JUNE AND STILL THE VIRUS

JUNE IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

Started with Molly, Lily and Jonny coming so I could take some pictures.  We love it any time grands come.  We were sorry that when they left Erik brought Camden and Asher to mow the lawns.  We were hoping they would be able to see each other.  They love to be together.  We were so happy that Asher came to mow this time.  He did a great job and just loved seeing him.  It is always nice to be with family.                                                     

Asher and Erik

Camden with the blower

 Tuesday Parker left for Eugene, Oregon to continue his mission.  We are so excited that he wants to do this. He will serve with all his heart to the people he come in contact with.  He is an amazing young man.
The next day was his birthday and he turned 19.  What an adventure he has had.  He left for the MTC in September going to Japan, Kobe, where his dad served.  Due to the pandemic he was put in quarantine in Japan then after a few months sent home and put again in quarantine again.  He is so excited that he can now go out and serve in Oregon.  He will be wonderful in serving the Lord.  He has a great family behind him and he loves the Lord.  We are so blessed.

 An obedient missionary

That evening we took dinner to Vanita and Vernon Law.  They are such wonderful friends but Vanita just got home from a serious stroke.  We were thrilled to take them dinner.
Thursday, the 4th, Dad and some teachers he worked with, went to see Danny Throckmorton who has been very ill with serious heart problems..  They had a great time sharing stories of the "good ole days"

George, Mike Barker, Troy Hulse and  Danny

Friday we had so much fun in that we went to our mountain property.  We have 7 acres in Soldier Summit.  There are very few cabins and so it is beautiful with so many trees, especially pine and aspens.   We had lunch and just enjoyed the beauty and fresh mountain air.  We wish we had a cabin but are so grateful for the land.

Lightning and thunder encouraged us to head home.

Saturday was a chilly day with much rain so we worked in our fruit room organizing things.  Dad did most of it and it looks so much better.

It hasn't rained that hard for a long time, even a little hail.

While it rained so hard at home the mountains had snow. (garden view)

Sunday I bore my testimony on our family service.  I am always happy to let people, especially my family know that I know the restored church of Jesus Christ is so true and the only one on earth.  God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus is His Son and the Savior of the world.  It is all true.  Clark gave an amazing talk on Alma 5.  It is so true and if you think about it so rewarding to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Tiff and Scott couldn't get on and were so missed.

Monday we worked in the basement again.  We got rid of some books and made room for some "vintage" helmets Dad had stuffed in a barrel.

  We even put together a broken old butter churn.

Wednesday, June 10th, Lily turned 15. 

her birthday cake

She is such a special granddaughter.  She can out work any boy her age and works with such vigor.  She planted all our potatoes this year and many tomatoes, peppers, and did whatever needed to be done.  She always does more than her share of the work.  She loves her family as is so glad they have added Watts, the dog.

She has grown into such a beautiful young lady right before our eyes.  She and Granddad have an ongoing "who can out do the other".  They just go at each other in so much fun.  It keeps granddad on his toes.  She is always there to help others and is a joy to be around.  We were invited to her birthday dinner of shrimp and a yummy soup-sauce.  I don't like shrimp but this was really good.  When we were ready to go home Erik and his family came to congratulate Lily.  It was so much fun to be with both families.  We were so excited to see them that I forgot to take a picture.

Monday was such a nice day that Dad worked on a staff under the cool of the umbrella.

not finished yet

Tuesday we watched Ava dance in a competition on our computer that we showed on our big screen TV.  She was amazing and performed solo and in a trio.  It is so fun to watch her and see the moves her body can do.

Saturday the 13th Dave Freeman came by with pictures of our wedding almost 54 years ago.  My dad had taken them but no one was able to develop them because they were so old.  My dad never had it done at the time.  This was the first we had been able to see them more than a negative.  We were so young and it was so fun to look at them.

