Couldn't Resist

The past few months I have gotten into some serious blogging.  I have it down to a science, and can do it quickly.  In a way, it's journal-keeping.  It helps me remember the little things.  It allows me to express my thoughts and feelings.  And my kids read it (that's the best part).  As I was looking for a picture to use on my blog today, I came across a disc that my parents made.  I think it came with the photo album they gave me a year (or two?) ago.  It was in the back.  It was titled Scanned Slides from Mom and Dad.  We got a new computer for Christmas, and a whole new (and easier) world has opened up for me, especially in the picture category.  My parents had given me another disc more recently, and I have downloaded those fun old pictures into my file, so I thought perhaps the disc I ran across today was the same one.  I was thrilled when I put it in to find TONS of new old family pictures.  (Did that even make sense?)  I couldn't help but to share a few.  Especially because I can... quickly and easily.  And this sad family blog has not be updated for quite some time.

Enjoy...

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the pictures... we love them!


~The Syddall Family

Enjoying the Snow

Funny how a week of single-digit temperatures can make 25 degrees feel warm.

The cold weather didn’t provide any good packing snow, so the kids and I were happy when the “warmer weather” finally helped us out. In fact, the snow was so heavy that I’d guess this snowman is 500 pounds.

We’ve been keeping very busy, with Calle and Christian in school and Larkin and Lincoln in charge of mess-making. Christian earned his camouflage belt in taekwondo and seems to really enjoy it. His instructor is excellent with the kids and they really seem to pick it up quickly. Even Lia is thinking of trying a little taekwondo in the coming year.

We are enjoying the holiday season. Rather than setting up a big Christmas tree this year, we set up four small trees on a shelf (out of reach of Larkin and Lincoln) and decorated one for each of the kids. It’s working out okay, but I do kind of miss the feel of a larger tree. Maybe next year.

We hope that we can all strive to keep the spirit of this wonderful holiday in our hearts all year.

Love,

Lincoln, Larkin, Christian, Calle, Lia, Matt

Reconnecting to our Goldsberry Heritage

Hi Family--

Just a quick note. Over UEA weekend we went to the site where the Martin Handcart Company holed up, nearly freezing to death before they were rescued. We had a spiritually rewarding visit, and thought a lot about Richard Bradshaw (great-grandfather to Kent, Dick, and Beverly) who was in that company with his brother, three sisters, and mother, Elizabeth Bradshaw. She was twice-widowed, but still had the testimony to get on a boat and sail to America to join the saints in Zion. Their story is included in the book at the Cove's Visitor's Center. Very poignant....and causes me to ponder my level of faith. Here are some pictures. I encourage any you who are interested to visit the site.

Very Moving.

David and Mary Lou

Carol's Family Letter

Dear Family,

Well....I got a good start on this letter back on Sept. 27th....then had several pretty important interuptions....so it is now October 6th, and I will start again! I just finished reading all the letters so far and have enjoyed them immensely!

I will now try to catch you up on the Greg - Clark - Carol household! (thank you Kent, for getting this on the Blog. My computer is old and extremely tempermental and 'wo is me if I should hold a key down a little too long ...or type too fast... or maybe stop long enough to feverishly think what my next comment is going to be!' Then a little message jumps to the screen..we are experiencing some difficulty and you will have to log out!...Anyway .....the minute I see Santa in one of the Provo stores I'll be on his lap asking him for a new computer!!

It's been a very busy few months for Clark. He has taken some very time-consuming classes at UVU..plus trying to get enough work hours in at his work..(he works for the "Monticello Apts. and does a multitude of maintenance things. Painting, calking, doing minor plumbing ... electrical...etc repairs....pool cleaning...landscaping...it's a very big complex and something always needs to be done. He says he is learning 'Tons'......Every month or so he helps with 'Inspections' of the outgoing student/tenants. He quite enjoys most of the 'jobs' maybe with the unplugging of the toilets being on the bottom of his list!!

His church calling is also quite time consuming. He's in charge of FHE in his student ward. He has an assitant and can always call on more to help. He has to get a teacher or speaker for almost every week.(a member of the Bishopric speaks once a month)...Then once in awhile he plans a big activity that takes up the whole evening. He really seems to enjoy it.

Greg went on his annual "Wind Rivers fishing trip to Wyoming in the early part of Sept. He always enjoys that so much, but they decided they wouldn't go in September again. That rugged Wyoming Mountain range gets too cold and wet! They still enjoyed catching those golden trout and hiking those beautiful mountains though!

