Changes

I've made a few updates to my page. I answered the latest question and I changed my "What's New" page again. Dad has been working hard revamping his page. He should have at least part of it up soon.

Since no one has been on here much lately, perhaps it's time for a new question: What are your food preferences and how did they come about?

Life here at home is busy, between work and church I'm kept hopping most of the time. I really have no excuse, though, for not posting on the blog. I love you guys and hope you are all healthy and happy. I'd write more but I need to get ready for the R.S. broadcast.

Love ya,
MOM

back to school

So I decided to go back to school, and get my Associate's degree. I only need two more terms through Chemeketa, and classes start on Monday. I just ordered my books. Ugh. It isn't as bad as Emily's $500, but it was straight out of my account, so it hurt pretty bad - a little over $200. All of my classes are online, and for the first week it's going to be very stressful, because I won't have all my books right away, and we're moving at the end of the week, and we won't have the internet at the apartment yet, so I'll be spending a lot of time at the library. October will go better, because I'll be used to studying, and I'll be able to use the internet at home. It will be so much nicer, since there are so many different things to do online for my classes, and be able to send things into my teachers, and trying to do homework at home. So if you don't hear from me for a few weeks, that's why.

The good news is, I was showing my teacher some of my artwork, and a different teacher walked in - she saw my portraits, and got some Christmas ideas in her head - so I might have an art project to do this year. It'll take up even more time, but for the amount of money I can make off it, it's totally worth it. Hooray!

AND it's Friday. That's always a good thing.

Funnies

My kids are hilarious.

One day after having talked about how mountains are formed (you know, plate tectonics, plates pushing together, etc.) I mentioned to the kids that fossils of sea creatures have been found near the top of Mt. Everest. I asked them if they knew how that could be possible. One student repled, "Flying Fish." Another thought that maybe a bird had carried them there.

Yesterday we were talking about common and proper nouns. I had the kids name proper nouns for me. When I got to one student he spread his arms out and said very loudly, "Hallelujah!" I told him that it wasn't even a noun. And he said, "Oh, wasn't there a place called Hallelujah?" He thought about it for awhile and then realized that he had meant Honolulu.

-Tawnia

hello?

Is this thing on?

rice cereal ... yummmmm

We had our first attempt at Summer eating food yesterday - it didn't go over too well. The first time it touched her tongue, she made this wretched face. We tried for 5 or 10 minutes to get her to eat - we're not sure if she swallowed anything, but if she did, it probably came right back up when she spit up after we took her out of her chair. (She was in the bouncer - we don't have a high chair yet.) It was rather amusing. Yes, we took pictures. She wasn't in a very good mood today, so we'll try again tomorrow.


I had a Primary meeting last night with a member of the Primary General Presidency - it was really good. The topic was about teaching from the scriptures - there were techniques of how to teach children from the scriptures, and of course a lot of encouragement about how we need to learn the scriptures ourselves if we're going to teach from them. Sister Lillerth (or something like that - she's the 1st counselor) referred to a recent New Era article by Elder Bednar about studying the scriptures. Of course this is a subject we've heard ad nauseum since we were in Primary - this time, the emphasis was on how hard we must work at studying the scriptures. I'd never heard it put quite like that before. The article is online at http://www.lds.org/gospellibrary/pdfmagazine/0,7779,593-8-1,00.html# in the April 2006 issue. I encourage you all to read it, and make time to read the scriptures regularly. We read together as a family every night (yes, we do it with Summer), but we're definitely lacking in our personal reading. That's our focus to improve on right now.

Good-bye, Kitten

There were several reasons why Rebecca and I had to send the kitten away. First off, the landlady's collie hated him. He went ballistic when we brought the kitten downstairs. So he was stuck in our room all day. Kinsley found someone else who could take him, so he's gone now. At least now it will be easier to study without him distracting me, pouncing on my shoes, batting at my pens, or chewing on my papers. And I won't wake up early in the morning with the kitten running back and forth over me. Will I miss Iggi? Not really. I'll still see him every week; he's the mascot of our Dungeons and Dragons group, so I'll see him just about every Saturday night. And besides, classes are keeping me so busy that I don't have time to think about much else. I spent today writing a paper for my Civil War class. I hauled my laptop up to campus to do it.

stay at home status

To get this out of the way right at first - after almost 2 weeks, no, I don't miss work. I don't even think about it.

Well, it's taking a lot longer to do my "I'm staying home now" projects than I had figured. But my epiphany this past Sunday was "Who cares about the projects. You're staying home to be a mommy and raise Summer. The projects will get done eventually." So there you go. I'm of course going to keep working on things and set deadlines, but if I don't meet the deadlines, I'm not going to get bent out of shape.

Summer rolled all the way over from her back to her front on Monday - for the last couple of weeks, she was able to make it most of the way over with her torso and hips, but her shoulder would get stuck. Now she's made it through - she still gets stuck sometimes and starts yelling, but most of the time she can make it all the way over. She also does some kind of weird rotation when she's lying on her back - she'll stay on her back, but pivot to a 45-90 degree angle from where she started. Once she's on her stomach, she's doing better at getting her head up but still doesn't last very long. The last couple of days, I've gotten down on the floor with her and put toys out in front of her to get her to reach for them. Friday is her 4-month checkup (and shots), and I'm going to talk to the doctor about starting her on solid food.

An extra thing to throw into the mix is it looks like my visiting teaching partner is going to pay me to clean her apartment regularly. We had a Relief Society thing on Saturday, and Beth said something about paying me to do her errands for her during the week. (We were talking about her lawn mower, because Adam usually takes care of it for her.) A couple of people looked genuinely interested ... which I think is a little funny, but totally makes sense. In this city, it's very common to work 12-hour days, plus the commute, and the only time you can do any errands is on Saturday - but you don't feel like it because you're tired but you have to. Anyway, after that conversation, my visiting teaching partner (who is new in the ward and I've just barely met her) asked if I'd really clean her apartment for her - she used a housekeeping service in New York, and wants someone here too. Oooookay ... so I'm headed over there Friday or Monday morning. What the heck. It's a little bit more money for just a couple of hours every week or 2, and I can take Summer with me.

More pictures

I've added pictures from our trip to San Antonio last weekend to my page.  We spent all day Saturday at Schlitterbahn water park, so there were no pictures from that day.

Get a Clue

Last night I went to mom and dad's and had dinner and played games. We played two games of clue. Amanda did it both times (meaning Miss Scarlet was the murderer). But Colonel Mustard discovered it both times, meaning I won both games. I don't mean to brag...oh who's kidding who? Of course I mean to brag. Of course I just got lucky that I won the second time, because mom and Amanda had two of the things right, they were just trying to figure out the weapon, so I had to wait a whole round of turns before I could make an accusation. But enough about boring games that most of you weren't there for. School is in full swing now, and I am still trying to figure out a good schedule for me to get everything done that I need to get done. We'll see if I can find something that works.

