Made it

Well, family, I am now in D. C.

Yesterday, there was a graduation ceremony. It was good. Emilie Feinauer was one of the speakers; I saw her father at the luncheon/reception afterwards. He recognized me. I hear she's getting married in August. During the ceremony, there were speeches about how our education gave us the tools we need, about serving others (our motto is "learn that life is service"), and about spirituality. And at the end, the choir sang "Shenandoah."

After the graduation, I was helping Rebecca (who will be my roommate next year) move all her things to Grace Mullen's house -- that's where we'll be staying. She's actually going to spend the summer with her family in Indiana, but we're storing some things there. (I left some of my books there too.) When we were done with that, we went to Alexander's for milk shakes and dinner. (They'll make a shake with any kind of ice cream they have; it's a good restaurant.)

Then this morning, I got up. Rebecca came over, and we spent most of the morning playing card games until Adam showed up. I checked out, and then we drove up here.

Yes and No

I don't know what the technical terms are, but Miyazaki films are the best Japan has to offer as far as animated features. I wouldn't call them anime because they aren't typical quick and cheap TV Japanimation. They're more like Disney movies (which may be why Disney bought the US distribution rights to them).

I had heard of them in Hong Kong, but I didn't watch an entire one until Spirited Away came out on DVD a couple of years ago.

Check 'em out!

(oh, the following titles are currently available in English, listed here in random order:
My Neighbor Totoro
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Kiki's Delivery Service)

not a comment . . .

. . . but it really is. Are you girls talking about Anime?

Packing

Well, family, yesterday I had my last final. I then spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing of importance -- playing on my computer, watching movies with Rebecca and Juliana (we watched "How's Moving Castle" and another cartoon by the same company, but I can't remember the name right now, and we're planning on doing another double feature tonight and then Rebecca and I will watch more movies on Friday, since Juliana will be gone then). So this afternoon, I did my packing. I did some last minute laundry too, and while I was down there, I checked my mail. Good thing I did -- I got the pictures of Brooke and Bryan -- very cute.

Adam is coming down on Saturday. By the way, Adam, call me when you're leaving D.C. so that I can know when you'll be arriving.

New Stevie Pictures

I just put up 14 new pictures of Stevie. Enjoy!

hello

thank you for the pictures Michelle and Jared and Brooke and Bryan. The kids look beautiful. I think that is all that I have for now.

Nathan

End of the semester

First of all, let me wish Amanda a happy birthday. Happy birthday, Manda-panda! I did try to call you, but I didn't get an answer.

In other news, my first semester at SVU is offically OVER. I just finished my last exam: music history. I think it went well. Actually, the only class I'm remotely worried about is philosophy. But I'm glad that's over. Now I have three days until I leave here (that's when Adam is going to pick me up). I'll be packing. But I can also watch a few movies, read a book, work on my writing. But I made it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY MANDA

I tried to call you and wish you a happy birthday. We even had roast in your honor but Nathan said you had to work. Sorry you weren't here to enjoy it with us. We sure hope you had a great day.

Love ya,
Mom
P.S. I'm looking forward to the changes on your page.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA

It's great to have such an intelligent, thoughtful and fun-loving person as a sister-in-law.

Yahoo for Amanda!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOBLIN!!!

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful person in the world. Amanda is no longer 22, so she will have to change her webpage. It has not been changed for about a year, and I think it is time. Enough gibberish about webpages, it is a day of celebration. Let's all wish Amanda a Feliz Birthday.

Nathan

Example

One of the most important things parents can do for their children is to set an example. We need to be really careful not to use language taht we don't want our children using. Not to watch movies or TV shows that we don't want our kids to see. We need to set the example of attending our church meetings, praying, paying our tithing, serving others and speaking kindly to and about others. Our example is our greatest tool in teaching our kids. By getting married in the temple, you've all set an example for your children long before they were born. Keep up the good work and be good examples for your little ones and those yet to come.

Love ya,
MOM

Traditions

For my FHE Blog I decided to talk about Traditions.

Traditions do not have to be just on holidays, though holidays are important times to have traditions for. Traditions can also be daily things, such as holding hands during family prayer, reading a scripture as you share breakfast together, or having a special bedtime routine for your kids. Traditions can even be having something special that you say to each other. These traditions are important because they bring you closer as a family. We have traditions in our family (Christmas caroling has always been one of my favorites) and as we start our individual family units we can choose to carry on these traditions or create our own. It might be a good idea to sit down as a couple and decide on traditions that you have already created, and what other traditions you want to start. For us single folk, it is something to keep in mind as you start to get more serious (ie engaged) to talk about.

Anyway, I know that's not much, but it's the best I could do off the top of my head for today. I'm sure there are some good articles about traditions by some general authorities but I didn't look any up.

As to the "home" question.... currently I don't really consider my apartment to be a home, but my home has two bedrooms, one for me, and one for Mindy. It has a nice big kitchen that you can actually move around in and it has counterspace that you can cook on. And only two people share the cupboard space and refrigerator. The living room is spacious and the front window looks out on a little creek. It's wonderful... and I'll be moving there in three months.

