Last Update Of 2008

Well, we've been more faithful to update on Facebook and so we've neglected our blog. Many of you are on Facebook, but since some aren't... here's the latest. We'll look from most recent to the farthest in the past. We had a very enjoyable Christmas. The boys say that they enjoyed the things they got, and Kathy and I feel the same way. The church has been thoughtful and generous toward us.










Earlier in December (14th), we were able to go to Southeast church of Christ for Kathy's and my first chance to hear both Gary and Dale in concert with Singing Youth of Denver. At one point, they ask those up to the age of 13 to join the chorus. Carl (in sweater) made a bee line to where his brothers were.




Gary and Dale are both in the tenor section. They enjoy the fellowship and have really grown to love singing so much more. Many times they sing and harmonize together around the house. They are pretty good, too.





We've done caroling every year since arriving at Bear Valley. In fact, the Pollard house is the last stop after we're finished. This year's numbers were "down" (only 76!).





We sang at three of our elderly members' homes, including Carolyn Wilcox's (where this pic was taken). Carolyn's husband, Warren, was a long-time and beloved instructor at BVBID who died after a brief and unexpected illness.






We also sing at an assisted living facility called Lakewood Estates (where this pic of Dale and Carl is taken).







Kathy coordinated and hosted the 2nd annual B.V. Girls Retreat. Since this retreat, two "Valley girls" have obeyed the gospel (Madie, back row 2nd from left; Natalie, back row far right). Kathy says this was a wonderful experience.







Our first significant snow of the season, the day after Thanksgiving.








We perform for the Woodalls (Kathy's sister and family) every Thanksgiving. Here, the boys singing a trio.








The Woodall and Pollard men decided to go to St. Mary's Glacier just north of Idaho Springs. It was relatively warm and sunny at the bottom, but only a mile up to the top...







It was blizzard-like. This snow would bring 28 inches to the top here.








A pic from the big Thanksgiving meal (the Pollard/Woodall cousins)









I was honored to go back and speak on the Cold Harbor lectureship. While there, I try to go back and take a picture of our house on Valeview Place.






Oh, and we always eat at Moe's (here's my brother, dad, mom, and Shannon Inge).








Kathy's picture with Carolyn (translator and friend) has been on Moe's wall since spring 2006. I'm amazed it's still there!








Me speaking Friday morning on the lectureship.







Brent has this picture on his camera from their August trip and I downloaded when we were together in VA.






OK. The last hunting trip of the year (as it turned out). One of our families at Bear Valley has a huge spread in Saguache (Suh Watch), about 3 hours southwest of Denver. After an elders/preachers meeting that ended late, we got to the ranch at 3:30 AM. We got up at 6:00 AM and started hunting. All of us but Gary had a cow tag for the ranch. Gary and I went with one of our elders, Brian Wilkie, and his oldest son and BVBID grad, Jack. Here's Gary, Jack, and me in the Rio Grande National Forest. Brian bought a bull tag for this area, but we didn't see anything.



Here's Brian with the boys.








Gary and I at the ranch. We stalked the herd on the Randalls' property and found them about noon on that Friday. Nobody took a shot from within 400 yards. I took the most shots (3) and there were a couple of near misses, but the only elk meat we got was from Doug McNary (another BV member) who was generous enough to share with us.



We did go to the Great Sand Dunes National Park after going to Alamosa for a delicious Mexican buffet restaurant. It's strange to see all that sand backdropped by tall mountains.






It was a fun experience.






Here we are at the sign.









It was a pretty tiring experience.






Well, 2008 was a great year. There were 23 baptisms in the congregation. The family went on several hikes, some neat trips (near and far), and grew more in love with Colorado. We miss you all and pray God's richest blessings on you in the new year. Let's remain faithful to our Lord and keep striving toward heaven. Pray for Kathy and Carl, that they will be able to raise the needed funds to go to Tanzania on mission work in April. God bless and happy new year!!!

Finally an update...

Well, here's what has been going on in the Pollards' world as summer has yielded to fall. August was birthday number TEN for Carl. Right after that, we went to Polishing The Pulpit (as did our elders, who were asked to speak on Saturday night). At PTP, I'm known as "Kathy's husband" (a role I dearly relish). This is her third year as a women's speaker and I hear she's great! I also was asked to speak a couple of times. Here are a couple of action shots:










We stayed in a cabin provided to us by the Galloway family (then of Hattiesburg, MS, but now on their way to Nashville, TN). It was neat to have two of Brad and Melinda Harrub's boys stay the night with us one night during PTP.









This is a truly special moment. Our boys pose with brother and sister Bailey. George Bailey is one of our great preachers of the last 100 years.









A time of sadness and joy came about during this time. Kathy's wonderful grandfather, Dale Gillaspie (yes, our Dale is named for him and shares his birthday), passed from this life. Here's Kathy saying goodbye to Dale as she gets ready to leave for the airport.









While it was sad saying goodbye to grandpa, Kathy was able to see family including her dad and sister both of whom she doesn't get to see nearly often enough.









Here are all the Gillaspie cousins (Kristy, Alan, Kathy, and Tina), all now married with children and all faithful members of the church in OK, OH, CO and OH.









Lee was able to attend the funeral, too. What a special young man and awesome nephew.










On September 1, Gary and I left for our first bowhunt for elk. We got up at 3 AM and left around 4 AM (when this pic was taken; notice the den clock).