See all ya'll later.

love,
Nathan

computer cookies and buying plane tickets online

The Washington Post has a consumer awareness blog on its website, and had a post this morning about computer cookies when you buy a plane ticket - or really, anything - online. Here's the gist of the blog post:

When you're looking for plane tickets online, you look at various airlines to get the best price. You decide the one you want and go back to it, and the fare has jumped. It is suggested that before you go back to the website of the plane fare you want, that you clear out the cookies cache in the computer. A cookie is the tag that a website associates with your computer - it knows how many times you've been back and forth to it ... unless you clean out the cookies. Airlines deny making fares jump for people who have been to their website multiple times, but more most of the time, if you clear out the cookies, the airfare will hold at the lower level.

So next time you're buying plane tickets or anything else online, and the price takes a jump after you've looked it a couple of times, clear out the cookies before purchasing and see if it goes back to the original lower price.

I did not know this and thought it very applicable, especially after Jared's plane ticket fun this past summer when getting their tickets for the family reunion ... so I thought I'd pass it on. (See? The Washington Post does have useful stuff!)

Original post if you want to look at the whole thing (you may need to do an online Post subscription, which is free):

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thecheckout/2006/09/cookie_monsters.html

first week at home

People at church this past Sunday kept saying, "So how does it feel to be a stay at home mom?" And really, I had no answer. It was still just the weekend and I hadn't really been off work yet. Now it's Thursday ... I'm thinking "It's Thursday? This week is already mostly gone?" It's felt like a bunch of Saturdays in a row to me so far, and I haven't thought about work at all.

I am getting a lot done but I still have a long way to go. I'm doing a ton of cleaning and organizing, which has been neglected or done only partially since I got pregnant a year ago, not just the last couple of months (even though that's been bad too). I'm also working on my medical transcription - so far about 3 hours per day, which is LOADS better than the 3 or so hours per WEEK that I'd been doing. I've made a serious dent in things this week. I'm finally halfway to the midterm. Good thing it's a self-paced course. That's about it, along with of course taking care of Summer. We got to go to play group this week - some of the other stay-home moms in our ward organized it last spring, and now we can go too! Yay!

mindy at work

After posting a couple weeks back about how crazy and hectic my life is, it has considerably lightened up. I put in my two weeks notice at Macey's that week, and they had enough new hires that I was able to have that Saturday be my last day. No more driving up to Provo, and having to worry about who needed the car. School started the next Tuesday, so I didn't really get a break, but I suddenly had my afternoons free, so it felt like a break. My evenings are still filled up with FHE, tap, institute, and ballet, and then hanging out with people on the weekends. At this point I'm not looking for another second job, but if something fall into my lap then I'll probably have to take it. As it is, my first job is going great. Although I was very hesitant about working with the sixth graders, I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. They can do so much more than first graders, they generally have attention spans .. it's a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I'm already rather attached to my class, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year with them.

To answer Mom's question, I hope that my future children will be determined - to work hard, to be happy, to be close to the spirit, and to help others.

Kitten

Here's the story. Last week, a guy we know (Dave) found a stray kitten outside his house that started following him around. He showed the kitten to his girlfriend (Kinsley) who immediately fell in love with him. She named him Iggi (pronounced like E G). He's a seven-week-old gray and black tabby with four white paws, and he's very playful. Unfortunately, she lives on the fourth floor of Main and so cannot keep the kitten, at least not until she graduates in the spring. And Dave is leaving for his mission to Utah, so he can't keep him.

This is where my roommate Rebecca and I come into the picture.

My landlady said the kitten could stay with us if no one else would take it, and no one would. So now we have a seven-week-old kitten in my room, often chewing on my shoes. He also likes playing with a pom-pom and a ball of yarn. He has to stay upstairs because one of the landlady's dogs hates him.

In other news, classes are keeping me pretty busy, though I did spend some time on Saturday with some friends (since this was Dave's last chance to hang out with us). I spent most of Monday doing reading for my Civil War class, but the teacher said we should have less daily work this next week.

School

Well, my life has been pretty busy the last few weeks... and when I'm not busy at school, I'm at home without any internet access. So that's my excuse for not posting.

School has been in session for two weeks now. I have 25 students this year. 16 girls and 9 boys. They are good kids, probably even better behaved then I had last year. It is nice to see my kids from last year though, they always get really excited to see me... even though they usually see me at least once a day.

I took the low level of kids for math, so my math class is moving pretty slow... even though we're full. I have a lot of extra help during math and it's really nice. We also have at least 40 minutes of prep everyday. I like that a lot. I am able to actually get out of work at a decent time if I actually utilize my prep well.

Oh, and they made me the "team leader" for the year. Which is silly, since one of the other teachers has years and years of experience on me. But the administration decided that they wanted to rotate who was the team leader each year... so it's my turn. Yippee (said quite sarcastically.)

Outside of school I am still taking tap and ballet with Mindy. It is a good stress reliever. I am also trying to stay social within my new ward and old ward. This week I actually felt much more part of the new ward then I ever had before. It was nice.

Anyway, I came to the school (on a holiday even) in order to post a very important question.

I was asked to teach the relief society lesson in two weeks. And the lesson just happens to be on my favorite topic, ha ha, not really. The lesson is from the Wilford Woodruff manual. It's on Marriage and Parenthood. So here is my question for all of you people who are actually married. What experience (or experiences) most prepared you for marriage? And what most prepared you for parenthood? I may call and get more specifics from people, but there are the basic questions. Sorry, my single sisters, it doesn't really apply to you.

I hope you're all doing well. I am, I'm just to busy to let you know that. I do love you all and I'm looking forward to coming home at Christmas. I fly home on Dec. 23rd.

Love,
Tawnia

Stuff from Jared

I have also made some updates. I added several pictures to the movie site, if anyone wants to go see them. But enought about that. Let's talk about the important stuff.

Brooke is doing really well in school. They get behavior grades every day, and so far she has two weeks of straight A's. She has alot of fun and says her teacher is really nice. Bryan is doing really well too. Last week we had a couple of birthday parties for kids in his playgroup. Michelle and I started a new program today to encourage the kids to do their chores, and so far it seems to be going well. Brooke and Bryan earn stickers by picking up after themselves, and helping with dinner, and clearing their dishes, and things like that. Today (the first day) they both earned all their stickers. The house is just as clean right now as it was 24 hours ago. At the end of the week they can trade in their stickers for prizes.

Tomorrow we plan on going to the zoo (yep, another free day) and we'll be meeting some friends there too - the family that took care of the rats and frog while we were reunioning this summer. Next weekend we have a company picnic at Schlitterbahn, a big waterpark just outside San Antonio. We're going to go see the Alamo and the Riverwalk while we're out there.

I guess I can be the brave soul and answer Mom's question first. What I hope for my children is that they turn out to be just like their mother.

Updates

I finally finished all the updates on our trip to DC. I've also changed my "What's New" page and updated my 100 page under the travel section. Since I'm posting a new question you might want to make sure you've seen my answer to the last one. I didn't get any takers on that one. Our new question is: "What do you hope for your children and grandchildren?" Even if you don't have any yet, you can still answer the question.

I hope you are all well and happy in your new adventures. Every day is a new adventure so don't think you're not having any.

Love ya,
MOM

LAST DAY!!!!

Today is my last day as a career politico ... tomorrow is the first day of Operation Domestic Goddess. Woooo! It's a little surreal still that I won't have a "real" job after today - it hasn't quite sunk yet that I don't have to come back here every day anymore. But I'm excited. I don't have to leave Summer anymore, and I can CLEAN!!! Yes indeed, I'm excited about cleaning my house. It will feel GREAT to have it all scrubbed and organized again, and be able to maintain it at hours not in the middle of the night.

