Thursday, July 3, 2008

4th of July and Mom's Birthday


Today we celebrated the 4th of July in our campground with Neil and Maddy, Garth and Julie and their family, and Mom. I feel so very thankful to have been blessed to live in this great country. Because we have been so blessed I believe it is our duty to do whatever we can to help those who are not so fortunate.
Garth had Kesley lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Nathaniel offered to bless the food (he is so cute) and we played patriotic songs. We had a good time, ate too much food and played a lot of games. While the boys played croquet Julie, Mom and I played scrabble. Then Garth and Julie played against Neil and I in a game of Pictionary. G and J won. It was fun anyway. Then Neil's Family and Garth's Family went to the Tumwater Fireworks show (Eldon's Show) where I am sure they will have a great time. Ells is not up to going there anymore and I am staying home with him. I don't think I could handle the walking etc. tonight anyway.

July 2nd, we went to J.J.Norths to celebrate Mother's 92nd Birthday. (Mother has always been very patriotic so it is only right that she should be born so close to the 4th of July)
Ralph and Carol were there with five of their children: David, Jerry & his girlfriend Holly & her son, Stephie & her two boys, Shan & his daughter and Travis. It was great to see them. Our cousins, Donna Hagen and Robert Peterson were there & in addition, one of Mom's caregivers, Maryann & her husband & son. We had a nice time but ate way too much.

Uncle Ralph

June 25th - As most of you know, Ralph had a complete hip replacement over a week ago and is mending pretty well we think. The first surgery was not healing right - it was crooked so they decided to finally do this surgery. He should be much better off once it is completely healed.
It was quite an ordeal for him
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As most of you know, my brother Ralph was in a horrible car accident yesterday morning (Sat Apr 19th) Actually it was about 1 o'clock in the morning. He was on his paper route and driving along about 60 miles an hour he said when a car came over the hill and was in his lane. He had no time to do anything; the car just hit him head on.
We are all feeling fortunate that Ralph is still with us. He was hurt quite badly with several broken bones. However, he didn't lose consciousness, which means a lot and he is trying to keep his spirits up which means a lot.
Neil kindly drove mom and I to the hospital in Tacoma yesterday and we stayed there and visited with his family until he was out of surgery and then out of the recovery room. We did get to visit with him for a while in his room. He is in a lot of pain but they have changed his pain medication now and it is helping him.

Here is his address if you would like to send him a card which I know he would enjoy receiving.
Ralph R. Dahlberg Room 516 J Wing
Tacoma General Hospital
315 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
PO BX 5299
Tacoma, WA . 98415

Time Goes by

This past Friday night I rode with Neil and Maddy to the Elma Football Field to watch two of our grandsons play soccer.
Jesse Burbidge (Cindy & Arlin's) played for the Elma soccer team and did a great job. Dalton Newell (Eldon & Candy's) played for Tumwater. He did a great job also but was limited on the time he could play as he was plagued with a nosebleed.
It brought back a lot of memories of past football games. Eldon, Gordon, Garth, Aaron, Josh and Dan all played football for Elma. They loved it with a passion. I loved going to the games and rooting for the boys.
How quickly time passes. It seemed so strange to be there at the football field watching my children's children play. I don't get to go very often but enjoy it when I do.
Jesse is Captain of his team and will graduate from high school this year so he doesn't have too many games left to play.
It was good to sit with the family and enjoy their company.

Favorite Memory from Childhood