Happy birthday and anniversary

Sorry for not posting yesterday, so here's a belated happy birthday. And happy anniversary to Nathan and Amanda. I'm still busy at the library, reshelving all the books. We got some new shelves, so all the books have to be moved. Literally all the books. It's hard work, but I'm making a little money.

update

here is the youtube link for those whose computers aren't showing the video well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52R_s9AnG0

yay!

the movie

Hi all,
First off - happy birthday Adam! Second - sorry that the video doesn't seem to be working smoothly. Can you let us know if it works well for anyone? On our computer it works perfectly...not jerky at all, so I'm not completely sure what the problem is. I uploaded it to Nathan's account on Youtube, though, so it should be working on there fairly soon...I think we'll send out an email when it is working...or put it on the blog. So yeah, please let us know if any of you are able to view it well and then keep a lookout for the youtube version.

Love you everyone!
Manda

Manti/Zion

So I have been having many adventures this summer. Last Wednesday I went to the Manti Pageant. It was nice to go on a week night because it is a lot less crowded (so I hear.) It really wasn't bad. We still didn't get home until around 1 a.m. though.

Then over the weekend (Friday and Saturday) I went to Zion National Park with a few friends. We ended up hiking up the Virgin River. Literally in the river. The hike is called the Narrows. We were going to start at the top and hike all the way down (It's only 16 miles) but we figured that we didn't have time to do the whole thing... so we just hiked in for 3 and 1/2 hours.... and then out for 1 and 1/2 hours. Yeah, that's how it worked. Hiking in we were going UP stream, so coming out was much easier. After that I was absolutely exhausted and extremely sore, but it was fun.

Yesterday was Stake Converence. We had some really good talks and it was nice. In the evening I went visiting teaching.

Today I had a job interview. It is for a part time job teaching science to 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders at a private school. It would be 8 hours a week. So not a lot, but I'd still be teaching. (I would most likely just do that for two days each week and then sub for the other three days in the week.) I am still waiting to hear back from USU. My biggest frustration right now is that I have not received any mail in the last week and just found another little "vacant" sign in my mailbox. It's like the mail people think I don't exist. (Neither do the male people for that matter.) I crossed off the word vacant and put my name on it and then taped it to the front of my mailbox. I'm hoping that the postal service will get the hint.

Tonight, as Mindy pointed out, is my dance recital. I'm sure I'll perform flawlessly (haha). It should be fun.

Happy Birthday Adam! And Happy Anniversary to Nate and Manda (as I'm sure I probably won't make it to the library tomorrow.)

Love,
Tawnia

comments

First off, Happy Birthday Adam! Nice job getting older.

Nathan, is your movie supposed to be a little jerky? If so, then fabulous! If not, then it needs a little work. The music runs nice the whole time (I like the sneeze in the middle), but the actual movie clips (there are movie clips, right?) you put in are jumpy. But I still like it.

And Tawnia, good luck at your recital tonight! I wish I could be there to perform with you. Try hard not to mess up, but really, don't worry if you do! Besides, you can always post on the blog that you did perfectly, and no one here would know the difference. Either way, I'm proud of you.

I'm doing fine. Working lots and fixing lots of pictures for the "slide project". Working all the time actually saves a lot of money - besides all the money I'm earning, I don't feel like going anywhere to spend it! My goal is to buy a car, and then get out of debt.

Joshua stuff

Alright... it is here.

http://www.insanityinc.net/nathan/test.html

We hope that you all enjoy his little show. and I put up more pictures today.

A word from Mom

I thought I'd better say something on here. I've been busy getting acquainted with Stevie and helping around here. Stevie certainly is a sweetheart. I put some pictures of him on my What's New page. Right now he's singing to me. Mommy and Daddy went to visit some friends for the evening so I've been here with Stevie. I've been teaching him a few signs. He knows "please" real well. He's also learning "more" and a few others.

Eric and Laurel are home now and it's time to go to sleep.