 Julie Ann, Mikki (Geo sisters)us Geo brother Eric, Nancy's parents, George's parents          

 cutting the cake

 us

with parents

Sunday meeting was on Google because Tiff and Scott could not get on Zoom.  Clark and Scott were no there but Elder Riley Bayles was and shared his testimony.  David gave a great talk and Baylie played the piano.  It is always good.  When it was over we had the sacrament.  Too special to talk about.

Monday we did a little shopping and got a basket for our antique Schwinn bike. Asher and Camden with Erik and Shanelle came to mow the lawn.  Love when we see them but don't post every time.
Tuesday was a little chilly and we woke up to such beauty.

  Wednesday the 17th, was our happy news that David (Kristin's husband) got a new job as the music teacher 20 minutes from their home. We are all so excited.  

To celebrate we got dinner from Texas Roadhouse.

Thursday was a good day because we bought the first fresh corn on the cob for a hamburger dinner.  We love the place we buy this each year.  We did not plant any of our own.  The next day the girls sent us cookies and ice cream from Crumbles.  It took us 3 days to eat it all.  Can't describe how good they are.  It was for Father's Day.
Father's Day was Sunday the 21st.  Kristin orchestrated an amazing program online that had every family individually tell granddad why they loved him.  Of course we bawled.  It was so refreshing to hear each one tell how they felt.  Sometimes you need that to know that you did something right in life.  It was beautiful.  I won't say how many times we watched it and how many times I listed to mine.  They are treasures and each family can make a copy for themselves on their own devices.  Technology can be so wonderful.
We had our family meeting with Clark's family in charge.  We live for this time.  Ava and Clark gave the talks and did so well.  We love this time together to learn about each other and the doctrine of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
After awhile Scott and his family came over for a few hours and a card for dinner at Out Back.  We loved just sitting and visiting under the pergola.  Rowan entertained us with her dance routine.  At 5:00 we headed to Clark's home for dinner.  Dianne never disappoints us with her meals. the girls joined in, as always, and we feasted.  We were thrilled that Hailey could join us.  We love being in their home.

 check out the curly hair

Monday the 22nd, the boys came to mow.  they save us such worry and hard work.  They do a great job.

Tuesday we got word that Kristin's family had left for the West but broke down in Alabama.  They were blessed that a tow truck could haul them to a repair shop and they were on their way again.  They missed their time at Graceland in Tennessee but were able to reschedule Elvis the next day.

 At 1:00 we went to Rowan's first dance performance.  She knew every step and we were so proud of her.  Scott gave her a bouquet of red roses like the rose in Beauty and the Beast and she thought she was the luckiest girl ever.  She is so fun.

sorry about the blurry one on stage

the gtoup

We went back at 7 and watched Ava dance.  She was in 8 numbers, one solo and 1 trio and the rest groups.  She lives to dance and it shows when she gets on stage.

She can really move her body in so many ways.  She's beautiful to watch.  She even did a tap number and we really enjoyed the ballet numbers.  It lasted until 9:30 but was never boring.  Scott gave her flowers too.

Wednesday, June 24th, we went to a city meeting with Mayor Kafusi and her team about the neighbors diagonal across the street.  We went with bishop Piggot and Brother Woodard.  The home is a drug house and we are in such an incredible neighborhood called Grandview Hill.  The house is a mess and all kinds of people are coming and going at all times.  We are concerned because there are times we do not feel real safe.  We made our remarks and hope that something will come of it.  We have shown pictures in the past of the police taking people out in handcuffs.  It puts a damper on the other homes.
Friday, June 26th, Kristin and family have traveled across the USA from South Carolina, and are finally at Tiffani's in Vegas.  I think they got there yesterday.

 sisters and cousins

You will have to go to Kristin's to follow their adventuresome trip.  They even took in Graceland.
Saturday we cleaned the kitchen in the church.  We love being able to do this especially in that we can't go to Sunday meeting because of our age.
At 5:00 that evening Scott's family came to grind out 3 stumps in our yard.