Love,
T

FHE

I am copying this poem by President Gordon B. Hinckley from the February 2006 Ensign. It was read during his wife's funeral.

Put Your Trust in God

It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is.
It all works out. Don't worry.
I say that to myself every morning.
It will all work out.
Put your trust in God,
and move forward with faith
and confidence in the future.
The Lord will not forsake us.
He will not forsake us.
If we will put our trust in Him,
if we will pray to Him,
if we will live worthy of His blessings,
He will hear our prayers.

Church Magazines

For the family FHE this month, I would like to say that we can use our church magazines to help with our planning. The Ensign, New Era and Friend all have a page towards the back that gives suggestions on how you can make use of your magazine, especially for family home evenings. The Friend is extra exciting, because it is more likely to have ideas for activites and treats, compared to the other two. All three magazines had Easter articles in April, so if you have to plan for a variety of ages, you could use something from each to make FHE fun to everyone. The Lord really does want us to have family home evening, so He gives us every opportunity to have things to work with.

BLOG FHE

Month 4 on the 2006 Palmer Clan Blog FHE ...

My submission for April is the following talk: "Enriching Family Life" from the April 1983 General Conference (May 1983 Ensign) by James E. Faust. The link is SUPER long, so I'll just put the title/date of the talk for you to find on lds.org. He lists 8 specifics to enriching family life which are just as valid - if not more - as they were 23 years ago. In just skimming through the talk so far, I can pick out a few more things that get mentioned almost in passing but are also applicable to strengthening families. So there are more than 8. How many can you find?

For May, I'm going to move the Blog FHE to May 22, which is the week before the last Monday. The last Monday in May is Memorial Day, and I suspect that everyone, including us, will be outside enjoying the day. So we'll do it the week before next month.

This is a photo of my apartment. It is the bottom floor apartment of the left side of your screen, but right of the stairs on the far left. The sand volleyball court is right outside my door. It like have the world's biggest sandbox for the kids. That my floor plan. There are 2 pools and a tennis court. The kids like to ride bike on the t court. The kids share the guest bedroom. They each have their own side of the room. They have decorated their side. They also have their own side of the walk-in closet. We did get a washer and dryer in the apartment with a move in special.

We live in a very urban area-lots of shopping, dining, attractions, and traffic. We live about a half mile from the police station, so I feel safe here. I hear sirens day and night-like right now. It's comforting. Honestly, I love my home. There's a park on the corner for the kids to play and me to excercise. I also like living on 4 different bus lines. My community is very diverse. I love living in a place with so many people. I love meeting people and making friends. Jared has a great job here, too. No complaints.

By the way, we finally mailed the pictures yesterday.

Happy Earth Day

Well today was a beautiful day here in the great state of Washington. I know that Oregon is a better state, but Washington is pretty cool. I saw a couple of bald eagles flying high in the sky. I heard them first and I looked to the skies to see three large birds flying a ways up there. I am pretty sure two of them were bald eagles, but I am not sure about the third. It was weird, because later we saw one and it looked like it had a white under-side, but maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me.

But the reason I am posting on this blog. My house... I live in a dorm building, which they like to call a residence hall. There are boys and girls that live in my building. Well our home inparticular has five rooms. A "front" room (which you walk in first), a "middle" room (which you walk into next), a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom. The ceilings are very high in the rooms except the kitchen. I do not know why the one in the kitchen is lower, but it is. We live on the ground floor and have a bird feeder on one of the windows that a squirrel likes to eat out of sometimes. Our building is old and big.

Nathan

My House

Right now, I live in a castle on a hill, with a knight in shining armor on the front lawn. It's not perfect. The floor in the bathroom leaks, the banister is missing several rails, and the walls needsto be painted. The food is not very great either -- though I do like the ice cream bin. My room is right above the ball room and kitchen, so I can hear everything that goes on downstairs, like piano lessons, concerts, forums, and one time there was a dance -- I had to go up to the fourth floor to escape the noise. The view from my window is not great -- I can see the kitchen roof (and the rain is very loud, especially when there's a thunderstorm, like there was this morning). Looking out, I can see a door in a second-story wall. There used to be a catwalk connecting the two buildings, but that's gone. But the door is there, which is rather odd.

So that's where I'm living right now.

I'm done with my history final, and on Monday morning, I have philosophy. I will be very glad to get that class over with.

By the way, do any of you remember Emilie Ann Fienaur? She's engaged to marry Logan Davis.

My compliments

First, Jared and Michelle I'm so glad that Brooke is doing well after her surgery. I hope this fixes the problem for her and she doesn't have any more problems. It sounds like she was in a wonderful hospital where they try to make things as easy as possible for the kids. I've never heard of them having kids ride big wheels and such into surgery.

Nathan and Amanda, I enjoyed your story. It was lots of fun. I'm waiting impatiently for the next one, but I had to check on the Internet for what happened in Feb 3, 1959. I was 9 years old at the time.

Eric and Laurel, I love the new movie. Why didn't you tell us you put a new one up. I usually check it when I see that you've added Stevie pictures. Has it been on long because I just discovered it today. Stevie's first baseball, how exciting.

Trina and Adam, I am so anxious for Summer to get here. Both your little Summer and the end of the school year so I can have summer vacation and come meet her. Until then give her kisses from Grandma, when she comes.

