Wow Cassy would have loved to see some pictures of that ride!!!

In May I said to myself tjat I was going to go to the beach some this summer. Haven't been in years. What a waste people pay big bucks to get to and enjoy our beaches. so last night I told Marie that I was going to the beach tomorrow. Marie eally doesn't like the beach but she was kind enough to humor me today. We left about 3:45 so we wouldn't get burned and arrived at T street a little after 4 pm. Parking would have been a problem but not with my handicapped sticker. Right next to the over pass and it isn't even metered FREE. Got the stuff out of the car and trudged to the beach. Hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. I wanted to go in the water but my feet are just too tender. I did walk up and down the beach in my sandals tho. Mom read and said if I had asked she would have walked with me. OOOps
Don't look if it causes too much pain from the glare.

HI ALL! Well, I really had my adventure for today! For some time now, I’ve been considering riding my bike to work – for a couple of reasons, the first to save on gas considering it’s sooo expensive now, especially around here, the second to get some exercise, considering I’m such a slug and couch potato most of the time. I bought an all-terrain bike back in ’95 and road a lot then, but it’s been sitting in the garage ever since. A couple of months ago, I took it to the guys at ‘BUY MY BIKES’ (you remember them, across from Von’s in SJC – He’s the guy who does those outrageous commercials on public TV) – well, anyway, got it all ‘spruced up’ and took it home and that’s where it’s been ‘parked’ since. Everyone’s advice has been to ride a little each day, get my balance and bearings, tone up the ‘old thighs and calves’ so when I push off on that first ride to work, I’ll sort of be ready, so I won’t have a heart attack or fall off!! Well, do I listen to the wise and sage bikers out there – NOT!! I don’t exactly push off, I walk off down Dana Mesa (the horrendous hill getting to my house), off on my ‘Test Ride’ to work.

Not sure if all of you know, but I work off Forbes Road, in the Three Flags Commercial center (the north end of Forbes Road). By car, from my house it’s a 7 mile ride one way, not really sure how far by bike, but I’m thinking pretty close to the same. I’m thinking, hey, that won’t be too difficult (even though I haven’t been on a bike for over 10 years). I’m brave and adventurous – what the hay – I can do anything!! Of course, I’ve never been 58 and doing it, so I have to say it was more of a challenge than I thought, but I’m finally on my way.

As soon as I’m on the bike, I realize the tires are sort of low, not flat (thank heavens) but definitely ‘squishy’ which doesn’t help my riding or balance. I find the bike path at the end of Del Avion, make it into downtown SJC and get air in the tires at the Chevron station on the corner, take a ‘drink break’ and I’m off again.

I take the bike trail though the back of the barrio along the equestrian areas and it brings me out close to Camino Capistrano and Junipero Serra. This is a busy corner now because of J Serra High School, all the sports activities going on, cars going every which way. I wait at the corner, push the button for the ‘okay to walk’ sign and when it signals, I step off the curb – but I look to the left a little too late, a car is rounding the corner, I push down hard on my peddle and ‘SNAP’ I go nowhere – the chain has broken, so I limp back to the corner and consider my options. Heehee!! No cell phone, so can’t call anyone, the only thing to do is to walk the bike back to BUY MY BIKES, hoping they are open now (it’s only 8:45am) and buy a new chain and see how I feel after that. Have to say, it took a while to walk the distance. I haven’t walked that far or exercised that much at one time in years. As I’m walking along Camino Cap towards the Mission, and as the people are rushing by in their cars, I wonder if any of them are thinking, ‘Geez, lady, how come you aren’t riding that bike, instead of walking along beside it.’ If I was the one in the car, that’s what I would have been wondering. Being forced to walk, makes you look at your surroundings much closer. Makes you realize you do miss a lot, speeding along in your car. And no wonder I’m such a ‘chub’ because that’s all I do, speed along in my car!!

I made it to BUY MY BIKES (they open at 9 on Sat – YEAH!!) Glad I was there soon after they opened because they were able to take the bike right away, put a new link in the chain and I was on my way!! I did get a couple of new tires, sleeker for riding on road (they liked hearing my story so much, they threw in the tubes for free). I learned something about the chains too – I guess unless you absolutely have too, you don’t put on a new chain because the old one is fit to the gears and the new one would not fit the same! Learned something new today!!