Jasons Spamalot tour is just about finished. He's hoping to take a fer weeks off before doing another one. He has had some contacts of tours coming up. There has never been a time that opportunities weren't there! It will be exciting to see what he'll be doing next. I will be glad when he finds a good place that he loves and will make it his home and refuge...but he hasn't seemed to have found it yet! He is such a good man and is known and loved by many.....especially by his family!! We thoroughly enjoy his visits!

Summer sure flew by for me. Almost all of July and August I spent in Calif.....going back and forth from Livermore (North) to Redlands (South). It was exciting to meet my grandson Elder John Goldsberry at the Oakland Airport as he returned from his Mexico/Tiajuana mission. He looked SO good and his homecoming talk was very special. After spending an enjoyable week there in Livermore I went down to Redlands and spent alot of time with my sister, Colleen..It was especially nice as Jason was staying there while his musical tour Spamalot was performing in L.A. Then Clark drove down to Redlands after his summer quarter and he and I stayed awhile longer then back to Livermore and Lake Tahoe for a little family reunion. We thoroughly enjoyed all the delicious meals and fun games they had all put together...but we missed Mark & Joy and Brian & Cristys families. They couldn't make it. Joy had so much on her plate this summer...spending time between Utah & Colorado as her dad suffered with terminal cancer. Then he passed away and they had to help with all the arrangements and details. He was surely a good man and will be missed by many.

By the time the Reunion was being planned Brian had no Vacation time left ...so they were unable to attend. We really missed them. Both of those Utah families are such an important part of our family!!

Thank you all for being a part of our family! How nice it would be if we all lived close enough that we were 'just a thought a way'...(isn't that what it's supposed to be like in heaven? ) Speaking of heaven...wasn't conference wonderful? How marvelous it is to invite our dear prophet and his apostles into our homes....and there they are!! I had a few prayers answered in some of those talks!! Hope you all did, too! I love you so much!!.......Carol.....

Just a click away...

Hello all,

It is wonderful to see other's pictures and read about the goings-on.

Feel free to always visit us for the latest and greatest, or rather what crazy adventure we're into now.

We're just a click away... www.goldsberryadventures.blogspot.com
(check out the 'Links' section on this page)

Love,
Matt, Lia, Calle, Christian, Larkin and Lincoln

Family Letter... at last!

Dear Family,

So, I've never written on a blog before. I know... I'm a little behind the times, but I'm really just a little behind ALL of the time (although I don't really have a little behind... hahaha). I actually have a Facebook account, but can't remember the last time I visited it. And the only reason I have one at all is so I can occasionally check in on what's going on in the lives of my kids! Things always seem to be crazy around our house.

As I glanced over the recently posted letters I noticed the beautiful pictures of gardens and produce... our garden has once again produced very little. I guess it's the Colorado weather? or the soil? or maybe just inattentive caretakers? I just picked our first three slightly mushy tomatoes from our extremely large but ugly tomato plants. We also managed a little basil, and we have two pretty gnarly pumpkins, one of which is actually turning orange. I think it's supposed to freeze this week, so I think it's almost time to pull everything up and decide once again if we should put up a shed on our garden plot. For some reason I always hold out hope in the spring that THIS will be our killer garden year.

We just returned from visiting Britta in Provo this past weekend. It was fun to meet her roommates and some of her friends. She had a lot going while we were there (work, school, 2 tests...) so we only added to the schedule, but it was fun to attend the game and spend some time on the BYU campus. Britta and Sam are in the same ward and live right across the street from each other, so it's nice to know that she has a cousin close by.

We love hearing from Taylor each week as he serves in Mexico... he has had some challenges, but seems to be able to keep a positive attitude and is learning so much. If you want to see pictures or read some of his letters, you can go to missionsite.net and search "Syddall."

Lexee is cheerleading at her school again this year, which keeps her super busy. It's actually her birthday today, and her schedule is so loaded, we are still trying to figure out how we can celebrate with her today. She will be getting her drivers license within the month, so we are all looking forward to that momentous day. It will be wonderful for her to have the ability to get herself to all her practices and games... not to mention to have an extra driver for those times when I need some assistance. She is also excited to get her braces off...the ortho says November.

