Uncle Rodney Ricks

My uncle passed away in January. I went up to Idaho for the services. It was a wonderful service and a great celebration of this life. I have many great memories of my uncle. He was always a little bit of tease. They lived in California and Washington and we got to visit their family a couple times while we were all growing up. There were always fun activities planned while visiting the Ricks's. Here is his obituary written by his daughter, Tonya Ricks.

Rodney Dean Ricks passed away Jan. 11, 2011, at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, Wash., of complications from leukemia.

He was born Aug. 23, 1944, to Henry Dean Ricks and Carma Mortensen Ricks in Ardmore, Okla., and grew up in Rexburg, Idaho. He went to Madison High School in Rexburg, and continued his education at Ricks College in Rexburg. He received his engineering degree from University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Rodney moved to Vallejo, Calif., after graduation to work for Mare Island Naval Shipyard as a civil engineer. He married Nina Blanchard Ricks on Dec. 29, 1976, in Rexburg, Idaho, and they lived in Vallejo after their marriage. They raised their children in Vallejo until 1994, when they moved to Silverdale, Wash., so he could continue his work for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Rodney retired from the shipyard in 2000 but kept busy with contract work using his engineering skills.

He also continued woodworking, with turning being a specialty. He enjoyed taking many cruises and road trips with Nina, including an exciting three-week cruise from Seattle to Miami through the Panama Canal. His love in life was his children and grandchildren. They have many special memories of Dad and Grandpa.

Rodney is survived by his wife, Nina; his children, Michele Rumsey and her husband Lyle of Egin, Idaho; Brandon Ricks and his wife Terri of Fairfield, Calif.; and Tonya Ricks and her fiancé Seth Sterr of Seattle; his grandchildren, Staisha Roberts and Jacob Roberts; Alyssa, Hadley, Garett and Briana Rumsey; and Payten, Kellie and Jordan Ricks. He is also survived by his siblings, Gary (Laleene) Ricks, Deanna (Max) Wade, Susan (Randy) Landon and Mary Anne (Tom) Ciccotelli, as well as many nieces and nephews whom he loved — and loved to tease. He was predeceased by his parents, Dean and Carma Ricks.

The family would like to thank the tireless care of the 2 West Oncology nurses and staff of Harrison Medical Center as well as Dr. Malcolm Winter.

Here are some pics that my mom took at the graveside services

Christmas

This year we were at my parent's house for Christmas. It's always so nice and relaxing up there. We enjoy the times we get to be up there and relax and visit. I didn't take very many pictures, but we had a great time. On Christmas Eve, we had a nice dinner and my dad read the christmas story. Bear dressed up as a sheep & Kinsley was Mary. Then we exchanged gifts.


The rest of the time, we ate, played games, visited, watched movies, shopped, did projects and just enjoyed each other. It was a great Christmas.

Bear also wore his rudolph costume for a little bit.

Grandpa Dallas funeral

Grandpa Dallas's funeral was in Ashton the weekend before christmas. It was a very nice service...fun to hear stories about Grandpa Dallas. He had a military graveside service that was very neat. After the service, the ward in Ashton cooked up a very nice meal. It was so nice of them. He hasn't lived in Ashton in years, but so many people around there remember him. His sisters still live up there and the ward said they would do anything for them. Grandpa Dallas will for sure be missed.

Grandpa Dallas

Caleb's grandpa passed away last week. We knew it was coming...he was in sort of rough shape, it's still so hard to see him go. Caleb has looked up to his grandpa forever, and has always seen him as a father figure. His grandpa took him fishing and 4-wheeling and camping. There were always fun adventures to be had with Grandpa Dallas. He will sure be missed. I had fun getting to know him since I have been in the family. I adored his stories and his loving heart. Here is the obituary that was published in the Rexburg Standard Journal. We are headed to Idaho this weekend for the funeral services.



Our Dad, Grandpa, Brother and Sweetheart passed away on Pearl Harbor Day at the age of 86. We honor his tremendous example and the legacy he left of giving love and service for all he knew.

Dad was born in Marysville, and grew up primarily in Felt and Ashton where he ran trap lines as a young man and farmed as an adult.

Dad went to the Naval Recruiting office on the first day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served throughout the war aboard the U.S.S. Tangier.