I hope everyone got the pictures of Summer yesterday. There's something else I'll finally be able to do - build her website. Until it's done, I'll just keep emailing pictures out as they're taken. I want to get her blog all caught up too, with backdated stuff and then keep it going at least once a week or so.

Nathan and Amanda - that's great that you're having a spring baby. I already think spring babies are about the best timing because you're not pregnant with your body temperature all out of whack during the heat of the summer. Even last September when I was in my first month, it hadn't cooled off yet and I was more than usually uncomfortable. I'm glad I didn't go through that this summer - the humidity has been WRETCHED this year. Also - if you have a girl, we'll give you the swimsuit we bought for Summer, since it obviously won't fit her anymore next year. It cost us 18 bucks, and she's worn it a grand total of about 20 minutes. Even if we take her to the pool a couple more times, I'll be surprised if she breaks an hour. And tell me again what names you're thinking of ...

Okay, off I go to do my final wrap up!!! YAY!!!

Ultrasound

Amanda had a doctor's appointment today. She went and had an ultrasound done. They determined that the baby is 10 weeks along. That is a quarter of the cooking time. The due date is set for March 29, right at the end of spring break. We got better pictures of the little bean and Amanda said that it was wiggling its arms and legs. I did not get to go because today was my first day of classes. I hope that you all are doing well and that it stops raining in New York so we can watch some live tennis. I know how important that is to all of you.

Love,
Nathan

School time

School starts tomorrow. I have a lab that I have to go to. My first real day of classes is Wednesday. I have four classes that I go to between 8 and 12:30, each an hour long. I hope that I can make it through it. This weekend we are going up to Amanda's parents' home, because we have not been there since after the reunions. Amanda is excited to get off campus, because she has been way busy with training RAs and getting ready for all of the trouble makers...I mean students to show up. I am excited to get off campus too. Hey, Emily. I spent $600 on textbooks. Some of them were used too. I feel your pain. I hope that you enjoy German class. I enjoyed Germany.

Nathan

Happy Birthday Eric! Here are the lyrics to the song we (Tawnia and Mindy) sang to you, so everyone else can enjoy them too.

Happy birthday to you,
You're now thirty-two.
You have a cute baby,
and a pretty wife too.

Happy birthday to you,
We hope you have a few
More birthdays like this one.
Happy birthday to you.


And Trina, Tawnia and I have a computer fast on Sundays because we don't have the internet at our apartment, so there is very little reason to actually turn on the computer. We should have a TV fast though, even though the only movie we watched yesterday was Veggie Tales' Jonah.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC!!!

This is great. With Trina taking a computer fast, I get to be first to wish Eric a blog of a birthday. How was your party last night? From what I saw online, the Angels won last night. What a birthday dream come true. Well, I hope that a lot of people showed up to your party last night, and that you guys ate lots of good food.

Nathan

computer fast

The Caudles are going on a computer fast for Sunday, August 27 ... I'm thinking that we are WAAAAAY too reliant on the computer for entertainment, and it's the first place we go when we're even remotely bored. Or even when we're not bored. Taking turns isn't even an issue because I use the main desktop computer, and Adam has his laptop (with all of his games loaded on both). And particularly on the Sabbath. Sure, computer time on Sunday is not bad - we could email or IM with family and friends, or read/listen to something on LDS.org, or post on the blog. But there are many other things we could be doing on Sunday too, like, oh, reading our scriptures.

I'm also trying to think of ways to make Sunday a stand-apart day from the rest of the week, now that we're home a lot more and the days are all pretty much the same, even Sunday. Adam isn't in class very long every day - he does study at the library, but he's still home a lot more now than when he was at the Senate. And I'll be home all day every day starting next weekend - I'll be on the computer plenty with working on my medical transcription training so I can get a stay-home job. (No, I'm not done with it, but if I don't quit my regular job, I'll NEVER get done with it. I'm shooting for the end of December to finish.) Anyway, so because we're on the computer all the time anyway, even though they are mostly productive things, getting OFF the computer will be a Sabbath thing.

No, I'm not saying that all of you should do this too - I don't know what your computer habits are. I just thought I'd share.

Today, we went to the American History museum because it's closing for 2 years. They're gutting the building and remodeling everything. I hope they make the exhibits easier to get through - they're a bit of a maze right now. A lot of things were closed already, but oh well. At least we went.

Happy birthday, Stevie!

Happy first birthday to the cutest baby boy in the world! I hope you have a good day and that we get cute pictures up soon of you and your cake.

Today was my first day of class. I had one class -- German. We learned how to say "ich heisse" and say the alphabet and numbers. I did try to test out of German One, but when I took the test, it put me towards the top of German One but still in German One and since it has been seven years since I took a German class, I thought it would be best to review.

Tonight, there is also a class for the travel study students, and I am very excited about that.

Yesterday I spent $500 on text books -- those darn history classes all have multiple text books, but I am going to share my astronomy book with my roommate, Rebecca, who is in the same class.

And last night, "noon-thirty at night," as Rebecca called it, the phone started ringing. It turned out to be our landlady's daughter, and when there was no answer (she was taking a bath), she panicked and thought her mother was in insulin shock and phoned the police who came to the door. And this set the dogs off. And our landlady had just gotten out of the tub. I didn't sleep very well last night.

Stevie's birthday is going well. He has played with a ball and eaten Cheerios and laughed at the shark puppet. His mommy and daddy sang "Happy Birthday" to him while he drank a bottle of formula this morning. He is taking a nap now.

Happy Happy Birthday!

STEVIE! You are welcome to come to Utah to laugh with me anytime. I'm so glad you are a year old now. Soon you'll be walking and amazingly even more fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVIE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

To the cutest one year old, Stevie:

Dear Stephen. I would like to wish you a happy one year birthday. It was a pleasure meeting you last July, and hanging out with you and seeing your big smile. I hope that on this day of bliss you are able to eat Gerber baby food flavored like cake and ice cream – unless of course there is no such thing. Have a splendid birthday, and we are all glad that you came to earth to be with us. You are a special little guy and you aunt and uncle in Salem love you very much.

Peace baby dawg,

Uncle Nathan and Auntie Amanda

HAPPY

1 st

BIRTHDAY

STEVIE!!

We love you!! - Aunt Trina, Uncle Adam, and Cousin Summer

Hello from Virginia

Greetings, family.

This is just so you know that I have made it down here to my school -- I'm all unpacked now. I'm getting along great with my roommate, Rebecca. Right now I'm at the library, because I don't have the internet in my room. But I'll be posting as often as I can, and I'm sure I'll be up here quite a lot.

I had a pretty good time in Nashville, although there were times when it was a little hectic. I did enjoy the exhibition hall, where I collected as many pens as I possibly could. And I took Summer around the huge atrium in the hotel which had a lot of fountains and a river with a boat on it.

By the way, my post office box is now 4007. The rest of the address is the same, and in fact, it's the same box, but they renumbered the boxes. And I have my cell phone, so call any time (except when I'm in class, of course).

