Richard and Judy's Wedding

The newly weds.

We were married on November 27, 2010 in Shelton at the historic Colonial House at 2:30 pm. Present were a small number of family and friends. Here are some pictures and words we said to each other. We both are extremely happy together.

Unfortunately my sister Joan and husband Ron were not able to attend. Also, Judy's daughter Molly and family were not able to attend and were excused because they were having a baby the same day. More below.

Here are some pictures and stuff from our special day. I decided not to put in the whole service.

Our cakes, one carrot cake and one German chocolate, yumm.

Table settings

Judy and I both wrote our own vows to each other.

Saying our vows.

Richard's Vow:
I, Richard, in the presence of God, our family and friends, take you Judy to be my wife and partner in life and my one true love..I will be yours in good times and bad, in times of health and sickness, in times of joy and sorrow, in times of triumph and failure regardless of any obstacles we may face together. I promise to cherish you, respect you, to care for and protect you, to comfort you and encourage you and to be with you from today until the end of our lives.
Judy's Vow:

I, Judy, in the presence of God, our family and friends, take you Richard to by my husband and partner now and forever. I pledge to honor and support you through our remaining walk in this life. If our way becomes difficult I promise to stand by you. I pray that through our union our lives will be more joyful, and that we will have a richer life together than we could alone. With every beat of my heart Richard I will love you...now and forever.

We each said some special things to each other when we exchanged rings.

Richard Says
Judy, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love for you. It is round signifying my endless love and caring for you which will never end. The stones represent the shine you put in my eyes when we are together. The rhodium plated gold represents your glowing countenance and your heart of gold inside. Take this and wear it as a sign of our union together.
Judy Says.
Richard, take this ring as a symbol of my wedding vow to you. Keep it as you keep our love close to you. As you wear it, let it be a symbol of our present and future together. It as strong as you are and in its simplicity it is shining and beautiful as you are to me.

Signing the papers, making it legal.

After signing the papers, we had a few champagne toast and then dinner. After dinner before cutting the cake Judy and I put on a little skit. We told our love story in word and song. It was very silly and brought out lots of laughter.
Singing the skit.
Here are some picture we took with family and friends.Son Daniel stood up for me and mutual friend Karen stood up for Judy. Judy's daughter was suppose to do this but had a baby instead. Jessica, daughter Anna, me and Judy, Emily

Thanh-Nha, Minh-Thanh, Judy and me, son Daniel, Thanh-Tu

Sister Diane, Judy and me, Bob
Judy and I with the grand kids. Missing Jasper and new baby Emerson.


Matt and Molly called on Friday night saying they were planning to come. Saturday morning at 7:30 Molly called and said they were on the way to the hospital. She called at 12:30 telling us of the new baby boy grandchild. Now named Emerson Nathan. 8 pound, 2 ounces, 20 1/2 inches.

Part 5 Day 26 to Day 29 Home and Special Notice

Day 26 Friday October 8
We went to Gem Mountain to pan for sapphires. Took I-90 East to Montana 1 going through Anaconda. Turned off hwy 1 onto 38 and drove 16 miles to the site. We paid $15 for a bucket of gravel, washed it in a trough, then picked out the sapphires. We got about 30 carats worth out of two buckets. Only four were supposed to be able to be faceted and were about 1 carat each. The others were small. It rained most of the time we were there and cool. Still fun. They tried to sell us heat treating and faceting. Stopped in Anaconda to visit antique shops. Found one that had an amazing amount of stuff of all kinds.

Day 27 Saturday October 9
Left Deer Lodge and headed West on I-90. Spent the night in Osburn at Blue Anchor RV Park space 57. Sunny and nice drive today. Look Out Pass was beautiful. Rained overnight.

Day 28 Sunday October 10.
Left Osburn and headed West on I-90. Rain off and on. Very windy from Vantage to Ellensburg. Spent the night at E & J RV park in Ellensburg space 301A. Went for a swim and hot tub before dinner. Will head for home tomorrow.

Day 29 Monday October 11
Well we made it home in one piece and to beautiful sunsets again at the lake.

Special Notice

For those of you who do not already know, Judy and I are planning to get married on November 27 here in Shelton with a small family get together. We are both very excited about this new chapter in our lives.

Part 4 Day 19 to Day 25

Day 19 Friday October 1
Judy went to a “party” with four of her friends and coworkers from the nursing home. They had a great time I am told. While Judy was gone, I washed the motor home, put the rocks from our rockhounding trip in the basement, washed the windows and vacuumed the floor. Also, discovered a leak. One corner of the basement storage compartment has had a wet spot off and on. I found that there was a leak somewhere between the refrigerator and the hot water tank. Search high and low but could not find out where it was coming from. I shut off the ice maker water at the manifold. Will check in a few days to see if the dripping stops.

