Mother's Day Picnic

For Mother's Day we had a picnic in South St. Vrain Canyon. It was our first mountain picnic of the year. We really enjoyed it, but Brenda missed Tim. We had a nice picnic, followed by a cheesecake and strawberries, yum! The only problem was that the wind came up several times, so we had to hold our plates and everything else down. After that, we sat by the river, and some of us walked on the rocks.

This is Mother standing by a precariously situated picnic table, which is not the one we used.

Around the table from left: Jeff, Jason, Bren, Beth (me), Emily, Mother. Daddy was taking the picture.
Brenda eating her last bite of cheesecake, and trying to keep it safe from everyone else.

"What are you guys looking at?"

"Ok, now everyone SMILE!"

Daddy and Mother being sweet, as usual!

Emily, Mother, and I on a rock whose top wasn't really big enough for all of us. Scary!
Me, sitting on the same rock.

Below: Through a series of scary stunts Jason crossed the river and posed on this rock.


Jason again.

I thought this was a cool picture.

Emily getting ready to throw a stick.

Spring Time in the Rockies

Yesterday, Saturday May 17th, we traveled to Red Feather Lakes, CO to further investigate several details that we needed before Tim and Brenda's wedding July 11th. While we were in that part of the mountains, we decided to go to a family-favorite camping site - not to camp, but just to see what condition the road was in, and do some hiking. It was about 70'F and clear blue sky - a perfect spring day in the Rockies. You should have been there!

I took this picture of the family standing in the gazebo behind the Chapel in the Pines www.redfeatherchapelinthepines.com/, where Tim and Brenda's wedding will be on July 11th.

After we were done at the chapel, we drove higher into the mountains north of Red Feather Lakes Village. On the way there, Brenda's keen eye caught sight of this cow moose. Can you spot it? Though you could never tell from this picture, we stopped and watched long enough to confirm the huge head and strange mouth of a moose. They are known to be in the area, but we usually don't see them. There are also mountain lions, bobcats, deer and elk in the area.

The kids were begging to go hiking, so Rowen, Jeff, Jason and Emily left the others in the car to read, while we walked ~1/2 mile to Creedmore Lake #1, then around the lake and climbed on the kids favorite rocks in our mountains...

Here they are, doing what they love to do - climbing all over these rocks on the west side of Creedmore Lake #1.

Almost to the top of the mountain in the first picture, with the lake!
View of Creedmore Lake#1 from the top

Some maps of the area where these pictures were taken; all the same area, with increasingly wide areas.

Red Feather Lakes Village, CO

Garden Planting Time!

On Friday 16-May-2008 we were finally able to get our 2008 garden started. It has been a cold spring here in northern Colorado, with frost several nights per week up until now. Finally late last week, we suddenly began summer, with daytime highs in the upper 80's(F) and nights in the 50's - so we quickly got the garden in. You will see in the first picture that the lilacs are still in bloom, but nearly done.

We planted romaine lettuce, radishes, carrots, zucchini, 16 tomato plants, 4 double rows of bush green beans, sweet and hot peppers, onions, 2 types of cucumbers. Last year we re-planted spearmint, after my cousin Katie Gafford shared several roots with us. It is coming up wonderfully! We look forward to frequent mint tea this summer.

In the pictures below, you'll see that Jeff gained some more experience with the roto-tiller, Brenda enjoyed helping, but didn't want to get her shoes dirty ;-)), and we all enjoyed working together on it. Jason also helped a lot, but nobody got him in a picture.

You all come to see us this summer and share with us the fruits of our harvest! Or, perhaps you'd like to help with canning all those tomatoes and beans in August and September!







Now we just have to water it every other day, weed it, and enjoy the harvest!

Joy's birthday picnic pictures at Schermerhorn Park, Galena, KS

On Joy's 21st Birthday, April 28, we went to Schermerhorn Park, Galena, KS for a cookout/picnic. It is a beautiful park with a river, a "mountain" hiking trail, a cave we couldn't go in, and playground equipment. Rowen and Randy barbecued brats.

It was chilly that evening. We made Quil wear a hat. He was sleepy, so he had a nap while the guys cooked. Joy and I rolled his stroller back and forth while we hummed his "naptime" tune over and over!YUM! YUM! BTW, we had cheesecake with strawberries for dessert!
Birthday girl, Joy!
Tim and Brenda were so happy to be together again. Since Tim lives in MO now, and Brenda still lives in CO, they both get lonely for each other!

The Albertson couples: Rowen and Janet, married 25 years this October; Joy and Randy, married 2 years this August; Tim and Brenda, to be married July 11, 2008!