It was very hot and a lot of work. Because they returned the huge edger, with wheels, Dad did the edges of the lawn and the girls cleaned up the leftovers.

 Rowan was great with putting the scraps in the bucket.

Not so much with the sweeping but she worked hard.

Never tired Bethany, worked forever on my berm.  She pulled out all my old poppies and daisies.  Ava helped her and Nixon jumped in the garbage can to push the weeds down.  The kids all gathered their friends, the slugs, put them in families, and gave them names.  Such is life.  The berm looks so much better.  They are coming Monday to help again.  How am I going to get rid of those snail/slugs?

Not sure which day but we certainly had some bad wind all day and night.

Sunday was the best because the chapters studied in Alma were acted out.  Who knew Ammon had light sabers?  Clark was a great King Lamoni.  Clara was in charge of the meeting. We were so happy to see Grandpa Goates looking so good.  The brain surgery is finally doing great.  How wonderful it is to share the Book of Mormon with family.
Monday Erik, Shanelle, Camden and Asher came to do the lawns.  We love it when so many come and we can see them.  They do such a good job and we love them so much.
This month has been filled a with so many  blessings.  We love that we have 2 grandson's on missions, serving the Lord so well.  We love that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth and that we have a prophet of God leading and guiding us as we strive to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We love each other more every day and love that our children are striving so faithfully to be good parents and living such good lives.  Nothing in this life is more important that being forever families so that we can be together forever.  We are grateful that not one of them has been hurt by the virus and all are healthy and strong.  Our purpose on this earth is to live as families and follow Christ so that we can have eternal blessings with our Father in Heaven and our families.

MAY DAY AND THE VIRUS

We love that our grandchildren read the old newsletters as well as the current ones.  Baylie reads them before she goes to bed at night.  Try it.

May started off with making Dutch Oven potatoes in our cast iron porcelain pot.  We had never used it and were nervous but the result was so good.  They were not as good as over a fire but we gobbled them down.  We will do that more often.
We are handling the virus as well as can be expected but so miss being able to be with family more. We feel blessed to be healthy and safe.  We have cancelled 4 doctor appointments and will get them later.  We are blessed to have the family we do and know that we are led by a prophet of God.  We will follow him.  We love tht every Sunday we do church on ZOOM  with the family and get to hear their ideas and learn of Him.
Monday, the 4th, Clark's family including Ashley and the boys helped in planting the garden.  Clark, Jonny and Dad loaded all the branches from the snowball tree (bush) into Clark's trailer.  It filled the trailer.  The girls went home and the boys and I went to the dump to unload.(N0 Pictures)
Wednesday I was able to have my check-up on the phone with Dr. Nizam concerning my thyroid.  I'm doing great.  What a way to see the doctor.  That afternoon we had every carpet in the house cleaned.  Looks like new.
The next day we changed our phone and TV service to save some money.  Not sure that was a good idea but we will get used to Dish.
Friday we had a wonderful visit with a friend my family helped teach the restored gospel.  He was greatly influenced by my father and went to Ricks for school.  We traveled together from Dayton by train to BYU and then my brother, Del took him on to Ricks.  I gave him the pamphlet "Meet the Mormons" and talked about it all the way.  When he got to Ricks and went to a Stake Conference, he told the missionaries he didn't want more.  That didn't last long; good missionaries.  He is from a little town, Piqua in Ohio.  He worked at the Scout Camp in Camden, Woodland Trails.  I spent many good summers here when in high school and while at BYU.

 My dad designed this chapel so it would be good for any religion.

 The camp had a man-made lake for the Scouts to learn water skills.

Order of the arrow were incredible along the lake.

 The camp even had a horse ranch where the Scouts could ride.

Sorry for this addition but it has brought so many wonderful memories to me.

Mothers' Day, May 10th was as always wonderful.  Kristin had all the families on a computer express their feelings about me.  Of course I bawled, as usual.  It was something I will play often when I am not feeling so good in my roll, and when I am happy to have been involved in their lives.  I love each one of them so much I can't even express it.

