The Puentes Moved To Springfield

We got a big kick out of this website www.simpsonizeme.com. Check it out and make a cartoon of yourself and family.

A visit from Baba Nina

Well we had a nice week long visit with Anatole's mother. She came to help him celebrate his 60th birthday (Saturday July 21st). As you can see Emily, Grace, Leah and Baba are all about the same size. They went up to the temple on Sunday and took these pictures. She should be on the plane about now flying back to Ana's place in Massachusetts. Don't Emily and Grace look so grown up?

The Gilbert Reunion

Our Family reunion was a great success!! Thanks to everyone who came...And here is a photo for those of you who weren't able to make it...I didn't take enough photos...and after grandpa told us a bunch about his family, i realized it would have been a good idea to tape record it.. BUT oh well. It was great fun.
Love you all.

Grandma Louise

Grandma Louise came to town this past week! She was a huge help as mom recovered from her jaw surgery. Julian and Caleb loved it when they fed her, and one time engaged in a big laughing contest with each other! It was so hilarious! Julian made fishie faces and Caleb was beside himself as he watched. The whole kitchen was roaring with the boys before too long.

Re: The Chase Cabinet Photo

I have a correction to make to the previous post, we were up late last night, found a new web site!
We found maps, Township Maps of Original Land Patents of Yuma County, Colorado. The web site is http://www.rootsweb.com/~coyuma/yuma.htm if anyone is interested, Cliff has asked me to contact the Mr. Lee Zion who runs it, to post photos and stories there. Anyway great site, lots of info, pictures of Armel and pioneers, so here's my revision on the Chase Cabinet Photo.

Leslie W. son of John M. and Ester Winn Chase, came from Ohio to homestead in Colorado, his land can be found listed in Township 2 South Range 42 West, Yuma County, Colorado. Near the south east corner. Listed in 1891 there was a Cash sale of one plot of land, in 1895 he Homesteaded the adjoining north land.

Just Found

This was a birthday card Florence Gilbert sent to Norvin Davis Postmaked Aug.24th,1937, Arcade Annex.
Her address was 955 Court St. Los Angeles, CA
Her note says they have just moved into this place, it is a Four room apt., with two bedrooms.

Rice Cereal

Liam's first time eating rice cereal, and he loved it...can't you tell?

How Melissa Got Her Bite Back

Brace Yourself:
Photo top: me at 11- heavy metals
Photo middle: at 14- round 2- trying to hide those metal buds behind my smile. Strangely, I don't have a lot of open smiles during this photo period. It was a self-conscious time...
Photo bottom: metaled out mama

I was a cute enough kid, but by around the time I was eight or nine, something funky started happening to my teeth. My grandma said that when I smiled she would find it hard to smile back because my teeth were so crooked it was a little bit disturbing. And some thing strange happened to my bite- my chin sunk back, I couldn't chew without stretching out my face, and my teeth didn't fit together anymore. So, from about the time I was nineish until the time I was eighteen I went through a plethora of orthodontia- braces, brackets, elastics, retainers, headgear, bridges even this really painfully huge hunk of plastic that prevented me from speaking and made me look like the Incredible Hulk. I remember my poor little jaw being so sore- and to no avail! While my teeth got straightened up-- thankfully, so my grandma could smile at me without worrying about my future-- my poor little bite just couldn't get it together. After having braces reapplied for the third (or was it fourth?) time when I was seventeen I said 'enough is enough' and I quit my orthodontist. I never knew you could quit an orthodontist, but I did it. Follow-up care with more seasoned orthodontists gave a dire recommendation: surgery. Jaw surgery. Aargh! Jaw surgery- hadn't I paid my dues? What?! Why?! I decided that maybe if I left it alone it would fix itself. See no evil, hear no evil? I spent several years without seeing an orthodontist, a dentist, or anybody with a reclining chair for that matter.
When Ian and I finally got finished with school and started to be able to go to the dentist again one of the first things I heard was: "you need braces." Also: "You should see an orthodontist." We switched dentists. The next guy said the same thing-totally unsolicited. So, I went. I went to the orthodontist, and lo and behold, it was like an echo from Canada thirteen years earlier: surgery. Shucks. Well, I guess you can run, but you can't hide. Over the next two years I almost got braces put on but I kept chickening out and cancelling my appointments. Braces... braces.... braces are so lame! Finally I took a very deep breath, squinched my eyes together. When I opened them I was a twenty-nine year old braces wearer. My other Grandma started laughing when she saw me in May: "didn't you spend your childhood in braces?' Aargh, yes. Yes Grandma, I did. And, it appears, part of my adulthood.... it's hilarious, I know.
Well, yesterday was a sort of monumentous occasion. After nine months of patient braces-wearing, I had The Surgery. Ohmygoodness, Melissa got her bite back. It was hiding out there for twenty odd years... and now it looks and feels amazing. Just to clarify, I don't look and feel amazing, I'm about as swollen as a blowfish, but my bite feels great. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery. I may not be able to talk on the phone for a few weeks, talking is a little tough (my jaw is elasticized completely shut) and hopefullly this swelling goes down a lot, but I am very grateful for all the people who helped make it possible- mom and dad, Ian for taking amazing care of me, and my orthodontist and maxofacial surgeon. You guys rock. The journey's not over yet, but we're getting there and hopefully, before I'm thirty-one, I'll say good bye to braces forever. I may have to do the retainer thing for awhile, but that's OK. Orthodontia has been such a big part of my past, I guess if it sticks around a little in my future that won't be so bad.
;)