Love ya,
MOM

Happy Saturday

I got up at 4:30 in the morning to go to the temple. Most everyone slept on the way up, and on the way back too. The session was great. And the temple is so beautiful. By the way, Trina, I saw Sister Hampton on the way out. (She's in Trina's ward.)

Drive back -- not so great.

Anyway, it used to be just me hanging out at Main with my laptop, doing nothing in particular. But now I have an excuse. Someone has to greet the EFY counselors and see that they get their keys and things. So I will be providing that service.

Hellos

So I've had this new job for a week. Things are finally slowing down a bit, and after this weekend the whole store should be back in order. Sunday night they're having a cleaning "party" and having a bunch of people in there to clean under the racks, and finally finish getting everything out on the racks and in order. Alas, I won't be there (hello, it's Sunday!) but I'll see all their work on Monday. Should be nice to actually see how the store is supposed to be. In the meantime, I spend a lot of hours putting things in order, but I like that. I'd rather have a project to be working on than running the register - not that it's hard, but I look at the clock when I'm up there! Last night I was shown how to close, tonight I'll review, make sure I know what I'm doing, because Monday I'm on my own! I'll have someone else there, at the store, but they're newer than I am, so I'll be in charge of taking care of the money and locking the door and everything. AHH! It isn't hard, it's just having to learn how they do it.

One of the perks of this job is running into people. After not being in town for four years, it's fun to see who comes into the store. Sometimes I catch glimpses of people, and think I recognize them, but then I realize that the person I'm thinking of is from Utah, and it's not likely that they'd be walking into the store! So anyway, I've run into Lindsey Potter and her mom and son; Fern and Edith Belnap; one of the Parker sisters (with Audrey and her 2-week old son); Joey Beardan with his girlfriend/wife(?) and their two kids (this would be the boy I had my first crush on in elementary school); and Jamie Riley! Mom and I were just talking about Jamie right before she left. We saw eachother and she said, "Hi Mindy!" I was just amazed that she remembered my name, and not just as a Palmer. She said her family is doing great and that Brooks just graduated high school and is going into the marines. Of course, she said to say hello to the family, so HELLO!

Beyond work I haven't been doing much. I spend a lot of time on the computer, either doing my own art projects or helping out Mom and Dad with the slide project. I'm still looking for a dance class in the area, but I don't quite have the money to start taking it anyway! After next weeks 40 hours, which will probably continue for quite a while, I'll have the money soon.

EFY

Well, due to the fact that I have no internet connection at my current dwelling place, I've taken to hanging out in Main Hall during the evenings. EFY is going on right now, and I made an interesting discovery. Wednesday night is pizza night.

finally!!!

After 3 months of chasing paper here and there and everywhere, we FINALLY got final approval for the new apartment. HALLELUJAH!!! We will be moving on Friday July 20, and I'll send an email out with the new address at that time. We'll likely get a new land line phone so we can continue to have DSL internet - it works best for my class and costs the same as cable internet (plus we're not always tempted to watch TV with no cable). That will be a new number because we're changing area codes because of moving to the Maryland side of the line. But our cell phones will stay the same. This news isn't nearly as awesome as Jared's moving news into HIS OWN HOUSE ... but it's all we've got at the moment. And we're finally moving into a 2-bedroom apartment. It's about 5 miles from where we are now - the same complex where half of our play group already lives, so that will make things even easier for play group.

Thank you for the anniversary greetings ... I must admit that it's been a rough week with all the stress of the apartment stuff, and Summer hasn't been feeling too well this week. Tuesday night, we both bagged our studying and walked to a little barbecue restaurant out on Wisconsin Ave. Then we got ice cream and took Summer to a park right across the street to play on the swings for a little while. We'll go to the temple next week for an actual anniversary date. And now that we have the apartment stuff finalized, that takes a huge stress load off. Now we have a different stress load with moving ... but at least the decision making part is over and that's the worst of it.

At the library

First off, allow me to wish a happy anniversary to Trina and Adam. Go out and do something special.