Talk to you all later,
Emily

Whew!!!

Last week was one long week, with everything going on ... last weekend, my friend Letta from my mission was in DC with some friends. She spent Sunday with us, and crashed on the air mattress Sunday night. Monday morning, Summer and Emily and I went to Nashville - we stayed in the fancy shmancy convention center hotel and ate at expensive restaurants and it was really just a typical conference for me. Stopping to feed Summer occasionally was the only difference, and she didn't like me keeping her out late for group dinners. So we did that only one time (and she was very fussy so we left early). The "adventure" of the trip was that for my first meeting, I was wearing pants and a blazer - 5 minutes before it started, I had Summer in the meeting room to meet a couple of people, and she had a diaper blow-out all over my sleeve. Emily and I bolted for the nearest restroom and spent 10 or 15 minutes cleaning her up enough so Emily could take her back to our room. There went my blazer for the entire conference - it was the only one I took with me. The social event was at the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was mostly all the old country stuff - I didn't see any displays for the new country music artists who I like.

We got back Thursday night. I worked Friday, Adam had his 2nd day of orientation at school, and Emily got packed and ready to leave for SVU. We drove her down on Saturday, and that was a loooong day of Summer being in her carseat. She handled it fairly well. She had her moments, but for the most part she was fine. Yesterday, I put the living room back together (mostly - except the corner with the desk - that's still buried) and the missionaries came over for dinner ... And now I'm back in the office for 9 more work days. Next Thursday is my last day.

Eric and Laurel - Happy anniversary!!
Bryan - Happy birthday!!
Tawnia and Mindy - congrats on moving into your new place!!
Nathan and Amanda - yay for the little Bean!! Let us know when you have the due date!!
Clarissa - sorry to hear that the wedding date is postponed - I hope things are able to work out the way you want them to, and that you're happy with things.

Change in plans

The wedding date is no longer December 27. We don't know when it is. We will tell you when we do.

haha

I don't know how many of you noticed before it was asked to be returned to normal, but I will tell you what I did whether you noticed or not. When I was changing the title of my company the other day I decided to do something on the menu that I had wanted to do for a long time. I changed Emily’s name from Emily Corps to Emily Corpse. I thought it was funny. Mom saw it and told Emily, and then Mom fixed it. So if you missed it, blame Mom. Hope you guys have a good weekend. Mom and Dad went to the beach with the youth from Yamhill Ward.

Nathan

Home for a little while

Hi family,

I got home from New York yesterday. Looks like I'm going back in a few weeks though. I'll be there for 9/11 actually.

Tonight Laurel and I are celebrating our anniversary. She just got back from dropping off Stevie at Rachel's house. We're going to go out to eat and watch a movie. We haven't done that for a while.

Yes, it's been a good nine years. The last one was really good. Thanks for the congrats. Laurel says: "I worked really hard while Eric was gone. I didn't hardly watch any TV at all. That's my report."

Love,
Eric

moving moving moving

Tawnia and I are offically "moved in" although we've spent more hours moving than actually being in our apartment. Today is my other day without Maceys (not a day off, because I still have to be here at Reagan), so I'm spending the afternoon packing the rest of the stuff in the old place, and cleaning it. We still also need to move all the boxes from the garage (that we moved stuff into last weekend) in the house, and probably just store most of it in the hall closet. I'm excited to set things up and figure out where they go .. it's my favorite part.

Yes, Happy Anniversary!!!

I hope you'll have time for a real celebration when Eric gets home from his trip. When is that, anyway?

Since I had such a nice response from my last question I thought I'd try another one. What church callings have you had, and which did you enjoy the most?

Dad just got home and we need to run into town and get some groceries and such so I need to run.

Love ya,
MOM

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, ERIC AND LAUREL!!!

I just realized what day it is and it is the day to celebrate Eric and Laurel's nuptials. I am very excited for you guys and happy that Stevie has joined the ranks of Palmerhood and is a member of your family. I hope that you guys are able to go to Hawaii next year for you 10th year anniversary. I am sorry that Eric is across the country right now, or is he back? I hope that you guys get to go eat or go do something exciting. Amanda and I went to the Eiffel Tower for our anniversary, but we don’t have to talk about that, I just like to brag. Just know that we love all you guys and that we can’t wait until we get to our nine year because that is the really special one. Oh my gosh… I will be over thirty by then. Not that being over thirty is in any way bad, it is just that I will be over thirty. Well good luck, and may your next nine years bring you more happiness and children.

Love,
Nathan and Amanda and Bean

We're home

Dad and I just got back from our rather quick trip. We left Thursday morning and after nearly 2400 miles of driving, got home tonight. We enjoyed touring the Sacramento Temple, going through the Fresno one and going to the McCune Reunion in Las Vegas. We stayed with Jenny in Vegas and came home via Provo so we could visit Tawnia and Mindy and help them a little with their moving.

When we got home there was a message from Joy that she just got a new little grandson. I'll give her a call tomorrow because I didn't want to call her at midnight, her time, to ask his name.

Love you all,
MOM

the temp must die

The last day of getting ready for a work trip is typically pretty hectic, but this time, I was way ahead of the game (because both bosses panicked with my being gone on maternity leave, and had most things done when I got back to work). Once my shipment of all my copies was gone on Fri. the 4th, I didn't have much to do all this past week - a very easy, quiet week. Until Friday. When the housing coordinator in our main office in Denver called me to ask about the hotel reservations for some of my speakers. Their registration forms also had the housing requests, including personal credit card numbers and the temp had screwed them ALL UP!!! He had the same credit card number on 3 forms. He had forms filled in that the speaker was paying for his own hotel AND we were paying it - for the same speaker. I spent a good majority of Friday cleaning up the hotel mess, and this was after he did NOT give any of them complimentary registration (so I've been fielding phone calls for the last 3 weeks - "Why did I get a bill?" "Because we messed up, and didn't catch it until the bills had already been sent. Disregard.") So yeah. It's a good thing he was already gone because I would have smacked him a good one.

We're leaving tomorrow morning for Nashville - we'll see how things go at the airport but I'm trying to be ready by packing very specifically. We'll be back Thursday night - the conference doesn't end until the weekend, but I'm done Thursday morning so we're coming home and I'll go to the office on Friday and get started on my wrap up at the office.

my (crazy) life

This week I worked 32 hours. Pretty normal really, and I only had to start moving on one of those days that I worked. Next week though, I have to start going back to Reagan in the mornings, and continue going to Maceys in the evenings. Here is a schedule of next week for me.

Monday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Tuesday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, entire afternoon spent moving, 7:30PM Tap
Wednesday: 9AM - 3PM @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Thursday: 9AM - 1PM @ Reagan, 8:30PM Ballet
Friday: 9AM? - 1PM? @ Reagan, 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys
Saturday: 3PM - 11PM @ Maceys

Aside from all the spiritual uplifting, I love Sundays because I know I don't have to work either job, and it gives me a break from everything. I will still try and post occasionally, with any exciting news that happens when I'm not work (like when we finally get to move).

Hello

Those are cute pictures of Bryan at his party, and the cake was cool. I thought he was going to have an eye-patch and a hat. Anyways, thank you for sharing those with us. I also wanted to thank Mindy for specifying in her drawing that I was a baby sleeping. I did not want others thinking that I was an adult wearing a diaper. And sucking on a pacifier. Thank you, Mindy.