I hope you are both enjoying your Spring Break, Tawnia and Mindy. Tell us all about your adventures. I know it's not a very long break but before you know it the school year will be over.

Emily, good luck with all your finals. It sounds like you've had a wonderful term and made lots of new friends. I'm glad you'll be able to spend sometime at home before the next term starts.

Clarissa, Thanks for being here for me and for your help around the house. I certainly am enjoying our scripture study time. It took us a little while to get started but now that we're doing it I really look forward to it. We have the best discussions.

I love you Frank and I'm so glad I checked your blood sugar and we're getting that under control. I don't know what I'd do without you and I don't want to find out.

The latest on my leg is that it keeps looking worse and worse. Now it's peeling and starting to ooze. It looks like a very bad burn. My doctor referred me to a vascular surgeon becasue he thinks it's a circulatory problem. I have an appoint with him on Wednesday.

I decided it's time for a new question on the BLOG: What is your home like - the one you live in now? You can also descirbe other homes you've lived in if you like.

Brooke's Day Surgery

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Brooke is feeling much better today. Her procedure went well. The doctor showed me before and after pictures of the ureters. The opening for the left ureter was very open allowing the reflux. The right was more open than is should have been. He placed the deflux gel at both. The after pictures look much better. He said this should really help. Brooke will need to follow up with Dr. Jones in 2 months. Of course, she will continue antibiotics at least until then.

Brooke woke up just fine from anesthesia. She was very groggy and slept a lot yesterday. She threw up 4 times and was just feeling lousy overall. Today she has a strong appetite and is eating and drinking well. It still hurts to pee. That should be better soon too. I do have her here at home today. She will go back to school Monday. She is still tired and a little weak.

For the fun stuff. She chose a big wheel to ride to surgery. She is still wearing her Texas Children's Hospital pajamas. She chose cherry anesthesia gas. That's the update everyone. Take care.

Brooke?

So how did everything go for Brooke yesterday? Is no news good news? Let us know!

Spring Break

Hooray! It's spring break! To bad it's only five days long instead of the nine that I used to get. Anyway, I have a million and a half things planned to do and instead I'm sitting posting on the blog. I guess I'll add it to my list so I can check it off... since it's not on their. I am going to do exciting things like completely clean out my room. Maybe I'll even start packing some things. And then I think I'll go to the library and check out books and work on lesson plans and... well, you get the idea. But don't worry, I have plenty of play time planned also. I am going to Logan on Friday and spending the weekend up there. It will be very nice.

Oh, and I forgot that I need to spend a couple hours on the script this weekend. Yup, better add that to the list. Fun times, fun times!

Love ya'
Tawnia

expeditious

If I remember correctly, that is the word of the day in Oscar. that is the word of the day today according to dictionary.com. pretty cool.

Nathan

"full term" zone

If Summer were born today, she would no longer be considered a preemie or even particularly "early." 3 weeks to go to the due date, so it's now a full-term pregnancy. She's been moving a bit more than usual this morning, just sort of shifting around and she has the hiccups right now as I'm typing this. (I can watch them now, instead of just feel them.) Last night, I told her that if she wants more room, she has to come out because I don't have any more space to give her. Baby checkup this week is Wednesday, and Adam and I are going to a 2-hour prenatal class at Keizer on Thursday (right smack in the middle of the day - how convenient). It's not Lamaze or anything like that - just a "what to expect about giving birth" sort of thing.

Tawnia saying that she's going to visit Stevie (and Eric and Laurel and Disneyland) in June reminded me of what I've been saying to Adam for a couple of weeks now - if family wants to come visit, the BEST time is in the spring. The flowers and blossoming trees and everything - it's absolutely beautiful. The weather is really nice - cold days here and there, but mostly nice. It's warmed up but the humidity hasn't kicked in yet. The summer has always been my favorite season out west because it's all about the beach and road trips and such. Here, I like spring the best. It's raining today, which we've been overdue for. The grass and trees were starting to come in a bit yellow. This is freshening everything into GREEN GREEN GREEN. It's beautiful.

my week

This past week has been filled with all sorts of fun. On Monday I went to FHE. On Tuesday Tawnia and I watched Gilmore Girls. On Wednesday I worked my final day at Subway (YIPPEE!). On Thursday we went to ballet. And yesterday I went on a fieldtrip with the first grade. We went to Salt Lake City to the Planetarium, where we watched a movie in the dome theater, about the planets. After wandering around there for a little bit, we went to Liberty Park to eat lunch and let the kids play on the huge playground there. Then we went to the Aquarium - or rather the start of the Aquarium. We spent only an hour there, and we saw everything, twice. They're hoping to raise interest and money, so they can build a full size one soon. And then we drove back to the school, right in time for the kids to go home. I went into Tawnia's classroom, and we were out the door half an hour after school got out - probably a record for Tawnia. We came home exhausted from the day, but then we needed some milk to make dinner, so we went to the store for a couple of hours, and got each other stuff for Easter baskets. We came home, put our food away, and then gave each other the Easter baskets. Tawnia got me "The Man in the Iron Mask" and I got her "Narnia." We haven't watched either, because I came home, ate dinner, and then went to bed before 9 o'clock because I was so very tired.