The first evening hunt featured rain, wind, hail, lightning, thick fog, and cool temps, but no elk (or deer). We had tags for both sexes, both animals. We hiked about 3 miles up to about 11,000 feet. We had a great spot and the group of us (see below) hunted hard.










Day two was sunny and warm. Our group wasn't big on morning hunts, so we just went in the evenings. Most of the guys got there on Saturday and so the elk were tracked for four days.


















We hunted for them higher up (elevation), because it was unseasonably warm and the season started so early. We saw one bull and one cow at dusk on our way out of the woods on the last night, so nobody even drew their bow. We had a great time of fellowship and father/son time. Gary and I leave tomorrow for Saguache to rifle hunt with a landowner permit. We are cautiously optimistic. The group included (L-R) me, Steve Compton, Dean Murphy, Gary, Scott and Austin Balbin. The other three guys are deacons at Bear Valley plus the two teen boys.










We had our annual teen and family cookout at one of our deacon's (Scott Phillips) family ranch. Our youth deacons do a great job of keeping our youth active. This was the devo portion. Gary was one of the speakers.









I was blessed to speak in two gospel meetings this fall (Hopkinsville, KY, and Vinton, VA). While in Kentucky, I was able to spend a little time with Gary and Sandy Sole (since it was only about an hour north of the Nashville area). It's always great to see them. We also were able to see the Mitchells, friends from LaVergne, TN, who were up for the day, too.









The boys started school a little late (first week in September). They are doing very well and Kathy does such a great job with them. Cool dude Carl is in 5th grade, Dale is in 7th, and Gary is in 9th grade. Gary and Dale are in the Singing Youth of Denver group. Dale's basketball plans have been tabled as we could not work out a practice schedule that allows him to do the other things he's involved in.



















The Pollard girls keep the rest of us in line.









We're going hiking and enjoying the outdoors every chance we get. These last few pictures are from a recent trip to admire the leaves just west of Idaho Springs at a neat place called St. Marys Glacier. It has the largest snowfield in Colorado.



























Have a great month and we'll check back in with you soon! One more St. Marys pic, though...

Jumping July! It's an update

A VERY COOL UKELELE NUMBER TO ENTERTAIN YOU:

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(Kathy and I standing inside the Badlands National Park near Wall, SD)

Welcome to our web log, where we depict visually the highlights of our month. July began with lots of company (just as the end of June did). We took a family vacation to Wyoming and South Dakota with the Hites and had a blast! At church, we were involved in a colossal project that culminated with our elders rolling out a 50 Year Vision Statement for the congregation. Then, the month ended with Kathy and Neal going to Mississippi to speak on a program. Gary and Neal are buying stuff and outfitting their bows for the Carbondale hunt over Labor Day. Dale will be playing basketball this fall and will register the first week of August. The boys are loving tennis, which they play several times a week. Carl is excited about the start of 5th grade! Here are some of the best of our pictures for the month of July:

(L-R: Nancy Carter, Mike and Shannon Inge, Neal and Kathy)

(the Inges and Pollards hiked Golden Gate Canyon State Park)

(It was a HOT day!)

July 4th! We went to Easton Open Space Park to watch about 15 different fireworks displays. The Inges and our family joined the Autreys and Hites. We played ball and frisbee, then hung out until after 10 PM. It was lots of fun.

July 5th meant a trip to the Denver Zoo. The "kids" had lots of fun.

From 7/9-7/12, the Hites (Mike, Lynn, Melissa & Matthew) joined us for a quick vacation. We had a great time. The company was wonderful and we took in all kinds of stuff! We logged over 1600 miles and entered seven National Park properties (Ft Laramie, Oregon Trail, Wind Cave, Jewel Cave, Mt Rushmore, Devil's Tower, and Badlands), two state parks (Custer and Needles Highway), and Register Cliff (Wyoming). Whew! We pulled off tight quarters and long rides just fine--I think!

(all of us standing in the ruts of the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming)

(The register cliff is several sandstone cliffs where Oregon Trail riders inscribed their names and the date they came through. It was very fascinating and was within a mile of a Pony Express site).

(This was a fascinating stop, with most of the original buildings still standing)

Of course, Rushmore was a huge highlight! It was very hot, but we spent several hours there that Thursday.

Wind Cave was cool, literally and figuratively!

We saw so much wildlife in Custer State Park. This herd of elk running up a cliff was as neat as anything we saw in there (we also saw several buffalo, white tail deer, and burros).

The burro were friendly!

The Badlands were more vast and impressive than we could have imagined. We passed through some neat little towns along a scenic route Mike found. It was a bigger highlight than Wall Drug store in Wall, SD.

It was windy in the Badlands, too!

We even dashed back into northeast Wyoming that same Friday and saw Devil's Tower National Monument. It was massive and impressive from every angle.

Everyone humored Neal by coming home via Nebraska. It was miles and miles and miles of...

It was a full, enjoyable month. August holds a lot of activity, too. We feel like the summer has flown by. The month will hold many highlights, but we'd appreciate your prayers for Kathy. She has taken a flight to Ohio to be with her grandpa, who is not expected to live. She will get to see her dad, sister, and other family. It will be the first time everyone has been together in over six years. Please pray for Kathy's comfort and strength through all of this. She was very close to her grandparents (her grandma has Alzheimers and is in a nursing home in Dover).