The latest chapter

I'm not going to try to give a pictoral blow by blow of our life since we moved to New York. I will say that it was a little crazy. We bought a "short sale" house that didn't close until the end of August so we lived in a motel then borrowed Dedie's dad's camper trailer and camped at a state park on the Hudson through the summer. Meanwhile I had an office to set up and a secretary to hire and teachers and priesthood leaders to become acquainted with because mine was a new assignment that incorporated parts of a couple of previous assignments. Then when we finally closed on the house we had a lot of work to do in the yard and on the house. The first week we were there we replaced the ceptic tank and the list is long of all the things we ended up doing in the house. We bought the two bedroom house with the idea that we would save some money back from the down payment and add on a room or two. That was a learning experience in itself. We talked to various contractors, architects and designers and finally ended up with a great designer and the plan is to add a second story with a couple of bedrooms, a family room, and a bathroom. And downstairs we are extending the house a little and moving the kitchen and opening up a wall so the kitchen is connected with a great room. It will be nice when we are done. We had to make some changes to accomodate building codes so we wouldn't have to get a bigger ceptic tank and a new larger drain field and to accomodate the zoning board. But we finally had all that settled and were going to get our building permit on Friday when on Wednesday, February 23 (Dedie's birthday) we had a fire.







Here's what I wrote in an email I sent to family and friends:

We had a fire at our house this past week. It was Dedie’s birthday. Barb Larsen’s daughter Kayleen wondered if we put too many candles on the cake. Here’s what happened:

Wednesday morning I cleaned out the fireplace and put the ash bucket where I’ve kept it all winter, outside the back door where I can reach it easily not realizing there were live coals in the ashes. Then I started a fire for Dedie in the fireplace to take the chill out of the living room (we keep our thermostat set kind of low) and went to work. About 9:30 a man was driving by and saw flames up the side of the house and stopped and banged on the front door. It scared Dedie who was in the bathroom getting ready for a birthday lunch date with a friend. She went to the front door and asked who was there. The man said, “Lady, your house is on fire!” So she got her coat and Sadie and got out of the house. The man called 911 and some fire trucks that were down the road a couple of miles just leaving a house, were there in minutes. Consequently the damage was not near what it could have been if the man had not stopped to warn her and if the trucks would not have been so close.

Dedie called me and I ran out of the office and told Alex Pineda, the LDS Facilities Manager, whose office is next to mine that I was going home because I thought Dedie said our house was on fire. He followed me home and helped me board up a door and window and cover half the roof where they took off the roof caps when the firemen let us go up to the house after they had the fire completely out. Other ward members also came over to help us. The Relief Society President and the friend who was going to go to lunch with Dedie took her to lunch and she came back with a smile on her face.

We’re very grateful for the complete stranger who stopped to bang on our front door and that the fire trucks were so close. They were there in minutes. Consequently the damage was fairly localized in an area that we were going to tear out and change with a remodel we are planning to do. Half the attic trusses are charred. Another few minutes and the whole roof would have been on fire and then the rest of the house. And we also felt blessed by the help from neighbors, professional people and ward members. These are tender mercies from the Lord.

So we’ll be in a motel, then temporary housing for awhile. We’ve been having an adventure since we moved to New York and our house has been part of that adventure. The adventure continues. Life is good.

Trip to NY

In June the movers loaded up our house and we drove to New York. Dedie drove via Utah to pick up Susan and her kids. I drove via North Dakota (Katie & Bill's) and met up with Dedie at Joey and Kimmie's in Omaha Nebraska. From there we drove to Nauvoo where we met up with my siblinges and their kids who could make it. All our kids were there except the Bosteds who weren't able to make it. Here are some pics. I guess I just have pics at the motel we stayed at. Things were kind of crazy when we got to NY (still are). I'm not sure what happened to my pictures of Nauvoo.



Group shot of all of who could make it to the reunion.



Sharon, Geno & Heather



Shirley & Dave



Russ May family



Dick May family



Marla, Frank, and kids



Sing along in our family talent show



Hintze's playing nose flutes. This was a hit!



Singing the Fish song



Susan, Gus & Sadie with Mississippi River in the background



Hattie & Sadie

Flight over Pasco

A few days before we left Pasco Jim Fish took me for a flight over Pasco in his airplane. Here are some pics.


Me in front of Brother Fish's plane



The new Parley church building that became the Pasco North Stake center March 2011.



Brother Fish said we were going to do a "touch and go" in a field near President Ferris Naef's house north of Pasco. The sprinklers were on. Brother Fish said that was a first for him.



President Naef's house



The Columbia River near Hanford



The Columbia River Temple



A lot of wonderful memories from this wonderful place.



A great shot of the Cable Bridge



The Blue Bridge



The Pasco Stake Center



Our home in Pasco from the air.

