THANKSGIVING 2011

It Thanksgiving and I have a lot to be Thankful for.


I am grateful to my many friends. I don't spend time with you all. Some its only on the Internet but I am glad that I live in a time where I can stay in touch even remotely with friend and people who I have met along the way.





I am glad Shayla is home from the Hospital and that the clots are treatable. I am Thankful to live in a time where we can treat things that killed many people without them even knowing what it was.





I am most grateful for a family that loves me despite my flaws and am grateful to spend it with them. (Karina you'll be missed but glad we saw your family a few weeks ago)





Despite live in "trying times" I am grateful for the blessings I have. I have seen poverty and cruelty in the world but I know of the goodness of God as well.





I would like to share a story that a cyber friend shared with me yeas ago. It has meant a lot to me.

At the end of the war in France in 1918, there was a Thanksgiving service held by the Army chaplains of all the major denominations. Elder Roberts sat at the rear of the stand. During the service it was announced that "Elder Roberts, the Mormon Chaplain from Utah, will now step up and led the Thanksgiving Psalm." Elder Roberts was stunned, but he got up from his seat and moved towards the podium. Elder Roberts was a Biblical scholar. He knew and studied the Bible regularly, including the book of Psalms, but he had never heard of the "Thanksgiving Psalm". As he walked forward to the podium the Spirit whispered to him "read the one hundredth Psalm." He turned to the Psalm and read:

1 MAKE a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth emarrass to all generations.

After reading this Psalm and returning to his seat, Elder Roberts noted that many of the Chaplains were looking at the floor, looking a bit ashamed. Elder Roberts felt that this had been an attempt to embarrass both Elder Roberts and the Church. Returning to his tent after the service, Elder Roberts knelt down and offered up a prayer of thanksgiving; thankful for a mindful Father in Heaven who provided that prompting in a time of need.

For some it will be a day of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, and hours and hours of American Football. For others it will be a time of reflection and gratitude for those blessings that Heavenly Father has bestowed upon them.

I hope that all of us, whether it be in the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, or any of the other countries that you live in; will take some time and reflect upon the blessings that you and your family have had for this year.

"Count your many blessings, angles will attend..." is one of the hymns that we sing at Sacrament meeting. Why not do so with your family? Take an inventory of those blessings that you have in your life, both temporal and, more to the point, spiritually. You will more than likely see that you are not forgotten nor ignored by a loving Heavenly Father. May the blessings of Heavenly Father be with you and your family.

Happy Thanksgiving. Reuben Dunn

Thanks Reuben for reminding me about Thanksgiving!

White Water

It has been a realy long time since I have blogged here. Alot has happened in the last year and I will try to catch up on somethings and others are best just skipped over.

I hope to have alot to Blog about in the next few weeks as I will travel to to see my daughter Karina who lives the farthest from me. I miss her and her family.

As many of you know I am the Young Mens president in our Ward. Our younger scouts went to Scout camp but a few of the older boys wanted more so we went white water rafting.

We traveled to Northern California to Gold country area and went to a place on the American river at Camp Lotus. The people at River Runners that ran the trip are the best people. They made us feel at home and took care of our every needs.

We slept in tents but had showers and toilets close that were very clean.

The river has been running fast this year as there is so much snow still in the mountains that feed this river. They are still skiing at Mamoth Resort.The water was cold but it was in the mid 90's so it felt good after awhile.

Here is where we set out from.
We got used to the water where it was peaceful.

heading down river.

Jumping from the cliff

I guess I should have watched where I was jumping.

getting a little more turbulent.

It was hard to take pictures on the river. They took professional ones when we traveled through the class 4 and 3 plus but they weren't within our budget.

This was a vey enjoyable time and if not for my pinched nerve It would have been perfect.

If you want to know more about this trip check out riverrunners.com

We also toured the Gold rush state park and made a stop to the Sacramento Temple.

I hope to be able to blog more about goings on. I am looking forward to my trip to North Idaho to see Karina and Family. We should have more to write about and pictures.

Happy Father's Day

My Dad has been out of this life for awhile yet every Father's Day brings back memories. This year is no different. I have 3 of my grandchildren living with us. It is great to see how they interact with their dad as well as the love they share with me.
I remember my dad and his love to my mom and siblings. Dad was a very hard worker. I have kept some of the tools he had in our basement and I remember how he taught me how to use them.
My dad never made a lot of money. As a police officer he did his best to teach us to stand up for what was right. He used to give us hair cuts down in our basement. I don’t remember ever paying for haircuts until I was in junior high. Even then it was from somebody dad knew from his police beat.
My dad could talk to anyone. He always made me feel safe as he always knew what to do. Even when he had no clue he would be so positive that you thought he did know.
I will never forget his example to family as he came to my games and other events.
He has set the bar very high for me to follow. He had faults as we all do. He has been a hero to me my whole life.
This Father Day and always I love him

Memorial Day!

Today is memorial day. I am so thankful for the sacrafices made over the years for this country by brave young men and woman.I like most of this counrty celebrated it more as the first day of the summer. We spent most of the day at a park in La Mirada.

As I write this we are getting ready for a BBQ in the back yard. The day was perfect if only Karina and family were here as well.

