Northly News

Hello? Anyone out there?

2011-11-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

Hi long lost forgotten blog. I'm sorry you have been neglected these last 8 months. Let's do a little update to make you feel better.

Jeff has finally made the decision to quit. He hates KFC and is sooo done. We are moving to Washington where he will be going back to school to pursue he previous career choice of dentistry. Yeah, 2 years of pre-recs then another 4 years of dental school. He really wants to do orthodontics but that's even more school so who knows. We will be living with my grandma which will be interesting. She is pretty dependent on everyone and really likes to spoil me and my kids. I'm not sure how it's going to work out but here's hoping.

The plan is to leave our (wonderful, amazing) house on December 23rd, drive to Klamath at our own pace, then stay for Christmas! The day after Christmas we will go the rest of the way to Bellevue for a late Christmas there. It's going to be an interesting trip but after my drive to Utah in a snow storm by myself and the girls I think we can do it :)

Hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing most of you on Christmas! Love you!

Stephanie Rocks!!!

2011-03-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Good luck at NCAAs Stephanie!! Swim Fast!

check it out guys

2011-02-24T20:01:00.000-08:00

Hey guys here is Cohen's new blog...quick go see!

http://cohenisking.blogspot.com/

Ellouise

2010-12-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's taken so long to post, and you all know that we had our baby but I thought I'd post anyways. Tuesday at 1:59pm we had our baby! It started at 3:30am. We went to the birthing center (with Bad Company playing as we pulled up) and then took a nap. We woke up and they sent us out to breakfast. Then we came back and had her! It was all natural and went really well. And recovery has been way better too!
Sophie is so excited. She can't stop talking about Elle! Jeff has been amazing, but Sophie is kinda driving him nuts. Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone!

2010-11-30T17:49:00.000-08:00

I only got 12 points for the first week on the bootie buster challenge. Three are from posting the website and playing with everyone in the games on Thanksgiving. This next week will be harder unless I do some extra stuff after work. Not too good so far,I have only 4 points. I'm going to Utah on Friday so Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of next week will be a challenge too. See you soon Tom, Janna, and Cohen. :o)

2010-11-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

I am going to do the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. Laurie had the link on her blog. I signed up and I have to have a blog to keep track of my progress so I will be using this one. If anyone wants to join in it at http://runtothefinish.blogspot.com/2010/11/holiday-bootie-buster-challenge.html It's a good way to not gain weight over the holidays. Happy holidays to you all.

2010-11-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

Janna is home and doing fine. Here is a picture of Cohen James North

Almost there!

2010-10-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

Okay so... Just a week and a half left to go and we are more excited than ever to be parents!!! I still can't even wrap my head around the idea of what it is going to be like. So we are going to try and take things one at a time. (Just like how Tom has been taking my emotional roller coasters one ride at a time...). But anyway, as you can tell from the photos, we are obviously still head over heels in love with each other and super-stoked to be parents!! Wish me luck.. this is probably the last post until the big day! Love you all.

2010-10-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

I just signed up to run another race. I hope to finish, I'm not going for time. Yvonne (Laurie's mother in law) and I are going to Eugene on Friday and Laurie and I are running in the Monster Mash on Saturday. Lauire will probably finish the whole 5k as I am starting my second mile. I hope to get to see Emme play part of her soccer game and I get to watch Calvin play his.

Arizona

2010-09-13T11:02:00.001-07:00

Well mom-in-law forgot to mention that we finally heard back from out house! If everything goes as planned, we should be moving in by October 1st!! Jeff took videos of the house, but they didn't turn out very well. I'll post one of the outside. But its a great house!
We had a lot of fun with Mom and Grammy this past week. I hope they had fun too. Lots of shopping, the Cheesecake Factory, and laying out by the pool. Sophie really enjoyed having her Grammys visiting. She refers to them as Gogie or just Mommy. She likes them more then me!
Since we have been in Arizona, Sophie has had Rosiola and now Chicken Pox. Poor child. Luckily she was vaccinated and only has 10 chicken pox. But they aren't bugging her too badly. We haven't stayed for all of church on account of her being sick, but we did manage to go to Sacrament meeting last week. We are excited for the new ward. Almost every family had a newborn and I didn't see hardly any kids older then 10. And the Bishop introduced himself and seems normal. We have had a string of odd wards for the past few years so we are looking forward to this one.
So now we get to hang out at the condo for a few more weeks and hope that our house closes when it is suppose to. My Mom and both Grandmas are coming on the 2nd to help clean and paint so it would be nice if they had a place to stay!
Anyways, thanks for letting us steal Mom and Grammy for a bit! Hope they had fun!!!

2010-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

I finally got a picture of a bunny on my run this morning. It is very hard to see though. It is in the left side of the light. I think you can see the white dot of it's cotton tail. I decided to show you how pretty the desert is in the morning the next picture is of the terrain around our condo and where i run.
It's really pretty isn't it. Another thing about the desert is that inspite of the greenery and beauty of the plants almost all of them are thorny and vicious. This next plant is covered in little green leaves and it has really pretty orange flowers when it is in bloom. But don't let it fool you, it is covered with 1 inch thorns hidden by the leaves. When all the leaves fall off in the dry season it is not so pretty. It is just all thorns.
The next picture is of a tree my mom (Grammy) calls the Dr. Seus Tree. She calls it that because the bark is green and the tree has odd shapes.
The second picture is up close. The thorns on the "Dr. Seus" tree are about 4 inches long. I have decided that all the vegatation has thorns to protect itseld from those animals that would eat it. I have only seen about 2 or three plants that don't have them.
Pretty shrub outside our condo? Not! It is covered with thorns! They are dense and sharp about 1 1/2 inches long.
Strange tree with little pods that look like pottery hanging from it. This one actually doesn't have any thorns. It must be bad to eat or something.
This is a picture of out condo. You can see the deceiving bush by the walk on the left. Everything down here is southwest style of course. The walls are about a foot thick. The bedrooms all have tiny 1 foot square windows towards the top of the rooms. Mom (Grammy) really likes them. She says that if she ever builds another house that she would put those kind of windows in the bedrooms. There is also one large window in each room for a view. I won't be able to run tomorrow. Jeff, Grammy, and I are going to drive to the gulf (about 3 hours) and go to a tourist city in Mexico. It should be fun and safe. He had employees who went there last weekend and said it is a safe place to go. :o)

Arizona

2010-09-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

I have been in Arizona for a couple of days now. I am running every morning and really enjoying it. The first night we were here, Jeff killed 2 rattlesnakes on the walk right in front of our door. (In the picture to the left) It has made me be a little more cautious and aware than I may have been on my runs. You never know when you might run into something you don't want to see. The first day I found this really cool running trail. (See the pictures below) I kept hearing the rattling sound and wondered if it was snakes or what. It turned out that it was some kind of bird that is pretty good at imitating the sound of a rattle snake. When I mentioned it to Jeff he said that he has heard them too. We decided it must be some type of protection thing they have developed. I have seen many little cotton tails on my runs but they run away too fast for me to be able to get a picture. Today I saw a couple of road runners. They didn't move away to fast the capture them with my phone camera but even though I zoomed in they are very hard to see in the picture. They are in the picture that looks like it is just a picture of the parking lot. There are many cacti here. The others are pictures of the trail and the view from the trail. The last is a picture of a prickly pear. They look really pretty with their pink fruit. This is the end of the rainy season. We had a major downpour on Tuesday. It was pretty cool, as the rain came down in buckets and all the little dry gullies fill up. My vacation is going way too fast, but I'm enjoying my stay while I'm here.

Virtual Race

2010-08-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

I got up this morning to run my virtual race of 4 miles. It was still dark but the moon was almost full so it lit the path very well. I had a really good time doing it. It was my first real race (Idid the 6.7 mile walk at Crater Lake a couple of weeks ago). I ran the whole thing and finished in 54:08.76. Dick didn't run with me but he did wait in the car and time me. (Thus the real time) He also took a picture of me at the beginning (in the car headlights) and at the end. It really did make my day. I was happy and feeling good all day. :o)

I did it!

2010-08-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did the Crater Lake Rim Runs 6.7 Mile Walk. It was much harder than expected. You can't believe how hard it was not to break into a jog. (That would disqulify you) I had a good time and I think I might do a virtual 4 mile race on Aug 25. Jeannie McDaniel is the person in the picture with me. She is the one who really wanted to do the race and talked me into doing it with her. My time was 1 hour and 38 minutes. I think that's almost 15 minute miles.

It's a Girl

2010-08-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure if anyone checks this anymore, but we are having another girl! They have moved my due date around a bunch but now that we have finally had an ultrasound I think its right. So I am due January 11th, just 8 days before Sophie turns 2!

Sophie's Video

2010-07-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well I've tried to get my mother in law to sign on to facebook for some time to watch a few movies of Sophie, but it still hasn't happened. So here is the most recent. We are in monsoon season in Alamogordo which is why our back porch is flooded. Oh, and we haven't bought a house yet. But hopefully we will by the end of the month!

2010-06-28T11:45:00.000-07:00

We almost missed this little guy!

The moose and her calf had to follow the fence before they could hide in the woods from us.

I just thought everyone would enjoy this lovely picture of Donald :)

The Last Frontier

2010-06-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Hello North Family!