Nathan

Bryan's Birthday

Hey Jared, Those are cool pictures of Bryan's Birthday party. Thanks for letting me see them first, since I was talking to you on the phone when you put them on the site. I have been following the mantra that Jared advised me to use while driving. I get in the car, and when someone does something stupid I clench my teeth and say, "I am a leaf on the wind! Watch me soar!" Or something to that effect.

Today Mindy and I actually started moving things closer to our new apartment. We now have a bunch of stuff in one of the garages behind our new apartment building. They are cleaning the carpets there on Monday and we should be able to move in either Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon. We are very excited about that.

I am also very excited about Nate and Manda's news! Yay!

I'm still really stressed about most things in my life, but now that I'm actually getting to move, and I should actually get to go into my classroom soon... it's helping my nerves calm a bit. I also got a very kind e-mail from the parent of a child I will have in class this next year. She said that her daughter was excited about school for the first year, because she is going to have me as her teacher. That made me feel really good and made me actually get excited about school starting. I teach because of the kids... and that really is the only reason. They make my job worth all of the stress that I go through.

Anyway, I hope everyone else is doing well.

Love,
Tawnia

The word is out

Just so everyone knows . . . everyone knows

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYAN!!

It has begun...

I've started updating the Pure Chaos page now.  I redid all the menu items to stuff that seems to make a little more sense (at least in my head) and put in the pictures from the CD that Mom and Dad sent.  Don't worry, I backed up most of what I had previously done, so pretty much everything should be able to be restored if desired.

So I ask again, if you haven't already, go look around and see what you can contribute.  Particularly personal bio sheets (with your acting experience), character backstories, movie reviews, and pictures.

Memories

I know that it has only been a month but I miss everyone being around and hanging out with all of you guys. For the last several weeks I have had reminders of some of the things that we did. In our home we have two recycle bins. When they get full, I empty them into bigger barrels in the buildings recycle room. One of the barrels is for paper. Because the students are not here yet, they do not bet emptied often. On the top of the paper barrel is a piece of paper folded in half. Written on it is a list of items that were necessary for the show to go on: Walkie-Talkies, Orange Poncho, and Water Guns. Each item has an exclamation mark after it. On the inside of the folded paper is a short paragraph about how the Sweet-potato is sometimes mistakenly called the yam, and how yams are actually found in specialty stores. Oh the memories. I am reminded of how Adam beat us at Cities and Knights and Jared beat me at Dominoes. Eric, and even Laurel I think, beat me at HORSE or just H. It was fun playing with Brooke and Bryan and how Bryan picked up on the Hot Dog and Brooke gave a fierce high-five. Driving down to Salem with Mindy and Tawnia and having to wait in for 20 minutes or so at construction at midnight was fun too in its own little way. Emily was such a good sport about us being in her sleeping area until way passed her couch time. Anyways, I had a good time, and I remembered all of this because of a little piece of paper in a recycle bin that has been there for a few weeks. I love you all and hope that you are healthy.

Nathan

More travels

Tomorrow morning Dad and I are leaving town once again. We're going to the McCune Reunion in Las Vegas. I answered that smelly question - It's on my page. Just thought you might want to know. I keep checking to see if there are any other updates. It sure would be nice to have more pictures of my grandkids. *hint hint*

Love ya,
MOM

websitey stuff

Hey folks, it's that time again.  Time to update the "Pure Chaos" website.  Since the movie is now finished, I don't see any reason we can't finish the website.  I really don't mind doing it, as long as you don't mind me taking my own sweet time at it.  So here's my request for all of you.  Go into the website.  Look around.  See what I did last year (I haven't touched it since January).  If you have anything you want to contibute - character backstories, pictures from the "making of", personal bios, or anything else - email them to me and I'll include them on the site.  Anything you don't send, I'll just make it up myself.

3 months

Today is Summer's 3 month birthday. She's doing great!! She's a generally happy baby and very smiley. Adam brought her into my office yesterday and she was well-behaved with getting passed around to everyone. We've pretty much figured out that she has 3 different cries - if something is wrong (hungry, stomach ache, or diaper change - you have to go through the list sometimes to pin it down), if she's tired, or if she just wants attention. She's starting to get adjusted to an 8 pm bedtime but I apparently need to work on a nap schedule when I start staying home next month. She's good at church - if I can get her used to the pattern that we did this past Sunday, it would be great!! She was quiet through sacrament meeting, and I played the piano for the opening of Primary. Then I fed her during the first Sharing Time, she was quiet during singing time, I finished feeding her during the second Sharing Time, and gave her to Adam for the end of church so I could play for the end of Primary. It worked for me!

I have 17 work days left, and a trip to Nashville next week for the big summer conference. Emily and Summer are going with me. Adam has 5 work days left, and has orientation for school next week. He starts class on the 21st. We're taking Emily to school on Sat. the 19th, and then won't see her until at least spring break. More big changes coming!!

Moving Frustrations

So Mindy and I were hoping to move this week.... but who knows if that is happening or not. I'm really, really annoyed that it isn't happening yet. Granted we can stay in our current apartment until August 18th, but I have to start working everyday on August 14th and Mindy will have two jobs starting on the 14th... so we really wanted to move THIS week so we could be at least somewhat settled before the 14th. It is really, really, really annoying!! The reason we can't move in now... is something about the bathroom floor having problems... so they ripped it out. Grrrr.... Plus I'm annoyed with some things at work... to the point that I'm ready to just get in my car and drive far, far away from all of this. Trina... do you want a live in nanny?? Eric? Jared?? Okay, fine... I'll just stay here and deal with all of this crud.

On the bright side... I'm still alive today... see my post on the sisters blog for more information on that.

Tawnia

Mount Vernon

Yesterday and today, they were redoing the computers at Adam's work, so he had the day off. That meant I had the day off. On Monday, I saw Ford's Theater and the Library of Congress.

Today, I went to Mount Vernon. It took two hours to get there via the Metro and buses, but I got there. I took a tour of the mansion first thing when the lines were nonexistent. In fact, for a while, I was on my own. They have tour guides in the different rooms of the mansion. It is beautiful. And then I looked around at the other buildings. There were two walking tours -- one about the landscapes and gardens (which were beautiful) and one on the slaves' lives.

After lunch, I went to the wreath laying ceremony at Washington's tomb. They have volunteers lead the pledge of allegiance (in this case a group of girl scouts), then someone places the wreath on a metal stand in the tomb (usually a member of the military), and then someone reads a prayer that George Washington wrote. I did that.

I also saw a farm with a sixteen-sided threshing barn, livestock, and gardens. It was very interesting. Washington was a brilliant farmer and a stickler for detail.

And now I'm thinking that I might apply for a summer internship at Mount Vernon and similar locations.

