Father's Day 2024

Pictures of 4 of my favorite 'fathers'. 

My cousin Joy died a couple of years ago and her husband died last month.  When their children were cleaning out the house, they found this photo of my Daddy. that I had never seen before.

My guess is that this was taken in 1942, just after he joined the navy at the start of World War II.

This one is an oldie but a favorite of mine.

George and our boys rocking their new German hats in Berchtesgaden 1996.

And here is Mark with Jackson on their way to church.

Any questions about what kind of Dad Mark is can be answered by looking at the Paw Patrol sticker on his car window and his GI Joe tie!

Johnny and Monica always seem to have fun together. 

He makes her laugh and is willing to act silly and play with her.

And a funny Father's Day story - 

We played a 'Would He Rather?" game and tried to figure out which of two things George would rather do.

I have known George for 50 years and been married to him for 49.

Johnny and Matt are 39 and 43.

Cady has known him for less than 2 years.

Guess who won the game?  Yep Cady.  There were 17 questions and she got 16 correct.  The boys and I each got 12.  Either she is a very lucky guesser or she is just very intuitive. Glad she is a part of the family!

Portland in June = Heaven

 As I have said many times, I really do think that Heaven will look like Portland on a sunny day.

On this particular June day you could see both Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens.

Of course our favorite sights were our dear friends.

Rich and Chris Marsee

And our dinner group friends 

Ron and Linda Matthews, Dave and Debby Lynn Day, Kathy and Kim Whitman, Martha Helmandollar, Allison and Phil Graham.

Being included in this dinner group, just after we had moved to Portland in 2010, really helped us develop friendships and feel a part of the ward.

I am so grateful for the invitation and happy that it is still going strong.

But best of all was spending time with Scott.  He's had a rough few months with some BIG kidney stones but he is back to normal now.

And thriving!

One of the amazing things about the big city of Portland is Forrest Park.  Right in the middle of the city there are 5,200 acres set aside for the native plants with more than 80 miles of hiking trails.  

We hiked up to Pittock Mansion.

George and I made the same hike back in July 2010, before I had moved to Oregon.

I have a hard time believing that it has been 14 years since then.

Time flies!

Cancer Update

Thyroid Cancer - Healthy cells on the right and cancer craziness on the left.  This isn't from my tumor, it's just a photo I found on line.

 I've had an interesting little 'detour'  on my cancer 'journey'.  My calcitonin (the blood marker for Medullary Thyroid cancer) has remained relatively stable since my 2nd surgery in 2016.  I have been on 'Wait and Watch' with blood work every 6 months and a visit to my specialist in Portland with an ultrasound once a year.  In December my calcitonin went up from a stable 61 to 133.  That's a 72 point jump; more than doubling.  Studies have shown that the long-term prognosis of Medullary Thyroid Cancer depends on the rate at which the calcitonin level doubles.  Doubling in 6 months is a warning sign that the disease is progressing. Yes, I was nervous.

Dr. Madison decided to check the levels again in March and it was  179 - a 46 point jump so he added a Pet scan to my June visit but also gave orders for one more blood test at the end of May. I was definitely riding the anxiety train. 

Guess what?  The May test showed a drop of 104 points - right back down to near where it had been.

The PET scan and Ultrasound showed no new disease.

First question to Dr. Madison - what could cause a 100 point jump and a 100 point drop?????

Turns out that the culprit was......

I have had some mild stomach discomfort and was prescribed this to hopefully help.  I started taking in in November and stopped in early May since I couldn't really see that it helped all that much. Corresponds perfectly with my rise and fall in calcitonin.

I had no idea of this drug interaction.

Mystery solved!

Cancer is stable as it has been since after my 2nd surgery in 2016.

Isabella's Baptism

 I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain

And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,

And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Isabella Makayla Lewis

Baptized on

1 June 2024 in 

Meridian, Idaho

Overland Ward

Paul and Claudia Wasser; Monica and John Lewis, Isabella Lewis, Marilyn Lewis, Karen Lewis, George Lewis 

School's Out for Summer

Isabella is ready to conquer the world! Good-bye 2nd grade!

She finished with a bang - and a very nice award!

I love that she is responsible, respectful and hardworking!

Mrs. Northrup was once again her 'favorite' teacher....just like Mrs. Ciavarella in kindergarten and Mrs. Bauer in 1st grade!  

Having BFF Madison in her class added to her perfect year!

These girls are the Hulu hoop queens.  Isabella can keep the Hulu hoop going for 11 minutes!

For Jackson it was "Peace Out Preschool".

He has been at the same community preschool for 3 years and has had the same teachers.  Miss Julie, the head teacher adores him....and he reciprocates.  She is the teacher with the sunglasses. The other teacher is her assistant Ms. Madison.

Mary reports that Miss Julie says Jackson is kind to the other kids, answers questions, is well behaved, and well liked by everyone.

The real accomplishment is that she got him to wear his graduation cap!  That boy has never liked anything on his head. The cap says, "Adventure is out there."  So true!

A few of the kids in his preschool will also be attending kindergarten with him in August.

The cutoff date for kindergarten in West Virginia is August 1st and Jacksons 5th birthday was August 15th so he will be one of the oldest in his class.  That's always a good thing.

Next stops - Kindergarten and 3rd grade!

Proud of both of these cuties!

 

Northern Lights in Idaho

 Normally Boise is too far south to see the Aurora Borealis but on May 10th all the forecasts, including the Aurora App we had loaded to our phones when we were in Iceland, indicated that there was a very good possibility that they would be visible.  A large geomagnetic storm made it possible.  Now if the clouds would cooperate and stay away, we knew there was a good chance that we would see them.

And the skies stayed clear!

After driving about 20 miles up into the mountains to the little town of Horseshoe Bend along with 100s of others, we pulled off onto a view point turnout and waited for the show to begin. About 11:00 we noticed a sort of haze in the sky, almost like clouds. Gradually the colors became more obvious.  You should know that the colors are much brighter when looking through a camera lens.  

We left about 12:00 when things appeared to be slowing down. How I wish we had stayed longer!

John, Monica and Isabella were also in Horseshoe Bend. As they were driving home, John noticed really bright lights in the distance so they drove over in that direction and were treated to a fabulous display.

Their photos were amazing, including this one - which is my favorite!

Thank you Mother Nature for painting our Idaho skies so beautifully!