This is my first post to your awesome blog, get ready, because it's going to be a long one! Well, I'm in ALASKA. My dad started driving my jetta up with everything I could pack into it on June 14th. He picked up his brother from his flight in Seattle and they continued to make the long journey together. Meanwhile, I was spending time with my mom, grandparents, and puppies. And of course Donald and everyone at Depoe Bay :) The first part of the trip was fun, they did a lot of site-seeing, but the second half was just road and trees until Anchorage. They saw bison, goats, buffalo, moose, and every kind of bear! Including a grizzly enjoying the intestines of a dead bison, yuck. And they took the risk of stopping a taking a picture of a nearby grizzly and her cub, yikes! They arrived in Anchorage on June 19th and started searching for apartments for me. Let me tell ya, it was SCARY!! Everything is ridiculously expensive here and nobody seems to want to take care of their apartments, hmmmm. We were in a pickle. Not only that, but we had banked on a furnished place and couldn't seem to find any. Which was probably a good thing because I can only imagine how disgusting the furniture would be. We were about to put down a deposit for a shabby place close to the hospital, when we tried a phone call to one more place. It turned out that this was one of the places Sarah from DMS was looking into as well. I went and checked it out and it is AMAZING!! Beautiful leather furniture, a new kitchen, flat screen tv, cable, wireless internet, all utilities included, and a maid comes in every 2 weeks to clean! So, I'll be living with Sarah in this two bedroom castle and I'm very happy :) We meet with the lady today to finalize it! Since then, we've been exploring The Last Frontier, and it's been fun. Yesterday I saw a Moose and her Calf for the first time! It was really cool. Anchorage is WAY bigger than Klamath Falls and has tons to offer. The city itself is the size of the state of Delaware! Anyway, I move in to my new apartment on Thursday night and I start work at the gorgeous Providence Medical Center on July 6th. Wish me luck!

-Kayleigh the Alaskan

Red Rock Tour

2010-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

My Dad and brother Jencen are on their bike ride from SLC to the Grand Canyon to Moab. They are 6 days, and 300 miles into their 1200 mile ride. I thought I could lend them a little more support with the other half of my family! You can follow them on their blog at www.bikingfamily.com
Thanks!

Great Day

2010-06-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you, I had a really fun birthday! I hope Breein's day was as good as mine.

To Mom & Breein

2010-06-08T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hope you both have a super great day!!

Social Life

2010-06-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

So Tom and I pretty much haven't had friends since we got married. I fell off the face of the earth and was convinced that everyone had forgotten who I was, until we received an invitation to go "camping" over Memorial Day with some of my friends from college. Camping turned into staying at my friend's grandmother's condo in Mesquite, NV. From there, we were able to travel into Zion National Park on the busiest day of the year and hike Emerald Pools and Angel's Landing! My ego took a hit that day as I panted in the back of the pack for most of the day. Tom was kind enough to stick behind with me. In fact, he even made me slow down and take breaks even though I looked at him, red-faced, and told him I was fine. I guess he is worried about the baby or something. As we hiked out onto the ridge at Angel's Landine (1000 foot drops on both sides!) Tom made sure to stay behind me to watch me hike and make sure I didn't fall. It was on this hike that we were able to capture a picture of the "belly"- something that has remained relatively hidden to the human eye up until this point. Yes, I am now showing! (Sort of). The rest of our trip was spent playing some sand volleyball at the Casa Blanca resort (yes, we snuck in), and hanging out at the house with the 4 other couples playing monopoly the card game (which is pretty fun- and addicting)! It was hard to leave and come back to the reality of work and school, but I believe Tom has found some new motivation in school after getting a 94% on his bio test!!! Woot, woot! And he continues to do well, though he has mentioned that he is looking forward to his short summer break at the end of this month. Speaking of the end of this month, on the 29th we will go in and find out if we need to paint Phyllis's room blue or pink, in preparation for the new little North one.
That's all for now! Laurie, if you wanted to add me as an author on this thing that would be great. If not, it's cool I can continue to pose as Tom.
'Til next time, Love you all!!

I'm Still Here!

2010-05-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time since I contributed so I will just try to hit the highlights...

For anyone who hasn't heard yet Kayleigh has drawn Anchorage, Alaska for her externship, she will be moving there in about a month from now, it will be a huge change for both of us, but it is good news because she is going to a hospital that sees a lot of different pathology (disease for anyone that doesn't follow medical terms) so it will allow her to gain a lot of experience, and since the point of an extern is to gain experience this is a great opportunity for her.

Other things that are going on in my life is that I now own a motorcycle and I am going to be a federal firefighter this summer and will be moving back in with mom and dad in a few weeks

I will try to get on here more often and if nothing else I'll add some pics of my new bike soon :)

Update

2010-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted in a while but there are quite a few new things to report. I am pregnant! (I think everyone knows that though) Baby #2 will be born around January 11th, a week before Sophie's 2nd birthday. I'm excited that this one will have a cousin so close in age.
Tucson is still in the works. We have been told that we have to move by September 1st. The company is being reorganize and Jeff will be over 2 stores in Tucson, and then Nogales and Alamogordo. He is excited to be done in McMinnville and Carlsbad. The only lame thing about this all, is that when we signed on Jeff was supposed to be 12.5% owner. Well he just signed all the paperwork and he is a 5% owner. Kinda dumb.
So we put an offer on a house, 20K lower then the asking price, and I don't think we will be getting it. There was another offer. But it is a foreclosure so who knows. With another baby on the way, Jeff is really wanting to buy when before he was all about renting.
And as for pictures, here is one of Sophie making my mother's day card.

Hello? Anyone out there?

2010-05-10T07:31:00.000-07:00

I'm glad Laurie is taking the time to post on here...I'd hate to see our family blog completely fade into obscurity! For those of you who haven't taken the time to check out Laurie's blogs, you should take a quick look at them. They're pretty interesting.

I know all of you are very busy, but I wish you'd post stuff on here from time to time. I really enjoy seeing your comments and pictures. If I weren't computer illiterate I'd stick some pictures on here also.

Congratulations are due to Doug for having another outstanding baseball season. Henley is 8-2 in the Skyline Conference, and added another District Championship to their list of accomplishments. They have one more conference game tomorrow against North Valley (Doug will be pitching), and their first game in the playoffs will probably be against Pleasant Hill on May 25th. I promise I'll post some info on here about that game.

Laurie and Emme will be coming to Klamath on June 5th (assuming that Henley doesn't play in the State Championship, which is also that day) to run in the Lake of the Woods Run. I'm going to try to survive another 5 k...I'm glad Emme's running in the half-mile, so I don't have to worry about being schooled by a 6 year old! I'm looking forward to the run, even though the weather in Klamath has been less than favorable for running and I'm not in any condition to race.

Time to go. I have to work.

To all the moms and moms to be...

2010-05-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

New Blog

2010-05-06T09:01:00.001-07:00

In case any of you care about my family but are tired of hearing all about my running I've started a new blog that is more about us and less about me. You can get there by clicking HERE.

I'm starting to get a lot of "running" traffic on my blog so I'm definitely leaning more to talking only about running. I figure the running people don't care too much about my kids and you all don't care too much about my running, so this will make everyone happy.

Happy reading.

Oh, and feel free to keep us updated on you here on this poor, sad, neglected blog...

Apologies to All are in Order

2010-04-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

I think I owe everyone who participates in and reads our blog an apology. It's been a long time since I posted anything, and quite some time since I responded to anyone's posts. I especially owe an apology to Janna and Tom, who not only posted on here without any responses from anyone, but set up their own blog and didn't get any responses there either. My excuse is that I normally work on this at work, and I haven't had any time. Pretty lame excuse, but there it is.

There are a lot of things to write about...Steph's meet in February, Doug's games, my running, work, and other assorted stuff...I just haven't taken the time to do it. What it comes down to is laziness. I'll try to do better.

giveaway

2010-04-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

So, I came across this giveaway on one of the running blogs I follow and thought some of you might be interested in entering it. I know you're all into P90x and some other things but this looks pretty good too. So, check it out. (If you don't enter though, that's okay, gives me more of a chance to win!) Anyway, click HERE if you're interested.

Hey Everyone!

2010-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

Just so everyone knows...Janna and I have started a blog about our lives, in case you are interested....the site is tomandjannanorth.blogspot.com. We have some work to do on it but it will be pretty sweet soon. Follow us!

San Antonio here we come

2010-02-19T07:19:00.001-08:00

Hi,
I rarely check our blog, but thought I should today. Dick and I are headed to San Antonio as is Stephanie. We are looking forward to it because it is our big vacation of the year. We plan on doing some sight seeing on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. The meet doesn't start until Wednesday night at 6. The weather isn't supposed to be as nice as last year but it will definitely be warmer than Klamath. The meet should be good, hopefully Stephanie will do her best. We leave Monday night and will return on Sunday night. I'll try to keep this blog up to date while we are there.
Mom

Howdy Everyone

2010-01-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
Its been a while since I wrote on here but there isn't too much new going on. School is going well so far and I seem to be doing better with my organizational skills this semester. I'm taking 17 credits and should be finishing up my generals this semester while taking mixed courses of science and criminal justice. I quit my job at Telos because I just couldn't fit it into my schedule but still have my job at Macy's working 16 hours a week. Its not much as far as pay goes but it definitely helps get us by. Janna and I now have two callings, we are the Sunday Program Maker's or whatever its called, and we just received a calling to be on the Stake Sports Activities Committee. Janna is still working at Telos and they love her there, she does a really good job. Apart from that we're both just doing p90x and trying to get ready for race season. In case anyone didn't know, Jeff and Donald are doing p90x also, Donald is a bit ahead of Jeff, Janna, and me though.
That's really about it though, nothing else really happening. Just so everyone knows though, we are still planning on doing HOOD TO COAST in 2011!!! So far only Laurie and Dad have really told me that they want to do it for sure; if anyone else wants to, let me know fairly soon because I'm going to start recruiting for it in a few months so we can kind of get an idea of how it will work and who will be doing it....assuming we get drawn for it that is. Sign ups for 2011 will be sometime in early October if I'm not mistaken but I'll have to check on that, point is though we do plan on submitting a team and I'd much rather do it with my family than a bunch of people I hardly know. So once again as of right now for sure I've got:
Me
Janna
Laurie
Dad
...which means that really we have 8 open spots (4 girls & 4 guys)
Thanks guys,
Tom

The cake

2010-01-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

Gosh Laurie, way to beat me to it! Here is one of the monster and her cake...

Sophie is 1

2010-01-21T10:43:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture of Sophie that I stole off Breein's facebook page, thought I'd share it. Looks like she had a happy birthday. Hope it was great fun guys. Too bad you live so far away.

