Apples, apples, apples

This October we did about 70 gallons of apple juice and some apple pie filling. The juice is so good fresh. It was great to do this year as we missed last year. Thanks to all those who helped, even the little guys who loved to play with the hose and accidentally get everyone wet. Life goes on......

John's life is on hold....except for missionary work

We finally did it!!!!!!

#7 is out the door and on the way to serving his mission. John received his mission call. He reported to the MTC in Provo on Oct. 22, 2008, leaving for Ecuador, Guayaquil South mission. in December. We went a few days early to spend time with our daughter & her family. Her little girl was so disappointed the first night that John wasn't Kevin, but when she got up the next morning all was okay with it being John. They got to all go to the MTC to drop him off. Our last one (missionary #6) is out the door to getting on with a great part of his life, that of sharing the gospel.

"When the family got together in 2008..."

This is our family Aug. 2, 2008 at my oldest sisters funeral.

One brother was unable to make it. We didn't get into any specific order, so here goes for the relatives: (back row) Jack, Tom, Gordon, Jennifer, Marcia (Middle row) Linda, Mom, Karen, Sue, Sheryl. (Front) Dad

We were able to get recent pictures with some of our grandkids and their great-grandparents. It was good to visit and see family members I haven't visited with for quite awhile.

"When the family gets together......"

Lott Family Photo (1967 or 68?)

Back row: Dad, Jennifer, Mom, Jack, Brandi (DeAnn), Marcia, Karen Front row: Sheryl, Linda, Tom, Sue, Leland, Gordon. We were lined up by height not age. There was always a playmate for me since I was the middle having 5 older and 5 younger siblings. Our family order is 3 girls, 1 boy, 3 girls, 3 boys, 1 girl. I always thought that was a neat combo of numbers.

Three weeks of no shaving

Mark had neck surgery on March 25th. The doctor went in from the front of his neck as the repair work had to be done on the front side of the spine. He had arthiritis buildup on C5 & C6 vertebrae that was pinching off the nerve for the left arm. The surgery worked, his arm's not numb and so far his checkups have been great. He has a plate and a "donor" bone (the doctor didn't want to say cadaver bone) inserted. He didn't have to shave for 3 weeks! He couldn't drive for 3 weeks either. Mark thinks the saddest part is that the doctor said absolutely NO pole vaulting for at least a year and then he would see if that is possible. (We took a picture of the x-ray to that is why there's a light in the x-ray).

From Linda:

It's great to have family close by. Looking back on growing up I didn't have a chance to know my grandparents on either side of my family. I remember one occassion of seeing each grandmother in a certain setting, but I was too young to remember the voice that went with them. My grandfathers had passed away and so there was never a chance to get to know them, only pictures to look at. Now that our childrens two sets of grandparents are getting older with more health problems, I am grateful that I shared them with their grandparents and that they did get to know them.

This past January my dad came close to dying, but has progressed enough to get to come back home at the end of the month. He has alzheimers and hasn't known me for the last two years. I will always be thankful for the time he worked to support our large family (11 kids), take us on vacations, and make sure we were able to go on youth temple trips. (We had to go to Oakland, California - 8 hour drive one-way.) It seemed to me he was always working at 2 jobs and sleeping. I can remember when he was in a major car accident where a drunk driver hit him (I was maybe 9 years old). For the first week they didn't know if he would live or die. It took over a year for him to recuperate, but he still bounced back, supported his family, and made sure we were taken care of. It was great to have my parents be there for us when Mark & I were married in the temple. His life won't be much longer here, but my kids got to know their grandfather. Families are great blessings!

Mark & Linda

Hi everyone, I decided to try and do a page so you can see what's going with us. I hope I can do better as time goes by.

Thanks Jessica for doing the pictures on your page of progress at Grandma & Grandpa's new house. I saw the cement trucks/pump truck yesterday as I drove by to head into town. Anyone is welcome to go by the site anytime of the day to see if anything is going on. It's located at 1340 S. Water Street.

Dayna it was great to see you a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't expected you to be up and around and I was glad to get your phone call that Saturday morning and said you felt like coming down. You looked great. I know your energy level probably wasn't the greatest. Cancer treatments do take time to heal from and get your strength back.

Mark has arthritis in his spine near his neck and needs to have surgery. We are in the process of getting that set up. Hopefully it will happen during Mike's school break so he can help with work. In our case, if the work doesn't get done, there is no money coming in! It's hard to take breaks, so we get away once in awhile for 2 or 3 days.

Our trip to Utah

Mark & I took a short trip to see Elizabeth & her family. Gavin has just turned 2 and Adeline 4, so we had a "birthday party" dinner with them. We don't have much time when we visit so we spoil the grandkids as much as possible and then leave their parents to deal with them. Gavin wanted to go get on the airplane with us when we told the kids we had to leave. Adeline wanted to know why we had to go.
They had snow at their house and I am assuming the igloo was made from the snow shoveled off the driveway along with some from the backyard. We had a great time with the kids while mom & dad took a trip to the temple. They love playing outside. We were prepared for snow & cold and Linda even climbed into the igloo!