Hi everyone,
I need to update everyone on Grandpa and Grandma Fife's doings. They are both currently well, although dealing with ongoing health issues. At least they haven't come down with the Swine Flu. They got their seasonal flu shots a couple of weeks ago and will get the swine flu vaccine as soon as it is available.
Grandma and Grandpa have had several visitors from the second generation in the last few months, as well as letters and phone calls. Thank you so much for that attention. They are always so pleased to see or hear from you. I decided to start taking pictures when they have visitors. (Some of you visited before I thought to get pictures of these visits - sorry about that.)
Grandma and Grandpa have been helping us with the green bean harvest this summer. They are great green bean snappers! They have snapped enough beans to fill up 60 quarts! For our last picking, Grandpa helped me pick the beans off the vines (pole bean vines,) and he was really good help. After snapping that picking, he went with me to the Boise Rescue Mission downtown, where we donated the beans and some tomatoes and spaghetti squash. There was a long line of people, mostly men, waiting for a meal. They were very glad to get our fresh produce.
Last week, Grandpa and Grandma went with us Steve and I to the temple. It was a good session for them, they said. This is not a hard thing to do, since Grandpa can arrive at the temple in his white clothing. He leaves in his whites also, so it is pretty easy to take him. He does need help through out the session, so a male companion is necessary.
Last Saturday evening, Grandma went with me to the Relief Society general conference meeting. All of her daughters as well as Shelly Miller and Nikki Huffaker were able attend with us. It was a very nice evening. We had been asked to bring skirts for a humanitarian service project for sisters in Paraguay - these were to be skirts the women in Paraguay could wear to Sacrament meetings. Mom and I put three skirts into a plastic grocery bag which Mom carried to the car. When we got into the car, she threw the bag to the back of the car and I said, "Mom, you have a pretty good arm!" She told me that when she was a kid the boys in her neighborhood would come to her house and say, "Dove, get your brothers and come and play ball. " She played catcher for the team and she says she was pretty good. Mom grew up with boys. Her closest older sister was Verna, six years older than her and Mildred, her closest younger sister, was six years younger. Uncles Sam, Jay and Homer were her closest siblings. She grew up as kind of a tom-boy. No wonder she is so tough!