Sophie's big day

2010-01-13T06:58:00.001-08:00

Just thought I would take a minute to remind everyone that Sophie will be turning 1 next Tuesday. Breein, let us know what you are planning and Happy Birthday to Sophie :o)

Happy Birthday (a few hours early)

2009-12-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to "publicly" wish dad a happy birthday (yes I know it's tomorrow). Thanks for helping to keep this blog alive. I hope you enjoy your day. Love you.

HOOD TO COAST 2011

2009-12-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

All right guys enough screwing around. I really want to do the Hood to Coast relay before I die and my knees aren't getting any better! 2010 is already out of the picture; they've already drawn teams and all that but I really want to get some people thinking about doing the race with me in 2011...assuming that we get picked. So I really want to get an idea of who is even interested and if anyone is even going to be available? So if you could spread the word about this thing to the rest of the family it would be good. Leave your comments with questions or if you can do it. Thanks guys.

The Christmas tree diet

2009-12-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

This diet has many steps so follow carefully.

1. Go into the mountains to look for a Christmas tree (don''t bring any food)
2. Walk around in two feet of snow for an hour looking at mangy trees
3. Get truck stuck
4. Almost run over husband and get even more stuck
5. Jump in bed of truck for a half an hour trying to get free again
6. Successfully get free and continue to look for a decent tree
7. Go down a snowy road but you have to turn around because of down power lines
8. Try your hardest to make it up the snowy hill but make sure to go off the embankment
9. Call a tow truck, but be prepared to wait for at least an hour
10. The tow truck will then winch you out, only to get stuck themselves
11. Watch the tow truck try to get unstuck, but instead they hit a tree and end up at the very bottom of the hill
12. Then proceed to follow the tow truck by shoveling and then driving in 3 foot increments
13. Get an arm workout by supporting yourself as you pee while holding onto the bumper of your truck
14. Wait 5 hours and then the fire and police department will show up with a bobcat
15. Someone will then take sympathy on you and bring you a PB and J along with some baby food. You can eat all of this and it will be the best thing you have ever tasted.
16. Wait for another hour while everyone gets situated and the road gets plowed
17. Wait for the tow truck to get out
18. Get out yourself and meet at the rendezvous point.
19. Pay tow truck people $112
20. Say goodnight (it should be about 10pm) and go home

I've lost 3 lbs on this diet in just one day! Oh, and don't expect to get a Christmas tree out of the whole deal. I didn't.

Miscellaneous Stuff

2009-12-07T07:29:00.000-08:00

This will probably be a bunch of rambling...there's nothing important to talk about, but it's been quite awhile since I posted so figured something is better than nothing.

It's a balmy 8 degrees in Klamath this morning. Just a little bit too chilly for my taste. The ducks and geese have long since headed for warmer climes, so duck season is pretty much done. I have a tough time getting motivated to look for coyotes, so other than a drive to Blizzard Gap to look for deer I haven't been hunting since October.

Congratulations Stephanie for your great effort in Missouri the last couple of days. Winning the 100 free against the competition you had is pretty impressive...and a 50.08 (BSU had you at a 50.06, so I'm not sure what's right) is amazing! Glad you got to beat Kim Jasmer...hopefully you made her cry!

Doug's been playing basketball, and it's going to be a long season. The JV are doing well, but Henley's varsity probably won't dominate any teams this year. Doug's only been playing two quarters of JV ball so he can be available for four quarters with the varsity, but so far has only gotten in for a couple of minutes. Hopefully in the future they'll either let him play the whole JV game, or they'll start using him more for varsity...he winds up sitting the bench much more than he plays.

It was nice having all of you here for Thanksgiving...hopefully we can all be together again sometime in the not too distant future.

Time to wrap this up...I have a bunch of commercials to write.

Duck Game

2009-12-03T12:21:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to remind everyone of the big Civil War game tonight. Should be a good one. Kickoff is around 6pm on ESPN. Hope you are all watching and cheering on our ducks.

Go Ducks!!

Thanks

2009-12-02T09:39:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to say that it was great to see everyone over the Thanksgiving holiday. I hope that everyone had a good time and made it home safely. (Jeff & Breein, I hope that you do eventually make it home!)

Anyway, we'll have to do it again sometime... maybe in a few years when Doug graduates or the next time someone gets married... that could be a while.

A special thank you to mom for all the hard work she did. I think it all turned out very well. I especially enjoyed the Price is Right game. (I would have enjoyed it even if we hadn't won so much loot!)

Congratulations Janna and Tom!!

2009-11-14T10:58:00.000-08:00

Since I have access to a computer and the internet, I get to be the first one to offer Janna and Tom my congratulations and welcome Janna to our family!! I'm sure Laurie would have been the first one to do it, but she doesn't have a computer in her room so I beat her out!!!

The wedding was good...Janna is a beautiful bride, and hopefully will keep Tom in line. It's probably okay that one of the in-laws showed up kind of unexpectedly...hopefully he'll mind his manners at the lunch and reception and won't embarass us too much.

It's time to go...your mom is chomping at the bit, so I'm done with this post.

Welcome to our family, Janna!

Important Info

2009-10-13T08:38:00.001-07:00

Alright so I'm pretty sure that Mom has pretty much got everyone on the ball but just in case you've forgotten I need Dad, Jeff, Donald, and Doug to go get fitted for a tux. And just in case anyone cares this is how November 14th is going to go down. Anyone with a temple recommend needs to be seated in the sealing room at the Salt Lake Temple at 9:10 am (a half hour before the sealing begins), that means you're going to want to be in the waiting room around 8:45 am. The closest and best parking is at the conference center underground. Janna and I will be getting there at about 8:30 am and I'm not sure when the witnesses need to be there but its probably the same time as us. We should be getting out of the temple right around 10:15 am or so, then we'll be taking pictures until the luncheon.
We had originally said the luncheon was going to start at 12:30 but we might not start it til 1:00 pm so that we don't rush our photographer. We're going to have it at Mi Ranchito (click to see the website) I think, and everyone that reads this plus any of your family are invited. Here is a map. I don't really know how long it will take but I'm guessing a couple of hours.
The reception is going to be at Heritage Gardens in Sandy. You can click on the link to see it and click here for a map. The reception is going to start at 6 pm and go til 9 pm. We are going to be serving dinner and hopefully it will be something everyone will eat. I know we're having sushi but I think we're going to have chicken for normal people too. As far as the guys tuxes go there is going to be a changing room at the reception center and we can just leave them there and the tux place will pick them up, so bring clothes to change into for afterward.
I think Mom has already got motel rooms but I also have my house with a spare futon and foam pad if anyone needs it.
If you have any questions just let me know

Two Jobs is Better than One...right?

2009-10-08T08:05:00.000-07:00

So things are moving along quite well over here in Utar. Janna is coming along great with all the wedding plans and its beginning to look like this thing might actually happen. For anyone who didn't know we are actually buying a home; its on the border of American Fork and Highland and actually right up the street from John Succo's....they don't know yet and it may stay that way for a while. Its a pretty nice place, basically a duplex and we're renting out the top floor to Janna's brother Matt while we live downstairs...I'll post some pics once we actually get it. Its been a really long and drawn out process and its taken far longer than we thought it would to get it but it actually looks like we're finally going to close and sign papers tomorrow.
After moving back from Arizona this summer I was jobless for a while so after about a month of enjoying doing nothing and then a month of hard job searching I managed to get two part time jobs. I'm working as a jeweler at Macy's Department store 16 hours a week and as a youth mentor at Telos, a treatment facility for troubled teens. So all in all I've got a pretty busy schedule but everything seems to be working out ok so far...at least I haven't flunked out of school yet.
Phyllis is doing well also in case anyone actually cares. She had a time period there when she was crazy and would attack anything and everything but seems to be mellowing out now. I think she's going to be really big too. Oh so when can you get a cat fixed and declawed? I'm thinking we need to get on that soon so let me know.
Apart from that all not much is going on...hope everyone can make it out for the wedding!

Update

2009-10-01T17:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written for so long...I haven't had anything worth talking about.

Here's a quick update on what's been happening, even though I've talked to most of you so you already know everything that's going on.

First off, my Idaho hunting trip was pretty much a waste. The country was really pretty, but that was about the extent of the enjoyment. We wound up riding/walking/struggling 32 miles from where we parked the horse trailers, and only managed to kill 2 deer (1 small forked horn and 1 medium 3 point). No one killed an elk, though I missed a pretty good bull running through a burned out lodgepole thicket. I managed to have one good wreck with my horses and got run over a little bit, but walked away from the mess in pretty good shape. We saw more people in the Frank Church in 1 week than the TOTAL of the amount of people we've run into in the last 7 years in Blue Lake, so have no intention of doing this trip again. As it stands right now, I think I'm done with Idaho for a couple of years. Oregon has more elk and deer, and is much cheaper.

Doug got a concussion playing against KU last Saturday, and will be out of commission until next Friday. He got knocked out for a few seconds, and had problems speaking for a couple of hours after the game. He doesn't remember much of anything prior to the hit that took him out, so evidently got whacked on pretty good. He's pissed that he can't play tomorrow against Mazama...it's homecoming, and Mazama's defense is set up to guard against a passing offense so Doug would probably do really well. He's been averaging close to 95 yards per game, and leads Henley on tackles also. His coach told your mother that he's by far the best offensive and defensive player on the team...not a bad compliment.

We'll be going deer hunting this weekend, but since we're hunting in the stomping grounds of our local tribe of Lamanites I'm not too optimistic that we'll be doing any shooting. The weather is supposed to be cool and wet so that might help, but I know what few deer the Klamaths have left have been harassed by cougars so the chances of success are slim. Oh well...Doug and I should have a good time anyway.

Congratulations are due to Emme for being such a tough little kid. Broken bones aren't much fun, and from what Laurie said she's doing really well.

