Family Reunion Pictures

From back left to right: Dan, Stephenie, Eric, Bonnie, Michael
Front left to right: Rob, Su, Bob, Dorias.......and Charles


Hello everyone. I hijacked Su's blog so we can all see pictures from the family reunion. Some of these pictures were taken by Marsha Norwood, Dorias, Rob and I took a few also. I worked on them to help them out a little bit. Wish I could have done more. Enjoy!
Love, Karen

Monday, June 6, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

What a nice pleasant week I’ve had.  It has been so nice to be home!  Yes, the heat and humidity have been turned on for the summer here in Texas, but it is worth it to be home.

Last Tuesday morning Bob went to work at Elbit.  I slept in until I heard Eric and his family up.  We visited for a while then at noonish I got ready to go to the Cotton Patch to have lunch with Trish.  Eric and his family got ready go to Jacksboro to visit with Charles and his family.  Trish and I had a good lunch and then I went and did some grocery shopping at Walmart.  When I got home, I cleaned up on the house some more.  I then did my “Monday Chores” on the computer.  It was after 8 before Bob got home from Elbit that evening and after 9 before Eric and his family got home from Jacksboro.  I stayed up too late!

Wednesday was Temple Day and I really had trouble getting up. Bob left really early to go to work at Elbit.  Eric and his family were fixin to go down to the Houston area to see Angela’s sister that lives in Stephenie’s ward in Tomball.  I left before they did.  I picked up Sharon, Marsha, and Charlene.  We had a good day at the temple.  They are implementing direct loading of the Endowment rooms so it was new to us, but seemed to work well.  I know they do it in many other temples.  Afterwards we went to Chili’s there in Dallas for dinner.  Theda Beauchamp went with us.  We met Charlene’s daughter, Kristi, and her new husband and her three boys there.  After we ate, Theda went on her way and Kristi and her family went on their way.  The traffic was a lot better going home at that time of day.  I dropped Charlene, Marsha, and Sharon off and then came home to an empty house, which was nice and quiet.  And I was dead tired so I started to go to bed, but the missionaries got home and then Bob got home.  It was late before I got to bed.

I just moped around here on Thursday.  I worked on my computer a lot during the day.  Bob had a big presentation to do at Elbit in the morning.  When it was all over, he came home.   In the late afternoon, the missionaries helped Bob put two of our new food storage shelves together that are for rotating #10 cans.  I “supervised”.   Then Bob had to go to Cleburne on some Church work. 

Friday was Angela’s 29^th birthday and Rebecca’s 15^th birthday.  Bob went to work at Elbit in Fort Worth and I went to have breakfast with Trish and Marilyn at IHOP.  On the way home, I stopped at the bank.  When I got home, I started the laundry and cleaned my sewing room.  Then I started making 20 pillowcases for an Eagle project for a kid in our Ward.  They will be donated to a hospital for terminally ill kids.  The missionaries came home early and put the last four food storage shelves together and then they emptied half of our food storage room into the family room.  I only stopped sewing so that I could help them load four of the shelves.  Then Bob and I took them to Mesquite Pit for dinner.  It wasn’t as good as it used to be.  Maybe I’ve gotten used to the Texas Roadhouse.  When we got home, the missionaries went out to do missionary work.  Bob and I unloaded the other half of our food storage room into the family room, moved the last two shelves in and loaded them up.  We found about two cases of food that someone had stabbed with a screwdriver or knife and had punctured the cans.  We also found out that we have way too much beans, rice, and oatmeal.  We found powdered milk that we’d gotten in Florida back in about 1976.  We could use some more shelves, but don’t have room.  I wish that we had some animals that we could feed the old food to.  It will be nice to be able to rotate the food now and see what we have so that we can use it.  IF I COOKED.  I was totally exhausted when we crawled into bed a little after 10.  I hadn’t worked that hard in a long time.  I actually slept through the night which I NEVER do. 

