Lonely is no fun!  I'm glad your family will be home soon Shawnie boy.  We loved seeing your neighborhood, so we can visualize what you're talking about.  Good luck with your garden!  I pulled weeds for about 3 days straight last week, and my body could sure tell it.  I guess I really am getting old, but I'm not giving up!  We will miss you at the reunion.  Thanks for finding the house for it.  Hopefully next time we can all be there.

I was feeling pretty homesick for my kids yesterday.  I had to go to town and pick up some groceries, so I stopped by Jeff and Kimi's for a minute.  They are busy redoing their downstairs bathroom etc.  As much as I miss you all, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I know you are all busy raising good families and doing good things in your life.  Clair's Mom had a  nice framed picture of her and Clair's Dad with their living children.  Under the picture was the scripture "I have no greater joy than to know my children walk in truth."  I must agree.

We are decorating graves tomorrow and having hamburgers and chips to honor Grandpa Craner.  We'll miss you. 

Love you all - Mom

If anyone wants to come visit, right now would be a great time!  Torrey and Kanyin have left me ..... and the loneliness is creeping in.  Just kidding, I'm doing alright, but am very excited to have them back!  She's out in Colorado right now for her brother Desert's graduation, and sister Raveen's wedding reception.  All I hear from her, is that they are having a great time and Kanyin is loving the cats and little dog at the Mulford's house, and her Aunt Meysa.
We were kind of spoiled over the last month.  We got to see 2 sisters, 2 brother-ins, and 2 parents, and had a great time with all of them.  Now if the next batch of you could wait till July to come out, then that will give us a month off, and we can just have a different group come every other month!  (:
I finally got my garden planted with a little fence around it to try and keep it from the rabbits, raccoons, possums, squirrels, chipmunks, and Kanyin.  We've seen all of those little guys around our house at some point, and even saw a fox out front one night.  I've been amazed at the number of parks and wildlife that we've seen around here.  For as many people as there are, the thick trees do a great job at hiding animals, and making it so the houses look more spaced.
Well, I think you all know that we won't be coming to the adult reunion like we had hoped to.  Between the time/cost etc. it just didn't add up.  Besides, we're hoping that this will give more incentive for the rest of you to come visit us. We really wanted to come, and we're pretty jealous of all the fun stuff you get to do, and the house you get to stay at (that we found! hopefully its good...), but maybe we can do a video chat with you one of the nights.
We're really in awe at all of the blessings that we and the rest of the family have been receiving.  We love you all, and hope you have a merry memorial day.  Make sure to eat some little hamburgers, and play badminton to remember Grandpa Craner.
hugs,
Shawn

The granddaughter/daughter/niece/cousin

Kris, Trav, you have no idea how glad we were that you invited mom and dad to go with you--they've needed something like that for years and years...and years...Those pictures are really fun! We're jealous that you got to see Shawn and Torrey and Kanyin.

Congrats Abbie, Grandma and Grandpa Davis!

I've been working on my last semester for the past 5 weeks. Maybe that's why I don't hear from many people anymore--I don't have time to write you novel emails. It's really hard, but I'm actually doing well. Spring is perfect in Hungary. Not too hot, not cold at all, and very pretty. Jeff and I can't wait to take pictures of the center square this weekend with the colorful, old apartments, statues, and hanging plants. It's adorable here. Jeff got a dart board, and they are whizzing past my head...so things are staying pretty exciting! And I am now 23 years old.

I mostly just wanted to tell you about our big trip we just had! It was a few weeks ago, but we just barely put the pictures up of our blog. It's only of our first day, but there was so much to tell! We hope you guys get a chance to look at it. It's got some fun pictures. Within the next couple of weeks, you'll see Hallstatt, Neuschwanstein, Linderhoff, Salzburg, Hitler's old home, etc. on our blog. Hope you check it out! (You should all be invited by now. If not, please let me know. I think you have to have a gmail account).

Trip to Washington D.C.