That's about it for now...I'll write next week to let you know how our deer hunt goes.

Emme

2009-09-16T20:40:00.001-07:00

Emme fell off the monkey bars today and broke her arm. If you'd like to see pictures of the fracture (x-ray, nothing too graphic) check out my blog.

Up and rolling again

2009-09-15T10:43:00.001-07:00

Hello all. So after a grueling 2 weeks of no internet and moving and everything I thought I'd give a little post. Luckily the move went really well. Spartan did worse than Sophie but all in all not too bad. Totalling almost 30 hours of car time, Jeff only made me drive like 5. And thanks so much to my in-laws for helping drive! I don't think we could have done it without you.
Before we got to good old Alamogordo, Jeff told me it was terrible, hot, and our house was smaller then our apartment with brown and blue nasty carpet etc. To be honest, I cried a bit. But when we got here, I was pleasantly surprised. Jeff always does this thing where he tells me how much something sucks, just so I wont be disappointed (although he overdid it this time). Our house is wonderful! I've put a few pictures up for you. It is almost twice as big as the apartment, there is a garage that we can actually park in, and a great backyard with a large covered patio.
The town has a lot more to offer then McMinnville had. Except Portland of course. El Paso is the closest city and it is a little more then an hour away. We have 2 airforce bases, (German and US) a small mall, and a zoo! Oldly enough, it only has one grocery store and a super walmart which is really hard to work with while doing P90X.
P90X! Jeff and I are doing this get buff program for 3 months. There are a variety of different work out videos, one a day for about an hour. And the diet is interesting. Egg white omlettes and massive amounts of meat and veggies. It's pretty intense but we have only been doing it for 2 weeks and can already see great results! Both of us have lost 2% body fat already and Jeff has gained over an inch in his bicepts. We finish it on December 1st and will post our final results then.
Well I think you are all filled in now... Oh! Sophie started to crawl the day we got here. Made unpacking very difficult. And now she is teething and doesn't take naps anymore. Arg. Love you all and see you in November!

GAME DAY!!

2009-09-03T06:33:00.000-07:00

All I can say is Go Ducks!! Here's a pretty decent article if you want to read more. The game is on ESPN at 7:30pm, should be a pretty good one... check it out (and you'd better be cheering for Oregon!) Just because Stephanie goes to Boise State doesn't mean you have to be loyal to their football team...

Okay the Date is...

2009-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

So we finally called the temple and got everything set up. We still have a lot to plan and get taken care of but the official date is November 14 at 9:40 am in the Salt Lake Temple. Be there or be square!

School is for Fools

2009-08-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well just like everyone else (except for Jeff, Breein, Laurie, and the old guys) its back to school again. I started class yesterday and it appears that this just might be the easiest semester of school since Mr. Kellstrom's class in 5th grade. I'm only taking 13 credits this semester and they're all pretty remedial courses. I'm finally taking a college level math class but it still seems beneath me, at least I'll get some credit towards something. In case you don't know last spring I was in a math class that I went to about 4 times and it was so easy that I still got like a 98% in it for my final grade, thank you very much stupid placement tests! So apart from my easy math class this semester, I also have intro to Biology (last spring I was in a much harder biology), intro to criminal justice, and then another CJ class. So really I have no excuse to not pull all A's this semester but we'll see.
I also got all of my school paid for except $265 or so through a federal pell grant and the WUE program. It's all pretty sweet! Next semester I will be a Utah resident and still have money from the grant so next semester is paid for also! So I'm beginning to think that moving out here to Utah was a good idea after all.
Janna had her appendix taken out for anyone who hadn't heard. She was feeling kinda sick all weekend that we were there and then by Monday night it hurt her to even stand straight up. Tuesday we went into the doctor, something we'd been avoiding since she doesn't have health insurance, but they sent here for a ct scan and it turns out that she had appendicitis! Needless to say its been a pretty crappy experience for her. She's really tough though and has really impressed me! Anyway, she's getting better and is recovering well.
That's about all I have for now, good luck guys as you get back into school and I'll talk to you all later.

Thanks!!

2009-08-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

I'm really glad most of you guys got to come to Klamath last week. Sorry Dan and Jeff...it would have been nice if you'd been able to be here too.

I fully agree with Laurie's last post...Janna will be a welcome addition, and Tom is very lucky that he somehow was able to convince her to agree to marry him. I'm REALLY impressed that she was able to put up with Tom's friends, all of us, and be so pleasant with Emme and Calvin while she was fighting appendicitis. It's pretty amazing.

The patio is looking pretty good. Donald (mainly) and Doug have been a big help, and the thing is almost completed. It's not perfect by any means, but it looks a lot better than the gravel pad we've been dealing with for the past couple of years. If I can convince Donald or Doug to show me how to do it when we're finally done I'll stick a couple of pictures on here so you can see the completed project.

There's not much else to say...thanks again for coming to visit.

Let me be the first to say...

2009-08-20T06:38:00.001-07:00

...way to go Tom! I think he's done quite well for himself with Janna. I tell you what though, he needs to get a ring on that finger of hers and get that a little bit more on "lock down" before she comes to her senses!

Seriously though, congratulations Tom. Janna is even more beautiful in person (and much taller) and she seems to have everything going for her: looks, personality, athletic ability, education/intelligence, ambition... she's everything Tom isn't (ha ha just kidding... mostly). If Tom would shave off that facial fuzz they would look great together!

So, let me be the first to say (or at least type... I don't know what people have been saying to you) Janna, welcome to our family you would be a welcome addition (even if you do make me feel shorter than I have been feeling of late) and we're happy to have you here. I hope you don't come to your senses... actually Tom is a pretty decent guy (most of the time) but don't tell him I said that...

Journal Giveaway

2009-08-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd enter a giveaway for a cool hand made journal. You can check it out here. I get an extra entry if I blog about it, so here I am, blogging about it. They have some cool things though, you should check it out.

Sorry dad, guess you raised a "prize pig".

Emme Can Ride

2009-08-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Stephanie got her started a few months ago, but over the last few days, Emme has officially become a bike rider. She can now start and stop all on her own and steer around almost anything. (I say almost, because she and Leona had a little mishap that gave Emme a pretty big skinned up elbow and Leona nothing visible but probably a nice headache.) Now all we have to do is teach her to tie her shoes and our parenting will be complete, no?

New Mexico... good or bad?

2009-08-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm not sure who has heard and who hasn't, but the last few months have been an interesting time for the Stewbros Franchise. Corporate KFC has begun doing some pretty intense inspections on all the stores across the nation and has been a serious headache for franchisees such as ourselves. The inspections are set up in a way that make it hard to get a good score if you don't have brand new equipment and buildings. Long story short, we weren't passing, actually failing multiple inspections in a row down in New Mexico-- Matt's neck of the woods. Jon's stores in AZ passed with mediocre scores and McMinnville actually did really well. So the past 4 weeks or so I've been basically cleaning up Matt's mess and getting his stores in shape. And since I've gone down there, they've started passing... yay for me!
So when they asked me how things were going I pretty much told them what I thought of Matt. I mean he's making a solid $20,000 a year more than me in addition to whatever his wife is paying herself and his stores are by far the nastiest places I've ever seen! It's a joke.
Well it looks like I've finally gotten the vote of approval because they've decided to ship us off to New Mexico to manage the area.
It means I get a pretty hefty raise and a $350 monthly allotment for a truck! So we're pretty excited about that. Unfortunately this all has to happen asap. I'm flying back down this weekend and I'll be down there until the 29th. After that we'll load up and make the trek down. (by the way we're looking for someone to help with that protion of the plan). Breein's mom and grandma are coming down to help her pack, but I may need a hand loading the U-haul and making the trip down. Donald? Tom? Dad? Too bad Doug can't drive yet. Or even mom if you wanted to ride with and help Breein drive. If anyone volunteers we can fly you home.
Either way we have a few weeks. I'm thinking we'll try to be out of McMinnville no later than the 1st of September and we'll probably swing through Klamath. But it's definitely going to be a trek. Google says it's about 1550 miles from Klamath. So just about 24 hours of driving... Not quite sure how I want to go about it. A lot depends on the volunteer thing.
Anyway it's late so I need to get to bed.

Tqacl

2009-08-05T20:14:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Calvin has decided that he no longer "wants [his] name to be C-A-L-V-I-N", nope he would like to to be "T-Q-A-C-L". My response, "Oh, well is it still pronounced Calvin?"

"No mommy, it sounds like it's spelled".

"Oh, then we should call you Tqacl (Taquakill)?" I said.

"Yes, will you tell Daddy when he gets home? And everyone else too?"

"Okay Calvin. Now go to sleep."

"Mommy! That's not my name, it's Tqacl!"

"Sorry Tqacl, now go to sleep."

The things that go through that kids head never cease to amaze me...

Update

2009-08-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to say that Stephanie has officially moved out of the house. We left early Saturday morning, braved the blazing hot wastelands of Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho, and delivered a beat up, stained, nasty looking, used box springs and mattress set to her apartment in Boise. It's only Tuesday, and even though she wasn't home very much (and stayed in her room when she WAS home) I already miss her. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, it gets tougher to deal with every time one of you heads out to conquer the world. For Laurie, Jeff, Tom, and now Steph, we miss all of you (I'm speaking for your mom here too, since it'll probably be months before she looks at our blog). I'm looking forward to our semi- family reunion in a couple of weeks...I really hope everyone will be able to make it.

The trip to Boise was pretty uneventful. Your mom slept most of the way there and most of the way back...I think all of you got the picture I took while she was peacefully sleeping. The most exciting thing was stopping on the way back to harass a giant man eating rattlesnake that was crossing the road just north of Abert Lake. I think I'm losing my killer instinct...I tossed enough little rocks on him to make him rattle, but decided he was in a remote enough area that he didn't warrant dying and let him slither off into the brush. He wasn't hurting anything and he really was big, so it would have been pointless to kill him. He was pretty close to 3 feet long and was one of the prettiest rattlesnakes I've ever seen. I should have killed him.