In other news, I'm busy at the library. We take books off a bookcase, move the case, and then put them back on. It gets rather tiring, and it can be complicated if a stack of books falls, or we get them out of order and put them on the shelves in the wrong order. Both of these things have happened.

There's plans for a temple trip on Saturday, and I'm looking forward to that. I don't know what time we're going to be leaving. The bishop said he'd send out an e-mail. It will probably be five or six, but the bishop said it wouldn't matter if we left at two in the morning; I'd still be there.

Updates

I saw that Trina's page has been updated... cool pics of her last trip. I've also added a couple more games to the games page.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Trina and Adam! Three years have gone by quickly. We wish you and your growing family everything you have coming to you (which is all good things).

Love,

Eric, Laurel & Stevie

A (kinda sorta, it works for now) Job

A single father in my stake was looking an every other week summer baby-sitter, for his 5-year-old son (Jordan) and 3-year-old daughter (Shelby). I start tomorrow. It's not much but it's something for now.

Comic of the Week...

... has been moved onto my own page. You know, click over there on the left where it says Jared... I've got #2 posted there now. I just recieved #3 today, but I'll wait a couple more days before I post it.

Other than that, a belated Happy Father's Day to everyone I didn't talk to yesterday. We had a good day, and no real "news" from us right now... just getting ready to move next week. We'll send out the new address and phone number via email when we're closer to actually being at that address and phone number.

I think I'm ready

I have two big suitcases packed and in the car. I've got everything together that I think I might need. Now I just need to relax. That's the hard part. I'm very excited about going to California for the summer. I'm also excited for all the adventures everyone else is having. For little Allison and Rosemary who will soon join our family, for Jared and Michelle's new house, and for all the jobs that the girls have or will soon have. I'll miss playing with Joshua and I'm sure he'll learn lots of new things while I'm gone. I'll have fun playing with Stevie. I'll have fun talking to Brooke, Bryan and Summer on the phone. I'll miss Daddy the most but I know he loves me and he'll come down when Allison is born. I have lots of projects to keep me busy.

Have a great summer! I will.

Love ya,
MOM

everyone knows now

Okay, so everyone knows that we're having a girl. You're free to talk amongst yourselves about it now. Since I talked to everyone today (well, at least Laurel and Michelle instead of Eric and Jared because they were already gone to work - sorry about that, but I wanted to tell your families right away) ... really not much else to fill you in on at this point! Just wanted to let you all know that the word is out.

This is the house we bought.

I've also made a few changes to my webpage.

Back in Utah

Well... I left Oregon on Friday and spent the night in Boise with my friends Steph and Bill. It was nice visiting them and I'm glad I took the opportunity to because they are moving to Minnesota at the end of this month. So I got back to Utah on Saturday. It just happened to be "Art City Days" (Springville's city fair) so that night I ended up going and sitting on someone's lawn and watching the fireworks. It was a really good show actually.

Sunday it was back to church. I had people to sit by during all the meetings... but then everyone asked how things were without Mindy... so it didn't really help me to not miss her any. After church we had choir practice and then that evening we had a fireside.

On Monday I went to the dentist and let him yank two of my teeth. NOt very pleasant, but I survived. The recovery is taking a bit longer than I'd like, but at least I can eat solid foods instead of just drinking liquids. Monday evening I went to FHE. I sat and watched a lot of people playing the games, but I couldn't really participate. Then after I got home I was bored... so I called a couple of my friends and had them come over for to play games.

Tuesday I was pretty miserable from the teeth, but then I started feeling better so I rearranged the furniture in my living room. I then went to my tap classes that evening. My teacher told me to take it easy because of the dental work, so I sat and relaxed a bit. It turns out I will be dancing in FOUR dances at the recital on June 25th. Crazy.

Wednesday I spent a lot of time organizing my room. I have four bookshelves FULL of books and still have a few more books to find homes for. I hope to get my room finished up this week. Wednesday night I went to institute. It was a good class and the teacher remembered me from the few times I've gone before.