I decided I would ride home, not continue on to work. I’d had enough exercise for today. I have to say, walking up the big hill (Dana Mesa) to my house was the toughest part of the ride. Made me wonder how hard it will be to make it up the hill after a days work and ride home. Also, I wondered if there will ever come a time I will be strong enough and in shape enough to ride up that hill - I hope so!!

At least I did prepare enough to bring water, Gatorade, food, rags to wipe the sweat from my face, ID and MONEY!! All the basics to sustain life!! Think of me this Monday; I’ll be starting off again on this adventure to ride to work. I’ll let you know how and if I make it!

Love you all,
Cassy

Ainsley Brooke Ginn was blessed by Nathan Champlin Ginn on 3 August, 2008.

Set #2

As demanded by Cindi here are pictures of Ainsley Brooke Ginn (not sure of the spelling but) here are 90% of Ainsley's pictures. The other 10% were very blurry or otherwise not acceptable.
Pictures of the others in attendance for Ainsley's blessings will be shown later. Too many to work on tonight.
Love dad

HI ALL! Just wanted to post this latest pic of Ninha, Friday night, all dressed up on her way out for an evening on the town with the ladies from the daycare center where she works!! From what I hear, there is a fancy Brazilian restaurant somewhere close by and all the ladies wanted to go together and invited Ninha so she could be part of the fun too and, of course, it's helps because Ninha is Brazilian too and can help them understand the menu!! I hope they have great fun and enjoy a 'girls night out'!! I know they will enjoy the food because it's 'muito boa'!!

Love you all,

Cassy

****HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY****

GRACE MARION NORTON

PINK IS JUST YOUR COLOR

AND I HOPE YOU ARE IN

THE 'PINK' AND ENJOYING THIS

VERY SPECIAL DAY

YOUR 1ST BIRTHDAY!!

LOVE YOU ALWAYS!!

AUNT CASSY

Dad, this weekend I´ll be wanting to see pictures and an update of how the trip to Nathans went!!

The last two weeks have been so full of soccer that I nearly went to the hospital for and I.V. Friday night. Maybe thats a little dramatic, but the truth is, it crossed my mind.

August 22-26th I stayed at the Hillman's home in Layton. They were in Chicago so I had this beautiful home all to myself. Just down the street from the Hillman's home was a soccer tournament that six of the 16 Infinity teams were playing in. It is not the most prestigious tournament, but many of the best teams in the state were competing. being that all of the teams are new, many of the coaches are novices and my title is (was) Director of Coaching I was at nearly every single match. I was on the sideline of nearly 30 matches in a three day event. The three youngest teams in the club (that were in attendance) all advanced to the championship. The older teams competed well, but at that age, not playing together makes a bigger difference. So the three older teams struggled as they became familiar with one another, while the U11 girls went undefeated and won the entire tournament, the U12 girls knocked off the state cup champions (for the third time in as many attempts)to win their age group and the U13 girls lost to a top five team in the state 1-0 in a battle where they only had one substitution in 95+ degree weather. So we walked out victorious and having made a name for ourselves in the state. People know who Infinity is :)

This last week the community had its biggest tournament of the year, Cache Valley Cup. it is sort of where all the local teams go to strut their stuff. In my opinion the majority of our teams should not be playing in it, as the competition is not very challenging. but because it is sort of a pride thing all the coaches entered. So we had 12 of our 16 teams playing in a tournament this weekend. I sidelined over 50 matches (at least a half at each match). We had eight teams in the championship matches. In two age groups we had two infinity teams playing each other for the championship. We had 6 Champions and 2 runner ups and four teams bring in the bronze. We made a statement in the community that Infinity is the biggest thing around. Whether they jump aboard or not is yet to be determined.

So at the end of the week at Cache Valley Cup they have a coaches vs referee match. Most of the referees are teenagers/early 20 year olds and coaching, well I am one of the youngest coaches. before the match they had a bbq. During the BBQ Infinity put some soccer activities together. Mine was calle street soccer on the tennis courts. So naturally I played and got exhausted before the big coaches match. Eventually I was playing for the coaches as the right winger. it was a fun, I had over 100 Infinity players on the sideline chanting my name every time i did anything. ANyway, someone took a picture of me and here it is:


I did not score any goals but tested the keeper a few times. The match went in to p.k.'s I was the first shooter for the coaches and put it on the roof of the right side of the keeper and stoned him. We lost 8 p.k.'s deep but it was fun!

