We spent most of February 2010 at home and it was nice to be here after our trip to India. We did not get much snow during that time. We left again early in March for Sacramento, California. Spent some time enjoying Caden and Kyler and their parents and other family and friends.

By then Caden was bouncing around all over on his bottom being very mobile. And very pleased with himself! He had been on a blenderized diet for his g-tube feedings and was making a lot of improvement in every way. We also celebrated Kyler's 4th birthday. He was asking his relatives to get him Thomas the Train and Friends' engines, tracks, etc. for his birthday. So he got a lot and was such a little engineer making unique tracks for his little engines to go on. Kyler has done well with swimming this year and also working on learning to ride his bike with no training wheels. He also likes going to preschool 3 mornings/week this year.

In May Caden started to crawl quite a lot. Later he was on a research study and used a mini treadmill and a little walker which he enjoyed and helped him develop his walking skills. He has made a lot of progress with his walking. He can walk some on his own now.

Charles and I went to Southern California for several days and did the Los Angeles Marathon for the 25th year. So now we who have done them all are called Silver Legacy Runners! The marathon was also on my 70th birthday. It was the biggest party I have ever had and lots of fun. I had "bib numbers" front and back which stated that I was a Legacy and I also wrote on the bibs "Today is my 70th Birthday". So I got congratulated and sung to and wished Happy Birthday thousands and thousands of times throughout the whole marathon by other participants and also by spectators.

For my birthday, my 3 daughters wanted to have a t-shirt quilt made for me out of marathon shirts. We certainly have plenty to choose from since I have completed 178 and Charles has done 194. But I decided to have our 50 states put into a quilt. So we now have this special king size 50 states marathon quilt on our bed.

We got to visit several friends and relatives during our stay in Calif. for much of March. Carey and Kyler and Caden went with us to visit my Uncle Rex who is 96. He was living at a retirement home in Yountville, CA near Napa. In July he suffered a heart attack, fell in his tub/shower, was unconscious for a while and stuggled for a long time trying to get up. Finally he was able to reach an emergency cord with his foot and got some assistance. Went to the hospital in Napa and had a lot of tests which determined he had a severe heart attack. Since that time he has been confused some of the time and has been in a rehab center getting stronger, but also having some other medical complications.

Four days before Uncle Rex had his heart attack, my Uncle Emery fell in his assisted living room as a result of a bad stroke. He had neurosurgery to stop the bleeding in his brain, but has not done well since and is in a nursing home in Illinois. Neither Uncle knows how bad off his brother is.

On our way home from Calif. we picked up Charli Jo in Portland during her spring break and took her home with us for a few days. Then I brought her back home and stayed there to take Charli Jo to and from school, lessons, etc. while Shelly, again, was having a very very busy tax season. So I spent another 3 weeks in Portland.

My sister Evelyn continues to travel a lot. In April she was on a Mediterranean cruise ending in Venice. But she got stuck in Venice for several more days because no planes were flying due to the volcano in Iceland.

Rylan turned 11 years old in April. He is doing well with his trumpet. We have been to some of the school concerts. He is in 6th grade this year. He has had a growth spurt this year.

Charli Jo turned 12 in May. She does well in school and with her clarinet, etc. She enjoys writing and sewing, etc. She is in 7th grade.

Melissa was 14 in September. I think Melissa has slowed down on her growing. She enjoys cooking and being creative. She is in 8th grade this year.

Charles and our son-in-law Greg both trained hard for the Coeur d'Alene Ironman Triathlon: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile marathon run. It was on June 27. We enjoyed having all of our family here including my sister plus a lot of friends, etc. before, during and after the ironman. Greg did very well on the ironman. Charles was not able to complete the swim due to the extremely cold 60 degree lake water. It caused him not to be able to breathe. But at least he gave it a good try. So we are proud of our "ironmen" in our family.

In July we had a lot of fun for about 10 days when my cousin Elaine from Pennsylvania and her sister Margie from Kansas came for a visit. Margie is wild about geocaching. So we did that everywhere we went. It was a lot of fun. We went to Canada and visited beautiful sights in British Columbia and Alberta including Radium Hot Springs, Lake Louise, Banff, Waterton National Park, etc. Then back into Glacier National Park in Montana and also did some touring around Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Elaine and Margie had never been to any of these states or provinces that we took them to.

The end of July and first of August Charles and I spent a week at Ocean Shores on the Washington coast and also did a lot of sightseeing and hiking in the Olympic Penninsula. Saw several huge trees. Had a good time and fairly good weather much of the time although it was overcast at Ocean Shores a lot. We drove on the beach there too.

Then we headed to Sacramento again to spend about 10 days there. Most of the time we would be babysitting Kyler and Caden while Carey and Greg took a very well deserved break to Mexico to celebrate their 10th anniversary. We were kept very busy, but enjoyed our time with those fun little boys. Caden is such a hard worker in all of his therapies. He still eats via the g-tube, but will be in an intensive feeding program right after Christmas and hopefully he will decide that is it good to eat by mouth. So far he does not think so. He has been on the waiting list for a very long time for this feeding program. He has also had a feeding therapist come to his house every week for well over a year trying to encourage him to eat by mouth, but little progress on that. Caden's g-tube had come out before Carey and Greg left, so Carey showed me how to get it back in. I was hoping that I would not have to do that again while they were away. However a few hours prior to them arriving home, I went to give him a late feeding after he went to sleep and found the tube laying in the crib. So I had to put it back in to give him that feeding. It came out again the next day and Carey decided it was faulty and put in a new one.

It was nice to get to see more family and friends in California, Oregon and Washington on our way home from that trip.

In September our son-in-law Greg was riding his bike to work and got hit by a car. His front bike wheel and handle bars were mangled as was Greg's shoulder when he landed on it and his whole right side got a lot of road rash. His A-C ligament was torn in his shoulder. After seeing several doctors, it was decided best not to do surgery at this time, but let it heal. It has been very sore, but getting better. We are all so grateful that he did not get hurt much worse than he did.

We did a new marathon (Charles) and half marathon (Janie) in October in Walla Walla, WA. It was small but nice and again it did not rain on us even though rain was forecast. We enjoyed visiting our friend Donna and her family that weekend.

October 22-24 we enjoyed having Melissa, Charli Jo and Rylan spend the weekend with us while our 3 daughters were having a special sisters' weekend here in northern Idaho at Priest Lake. It was a rainy weekend, but nice and dry indoors.

We spent October 27-30 in Portland area and got to take Charli Jo to and from school for a couple days and to swimming and clarinet lessons, etc. Then we also had fun seeing a lot of friends at an Army reunion of guys who were in the whitecoat projects. After that we went to Richland, WA and did another marathon there on Halloween. Rain was forecast, but again it quit raining before the marathon and cleared up and was a gorgeous fall day. Just got very windy for a lot of the run. We went on pedestrian/bike trails along the Columbia River on both sides. Crossed the river 4 times. Drove home in time to greet the trick or treaters who came to our house that evening.