Saturday was Jim & Marsha’s 43^rd anniversary.  Bob got up and went to the temple.  The Torres Family was going through for the first time.  Bob was Jorge’s escort.  They are such a good family and he is such a good worker. When I finally got up, I finished making the 20 pillowcases.  They turned out cute and will be much loved by the kids that receive them.  I then started working on cleaning the family room and food storage room.  I didn’t get far before I decided to take a nap—I was overwhelmed.  When Bob got home, he gave me a pep talk so I got in and worked on it for a while.  In the meantime, he went to a Stake Seminary Dinner/Graduation.  When he got home, he helped me with some of the heavy stuff and the missionaries moved some stuff out to the garage.  I was still overwhelmed, but at least I could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

Yesterday morning I got up and got ready for Church.  Our meetings went well.  When I got home, I ate and then took a nice long nap.  Bob came home around 5 to eat.  After he left, I finished reading the book “Among the Hidden” that I’d started a couple weeks ago.  Then I read the second book “Among the Impostors” by Margaret Peterson Haddix of the Shadow Children Series.  Good easy reading books. 

The missionaries got their transfer calls this morning.  Elder Stanworth is going to Granbury and Elder Berghout is staying.  The Spanish speaking missionaries are being whitewashed.  Elder Clark (our 22^nd missionary) is coming back to Weatherford along with an Island boy whom I do not know, but will get to know.  This morning I got up and started cleaning—really cleaning.  I got the food storage room, family room, the Texas bathroom, my sewing room, the main bathroom, the living room, and the kitchen/dining room all clean before Eric and his family got back from the Houston area.  I didn’t get the tile floors mopped.  Bob got home a few minutes later.  We all visited a while then went to Rosa’s Café for dinner. 

Bob and Eric’s family are now out picking tomatoes and blackberries so I guess I’ll get this on the airways.  Hope that you have a good week.  It got up to 101° yesterday and only 100° today.

Monday, May 30, 2011 (Memorial Day—observed)

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow what a week.  Last Tuesday morning Cookie and I were still in Vallejo, California.  We packed up and left for Oakland and attended an Endowment session in the Oakland Temple.  That is a huge temple.  I think that I like the small ones better.  After that we headed for Utah.  We stopped in Tracy at the In-n-Out Burger place.  My brother, Dick, has always bragged on these hamburgers.  I’d only eaten one about 15 years ago and wasn’t impressed.  This time—I was impressed.  It was really good.  Then we kept on going to Winnemucca, NV.  Now that was an experience.  We didn’t know how far that we could make it that day so we didn’t make reservations ahead of time.  Big mistake.  We ended up staying in this little hole because everything else was full.  This place was clean, but I really felt insecure.  There was no way to lock the door so I pushed a recliner in front of the door so slow anyone down if they tried to get in.  Before doing that, we went to find something to eat.  We wanted a sit down dinner, but couldn’t find anything so we ended up getting Subway sandwiches.

Wednesday morning we woke up nice and rested.  We didn’t hear a single thing all night long so I guess it was ok.  We ate the other half of our Subways then hit the road again.  We had a nice drive.  When we got back to SLC, we went to the Distribution Center and to Jordan Landing for lunch at Kneaders and some other stores in there.  From there we went to Grandma’s house in South Jordan.  We were so tired!  We didn’t do much of anything the rest of the day. 

Thursday we started the day off right with a trip to Leatherby’s for ice cream.  We took Grandma with us.  That evening Cookie and I drove to Kaysville to the wedding dinner of Nathen Pope and Roxanne.   Pope was a missionary that lived with us a couple years ago.  It was a Texas BBQ held in a friend’s barn.  It was fantastic.  There must have been 200 people there.  The food was great and the company friendly.  Pope has a really nice family.

Friday morning we got up early and drove to the Bountiful Temple to witness Pope and Roxanne’s sealing.  Pictures were taken afterwards.  Then Cookie and I went to Kneaders again for lunch.  That evening we drove back to Bountiful for the reception.  It was well attended.  Two of my missionaries came—Spencer Montgomery and Erick Hebel.  There was another missionary that had been to our house, but hadn’t lived with us.  They had crepes for refreshments that we built ourselves.  Very good.  We packed when we got back to Grandma’s.  We were exhausted.

Saturday morning Grandma took us to IHOP for breakfast.  Later, Cookie took me to the airport.  I flew from SLC to LAX to El Paso and to DFW.  I was tired.  Bob picked me up.  When we got home, Dorias’ family, Stephenie’s family, Eric’s family, and Bonnie & Jarom were there along with Dan’s family, Michael’s family and Charles’ family.   We all visited and then Matthew went home with Charles and Seth stayed here for the night.