My new doctor

Nathan asked me to tell him what happened with my appointment yesterday. I figured everyone would want to know. This doctor didn't really address the problem with my legs, at least not directly. He was much more concerned that my blood sugars have been super high. They were consistently in the 200s and once up to 396. So he put me on more medication and on a very strict diet. NO refined sugar or flour. And I'm supposed to eat at the same time every day and exercise at the same time every day. It's interesting figuring out what I can and can't eat. As far as my legs are concerned, he thinks that once I get my blood sugar under control they'll take care of themselves. Meanwhile I'm just supposed to keep on truckin'.

They don't look very pretty and they hurt and itch but somehow I'll make it through this. At least he's doing something to help with the more serious issue.

Take care and thanks for your prayers.

Love ya,
MOM

Easter gift

Since Easter is this Sunday, I thought I'd share the brainchild of the Chevy Chase ward missionaries in case any of you wanted to steal the idea ... Adam is the assistant ward mission leader and he's spent tons of time in the last couple of weeks on this (and more still to come). The brainchild is Easter baskets containing the typical "grass" and some candy, and a copy of The Living Christ statement from the First Presidency (the 8 1/2 x 11 size that can be framed) and the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. The ward missionaries made a bunch for ward members to give to friends.

The response has been amazing. Our ward is not exactly stellar in giving referrals to the missionaries, but every basket they had ready last Sunday was gone before the end of church with requests for a lot more. They've had to double or triple the ward budget request to get enough. The bishop also gave the missionaries a list of about 20 inactives he'd like to receive the baskets - Adam and the Elder's Quorum presidency (all of them) are going out tonight and tomorrow with the missionaries to deliver them. We're more surprised than anything at the response, but it's great. It seems that the "gift" idea is something that could catch on, and possibly be used and/or encouraged at other holidays.

So yeah. I thought I'd share that with you all, so you could maybe do it for non-LDS friends and family or home/visit teaching families or something.

Deflux

Next Thursday Brooke will be having a Deflux procedure. It will be performed under general anesthesia. It will be outpatient. The way it works is first she will be put under anesthesia, then an endoscope, cystoscope, will be inserted through the urethra and used to view the bladder. The cystoscope will then be used to place Deflux gel in the place where the ureters connect to the bladder. This will help keep urine from flowing back into the ureters and kidneys. Eventually, new tissue grows around the gel, providing long-term results for many children. There is usually no pain after the procedure. Although Brooke may feel some stinging the first few times she urinates. She will need to continue antibiotics therapy for 3 months after the procedure-at which point another x-ray will be taken to see if she still has reflux.

We saw the urologist on Tuesday. He told us the chance of her just outgrowing reflux now is about 30%. We had the option of continuing antibiotics and waiting, Deflux, or surgery. We felt Deflux would be best. This will be done at Texas Children's Hospital by Dr. Eric Jones. This hospital is #4 in the nation for pediatrics. They are very good. Of course, I will be waiting in post-op while she is waking up. You can also look up www.deflux.com if you want to. We are feeling good about this, hopeful.

Bryan is doing good. We'll be going to playgroup at 11. He is going to bed better at night. Consequently, everyone is sleeping well. As far as Jared goes, everything is status quo. I'm fine. I'm looking forward to Easter. I have a stong feeling Peter Cottontail is on his way. I hope everyone is doing well.

Take care,
Michelle

California

Here I come! Right back where I started from! Well, last night I decided to buy some plane tickets to Cali for a week in June. I'm going to go to D-land and visit my main man Stevie. I talked to Eric about it tonight and hopefully he's as excited as I am.

Other than that... work is work. I do love my kids. They are really great. I have all these wonderful little beings that do love me. Tomorrow we're having our fourth grade musical program. It'll be good. We're just doing one performance during school. We did a dress rehearsal today and it actually went pretty well. The two classes that came and watched thought we did well.

So that's a little of what's up with me.

Love,
T

Blocked

So my computer at work has a lot of filters, since it's at an elementary school... and I was planning on getting on to Eric's page in order to update my desk top background, which I keep as one of the more current Stevie pictures. Well... today it wouldn't let me on because it says there are references to tobacco. Eric, I'm not sure what you said, but I'm curious to see when I get home from work... and if it wouldn't be to difficult, could you delete it in a few days so I can get on and update my Stevie picture??

Thanks,
Tawnia

P.S. I'll have to go back and delete that "T" word on my post soon also, because the communication page is now blocked!

Spring Ball

Yesterday, I went to the spring ball. My roommate, Julie, did my make-up, and Harmony, our neighbor, did my hair in ringlets. (I'll get the pictures later.) I was supposed to go with Brent, but he never showed up. He did apologize in church today and said he'd take me out later this week. So, I went to the dance. It was fun. The hall was decorated like Paris -- with an Eiffel tower on the wall. And there were chocolate eclairs. It was good. I danced with a few guys -- like Matt Taylor (he's in two of my classes), and Jonathan (he's at least six and a half feet tall, so that was interesting), and Tyler (a drummer in a local band that I met there). I had a good time.