Day 20 Saturday October 2
We drove to Conrad Cemetery where Judy’s parents and grandparents are buried. Headed down town to shop, looking in a few stores. Ate lunch at Norms News, infamous 70 year old news stand. We each had a bison burger. Yumm. Better than beef. Back at the motor home we sat out side in the sun and read our books. Ate lamb for dinner. Turned off all water at the manifold except toilet for the night to see if the water leak will stop.

Day 21 Sunday October 3
The leak was still there so assume is in the main water line coming in. Will fill the fresh water tank and use it instead of outside water. As we started out, lots of water came out from under the bottom cover. Rats. We headed out of Kalispell on hwy 35 down to 82 across to US 93. Stopped at Doug Allard’s Flathead Indian museum. The museum was closed but the gift shop had lots of nice stuff. Judy got some beads there and was excited about the quality. Drove south to almost I-90 spending the night at Jim and Mary’s RV Park space A-13. No more leaking so far when using just the fresh water tank.

Day 22 Monday October 4
We went to the Bison Range National Preserve just north of Missoula. It was rainy most of the day. That was the good news. The bad news is that there were a bunch of school busses there since it was the annual bison round up. The visitors center was loaded with kids so we just pick up a map and headed out on a scenic drive bypassing the roundup corral. Most of the drive was closed because of the bison round up. On the drive we saw five elk, one with a big rack, a herd of about 25 antelope and five deer. We drove to the round up corral and most of the school busses were gone so we went for a look. They were tagging, inoculating and segregating the bison. Some were sent back to the range, some singled out for sale, and the females were ultrasonically tested for pregnancy. Very fun place to visit and were lucky to be here for the round up as it occurs the first Monday and Tuesday in October.

Day 23 Tuesday October 5
Left the campground and took I-90 East through Missoula to Deer Lodge exit 184. Took space 57 at Indian Hills RV park and set up the motor home. After lunch we took a drive about town. The three houses we lived in are no longer there. Two were replaced and one was gone. Tried to find the Catholic grade school and low and behold it burned down some years ago. Stopped in a couple of shops and the old prison was not open today for tours. We went to the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and took a tour of the ranch house started in 1860 and added on in 1890 to 5000 square feet. They were closing for the day so we did not tour the rest of the ranch building. It is the only working ranch in the National Park System covering 30,000 acres. When we lived here it was still a private working ranch. We had a nice pork chop dinner with fried potatoes, salad and beans. Yumm. Nice day.

Day 24 Wednesday October 6
We decided to go on the Pintler Scenic Route to Philipsburg. Foggy at the start of the trip. Philipsburg is an old mining town which is being restored. Now a tourist trap. Walked around, looked in some stores and headed up into the mountains to the old mining town of Granite where we ate lunch. The fog had finally burned away. Only a few building were left in the town and part of the stamp mill was still there after the superstructure was burned down by the owners for safety reason.. We picked up a few “pretty” rocks there. Finished driving the rest of loop.Anaconda smelter stack worlds tallest even to this day. We had soft tacos for dinner.

Day 25 Thursday October 7
First off we went to the old Montana state prison and took a tour. Judy actually was inside once when she was a nursing student back in 1962. I remember walking outside it when we lived there when I was in the first and second grade. It was an interesting and scary place. There was an auto museum there with 150 cars from 1884 to about 1970. After lunch we went on the Circle Tour which goes 28 miles on the East side of I-90 up into the mountains. As we started up we saw the Zosel pioneer ranch. We drove in and talked to a lady who told us our family friend Clay Zosel was the great grandson of the early settler. This pioneer , beside ranching, discovered a gold/silver mine. Clay and his wife and his brother and wife lived and worked at the new mine site called Emery Mine. I am not sure this is the one we went to when I was a kid. We found the Emery Mine which is closed to the public and found what we think was the original mine site. We picked up some pretty rocks from the tailings. Whee. We then continued on the scenic drive back to Deer Lodge. Wonderful day and the weather was great.