After the war, he married Merna Cordingley from Marysville. They moved to Riverside, where they raised their family while Dad worked at the Nuclear Site in Arco.
They enjoyed camping together and getting away to their cabin in Island Park. After Merna passed away, Dad married Lucille Hansen and together they resided in Blackfoot in the summer and Parker, Ariz., when the snow began to fly. Their time together was filled with square-dancing and family.

Dad was alone for a time when Grandma Lucille died after a sudden illness. But he found a life-long friend and sweetheart in Laura Rhodes. They have spent 18 years together filling their time with riding 4-wheelers and fishing.

Dad served as a scout leader for over 20 years; long enough to be the leader for the children of some of his earliest Scouts. He was active as a home teacher where he made sure that his families always had food to eat and wood for the fireplace.
He was always the first to volunteer for service and the last to go home from a hard day's work. He spent innumerable hours helping neighbors clean and repair their homes after the Teton Dam flood waters damaged them.

Dad enjoyed hunting, fishing, motorcycles, snowmobiles and 4-wheelers. He loved a good story and was a wonderful story teller himself.

But his greatest love was always his family and friends. He served people all his life and made everyone he met a better person. He had a special gift of being able to get people out of their shells and finding ways to enjoy life.

Dad is survived by his beloved sisters Norma Schuldies and Connie Cordingley, by his children Terry, Corine and Ben, by Lucille's children Pat, Vicki and Rick, by his sweetheart Laura Rhodes and by a large dynasty of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his sisters Wanda Cordingley and Phyllis Crosby.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 18th in the Ashton Stake Center.

Temple Square lights

My parents were down for the weekend to do some christmas shopping. We were able to meet up with them and my sisters to see the lights at temple square and dinner. It was pretty warm out this year....so we actually were able to enjoy the lights a little more than past years.
on trax...headed to the lights


the lights

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we loaded up and went to San Diego with the Landon Family. It was so nice to get out of the freezing cold and relax a bit. We had such a great time.

Saturday - We were flying all day. Mel, Ben, Oli, Henry, Ashley, Caleb & Myself all were flying out of Salt Lake. My mom & Dad & Jaxon's family were all flying out of Idaho Falls. They connected with out flight in Salt Lake. Well, their flight got delayed and they didn't make it on the flight to San Diego. They ended up staying in the Salt Lake airport for 5 hours. We got to San Diego and got settled into our room and then Caleb & I went to pick the rest of them up later that night. It was a long day for them.

Sunday -
we went to the Sea Life Aquarium & Legoland.

Hillary & Caleb

Kinsley & Oliver


Jaxon, Holden, Keagan, Kinsley & Oliver

Grandpa, Henry & Ashley

Kinsley & Oliver

I don't have any idea what is going on in this lego illustration. The first 2 make sense, but what happened in the third one??


Grandma & Henry


Monday -
We went to the Wild Animal Park the next day. So many cool things to see at this park.








Tuesday -
SeaWorld was a lot of fun. We saw Shamu(though the Shamu show isn't nearly as interesting as it used to be. One of the trainers was killer by a killer whale earlier this year, so they don't interact with the whales as much as they used to), dolphins, penguins, manatees and more.
Me, Oliver & Kinsley fed the dolphins



Wednesday -
We went to the San Diego Zoo. It's so big and so much to see. It was a lot of fun. I would like to go back and explore the zoo a little more. We were all a little tired by this day and didn't explore as much as we could.


Thursday -
We had Thanksgiving dinner at Hunters steakhouse, took family pictures and relaxed a little bit.
the grandkids in their matching orange shirts

all of us

We went down to the beach for the sunset.



Friday -
We decided to hit up the outlet malls this day. They had some good deals going on. Our main reason for going though was...they sold these...
Reebok Classics. These are the only shoes Caleb likes and they had a Reebok store there. So he stocked up and bought 2 pairs.
Then we went on a little bike ride. in these fun bikes.

Then we roasted smores on the beach.


Saturday -
We went to Old Town San Diego for some lunch & shopping. Old Town San Diego was a lot of fun. They had Caleb's dream store there.


look behind Caleb...haha

Then, we headed back home. It was so much fun spending more time with all of my family. It's always fun when we are all able to get together. Thanks so much mom & dad for such a fun trip. It was so nice to get away, enjoy family and not think about work (at least not think about it too much :))

Henry's baby blessing

last weekend we went up to Logan for baby Henry's blessing. His dad, Ben, blessed him and did a wonderful job. Here's some pictures from the day.