Newest Granddaughter

This is Abby Jo Pryor born to Randy & Heidi on October 9, 2009 She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. She is welcomed home by big brother Tyson. We were able to go to Fruitland and meet her this past weekend and what a joy it was to hold her, cuddle her and look into her big dark eyes. She is 2 weeks old and already weighs 7 lbs 14 oz. Randy & Heidi say she is changing all the time.






She has long fingers and toes, has just a dusting of dark hair and is such a good baby. She hardly ever cries and eats good then is awake a bit then goes to sleep. She even slept 4 hours one night while we were there.



We also had a grand time playing with Tyson. He has the most amazing vocabulary for a two year old. Just ask him what kind each of his cars are. Ever heard a 2 yr old say Lamborghini? He knows all about incubators and fan kits and can name every tool and machine in his builder book.



Heidi is looking great and had their home all decorated for Halloween. It was sweet (probably more challenging for Heidi)to see Tyson wanting to be so close to Abby and always want to lie down beside her when Heidi changes her diaper. He is very tender (well as tender as a 2 yr old can be) with her and loves to be right on Heidi's lap when she feeds Abby. You can tell he loves his little sister.



We just felt such love for her. We love each of our grandchildren and are so thankful for each of them are in our lives. Thanks to our kids for being willing to bear children and thank you for raising each of them in the gospel. WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!

Changes in Keith's work

Last week they notified over half of the Moog Salt Lake Group employees that their jobs would terminate in starting in December and ending in May. Three of the six people in Keith's Department will be let go. Notifying employees of a layoff is one of the most unpleasant jobs a manager has to do. In addition to all of that Keith has been given responsibility for the IT department in Torrence, California. He is a well respected Moog employee and feels glad to still have a job but prefers to be home. He'll most likely be in California once a month. The work that will still be done in the Salt Lake facility will be the TACAN product, the missile group and software engineers. There will still be computers to maintain, phone systems to manage and network and server issues but with so many less people that equates to less of many things. It is sad to see so many people go. It will not be the same, but once again Keith's job is changing to be very different. Even though he has been in the same facility for 26 years, it is like he has had many different jobs, as the location has changed from E-System, to Raytheon, to Moog and now a much smaller facility and managing a IT organization in Torrance CA.

Keith's Watermelon

Keith gets such a kick out of growing watermelons. If I remember right we had 5 this year. All of them wonderful. This is the one he picked last night before it froze. You can see by the scale that it weighs almost 28lbs and is over 18" long just shorter than Preston.

With the frost comes the end of many garden plants. We covered the tomatoes but any we get from now on just won't be the same. We've had a great garden this summer with amazing amounts of tomaotes, corn (which at first we thought was not very good but strange enough the older it got the better it got. We had yummy corn on the cob tonight for dinner) Branson loves corn on the cob. The last two times they've eaten over here he has enjoyed lots.

We grew cucumbers and had lots of them hoping to make dill pickles but the variety we planted were just not right. A cable guy was in our back yard checking for some box or something and said to Keith,"Looks like you're growing pickles" Nothing Keith said could convince him that pickles came from cucumbers. Poor guy, wonder if he knows where milk comes from? Anyway we got enough green beans to eat lots fresh and bottle some too. We are still enjoying beets and the cilantro has reseeded and is very flavorful. We have 6 pumpkins but the colorful peppers are all still green. The cantaloupe were a mix, some wonderful the rest not so good. In fact one we had Keith said tasted like cucumbers. The peach tree that I've been nurturing from a seedling that grew up volunteer finally produced fruit this year and it was great. The cabbage heads were huge and we enjoyed trying Thai basil in many things and Keith eats a pod or two of fennel seeds eadch time he is outside. He has worked all summer training the grape vines and hopefully they will survive the winter. The summer squash were slow coming on but we had our fill of zucchini. Keith has kept the strawberry blossoms picked off so the plants will become hardy. Next year we'll enjoy fresh strawberries. Keith and Melissa helped me bottle the fruit we did this year and next week we will be doing grape juice. It's been economical to grow a garden this year we've hardly had to go to the grocery store for anything except milk and eggs.