Donald's days of playing horseshoes, swimming, and driving around looking for deer and elk while ODF pays him have come to a screeching halt. There have been over 6400 lightning strikes in Oregon in the last couple of days, and we've been told that there have been 100s of small fires started as a result. Donald says the ODF expects some fires to smolder for a couple of days while it's cool and calm, and then when the temperature heats up and the winds pick up they anticipate some major fire activity. We have thunderstorms forecast through Sunday, and with the heat and lack of rain things could get pretty nasty.

Doug finally finished scraping the Stewart's fence, and plans on starting the actual painting tomorrow. I'll be amazed if he finishes it before Christmas. I think his football practices start next week, and when that happens he won't be doing any painting. Maybe we can paint the Stewart's fence as a family activity when Tom brings Janna to visit. (Just kidding!!!)

Congratulations are due to Jeff for bailing out Matt Stewart with the KFC inspections. Hopefully Matt will figure out that he needs to actually WORK if he expects his stores to stay open.

That's about it for my update. Feel free to contribute news of your own.

Okay...

2009-07-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

So it's been a really long time since I've posted on here and a lot has actually happened. Thanks for updating the pictures and site Laurie, I think it looks good...though I feel like I've lost some weight since that picture of Janna and me was taken (in case anyone cares, that was our first date...kind of, she still had a boyfriend). Anyway just to kind of catch everyone up and get us all on the same page, Janna and I have been dating for a few months now. She is actually the sister of one of my mission friends (see Donald the blessings of a mission are still coming in 18 months after the fact). Janna is a really special and cool girl...though she is pretty hippie like. She has a bachelor's in psychology from Utah State and yeah she's pretty special. There has been some talk of marriage but there's no need to get ahead of ourselves and start making plans for plane tickets to Utah for the wedding, there still is no ring on the finger. ....but really I'm going to marry her, I just need to come up with the ring.
Its also been a really long time since I was home so I've decided to come home from the 19-23 of August to see everyone and introduce Janna to you guys. I've heard that Laurie might come down and that Jeff and Breein might also; that would be awesome! The last time I was home was Christmas and that was only for like 3 days. The last time I actually saw anyone was at Sophie's baby blessing, well apart from going to lunch with Steph once and when Jeff passed through Phoenix. Oh yeah, if anyone didn't know I'm living down here in Phoenix right now too. Blake Vogt got me a job with him renovating hotels. I've been down here since June 30th and it is so hot! The other day it got up to 117 degrees and it only cools off to like 95 at night...its horrible.
Last Saturday I had a triathlon too. It was the Spudman in Burley Idaho. I went up there with Janna and her family, who were also doing the race. It was a lot of fun and I want to do it again next year but honestly I wasn't physically prepared. Because I had hurt my knee I hadn't run in a long time and I let that affect the rest of my training...I basically did sporadic training for about a month to prepare for it! Stupid idea... Anyway, the race went a lot better than I thought it would until mile 3 of the 6.2 mile run when I suddenly started cramping in my lower quads. The cramping got bad enough by mile 4 that I couldn't even walk. I would stop every half mile or so and stretch until the cramps went away then run til they came again....it really sucked. It was fun though. I'm planning on doing another race the very last weekend of August at Bear Lake. That tri is only going to be a sprint though so it shouldn't be so bad.
Well I think that kind of catches everyone up for while...sorry I haven't been writing very much I'll try to improve.

New Picture and Assorted Stuff

2009-07-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

I'm shocked! It's been a couple of days since I checked out our blog, and was amazed to see that Tom's psychotic looking picture has been updated, and now includes Janna! I don't know who updated the pic, but whoever did it, THANKS!!! I definitely improves the look of our site. Now if there's just some way we can crop Tom out of the picture.........

Just a quick update about Stephanie...she's leaving tomorrow to go back to Boise. We're not too excited about that, since she says that she won't be coming back home (other than at Christmas and maybe Thanksgiving).

It wasn't too hard when Laurie left because there were still 5 of you hanging around, so the house wasn't empty. When Jeff left it wasn't too bad either, although it seemed like the house WAS empty. When Tom left, your mom was a basket case and cried for weeks and weeks and weeks. With Stephanie leaving, I don't know that we'll be able to deal with it...Donald's demanding job completely exhausts him (see his post below), and when Kayleigh is in town we don't see him for months at a time. That leaves Doug, who thinks that we're both crazy and avoids us as much as he can. The only thing that saves us with him is that he's too lazy to get his driver's license so still needs one of us to chauffeur him from time to time.

The point I'm trying to make? We (your mom and I) are getting OLD...and Doug's probably right.

Happy Birthday to Calvin

2009-07-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

Well I would just like to say happy birthday to Calvin... and to say that there is not a whole lot going on with me. The only thing that I have to say is that I have probably one of the coolest jobs ever. For those of you who may not know what I do on a typical day I will fill you in... Normally I start out my day by going for a four mile run, being paid of course (don't know if I would do it if I wasn't lol), then I proceed to Topsy to watch all of Klamath County's finest jump off the rock, after that I like to either: read, look for deer, or take a nap, all while Brad drives. Around 1pm we eat usually while driving which I almost always follow up with a nap. Then usually I wake up around 3pm when we arrive at one of the many standby spots( swimming holes, horse shoe pits, or poker tables). After that we typically go into town and refuel for the following days adventures. To be completely honest the only real work I do is wash the fire engine at about 5:30 and we then leave at 6... and that pretty much fills everyone in on what I have been up to.

Calvin is 4

2009-07-29T21:41:00.001-07:00

Calvin turned 4 today. He had a pretty fun time doing it too. If you'd like to see some more pictures check out my blog. You can just click HERE if you want to.

In other news...isn't there some floating around out there? Don't tell me that Tom doesn't have computer access anymore, I know he's been on facebook. If you're bringing a girl home in a few weeks and there is talk of marriage not to mention a possible date already set, I think that's something worth sharing. I realize that no one likes me, but do I really have to be the last to find out about everything??? (I'm mostly kidding about the no one liking me part...some of you do don't you...Stephanie?? Mom & Dad have to, it's a law....) :)

changes

2009-07-27T06:32:00.000-07:00

So, I was bored this morning and did some adjustments to our blog. Up until this point, I had been keeping it pretty plain. It would be easy to go back to, let me know what you think. Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings...

lots of pics

2009-07-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. We went camping with Dan's family to celebrate his mom's 60th birthday. We had a fun time at the party, the kids all got to dress like cowboys and run around like crazy. It was kind of cold and rainy (gotta love camping on the coast) but we had a great time anyway.

Yvonne got Leona a cake since it was almost her birthday...this is about as much as she got into it.

Here's Leona the day before her birthday, opening presents from Mom & Stephanie

and here she is on her real birthday...that's right 3 days in a row of birthday celebration for the little one, speaking little one, she's 29inches long (50th percentile) and weighs a whopping 17lbs 10 ounces (5th percentile...yikes, need to get some fat on this girl!)

still not really a fan of the birthday cake eating part...maybe it's the whole store bought cake thing, tastes too much like plastic

my little gamers....

aren't they cute, almost makes me want to have more...maybe....

Calvin, practicing his dead man's float...

Emme, always the poser

Speaking of having another one, I guess March will have to do...surprise! (to everyone...especially me!) so much for that spring marathon (yeah, that blob really is a baby)

She is skinny!!!

2009-07-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sophie just had her 6 month check up and it turns out, she is skinny! 51% for height and 41% for weight. It looks like the North genes are outshining my own.
I also just wanted to let everyone know about what is going on with Jeff. He was sent away for an emergency business trip to Alamogordo, NM. The store there has failed like their last 3 inspections (because Matt sucks) so they sent Jeff and Jon to make things better. They worked there for 5 days straight. The day after they left the store had their inspections. Not only did they pass, but they got a Green and a 30 point improvement (score is out of 100). They did better then our store in McMinnville. This means great things for us. Justin got to see how Jeff works and blames the success mainly on Jeff. Jeff finally is getting the recognition and gaining the respect that he deserves. So I don't know how much longer we will be in Mac but that's kind of a good thing.
Lastly, we had a lot of fun in Klamath. Jeff was complaining about how he misses the brothers so it was a good trip. And Tom, I hear we are suppose to make another trip down there soon...

Leona is 1 Today

2009-07-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd let you all know, that despite Calvin's best efforts, Leona made it to and past her first birthday. She is also walking around non-stop now and has finally mastered climbing back down the stairs...yeah! Anyway, her 1 year check up is next week so I'll let you all know how she measures up...I'm sure you can't wait!!!

Quick Note

2009-07-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

This is going to be really quick...I'm at work, and don't have much time to write. There's a lot of stuff going on, but not much has been written about it. It was good to see all of you for the 4th of July (sorry you couldn't be here Tom and Dan!). We (I'm speaking for your mom here too) don't realize how much we miss having you guys around until we get to see you for a couple of days, and then you go back to your every day lives.

Some updates: Doug has been playing tons of baseball (at least the FALCONS have been playing tons of baseball) and has done fairly well. He pitched the championship game in a tournament in Corvallis and they won 3-2. He got rocked playing against the Medford Mustangs (one of the best American Legion teams in the state), but learned that when you don't hit your spots against hard hitting teams, you pay for it by giving up extra bases. He should be a real stud in the next couple of years.

Steph had a meet in Eugene last weekend, and did okay considering that the Basin Aquatics practice are pretty much a joke. She'll be swimming in Sectionals on the 21st, so hopefully we'll be able to catch that meet. I'm not sure how long it will take her to get back in racing form, but have every confidence that this year at BSU will be very similar to last year.

Donald is "working" for ODF on their fire crew. So far he's only had to go out on two small fires, and has spent most of his time riding around scouting for deer and elk, but I'm sure by the time fire season ends he'll have his share of breathing smoke. Still, it's a pretty good way to earn money for the summer.

