Summer of 2009 Overview

This posting is an update of a few of our activities this summer! We sure had a great time together and getting to know those sweet little granddaughters better. Fun times!

As I mentioned in the earlier blog, all seven of us were together for 1 day before Scott left for his mission. (He stayed at the Missionary Training Center for about 12 weeks and as of about a week ago, he is in Taiwan - see his blog for updates on his mission - scotts2years.blogspot.com

While in Utah, we did many things. Pictured at a table at a wedding is Chris Lew, Scott and Andrew Chenn - all friends from Hong Kong. They are 3 of our 8 current missionaries from church here in Hong Kong. Chris is serving in Anaheim, California, speaking Spanish and Andrew will soon be in Sydney, Australia speaking Cantonese. It was fun for them to have this little reunion while celebrating the wedding of another HK friend, Chelsea Messick.

At the same reception, Cami is seen here with another little girl who was born about the same week as she. We thought it was cute with the little European and Chinese babies together (both are very American).

My sisters, Karen and Karla, had two of their daughters, respectively - Blaire and Sara, in Utah where we all got to visit. Sara, Blaire and Ryan are all the same age - in the order I listed them. Sara just graduated from high school and Blaire and Ryan are now seniors. They are shown here hanging out at our condo in Midway - and they're in age order!

Kate had her 3rd birthday on July 21 and Krista planned a big bash at the Spanish Fork pool and park. Here is a picture of Krista's and Travis's little family.

Arvid and I spent a wonderful weekend in Minnesota with his family. He is pictured here with 5 of his siblings and his mother, Gloria. Back row: Kevin, Karla, Arvid and Bob. Front row: Gloria, Karen and Cindy. We really had a nice visit and are currently making plans to meet up again next summer!

Ryan and I then spent a couple of weeks with my mom and Karen's other 2 kids, Barrett and Brendan. Neither Karen nor Blaire made it to that little reunion as Blaire started school very early in August. But the 5 of us had some great times together. Pictured here, we're hiking at the Garden of the Gods.

Last, but not least, I'm including a picture of Ryan with his best friend, Alex Lew - also at Chelsea Messick's wedding. We found out on Oct. 6 that Alex has cancer - lymphoblastic lymphoma. It's treatable, but may be a really tough road ahead for him. He has gone back to the U.S. to begin treatment. Ryan is doing okay so far. Our prayers and best wishes go out to Alex and his family.

Again, check out Scott's blog for updates on him. And check in here every so often to find out what we're all doing!