Yesterday was Dan’s 35^th birthday and Dan & Tonia’s 12^th anniversary.  That morning Robbie’s family, Dan’s family, Michael’s family, and Charles’ family met us all at Church.  All 40 of us were there.  We took up 3 ½ middle rows.  It was neat seeing all 8 of my kids, all 8 of my spouse kids, and all 22 of my grandkids there.  AND there are two more on the way—Eric & Angela and Charles & Amber.  Some of us went home after Sacrament Meeting and others stayed the whole three hours.  Those that went home early had to help prepare our meal and get the kitchen cleaned—again.   Robbie had brought 25 pounds of smoked brisket and I had made a potato salad with 10 pounds of potatoes.  I got in and made a triple batch of my hot rolls.  When Bob got home he cooked the corn-on-the-cob.  In the meantime, Dorias made a birthday cake for Dan.  It was sure noisy around here, but everyone had fun.  Thank goodness our house is big enough and the weather was good enough outside for the kids to play.  We took a break and most of us went to Brock to see the progress of Dan’s new home.  When we got back to the house, everyone was hungry again so I made waffles (8 x recipe) for everyone.  It was late before we all got to bed.  Matthew went home with Charles again and Seth & Madison spent the night here. 

This morning everyone was back again for family pictures.  Marsha Norwood came over to take the pictures.   She is so good.  We used her camera along with Robbie’s, Karen’s, and Tonia’s.  We took them outside and they turned out nice.  After the pictures, we all went to Braum’s for ice cream.  After lunch, Dorias, Stephenie, and Bonnie packed up and headed home.  Later Charles, Robbie, Michael and Dan went home.  Eric stayed.  They will be here for about two weeks.  Later, Eric & Angela went out to dinner with Dan & Tonia.  We watched Aaron & Kaylee for Eric. 

Hope that you have a good week.

Dorias & Mark—Matthew, Rebecca, Richard & Robert

Robbie & Beth—Lauren, Landon, Emma & Eden

Stephenie & Evan—Taneal, Camie, Danielle, Spencer, Nathan, & Gavin

Dan & Tonia—Seth, Katie, Madison, & Reagan

Michael & Karen—Megan

Eric & Angela—Aaron & Kaylee (one due November 18)

Bonnie & Jarom

Charles & Amber—Sadie (one due November 27)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Here I am in Sunny California!

Last Monday afternoon I fixed a nice double batch of Cherry Chocolate Brownies for Empty Nester’s FHE.  The four missionaries were drooling for them, but they couldn’t try them until AFTER Empty Nester’s.  We ended up only having two show up for FHE so there were plenty of brownies and Blue Bell for the missionaries.

Tuesday morning we got a phone call from Charlene Pope telling us that Bill Tyree had passed away during the night.  I got up and went up to the Church to work on the May VT report.  From there I stopped by IHOP to see if Trish was there.  I just had a Diet Coke with her and then went over to Bed Bath and Beyond to get a lid for Cookie and to Miracle Nails to get my nails done.  I then drove to Fort Worth.  While there, I went to The Container Store, Hobby Lobby, and to Sam’s Club.  On the way home I stopped by at David’s Stove Shop to pick up a new pulley for our lawn tractor.  When I got home, Bob helped me put the stuff away.  That evening we went to Rosa’s Café for dinner and then Bob went to a meeting with the Stake President and I mended a pair of pants for Elder Stanworth and did some other sewing.  After that, I finished “Maze Runner” by James Dashner.  I found out that it is a series.  I decided to start another book rather than read the second in the series.  I’ll finish them some other time.  I chose “Among the Hidden” by Margaret Peterson Haddix to read next.  It is good so far.

Of course, last Wednesday was Temple Day.  Charlene Pope, Sharon Carter, and Marsha Norwood went with me.  We had a good day at the temple—busy.  We ate at Logan’s Steakhouse here in Weatherford when we got back to town.  Bob was up at the Church when I got home.  I then packed.  It was late before I got to bed.