Shilo just started participating on a year-round swim team. She hasn't had a meet yet, but is practicing three times a week. She is in eighth grade and is enjoying school. Mauri just started piano lessons and is currently our only child in elementary school and on a year-round schedule. She is off-track right now, which comes with it's blessings and curses. She is in 3rd grade, so she still has a while before getting on a schedule with the other girls. Our school district is currently deciding whether or not to put the 6th graders in the middle school with the 7th and 8th graders. I think it's pretty much a done deal, so that will put her on a traditional schedule a year earlier.

Bill started a new job in April and is enjoying it except for the 48-mile commute one-way. We are hoping that he will eventually be working closer to home (maybe in a year or so). I feel like life is as busy as ever, even with only 3 children currently at home... I must be doing it wrong!

Enjoy the beautiful Fall weather... it's my favorite!

Tina

Bev's Sept 2009 Family Letter

September 28, 2009

Hi Everyone:

The days of Summer are coming to an end......and it makes me a little sad. I'll miss the warm nights, the beautiful flowers and all the tasty vegetables from our garden. We've had marvelous tomatoes. And our friend, Lyal Zaugg, got me started growing dalias this year. He has a fantastic assortment of colors and sizes...some almost as big as dinner plates. I'm enclosing a couple pictures of some of mine.

Frost is predicted later in the week...and usually our backyard is the first to get it. So we need to pick all the tomatoes and peppers and make some chili sauce or salsa. I 'think' we can face another canning project. Last Thursday...at nine in the evening...Amy and Roy and I finished up with a couple weeks of intense peach and pear canning. Thanks to David and Mary Lou who furnished us with peaches from their trees....and the Utah bartlett pears we bought while we were down there....we have lots of bottled fruit and jam on our storage shelves. Roy put all the pealing in his compost pile, but he didn't want the peach pits in there. So, as we removed them, we put them in a separate container. Just for fun, I counted them. We had 509 pits....and that doesn't include the peaches we ate fresh or made into pies!!!

We had a very nice trip to Utah this month. We went to Boise first..to visit with our granddaughter, Bethany, who is going to college there. And then on down to Garland, Utah to visit with Roy's Aunt Lizzie, who celebrated her 100th birthday in August. She is a delightful lady who lives all by herself and has a great sense of humor. She says she is going to be around for a long time yet because..to quote her..”I'm not good enough to go to Heaven...and Hell's full.”

The days went by so quickly as we enjoyed family and friends. We stayed with Dave and Mary Lou and their family and had a wonderful time....but we also had nice visits with Carol, Kent and Louise, my cousins Joan, Bob and Carol and Darlene...plus a couple of Roy's friends. It was a good time.

And now we are looking forward to the marriage of our oldest grandson, Teagen. We haven't met the young lady yet....hopefully we will soon. They plan to marry in the Portland Temple on December 19th.

We hope you are all doing well. We love you.

Bev and Roy

P.S. Let's all watch General Conference together!!!

Jana's Family letter Sept. 2009

Dear Family,

Hi everyone! Jon and I haven't written in the family letter for a very long time due to the fact that we have been very busy. Jon and I don't have a blog page but my mom and dad said they would post this letter for us. Jon has been busy working at Handstands in Draper, UT as a production worker and is still attending Salt Lake Community College studying Criminal Justice. He wants to be a profiler which is kind of like a detective and work for the government. He isn't going to school this semester because he could not afford to go. He has two classes left which are English and Math. If things go well he will graduate from Salt Lake Community College and the end of Spring semester next year with his Associates degree. After the community college Jon only has two years left before he will receive his Bachelor's degree.

Jon and I have been married for three years now and we are still enjoying life. As for me this year has been a struggle because the economy kind of went downhill and I lost my job and I have been unemployed for awhile now. It is not that I am lazy because I have been doing everything I can to get a job and I still feel like this trial that Jon and I are experiencing will end soon. I also know that this trial is something that Jon and I will get through together. This summer was a fun one for Jon and I. We had a lot of family parties, we went to Lagoon, we celebrated our wedding anniversary in August, and we went to the Depeche Mode concert at the E-Center in West Valley and had a blast.

