Our first grandson home from his mission to Tulsa Oklahoma. Welcome Home Jordan! What a royal homecoming.

Monday morning Brinley, Anna, and Elsie came over to learn to make pies. So fun, and the pies turned out great. I love these three girls.

Hard to believe I'm posting again

already - it hasn't been quite a

year yet. This is a bumper year for

us grandparents: three new

grandbaby boys. Brandon and

Steph's little Jack, born in May,

Bryant and Bonnie's little Bennett,

born in July, and Cam and Kasey

are expecting a boy in December.

This summer has gone fast - way

too much to recap, but highlights

included a cruise to the Bahamas

in May with Sherell and Larry, the

grandkids reunion in June, and

our family reunion in July. All so

fun! We look forward to a vacation

in Hawaii in January to visit Jared

and Steph's family, now residents

there. We have been on the golf

course a number of times, and our

scores just keep climbing - Nice!

We still love working on our little

three acre (farm); as dad would

say, we just need a few pigs to

complete it.

Wow - the last five weeks flew by. An update on Bob - he's doing better and is getting in full days for the most part. We golfed last week (no driving yet for him), but the weather has been so beautiful that we're taking advantage of things we normally can't do this late in the fall. I went fishing with Jantzen, my 8-year old grandson and it was so fun. We both caught some nice fish - he caught three and I caught two. We ate two of them for dinner today. Life's good!

Six Weeks!

Yesterday marked six weeks since Bob's surgery. It seems like forever and it seems like yesterday. So glad we're this far because he's doing quite well, stronger and stronger. He mowed the lawn (riding a mower isn't too taxing), and the cardiologist said he can start regular bicycle riding - one of our favorite things here in Hibbard. Such a relaxing, peaceful setting (except when the winds are hurricane force).

...And I am enjoying not having to get up early and head to school. I've always loved to dawdle; I'm getting really good at it again. It makes me wonder who those people were that lived that busy schedule with eight children; this is definitely different. It would be hard to go back though those were great times. Sometimes I still get melancholy for them, especially their teenage years. But what can beat grandkids?

Better!

Just a short post to say that the roller coaster is moving up again, and it has been nice to have 3-4 good days in a row. Bob has been able to attend some of his meetings and do more things around the house and yard - maybe too much. Just resuming a somewhat normal life for him seems like a wonderful blessing. We look forward to even better days ahead. He is at physical therapy three days a week, which has been good.

A Few Challenging Days

Logic would dictate that every few days, I should be posting improvement in Bob's health, but this has been one of those lengthy dips. A week ago he walked a mile and everything seemed steadily upward, but the next day he began feeling weak and "sick all over"; he feels like he has gone back two weeks or more. Crazy! But all the tests seem normal and there is no real explanation. So I guess we'll try to be patient and accepting. Difficult for Bob. In June we booked a New England cruise for Sept. 12-19 with a couple of days in New York before setting sail. We have decided to cancel that; besides it sounds like some pretty hairy weather in that area for the next little while. But we hope for better days ahead. After all it was "heart surgery" - not a small thing.