          Hey everyone, this is a new experience for me. I hope I can relate to you the events of our week so that you can all understand. You may not realize the last time I wrote an essay was when I was in high school. I can't even remember what it was about. I didn't get an A I know that. So, this may be just as much an adventure for you as the whole trip was for me.

          So,  "there we were", Just leaving Preston at three o'clock when we told Kris and Travis we were going to leave at noon. Oh well, being late for things just comes naturally for us. We made pretty good time and arrived at about 10:30. We had a short visit before going to bed.  This is the first time I had been to the Klingler's new house so I had to have the tour. Travis asked if I could help him hook up the drinking fountain in the basement. I thought if we got up early enough we could do it before we had to leave for Denver and catch the plane. So Travis and I got up early to grab a water stop and a p-trap at the lumber yard and jetted back to install the fountain. It only took us about an hour. So off for the airport we went. We had a fun visit on the way and talked about all of you. It was good I will have to admit. Well, nice too is what I meant. We were all a little nervous about parking and going through security. Finally we were able to get through  the gate and the tension subsided. Travis and Kris's tickets allowed them to get on before us, so they saved us seats. It was good for Travis and I  because we were right behind the girls ( our girls ) watching a movie off  the laptop. We ended up falling asleep. When we woke up Jenn and Kris  were still talking to the guy next to the window who was glad to have their undivided attention from Denver until they said their goodbye's at  the Dulles airport. We both got the bulging eye rolls after he walked out of sight then we just busted up laughing. They were exhausted from being so nice listening to his adventures. Here is a picture of the Washington monument. There was an earthquake a few years ago. The scaffolding is set up to access and fix any damage that may have been done to the structure.

          Travis and I were ready to paint the town. We grabbed a taxi. The driver's name was Galena from Ethiopia. He was nice and had a good sense of humor. We made it to the Hotel and freshened up a little. Just a few blocks from where we stayed was a great selection of eating places. As we walked  we chose a little Italian place that had incredible  manicotti. We just sat and visited for a couple of hours.  It was nice to relax and not have to worry about getting the kids to bed or trying to get a science project finished late into the night before it was due the next morning. On our way back to the Hotel we stopped at a Safeway and grabbed some cereal and milk for breakfast. It didn't take long after getting a shower to lay down and fall asleep.
          The next morning we were on a tight schedule.  Before we got on the plane in Denver I had scheduled a tour for the four of us at the nation's capital. I went to school with Scott Flake who married my little sister Sara. His little brother Jeff is a  senator of Arizona and she told us to call his office to get a personal tour with his secretary.  It was great. We learned so much about congress and the way things work. I was impressed with our forefathers and all they went through to give us the freedoms we have now. The tour was a little over two hours. We went back to senator Flake's office and his secretary told us he was in a meeting but if we waited about a half hour we could see him. She directed us to a cafeteria just down the hall and we grabbed a bite to eat. When we came back we waited just a few minutes and met him. He was very nice. We talked a little about our families and then let him get back to work after taking a picture with him of course. In this picture the capital is here on the right. We took this picture from the site of J.F.K.'s grave in Arlington cemetery.