My happy days

Hi all...
I just read all the posts for the last few days and it made me want to post about what I do in my daily life! I'm not sure I ever have before, so I'm sure you all wonder about it - probably at least a few hours of each day. So, I can't have that!

The only thing that is routine about my week is that I am generally in my office at 10am and I generally leave at 5pm. What I do in those 7 hours (lunch is often with my co-workers and students...so I rarely see it as not work) varies greatly day to day. Oh, if anyone forgot, I work as an Area Coordinator in Residence Life at Willamette University. So Monday and Wednesday mornings I have set meetings from 10-12 with the other administrative staff...Mondays to discuss the past week's incidents (reports from RAs, Campus Safety, or other events that needed discussion). At that meeting, we decide whether each one should be handled by an Area Coordinator, Marilyn (the director of Res Life), or one of the student-chaired Judicial boards. The majority are going to the J-boards now, which is good.

Wednesday meetings are mostly business oriented conversations with the other ACs and Bernie (our supervisor). We talk about stuff relating to our staffs, projects we're working on, etc. We also generally check in with each other about how we're emotionally doing. I had a pretty intense one this Wednesday because I was feeling frustrated with some of the things my co-workers were doing, and it was hard to stand up for what I thought they wouldn't like to hear.

Monday late afternoon (some time between 4 and 6) is when the judicial board that I advise meets. This past week was the first week of me actually advising...we hadn't planned to switch that over until next year, but Marilyn was pretty bogged down, so we switched it way early - I hope I'm ready!

Eleven of the hours of my week are blocked off for one-on-one meetings with my RAs (9) and Hall Council presidents (2)...sometimes they don't take the whole hour, but often they do, so I can't schedule things to overlap those times. I also have a one-on-one meeting with Bernie.

I also have to find times to meet with students for judicial hearings that I am dealing with individually. Aside from all my daily meetings, there are millions of things I need to send out emails about and work on paperwork for, as well as still being social with the 30 or so RAs who are often coming in and out of our offices...plopping down on the couches and expecting that we don't have work we're actually doing.

Then we get to the night time. Regular meetings - Monday nights from 9-11 is my RA staff meeting, Tuesday nights from 8:30-9:30 is my Doney Hall Council meeting, Thursday nights from 9:00-10:00 is my Lausanne Hall Council meeting. This week, however (as often happens), I am helping my RAs with their in-house lottery processes on Sunday night from 8-9pm, Tuesday night is an RA inservice from 7pm-9pm (so I miss much of Doney HC), and Wednesday night from 9-10pm is Lausanne's in-house lottery.

This Monday will be crazy because the missionaries are coming over for dinner, which I have reminded myself of every day, but then when I scheduled a J-board hearing from 5pm, I promptly had forgotten about it. So, I think we're going to order them pizza. They'll survive. Or Nathan could make them "sexy joes" but I'm not sure he's up for that.

Oh Tuesday and Thursday mornings Nathan and I have Institute from 9-10am. Somewhere else in the week, I need to fit in Visiting Teaching, FHE, daily studying the scriptures, trying to stay in touch with family and friends...I'm not very successful at accomplishing everything.
I probably should go, because I need to go get ready for a formal dinner that Lausanne and Doney Hall Councils are putting on...but basically everyone dropped the ball for, so I had to get everything figured out with catering, print and put up all over the posters, etc. I'm not sure many people are going to come help set up, so yeah - that's on my plate (haha literally) for tonight. There are about 50 people coming, so that will be cool! Much better than the 100 we have room for...some students were disappointed about the small number, but it will be much less expensive, and much better in terms of mingling and noise level.

Sorry this was long...and I'm very sorry I don't post on the blog more often...I really like reading it and hope you all are doing well. We pray for you and miss you and love to hear about new and exciting adventures and blessings and struggles and the reunion and everything.

Thanks for reading!

Love you all,
Mandapandapalmer

Hello

i have been messing around with music for the movie coming up this summer and passed an idea by Tawnia for the opening credits before we get to the animation. If it is not used, I will use it for something else probably. Anyway, I put some of the music on the opening page of the pure chaos part. If you don't want it there let me know and I will remove it, or someone who knows how to can.

Jared and Michelle - we pray for Brooke every night and hope that she is doing well.

Emily... what the heck was your school thinking having a concert the same time as mother nature? Who do you really think was going to win? I guess you both did though, that is pretty cool.

Eric - sounds like you are way busy. It is good to be busy. I think our institute teacher said that the more things you have the better you are at managing your time, or something like that.

Trina - When you have your little baby it will be great. We are hoping for a cat. But not in the same way you are hoping for your baby to be born, because that would be weird.

Tawnia - I hope you get some time away from that school. My goodness, you seem to be there non-stop. I call you late at night you're there, on the weekend and you're there. Summer, the season, is almost here. I bet you're excited.

Mindy - Good for you quitting your job. I hope that your other one pays enough to keep you afloat down there. Are you going back to that daycare thing?

Clarissa - How's Chemeketa? meeting lots of boys?

Mom - tell us what your doctor says on the 12th. That is when your appointment is, right? Dad, how is the house coming. It looked good last time I was there. We might come up this weekend (I guess tomorrow) or Easter. I do not know what is going on.

