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| Family picture taken November 2012 Jared (2), Bonnie (5), Brian (7), John & Sharon, Pamela (6), James (5), Paul (4) |
2013 – Our year of Transition
The year 2013 started with us
having tentative plans and not knowing what would be our future with the
failing health of Sharon’s mother. However, that unknown was cleared with her
death on the 7th of January. Sharon’s mother was relieved of her
suffering and the family had an enjoyable time celebrating her life.
Our
plans were now put in place and we proceeded.
John
retired from the workforce on March 25th and started getting the
house ready to put on the market. During the next 6 weeks he said he worked
harder than he had the past 2 years. He was exhausted at the end of each day
which included fixing dinner, doing the laundry, cleaning the house and getting
it ready for market. Oh, he also got up and took Sharon to work by 6 each
morning and picked her up at 4 each afternoon.
The
house was finally ready and listed for sale the first part of May. Then John’s
work changed to keeping the house clean and ready for showing including
maintaining the yard - .7 acres of landscape. It was plenty of room for our
large family to get together – there are 31 of us – but it required continuous
work to maintain in show condition.
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| 2001 HitchHiker 38 LKTG & 2001 International 4700 |
An offer was accepted in late July and John loaded much of
our household furnishings into a trailer and delivered them to Paul – Otis
Orchards, WA - , Brian – Nampa, ID – and Pamela – Colorado Springs, CO. With
most of the furnishings gone, we started living in our ‘retirement home’, a
2011 Hitchhiker model 38LKTG 5th wheel.
The end
of August Sharon transitioned from a full-time employee to a part-time employee
for the same company handling the accounts payables/receivables via the
internet. The house sale was finalized on September 12th and we
became full-time RVers.
During
the moving process, John fell entering the RV and tore the muscles in his right
shoulder. He had surgery on September 25th and started the long road
to recovery. That put a monkey wrench in our plans. We spent time in the
Spokane, WA area while John was recovering. After the surgery follow-up
appointment on October 8th, John was released to travel.
We left
Washington and spent a week in Nampa, ID visiting Brian and his family and
completing some preparations for our travels.
We left
Idaho when those preparations were completed and an opportunity suddenly
appeared to be a volunteer camp host at Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane,
UT. We arrived October 19th and spent the rest of the year as camp
host. We experienced high wind, blowing sand, snow, freezing temperatures and
good friends. The other camp hosts in the park just happen to be the couple
that introduced us to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 40 years
ago.
Other transitions
in our family……
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| Dallin, Richelle, Bonnie, David, Phillip |
Bonnie’s
husband, David, was offered employment by his former employer and they were
able to move back into the house they built and had vacated 3 years earlier.
They ‘moved back home’ in July and have picked up life where they left it a few
years earlier. Her daughter, Richelle, recently reached the age of 16 and
earned another level of independence with her driver’s license. This year her
son, Dallin, completed the wrestling season as district champion in his weight
class. Bonnie, and her family, also started a hobby of breeding a shorkie –
Shih-Tsu/Yorkie crossbreed. Their first puppies found new homes in time for
Christmas.
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| Emilee, Paul, Stacey, Jessica |
Paul
and his family left their few years living in Hayden, ID when they purchased
property in Otis Orchards, WA. They moved there in May and by August they had
chickens and 2 ewe lambs they plan to breed to help provide meat and eggs for
the family diet. His oldest daughter, Emilee, took the opportunity to visit
Washington DC with 14 other students from her school.
Both
Bonnie and Paul have acreage on which they plan to build a place for us to park
our 5th wheel to live in during long or short visits with their
families. We look forward to that.
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| Crystal, Jared |
Jared,
after spending 3 years living in Rescue, CA with his in-laws, finally received
acceptance to two dental schools. They picked the University of Michigan Dental
School and arrived there in time for Jared to start is first semester in June.
They are experiencing their first winter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but they have
trained for those winters. Jared and Crystal are both graduates of BYU-Idaho.
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| Angela, Mikayla, James, Hanna, Abigale(Abby) |
James
reported to South Korea for duty on December 8th 2012. Angela and
their daughters joined him in January of this year and will spend two years in
Korea. They will be adding a 4th daughter to their family. Ava
Laurel is scheduled to arrive December 30th. She will be grandchild
#18 for us.
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| Alexandra(Lexi), John, Christain, Elizabeth(Liz), Brian, Elyssa, Kaden |
Brian’s
family remains in Nampa Idaho with no plans to change. They enjoy life in the
Idaho Treasure Valley.
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| Bradley, Deanna, Pamela, Craig, Blake, Dakota |
Pamela
and her family remain in Colorado Springs with no plans to change, although
change might come. Pamela is training to become a manager with Sam’s Club and,
when the training is complete, will need to go to a store in need of a manager.
Her husband, Craig, is continuing training to become a veterinarian.
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| Brian, Paul, Bonnie, John, Sharon, Pamela, Jared, James The Roberts Family |
Our
plans for 2014 include completing the legal necessities to become Texas
residents, attend a few RV rallies, visit with each of our kids with the
exception of James and submit papers to serve a mission.
As we
plan our travels, if we know your where-abouts, and you are close to our path,
we will perhaps visit with you. Let us know where you are so we can plan our
trips.
Enjoy
the Christmas Season and have a joyous 2014.
With Love,
John &
Sharon Roberts
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