Glacier Trip Part 3 Day 13 to Day 18

Day 13 Saturday September 25 We drove to East Glacier and then took hwy 49 to Two Medicine entrance to the park. The area is a lake surrounded by mountains. We saw lots of mountain goats (none very close) and a couple of mountain sheep. It was very windy due to high pressure coming. It is a very beautiful place. On the way out we took a short hike to Running Bear Falls also known as “Trick” Falls because part if the year the water comes over the top of the wall and in low water times comes though the rock.We left and drove to Browning which is on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation and went to the Museum of the Plains Indians. A very interesting place showing native clothes, implements, and ways they made things and lived. On the way out of Browning we drove past the Blackfoot Bison reserve and saw about a couple hundred bison. Got back late again to the motor home and had pizza for dinner. Day 14 Sunday September 26 Took the day off, sort of. After breakfast, we did the laundry, the first time on the trip. After lunch I washed Goldie who was very dirty, muddy after our trips on the back roads. Noticed one of the tires was low and found and aluminum? something imbedded in the tire. Will go to Les Schwab in the morning. We ate a nice leisurely dinner. After dinner watched Sunday Night Football. Went to bed early in preparation to go to St. Mary on the East side of the park. Day 15 Monday September 27 We went to Les Schwab and got the tire fixed. Somehow picked up a horse shoe nail. Then off to St. Mary on the East side of Glacier park. Drove up to Logan pass where we ate lunch. We headed back down the stopping several places along the way. We went for a hike to St. Mary Falls, a 3.2 mile round trip. Beautiful falls. The drive over and back was spectacular due to all the aspen trees turning yellow, glimmering in the sun. Another fun day. Day 16 Tuesday September 28 We cleaned up the motor home again in anticipation of company for dinner. We went to friends to pick up the clams and salmon we had left in their freezer. We had a very nice dinner with Matt and Linda and enjoyed talking about old times. Day 17 Wednesday September 29 Went rock hounding today. Headed North on 93 from Kalispell to Olney where we headed West into the mountains. We stopped and had a short hike to Martin Falls. The rock hound site was hike about half a mile where we got some “limonite after pyrite” meaning pyrite that had been decomposed by heat and oxygen to iron hydroxide. Very nice weather and had a fun time with sledge hammer and chisel beating on the rock. We got a few nice samples which were fragile and hard to get out intact. Day 18 Thursday September 30 We went with Matt and Linda to Glacier NP and did the Trail of the Cedars walk. Very pretty stroll through cedars along Avalanche Creek. After the hike we drove to Izaak Walton Hotel which is the old railroad train station on hwy 2 at Essex. We had a nice lunch. The place is full of railroad memorabilia.

Glacier Trip Part 2

Day 7 Saturday September 18
We cleaned and straightened out the motor home in the morning in anticipation of Judy’s old friends coming for lunch. They came and we had a fun time talking about old times. A very nice afternoon. Judy and I then went for a short drive before dinner. We drove West on Hay 2 to see what had changed out that way. Came home and Judy made a nice chicken dinner.

Day 8 Sunday September 19
We drove up into the park on the Road to the Sun road which was open today. We stopped at Lake McDonald and strolled along the beach and enjoyed the view. The Road to the Sun had been closed for snow for two days and will close tonight this side of Logan Pass for the season so road renovation can be done. It was mostly cloudy and with some sprinkles but still went on a three mile round trip hike to Hidden Lake. Very foggy on the way down the mountain and a big thunder storm. Stopped at several sights along the way.

Day 9 Monday September 20
We went visiting again seeing some of Judy’s friends who own a flower shop. Then we went to the local museum which featured the local history. Very good. Went shopping and found a fabulous bead store with great buys. We went out to dinner to one of Judy’s friends who used to work with her when she ran the nursing department at the Lutheran Home here. Fun time.

Day 10 Tuesday September 21
We slept in late because we stayed out late. Went to the Conrad House which is now a museum. The house was built in 1895 and owned by one of the early successful pioneers in the area. Conrad’s daughter spent some of her last days at the Lutheran Home when Judy was nursing director. The family donated the house to the city in 1975 loaded with all the original furnishing, clothing etc. Fantastic place to see as well as hear the story of the family who lived there. Judy helped with some of the fundraising to restore the mansion when she lived here. After dinner we did a little shopping. It rained hard this morning, had some sun in the afternoon and then rain in the evening.

Day 11 Wednesday September 22
We went to the Hockaday Museum but the exhibits were being replaced. Met a photographer who was taking down his exhibit which had 100 pictures of Glacier Park in celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the park. After lunch we drove to Hungry Horse Reservoir dam which is the highest in the state, then drove the East side road stopping several times along the lake. Nice day, no rain and lots of sun. For dinner we roasted some meat over a campfire. Yummy! (We do have a convection microwave in the motor home.)

Day 11 Thursday September 23
We drove about 50 miles East of Kalispell on hwy 2 to the Thompson Chain of Lakes to a 2000 sq ft waterfront “cabin” of one of Judy’s old friends. Ate a nice lunch of fresh caught perch, took a ride into the hills and around the lake on their Ranger Polaris 4 wheel vehicle, then had a nice boat ride where we were shown the best fishing spots. We saw lots of deer today. Fun time.

Day 12 Friday September 24
We went to Glacier park today. We drove hwy 486 from hwy 2 to Polebridge which is an very remote little “town” which has a very old store. After leaving the store we crossed the North Fork of the Flathead River into Glacier park and drove the six miles to Bowman Lake on a narrow, rough, muddy road. The drive was worth it as the lake was beautiful. We decided to drive the 15 miles to Kintla lake over an equally difficult road. The lake was nice but did not have the rugged mountains around it. We drove a narrow road back to West Glacier and then back home getting back late. A very fun day.