Carolyn's 20th Birthday Party

Carolyn was surprised by her 20th birthday celebration. Even Kathryn kept the secret.

29 Years and Going Strong

Lucy and Curtis spent their 29th anniversary at Pacific Grove. The scenary was breathtaking and they greatly enjoyed their leasurely (and cold) walks along the beach. The black dot in the left area of the ocean was an otter.

How incredible that the Creator of this beautiful and powerful ocean even cares about us.


Their room at the Bide-A-Wee Hotel had a very cozy fireplace. It was hard for Curtis to get warm after the walks in the 30+ degree weather at the beach.

Darcy gets a rest... ... and Curtis was cold.

Darcy was scared of the starfish...

...and this buck.

On their walk Lucy and Curtis met Bonnie, a three legged dog. She was enjoying her walk despite the obvious challenge of having only three legs. Life is never perfect but we need to enjoy the good times of life and not dwell on the problems.

Home Alone

This last weekend Lucy and Curtis took Briana down to Azusa Pacific University to begin her life as a nurse in training. There were meetings and a thousand details to complete but Briana is now settled and on her own. Incidentally Lucy and Curtis are now "Home Alone", with an empty nest (except for three dogs). Lucy and Curtis are adjusting to the changes.

If Briana gets lonely she can always go sit by "Metal Man." Actually I hear the support group and team that develops in the students in the nursing program is very good. The instructors really push the nursing students and the students become good friends as they struggle together.
This is Briana's dorm, called Engstrom.
The students at APU are cougars. There is a fun game that is on their site of the above view. Click here and then click "Cougar Walk" and the start button. Lucy and Briana really like the game, Curtis does not play games.

Rachel and Jedidiah are Married

Rachel and Jedidiah were married in Wisconsin on December 30. Lucy, Briana and Curtis flew to Wisconsin to participate in the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and all eleven of Rachel's brothers and sisters participated in it. Rachel made her wedding dress and the bridesmaids made their dresses. Slideshows were viewed with fond memories of Rachel and Jedidiah's formative years. Rachel and Jedidiah plan to be missionaries, Jedidiah will finish school this summer.


Lucy loved getting to know Patrick while his parents were participating in the wedding. They sat in the back and Lucy kept him quietly amused. After finishing his ushering duties Curtis assisted in the childcare. Curtis rotated the toys to help keep him amused. Then when the toys were not enough the trumpcards were used--peas. Patrick would carefully pick one pea and place it in his mouth. When an errant pea went down on the cloth pew or rug Curtis would retrieve and properly dispose of the pea. When Patrick got tired of the one-by-one approach he grabbed a handful. We stopped the handful approach and Lucy would give him the peas, which he would grab and place in his own mouth. If Lucy stopped giving him peas he would place Lucy's hand in the pea container. Lucy and Curtis had great fun.

Lucy, Curtis and Briana stayed with Amber and Louie, the toy poodle, while in Wisconsin. We had wonderful times visiting and Amber had many life memories to share, which we greatly enjoyed. She has many crafts and we were fascinated by them. Her home was filled with precious creations and memory items, which were fun to explore. It felt a little like some of the episodes from the Chronicles of Narnia.