                                                

 Dad's flowers

girls flowers

mixed them together after a week

Scott and Bethany's flowers

I am so spoiled but I do love flowers.  Erik, Shanelle and boys came by and gave us a yummy pudding tht I had never tasted and it was so good.  We loved seeing them.  We learned that Parker will continue his mission in the Oregon, Eugene, mission on June 2nd.  We are so excited for him.  He is a great young man and so yearning to continue his service as a missionary.

Wednesday we tried to figure out how to get back to Direct TV.  We did it but it cost a great deal of cash.  We just couldn't enjoy Dish.  The mall was empty when we went to choose covers for our phone.  People are being careful.  We always wear masks.

People are stopping to enjoy our berm which we did not plant but this spring has taken over with Poppys and Johnny Jump-ups.  They want seeds and we have plenty.  The Snowball bush is so beautiful.

Friday the 15th I had a stress test done on my heart.  It took 4 hours but the results were so good.  I am just old and tired but healthy and can be very active.  Life is great.
Clark  and the kids came by to give us milk and lettuce.  They are so good and help us so much.
Saturday we bought 2 new folding 6' tables for Pine Valley.  Our old one will not fit in Dad's new truck.
Sunday we tried to watch church on Zoom but we could see the families but for some reason had no sound.  We figured it out when it was just about over.  We got all the fun things after the service so it was OK.
Wednesday the 20th.  We cannot camp or take the trailer anyplace without Scott to do all the lifting and packing.  That is a very hard thing to admit but it's just true.  We are so glad his family is going too.  Scott went with Dad to hook up the trailer because the hitch is just too heavy.  The 2 generators we use are really heavy.  It was nice because Scott was able to put a lot of his stuff in the truck and then in the trailer.  It is so nice to have so much room.  We took Camden his birthday card and Parker a card with a little money in case he needs it to settle in his new assignment.
Friday Scott and Beth left when they got up and ready.  Dad had a cardiologist appointment with Dr. Hwang at 8 and we planned to leave around 8:30.  Dr. Hwang doesn't mess around and is very thorough and fast.  After waiting for an hour and a half I called Dad.  The doctor was called in an emergency and was an hour late.  He found something he didn't like on the recording of Dad's pace maker.  He was worried tht some wires had come loose so he had an Xray ordered.  They found some unusual happenings yesterday morning at 9.  He studied it and Dad left.  We were then on our way.  After awhile Dad informed me he didn't tell the doctor he was going camping.  Shocker!
We finally got away at 11:00 and stopped in Beaver for ice cream, the best ever.  A big sign on the door said tht people must wear a mask.  We found 2 other people with masks on and the place was loaded.  No one was on the 6' markers.  We did get cheese and ice cream.  Sorry.

We made it to Pine Valley in time for home-made chicken noodle soup and Navajo Tacos.  So good.

After we pulled in we found that the electricity and water did not work.  Our wonderful camp host came over and gave us a new fuse for the electricity and showed us a broken line for the water pump.  Dad figured a way to join the hoses and we had a pump and everything worked great.

Richard our camp host even got in the trailer and under the sink.  He and his wife were great.

Rowan, Ava, Nixon, Cameron, Lauryn  Ava and Nix thought it was to be a crazy one

the 3

tiny lizards  not fast enough for these kids

This was the girls' find  UGH

close-up
Nixon and one of the Nebeker cousins mad a fort along a stream.

 Saturday, May 23rd, Scott turned 41.  He is a great husband to Bethany and a a wonderful dad for three very fun children.  He loves to do anything that lets him be with his family and extended family.  He is a great painter and always there to help us.  We loved that he joined us camping.

 We had so much fun all day; fishing, climbing, riding bikes on very safe trails, eating, visiting, eating junk, and just having fun.

I was busy every minute.