Abby as ever is ready for pictures

Sitting in a tree

Sharing a tree with big sister Emma

The Three Wonder Kids.

Tamar's family

Fresh from driving across country we decided the first thing to do was to go to the beach. Saturday we spent the day at Corona del Mar In Newport Beach. It was a beautiful day. Other than looking like Frosty the Snowman I was so white, we had a good time..The most imporant thing is pictures so here are a few...

Sand in the face isn't as good as sand in the mouth.

Grandma feed me grapes

Here is Trever explaining the fine art of sand castles

Shayla and Emma deciding if the was are big enough for the boggie board..
Kyle thinking they aren't very courageous.

Heart Attack

No, despite being out of shape I didn't have a heart attack. It's Valentines day and for Valentines day we participated in a fund raising project for girls camp called heart attack. For a small fee the girls would attack your house with valentine wishes.

I didn't know that Linda did the same thing as I did for her and Shayla.

Yesterday we were all gone for about an hour and when we returned this is what we found. I am sure every one on our street was jealous of the love that dwells here.

Today is a beautiful day and as I type it is about 4:30 and warm. It was in the 80's today. We will barbecue steak for dinner. It should be wonderful.

To make the day complete my favorite TV show starts again tonight. Woo-Hooo Welcome back Amazing Race.

I have the day off today..no i have a 4 day week end and I am going to enjoy it. I also have my camera fixed so I should be able to blog a bit more.

Kaylee will come home today and we are going to see Avatar then out to dinner then to the Los Angeles Temple to see the Christmas lights. Maybe tomorrow we might take a trek to the beach as it will be in the mid 70's. Not to swim but just being at the beach should be fun.

Spent a late night helping Linder get get ready for the last day off school before her 2 week vacation. They are having a pot luck today so she has been busy.

I am enclosing a picture of me with my sisters. They have always been good to me.

I was going to chastize some people for not keeping up with there blogs until I saw how long it has been since I posted anything here. I was using the excuse that my memory stick broke in my camera, which is true, but I have had pictures taken of me that I could use. This picture appears to already be so out of date. I haven't tried to fotoshop John into any of the pictures.

I am looking forward to the Christmas. My mom is coming to California for a visit and I believe my brother George will be out this year as well. It will be great to see them both.

We have been getting the house decorated and the lights are up along with the tree and other room decorations. I need to get something that has a pine scent but things are really looking good.

I hope that with the new memory stick I will be able get some picture to post and share.

Sea World

We went to Sea World and had a great time. The shows were great and everyone had a great time.

They had alot to do and we did most of it. We had alot of fun even if we didn't use sun block.

Here are a few vidoes. If you listen close you can here the tiger roar!

Kyle and a rogue wave!

More pictures!

Needless to say we have been busy. I am sorry that I haven't posted more as promised. Here are a bunch of pictures from zoo and beach and happenings. We are leaving in a few for Sea World.

Enjoy and wish you were all here.

The invasion of the family has begun. Tamar arrived with her family late on Saturday night. Karina and Kelsi come in today and Kaylee will arrive on the 8Th of August.

Today is Kaylee's birthday and we are all sad that she isn't with us to celebrate. She will be home soon and we will celebrate then!

Yesterday we made a trek to the beach. Kyle took to the sand and water like a pro. If you didn't know his story you would never know he had such a tough start. He is really a site to behold.

We are so much enjoying the visit. More to come later!

Many many years ago when I moved into the house in La Puente I went one day to a meeting. I was expecting to hear the usual messages and talks. What I heard instead changed my life forever and for the better. I along with those others in attendance were told that we should have a date night each an every week. Seems like a small thing. We were told to keep Friday nights clear for date night with our wife.

I remember changing schedules and conflicts to make this a reality. We didn't have a lot of money to spend. Many times we could just afford the sitter. We have made this apart of our lives that now it is like breathing we don't think much about it we just know that every Friday night is our date night.

I have enjoyed this time. Having time for just me and my sweet heart has been great. Sometimes when money was really tight and we would get a "Thrifty" ice cream cone, or people watch at the mall. Linda once said how much she looked forward to Friday's and date night. I thought to myself 'I must be a great date' when she followed it up with " I can't wait to get out of the house and not have children wanting you undivided attention".

Last night was just one of those nights. Linda asked what I wanted to do for "date night" and we headed to the beach to watch the sun set. We went to Seal Beach, got burritos for dinner that we ate on a bench . We walked the beach watching the sun set. It was great and reminded me of how much I love my wife and these times together.

Date night remains a tradition if our house. I know all of my girls expect it from there spouses.

It is amazing to me how small counsel can when followed change lives. I hope all of you stay in love and if you don't have a date night it not to late to start!