The Senator's pool

Yesterday, a friend of Trina and Adam's who works for a Senator invited us to go swimming in the Senator's pool (which he has permission to use when she is out of town). But first we had to get Summer swim diapers, along with a bikini top and a hat. Pictures will be posted later. The house was REALLY nice, and the pool was huge and about fifteen feet deep at one end. Summer was only in the water for a few minutes, but she seemed to like it. And we swam around and played some games. It was fun.

promotion

I got a promotion today from Staff Assistant to Professional Staff. To give you an idea of how important Staff Assistants are at the Hill, the Assistant part is usually abbreviated into a three-letter profanity. Although I'm only there for two more weeks, the Chief Counsel/Staff Director to give me the promotion (which I asked to take place as I was leaving) to be effective immidiately. I think that it will include a pay raise for the next few weeks. Also, I found out that I have 17 days of unused leave, which I will probably be paid for. So it's about an extra paycheck and a half or so that we weren't planning on. How was your day?

smells from childhood (in no particular order)

1. The smell of the ocean, first thing in the morning as the sun is just peeking above the horizon.
2. Fresh cut grass on a lazy (early) summer afternoon.
3. Hot asphalt from a really hot August day.
4. That crisp, cold smell right before it snows when everything is about to be buried under a blanket of white.
5. The smell of rain in the last hour or so before a really big thunderstorm hits.
6. That weird amalagation of smells at the farmer's market as you pass by the dry veggies and the fresh fruit and the potatoes.
7. The smell of musty old books.
8. Lots of wood smoke.

Adam

Smells, Weather, and Plane Tickets

Smells that remind me of childhood -- I thought first of the smells of Christmas, the smell of pine needles (when we got real trees), cookies baking, and candles. It's always been my favorite holiday.

The weather here is very, very hot. I've been sitting around the apartment with Summer, trying to keep cool. Good thing we can the air conditioner fixed.

And I bought my plane tickets for Christmas. I'll be flying out of Roanoke on December 16th and flying back on January 9th early in the morning (really early -- the flight leaves at seven).

from Jared

I guess it has been a little while since we've given an update.  Our computer has been down for a month now (and we haven't gotten it running again yet...) so that's my excuse.

I'm still busy at work.  In addition to the regular production, I'm helping coordinate the new ESD protection for the department, and I'm reverse-engineering a test module that someone hand-built a few years ago without writing down the design specs.  So I've got plenty to do.

Since Bryan's 4th birthday is coming up, we're planning a party for him.  If anyone wants to drop by on Saturday the 12th from 2 to 4 pm, be ready for a swashbuckling good time.  Brooke will start first grade the week after that, I believe on the 16th.

Oh, and the smells question.  It would probably be bad form to bring up the strong odor of wet sheets emanating from younger siblings' bedrooms that I would complain about when I was a teenager.  I used to sniff apples at the grocery store to help Mom pick out the good ones.  I also remember the tree smells - the cedars in the yard, and the Christmas tree bonfires and campouts with the Scouts.

That's all the news I can think of right at the moment.  If anyone has any other questions, well, our phones still work!

smells

Like Trina, the first thing I thought of was Christmas smells. All the cookie smells and warmth, the fireplace, a real tree. Because my birthday is Christmas in July, a friend of mine got me a really cute Santa decoration for my birthday last week, so I was thinking about Christmas anyway.

Another odd smell that reminds me of childhood is gasoline. Whenever I'm at a gas station, it reminds me of being on vacation, and waking up in the van (the sound of the door opening usually woke me up), and smelling the gas. The smell wasn't as pungent during the day, or at least not in my memories. It was always night, and I was always waking up.

On Sunday I made some pelmeni. Pelmeni is a Russian stuffed pasta (like ravioli or dumplings). It was my first time making it since actually being in Russia, and although it didn't smell as strong as it did then, the familiar smell was there. It made me think back to the tiny apartment kitchen with wood floors, and the clear green glass plates we would eat off of.

Smell

Laurel and I went walking in the park Saturday (Stevie was there, but he wasn't walking). The dirt trail and the smells of the trees and grass in the damp morning air reminded me of mornings at Scout Camp: lining up for the flag raising or gathering for a merit badge session. It didn't help that we passed an archery range.

I thought I'd share that in response to your question.

car goodbyes

Tawnia, may I offer my condolences. I know how you feel about the demise of Hank. I was very sad when we said goodbye to Zippy in February - my Toyota Echo that I drove back and forth to California more than once, to Utah a couple of times, to Montana and all over there, and my solo cross-country journey to DC. But now I'm not so sad, because it's horrifically hot outside and Zippy did not have air conditioning (or a tape deck or power windows or even power steering either, like Hank). Our new car, Zippy's cousin Speedy (another Toyota, but upgraded to a Corolla), has air conditioning which is pretty much a necessity right now. Speedy also has 4 doors, which Zippy did not, which is necessary to get Summer's carrier in and out of the car.

If you want to read about our latest conversations about traveling, check out the sisters' blog. In the last 24 hours, we've started talking about a couple of different ideas that would be SO AWESOME!!!

I also remember the smell of fresh-cut grass ... but the first thing that came to mind when I read the question was all the smells of Christmas from the tree and baking. I also remember the smell of the cedar trees at the end of the house that we used to climb (and the ones we played under that are no longer there), and we'd get pitch all over our hands and clothes. And I remember the smell of the warm fresh flour when Mom would use the wheat-grinder and bake bread. Mmmmmm!!! And I remember the smell of fruit when we would can peaches and pears at the end of the summer. This is making me nostalgic ...

Smelly

I think the smells I remember most from my childhood are the smell of rain, and the smell of freshly cut grass. I love the smell of the air right after it rains. It reminds me of home and those afternoons when you just sat inside reading, and listening to the rain fall on the roof. The smell of freshly cut grass reminds me of Dad mowing the lawn. I remember watching him when I was little. I would run from one window to the next to watch. He probably doesn't even know that I did that.


My old car, Hank, has finally gone to his final resting place, State Street Auto Wrecking. I took them the title last Wednesday and they finally picked him up sometime yesterday. He was a good car. We had many great adventures together. I drove that car from Oregon to Utah, from Utah to Texas, from Texas to Oregon, from Oregon to Idaho and back, and then from Oregon to Utah. I remember that one time I left the lights on for three or four days (this was during my first week at EFY) and then finally realized it. I got in and he started right up as if nothing had happened. Not long after I got Hank, Trina invited me to come down to Monmouth to spend the night. So I had my first experience driving Hank in the rain at night... all by myself. It was a little scary, but I made it. Hank was great. He didn't have much of a liking for hills... but going down hill he did amazingly. I didn't have air conditioning, power windows, or a tape deck... but he was great. I loved that car. So everyone please have a moment of silence and think of what a great car I once had... even if you never met him.

-T

You asked for it.

I guess it's about time to get going on this again so here's a new question for all of us to answer - even you Nathan. What is a special smell you remember from your childhood?

I haven't had time to get back to working on my page yet. I have to teach in YW this coming Sunday and I'm leaving for girl's camp Wednesday morning and won't get home until Saturday. So I've been trying to get my lesson figured out but it just isn't coming together. I'll take my notes and work on it at camp. Maybe I'll get something posted next week before we leave for Las Vegas, but maybe not.

I hope everyone is healthy and happy and I've enjoyed the updates on the pages, too.