Last weekend we went to Farmington and hung out with our friends Bronson and Katrina Barber and had fun with them.Jon and I are hoping that the situation we are in now will end soon because I am ready to go back to work so I can help contribute to bringing the money in so that we can pay our bills and it will also help Jon so he can go to school next semester and instead of living off one paycheck we can live off two. All Jon and I ask is for everyone in the family to pray for us because we both feel that with our prayers and yours that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers and he will send me a job. We hope that everyone is doing well and we look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Jana and Jon

Louise's Sept. 2009 Letter

Sept 21, 2009

Dear Family,

It has been awhile since I have written. This summer has gone and I can’t remember a summer I have enjoyed more. Many days were spent in beautiful Star Valley, without a TV, telephone, newspaper or radio. It was great! We got up around 5:00 a.m. and worked until dark—8:00 or 9:00 p.m. My sister, Jennie, who has worked at Rick College for years planning and preparing their banquets, has been our cook. Each meal represented what you might see on the “Taste of Home” magazine cover. She bought the groceries and planned and cooked the meals. We certainly felt well taken care of. We would be so tired by bedtime we would fall into bed and sleep wonderfully well during those cool summer evenings. By morning we were refreshed and could start over again. We both got a bit healthier and a bit less stressed. It took me back to the way many summer days were spent when I was growing up. (We didn’t eat quite that well!)

The main part of the house is mostly restored. We plan to go up this coming weekend to put the laminate floor in. The carpet will hopefully go in next week and then we will be moving museum items up the next week. Our goal has been to get the project this far by the end of summer. We will have the winter to gather needed cases and make plans for the display of museum items. If anyone is interested in seeing more of our project go to callmusuem.blogspot.com.

We enjoyed Roy and Bev’s visit on Sept. 13th. We have been doing a little canning and have started cleaning up our yard for fall. We have enjoyed the produce from the garden this year especially the tomatoes, zucchinis and cucumbers..

I hope everyone is doing well.

Love, Louise

Sept 26, 2009 Family Letter

Dear Family,

I have experienced a very interesting summer! The sad thing is that it has come to an end all too fast! As I have mentioned before Louise and I have been spending a lot of time over in Afton, Wyoming working on restoring the house she grew up in. While we have been doing that others have been building a "barn" (actually it looks like a barn but it has a nice apartment in it and lots of space for reunions, museum displays, etc.) in the lot just to the south of the house. The fun part about it all is the good time we have had getting to know her brothers and sisters better as they have worked right along side of us. It's been a goreous summer! We had moisture late into the spring and things this year really haven't gotten too brown or dry. Even now, especially in the mountains surrounding us, the leaves have turned color and they are beautiful! I suppose this week will about be the end of the color though as snow is supposed to make it's debut on Wednesday.

I've had another somewhat unusual experience this past month. I have gone back to work on a temporary basis for the Forest Service. They have several projects going and too few people to administer the contracts. So they made me a reasonably good offer. I'm only going to work until the end of October. There has already been talk about more work next year. I'll cross that bridge when the time comes and if it actually materializes. I really actually enjoy the work! They furnished me with a vehicle, a Ford Expedition, which only had 13K miles on it. In the month I've been using it I've had three flat tires!.... the third one just today (Sept. 28th). It's obvious that the tires they come with aren't made for the back woods.

We enjoyed our visit with Bev and Roy a few weeks back when they stopped by on their way home from Orem. We need to see each other once in awhile just to remember what we look like. There are some of you I probably wouldn't recognize if I passed you on the street.

Life has been good to us. We are pretty healthy and still able to do most things that come our way. We do know we are getting older, not necessarily because we feel that way but because we look that way. And also, having two grandsons serving missions and a grandson, Sam Feil, and granddaughter, Britta Syddall, attending BYU. Makes us know time is marching on! Both Jill and Tina and their husbands and some family came just last weekend to Provo because of special activities being held for parents, and they attended the BYU-CSU football game. They had invited us to the game but we don't like the traffic to and from such occasions so we didn't go. We did go down to Provo on Sunday because Sam was ordained an Elder. It gave us a chance to see everybody and also to see where Sam and Britta live. They are both at Y-View and even in the same ward! Simply coincidence!

Our grandson, Josh, is down to 10 months left for his mission. He learned Ukranian for his mission but has since been transferred to Kiev and has had to learn Russian, which is somewhat different. Our grandson, Taylor, has about 11 months to go and is enjoying the work in Mexico City.

I love each of you and hope life for you is what you want it to be.

Kent

September comes in like a hurricane...

Dear family--

So the likelihood that I will be aware enough to remember on September 27th (Happy Birthday, Jeff, btw, on that day) to write in the family blog is so minute that I am going to dash off a quick entry now.