That's about it...just wanted to post since I haven't written anything for quite a while.

Some Updates

2009-06-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so I really wanted to come home for the 4th but that isn't going to happen. Remember Blake Vogt, my friend from the mission? Well he called me about a week ago offering me a job down in Phoenix remodeling a motel. At Gold's Gym I was making $800 a month...with this job I would be making $800 a week. So I took it and I'm now down in Arizona. I got here today and its really hot; it got up to 105+ today and yesterday they said it was 112! I got 4 hours of work in today and I was sweating like crazy. The job is pretty sweet though, its a thousand times better than Gold's. But yeah that's why I won't be coming home, I have to work and I need the money and now I'm even farther from home.
I do have a girlfriend now too.Her name is Janna Burnham, Matt Burnham's sister. It is the family that I lived with for a little while but she wasn't living there at the time so its not as weird as it may seem like it should be. She's really cool and things are going pretty well, though this whole me moving to Arizona didn't go over so well...we'll have to see how things play out. But that's what is going on with me at this point...things are good and I miss everyone.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T06:31:00.001-07:00

Just thought I'd say a quick happy father's day to the dads I know. (Wouldn't be father's day without a new bottle of Old Spice cologne...no matter how many you have!)

Happy Father's day Dad, thanks for always supporting us in everything. I hope you have a great relaxing day and get to do everything you want (oh, wait...that wouldn't make today any different...ha ha), I love you.

Dan, thanks for being the father of my children. We're lucky to have you. I'd say I hope that you get everything you want today too, but I'm sorry, you can't stay home from church to watch soccer. We do love you though and think you're the best.

Jeff....well, it's kind of scary to me that you are a father and that another human beings life depends on your vigilance....but I guess your child has lasted almost 6 months, so you (probably Breein) must be doing something right. I hope that you don't have to deal with anything remotely related to chicken today (fried, grilled or otherwise).

Tom, Donald, Doug...thank goodness none of you are father's yet...well at least that we know of...better keep it that way for a while.

3rd anniversary

2009-06-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

That's right, as of June 24th I have been a North for 3 years. Thanks for letting me in guys. But this post isn't about that. It's about my present. My husband is a little ridiculous, well a lot actually. He got us a 7.1 surround sound system with a bluray player. That means 7 speaker, 4 of which are as tall as I am, and a sub the size of a mini fridge. To quote Jeff "we need to buy a house for our system". On top of it all, we live in an apartment! We can't even turn the dang thing on hardly. Our front room is about 1/2 the size it needs to be to fit everything. The one plus side to it is our neighbors below. For those of you who have visited during the day, you know what I am talking about. The mexican music, with the bass all the way up, playing from noon till 5 every day. Jeff once asked them in spanish, if they could turn their bass down. They looked at him like he was speakin German or something. All in all, it's fun but totally unnecessary and unrealistic for our current circumstances. Come on honey, why couldn't we have gotten a video camera or something?

The Creature and Birthday!

2009-06-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I needed to tell everyone the good things in our life after Jeff's really miserable post.
Sophie is almost 5 months old already! She is talking, well more growling, smiling, laughing and trying really hard to crawl. Over-all a very good baby. She is also growing into her rolls a little, not quite so Buddha like anymore. My Grandma got us plane tickets to go see her in Utah the other week and Sophie loved it! Even my crazy southern Grandma's insane babytalk. I was really worried about taking her on the plane, but taking off put her to sleep. Jeff is also a very cute Dad.
My birthday was amazing and thanks for all the happy birthdays from everyone! Tom, you're a dork by the way. Mom-in-law, I hope yours was great too! We went to the coast and ate pie and got tan. We took amazing pictures on the beach, my favorite is posted, and saw orca whales, and I made Jeff try clams. I can't believe all the normal things he has never tried! Cod, shrimp, crab, fish and chips, artichokes, clams, and about 1000 other things! I guess I'm from Seattle but come on. You all did live on the coast for a while. It really was a perfect birthday though. And Jeff took me shopping for my present and we bought so many clothes it's ridiculous.
Lastly, I am so excited for the 4th of July! Jeff really needs a break, as you can all see, and we need to see everyone.
Oh, and my mom and I are really depressed about Pushing Daisies being over.

Posts from me...

2009-06-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well the reason you never really hear anything from us is because there is really nothing worth talking about going on -- at least not in my life. (I'm sure Breein will have plenty to say about The Creature, as Tom has so lovingly called her).
My life pretty much consists of the nonstop monotony that is fast food. I work with a handful of jack asses and pretty much do it for 50 to 60 hours a week. Loads of fun. All I have to say is that I better be rich with time to spend some day, hopefully sooner than later. If not, I'll be royally screwed and hopefully one of you will be successful enough to support my family and me. That pretty much rules out Donald, and probably Tom unless he learns to shoot better. Maybe the practice with the magpies will help... I'm rooting for Doug and his arm.
I'm told that someday, if I'm lucky, I will have an opportunity to move from this POS store in McMinnville to an even crappier one in Tucson where I can relive the events of the last two years all over again as a general store manager, all while telling myself it will pay off someday. But then again I've always been the biggest pesimist in our family, so maybe it's not all that bad; maybe.

Fire Fighting

2009-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

well I'm pretty sure it's not dying... I pretty much check it every other day to see if anyone is attacking me, but to clarify on the fire thing i just now got the call saying that I have a job officially which I'm pretty excited about one because I already invested in $400+ boots that I would not be able to send back and because I think that it will be a lot of fun.

Dying???? Hope not!!

2009-06-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

I don't think that this blog's dying...I just think that it's gone into hibernation for a little while. I haven't written anything recently because since your mom always calls all you guys and tell you what's going on, I figured that it was pointless to write it down. Guess I should have given some updates...so in spite of the fact that Laurie has mentioned some stuff, I'll give it a shot.

Doug HAS done very well in baseball this year. He was named first team Skyline Conference as a pitcher, and did extremely well the last 4 games of the season. I think for the year he had 8 wins and 3 losses...not too bad for a sophomore. Of course the other 8 kids on the field had little if any to do with the wins...Doug did it all himself. His American Legion has gotten off to a good start also...he pitched in his first Falcon game last night, and did pretty well. He came in in relief in the top of the 5th inning, and only gave up two hits. He struck out 4 batters, walked 2, and didn't bean anyone. He gave up a run on a double, but the kid that scored reached on an error so Doug shouldn't have been given an earned run. As far as his grades go, like Laurie mentioned he got a 4.0, so if he keeps it up for a couple more years should be able to go to just about any college he chooses (I think he's leaning towards OIT so he can play baseball for Tacchini).

Stephanie came home from Boise the middle of May, but has spent all but about 2 hours in her room playing on her computer. She made a trip to Boise last weekend and came back all gung ho to start swimming, so hopefully her pool time will increase so she won't feel like an idiot when she goes back to BSU in August. How about it, Steph? Are you gonna start serious practices?

Donald had his endurance test for the ODF at Miller's Island today. He had to cover 3 miles in 45 minutes while wearing a 46 pound vest, and managed to tear the course up and finish in just over 41 minutes. Way to go Donald! I guess he's managed to suck up enough to the people that hired him that he's being assigned the task of riding around on an engine with Brad Smith looking for stuff to spray water on...sounds pretty cake to me!

Tom is hurt. Sounds like he has a job killing magpies for the Burnhams at $10 a pop, which might help him decide what direction his career should go. If he manages to make some money sniping stuff, who knows where it could take him...Border Patrol? CIA? Blackwater? The skies the limit if you're a good shot...

Don't have any updates on Jeff. How about it Jeff? What's up? Did you put in for any hunts?

Because Laurie has her own blog, and posts more than anyone on this one, there's not much to write about with her family. She and her kids unexpectedly showed up in Klamath for your mom's birthday, which was a really nice surprise.

As far as your mom and I are concerned, there's nothing to write about. We missed out on Olive Garden last night because we had to pick up sleeves for Doug, so the birthday dinner consisted of a hamburger and a couple of hot dogs at the game. I've put in for my share of hunts again, but don't expect to draw anything. I do plan on going to Idaho for 2 weeks in September, but that's a long way off so not worth writing about yet. I'm still hurt, so haven't written anything on my other blog either. All we seem to do is go to games, work, and church.

Speaking of church, testimony meeting the day before yesterday has to rank right up with the one a couple of years ago when that crazy old bat started praying for the fire fighters in the middle of her "testimony." Brent Asay was conducting, so he had the opportunity of sharing his testimony. It was really interesting...he babbled about nothing for about 30 minutes, didn't really mention any gospel principles, but DID manage to take a couple of shots at the government. It did a really good job of setting the tone for the meeting. Of course Asay was followed by another member renowned for giving documentaries...Sister Gritz. By the time she was 5 minutes into her "testimony" I was somewhere in the Frank Church Wilderness, skinning out a massive muley.

I guess it's about time to quit. I think this novel will take more than one page. I'll try to be more diligent with posting on this blog in the future...I don't want to see it die.

Happy Birthday

2009-06-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

I'm putting off going to bed, so I thought I'd just say it one more time....Happy Birthday Mom! I hope that you got to go to dinner and had a great day.

Also, happy birthday to Breein... I hope that you had a super great day and that your loser of a husband (ha ha just kidding Jeff) did something extra specially nice for you.

On a side note, this blog seems to be dying. Things to post about are, hmmmm, Doug playing for Falcons and getting straight A's, Donald getting a job fighting fires, Tom and his hurt knee, Stephanie finishing up her first year of college and being back home for the summer, Jeff and all his trips to Vegas...Leona walking (oh yeah, that's me...Leona is pretty much walking now...yippee) Anyway, don't let it die, please......