I hope that you are all staying out of trouble and getting excited for the reunion. That is all I have for now. I have other things that I need to do today, so Amanda won't let me sit in front of the computer and write more music all day. But that is a good thing.

Nathan

lots of somethings

That's what we have now ... my baby shower was this morning, and as I predicted, we got lots of clothes. Some pink, but also a lot of yellow and all very very cute. We also got toys and board books, and a ton of diapers. The group gift was a backpack diaper bag (which Adam had requested for when we're on day trips or traveling so you'll all see it in July) and an activity center - not an exersaucer where the baby sits in the middle and can turn around to all the toys. This is the other way around. The toys are on a little table thing, and the seat is attached to the outside and goes all way around it. We'll have our little pal Ethan try it out for us.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for sending a gift to be part of the baby shower - that was probably the biggest surprise of the day. When we first saw the blue, someone commented that someone wasn't too positive about the baby being a boy or girl, but then I unfolded it and there are flowers all over it. Very cute! And warm jammies.

Adam hasn't seen any of it yet. He picked me up at the end, helped unload the car, and immediately left to go take care of ward missionary stuff this afternoon. I could have gone with him, but I'm doing some reorganizing to make room for all this new stuff.

Flashlights, Thunder, and the Spring Concert

Hello, family. This evening was . . . interesting. My, what an understatement.

I went to the spring concert. The first number was Vivaldi's "Summer" from "The Four Seasons." Now, part of this number involves playing a storm with thunder and hail. And as they played, there was thunder flashing, and the trees swaying in the wind, and then the power went out.

They somehow finished the piece, but then we were told to go into the basement because there was a tornado warning. It turned out later that the tornado watch was about fifty miles south, but that's still not really comforting. So we sat around in the dark, with only the light of cell phones. Some people went to watch the storm. We joked about performing Bible stories (based on a play the school performed a couple of weeks ago.)

Well, the show went on, once flashlights were located. So, I got to be part of the spring concert. I stood holding a flashlight between the timpany and the flutes. I tried to shine it on the conductor too. My roommate, Julie, had a harp solo, and I held the light for her. But then the lights did come on for the last couple of numbers (including the "Mission Impossible Theme.") Yes, it was a great concert. At least, the percussion was great, since that was what I could hear.

So, that was a little adventure. I thought you'd want to know.

A little something

Gee, Jared you really got something started. Who says something can't come from nothing.

Today Amity school had a half day but we had our life skills kids for the full day so we went to a very fun park in McMinnville. It's on the far side of town and has some very fun play equipment for the kids. There is also one of those patio fountains that squirt water at random times as the kids run across it trying to (or not to) get wet. It wasn't on today but it will be in the summertime. Perhaps we can go there when you're all here this summer.

Tomorrow I DON'T get to sleep in. We have a youth temple trip and we are the first group. We have to be at the temple at 5:30 to start baptisms at 6:00. Both Dad and I are going so no sleeping in for us.

Love ya,
MOM

really something

On Monday I went to work at school, fine normal day. Then I went to the eye doctor and got my eyes checked, and ordered some new glasses (two pairs, actually, because that was the deal they had). After I walked home, I relaxed for a short while, and then went to work at Subway. The two girls that were there were BOTH leaving when I got there, so I spent my entire shift from 6-10 completely alone. And then, the customers came .. and kept coming .. without a break for THREE HOURS. It was insane! I had no time to do any prep or cleaning until I locked the door at closing time. I spent the next hour doing the bare minimum for the next day, I went home exhausted. But not for I put in my two weeks notice. I'm never happy going to work there, I'm always annoyed about it, and I'm never appreciated when I work hard so I'm not motivated to do it. The funny thing is, I worked the three days after, and my manager has never been nicer to me. I'm not sure if she doesn't want me to quit, or she just wants me to leave with a positive experience. I'll probably start looking for a summer job in the next little while.

In other news, last night at ballet I able to come incredibly close to doing the splits. My teacher told me that if I stretched and practiced every day, I could easily touch the floor in a week. I was very excited. But when I came home, I tried again, and pulled a muscle in my leg. I took some Tylenol this morning and went to work anyway since it was basically a play day for me, with all the Jr Engineering stuff going on. I'll need to take it easy for the next little while, and I'm guessing I won't be able to do the splits for a couple weeks now.

something

I am having a nice day. And that is something.

Seems like there should be something else here, but mostly I wanted to put a post called "something" right after Jared's post called "nothing". I just thought that would be fun.

I guess I could also write that today is Friday, I'm wearing a t-shirt to work, and tomorrow I will be sleeping in. That's a good thing.

Have a great weekend everybody and don't forget to post something.

nothing

So apparently something happened to the website today or something. Michelle told me there were a bunch of emails about it when I got home, so I read them. I thought Nathan's was funny. I didn't see any website problems, but then I just looked at it for the first time five minutes ago. Of course you guys do realize that you can still read the blog even if insanityinc.net is down, right? The address for the blog is insanityinc.blogspot.com.

I don't have anything to say, really. I just thought it was funny that there were a bunch of emails about nothing in my inbox. I deleted all of them after I read them.