We are enjoying a beautiful September in Utah. We have had summer-like temperatures and with those our garden is kicking into overdrive. We have canned and frozen peaches until we are about sick of them. Luckily, Mom and Dad came down from Hayden Lake and hauled a bunch away with them. Otherwise, I don't know what we would have done. And for the first time ever we have had enough tomatoes out of our own garden to make my Grandma Wise's chili sauce.

We have a triple batch done on the stove, just waiting to be bottled.

Along with that, we are struggling to get back into the swing of the fall schedule. The kids are busy...piano lessons, voice lessons, hockey games, tae kwon do practices, ballroom dance practices, homework, etc. And I am trying to get used to still being the one mainly responsible for getting them to all those places.

Holly is a senior this year and just had her pictures done. We are still editing the files, but here is a quick look at one of our favorites....

Yeah...our little Boo is definitely growing up. And we hardly ever see her anymore with her busy schedule. Thank heavens she can drive herself places now!

Sierra is in 9th grade and is now one of the "big cheeses" in Jr. High. She is taking her first college-credit course (geography) and is busy with choir, drama, and art. She is also in "Annie" this year, the musical being put on by her school. She's also being stalked by one of her male co-actors, but that's another story.

Lincoln is also in Jr. High. Hard to believe, but true. He has just begun to play the trombone. He's not sure if he likes it or not, yet (although he can already play The Teensy Weensy Spider AND the Superman theme...I mean, how much more does he need than that?). But his school requires a musical arts credit so he is in band. And the school has exactly one year to prove to him that he should love it.

Mackenzie is now our last kid in both primary and in elementary school. But, like most youngest kids, she believes in her heart that she is too mature for either of them anymore. And she still has two full years to go! The horror! She is trying to figure out if she wants to be like her other tween friends and start putting pictures of David Archleta up in her room. Some days they're up. Some days their down. Some days her stuffed animals are all arranged on her bed. Somedays they are all in a plastic bag and in the basement storage room. I tell ya, being raised in a family of boys doesn't prepare one for a 10-yr-old girl...

Mary Lou is still working at Center for Change counseling with the eating disorder girls. She shared a funny letter yesterday from one of her former patients who wrote her a note now that she is out on her own. In it, she said something like "when I first met you [meaning Mary Lou], I wondered how you could ever teach me anything. I mean, you didn't even seem to understand fashion."....and that sums up the eating disorder mind-set in a nutshell. The operative word, here, is "nutshell." It does make Mary Lou appreciate the normality of her own daughter's daily challenges.

For me, well, I am flying to Geneva to pick up my third Nobel Peace Prize.....in my own mind. Really, I am getting ready to build and release my next product. It will either be a custom one for my old employer or an IRA-instructional piece we will sell through the place where Holly used to work. So plenty of good potentials out there. Also, I have a couple of old guys who want me to buy their dumpster rental business. That could be a giggle a minute!

We hope you are all well and enjoying the beautiful sunshiney days of September. We look forward to hearing from many more of you in this blog!

David

Blue Salvia and Golden Barberry in our front yard.

North Idaho Report

We had a visit from our ward Elders yesterday...A couple of very nice young men, both fairly new to this ward. One was Elder Hunter from Parker, Colorado. His parents are Beryl and Veronica Hunter...and I was just wondering if Tina and Bill know them? This young man said he had been away at Utah State University for a year before his mission, and he couldn' t remember Taylor. ... By the way, we are enjoying reading his letters. Thanks for sharing. The Wises

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Aunt Carol!

I'm so glad you enjoyed our concert. And to the rest of you, you can tell how short and unattractive the rest of the men in our group are if I am the "tall, good looking one."

Just back from a freezing/raining/windy scout camp week with Lincoln. I think I'll sleep for a week to recover.

David

Carol's letter 06-18-2009

Dear Family,

Hopefully by the next letter I will have learned how to 'blog'. (who came up with that term, anyway?....it certainly isn't a very 'inviting' word to get people to communicate? It's downright depressing! Who, in the world wants to Blog! Why didn't they come up with something like ...Soar!....or Create!....or Share..... or just plain ole'.......Talk?... Maybe it's just a sign of the times....everyone is running around saying and thinking... The sky is falling....the sky is falling. The word ..."Blog".... just kind of fits, doesn't it? Oh well, enough of that. This old world is still a wonderful place and we are so very blest to be here when the gospel is here to keep us lifted 'Up'.... and confirms to us that there is indeed a God and He indeed loves us all, and is there for each one of us as we seek His help in all that we do.