Go to my other Blog

2009-05-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

So I did a triathlon on Saturday if you haven't heard. I wrote all about it on my other blog.
seetomswim.blogspot.com

2009-05-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

So if you've been watching ESPN lately you've probably already seen this commercial but I'll post it on here anyway because it's awesome! Check it out HERE

Runner's Lounge & Stuff

2009-05-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

So, there is this running website that I enjoy going to a lot and they interviewed me for one of their weekly pieces "Open Mic Friday". If you'd like to check it out you can click HERE. I'm not really sure why they wanted to interview me and after reading it online, I'm wishing I had answered some of the questions differently, but I'll promote it anyway...

For my stuff portion of this blog:

Dan took his last final on Wednesday and is now officially done with his second year of law school. Now only one year left....yippee! He will start working at the DA's office on the 18th of this month.

Emme has her last soccer match on Saturday. When she is focused on the game she does a great job. The problem is, she just loves to skip and have fun to much, so she doesn't always have the die-hard attitude that gets her to score goals and fight for the ball. She did score a hat trick in a previous match though, and is usually good for a goal or two over the course of the day (usually 3 matches in total). I think she'll be sad that it's over, but we've started swimming lessons, so that will give her something to look forward to.

Calvin also finished up soccer this week. I don't think he'll miss it too much. For his last practice, he and a few other boys in his group spent most of the time kicking (and sometimes throwing) the soccer balls at each other. They, at one point, found a worm and one of the 12 year old girl coaches tried to take it away from the group but it ended up with Calvin smashing it with his soccer cleat. Anyway, he seems to be more focused with swimming, although he did have to have a time out at his last lesson for splashing the teacher....

Leona is getting braver and will walk around holding on to everything. She loves to get kitchen chairs and use them as walkers...unfortunately though, she also likes to pull them over on herself, which doesn't usually end very happily. She can also stand up alone for a few seconds before sitting down, so it's really only a matter of time before she starts walking.

In case anyone wondered and hasn't been in touch with Mom, Dad or Stephanie, Stephanie's operation went well yesterday and Mom & Dad are in Idaho taking care of her. I talked to Stephanie yesterday and it sounds like she is in a fair amount of pain, but I believe she is supposed to heal quickly. She has finals next week and Mom & Dad are leaving on Saturday, so hopefully she will feel better sooner than later. Anyway, just thought you all might like to keep her in her prayers.

Well, I think that's about it. If you checked out Runner's Lounge, don't make too much fun of me...

Cinco de mayo

2009-05-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else wondered why the fifth of May is supposedly a holiday? I've heard a lot that it is in celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain...but this is without a doubt not true. Anyway found this video on youtube that should help clear it up. Enjoy. Click Here!

Leona aka Dale

2009-05-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

Leona has 4 teeth now and her top teeth are so far apart that her two bottom teeth can almost fit between them. She is such a goofy little girl!

A lil Update

2009-04-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

Okay I don't know how many people know. I'm not sure if mom has told anyone yet if not i will tell everyone on here. So last week I had abdominal pains and went to the doctor. We thought maybe appendicitis. Well after a week of going to the Doctor, many test, and even treatment for a bladder infection I finally went and got a CT scan at the imagining building. Lucky for me i have little veins and was sent home Friday with no scan because they couldn't get the dye into my veins. I was told to drink lots of water all weekend and come back on Monday. So yesterday I go in hoping i only get poked once or maybe even just twice instead of 4 times haha. Well they got it on the first try but still commented on my little veins. I wonder which side of the family gave me those. Well the scan came back ruling out my appendix. They didn't really tell me much other than i had one ovary that was enlarged and i got a call from my doctor telling me i needed to make an appointment with the gynecologist asap. If i hurried i could get in on Tuesday. . . that's today. So I had an appointment today. He explained my CT scan in full to me. Turns out when they say my ovary is enlarged they mean that it is the size of a grapefruit. Well we did an ultrasound of my ovaries and it confirmed it and i even got to see it. The mass is a cyst and because of its size it is very unlikely to take care of itself so the outcome is surgery on the 7th the date isn't for sure set just yet. Mom and Dad will becoming over so they can take care of me. Just though I would let everyone know. Besides all of that everything in Boise is great and i miss you all a lot. I will soon get to see all the little chillins and meet Sophie for the first time. School is over in two weeks and i couldn't be happier. I love you all =-]
P.S. here is a picture of my new hair
Erin styled it for me

Great Family

2009-04-27T20:40:00.001-07:00

This is just a quick little note to say how lucky your mom and I were to have such a great family (spouses are included in this too...even if you're only related through marriage). I watched about an hour of a Little League game today, and came to the realization that most parents don't have the good fortune that we had.

I realize that none of you guys are perfect (sorry Donald...your dip rules you out!), but even on your worst days you're way above everyone else. There were kids digging huge holes in the infield, one kid in the outfield picking dandelions, another was practicing his ballet moves, and one kid actually left his glove in right field and stood in the infield talking to the first baseman (who had his back to the plate while the ball was being pitched). The one that really made me realize that a lot of people are worthless is the kid that stopped by to chat with the ump on his way to the dugout to try to get him to call all balls when his team was at bat. Who the hell raised this peach? His parents weren't any where around. It was chilly at the game because the wind was blowing, but was warm enough that I was comfortable in a sweatshirt. I was the only one sitting in the stands...the loser parents were all sitting in their cars while their kids were out on the field. The talent at this level is non-existent, but don't kids deserve some support from their parents? One poor kid was so intimidated that he refused to get in the batter's box, and the team was forced to take an out because he wouldn't bat. Where were his parents? The only people that encouraged him were his coaches and the umpire...pretty sad sight to see.

What's the point of my post? I'm not really sure. There's a lot more to life than sports, and I just used that as an example of what people are like...kids and their parents . I'm just glad all of you turned out the way you did, and trust that your kids won't turn out like the vast majority out there.

Marathon?

2009-04-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

So I've decided that I'm going to do the Portland Marathon this October. I should have enough time to train for it and I'm thinking it will all work out well with my schedule. I've got my first triathlon on May 23rd just a sprint distance, then I was drawn for the Spudman triathlon on July 25th which is twice as long, and from then on its all training for the marathon.
The real question is, does anyone want to do it with me? I managed to talk Blake Vogt and his wife into doing it with me, Dad's been on the DL and probably won't be able to do it, I think Laurie gave me a no, Jeff said I was crazy, so Donald? Steph will probably have swimming and won't be able to get away or train, and Doug can't run becuase he came out part vretard, actually that's like the middle of football season. So I guess I'm basically just asking Donald, though I don't know if his chest cavity can sustain that kind of intense pressure and exercise.......actually the only way you should be able to get out of this Donald is if you're on your MISSION. Actually, Mom, have you ever thought about doing one? You can walk all you want, they even have a walking category...what do ya say? Anyway regardless I'll be there on Sunday the 4th of October (conference Sunday) running until I can't anymore, hope to see some of you there.

I must be retarded...

2009-04-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

For some reason I can never leave comments on any posts... what I wanted to say was that I'm with Calvin in thinking that drills suck... it's a lot more fun to just try to score all the time. And as far as me not being able to leave comments on other posts, if someone would tell me how it would be much appreciated

Hurray for Soccer...

2009-04-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Emme had her first "real" soccer match today. They play 3 on 3 for 5 minutes then switch players so that everyone gets a chance and the girls don't get too tired (or bored/sidetracked). It was a lot of fun to watch and the girls actually did really well, I was pleasantly surprised. Emme even scored a goal and had quite a few really good passes. If you'd like to see more pictures, check out my blog here.

Calvin also started soccer. He won't have any matches, just four 1 hour long practices. Last week was his first practice and he got pretty frustrated because he didn't want to do any drills, just kick the ball at the goal... Hopefully this coming week will go better.

In Case You Need a Laugh...

2009-04-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of
those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse ithout one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 pm. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.

27. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

28. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall
--
Darci G. Van Duzer
Contributing Editor/Cofounder
The Legality, Online Law Journal

Happy 9 Months Leona

2009-04-13T18:32:00.001-07:00

Leona is 9 months old today. She also had her 9 month check-up and is running a bit on the small side...at least a bit samller than Calvin & Emme were. Here are her stats:

weight 16lbs 14oz (between the 15th & 20th percentile)

height 27.6 inches (55th percentile)

head 42 inches (15th percentile)

She is crawling like crazy, pulling herself up and walking around things, working on climbing the stairs and also working on her 3rd and 4th teeth (top two). She loves to get into everything she shouldn't and especially loves being anywhere that Emme & Calvin are.

Also, to update everyone...

Dan was offered a position at the District Attorney's office here in Eugene for the summer and next school year, so hurray, we're really excited about that.

and good news about me...I got a new phone...I'm very happy with it, except it already got scratched, it takes really nice pictures (see photo above) and after I send in the rebate, I will actually have been paid to choose it. Okay, so that really isn't anything too cool, but thought I'd share anyway. (oh, by the way it's a Motorola z9 if anyone cares)

For Breein

2009-04-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

I came across this and thought that Breein and Jeff would like it, Harp for Breein and Star Wars for Jeff. click here

Sophie learned how to smile!

2009-03-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of recent pictures of the munchkin! We are up to 7-9 hours of sleep a night and she is back on track pooping (she missed 8 days).

Running Sucks

2009-03-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well the meet is over (in Sacramento for those who don't know what I'm talking about) and I pretty much sucked... I went about 13' 2" so not exactly my best, however I did get 13th lol... For this break I was given a specific workout that I was suppose to be doing so that I would be able to be good when we got back to school, but to no surprise it is now Thursday and the most running that I have done is running from the house to my truck this morning because I was late for work. I'm sure when I get back I will regret it but probably not :) Something else that I should mention is that I have fixed my xbox which is a huge accomplishment considering the amount of time I put into that... not that anyone really cares

Spring Break

2009-03-21T11:53:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to wish all the students a happy spring break. I hear that Stephanie is driving to Nebraska with Jenny, Doug is headed somewhere for baseball...Reno?, Donald will be vaulting in Sacramento...well, that's today but at least he won't be in school. I don't know that Tom is up to much besides working, but way to go surviving your first semester back in classes! Emme is heading to Klamath Falls with Calvin, Leona & me and Dan is going to quarantine himself at home and get ready for finals. Jeff & Breein...I don't know what you're up to, but I think I read somewhere that Breein is headed to Bellevue...so does that make Jeff playing bachelor? Well, whatever everyone is up to, I hope that you enjoy breaking up the normal monotony that is school and work and hopefully get to enjoy some nice "spring" weather. Be safe & have fun!