Auntie Beth and Quil
The "Mountain" Hike
The Cave we were not allowed to enter. There are special salamanders in there to protect!!

More people pictures from our time in MO

Uncle Jason and Quil
Quil crawling
Great Grandma Scoles and Quil. She is Quil's babysitter when Randy and Joy are doing kids' ministry and calling.

Beth and Quil in the car, waiting for Aunt Brenda to come out of the store.
Quil's favorite place to sit to look out the window.

Quil loved his Aunt Emily.

Pictures of Grandson Quil and others

Grandma Albertson with Quil
Randy, Joy, and Quil in their matching outfits on Sunday afternoon.
Quil's Great Grandma, Wanda Scoles.

A Short Visit with our Albertson relatives on the way to MO

You all know by now how we had a week's vacation in Joplin, MO visiting our kids and my parents. There will likely be another post about that, as the subject is not exhausted, but now I wanted to mention that we saw our oldest nephew and his family as we traveled through KS. Herb and Jenny Albertson have been in Boston for 5 years. Earlier this year they moved to the Sterling, KS area. Herb is working at Sterling College, helping to direct the students into their future vocations. His official title is: Career Services Director. We ate lunch with Herb's family at the college cafeteria, and then got a tour of part of the campus. Pictured here is Cooper Hall, which was built in 1887 and was recently totally restored. It is a beautiful building, inside and out. Herb and Jenny are very special to us, and we are excited about the possibilities of being able to see them more often. Here are all of us together, except that Rowen is taking the picture.
Post actually written by Janet, not Beth!

Trip to Joplin, MO

We just returned from a 7-day stay in Joplin, MO. We have several very important reasons to go there; our son Randy, his wife Joy, and their son Quil (10-month old), our son Tim, who rented a house there in preparation for his marriage to Brenda on July 11, and of course we love to spend time with Janet's parents, Rex and Wanda Scoles when we are there. I'm sure that other family members will share their favorite memories of our trip with pictures, but I wanted to take time to share with you about that part of the country.

Joplin in only a few miles into Missouri, and is very near the borders of Kansas, Okla., and Arkansas. This entire region has a mining history, which is the reason that the cities and towns are there. After the civil war Lead and Zinc were found in abundant supply under this area. STRIP mining and UNDER mining were both used to harvest these valuable minerals.

Unfortunately many bad things happened to the environment because of the mining. Ground water contamination and sink-holes are some of the most evident in the modern day Joplin area. As you would expect, the miners were poor, and so many, many homes were built with sub-standard materials and techniques. Many of these homes are slowly falling apart. Sink holes occur in occupied and un-occupied areas. I was reminded of this again yesterday morning as I drove across extreme southeast Kansas; I read the signs posted by beside the modern highway that boldly states "ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK: THIS LAND IS UNDER MINED".

We had a delightful cook-out picnic south of Galena, KS last Monday evening, in honor of Joy's 21st birthday. Galena is one of the most recent locations of a sink hole collapsing right in town last year. Our picnic was at Schermerhorn Park, which has a wonderful hiking trail that we went on.

Picture shows a couple that we came upon, as we hiked on the trail. Aren't they cute, standing by their new home?

I just looked up the facts about Joplin: "The main part of Joplin itself is nearly 75% undermined, with some mine shafts well over 100 feet deep. These mine shafts have occasionally caved in, creating large sink holes."

All of this, along with the evil society that has been prevalent throughout the years of Joplin's existence and certainly still exists, give us much reason for prayer for our children being there - as they attempt to share the good news and of the gospel and the hope available through Christ - to those totally lost in heathen darkness - right there in mid-continent USA. Please join us in praying for them!

I Just Did It!

I did it! I got bright green valve stem caps put on my family car tires.

I was quite easily convinced this past week to have my tire shop replace the air in my tires with nitrogen, after which they installed these green caps. Now, if you see a vehicle with green caps, you'll know that they have taken this plunge. I do feel a little bad about the green thing -- I mean it is an environmentalist thing, and was half price in honor of earth day, but other than that it still seemed pretty sensible to me. Have you ever heard of it, and what do you think of it? Read about it at:

http://www.getnitrogen.org/why/index.php

http://pumpemup.org/

Meeting the Myers family in Colorado Springs

While we were in Colorado Springs for the Arms Around the World missions conference, on March 29th, we had the privilege of meeting Gary and Mary Myers and their children. Jayme Myers, their daughter, has recently joined God's Girls Newsletter and so I had had several email conversations with her before meeting them that Saturday.
Above: The Myers family. Below: Jayme and I.