We (Richard) Goldsberry's are excited to have our missionary Elder John Arthur Goldsberry coming home in two weeks after serving faithfully and honorably these last two years! Rick & Diane can be so very proud of him. I will be going to Livermore for his homecoming, and am so very excited! From there, I will be flying to Redlands to spend some time with my Sister. That will be especially exciting because Jason's tour (Spamalot) will be in Los Angeles for a couple of months, and will be spending his nights at Colleens, so I will have some good time with him, too!

Greg and I have surely enjoyed having Clark home this last year. He has done so well in his college classes and is very much enjoying going to a student ward. He has made many new friends and still communicates with many of his missionary companions. Clark is looking forward to being out of school for a few weeks and will be taking a trip to Calif as well.

Greg is 'gearing up' for his big back packing / fishing trip in July. He's been hiking the "Y" mountain (plus some other pretty challenging ones) ....so hopes he'll be ready for the 'biggie' one in the Wyoming 'Winds'.

Joy is recovering from some major surgery (a few weeks ago). We are all so happy for the 'success' of it. Mark took some time off and she says he has been a great 'nurse'. She's getting anxious to get back to work now.

Kent, thank you for your patience and adding this bit of news. Hope it will work out o.k. I appreciate your 'handling ' our letter this year. May this be a wonderful summer for you all....with happy times and surprises. By the way...you all missed out SO much, at Dave's great combined (Wasatch Singers / Utah Valley Symphony Orchestra) Concert in April! It was absolutely MARVELOUS!! It was all in " Latin" ....and was so well done that it didn't matter that you didn't understand the words....you FELT them! What an experience!! My friend, Gerry said .....now, point out which one is your nephew, David...I told her.."He's the tall, good looking one, almost in the middle on the back row! It didn't take her long to find him! There were hundreds of musicians standing (or sitting) on that stage!

love you all!.........Carol

Kent and Louise Update

Hello again to all!

We are keeping busy as usual. Much of our time is being spent in Star Valley working on the Call Family Project going on there. Even though it's a lot of work we are enjoying the experience. It's a great opportunity to strengthen family ties in Louise's family. And it's kind of nice for us to get out of the city and breath fresh air. On the other hand it's nice to come home and be here too. I'm including a few more pictures of the project.

Louise and her brother, Ben, putting PVC together in new water line trench.

Louise on the little ol' Ferguson, loving every minute of it!

Louise's brother Dee has the concrete company and it delivering the concrete for the posts on the new chain link fence.

More chain link fence work!

The new building so far; the foundation in, the plumbing in all backfilled and compacted, blue- board in place, reinforcing steel in place.

The finished kitchen cupboards

Louise and Kent wallpapering in a bedroom.

Louise wallpapering in the closet of the same bedroom.

You can tell everyone is having a great time.

I have some concerns about the success of this blog! As you can see, to this point we have only heard from very few of us. I, personally, think it is a great way to communicate! If you give it a try you'll find it's easy and really not too unfriendly. I hope it takes! We'll give it one more shot when letter time comes again.

We love you all, and hope all is well with you!

Beverly's letter

May 31, 2009

We have enjoyed reading the Goldsberry blog and seeing the pictures and learning about the happenings in the family..but we have been a little hesitant to try this new (for us) blog technology. But today our granddaughter, Brianna, came over and helped me to get started. I hope, now that she has gone home, I can remember how to do it.. I will give it a try.Roy and I are doing well. We made it through the whole Winter without getting any of the sicknesses that were going on all around us...not even a cold.. It was amazing to us because it wasn't because we weren't exposed to them. We were around family and friends who had flu, sore throats and colds....and we escaped!!! I haven't dared brag about it until now....and that's because Summer is here!! Hurrah!....and yesterday we planted the last seed in the vegetable garden...and the last flower in the flower bed. Now we want to just sit back; put our feet up and watch things GROW. The only problem with that is the weeds grow much faster than the good stuff!! Oh, well, its worth it!!During the Winter months Roy was busy building and creating a beautiful buffetfor our dining room. He finished it for Valentine's day. He actually started with an antique buffet he bought in Brigham City some years ago. He then built a top for it, adding shelves, mirrors, doors and hand-carved trim. He does outstanding work!Our Wise Family Reunion was held in April this year. (It is usually in July.) But we all wanted to be together when our grandson, Teagen, returned from his mission in South Africa. And that was in April....so the family came. What a wonderful experience to welcome home a worthy, young missionary. And how we enjoyed all being in Sacrament Meeting and hearing him speak!!! I'll have to admit I felt very proud (righteous pride) as I listened to him talk on the subject of “Here am I..send me. Teagen is a very good example to all of us.May is a big birthday month in our family. I always remember with tender memories my Mother on the 14th, And we also have eight others to celebrate. On Thursday evening we attended a dinner and party for three-year-old Erik. He was pretty excited about the cake and presents. He is growing up so fast. Today he said that grandpa is a king and grandma is a queen. Sounds pretty good to me!Well, I hope everyone is doing well and is enjoying their life's journey.