So that gets you up to speed on my life. I am staying busy and will start looking for a job as soon as my apartment is neat and organized. I have a couple of girls who have talked about moving in with me. I just need to get a commitment out of one of them.

Anyway, my time on the computer is about to end. I will have to look into getting a computer and internet at my own home, especially since I plan on doing school on-line this fall. Any advice on buying a computer? Should I get a PC or a laptop? Where is a good place to go? I really know nothing about computers (other than how to use them) so I would appreciate any good advice in this area.

Love to you all!
Tawnia

the job hunt

So yesterday I finally made the trip into McMinnville to start the part of the job hunt where I go around to all the places I'd be willing to work and pick up applications. I started at Fashion Bug, not only because it was at this end of town, but because I've wanted to go shopping there for a while, and I figured I'd help motivate myself by doing some browsing first. I ended up picking up a black leather jacket and an application.

The next stop was Payless shoes, another favorite shopping place, because it was right next door. I walked in and asked the lady there if they were hiring. She said YES, and asked me if I had the time to fill out a survey thing on the computer (no surprise, I had to do it when I applied at Payless in Provo). Sure! When I finished, she sat down and explained the situation: she is the Regional Manager (covering a bunch of Oregon and some of California), and the other girl in the store is the brand new manager of this store (her first day). Apparently the last manager made a great assistant manager, but when the other guy got promoted, and she got moved up, she didn't do so well. Everyone on her crew quit. No one gave two weeks notice, they just stopped showing up. So the manager quit too. It was really no surprise, because the store was not how it should be. To the customer, it probably wasn't noticable, but the racks are supposed to be organized a certain way (and they weren't), and nothing was priced for the new sale, and the back storeroom was a horrible horrible mess. They asked me if I could start right away. THEN I filled out the application. I worked for the next several hours, until I needed to go pick up Mom (because I had dropped her off at work so I could use the car). I work a full eight hour shift this afternoon (12:30-9:30), and I'll get all the paperwork finished, so I can actually get paid, because it was just hectic yesterday, and no one knew where the paperwork was. It'll all get worked out though, and I have a job!

Happy Flag Day everybody!

At the library

Today I was at the library, and I was offered a job for the next couple of weeks, shelving and moving books. It may only be for a couple of weeks, but it's something. Hooray!

-- Emily

Comic of the Week...

If the end of the comic strip is cut off, click on the picture, or right-click and select "Open Link in New Window"...

ultrasound

It's time to take the poll on if you think our baby is a boy or girl. The ultrasound is Friday morning, so you have until Thursday night to make your guesses. The names we have selected are Michael Abbott for a boy, or Rosemary Grace for a girl.

Abbott is Nancy's maiden name. I was never really settled on William as the middle name, like we talked about last time. I think Abbott sounds pretty cool - different, but not weird. And Adam still gets the initials MAC, so he can call him Mac if he wants to. I figure that Grace is a family name somewhere, since it's Aunt Cheryl's middle name as well. I'd like to use family names for the middle names - not necessarily our side for girls and Adam's side for boys, although that's how it has just worked out so far. And Rosemary Grace just seems to be right, whether or not it's a family name.

What is, in fact, cooking?

Hi guys!

I know many of you are checking insanityinc on a regular basis, looking for updates and whatnot. Well, here is one.

I noticed Mindy has added a few pictures.

Also, I've changed the Stevie calendar. Nathan copied mine, so I copied Trina's. But that's the way of progress.

Laurel and I made some changes to another part of the page. Who can find it? (There's a clue in this post.)

We're going swimming tonight. The basketball finals was between our ward's two teams. My team lost in double overtime. One of the players from the other team is putting on a BBQ for both teams. He's also a friend of mine. We work in Priests together.

