new word

I babysat Joshua yesterday, while Nathan and Amanda went out for their anniversary. I happened to be wearing my Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirt. Joshua asked his normal question - "what dat?" and pointed at Johnny Depp. I told him it was a pirate, "Argh!" So now when you ask Joshua what a pirate says, he'll say "arrr!"

Hi Everybody!

Belated happy birthday to Adam. We're all doing fine in Texas. No major news this week.

HAN!

We're in Monterey

Sorry it's taken so long for me to write. Eric and Laurel have been having Internet issues on their home computer but Eric finally got it working again today.

We have enjoyed our visit here and will be heading home tomorrow so we can get ready to fly to Trina's on Wednesday. Stevie and Allie are lots of fun to play with and we've taken lots of pictures of them and the scenery.

Here are a couple of my favorites: I'll post more details later on the timeline and my page.

Love always,
MOM

Emily's movie reviews

I'm up at Aunt Marli's for a few weeks, taking care of the housework, being here in case she needs someone. I do have a lot of time for writing, which is good. Yesterday I wrote a chase scene in which a character stops to smell the flowers.

I've also seen some new movies recently.

"Brother Bear": I liked this one. Only now, I have this strange urge to talk like a moose, eh. One of my favorite lines: "Never try to milk a caribou."

"Madagascar": I like the penguins. (Big surprise.) In fact, those were the only characters I did like, although the baby lemur was cute.

"Prince Caspian": I saw this in the theater with Mom, Dad, and Mindy a couple weeks ago. It was good, although I was a bit critical of some of the battle tactics. The gryphons are cool.

Address change

The post office has informed us that our ZIP code is being changed effective July 1. We will be in the new 77498 instead of 77478. You may update your address books accordingly.

Oh, and HAT.

New Web Host

Hi everyone,

As you may have noticed over the weekend, we're in the process of migrating files to the new host. I'll be sending out the FTP info soon. Call tonight if you need it right away and I haven't sent it yet. Call after 5 PM Pacific.

I should have most of it transferred now. Looks like the timeline is still not done... Let me know if I miss anything.

Mom and Dad are down here in Monterey for the week. We had a nice Father's Day. Stevie and Allie are enjoying all the attention Grandma and Grandpa are giving them, and I think the feeling's mutual.

I have to work all week, sad to say, so I won't be around for all the fun, but hopefully we'll get out and about in the evenings.

Love you all!

Eric

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to Dad and Eric and Jared and Nathan and Adam!

Dad - Thanks for everything you did for us when we were kids, and all the support you continue to give now that we're adults. Thank you for not thinking your job is done just because we're not in the house anymore, but just changed. And thank you for being a fun grandpa - I'm excited for you to be here in a couple of weeks so my kids can get to know you too.

Eric, Jared, and Nathan - I know that you're good dads because you're great guys, and also because you had an excellent example to follow!

Adam - Back in the day when I was wondering when my Knight in Shining Armor would finally get done slaying the dragon and come find me, I was also cognizant that I was looking for the Daddy of my kids. I could not have imagined someone better than you. I'm also amazed at how much Summer and Rosemary adore you, but it doesn't surprise me. Of course they do! You're the best Daddy EVER to them! I love you!

Love, Trina

June

So June is turning out to be a very busy month also. I have three wedding receptions to go to this month (thankfully each is a different week) and I am also staying very busy with ward activities. This week alone we had a luau for FHE and are having a BBQ tonight for Enrichment (along with some service activities). Wednesday is Institute and Thursday is always Big Brother/Big Sister. We basically have something every night of the week minus Friday and Saturday. This Saturday I have one of those wedding receptions and also picking up Isaac from the airport. Oh, and on Wednesday I'm going out to lunch with some friends from teaching at Reagan (Terry and Eileen). Every week seems to be like this though.... I get as much work in as I can and then play like crazy when I'm not at work. Somewhere in here I'm supposed to be working on lesson plans for next year also... and I had a bunch of other things I wanted to get done, but those things aren't really happening (like more of those blankets I'm supposed to get knit.) I guess they will happen when they happen.
Love,
Tawnia

T minus 6 months

We have a non-pregnancy announcement.

The DC branch of the Hotel Caudle will be closing in December. If you would like to visit Washington DC with no lodging expenses, you have 6 months. Thanksgiving is the cut-off.

We have extremely mixed feelings about this. Until a couple of weeks ago, we had been planning to stay here indefinitely after Adam graduates in December. We like the city and everything that's in the region (historic sites, billions of free museums, lots of parks and stuff for the kids, etc). We love our ward and have a lot of friends here. Adam's top choice for a career track (national security) would be best fulfilled here.