Love ya,
MOM

Poor Bryan

Jared and Michelle, I saw the pictures added to your page from the reunion. Pretty sweet. I had forgotten that Bryan fell and hurt his face on the second to last day. I hope that he is doing better and healing up quickly. Does school start for Brooke soon? I start in 29 days. I bet Brooke is more excited about school than I am, but that is because she is smarter than me and knows that school will do her good. anyways, where's a new question for me to ignore, mom? I have not seen one in a while.

Nathan

BEWARE OF STEVIE

It is no longer "beware of dog" signs that need to be heeded, but BEWARE OF STEVIE

Blog FHE

Since it was the last Sunday of the month (and I was gone for several of the earlier ones), I got visit taught. Our lesson was on strengthening families. The main points emphisized were temple work and family history. Those can be done at any stage in life; as a child or teenager, all the way up to retired adult. It is something that can bring your family closer, learning about the family before them, more than just names and dates (if possible), but stories as well. Other strengthening activities mentioned were family reunions and activities, traditions, FHE, dinners, etc. I overheard Tawnia getting visit taught, and because we are all "in between" families, they talked more about things we can do now to strengthen ourselves. It is hard to take care of a lot of other people, when you don't take the time to take care of yourself. Although you are part of a group, you are still an individual, and you still can have things that just you like to do. Take the time to get away and read, draw, hike, swim, anything that makes you happy. You will always be you, no matter who else comes into your life, so be sure you know who that is.

You can find a copy of the visiting teaching message on lds.org under Gospel Library, and it is under monthly messages on the right-hand side. Or look in the July 2006 Ensign.

Sounds like us

Hey Emily,
your trip around Washington DC and looking for metro stations and finding different ones and then coming above ground and not knowing where you were reminded Amanda and I about our trip to Europe in a round-about way. We had lots of times where we didn't know where we were when we popped out from the underground, or we couldn't find the places that were right in front of our faces. The place that I am thinking of however is an internet cafe that used to be in one place that we were sent, and it ended up not being there anymore. Big cities have a way of sucking people in and not letting them go until the city has played a few tricks on them. But once you get used to the metro systems, I am sure that they aren't as bad. It wasn't as bad for us when we figured them out. But then again, we never completely figured anything out.
Nathan

Round and round and round I go

First off, I did not get lost yesterday. I always knew exactly where I was. Where the place was that I was trying to get to -- that's another story.

Yesterday, Trina dropped me off at the Metro Station, and I rode down to the Mall. I went to the Natural History Museum (I got lunch there). They had an exhibit on Antarctica (and you all know how I like penguins), so I wanted to see it. The problem was, I couldn't find it. I knew it was on the first floor, so I walked around in circles until I was able to get directions.

Then I went to the Art Gallery. There's a huge dome in the middle, and then many galleries, one leading into another. So I looked at the paintings (I liked the Monet paintings and landscapes). And it just went on and on, and after about an hour, I started wandering in circles again trying to find my way out. (Good thing there are exit signs near the floor beside the doors.)

When I was leaving, I asked for directions to the Metro station, because I wanted to go to the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum which had just recently opened. Next time I must ask which street I should cross. I never did find the station in question. But I eventually (by following a family of tourists) found another station. And then I had to find out which way it was to the gallery, which was four blocks from the station.

The Portrait Gallery was nice. I saw portraits of Civil War generals, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and the founding fathers -- in that order. Yes, I went through all the exhibits backwards. I did the same thing with the American President exhibit.

I actually skipped the modern art exhibits, because my feet were hurting, and I made it back without getting mixed up once. Although there was a truck parked in the middle of the road.

And today, my adventure involved a vacuum cleaner. It was not working. So I starting pulling hair from the rollers. And I cut hair and yarn from the rollers. And I pulled some more. And more, and more, and more. (I am in no way exaggerating.) But it still didn't work, so I pulled off the catcher and dumped it out. And Trina asked if there was a filter in there. And I found the filter, buried under a mountain of dirt. And now the vacuum works.

look around

If you checked out the sister blog earlier, you can check it out again, because I changed it again. I think I'll leave it like this for a while, until I decide to play with it again. I hope you like it!

While you're looking around, you can also see the portrait I did for Sam on my page (there is a link for my page on the sister blog) .. it is at the right end of one of the rows .. it's worth finding.

Hola

I think this blog is feeling a bit neglected (as I'm sure all the other blogs owned by members of our family are feeling also.) I realize that we all just saw each other a few weeks ago... but life is still happening, and I still like hearing from people.

Mom and Dad - Congrats on the new car! I'm excited to see it when you come through Utah in a few weeks. (But more excited to see you.)

Eric, Laurel and Stevie -- I want to see more pictures! I really miss seeing that boy. I look at the videos I made of him a lot and I am already thinking of when I can come to Cali to see him again.

Jared, Michelle, Brooke, and Bryan -- I miss all of you too. What have you been doing since being back in Texas? When does Brooke start school again? Have you been doing lots of swimming? What fun things have you been doing as a family?

Nate and Manda -- Could you put a page of all the Cathedrals and Castles you went too (or saw) and where they are... and also any stories you want to share about them. I teach my class about the Middle Ages and it would be cool to have those to share with them. Thanks. (It doesn't have to be right away... I don't teach about that until later in the year.)

Sisters -- Look at the sisters blog to see questions I have for you and Mindy's newest arrangement of things. It looks pretty cool.

Love you all.
Tawnia

Hello friends

I was just looking around at Mom's page and saw many of the changes. I like your new car. Every time I talked to you since you got it I forgot to ask what color it was. I should have known that you would have picked red. I like your matching outfit too. Are you going to put pictures on your traveling page of the reunion, even though you did not need to travel to get there? My camera was either full of pictures from our other trip or the batteries were dead, or we forgot it at home, so we did not get very many pictures from the reunions. We did however get some of Stevie. Are we going to get copies of all those family ones soon? Anyways, I hope that everyone is healthy and well, and I am lonely now that all you guys are gone. Obviously mom and dad and Clarissa are still here, but it was fun having everyone around.

I just wanted to add that I saw Mindy's new piggy on her page, and that her school page has a lot of pictures from her class. I don't know if that has been there for a while, but I just noticed. I also saw the pictures added to Jared's page. I saw them a little while ago but failed to meniton before. I like the cannon shot.

Nathan

the past few days

Thank you all for the birthday wishes, either on the blog or by phone. I heard from just about everyone. I was very happy to get sung happy birthday four times on my phone, because that's the only place I heard it (the song, not the words "Happy Birthday"). But I had a nice breakfast out with some friends, and it was a good start to the day. I went to work for a majority of the day, but one of the girls bought me a little cake, and I ate that for dessert during my break. Afterwards I got to go to tap class for the first time in a month. Turns out they changed the time it started, so we showed up at the end, instead of the beginning, but Charlee stayed the extra hour so we could have our class. We learned a ton, so I had an excellent time. Around 11 o'clock, we went out to the parking lot and set off a few extra firecrackers from the 4th, and danced around with sparklers.

Yesterday, because I didn't have to work until three, Tawnia and I started to look around for furniture for our new apartment (that we will hopefully move into next weekend). We didn't find a whole lot at WalMart, but she did buy me one of those collapsable butterfly chairs for my birthday (and after sitting in it a while will probably get one herself). While I'm at work today, she's going in to find out about some six foot Monster Sacks (aka giant beanbags) that we might use as our couch.

