Don and Lois Colton
Family Newsletter
Christmas 1997 Edition
It seems like every year lately is a year of change. This year seems to have had more change than previous ones, but perhaps the change is just different and every year from now on will have lots of change. This year Joseph went on a mission to Okayama, Japan. This means that he will not be living with us for a long time. Larissa got married to Sam Workman, which means that she will probably not be living with us except for visits. (Although we do know a lot of other parents that also thought this and things turned out differently.)
Along with these changes were the radical changes Don encountered that affected the whole family. He went from being a poor starving student to being a poor starving professor, having earned a PhD at Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI), and taking a possition at Brigham Young University in Hawaii (BYUH). Living in Hawaii is very different from anywhere we have lived before. There are a lot of things to get used to and to enjoy.
One thing we were able to enjoy before we moved was a Jean & Larry Colton Family Reunion. It was held at Silver Falls State Park in Oregon. Nearly all the relatives were able to attend. This is rare and made it especially fun. One fun thing we did at the reunion was start a quilt each for Jean and Larry. We all put our handprints on squares of material with paint. After they were dry we wrote our names and personal messages. It was great fun to read what everyone else had written and to look at the little kids’ handprints. We tried to do the traditional family picture. We are sure getting to be a big family.
Thanksgiving was a wonderful vacation. Larissa got married, and this gave us the excuse to spend some money and fly everyone back from Hawaii to the mainland. Lois went early with Stacia and Isaac to Seattle, and spent about a week before she was joined by Don and the older boys. The month of November was a whirlwind of getting things ready for the wedding, including an interesting episode with a leaky pen and a very white wedding dress. This led to one interesting and very long day for the seamstress, who nearly "lost it" replacing panels of the dress and covering other parts. When she feels better, she will talk about it. (It's okay, I've recovered.) Also at Thanksgiving, the quilts that were started at the reunion were presented to Jean and Larry, and they posed for some pictures. Once again we all examined the handprints and messages. Eve and Sam got their handprints in at the last minute. Since we had one space for the who, what, and when, of the whole quilt we also added "Granpa's dog" --Missy. She lives with Jim and Cindy and has been around for a very, very long time.
One "feature" of living in Hawaii is the moisture in the air. This is causing our printing of this newsletter to be extreemly difficult, as damp paper does not print as well. We are doing a dance between paper package and printer to keep things out of the moist air as much as possible. Sometimes it works, and sometimes the printing is splotchy. We would like a climate controlled room for our computer.
For all you music fans, Don noticed that the piano at the Temple Visitor Center had electricity running to it. He made a joke to a friend about the "electric piano." We found out that most the pianos here have dehumidifiers in them. :-)
Merry Christmas from All of us to All of You!
