PATTI AND THE KIDS!!! YAHOOO!

Patti, Robbie, Jake, Ellie, Luke and JohnJohn came rolling into McCall and boy did we have fun! The weather was great, the kids were good and we went out on the boat a couple of times, went to a hot springs called Gold Fork, and pretty much vegged on enjoying everything. Robbie and Jake used the three and a half foot grass between the house and the creek to hide and shoot each other with the air guns. We sat on the deck and watched the deer and the elk come down to drink and eat. We laughed, we cried, and we simply had a great time! Oh yeah, and the twins found Sheri's home made pickles in basement and, sure enough, we have one less jar now! Carpet and pickle juice. . . . . nice! We now get ready for Josh and Liz, and then the end of July we will be getting ready for the Griffith 7!

Abby Rose Rinker

6/22/2009

Welcome to the world Abby! Kathy brought Abby into the world at 10:00 pm on Monday, June 22. The neat thing about this is it is also Liz's birthday too! Both Abby and mom are doing fine, and so is Craig. Ava has fully accepted her new sister and she calls Abby her baby. 

A very happy family! Congratulations to Kathy and Craig!

This makes grandchild number 15! 

I HATE MOVING!!!

There's no place like home!

Well, Sheri and I got to spend a nice week in Seattle, going to dinners, lunches, shopping at Bell Square, and visiting Fred and Mary and a quick visit to see Janet and the kids. Then it was MOVING DAY! Yuck! We spent an entire day packing and loading our Uhaul truck; fortunately we had Brian drop by to help with the sofa. Brian had just flown in from Boise, helping out Craig and Kathy at the hospital to help us. We left Bellevue on Thursday, spending the night in the wine country town of Prosser, WA., then on to McCall on Friday. It's so good to be home, there's no place like home. 

I can't believe these people are smiling! I got 8 miles to the gallon and the only thing I could get on the radio was Spanish Speaking stations and Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck (which was an education because I really had no idea how much hate they were spewing until I listened to them for 8 hours!)

Typical Saturday in Seattle

This was a spectacular day in Seattle, low 70's, no clouds, the flowers in bloom and too many things to see in just one Saturday. Josh and I were going to go to see a Zack baseball game, but got the times mixed up somehow, so we ended up going to Snoqualmie Falls. Snoqualmie is the English pronunciation of "sah-KOH-koh" or "Sdob-dwahibbluh," a Salish word meaning moon. As a spiritual place, it gave birth to many legends. One tells of "S'Beow" (the beaver), who climbed into the sky to bring trees and fire down to earth. The Native Americans who roamed the valley were known as people of the moon. So much for the history lesson. It is just flat beautiful. Josh has decided to move back to Rexburg to be with Liz, gee I wonder why? As hard as it is for "Oldie Weds" to be apart, it must be much worst for newly weds. He has tried his hardest to find something here in Seattle and it just has not worked out. So, John will be living in restaurants and delis again starting after Labor Day, "Oh the humanities!" Josh is an excellent cook. One of John's favorite is a chicken breast with maple syrup caramelized over it, yummy! It has been nice having him here with today as an example; we went to Snoqualmie Falls, to Pikes Place, to the Rock and Roll Museum, and then back to Mercer Island to throw the baseball to each other. Hopefully Sheri can spend more time in Seattle with John this summer, but she's going to have to learn to catch a baseball and cook caramelized chicken. 

An ancient indian camp grounds is now over taken by Asian tourists. We didn't see any beavers or moons, but lot's of cameras!

I'm sure Sheri knows the name of this tree. Seattle has this most beautiful flowering trees. 

Downtown Seattle Alley with great shops, music and, best of all, food.