          After we left there was a lot going on outside. Apparently, the King of Jordan was visiting so the capital was all roped off. It didn't seem to effect our tour from the inside of the Capital. So we walked around the grounds. Had an interesting discussion with a police officer. We watched nervously as some kook from a middle east country kept taking pictures of himself and his flag in front of the capital and clapping his hands. Then we walked over to the aerospace museum where Travis and I stayed for a couple of hours. The girls went to see the american history museum. We met them there later after we had seen every plane ever created. Then we watched the space Hubble telescope in the Imax theater. Travis and I really enjoyed that. We touched the moon rock and I noticed something interesting. When I first touched it in 1976,  it was about 1/4 of an inch above the surface it was mounted in. This time, it was all worn down and was actually indented. I wonder how many people have touched it since then.
          We caught up with the girls and sat in the park for a while to wait for Shawn and Tori  and Kanyin.
They had some trouble parking. I guess Shawn felt guilty for parking in the handicap spot so he sent Tori on. It was fun to visit with them and watch Kanyin call the birds and the joggers and dogs and ducks. She gets so excited about everything especially birds and food. She's a lot like her uncle Troy. She really took a liking to Kristin on this trip. So we found a Ruby Tuesdays and grabbed some food. We had a great visit for a few hours. As we walked out of the restaurant there was a hockey game going on across the street
Some of our shaded neighbors had about a seven piece brass band that was blaring this great rock beat none of us could resist. Kanyin was rocking back and forth in her stroller. I just loved the way she ate that up. We spent a few minutes there-- it was crazy fun!.  We ducked into the subway and started back for the hotel. Shawn and Tori went back to stay with one of Tori's friends from her mission. We were all pretty tired. We hit the  sack and  got up the next morning to do it all over again. We were trying to cram as much in as we possibly could. I kept telling everyone, " We are on Carolyn's scheduling system while we are here." You plan in one day what it takes to do in a week. That way you don't miss anything and no time is wasted.

At Mt. Vernon near the tomb

          So today, it was friday. We got up and met Shawn and Tori at Mt. Vernon where George
Washington's home is. It' a beautiful place overlooking the Potomac  river. I probably spelled that wrong. It was a nice tour and they were in the middle of restoring one of the larger rooms in the house. We walked out through the cooking building and the smokehouse and barns. They were all restored real nice. We walked around and took some pictures. Travis and I talked about how we would run things when one of us was elected president. We waited until Shawn was busy with Kanyin. We didn't want him to feel bad or anything. I wonder if there has ever been a president that was a good pluber, plummer, plumber, Ha,! There we go!!  We went to see Washington's grave where he and Martha were placed in a tomb.

George and Martha Washington's tombs

There were nice sheds and barns and gardens that we walked through. It was fun watching Kanyi.n walk around on unsteady ground until she fell. But she just loved seeing new things. We just took our time and enjoyed everything we could soak in.  

Jennifer and Troy's garden in Cub River  

This really isn't our garden. We would like to have one like it some day though. We toured the museum while we were there.  Jen  got lost and there were some tense moments but we finally found her and  boarded the bus that took us to Arlington cemetery.

Mt. Vernon overlooking the Potomac River

     

At Arlington we walked and walked until we made it up to the J.F.K Memorial. Then we headed over to the tomb of the unknown soldier where we met up again with Shawn and Tori.

J.F.K. memorial

This was an interesting ampatheatre. Around the other side was where the tomb of the unknown soldier is.

J.F.K. memorial

The tomb where the changing of the guard takes place every thirty minutes

We watched the changing of the guard. It was very quiet. There were signs everywhere reminding people to stay quiet and reverent. However, there was a group of people that forgot and  were making a little too much noise. The soldier turned and warned us all to either be quiet or be removed. That did it.  You couldn't hear a pin drop. We took more pictures as we were leaving. Here are some I just wanted to share.

On a hill above the tomb

                                        

there were so many  beautiful scenes in this cemetery

We only walked around a small portion of the grounds. It is humbling to think of all the sacrifices  made to keep this country  free.

I'm not sure which uncle this was.

It was  a beautiful day. We had a nice walk and made plans to meet Shawn and Tori for dinner. However they were caring for a tired little girl and decided to take off for home. 

        We took these just coming out of Arlington. There were beautiful flowers everywhere. Kris and Travis and Jenn and I tried to walk over to the Iwo Jima memorial. It looked pretty close on the map, but it took us right into some highways and a river that we did not want to ford.  We just got back on the subway and tried to find a good place to eat and relax for the evening. P.F. Chang's was really cool. So we met up with Shawn and Tori just outside of the restaurant.  Kanyin just waved and blew kisses while we all laughed.  We had fun visiting and wished Tori and Shawn could have stayed with us. We enjoyed our first lettuce wraps and the rest of the meal was great too!