This week i will be in Sandy for a very large scale tournament. I believe we have four or five teams attending. This is the last big tournament before the season begins in three weeks!

Oh yeah, and i went boating with bobby on Tuesday and a coach this last Saturday. I really have become a boating fan!

Happy 5 A.C. and David!

Love and miss you all!

Thank you. And I want you to know there are no hard feelings because after almost 30 years you still don´t know how to spell my name?!?! LOVE YOU!

HAPPY BLESSING DAY TO THE NEWEST GINN!

Happy Aniversary to Cindy and David
5 Whole years - August 2, 2003

Love ya - keep smilin,
Mom, Dad, Nathan and family

A week ago Monday, I got a call from my friend, Christy with a ‘spur of the moment’ offer – would I like to attend the ‘Festival of the Arts – Pageant of the Master’ the following evening? Well, it didn’t take me but a ‘split second’ to whoop out a resounding YESSSSSSS! I love the Pageant of the Masters, but the tickets are expensive and you have to buy them almost a year in advance, so I have to say it’s been a lonnnnngggggg time since I’ve seen the show. The evening was for ‘dinner and the show’– what more could I ask for!!

Christy is not into paying for parking, which is okay with me – I don’t mind walking – RIGHT (heehee!!) Because now, they have these FREE Trolleys that drive around the Laguna area every few minutes – SO, we thought this would be a no-brainer, park on a side street just off PCH a block and then, take the trolley into town. We took a right at Cress Street and parked – walked to the sign for the trolley and waited, and waited, and waited. We were already sort of late, dinner reservation was for 5PM and it was probably already 5:15PM. When we couldn’t see any trolley driving along, we started walking – every so often looking back to see if the trolley was approaching so we could run to the next trolley sign. Well, we ended up walking the WHOLE WAY to the ‘White House’ restaurant downtown on PCH – quite a walk I must say – I was sweating and out of breath (you know, that fat and out of shape thing) by the time we arrived, but was great knowing I’d gotten in my ‘exercise’ for the day!!

Dinner was lovely – there was myself, Christy, Christy’s Aunt Karen, Aunt Karen’s cousin, Janet and another couple (sorry to say can’t remember their names – another exasperating senior moment, oh well!!). After dinner we all walked the short distance to the Festival Grounds. We were early; the performance didn’t start until 8:30pm, so we walked around and checked out the beautiful jewelry and impressive art works of the local artists. Walking around the grounds took me back to the times I went with Mom and Dad. I remember when the grounds were sawdust and lawn, like it is in the Sawdust Festival, across Laguna Canyon Road. Now, it’s mostly concrete. You didn’t always go to the Pageant; sometimes you just went to the Festival. I remember selling homemade candies and fudge for The Church at the Festival and eating at the Tivoli Restaurant, when it wasn’t so expensive!! Fun memories!!

This was the 75th anniversary of the Pageant, and I guess during that long of a run there have to be changes. Some of the changes I didn’t care for and for me, it seemed to take away from the ‘magic’ of the evening but still it was a wonderful performance. The pictures shown were outstanding. I will never know how they do it, even when they show you how it’s done, it’s still ‘amazing’ when the stage goes black and then, the finished picture is presented, you are still left wondering ‘How’d they do that? And how do the volunteers stand soooooo still for sooooo long in those poses for the statues. I watched them so carefully, trying to see if any of them moved, but they are so good – the control they have over their bodies is amazing – reminds me of the athletes that perform in the Olympics – at least in the Olympics they are usually moving – with this they have to stay perfectly still for what seems like an eternity!!
As you can see by the picture of the program, the theme for this year’s Pageant was ‘All The World’s A Stage.’ Many of the pictures had to do with Shakespeare’s plays and operas. Along with some of the pictures, there were live singers dressed in the same costumes as in the paintings, singing an appropriate song. The music was wonderful, the orchestra was great – the music was just as much a part as the pictures and statues.

But alas, it was over far too quickly, and were we being pushed along in the throng heading for the front gates. For the trip back to the car, we did hop on the Trolley!! The Trolleys are open cars - it was fun to be squished together, everyone talking about the night, with everyone’s hair blowing in the wind!!

Thank You Christy for thinking of me – it was a memory made – one I will always remember and treasure!!