Russ & Dedie -- new Yorkers

Dedie and I are living in New York. Of course everyone who knows us knows this. It was last year at the beginning of March when we were asked if we would accept a Seminary and Institute position in New York. We decided to take it and our life has been interesting since. We made a trip to New York to find a place to live, we got our house ready to sell and sold it. We had a huge yard sale. And we found ways to say goodby to the Tri-Cities and the people we have known and loved since we moved there twenty years ago (June 1990). The hardest to leave were Naomi & Dan, their girls and Devlin.




Another challenge was to say goodbye to the members of the Pasco 4th Ward where I had served as Bishop for four years. Here are some of the great youth of the 4th Ward.

Merry Christmas

We're in Salt Lake City having Christmas at Susan and Chris's and sleeping at Jackie's apartment (her roommates went home for Christmas). We came down Wednesday. We're having a good time. Right now the babies are asleep (except for Hattie) and we're playing Wii. Here are some pics.

Merry Christmas from the May household

This year we've become either creative or lazy (probably the latter) and decided to post our Christmas newsletter here at our Blog. If this is your first time to our blog don't expect much, since neither Dedie or I (Russ) are regular bloggers. Most recently Dedie has posted her thoughts on Facebook and I haven't had many thoughts to post. But we would like to hear from you so if you came here to take a peek please post a comment to say hi. Thanks. (scroll below to see news & pics)
Russ & Dedie

Christmas 2009 Newsletter

Dedie & I are still in Pasco Washington where I spend my work time working with Early Morning Seminary teachers. This is our twentieth year here. Hard to believe. Dedie teaches in the Relief Society and I'm the Bishop of our ward. Our children are scattered all over the place (see below). We're grateful for this time of the year, even though it is busy, because our thoughts turn so easily to the Savior. He certainly is the reason for the season.

Here are a few photos to let you know how our family is doing and some of what we've been up to in 2009.

Dedie (Grandma May) made Christmas dresses for her eight granddaughters. Here are some of those girls in their dresses.



Sophia, Sariah, Sabrina & Savana with "Bear" Devlin Bosted.



Cajsa Morse



Hattie with Susan & Gus Petersen


Kylie & Rylin (Florida Mays)

Here are a couple of pictures of the families of our children.

Naomi & Dan live in Selah where Dan is the chief bean counter for the Yakima Juice Company. It's owned by the Yakima Indian Nation so I guess he isn't actually a "chief." Their big news of the year was the addition of a son to their family of four girls.



Devlin was born November 21.


Katie & Bill live at the Airforce base near Grand Forks North Dakota. Their baby boy is still on the way (January due date).


Bill flies KC135 (tanker) refuiling planes. Here's one in action.


Katie & Bill went to Spain last spring for Bill's ten year mission reunion.



Susan & Chris are in Salt Lake City. Chris graduated from the University of Utah in May. Susan had a boy to join their daughter Hattie.





Matthew & Nicole live in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Matthew works in construction--he has a window installation company. They had a baby girl in May.


They are big Gator fans.



Joseph & Kimberly live in Omaha Nebraska where Joey is attending law school. Their son Clark will be getting a baby brother in April.



Maybe you noticed that all our married children have had or will have babies within about a year of each other. That will bring our total to fifteen grandchildren. Digital cameras, the internet and computers have expanded the ability of Grandmothers to share pictures of their grandchildren. Here are some of Grandma's grandchildren enjoying lemonaide with her in Salt Lake City last summer.



Jackie, our youngest, is also in Salt Lake City. She's between school experiences and is currently working. Here she is with her "friend" in their Halloween outfits.



We're grateful for our children and for what they are doing in their lives. We wish you and yours a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Here are a few more miscellaneous pics.

Dedie relaxing in the pool.


Russ discovers his nose is bigger than Joseph's death mask.


Russ's 40th class reunion was in July in Deer Park Washington.


Dedie traveled a lot this summer. She was in Salt Lake City during April & part of May to help Susan recover from complications with the healing of her C-section. She went to North Dakota in May to watch Bill & Katie's kids for one of their two weeks in Spain (the other grandparents spelled her the second week). Then she drove to Utah with Naomi & her kids then flew back out to North Dakota to drive to Utah with Katie (Bill was in Oklahoma for training). Katie planned to drive to Utah for a get together with her sisters but didn't want to drive alone. Dedie, Katie, and her kids stopped off to see Joey and Kimberly in Omaha where they visited the Omaha zoo. Soon after she & Katie got to Utah she drove back to Washington with Naomi and her kids. Then Dedie and I went to Florida for Matthew & Nicole's baby blessing the first of July. In July I had my 40th class reunion in Deer Park Washington and a youth retreat with the youth in our ward at Ensign Ranch in the Cascade mountains of Washington. Then in August we drove to Utah to see Joey, Kimberly and Clark. Joey had worked in the Intellectual Properties division of the Church during the summer and we wanted to see them before they went back to Nebraska for his second year of law school. Then we drove to North Dakota in November for Katie & Bill's son Charlie's baptism and for Thanksgiving. And we're driving to Salt Lake City for Christmas to be with Susan & Chris's family and Jackie and Matthew and Nicole and their kids who are flying out from Florida. It's been a good year.

Here are Katie and her kids and Joey & Clark at the Omaha zoo.