That's all. Have a nice day or something.

Movie

I just watched Eric's video and cracked up. I thought it was hilarious. I'm still giggling even now. Mindy said, "It's funny... but it's not that funny." Nope, I think it is that funny.

It has been an interesting day. We had "The Utah Water Van" come and teach us all about the water cycle and wetlands for an hour. Then went to lunch, then to music, then to the computer lab... and then we finally got back to the classroom around 2 p.m. (We left at 11 a.m.) But... it was good stuff. In the computer lab I was able to give my class a science test... hehe.... I'm such a nice teacher.

And tomorrow is going to be a great day also. It's "Junior Engineering Day". USU put together a lot of science lessons with kits... and for a measly 1200 smackers, we get the use of the kits for a day. So I'll be teaching the same lesson to the three fourth grades and three third grades. (Just repeating it six times!) By the sixth time I should be pretty effecient. I'm teaching about hearing and stuttering. It'll be fun. I get to let the kids play with all sorts of fun toys, like an oscillopscope and a metronome and a giant model of an ear. In some of the other rooms they'll learn about electricity and hurricanes and lots of other things.

Anyway, that is a little of what's going on with me. I liked Eric's post and thought of writing out my day like that sometime... but I don't have time at the moment. Oh, and Nate -- why haven't you posted on your blog for so long?

Love,
T

Conference

I was able to watch all of the sessions of conference. Saturday we stayed home and watched them delayed and Sunday we went to Nathan's and watched them there. It was a very good conference. The theme seemed to me to be perfecting the saints. There were lots of talks on repenting and the atonement and making our homes a haven from the world and other talks on improving ourselves. We, here at home, have decided to start a regular family scripture study time but so far we haven't been doing very well. We need to get that going and find other things to work on, either as a family or as individuals. I know that conferences should have an impact on us and our choices. We're not supposed to just listen, say that was a good talk and continue our lives as if there hadn't been a conference.

Love ya,
MOM

What Eric is up to

The following was going to be a post on my other blog, but I wanted to show my support of this blog and also give you something new to read when you checked this blog. I hope you enjoy it.

Today I am at work. I work from 7:30 to 4:30 pretty much every weekday. I wake up at six (though this morning I turned off my radio, which is set to 91.5 FM, KUSC, your listener supported classical music station, and woke up again at 6:30) and get out the door at seven. I drive to the People's Choice Home Loan office at 7515 Irvine Center Drive in Irvine, and then put my lunch in the fridge and turn on my computer.

After work, where I either write training manuals or deliver classes, or both, I drive home. It usually takes longer to drive home than drive to work. Sometimes I listen to the radio. Sometimes I listen to CDs. Lately I've been burning MP3's of BYU devotional talks onto CD and listening to them in the car. I'm planning on doing this with several sections of the Doctrine and Covenants that I want to memorize, since hearing Thomas S. Monson in general conference and the same story in greater detail at stake conference.

After I get home I talk to Stevie and play with him and sing songs to him, but only if he's awake. He usually is. He is always happy to see me and gives me a big smile and does his frogger kick with his legs. He's such a happy and cute baby.

Laurel makes great dinners, and we eat them together in the evening. Sometimes we watch TV, sometimes we don't. Sometimes we eat Chinese, sometimes pasta, and sometimes meat and potatoes. Laurel really likes potatoes. She cooks with fresh potatoes, never the dehydrated kind. We usually have a veggie: lettuce or peas or broccoli most of the time.

Usually we have something to do in the evening. Monday is FHE, Tuesday is YW and usually basketball afterwards. Yesterday was a day like that. We had sweet hot pork for dinner (with broccoli) and then headed over to the church. I gave a talk on studying the scriptures to the Young Men and Young Women. They were very attentive after a few minutes of getting settled in. I think the Spirit was there and they learned some new things.

Our basketball team, the T2-A team lost last night, after being ahead in the first half, we ended up losing by around 10 points. It was a battle all night, but we just couldn't stop one of their guys from getting the ball and scoring down low. It was frustrating, but we're already in the playoffs, and the team that beat us might not be. Laurel worked at the scorer's table, as she often has. Stevie sat beside her in his carseat. At the end of the evening we often watch TV together and eat popcorn, or in the case of last night: chips and salsa.

Anyway, Wednesday night and Thursday night we sometimes have basketball, and I used to have Elders Quorum Presidency meeting on Thursday night, but since I was just released, I don't have that anymore. I will soon be going out on visits with other ward missionaries. Mainly we're working with the members and helping them share the gospel with their friends.

Friday night is date night. Sometimes we get a sitter and go out and sometimes Stevie comes with. We go to Disneyland sometimes because we already have the passes so free date.

I hope you've enjoyed this insight into the life of Eric. Thanks for reading.

The following was going to be a comment under Trina's post, but I thought I'd move it here since sometimes it's hard to find those, and they don't show up at first.

Yeah Treen. Bite your tongue. I know it's tough sometimes. It's always better to pick battles and go into them with a level head.

I'm glad you like the new page. We took a bunch of pictures and we both liked that one quite a bit, even though my face wasn't in it. If we come up with a better one later I might redo it.
I'm working on getting more Stevie pictures up. Basketball is taking up so much of my time that it's tough to do much else.

