Going BALD!

Well, The portrait by my brother has called to the fore-front my aging process. Yes, I am getting old(er) and it is manifesting itself. My eyes need things held away a little more each year (though I see 20/15). My bones, joints and back ache more and more. And yes, I am losing hair. This began in earnest when I, and my sons, bleached our hair while Lia was out of town one year a while back. We did silly things like that to shock and surprise her, just for the fun of it. Well, this time my years were catching up and my knowledge of bleaching was fundamentally lacking. I ended up over doing it and I noticed with in days, and so did others, that I was a bit thin up front. I think I just advanced the natural process a few years. I had to take several photos of myself for my brother to paint my portrait. A key element was that I get good top lighting to create shadows. Well the down side of that is that the light penetrates to the scalp where hair is thin. The result was a whole lot of photos that essentially made me look bald. I have to thank my brother for at least not making my hair disappear completely like it appears to in most of the photos. I realize now that I will likely take after my grand father on my mothers side unless my thinning slows down dramatically in which case I will appear more like my father. In either case I will be thinning more and more. Now, I am not opposed to the whole bald thing particularly for many folks who look just fine like that. I unfortunately am not one of them. Those photos were hideous and I am not just saying that because it is me and we all see ourselves worse than others seem to (natural human insecurity). I also have a small head and this fact is greatly intensified by the lack of hair. Well I guess I need to start getting used to it now or go join the "Hair Club For Men". Getting old is bad enough but when you feel like a kid in so many ways it seems kind of worse because you know you are not. I guess that is why I like fantasy literature, because reality bites.

My brother in law painted this portrait of Chris. It looks just like him!! Good job Spencer!!!

Spring Cleaning my yard

Yesterday I was reminded of one of the things we loved about our house when we were looking.  Our yard. We love how it had all the beds built in.  We did notice that it would need some work later because there were quite a few open areas in it. But, it was still beautiful. Yesterday my sister and brother in law came over to show me how to split hostas and the decorative grasses which I had a ton of. So, I pretty much redid my beds by splitting what I had. My brother in law Spencer cleaned up the beds in the front yard, while Laurie and I did the splitting. It looks so clean now. I can't wait until everything grows now. Shouldn't be long and my yard is going to look gorgeous. We split so many hostas, along the fence we alternated the blue and green ones. I know you can't really see the changes right now in the pictures, but they're there.  It is going to look awesome. So, once everything is out, I will post new pictures and I'm going to have a party and you are all invited!!! Just let me know if you want to come and I will send an invite!!! We'll barbecue and eat out on the deck, that I love. I love my backyard and am so glad we moved here!! Thanks again Spencer and Laurie for your help. Will miss you next year. 

Houston in April

So, I just returned tonight from Houston, TX. My sister Bonnie and I flew out there Saturday morning and flew back home today (Monday). Very quick trip. It was good to see my family even though it was a short visit. Fun getting to see my nephews.  So, at this point in my life I am grateful to be an AUNT to young ones. But, glad to be a MOM to older ones. I love being able to be around babies and little ones, but love the freedom we have now.  Anyway, aren't my nephews cute?

My house

I had a request for a picture of my house, so here it is. I didn't quite get the whole thing. I was taking pictures for other reasons. We love our house. Would love for anyone to come see it in person. 

Ryan's most recent pics!

Ryan's letter 4/1/08

Well this week has been quit good. unfortunately i dont have any new prospects to report, but i do have a very exciting story. Well this actually happend last night. So mom you will be able to tell elder pattersons mom this story. unfortunately we didnt take a picture. well anywasys so we were late home last night. and since we were running late past our curfew you know what they say. the spirit doesnt protect you. so we actually were leaving to go home, and we were walking to our bikes and there were a group of chavs surrounding our bike trying to cut the lock. probably about 5 of them. so we were yelling at them and these ones didnt leave when we yelled so we actually had to face them. then ..... they just like surrounded us and and started to fight. well it wasnt pretty, i mean we are big guys, so they threw a punch at elder patterson and they missed and then i never seen anyone get so mad. he just started going on and just waling punches. i know not very christlike but it was self defense. so they got a few good hits on us, but we scared them off, unfortunately elder patterson has a black eye, but battle wounds are the greatest. the best part was when like 3 or 4 of them and so i like had to single handedly take them all off of him. it was way intense, almost like it was a movie! Well that was exciting, but atleast we have a story to tell our grandchildren. well so anyways we are ok. and just in ccase you were wondering what day it is. i believe it is the ......

oh yeah the first of april. April fools day. sorry this is all we could come up with at the last minute. it never really happend. Well anyways we did have a good week, we had to baptisms on sat. Shelley got baptised and boy it was alot tougher than i thought it would be. apperently a memeber like said some things to her about missionaries being baptism happy, and like are you doing this for yourself? it was not easy to fix, but she is way good. she actually wrote her testimony down on paper for me, kind of like her conversion process, but less in depth, so i will send it to you to read. but it is way cool. well so other than that i will answer questions from mom now. So yes i did have a different coat, that is becasue when i first came out i couldnt ride a bike with that monster jacket, so i bought that one for 3 quid at a charity shop. and it has lasted me ever since. it is hidious(sp?) but it works i guess. so mom i actually do need something. just some more degree deodorant and anti persperent. i dont like the selection in this country. well so yes we did have some weird snow flurries but we do not get that very often, the last two days have been beautiful. so i am healthy and happy. i am very excitied for general conference this weekend. mom here are some facts about elder patterson. he has a rediculous northern utah accent. wow! he sounds like a redneck. um he is not too shy about talking to people. he has great faith in doing this work. He is not prideful, and is very willing to submit to my will. haha. i dont alwyas like that though because i can be very indecisive sometimes. and i like the input of others. um lets see! he is not very homesick which is good! ok that is it. i cant think of anymore! well i hope you all have a great day, you are all in my prayers!
Love
Edler Ryan lee