That afternoon we went to a little hole in the road called Veyo.  It is not far from St. George.  We have never in our lives tasted better pie.  People come from everywhere to get some.  We did our best to get lots.

Our favorites are banana cream, caramel apple and mountain berry.  Yummm!!!
That night we had yummy hamburgers with of course, Dutch Oven Spuds.  Scott and Bethany did the meat and Tiff did the spuds.  It's why we come.  When it started getting dark, Scott put up their portable movie screen and Bethany, a surprise, put up all kinds of Star Wars Decor.  She gave everyone a Star Wars mask to wear

and had an amazing Star Wars cake she had someone bake, topped with Yoda, on the table.  Scott was so happy.  When it got dark people from the Jennings' ward brought chairs and we watched A Star Wars Movie.  It was loud, cold and wonderful.  What a treat.

Camden John Bayles turned 15 Sunday.  We missed that he wasn't camping with us but we know he had a great day.  Shanelle makes sure of that.  He is someone who notices when help is needed and no matter how tired he is he will come to the rescue.  He is very kind and loves about everything.  We love that he and Kolton mow our lawns every week.  They do such a good job.  He is a young man who loves being involved in things at his school and the girls think he is very cute. We agree.  He lives a clean and honest life and we love him so much.
Monday we packed and headed home. 

That is always a hard day because we have to leave everyone.  We had such a great time and did absolutely nothing we didn't want to.  Everyone did all the work and we just enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings.  We could never be with the family like this if everyone, especially Scott, didn't do all the hard lifting and carrying.  We just love being together and hope we can do this with more of our children.  Families are forever and we love each and every one, even the in-laws.
Tuesday was cleaning the trailer, washing clothes, tending the garden and all those things you do when you get home.  Scott came and helped dad dump the lovely bathroom and kitchen lines, put all our heavy things away, and unhook the trailer and park it.  No longer can we do those things but love all the help we get.

Thursday, the 28th Dad did family history most of the day.  He is finding such amazing things.  He found a little girl who had not been sealed to her family but all the other children had.  We can't wait to return to the temple so we can do this work.  Kristin asked him to look for Bayles cemeteries and he is finding names but they have mostly been done.  He loves it when he finds one who was left out and he can reserve the name.  The restored gospel of Jesus Christ is so true and such a blessing in our lives.  We love that we are forever as families.
Friday we got a surprise visit from The Gulls.

Kelsey was a young woman in our Caswell ward on our first mission.  She found a good man in the military in North Carolina (he is from Parowan)and they married in the St. George Temple.  They now have 2 beautiful daughters and we loved having them here for a few hours.  They live in Caswell next to the church building and across the road from her parents.  Her parents live on a huge country side with horses, cows, chickens and whatever.  their home is like a Hallmark movie.  They are such gracious and giving people.
Saturday Clark's family came to put 15 bags of bark around the roses and fruit trees.  There was already some down from last year but it just need a little sprucing up.

They helped in planting all of it.

closest they'll get to a man with the pandemic

A real team of farmers.

We just can't do without the help from our valley families.

                 The end of my Mother's Day flowers, just added a few roses from the yard.
The last day of the month was a perfect Sunday.  We love these family times. Scott conducted and Jalen gave a beautiful testimony after which Dianne gave a wonderful talk.  We were so happy to see her mom and dad with us in that they are staying at Clark's home until David is ready to be home.  His brain surgery went well  and he is healing under the guidance of Dianne and her mother, Patsy.

Again, we are thrilled to have the true restored gospel in our lives.  This pandemic ha been hard but our prophet prepared us for it with his inspiration on every day living.  If we follow the prophet we cannot fail.  We are so grateful to have President Russell M. Nelson in our lives to guide and direct us in everything we do.  We are so grateful for the plan of salvation and that families are forever.  We are so blessed to have these beautiful families forever and to know that we are also sealed to those who came before.  We can endure anything as long as we have our families forever.  We love you all.