Laurel had a baby shower with the ward this week, the same night as semi-finals (which we won, to get into the finals). She was very happy with the turnout and all the presents and how nice everyone was. To answer Trina's questions, Laurel is due August 11th, and she'll be at 32 weeks when Mom comes next Saturday, and where Stevie would've been born on the Wednesday after that. She's taking medicine for her blood pressure and it seems to be helping.

Laurel is giving Stevie a bath, and then we're going to Deseret Book to get my Father's Day present. It'll be a fun day.

Oh, by the way Mom, Bekah's baptism will be about an hour and a half after you arrive, so we'll probably be heading straight there after we pick you up. You may want to wear something nice.

hellos

So I went to my first FHE in the singles branch back here in McMinnville. It was a baptism for a guy named Shawn. It was a nice meeting, but I hardly knew anyone there. It will take a while to build up a group of friends, especially without the charm of Tawnia to help me out. I did meet a few new people though, so that was nice. And I ran into a few people I knew, and they all say hi. More specifically:

Nathan and Amanda - Kim and Eddie say Congratulations (along with the rest of the Sanchez clan) about the baby. They're excited for you.

Emily - Kim says hello, and thinks that Library Science is absolutely perfect for you.

Clarissa - Savannah and Wendy both give a hearty hello, and wish that you would stay in better contact with them.

Jenna - Sister Rasband also says hello. Oh wait .. I guess I have to tell that to Jenna myself. And if no one has heard - Jenna is getting married in July. I know I get frustrated when I'm out of the loop of weddings and babies and stuff, so there's your loop.

home pages

Mindy updated the Caudle home page - it looks good! Check it out! We'll get together soon to post the vacation pictures ... I still need to go through them and choose the good ones.

Also, Eric's home page is changed ... looks good! I like the colors around your mug shots! Is that a photoshopping thing, or is that actually how the pictures were taken? Also, noting the list under Laurel's picture ... have you decided to name the baby Allison, or are there still some other options floating around? Middle name decided yet? What's the actual due date? Are you inside the 7-week window from when Stevie was born early yet? Just wondering ... since it's been a while since we've gotten a baby update.

Our baby updates on both is that Summer is getting better and better at her walking, due to walking all over on vacation, and then last week at the aquarium and the zoo. (We went to the zoo on Saturday.) We find out on the 15th - a week from Friday - if the next little munchkin is Michael or Rosemary. I've sort of felt some movement, but not really the baby shifting around in position - more like just stretching and pushing outward sometimes.

If you didn't believe that weather patterns could affect when babies are born ... I have some proof now. In January and February, we had a huge cold snap that lasted for a few weeks, complete with ice storms and power outages. Apparently there was lots of cuddling going on, because I now know of SIX babies here in DC who are due within 2 weeks of each other in October. 3 in our ward are due 3 days in a row (we're the middle day), a friend up in Maryland, and 2 people in the Bethesda ward next to us (one of which is in our play group). Crazy crazy!! I wonder how crowded the hospital will be this time ... since the triage check-in was full when I got there to have Summer, and then we were rushed out of the delivery room after she was born because they needed it for someone else. We'll be going to the same hospital with this baby.

What do you remember about Trina's wedding?

I'm working on a piece of creative non-fiction for my writing class, and I decided to write about Trina's wedding day. I thought I could get ten pages out of that.

But I've only got half that at the moment, and if I don't plan on writing about two weddings, I need more details. So what do you remember?

I have forty-eight hours before the first draft is due. So please help me out here.

Thanks!

question for Nathan

Hey Nathan - do you still collect foreign coins? We have some friends who just got back from a trip to South Africa and had lots of extra coins. I got one of each for you. I'm getting a box of clothes ready to send to Mom - I'll put them in there.

We got free tickets to the Baltimore Aquarium that we used yesterday - it was pretty neat. They had a fun dolphin show and lots of really cool displays of fish. We also saw frogs and a couple of "rain forest" type things. It was all indoors, which was a little odd to me because of the Oregon one being all outdoors. But at the same time, with the humidity out here hitting last weekend, I didn't mind being indoors.