Love, Bev and Roy

P.S. I'm enclosing a picture of my Grandmother Goldsberry's peony. This is one of my prize possessions. I remember many of these flowers in her yard in Paradise, Utah.

This is Brianna jumping on a trampoline

Change

Hey Family--

Long time no hear! We have been a little blog-resistant, but are willing to give this a shot in order to stay in touch with everybody.

We are going through some changes at our house.

First, and foremost, I have left my employer of 10 years. It is a long, ugly drawn-out story. But the uptake is that I worked for a publicly held company and we went through a hostile takeover by our largest shareholder...an older gentleman who has more money than sense. And he is trying to prove to his old enemies that he still "has it." So he swept in, turned the direction of the company, and installed all his old buddies into upper management. So in the past 6 months, the former management team has all basically run for the exits.

This means I get to do what I have always talked about doing, but never did....namely, start my own business. It isn't the best economy in the world to do this in, but I think we will be fine anyway. There just may not be any new Mercedes or BMWs in our immediate future (not that they would have been there anyway!). I have started an Internet publishing company and run it out of our basement. I release my first product this week. It will be sold by a couple of companies initially but we hope to grow. I have two other products in development that I hope to finish by the end of the summer. We'll see how this all goes.

As a result, Mary Lou has gone back to work....not something we planned, exactly, for right now either. But we always DID plan that she would go back to work when I was ready quit working for someone else and start working for myself. And since my hand has been forced in that regards, Mary Lou has gamely returned to work. She is a therapist at a facility that specializes in eating disorders. She worked with several of the founders of the business years and years ago and they have been encouraging her to join them for a long time. So she jumped in. She is getting a new perspective on this strange and life-threatening behavioral disorder. And she is quickly gaining the reputation of being the resident butt-kicker. If you get Mary Lou for your therapist, you better want to get better.

This also means that I am the stay-at-home Dad around here. The kids are squirming under my new "iron-fisted" rule. But we are all adjusting. And I get to pick out and prepare the meals, chauffer the kids, etc. It has been a pretty wild ride. And now that school is out, it should only get more interesting.

The kids are doing great. Today is the last day of school and the two older girls are skipping the day. It is so wierd the way they do this in Utah. The last couple weeks are just watching videos and playing games. They don't even take roll. The girls' teachers told their classes if they show up today they have to help clean the classrooms. So with that kind of encouragement, my girls are sleeping in for the day. The younger two had to go and pick up their grades.

More change....Lincoln is officially done with grade school and is heading off to Junior High next year. I hope they are ready for this. Holly is going to be a senior next year. She's driving (both exciting and terrifying to her parents), dating (ditto) and starts her first "real" job on Monday. She drives a dainty 3/4 ton pickup, the dream vehicle for any high school girl. Sierra starts teaching her art classes, again, to the neighborhood kids this summer. She is saving her money to buy a pottery kickwheel. We are planning on having a wheel and a kiln by the end of the summer, probably. She also has a regular babysitting gig of watching a family with the three most-difficult kids in the ward. But the parents pay well. And Sierra can handle them....well, as much as anybody can handle them. Mackenzie is going to find herself, for the first time ever, the only Wise kid at her school starting this fall. That should be interesting. It will be fun to watch her transition from the youngest kid in carpool to being the oldest one.

Of course, we have plenty of projects around here. I am ordering some lumber today from Home Depot to start some shelves in my garage. I just can't take the clutter anymore. There are a couple of rooms that are the last to recover from our great remodel project. The garage is one of those hold-outs. We are hoping to make some progress in that area this summer. We are also just finishing getting our vegetable garden in. We should finish up tonight. And we are re-landscaping a little part of our back yard. Oh...and lots of sprinkler work as is the trend in the spring. It's not like we are building a museum in our backyard...but we are busy anyway.

We hope you are all enjoying the end of spring! The hot summer is coming.

