heathsmith online: news 2009

Zoey came to us from the Lane County Animal Shelter.
She is a lab mix, approx 3 years old and 45 pounds.

Zoey has a great easy going personality. She is already a valued member of our family and we look forward to many fun adventures together.

December 2009
Alisha Grabenhorst graduates from Oregon State University
Business Administration and Cultural Anthropology

Now we have two family iPod raffle wins: Kim's win today and Heath's in February. With that luck maybe the rest of us should start entering raffles as well!

After Bill's death from liver cancer in Omaha they no longer felt like traveling so they came home early. It was a long, dark, cold, sad trip

October 4, 2009
Trey Anderson has successful open heart surgery to repair three blocked arteries

You had to leave us much too soon, faithful friend. We had so many more adventures to share and places to explore together. It won't be the same without you. We love you and we miss you.

September 9, 2009 - September 12, 2009
Colin and friends visit Las Vegas

September 2, 2009
A very happy and eager Heath starts preschool at Pipal Park Community Center

Stephany and Bill take the long northern route to Omaha in order to visit Minnesota, Wisconsin and finally see the Great Lakes.

Dennis will join us in Omaha for Brooks' birthday and then we will take our time and meander back home in time for Dennis to return to work on October 26.

August 7, 2009 - August 26, 2009
LONG DRIVE!
The Toomeys Take A Summer Vacation In Rhode Island

Devon and Jeremy take Heath and Brooks and the two dogs and drive from Omaha, Nebraska to Portsmouth, Rhode Island to visit grandparents Dennis and Lorilee Toomey.

Summer Camping Adventures
Stephany and Dennis took granddaughters Ellery and Sydney on four camping adventures this summer. Too bad grandsons Heath and Brooks couldn't come as well but Nebraska is a long commute!

August 20,2009 - August 21, 2009
Silver Creek Falls State Park
An overnight with Ellery and then Sydney and Aden joined us for an afternoon of adventure!

August 12,2009 - August 14, 2009
Fort Stevens State Park
Water, old forts and a playground. Who needs anything more!

August 17,2009
Bill is diagnosed with a liver infection
He was lethargic, not eating and losing weight fast. We are hopeful his treatment of medication and rest will be successful and there is no underlying cause like a tumor.

August 8, 2009
Ellery, Sydney and Aden dance up a storm at relative Cat Johnson and Marshall Gerstenschlager's wedding.

July 29, 2009 - August 3, 2009
Colin flies to Minnesota to visit friend Maurice Miller

Wading across the Mississippi!

July 31, 2009 - August 2, 2009

Joanna Heath dances at Faerieworlds 2009 celebration at Mount Pisgah Arboretum near Eugene, Oregon.

July 28, 2009
Record Temperature of 107 today!

July 11, 2009
Wedding of Family Friends Mark Johnson and Cheryl Julian
Dennis Heath performed the ceremony

June 22, 2009 to July 4, 2009
Stephany Explores the Beautiful North Cascades and Mount Baker

June 13, 2009
Audra Smith graduates from Kentwood High School in Kent, Washington

June 10 - June 16
Aden, Kim, Ellery and Sydney fly to Omaha to visit the Toomeys

April 23 - 26, 2009
Stephany's birthday family campout at Tugman State Park

April 2009
Bill Is A Mess!
Bill develops a skin allergy and loses a lot of hair.

March 26 - March 31
Stephany is flying to Omaha to visit the Toomeys

Actually the trip was from March 27 to April 1 as the March 26 flights to Omaha were cancelled at the last minute (after Dennis had dropped me off at the Portland airport) due to a blizzard in Denver. I had to reschedule for the next morning at 5:55 AM, call Dennis to come back and get me (luckily he had stopped at Aden and Kim's to see the girls), and at the same time change my flight back to add an extra day. The flight back from Omaha was cancelled for some mysterious reason in Denver and I was rescheduled on that as well. In all three out of the four legs of my flight were cancelled! Is flying fun or what! The visit made it all worthwhile though.

March 10
Dennis heads back to work!

He is fully recovered from his heart surgery and feeling great. He has been cleared to return to work so off he goes. Stephany would have liked to have him heading off to the RV and travel rather than work but her entreaties were in vain :(

March 2, 2009
New Kitchen Island Completed!

Stephany and Dennis have remodeled their kitchen island to make it larger and more functional. The island turned out beautifully! It also includes a sitting/perching area now which granddaughters Ellery and Sydney have tried out and pronounced good.

February 21, 2009
Colin moves into a new house
18416 Sandpiper Way
Lake Oswego, OR 97035

He and Alan Libin are going to be renting the house together.

February 9, 2009
Dennis Drives Again!

Dennis is doing so well he has been given the okay by his doctor to drive. That makes him very happy and Stephany is glad to be relieved of car pool duties!

February 6, 2009
Heath wins an iPod!

Today a lady from the Catholic school down the street came to the Toomey's door and presented Heath with a new iPod Shuffle that he won through a raffle at the school when they attended an open house to check out the preschool program. Devon says he was so excited and kept telling the women thank you... she thought it was very sweet. Now he is excited to download some music on his new shuffle to listen to in the backseat. His first two choices: Life is a Highway by Rascall Flatts (from the movie Cars) and I'm Yours by Jason Mraz (a song he goes crazy about every time he hears it on the radio). Devon says those two choices came directly from his mouth without any help from them... very cute.

Pretty cool that the first raffle a two year old enters wins him an iPod!

February 2, 2009
Not A Good Day!

Colin lost his job because his company is a victim of the economic downturn

Devon and Jeremy's car was broken into

January 24, 2009
Dennis is home from the hospital. He is doing extremely well in his recovery. Right now he is happy to be home and looking forward to being able to get some sleep!

January 21, 2009
Dennis has been moved from ICU to the Progressive Care Unit
His condition continues to improve.

January 20, 2009
Surgery Update
2:30 PM

The surgery has been successfully completed. Dennis had his mitral valve repaired and a triple bypass performed. He is currently on a respirator and under heavy sedation in ICU and will remain there for 24 to 48 hours until his condition is stabilized.

The Big Day!
Dennis has to report to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and his open heart surgery is scheduled for 8:00. The surgery will take approximately five hours to complete. Updates will be posted here.
Dennis wants everyone to know he is not nervous at all about this surgery!

Happy New Year, Dennis!

Willamette Valley Hospice has reduced Dennis's work time from three days to two days a week after January 31 as part of a cost cutting process. As a result he will lose all benefits.
We knew he was looking at needing open heart surgery to repair or replace a mitral valve but we planned to do that later in the year. However with the loss of health insurance benefits through hospice he scrambled around to get the surgery scheduled for January 20. Although he will still have his Providence Medicare Plus Insurance we wanted to have the surgery done while he still had double health insurance coverage to reduce our out-of-pocket expenses.
As part of the required procedures for the open heart surgery he had an angiogram on January 8 and learned he would also need triple by-pass surgery!
Both operations will be done at the same time and then he is looking at a recovery period of at least six weeks.

January 2009
Emily Anderson Linauer is doing some part time work for Kim Smith

January 1 - January 3, 2009
Stephany's sister Michele comes down from Edmonds, Washington for a visit.


View from the east at Sunrise Visitor Center	View from the west at Paradise Visitor Center


Even the gnomes came to help celebrate!	Shore Acres	Celebration dinner at Abby's Pizza in Coos Bay