Arlington

     

Arlington

        The trip back to our hotel was ok. We were getting used to the way the transit system worked. When we got back to the room every night we were so tired we would just crash. Our next morning we got up and took off for a walking tour of the rest of the memorials next to the mall where all the museums were. We started out by walking  to the National Archives but there was a huge line so we moved on to the Holocaust museum.  All the passes were taken so we walked on as close as we could to the Washington Memorial and made our way to the Jefferson Memorial. I really enjoyed it.  His quotes were chiseled inside on the walls all around the room. I wish all the presidents after him were required to  read and study all the things he had written.

Kris and Jen in front of the Jefferson Memorial

Trav and Troy same place

          

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Korean war memorial 

Korean war memorial

As we walked around the lake we ate ice cream bars and saw  the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial. Next was the Martin Luther King memorial, the Korean War memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. Here are pictures of those.

A war vet with a navel person

Martin Luther King Memorial

Korean war Memorial

Vietnam memorial 

These memorials had a lot of visitors.  We walked through and read some of the quotes and about the events. We were glad to be there and gained much appreciation for these great people. We made our way over to the Lincoln memorial and the W.W.II memorial and took pictures there.  One of the funniest moments of the trip was when we sat on the front steps of the Lincoln memorial.  Kristin wanted to find the loser that left their gum on the step she chose to sit down on.
After the Lincoln,  we walked over to the Vietnam memorial and looked at the great wall with all the names of those who served there.

Travis helping Kristen with her gum

Standing in front of  the Vietnam war memorial

I thought this was a neat effect. There were a lot of people touring that day. It was difficult to get a break where people weren't walking between us. We moved on to see the World War II Memorial and take some pictures there.

WWII memorial--the fountain is empty.  The size of a football feild

another picture at the Lincoln

Inside the WWII memorial looking out to the Washington memorial.  MISS IDAHO!!!

After we toured the monuments that day we were pretty tired of walking. We wanted to see the White house so we walked up toward the park and they had just begun to close it. We took a few pictures of the guys up on top of the white house with rifles. I guess they needed extra security that day. So we went to Five Guys Burgers and relaxed for an hour or so. We celebrated Travis' birthday with cupcakes and shakes and dragged ourselves back to the hotel for a relaxing evening.  It was for everyone but Jen who watched "Skeleton Key " at Kristin's suggestion and couldn't sleep the rest of the night!!

Tight security

Abe Lincoln's cabin

We wouldn't want to deceive anyone,  soooo-- this really isn't his cabin--hee, hee! It's just a random one from this area but it probably looks like it?!?  Anyway, to finish up, we had an early morning taxi ride (Oh yeah!) to the airport and slept most of the way home.  It was a WONDERFUL trip and we will never forget it.  Thank you Travis and Kris for inviting us.  We love you!! Troy and Jen

Thanks Tori!

Now I know that I have never had permanant residence on Hagler Rd...but as a thanks to Tori for including me in the blog, I will post some fun pics of our trip to D.C. with Troy and Jen.  Later, I will include you in some of the life of Trav.  I know you all are on the edge of your seats...