Love you all,
Cassy

PS: Christy apologizes for the picture being so blurry! The picture is of me, on the left, Aunt Karen in the middle, and Cousin Janet on the right. I first met Aunt Karen when Christy and her family invited me to Christmas dinner 2007 at Aunt Karen’s home in Orange. When I met her, I immediately thought of my Aunt Bertha, my Dad’s older sister (I think she was older, Ed will have to verify). Same size, same style and color of hair and such a ‘doer’ – she loves crafts and joins all kinds of organizations, same as Aunt Bertha. This was my first time to meet Cousin Janet, and all during dinner I kept thinking to myself, she reminds me of someone, but it took me looking at this picture before it dawned on me that she resembles a younger Aunt Virginia, my Mom’s Sister-in-Law, she was married to Uncle Cliffy. Hey, Ed what do you think??
Again, love you all!!

A couple of weeks ago the youth of the ward went to Virginia Sedgwick's home and did some yard work for her and at the same time picked a lot of oranges. The Bishop came by and gave us a sack They are Valencia oranges primarily used for juice. On Saturday two weeks ago I borrowed the Virgins juicer and what you see is what you get. It took about a half an hour to juice the oranges and then I had about half a gallon of wonderful sweet juice which I carefully drank over the next week to avoid an upset stomach and all that follows.
Thanks for your continued postings on this blog as it helps the family history to grow!
Love to all Ed

Carrots from the garden

All the Lemke Cousins







The little swinger - - - Mili




The white trash lazy dad!---yup - Bobby at his best!

Lauren

Milena, Lizzy, Kamree(cousins)

Totaly Tubular kids

The Climbing Princess!

Stacia-- Watch out for cars and..... way to go!

Landon and Milena




Ice cream in the backyard and a Real Salt Lake soccer game to celebrate Pioneer day!

Gina and Stacia
Landon Bobby and Jeff

HI ALL!! IT'S ME AGAIN - I'M GOING TO TRY AND ATTACH A LITTLE VIDEO OF SHAWNNA AND DREW PLAYING TOGETHER ON THE 4TH OF JULY. I HOPE I GET IT ATTACHED CORRECTLY AND IT WORKS!! SO, HERE GOES!!

LOVE YOU ALL,
CASSY

HI ALL!! RECENTLY NINHA SENT SOME PICS OF THEIR FUN 4TH OF JULY, SO HERE THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT!! EVERYONE LOOKS HAPPY AND HEALTHY AND HAVING A GOOD TIME!! BOTH OF THE KIDS HAVE BEEN SPENDING LOTS OF TIME AT DAY CARE AND SUMMER CAMP, SWIMMING IN THE POOL AND BEING OUT IN THE SUN SO THEIR HAIR IS REALLY GETTING LIGHTER, ESPECIALLY DREW'S - HE'S SUCH A TOTAL 'TOW HEAD' NOW!! AND IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE SHAWNNA IS ONLY 7-1/2 CONSIDERING HOW TALL SHE IS GETTING - SOON, SHE'LL BE PASSING UP HER MOM!! MAYBE EVEN PASSING UP THAT TALL GUY IN THE PIC - ABE LINCOLN!!

THE PIC OF DREW ENJOYING THE SPARKLER BRINGS BACK MANY FUN MEMORIES OF MY YOUTH AND EVEN WITH MY KIDS, WHEN WE WERE STILL ALLOWED TO BUY FIREWORKS AND SHOOT THEM OFF AT HOME. THERE WOULD BE FIREWORKS GOING OFF ALL UP AND DOWN THE STREET PLUS THE ONES UP IN THE AIR!! OH, WELL, GONE ARE THOSE DAYS IN SO CAL. GLAD FOR SHAWNNA AND DREW, THE STATE OF VIRGINIA STILL LETS YOU HAVE THEM SO THEY CAN MAKE SOME OF THOSE SAME MEMORIES!!

LOVE YOU ALL,

CASSY

Looks great mom and dad. I definately like the model home with the dark maple better than the light color.

Ed and Marie are thinking of this place in Lehi.

Last night Nathan told Marie that the first name of their fourth child will be
AINSLEY. Unique name but I have it on good authority from the ladies at work that
there was a beautiful young lady on the TV show WEST WING named Ainsley so that
may be where the name comes from. There is no middle name yet but we are sure that
will be resolved before the blessing on August the third.
She is a beautiful baby by the picture we have received and we can't wait to get to know
her better during our visit for the blessing.
Love Mom and Dad