Grandchildren are blessings

This summer has been a busy one for us. There have been opportunities to tend grandchildren.

We have a park near our home that the kids love to go play on, so as often as we can, we walk over to the park and play. It is great fun and they really enjoy it. They love playing with their cousins. Thank you parents for sharing your children with us. Thank You Alexis, Karen, Bronwyn, Danielle, Connor, and Michael for playing with Grandma. :~)

Wow! How time flies.

This is Kalen Barfuss (left) just returned from his mission in Argentina, bonding with his brother, Jason Barfuss on July 26, 2009. They had not seen eachother for 4 years, as Kalen left just before Jason returned home from his mission in Argentina. Mel and Rose now have their family together again. All of their children and 3 grandchildren are well. There is indeed much to be grateful for.

We attended church where Kalen shared experiences and his testimony in Spanish, then enjoyed a family luncheon and visit before returning home. It was great to see 5 of Steven's 6 siblings. (See Picture above). Missed Bill who was out of town. We had a great visit with Roxanne and Starla. Roxanne is doing well and on the mend from her hand infection. Joe and Fred came from the west and Barbara came from the east. It is always awesome to see family so these times are truly cherished.

Mother Nature Is Fickle!!!

Mother Nature is fickle !

She can't seem to make up her mind.

First we have the promise of warm weather, then we have snowy winter weather THEN we have hot weather, then more snow ! (Please see attached picture)

The poor tree blossoms come out, then WHAM! Frost!

I think that when the ground hog saw his shadow - meaning 6 more weeks of winter -someone lost track of the calendar. Hopefully, spring will be here to stay, instead of "teasing" us.

Looking forward to reliable warmer weather, whether we like it or not.

Dad & Mom Stark

Grateful for Family

On Monday, I accompanied my parents to the St.Marks surgical center for my father to take care of a Hernia in his groin area. Even though he is 85, and in good health, any surgery is a risk.
I was quite aware of how much I love my parents and what would I do if anything happened to them. (Some of you can relate to this.) There was a prayer said in the car before leaving for the hospital, and one said before returning home. I am truly grateful for my parents example of prayer and their way of life which shows me that they are truly happy. The daily acknowlegement of the Lord in their lives is very uplifting to me, and at this particular time, made me feel very grateful for family.

I want all of you to know how much you are loved by your grandparents (all living and deceased) and parents. You are all in our prayers daily, for safety and blessings in your daily activities and as you raise your children. I felt truly blessed that in time of need, we know that we can call on eachother for help in any way, and that if a call is received, every effort is given to help.
THANK YOU for being such a wonderful family member. We are so grateful for each of you and truly blessed to be part of such a great family. What a blessing for each of us.

Love, Mom *K :~)

I am happy to report that your grandfather, Ken is doing well. He has a high tolerance for pain, so has not taken any medication. He is resting comfortably and will do so for the next few weeks.
Stephane is doing well with her hand recovery. She will be doing physical therapy for awhile and is excited to regain the use of her hand.
Catherine is doing well and slowly regaining her strength after her surgery. She plans on returning to work around the end of this month. All have told us of their gratitude for your prayers, love and concern. So, again, Thanks for being such great family members.

Henry and Bertha Stark

Richard's family ask for pictures for his g-parents Stark. I found this picture and thought that I would post it. I not sure when the pictures was taken or now old they are, but I believe that it was probably within in a few years before my mother passed away. As you can see my hair color takes more after my mother's than my father's.

If mother were still alive she would have loved to spend time with her gg-children and getting to know them and letting them getting to know her. Some day they will get that chance. She loved her family and wish that she could have spend more time with time. She loved to go on long visits and had planned to do that after she retired. But unfortunately cancer took her before she had a chance.

My father loved to farm, build things, as well as fish, and hunt. He would have loved for the opportunity to take his gg-children out fishing and watching them pull in the “Big One”. There is nothing better than fresh caught fish. He was a strong willed man that some times had trouble showing now he felt and missed my mother a great deal after she passed away.

Each of my brothers and sisters have different memories of my parents because we all grew up during the different phases of our parents lives. Some of us were there during the hard times when life was challenging for a young couple with a very young family. Some of us were there during the aging years and witnessed the love and devotion that lasted beyond fresh young faces and lean bodies of their youth.

Please remember them as you raise your children and remind them that if their gg-parents were here they would be shown love and kindness.

One of the richness men in the world

On Thursday I attended the funeral of Merrill Pulley who was one of our neighbors and friends when we lived in West Valley for 20 years. Some of you kids may remember that he taught at JFK jr high school for many years. His death was a blessing to him and his family as he was suffering from cancer. Merrill was not materially wealthy but was one of the richness man in the world.

The church was filled with family and friends from the difference wards that they are lived in over the past 30 + years. There were some of his science students there to honor their teacher. One of the speakers relaid a story about one of the nurses in the hospital where Merrill was staying. She had them rearrange her duties so she could be the one taking care of him, the teacher that taught her the love of science.

While I was sitting visiting before the start of the service, two of my current neighbors walked in. It turned out that she had gone to high school with Merrill in American Fork and her husband was in the Army with him. They and several of his other class mates were there to pay their respects to this man.

All of the children shared many memories of their father as they were growing up. The fun times that they had on family trips and activities, mostly just spending time together and the love and support that their had given by their father. Now they were showing and sharing that same love back to their father and mother. They will miss their father but they were are all relieved in the fact that the pain and suffering from the cancer was gone from his body.

Every one there had great respect and love for Merrill,
he is the richness man in the world.

One Small Step

We are finally stepping into the present with our form of communications. In this expanding and fast paced world that we live things are happening around use faster that will can keep up. Thanks to the evolution of our modern day technology our new forms of communications are almost instantaneous. This is one small step for Steven and Lorrie and one giant leap for mankind.

Most of our children currently have a blog site which they maintain to help the rest of the family and friends keep up with their lives. Blog sites have the advantage of allowing pictures and sound to be included which enhances the experience to those viewing the site. I am not sure if we will be able to provide the same level of enjoyment with our but will be attempt to do our best and we hope that you will looking forward to viewing our blog as much as we do yours. You might just want to drop in from time to time to see how much this develops and we learn more about this media.