Hello All,

Just a report on our trip back East.  New Jersey was a bit scary; the motel equaled or was worse than the one we stayed in Quincy, Illinois several years ago.  We went to Burger King and there were many shiny black cars all around it with drivers who didn't go anywhere.  It was probably my over active imagination, but I kept conjuring up drug dealers, especially when the next morning we saw two guys loading 3 plastic bags full of something in the trunk of their car.  We were happy to leave there even if we did have to drive in to NYC, which was crazy!  Our GPS couldn't even keep up with the twists and turns of the freeways.  But we made it, parked in a parking garage, went on a bus tour with one other couple from Australia and saw all the sights Clair cared to see.  I don't think he'll be going back.  We drove into Conn. that night and the next day went to Sharon VT, Joseph Smith's birthplace.  It was beautiful!  And wouldn't you know it?  We ran into Clair's friends from Hill Air Force days, the Johnsons, who are serving as directors of the visitor's center.  We had a good visit and lunch with them and learned some wonderful church history there.  We drove on to Palmyra that day and the next morning we were up early and hiked to the top of Hill Cumorah, the only ones there and the same with the Sacred Grove.  Spring is certainly beautiful in the north east (as I'm sure Autumn must be).  As we walked into the Grandin Print Shop, I ran into Sue (Huff) Muir from Pocatello who used to live in Marsh Valley.  Her son Jeff liked Jen in high school.  She remarried about 12 years ago.  They are there for 23 months and are loving every minute.  We also saw our friends, the Fullers, from Clifton.  They will be home in September and are hating the thought of leaving.  They are on a "mission vacation."  We continued on to Fayette and enjoyed a tour by two young sisters, and then drove on to what used to be Harmony, where Joseph and Emma lived and their 1st baby and her parents are buried.  The church is planning to build a Visitor's Center and a replica of the house they lived in.  They say that will happen in about 3 years.  The next day we drove to Loysville to try and find Bernhisel names in an old cemetary.  The headstones are so old, they are impossible to read, but someone at the diner told us there was a "Bernhisel Road" north of Loysville, so we went out there and took a picture of what we think is the Bernhisel house that I visited when I was 11.  We drove on to Jenkintown and spent a wonderful weekend with Shawn and Torrey and Kanyin.  They took us to Valley Forge, which I knew very little about.  It was so good for us to learn about that place.  Then they took us out to Amish Country and we enjoyed the scenery, the homemade pretzels and sticky buns and lemonade.  We drove on some less "touristy" roads and found a farm that sold raw milk and cheese.  The kids looked at us like we were freaks.  They are pretty offish, but I think I would be too, if all these tourists drove around gawking at me!  I enjoyed Mother's Day attending the Palmers' nice ward and listening to Torrey give the R.S. lesson.  We took a stroll through a nearby park which had natural scuptures made out of anything people decided to use and had a picnic.  On Monday morning we got word that our call had come, so that was just a bonus.  We're excited about going to SLC cuz then you can all come and stay with us!  It was a long flight and drive home and we were pooped, but glad we went. 

I'm e-mailing everyone about the reunion which is fast approaching! 

Love to all - Mom/Grandma

reunion?

We have  a reunion coming up?  That sounds awesome.

Me, pretending to be Mandy, pretending to be Shane

Reunion Plans!

Good Sabbath Everyone!

Just an update on the reunion.  Just in case someone missed it, our reunion is June 7th, 8th and 9th in Salt Lake.  We have a house reserved close to Riverton.  We are going to Lagoon on Friday, the 7th and for those of you who can't quite make it by 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot, come when you can and call us on the cell phone, and we will meet you at the gate with your tickets.  We will have a picnic under a pavillion at Lagoon, because the food is expensive there.  Clair volunteered to make the sandwiches, so if you could bring something to go with them, that would be great - chips, veggies, fruit, cookies, drinks,etc.  When I get back from our trip back East, I'll be more specific with what each of you can bring.  I believe our check-in time at our house is 4:00 p.m., but you can play as long as you have the stamina.  We can only have 4 vehicles parked at the house, so I think the Larsons, Preston Palmers, Klinglers, Fryars, Dallings and probably us - the Davis's, will have to come in "Moby Dick."  That leaves the Pedersens, Wisconsin Palmers and the Caldwell Palmers with their own vehicles.  We will probably go out for dinner that night if everyone is still standing.We will provide breakfast on Sat. morning and Amy will soon let us know which Temple we are going to for Abbie's Endowment.  Then we will go out to dinner and that night to a play.    Sunday morning we will probably just have muffins and fruit and milk for breakfast, fix sack lunches to go home on and check out of our house.  We are going to "Music and the Spoken Word," which is held in the Conference Center during the summer.  We should be in our seats by 9:00 a.m.  We are then going to a Sacrament meeting in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building at 10:50 a.m.  I am checking on a tour of the Conference Center after that.  Then I guess we'll let you take your sack lunches and go home!  Just come with your personals and a happy face!  It's gonna be SO fun!    Love ya - Mom

     

just yammerin'