Thursday morning I was not ready for the alarm to go off, but it did and I got up.  We left a little before 8 for DFW airport.  Bob dropped me off and then he went on to the Dallas Temple.  My plane left around 10 CDT and got to SLC at noon MDT.  Cookie picked me up.  We went to the SLC Distribution Center and then went to lunch at Kneader’s.  From there we went to Walmart at Jordan Landing and to Bon Worth in Draper.  Then we went to Grandma’s.  Soon after we got there, we took Grandma to PetsMart to pick up Lucy.  Later that evening we all went to Applebee’s for supper.  We went to bed shortly after we got home.

Friday morning Cookie and I loaded up her car and headed for Reno, Nevada.  We had a nice drive.  I’d never been in that neck of the woods.  Parts of the trip were boring, but most of it was interesting—the Great Salt Lake and all the salt fields.  When we got to Reno, we went to see the Reno Temple and then found a hotel.  When we got settled in our room, I reserved a room in the Sacramento area for Saturday night.   I then did the ward bulletin and got it sent off.  We went and got a hamburger at Burger King before going to bed.

Saturday morning we got up and had a wonderful breakfast and then we went to the Reno Temple.  Cookie forgot to bring her temple clothes and her temple recommend!  They called her Bishop so she was able to go in and they loaned her clothes.  The people were so nice and friendly.  The Endowment session was full—which was nice.  Afterwards we left Reno and drove to Folsom, California where the Sacramento Temple is located.  Also, it is where the Folsom Prison is/was located that Johnny Cash sang about. The grounds of the temple were just beautiful.  It was like a large park.  The temple was beautiful.  We got in again and went on another Endowment session which was also full.  When we entered the Celestial Room, I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was.  It was unbelievable.  From there we drove to Woodland, CA where our hotel was located.  We went to eat at Subway and then went back to our hotel and crashed.

Sunday morning we left for Magalia, CA up in the mountains to see our Cousin Doug and his wife, Peggy.  When we got there, their son, Erick, was there.  Doug has Louis Gehrig’s Disease.  Bob and I had gone to visit them back in October.  At that time he could still feed himself and walk around.  When we saw him this time, he was on Hospice and not expected to make it through the week.  We were so glad that we decided to go see him.  We stayed about 45 minutes visiting with Peggy and Erick.  It was so sad to see Doug that way, but we were happy that he was going so fast.  It would be awful to drag such a horrible disease on.  Peggy is handling it pretty well.  Cookie and I headed to the San Francisco area after our short visit.  We had pre-reserved a hotel room in Vallejo.  We rested for a while and then went to eat at Olive Garden.  When we got back to the hotel, we watched some TV and then lights out.

This morning we headed for San Francisco.  We had planned on taking a five hour tour of San Francisco and Alcatraz, but they were all sold out.  Poor planning on our part!!  We decided to just look on our own.  When we went over the Bay Bridge it was just too crowded for us country girls.  And we couldn’t find any places to park so we just took pictures of China Town, the Piers, etc.  Then we headed for the Oakland Temple to see where it was.  On our way, we got a call from our Cousin Peggy.  Doug had died at 9am.  We were SO glad that we had gone to see him the day before.  While at the visitor’s center of the Oakland Temple, a lady told us about a really good fish restaurant down the road a little ways.  She gave us the address and I put it into my GPS.  It was in San Mateo.  Well, my GPS took us on a wild goose chase.  Instead of taking us over the San Mateo bridge, it took us way down around the bay and back up to San Mateo.  We did finally end up at the Fish Market and Café, but it took about two hours to get there and it should have only been minutes.  The food was really good.  I got wild salmon and Cookie got halibut.  We then headed back to Vallejo to our hotel, but didn’t go the way that the GPS wanted us to go and we made it back to the hotel MUCH faster.

Now we are sitting it the hotel watching a stupid animated sort of movie on TV about a fox family.  I can’t send this out because the internet doesn’t work in this hotel!  I’ll send it tomorrow when we get to our next destination. 

Sorry, but that internet didn’t work there either.  This is two days late!

P.S.  Bob had his surgery on Monday.  He found out on Tuesday that they got all the melanoma.  So he went back today for them to do his reconstructive surgery.  He will be ok.