Kennington Letter June 2009

Iris, roses and shell-pink Japanese peonies

Golden roses next to one of the Japanese maples

My front of the garage garden spot. You can see a Black Lace Elderberry and the Bloodgood Japanese Maple. There will be hydrangeas and coneflowers blooming, and I planted a dogwood tree. Clint bought the shell hanging in Hawaii.

The curly willow (it's great in flower arrangements) and my rocking garden bird. You can smell the pink dianthus all over the yard.

Hello Sisters,

What a week! I had my campus class final today. Although I will have assignments dribbling in for the next week from procrastinating students. I will have an online summer class which isn't too much trouble, then a month off so we can go visit Jeff and Brielle in West Lafayette.

Today I got a summons for grand jury duty in Portland once a month for the next 18 months! I was traumatized all day. This is an 800 mile round trip through two mountain passes. On top of another jury summons to Pendleton, which is only a 330 mile round trip. What do these people want from me? I have written a strongly worded Please Excuse Me Permanently letter to send.

The weather has been warm but we've had lots of rain this spring, which makes everything look lovely and green. I included some photos of my garden. It is very inviting and we have people slow down as they drive by to look at it.

As far as the transmission line problem we were having since last October, Idaho Power finally believes we're not going to give up, and is now starting over its entire process by having "community advisory teams" choose the route. Since Clint is on one of the teams, it won't be anywhere near our house! But it's not over yet. I'm still keeping my blog going, http://stopidahopower.blogspot.com/ We've gotten involved with other groups around the state who want our clout to help them, and I get interesting stories and phone calls from people. Who knew I would become a famous radical activist?

We've been helping Casey and Katie get ready to move to Germany in early July. They were going to stay until after their baby girl was born, but Casey has to take a class in September and they wouldn't be able to get the baby's birth certificate, passport and visa for months, so they're going before she is born. Katie's father is an OB in the military and was able to make arrangements for them. Casey was 11th on a list of hundreds of applicants for a full scholarship, so he got the $55,000 for two years. The MTC still has him working for them. His field of computational linguistics is the cutting edge of computer languages, so he will be in high demand when he graduates. I will sure miss Elsa sitting on my lap during Sacrament Meeting! Clint will miss Casey being amazing help on the farm

Three of my childrens' families planned a trip to the redwood forest this June and invited me to come along! I guess they figured I could be the Grandma tent leader! It will be fun.

Clint is enjoying his calling as Stake Sunday School President. He figures that even though there isn't much direction in the handbook, he still likes visiting other wards so it's a good excuse! He's been teaching Gospel Doctrine for three years and does an excellent job.

Love to all!
The Kenningtons