Sleepless in Seattle

John and Josh are living on Mercer Island, which is nice, but has it's major drawbacks because, frankly, it would be nice if our wives were here with us. Josh prepares John some very amazing dinners and has the ability of getting fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables from Pike's Place Market, which is only a short 10 minutes from the apartment. It is really nice that John can go on his long walks on "The Island" (that's what the locals call it), and when her gets back, da da, dinner is ready. It's a little like the Odd Couple, Josh being Felix and John being Oscar, because John better not be late for dinner or he is in deep trouble! Josh has been working as an intern learning the wireless cell site acquisition business and searching for a job. Brian got him an interview at really nice restaurant in Seattle, he has been into several other locations, but finding work is still very illusive.  They attended a Mariners game, which was cool because it was "Throw Back Night" which meant the M's and the A's were both wearing the 1939 uniforms or the Seattle Rainiers and the Oakland Oaks. John may get on the M's payroll soon, he has been to two games and they have lost both, so they may pay him to stay away! 

View from Summerset taken while looking for a cell-site location.

Flowers at Pike's Place. Note the prices! 

It is fun to go to Pike's Place and see all the fresh sea food.

Josh on a roof top checking out a possible site for a cell. 

Batting practice at the M's game. I'm sure that this is one of the nicest stadiums in baseball. The vendors and the food is amazing. We were at the game two hours before it started to watch BP and walk the stadium. It was great.

YIKES! John actually felt pretty good before he saw this picture. Note the Seattle Rainiers hat, it was a give away hat night.

Gracie Dog - Jan 13, 2001 - April 19, 2009

Gracie, 2001 - 2009

Gracie developed a liver issue and her organs began shutting down. John had to make a decision to allow her to stop suffering. There are difficult decisions in life, this was certainly one of them. She was part of the Griffith family, she loved the grand kids, she loved sitting on the deck overlooking her domain, she loved laying on the kitchen floor wanting food to "accidentally" drop, and the favorite part of her day was saying good morning, which was a joy to us.  She will be missed by us all. Sweet dreams Gracie Dog, we love you.

JohnJohn and Gracie Dog!

The Creation

John and Sheri have finally been pushed, shoved, belittled, chastised and lovingly asked to create a blog. The Creation of the Blog can be unnerving because the WORLD can see just how boring we are, but at the same time how much we truly love our children and their spouses, grandchildren and our dear friends. So, I guess we will focus on the latter to shine to the world.

When I asked JD to help me come up with name for the blog here are three of our favorites:

·      Is this heaven? No it's Idaho

·      Gracie's House

·      Is That Thing On? (John’s favorite)

As you all know, John is spending most of his time on a project in Seattle doing an overlay of 105 cell sites (don’t ask unless you are really bored), while Sheri tends to the house making certain Jord makes it to school, seminary, church and there are no parties. We won’t go into parties what occurred when we were living in Redmond, and we were out of town, and JD locked himself in his bedroom, at least that’s what he told us. We are not really certain where Patti was, probably out talking to all the cute boys with baseball caps!

Sheri and Jordan spent a week on Mercer Island with John and we must report that life is not that tough in his beautiful apartment and wonderful location, regardless of what you might hear from him. Shopping is great, the location is great, the weather is great (flowers and no snow) and he is discovering a lot of new restaurants, which indicates he is not cooking much. It is also nice to be living near Janet and Brian, and to go to Josie’s soccer games! She is really good and Brian is giving his heart and soul to youth soccer by coaching two teams!

While we were in Seattle we were able to go to the Seattle Center and visit the Experience Music Project, with Jordan, Janet, Brian, Kathy, Craig and all the grand kids! It was really a lot of fun, especially the music video we produced. None of us could come up with a name (John wanted “Flogging Sheri” but was overruled) and at the last minute John blurted out Charlie Brown’s AllStars. Wow, original! We are trying to figure our how to put the DVD onto this Blog. . . . . but we must find out if it will mean jail time first. All I can tell you right now is that we sang Twist and Shout with Jord on drums, Zack on lead guitar, Ava on shakers, Josie on organ, with John singing lead and Sheri, Kathy, Janet and Lucy singing backup. But watching the “go-go” dancers, Brian and Craig, is worth the price of admission.  A must see, if we can get it on the blog.

Being in the Seattle area allows us to visit Sheri's family much more than we have. We had a wonderful dinner at Fred and Mary's home with Vicki, Bill, Pat and Patty. On April 25th Sara will be competing in the Miss Vikingfest (or Miss Poulsbo) Pageant, which John hopes to attend. Good Luck Sara!

Peace and Love,

John & Sheri