What I have learned in a year

A lot has happened in this last year and if I don't express my thoughts I would be most ungrateful.
For those that don't remember it was a year ago that we were told that out daughter was having a problem with here pregnancy. For those who might not know this was how Tamar posted last year.
Friday, June 27, 2008
I am not sure how to write this post but I think that in some ways it will be therapeutic. As most of you know we are expecting our third child. I am 21 weeks today and due November 7th. This past Monday we went in for a routine anatomy ultrasound. (I should say here that this pregnancy has been anything but routine, I have had some bleeding at 13 weeks and lots of back cramps though out) Right away I could tell that this ultrasound was different than the ones that I had with the girls. I thought that maybe I had just lost some of my skill at being able to read them but when the doctor was finished and said that he wanted to see us in his office I knew that nothing good ever comes from meetings with doctors in their offices. The first thing he told us was that the fluid level around the baby was very low and because of that the ultrasound was very difficult to read. Low fluid is bad for a lot of different reasons. It could mean that there is something wrong with the baby's urinary system since at this point in the pregnancy the baby makes the amniotic fluid. It could mean that my membranes were ruptured and that I was leaking fluid and did not know it. This is bad because if the membranes are ruptured then the barrier between the baby and the outside world is broken making infection more of a possibility. The amniotic fluid is important for a lot of reasons. It provides a cushion of protection from the outside world and gives the baby room to move around. It is also responsible for the maturation of the lungs and the digestive system since the baby continually swallows it. Well if that news was not enough the doctor also told us that the scan showed a possible heart defect as well as some other things that led him to believe that our baby has some kind of chromosome abnormality. Needless to say this was all very hard to digest. We left his office that day with a referral to The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for a second opinion. We have felt very blessed to live in a part of the country where top hospitals are everywhere.We went for our second opinion yesterday. I was amazed by the kindness of the people and the advances in technology. They were able to perform a very extensive ultrasound as well as a echo cardiogram (a study of the heart) on the baby. When the tests were done we met with the OB at CHOP. The news was not good. The fluid level was still low and the doctor said that it was due to a hematoma that I had earlier in the pregnancy that was now being broken down by my body. The same things that break down the hematoma are also very hard on the fluid membrane which in time will most likely cause my membranes to rupture and put me into preterm labor. The doctor said in all his years he has never seen a membrane reseal itself and so he did not expect our baby to make it. The good news is that the heart and the other abnormalities that they saw initially seemed fine on the scan done at CHOP. The doctor talked about our options which were few. I could choose to say that this pregnancy was not meant to be and deliver then which to me was out of the question. I have felt this baby move inside of me constantly for the last 5 weeks and his heart is strong. I do not think that I get to decide when his chances for survival are over. The other option is to just wait. Anyone who knows me knows I do not wait well especially when I do not know the outcome of my waiting. I would do anything to give my son the opportunity to live on this earth and to be able to hold him even just once. The thing is that I could go into labor at any time or my body could develop an infection if the membranes are already broken. As for now I am praying that we can make it a few more weeks to give him a real chance at survival but if that is not Heavenly Fathers will then I am praying that our son will be taken home quickly. I would like to ask for your prayers. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and that he has always taken care of me and my family. I am praying for understanding and peace. This experience has given me a whole new understanding on what it means to really be able to submit our will to our Father. There is nothing that I want more than to have another child bless our home and that has been my desire for what seems to me a long time, but if the time is not now then I will have to pray for the understanding and the courage to keep going forward. I do believe that miracles happen. I do know that Heavenly Father can heal my body and allow my son to come to the earth and I pray that that will be the case but if not I pray for understanding and comfort. Thank you to everyone who has already been praying for us. I know that without your faith and prayers we would never have made it this far. I love you all.
I can't tell yo how this made me feel. My daughter was far away and I felt helpless. I knew we would just lay this on the altar and let God's will be done. I know everyone was concerned and over the next several weeks and months many added their faith and prayers in behalf of Tamar and her family.
One year has gone by since that day. Kyle is doing wonderful. He has a sleep test tomorrow and hopefully will lose his need for oxygen that he is hooked up to at night.
I know people say this often and it may sound a bit prideful. I know that God lives and loves us. I am not sure why he takes a personal interest in us but he does. I know that he has blessed our lives with this miracle child who just keeps beating the odds.
He was born into a great family. Trevor and his family seems like they are a perfect fit for our family. Steve is like a long lost twin in so many ways. I am glad that he and his wife have form day one been nothing but special to me and my family.
It is because of them that Karina has such a great husband that has been a blessing in her and our life.
I want to put a slide show together to help explain better how I feel about my wonderful and patent children.
Linda is the reason for everything good in our life. After more than 31 years I am amazed at how blessed I am that she is who she is.
I am truely blessed. I know familes can be hard for some peopel and I want to stay so much more in touch with mine. I can't wait until my little family unit is all together this August.

In a year we have gone from this

To this.........................

Life is really good.

Another Wedding

^ Suzanne ^

^Kevin, Andrew and Robert^

I couldn't get the pictures where I wanted so you will just get so figure it out


OK , I know that I am not the father of the bride but Katherine Fox got married yesterday. She feels like a daughter since Linda babysat her for about the first six years of her life. They have always been a family near and dear to us.So I don't have a lot to say but we had a great day at the LA Temple and also at the reception in Apple Valley that evening. It was great to see other old friends and I am sure Kaylee and Shayla enjoyed renewing old friendships.

These pictures are for those who couldn't be there (Tamar and Karina)

^KATE & JUSTIN^