But ... it's not going to work - we flat out can't afford it. The kinds of jobs that Adam would get in that fun career track wouldn't even cover our living expenses, let alone adding the student loans on top of it. Even if we stayed in this cramped little apartment with only 2 kids, we'll never make any headway getting out of debt. We'd like to get out of debt sooner rather than later or even never. So we have to leave. We know it will be best for our family but it's still extremely difficult.

We have aaaaalmost decided where we'll move but are looking around to see if any other options pop up before we commit. But either way, we'll have to be on the road at Christmas to get to where we need to be by the first of January so Adam can start his bar review course for whatever state we end up in. So you have until Thanksgiving if you'd like to come visit DC.

ballet pictures

Okay folks. To prove that I was really in a ballet, here are a few of the pictures that Daddy took during the first performance on Friday.


Camille, Mindy, Moriah, Rachelle, Malia, Megan


Mindy and a blurry Sarah


Nikki, Mindy, Moriah, Sarah, Tessa


Waiting to start the flower basket dance


During the flower basket dance


Megan, Asia, Julia, Tessa, and Mindy, after the flower basket dance.

New Picture

Hi all,

I posted a new picture in our section! I was cheap/lazy/whathaveyou and posted the same picture for Stevie and Allie. I didn't have a lot to choose from this time around, so that's how come. I hope you enjoy it all the same.

I just sent you all an email about our web hosting. Feel free to give me a call or whatever if you have questions. I'm sure we'll come up with the best solution together. I'm for getting lots more space and putting up all kinds of crazy stuff. Like videos, and thousands of animated GIFs...

Anyway, I've been busy these days. We drove to So-Cal for Memorial Day. I worked a lot of the time. Lots of work. Tonight we had family night. We watched the solemn assembly that we missed back in April (because of our move). It was very nice. Then we played with toys. It was a good family night.

Love,
Eric

Big plans

You may have already read that Amanda, Joshua, and I are traveling to Utah in July. That is our big summer adventure. We're contemplating a trip to Trina's to teach her how to post pictures of her girls. I mean seriously, it's been two months since your monthly picture has been updated. I have already posted two different pictures (removing the first one, so if you didn't see it, sorry) on Joshua's month to month page. Sorry Trina, it just seems weird that you're usually the one to get on others' cases for not posting pictures, and here you are...not posting pictures. I know you put them on your blog, but you're so close to having Summer pictures up for two whole years. To me this feels like reading a book once a month and I am finally close to the end, but you're keeping it away from me. It's not like you're doing anything...oh yeah...you have two little girls, and a little husband. Never mind. Hey Mindy... post the pictures. And good job at ballet.

Unfortunately we're not really planning a trip to the east coast. Perhaps when the lad is older.

Cordially,
Nathan

June is great, too

First let me thank Jared for putting the latest group of pictures on Clarissa's page. He also fixed the last post so it looks better. Thanks, Jared.

I also have made a few changes to my page. Since Trina has been talking a lot about vegetables lately, I decided to list my favorite ones. I also made a few other minor changes here and there. See if you can find them.

In case I didn't mention it to everyone - we have Aunt Marli staying here with us for a week or two. She had a stroke about a week ago and got out of the hospital on Friday. Since she can't get around at all without her cane the doctors didn't want her going home where she would be alone. So, she is staying with us. Emily moved to the other office and we put Marli's adjustable bed in the library where Emily had been.

Tawnia mentioned some of her adventures for July. Here are the ones we have coming up sooner than that. On Saturday, June 14th Dad and I are leaving for California. We'll spend a week with Eric and his wonderful family; then head home on the 23rd. On Wednesday the 25th we'll fly to Baltimore and spend 3 wonderful weeks with Trina and family. Hurray!! We get to meet Rosemary at last and see Summer as a big two-year-old instead of a tiny infant. And we may even drive up to the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We are very excited about our upcoming adventures. The doctors have cleared me to go. The fluid is gone and I am getting stronger each day. I hope you all have some wonderful plans for this summer.

Love ya,
MOM

July

So here it is, the beginning of June, and all I can think about is how much I'm excited for July. Here's why:
1. I am going to Rexburg to visit Sarah for the fourth of July weekend and it just so happens that Eric, Laurel, Stevie and Allie will also be there that weekend.
2. On July 7th (the Monday after the weekend of the fourth) I'll be going to Lagoon with some friends in my ward. Hooray for stake Lagoon day. Yeah, it's definitely not as cool as Disneyland, but it is still fun.
3. On July 10th my best friend, Jiffy, will get back from Belgium.
4. July 14th-17th (I think those are the right days) - Nathan, Amanda, and Joshua will be in Utah Valley!!

See - Look at all those fantastic reasons to be excited for July! But it's June, not July. So I have to wait 30 days until all that fun stuff can begin. I guess I'll have to find some fun stuff to be excited about in June for now.