David, Mary Lou, and the kids

Kent Goldsberry 04-28-2009

Hi, again, Everyone!
Louise and I had a great week last week. Work commenced in earnest on the Call family farm just north of Afton, Wyo. We traveled there on Sunday afternoon and returned Thursday evening so that we could fulfill our temple assignments Friday and Saturday. Her brother, Don, is in charge of the barn building project the family is embarking upon so he naturally was there (No small sacrifice for him, he lives in Salt Lake). Also others of her family from Star Valley assisted and one sister traveled from Richland, ,Washington; another and her husband from Rexburg. Anyway, things will be ongoing through most of the summer. This trip much got done. The house was thoroughly cleaned out, much stuff sacked and sent to DI. The house will eventually be a museum so many items were also packaged and stored in the barn so that work can take place in the house. The house (which is where Louise was raised) is going to be rewired, new plumbing, with lots of repair, painting, wallpapering, etc. before moving museum items back in. Anyway, the barn had to be cleaned, pressure scrubbed, etc. before we could move items to store in it. We also sealed it to prevent little varmints (of which there are MANY) from getting in. To the south of the house, where the new barn is going to be built, we moved a shed with all of its contents, removed a lot of barbed wire fencing, and the gas house. We moved irrigation pipe which was stacked against the east fence back of the house and placed it out of sight behind the barn. A huge skunk was in one of them but he could not raise his tail inside the pipe so we blocked both ends, hauled it further away and took care of him. We also moved a mower and raker which was against the east fence. We moved two large water troughs which were just on the other side of the east fence to a field on the north side of the house. The property is leased to folks who have cattle and we wanted to get the cattle's gathering place farther away. We also moved the old "outhouse" to a less noticeable location. All during the four days we had a large bonfire going into which we threw everything (except steel and tires) that would burn and was not good enough for anything else. Several mattresses, old chairs, couches, miscellaneous partly rotted wood from here and there throughout the farm, old newspapers, clothes. Interestingly, you get a fire hot enough and it will burn about anything! Louise and her sister, Jill, walked US 89 in front of the farm and picked up litter; got four huge plastic bags full! All the stuff that could not be burned was hauled to the dump on Saturday, so we have been told.
This week we are not going up but Don and his bother, Ben, are and they will begin to excavate trench and place 3-inch water line from the two springs in the canyon to the house, approx. 3300 feet of line. They have to cross under two north-south canals that will be running water before too long. We're going back next week and they may start the foundation of the barn, 50' x 100' at that time. I don't believe there will be too many dull moments.

And so goes the story of what the K Goldsberrys have been up to, and will be for some time to come.

Blowout at 70 mph by Evanston, Wyo.

Louise, Lenna and Annie starting on the kitchen cleaning.

Removing fence posts

Even old folks operated the equipment

Louise cleaning up in front of farm along US 89

The Call farm extends back to the east into the mouth of the canyon.

The equipment we used belongs to family living in Star Valley.

Moving the gas house

From the porch of the house looking across US89. The people living there keep a little sprinkle of water running all winter long and it builds a pyramid.

Our fire got much larger than this many times.

Storing items in the barn

Louise and the dirty, messy job of cleaning the basement floor

Greetings from Murray, Utah

I hope I'm doing this right. I've never had a blog. I'm on Facebook, and can barely do that. I think it's a great idea to have a family blog, it's a good way to journal and keep in touch at the same time.

I won't be writing much in case I'm not doing it right. We had a great Spring break, got to go to Nassau, it was the first time for all of us. We all had a blast, and the kids want to go back some day. We went on Jetblue, I still love it, I get to work from home, and do it around the kids schedule, and it's only part-time, so it's just perfect, I'm so grateful for all the travel opportunities we've had.

My dad came to visit, since Guatemala's Spring Break was right after ours, so it worked out really good. He got to see the kids and to catch up and see pictures and spend time together. Speaking of pictures, I'll attempt to post a family one, and see if it works.

We got together for Brian and Nic's birthday, it was fun to see everybody and chat and visit.

Brian had been a little under the weather, and I finally talked him into going to the doctor (he hadn't been to one since he got out of the military almost 20 years ago) and turns out he had 2 ear infections, and some other bacteria, so they gave him 3 different types of antibiotics. He's feeling great now.

The kids are counting down the days till school is out (and so am I, but for a totally different reason, ha ha)

Well, I guess I'll end this and hope I did it right.

Love,

Brian, Cristy & Kids and Beagle