Katie, you funny.  McKenna does all that too only there are no butterfly or eskimo kisses at the end of the day.  Maybe I'll make her do that with me, just to get back at her. 
We got back from D.C. on Sunday, only took me 40 years to get there.  It was so fun, what a pretty place.  So so so so much to see and do, holy cow!  I'd post pictures, but........you know.  I vote we go there for our next adult reunion.  Who's with me?!  I've got the bug now, I wanna go see places, lots of places.
Shawn and Torrey came down for a day and half.  I'm pretty much in love with Kanyin.  She is so stinkin' cute!  I gave her fruit snacks and Travis gave her Coke so we're pretty much her favorites. 
that's all the time I have right now, so you all just have to wait til the next episode of.......ummmm, Stuff Kris Can Think Of To Say.  Catchy title, eh?

I can blog all day!

I have found that it is hard to blog when you have nothing to tell anyone. :) ummmm........today I tried really hard not to get mad at Nora. It was hard. She is at the stage where she spills (on purpose!) hits, bites, snatches, draws on non paper items, climbs on the counter, searches for things she can't have--like knives, pushes chairs over to reach whatever her heart desires, touches the sick stray cat that Ben needs to humanely deal with, makes Della cry every time I turn my back, and screams any time i take something or remove her from something. And then somehow, at the close of the day, we have the sweetest moments as we read a story, and she tries to tell me about the picture on the wall, and we give Eskimo and butterfly kisses, and we laugh, laugh, laugh. It is one of Heavenly Father's most twisted creations -- the two year old. But.....strangely, I love this stage. This is my role; this is what I do. I must be twisted, too. On that note, I think I'll hit the sack. Good night all my fellow sufferers.

Does anyone else blog?

Hi Family,

We had a great weekend.  We headed up to Caldwell Friday morning and stopped in to see Linda and Scott Bloxham at Linda's assisted living care facility in Rupert.  She looks pretty rough.  The radiation she received over 30 years ago after surgery to remove the tumor behind her eye (they could only get about a third of the tumor I think) has scarred over and the left side of her brain is gone.  Scott will probably have to move her into a rest home soon.  He is still cheerful and helpful.  He took us to lunch and we had a good visit.  I sure love and admire that good couple.  They have a beautiful reward waiting for them.  I took her about 26 pictures of us from our childhood.  My Dad and his slides have paid off; I'm sure glad now that he took them!

We played our traditional "Sorry" game with the Palmer kids, along with a new game called "Scatterpillar."  You all need to try it!  Travis and Lindsay are doiing well.  They are more than busy with family, providing for a family, magnifying their callings, preparing for Trek, etc.  Thanks Caldwell Palmers, for the good visit.
On the way home, we stopped to see our mission pres. and Sister Tucker.  They are such a fun couple and as much as they enjoyed coming home, they are ready to go out again.  They miss it.  Pres. Tucker said he's glad he was Pres. when he was and is not facing the "new e-mail" rule.  (family AND friends!)

We just finished up our two days in the Temple and are getting ready for our big trip back East- New York, Sharon VT., Palmyra, Loysville PA (home of my Bernhisel ancestors), Gettysburg and last but not least - Philadelphia and the PA Palmers!  We"re excited!

The tentative plan for our reunion - Meet at Lagoon by no later than 10:30 a.m. (when the parking lot opens) and enter the gates at 11:00 a.m. when they open.  We will probably carpool from this area.  We can only have 4 cars at our reunion house.  I will pay parking at Lagoon and for all but dining out.  On Sat., June 8th, we will be going to a Temple (I''l let you know when Amy lets me know) for Abbie's Endowment.  Then we'll probably go out to lunch and to a stage show that night.  On Sunday, the 9th, I hope to go to "Music and the Spoken Word" at the Tabernacle, to a closeby Sacrament meeting and on a tour of the Conference Center.  We will bring food to pack lunches to go home on.  I will be letting you know what your food assignments will be.  We're excited about this reunion and hope you all are too!  Watch this blog for more info.

Love ya'all - Mom