Grade 3

I got the call telling me Brooke's test results from radiology. Her ultrasound was completely normal, which is good. Her VCUG revealed grade 3 reflux on the left side. So, I now have a referral for a urologist here in Houston. Pretty much the same as last year.

On other topics, it's starting to get hot-87. No suprise there, of course. 280 miles south did make a difference. We went out to the pool for the first time on Monday. Jared is busy working-data, measurements, calibration, nuclear power source, (you get it-yada, yada, yada.) Have I mentioned lately how much I love him-probably have-he's great! Bryan is great. Yesterday I read Brown Bear, Brown bear to him. Afterwards he thought for a minute and said, "Bryan, Bryan, what do you see....I see Jesus looking at me." ---Really sweet.

Take care everyone.

3 days to go

Get me through today, tomorrow, and Friday at work - one more conference under my belt - and I'm home free. Once this conference is over, I'll spend the next month piddling around at work sorting through old files and paring them down, and doing some random research on a couple of projects ... things I can actually leave mid-stream without anyone panicking. (At least I hope not, but I've been surprised before.) The next 72 hours are a total and complete pain in the butt because people just DON'T GET IT that I can no longer respond to their every whim. My "mini project" for this week is to control my tongue - yesterday, I came within a breath of saying to one of my bosses - "Are you STUPID???" It's a good thing it was over the phone, because my expression would have definitely given it away.

But over to happier things ... if you haven't hit "refresh" on the homepage lately, you should. When Eric's personal link says "Eric, Laurel & Stevie," that's the new one. I really like it. It did take me a couple of minutes to figure out where the Stevie pictures were (you have to click on his head, and it's a bit smaller circle than I had anticipated.) And yes, Laurel, that story about Eric cracks me up too. I think I was the one who first spotted the red on his butt from completely shredding his pants and underwear. He didn't feel it for a while because the water was so cold and we all went numb.

Conference

I went to the four sessions of conference down at the stake center, about a five-minute walk from the campus. It was great. We talked about it yesterday in Institute. I really liked Elder Ballard's talk, and Elder Oaks' talk. And there was a talk by Elder Stone on building Zion in the midst of Babylon; that was a good one, too. And one of the new Seventies, Elder Don R. Clarke, teaches at SVU, at least he did until he left for some "important business in Salt Lake City." At least, that's what they told his students on Friday. I don't think I met him, but a lot of people here know him.

Conference

Posting, posting, one, two, three. Wow... it's been a LOOOOOOOOOONG time since I last posted. But then, I've been pretty busy. Last week was crazy because of conferences and then Sarah and Amber were here. It was fun having them here, but they kept me rather busy.

Life is good. I really enjoyed General Conference. I liked going to see the session on Sunday afternoon, but I don't like walking through a bunch of protesters.

Today I signed my contract for next year. Wahoo! I will be teaching fourth grade... most likely anyway. Of course, that is subject to change. But if it changes, I hope I will know sooner, rather than later. I'm just glad that I have a job for next year.

My kids are great. We're all getting antsy for the end of the school year. But it will make me sad because I will miss this group of kids. They really are some fabulous fourth graders.

Not much more to tell. I come to work, work, and then go home. This week we are finishing up our Utah History Unit and our Animal Unit. Next we'll learn about Africa, Islam and Soil. We're reading Pollyanna. And, we're writing fun stories. Oh, and next week is our musical program all about the history of Utah.

Tonight is a ward FHE. (Instead of being in seperate groups, we meet as an entire ward.) We're doing some kind of Easter Relays. That's what the flyer said anyway. So, it'll be interesting. Mindy has to work... so I'll probably just stay here at work until just before seven... and then get food on the way to FHE.

Okay, enough rambling from me.

Love,
Tawnia

"hurry up and wait"

Doctor's report from this morning - the baby is currently head down and facing my right side with her butt and legs up in my rib cage. So Adam did call her position correctly. She's just starting to drop, which is causing my feet to swell. Over the weekend and today, I can't wear shoes - just flip flops and even those hurt. No bed rest and I'm doing fine, but I have to keep my feet up and take it easy with work. (A very "funny" thing to say since I have a work conference this week starting Thursday, complete with 2 very demanding and rather hysterical bosses. Yes, I was lectured this morning about "working too hard.") My blood pressure has gone back down to where it's been all along (it had gone up at my last appointment), and the baby's heartrate is steady and normal. Now that I'm in the final month, I start having appointments every WEEK instead of every month.

Doctor's estimate: She'll be on time (first week of May), not early or late. She'll be around 7 lbs. and come out very easily. Adam is getting impatient for her to be born so he can play with her, but the estimate works for me.

General Conference

Since it's that special time of year when we get to hear from the general authorities I propose some new question. (Or old questions with new answers) What did you gain from this conference? Did it have an impact on your daily life? Please explain your answers. Here at home we have a few choices for conference - (1) go to the stake center (2) listen to it on the computer (3) watch it delayed on television. If we choose watching on TV - todays sessions are at noon and 7:30 and tomorrows at noon and 4. I think we'll watch it on TV even though it is delayed.