Cabinet Photo - The Chase Family

Top Row - Edith 1880-1959 (married Clarence Cassens)
Ernest 1886-1952
Ethel 1878-1942 (married C.E.Cotterell, then H."Dock"Davis)
Second Row - Leslie W. Chase 1859-1919
Helen 1890-1966 (married W.C. Morris, then Alex B. Moore)
Malinda "Linda"(Romine) 1855-1933 wife of Leslie Chase

As you look into the faces of these ancestors they appear to be gazing in different directions. Just as surely, they now leave history and stories of how their lives followed such different directions.

Leslie W. son of John M. and Ester Winn Chase, came from Ohio to homestead in Kansas very near the Colorado border, about 10 miles south of Nebraska.

His wife Linda - as she was called - would give birth to 5 children, Edwin in 1889 only leaves a small grave stone next to his parents, could that be the touch of sadness in Linda's eyes?

Ethel - the oldest - a young widowed mother with Florence and Clifford when she buried Ed Cotterell, who died from a virus, in 1905, was lifted from her grief and worries when the neighbor to her Dad's homestead, a homesteader himself, Dock Davis asked her to be his wife. A second two children were born to this union, Beatrice and Norvin.

Edith - the second child - married into a family of preachers and missionaries, had Alvin, Freda, Winn and Norma (who is now 94 and lives in Colorado).

Ernest - third - married Lillian, moved to Denver, and had 3 children. At some point after, he fell from a roof and suffered brain damage which brought him back to the homestead to be cared for by family. His grave is in the Armel, Colorado cemetery, his wife was buried in Washington state.

Then there's little sister Helen, 11 years younger than Ethel, sitting so close to her Mother it appears as if they are holding hands. In the Armel cemetery there is a small stone with a lamb on it, engraved - Baby Morris - Born of Mr. & Mrs. W.C. Morris - Jan. 4, 1915. It must have been a very cold winter for Helen. In 1918, that marriage ended but then in those days divorce was unheard of.

Helen remarried not long after to Alex Moore, in 1925 Ralph James, 1926 Helen Ruth, and 1928 Russell Moore made Helen's little family living on the Kansas homestead.

Just 17 yrs after the loss of her first baby, tragedy struck again. Helen was doing her laundry with Ralph and Helen by her side, in a gas engine powered washing machine. She became aware that it was leaking. She sent 6 yr. old Helen in the house to get a flash light, so she could get a better look. Little Helen couldn't find a flash light that afternoon, so wanting to be helpful, she lit a kerosene lantern and brought it to Mom.

What followed changed lives forever. 1932 - Dust bowl, Depression, and now the death of Little Helen age 6 and Ralph age 7. Russell (age 4) was recovering from tonsillitis that day, but as his Mother arms were severely burned he lived with many relatives for the next two years. After the death of his Father in 1935, Russell and his Mother Helen were the only two from that family left.

Russell Moore - age 79, lives in Kansas, supplied most of this information.