there were ten more children born to the family. Ralph graduated from Logan High School. He attended Utah State University for a semester before he was drafted into the Navy. While attending officers training in Pocatello Idaho he met Theora Wells. They were married June 25, 1945 in the Logan Temple. Ralph graduated from University of Idaho, Moscow with a Bachelors degree and later a Masters degree in Music Education. He taught school in Potlatch, Idaho and later in Pocatello, Idaho. Ralph postponed his teaching to attend Brigham Young University where he graduated with a Doctoral Degree in Music Education. He moved his family to Cardston Alberta Canada where he was head of the music in the Cardston School District. Ralph loved music, teaching band, and always had an amazing band program. He took the Pocatello High School Band to the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California in 1963. Ralph was involved in community theater, co-directing many musicals. He was president of the Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Band Directors Association and later served as the National President of that organization for a number of years. He was active in the Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs in Pocatello and Cardston. When Ralph retired from teaching, he and Theora served a Family History Mission in Salt Lake City. While serving, Ralph was called to be a counselor in the mission presidency. After their mission they bought a home in Bountiful near family. Ralph has been active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all his life. He held callings as Sunday School Superintendent, Counselor in the Bishopric in a BYU student ward, Counselor in the Bishopric in his home ward in Cardston, High Counselor, and a Temple worker for many years. Ralph and Theora have seven children. They supported six of the seven on missions for the LDS church. Ralph and Theora were always very proud of their posterity. They encouraged them to achieve and were involved in their lives. Ralph was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters: Winnifred Call and Marie Tayler; brother, Robert Kennard; son-in-law, Robert Allen Taylor; and several brothers and sisters-in-law. He is survived by his wife, Theora; children: Kathleen (Garry Charles) McDowell, Pamela Taylor, Robert Kim (Candace Cook) Kennard, Marlene (Ronald Mark) Harvey, Terrell Dean (Cindy Schaerrer) Kennard, Elisa (Ronald Lynn) Speth, Tracy Keith (Estela DeLaCruz) Kennard; siblings: Dorothy Hendriksen, Rose Hoffman, Jim Kennard, Aaron Kennard, Lee Kennard, Raeburn Kennard, Roger Kennard, Joseph Kennard, Royal Kennard; 36 grandchildren; 45 great grandchildren; and many other cousins, nieces, nephews. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 10:00 a.m. at the Bountiful 43rd Ward Building, 990 North 100 West, Bountiful, Utah with a viewing at 9:00 a.m. There will also be a viewing on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, 6- 8:00 p.m. at McDougal Funeral Home, 4330 South Redwood Road, Taylorsville, Utah. Interment, Logan City Cemetery.”

[caption id="attachment_611" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Grandma and Melodie Listen to the girls"][/caption][caption id="attachment_629" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Men singing together at Thanksgiving"][/caption]We had family Thanksgiving celebrations three times this past weekend. It was great to visit with family and see how much the youngest generation has grown in the past year or more. Thursday we met with Mon’s side of the family at Uncle John’s home. It was very nice but I hadn’t had any sleep so I was not as social as I might have been. Friday more of Mom’s family met at Ed and Jean’s ward building. The Parsons were there among others we didn’t see on Thursday. I missed this one so I could get some sleep. Saturday was our family’s dinner at the Granite Tabernacle. It was very fun to see everyone who came including Eric’s newest grandchildren who I saw for the first time. It was so nice to meet Rachel’s husband and other “new” members of the family. Melodie asked that we do a little singing together to record for a part of a family audio history, which we did after dinner. I felt bad that Mark and a few others had already left but the remaining men who chose to sing with us enjoyed harmonizing together. Five of us sang a few of the hymns we have sung at family reunions in the past as well as at funeral services or other get-togethers, and then we asked the rest of the younger men to join us and sing one last hymn together, as you can see in the last photo.