Wow

2009-03-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

All I can say is that everyone needs to take a deep breath and just calm down. I mean seriously, when did everyone get so serious and uptight. Any offense to Tom was completely unintentional. Dan showed the post to me and I approved it, before it was posted, so if there are going to be any hard feelings held, they should be pointed in my direction. No harm was intended... It was really done all in joking...I mean it was over 10 years ago... I feel bad that Tom is so upset but I'm sorry, Tom, you might be over reacting just a bit. We have all made our share of mistakes and done stupid/silly things but if we can't look at our pasts and say, "Hey, I sure had my stupid moments" and have a chuckle or two at our own expense then we're living life being a little too uptight. No offense again, Tom, but no one thinks less of you. You were far from being a family joke while you were on your mission.

I've removed the "offensive" post and Tom's response to it...maybe not everyone read them and that's a good thing.

Again, everyone, take a few deep breaths....

(Now I'm going to go home to my family, that I abandoned so that I could drive to the school to get Internet connection and try to make the world right again...Sorry, Dan to take off like that on you...not that I really expect you or probably anyone else to check out this blog anymore, oh well, it was fun while it lasted)

Just a nice picture of Grammy I have

2009-03-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

The second one was just screwing around

Coming to K-Town

2009-03-10T01:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, we're coming to visit for a couple days next week. I'm not exactly sure if we'll come Sunday or Monday, but either way we'll be there until Thursday. I'm looking forward to getting some inexpensive snowboarding in at Shasta. (Mom can we borrow your car on Tuesday? Please?) Anyway, nothing seems to be developing all that quickly with KFC. It sounds like Tucson is pretty much a thing of the past, so too bad about that. The way things are going, I may be headed east. I think we're building stores in the Minnesota market this summer. Not sure how that'll pan out, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't mean much for us since Weston and Ryan Smith are already in the area. Anyway I just thought I'd leave a post since I never really do... and I don't want this thing to die either since we don't seem to be a very talkative family, at least not in the traditional sense.

On a completely different note, I was wondering who, if any among you, would be interested in reading the book that I am trying to write. Basically I'm just looking for people to share ideas and insights with (Breein gets tired of me forcing her to read). If I was cool like Laurie or Tom, I'd make a blog of my own...but I don't know if that's really in the cards.

Interesting HBO Show...

2009-03-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Most of you have probably heard of the HBO show 'Big Love' about a family of polygamists, but an upcoming episode it especially interesting. I looked at this months TV guide and they have a picture of a women dressed in full temple attire. I couldn't believe it. Then I read the article and they will be showing the endowment room and the celestial room and as they put it, showing the ceremonies performed there. Well I was really stunned and it made me feel horrible. I ended up talking it over with my mom and she said that Heavenly Father could stop it if He wanted to. So that made me feel a little better. Below is a copy of the story straight out of the TV Guide. Enjoy.

Big Love Sunday, 9/8c, HBO
GOIN’ TO THE CHAPEL
It’s one thing for Bill and Barb Henrickson’s inner circle to know they have two other wives at home…but letting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in on the secret? That’s a whole other story. “It’s almost a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” says executive producer Mark Olsen. Their under-the-radar status will change this week when Barb (Jeanne Tripplehorn) faces the consequences of breaking the rules and is called to an excommunication hearing. “We researched it out the wazoo,” says Olsen, who along with executive producer Will Scheffer hired an ex-Mormon consultant to help the set and wardrobe designers re-create even the tiniest details. “We go into the endowment room and the celestial room [areas of the temple], and we present what happens in those ceremonies. That’s never been shown on television before,” says Olsen. Adds Scheffer, “But it’s not for shock value. It’s really a very important part of the story.” The decision won’t be without controversy: According to a church insider, “If they are in fact trying to emulate those rooms in any way, that would be extremely offensive. The general public is not allowed in our temples yet. Not even all Mormons are. We consider them very, very sacred.” Heaven help us. —Rochell D. Thomas

Busy Week

2009-03-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

Not really super interesting stuff...but I refuse to let this blog die out. Calvin gave the scripture in primary today and really did a pretty great job. He only needed a couple of cues "Ephesians", "verse" and "children". The scripture was Ephesians, Chapter 6 Verse 1 "Children, Obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right." He was really excited about it and practice hard all week. Dan and I (and really Emme too) were very proud of him.

Leona has a couple of new tricks. She has been working on crawling, but mostly does the "army crawl" or really pull, and can now also pull herself up to standing. She is also "growing" her first and I'm pretty sure second teeth.

Dan has a big job interview on Friday that, if goes well, could mean great summer employment, as well as work during next school year. It is at a small firm in Albany, which would mean a commute, but a well worth it, commute.

It's been snowing here in Eugene on and off today, which is a bit odd for March, but it's been a pretty strange winter, so I'm not too surprised.

So, that's about it. Here is Leona standing & moving along...

2009-03-07T18:47:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Stephanie!!

2009-03-02T12:56:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to put a quick note in her for Stephanie. She had an awesome WAC championship meet over the weekend. She ended up with a 3rd place finish in the 50 free, a 2nd place finish in the 200 free and a 1st place finish in the 100 free! She was also on a couple of relays that place 2nd and 4th...not too bad for a freshman.

So....good job Stephanie!! Way to swim fast...

If you'd like to read about her there are a couple articles about her at broncosports.com or you can click here to read the most recent...

Latest From Utar

2009-02-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Alright just to keep everyone informed on what's going on over here and how life in Happy Valley is I'll let ya know what's new in my life.
On Valentine's Day I actually had a date, as most of you already know. I took a girl that I actually like, so this date was a little different than some of the dates that I have been on in the past, admittedly I got a little nervous. I was able to play it cool though and both her and I had fun. We went to dinner at some Italian Grill, went to See's Candy where I introduced her to dark vanilla buttercreams, and then went to the movies. The date went well and everything and I took her home, but at the very end of the date she told me that she had had fun and liked me but that she really wasn't looking for any kind of boyfriend or anything like that......this is a nice way of saying you smell like poop and your face is distorted. No, it really wasn't that bad, and I took it like a champion. She just broke up with her boyfriend and is all bent out of shape cause of that still, understandable I suppose. Anyway, the point is I actually did something on what I believe to be one of the most ridiculous holidays of the year and I had fun.
In other news I've been running quite a bit and trying to get in shape (for those who don't check out my other blogs and don't know, www.seetomswim.blogspot.com ). Today I ran the furthest I have ever run in a single outing without stopping. I ran 7.44 miles, now I'm extremely tired and feel like I'm gonna die soon, but I'm pretty happy that I was able to go that far.
On to other news, Brian Smith got a hold of me a couple days ago and told me he was planning on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, a trail that starts at the Mexican border and goes up into Canada. Brian and I had talked about doing this someday back when we lived together in Coos Bay. Then this last summer in August we both, along with Greg Valle climbed Mt. McGloughlin and talked about again. The other day he told me that he wanted me to come along with him and that he plans on doing it in 2010. When I got home from my mission I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in this life before I die, well turns out that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail was one of them so I told him I was in. We plan on heading down there and starting a few days after my school ends in May 2010 and we believe that we can finish the hike by the time that school will start for me in the Fall. We're still only beginning to plan this thing but I'm pretty excited for it. I realize its not going to be easy but its going to be a lot of fun and I should learn a lot.
Apart from all that stuff though not a whole lot new is going on. I'm still going to school 6 days a week and working too. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in McMinnville and kind of sad I'm only coming out there for like 24 hours but oh well.

Almost Free!!!

2009-02-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry i haven't written in seriously forever. I really have no excuse.
So swimming is almost over. As Laurie said conference is in just a week. I'm really excited mostly for the couple of weeks that follow the last day or conference though. We get the next Monday off swim for two whole weeks and then get the week before spring break and spring break off!! I'm very very excited. After that practices will get easier in the pool too but dryland becomes hell.
I was talking to our dryland coach trying to find out what i will have to prepare myself for and it sounds far from exciting. I always make jokes that we will do stuff until someone throws up and then she follows with a yeah you are pretty close to right. It scares me because i know when she is joking and when she is serious and she is totally serious. Oh well hopefully one of the other girls will hit that point before i do haha.
so total new subject now. I miss everyone and I am excited to see mom and dad at conference but i feel so left out. Everyone got to meet Sophie and I'm still left out of the loop with Tom. Well i guess know i know how he feels. Poor kid! I at least get told what's going on. . . at least i think.
Well i don't know what else to write. I am excited about conference. I'm shooting for a 49 high or 50 low in the 100 and a 152 in the 2 free. We'll see if this so called taper, well at least Kristin likes to call it that, works. Everyone is dead has no energy and has never heard of or witnessed a taper like this. Even from her last year. It's totally different. Oh well there is always next year and the 2 years after that.
Hope this filled you in a little bit about whats is happenin here in Iderho haha i miss and love you all!!
Oh yea sorry Laurie that you had to keep everyone updated about everything. You are good at it though =-)

Blessing

2009-02-15T23:14:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to say how excited I am to see everyone next weekend and for Sophie to meet you all. It should be fun. My whole family is coming including a few of my Dad's siblings I will apologize in advance for. You will see what I mean, my Dad is the normal one of the bunch. Anyways we reserved the club house so we don't force everyone into our small place. But there will be lots of food and interesting people!

Oh and Sophie went to church today for the first time! We tried to go last week but that didn't happen on account of two 'pruts' turning into blowouts after having her loaded in the car seat both times. But she did awesome this week! She made it through the whole thing.

See you all next week!!