Jeremy's home!

Jeremy flew out of Anchorage, Alaska at midnight (the sun was still shining at that hour) and arrived at Intercontinental airport at noon.

A good missionary! Jeremy was able to lift this man's spirit (he had flown in for the funeral of his brother) In a short period of time he was able to teach him, and gave him a pamphlet. "It's hot here", says Jeremy, walking through the airconditioned terminal. "Just wait til you walk outside", we tell him. He's going from 50 degrees in Alaska to 95 in Houston.

Jeremy's amazed by how much his neices have grown in 2 years.

Memorial Day Tribute

"In grateful memory of Private Carl G. Salmon, who died in the service of his country in the European Area, August 17, 1944. He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it, he lives --in a way that humbles the understaking of most men." Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States.
Carl was a paratro0per who died at age 20. On the 15th of August, 1944, he was in Comany "C" and took part in the invasion of Southern France, coming in by parachute before dawn. The day of the 15th was spent in moving into position and preparing for the German counterattack. The attack came at noontime on the 16th and began with enemy artillery "giving our lines a terrible pounding". Carl's platoon was holding a central part of that line, and was subject to heavy fire. A large shell made a direct hit and Pvt. Salmon died instantly and without pain. He was buried with full Military Honors and now lies in an American Military Cemetery in France.
For courageous action taken without orders, in Italy, which saved the lives of all men in his platoon, he recieved the Bronze Star. He was also awarded a Silver Star and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. A fellow paratrooper who was lying right next to Carl when he was mortally wounded, says "he was about as nice a kid as I've ever known and all the guys took it pretty hard that knew him".
Carl Salmon is my husband's uncle, whom he was named after. We have also named our youngest son after him. On Memorial day , we pay tribute to him and express love and appreciation for him and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Memorial Day week-end fun

Enjoying sweet little Ava. The big one got away! Dario caught it, but it escaped. Grandpa & the boys had so much fun fishing on Walter's parents' 6 acre lake that's on their land. Grandpa fried up these two little guys (the fish), and they were tasty. The boys didn't want to eat them. They thought they were bringing home two pets.

It's in the genes

Playing "dress-up", in the 1950's. Pretty scary! Here's me and my brother Charlie (Sylvia's Dad) pretending to be outer-space aliens.

Here's me pretending to be an Indian princess.
Playing dress-up now, more than 50 years later. (And proof that each generation is better than the last..) Pretty sweet!

Kyla loves to dress up like princesses or ballerinas.

Here is why I love playing in the dirt!

The results! 7 weeks after planting the garden, besides the lettuce we've been eating for a few weeks, we now have lots of green beans -- here are some Jessica cooked up for mother's day dinner -- they were sooo good. In the past, I've had to use Miracle Grow to get good results -- got these best ever results through only using a combo of rose dirt, Black Cow composted manure (at Lowe's) and bone meal. ....and (drum roll) the very first tomatoes ripening on the vine! I recently picked up this little trick -- to place cheese cloth over tomatoes soon as they turn orange to prevent birds from pecking at them. So far it's working

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He'll be home soon -- May 27!

Jeremy's finishing up on the lovely island of Sitka, and says "I wish I could stay here longer." In his last letter he tells of two recent baptisms and finding "a golden family of 5 yesterday". "The spirit was very strong while we taught them. So I'm hoping they will be baptized before I leave... We have been having a lot of success and finding a lot of people to teach. I feel our strong prayers and hard work have been paying off. I'm on my very last lap and I feel like kicking it all the way to the finish line."

a major milestone

From little boy...

.....to Eagle Scout! (How did our "baby" grow up so quickly? "TaTa"/Carl at his Eagle Court of Honor in April. His niece Avery was so excited, she joined him up on the stand.