I got a phone call from the principal at Reagan Academy. He told me that I'm not going to be working with the same teacher this next year, or even stay in the same grade. I was a bit shocked by the news, and although he assured me that it was because of anything I did, and it was just because they thought I would do well with the new teacher, I was still sad to move up. I'm moving up to the sixth grade. I sat and cried for a few minutes, because I was so surprised, and because I'm really really going to miss working with all the cute first graders. But I just might like sixth grade, and I could probably use the challenge.

A few updates

I've been working on my page lately. I have a new picture on "What's New" and I have part of our DC pictures on my travel page. Trina asked me to put up some pictures of Summer. I'd been working on my vacation page so I just put up what I have done so far. There's still a lot more to do on it.

Life is still busy here at home, a little quieter but still busy. Next week I'll be at Girl's Camp from Wednesday through Saturday and the following weekend we're going to Las Vegas for the McCune family reunion. We'll stay with Jen while we're there and we have a couple of stops on the way, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post.

After that it will be time to start thinking about school starting. Then there's wedding plans and whatever else comes along, but life is supposed to be busy. It's what keeps us out of trouble. No boredom around here.

Love ya,
MOM

Another happy birthday

Hey, Mindy.

Have a great birthday. Do you still have those fireworks you were saving from the Fourth of July? Have fun with Tawnia.

Emily

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday Mindy!

I hope you have a great day even though you have to work.

Eat some cake!

We love you!

Eric, Laurel & Stevie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MINDY!!!

Today Mindy is 23 years old and she is done being 22. It is sad, I know, but life will go on. Mindy, do not worry about not being 22 anymore. I had a rough time at first, but I overcame the difficulties of turning 23 and have since turned 24. The numbers are all starting to jumble together now and I really have not cared what my age is, except that at times I wish I was still 22. If you want I could keep telling people you're 22. Anyways, happy birthday and I hope that Tawnia makes you a cake or something.

Nathan

Happy birthday, Mindy!!

Love, Trina and Adam and Summer

Work

Well, I know it is a struggle for Mindy to work 40 hours this week.... but it is forcing me to come over to the school and get to work. I am also doing better about getting up early, and trying to get to bed earlier. I actually feel that I have accomplished some things today. My classroom is still a mess, but it's slowly getting better. I like having windows, but I can feel the heat seeping in from the wall. Hopefully the same thing won't happen with the cold. So yeah, ummm... I'm going to go home now and do more stuff there.

Happy Pioneer Day.

Love,
Tawnia

I did it

At 3:16 pm Eastern, I e-mailed my resignation letter to Susan, Jeremy and Carl - my 2 bosses and our executive director - effective August 31. This is almost a bigger leap of faith than moving out here to DC with no job confirmed. I've gone around and around with this for months - do I stay full time, go part time, or quit completely ... it's done now. No going back.

Summer's newest thing

Summer rolled from her back to her front this morning. I noticed her lying on the bed on her front, and asked Adam why he put her down that way. He hadn't - he'd put her on her back. So we turned her onto her back, and she flipped over to her front again. She hasn't been particularly happy this weekend - very, very fussy all the time. She seems to calm down the most when Adam or I are holding her, so I'm wondering if it's something to do with the fact that I was back at work this past week and away from her most of the day.

Back to work ... I have to learn a piano piece in about an hour right now to play it at a baptism this afternoon. Bye.

HOT

It is 4 in the morning right now, and it is hard to sleep because it is so hot here. We do not have air conditioning and so we are cooking. It is about 80 degrees outside and so very uncomfortable. We have a ward breakfast we are going to tomorrow morning so hopefully we get some sleep. It actually starts in about 4 hours. I don't have to do anything for it except eat, and I am pretty good at that. I hope that you guys have better luck at staying cool than we do.

Nathan

and here it is!

BEFORE

AFTER

Hello

I am very glad to hear that Trina and Adam and Summer made it home safely. I am also glad to hear that Emily made it to DC safe and sound. I am also glad to hear that Tawnia and Mindy also made it home. I hope that Jared and Michelle and Brooke and Bryan made it home safely, and I hope that Eric and Laurel and Stephen make it home safely also. I have to go to girls camp tomorrow.

Love,
Nathan

Family Pictures

I am currently working on our family picture, rearranging people at Mom's request, so the whole thing looks much more balanced. I think it will look very good, once I've got all the little details cleaned up, and hopefully no one will be able to tell that it was not taken that way. It has taken me all day, but at least it is looking better (which can not be said about our apartment). I work the next three days, so I will try and have the picture posted soon.

Tawnia and I drove home safely yesterday, getting in at just after midnight, since we stopped to have dinner with Uncle Gary and Aunt Marleen. It was very fun.

the next reality show

Who wants to be a superhero? is the next reality show. How much less real can you get? I think that it is hosted by Stan Lee, the creator of Spiderman. Sometimes I just don’t understand people.

Nathan

How I visited my 41st state

So, yesterday, I got up at the crack of dawn in order to get to the airport to catch my plane. It was a nice flight -- I could see the Cascades rising above the clouds, and we flew right over Mount Jefferson.

Then we got to Vegas, and I had to wait a couple of hours before my flight left. (And I don't like the Vegas airport.) We all got on the plane, and we couldn't take off because of a problem with the hydraulic system. So, we took off an hour late. And we flew along, and they started to report bad weather in the Northeast. Then they said that there were too many planes around Baltimore, and we didn't have enough fuel to get in a holding pattern, so we had to stop and refuel in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Yes, now I have been in North Carolina. And I wasn't even in the airport -- I just sat on the plane. They said the shops and restraunts in the terminal were closed, so there wasn't much of a point in getting off. And I couldn't call anyone unless we were on the ground. Fortunately, once we did take off, after another delay while we waited for a fuel truck and then for the tank to fill (I'm so glad I brought a good book to read), it was just a short flight to Baltimore.

I saw Washington D. C. from the air, and at night, it's a remarkable sight. (We were actually a bit southeast of it -- I think -- but I could see the Potomac River, and I think I saw the blinking red light on top of the Washington Memorial.) But my flight, which was originally supposed to land at 7:30 and then the scheduel changed to 8:30, actually landed in Baltimore around 11:15. I spent about eight hours on that stupid plane!

At the end of the flight, they said, "Thank you for flying American West. We hope you will travel with us again soon." The response among the passengers was a soft chuckle, like, yeah, right, sure we'll fly with you again. And then they sent us to the wrong baggage claim area. But I got my suitcases, and we left the airport at midnight and got back to the apartment close to one in the morning.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JARED AND MICHELLE!!!

I too would like to wish the two of you a happy and wonderful anniversary. I remember when you got married and hanging out in the lobby waiting for you two to come out. I also remember giving a toast and wishing you many fat babies. Perhaps at one time your babies were a little chubby, but they grew into that and we are very happy that they are part of our family. I hope that you guys are healthy and happy and that Brooke and Bryan are also. Good luck with Brownie Scouts and school Brooke.

Nathan

Happy anniversary to Jared and Michelle!!!

That's what I wanted to say ... and that I'm glad Michelle is part of our family, and that we have Brookie and Bryan now too, and it was great to see you all last week. Love, Trina (and Adam and Summer too).

we're home

We made it back to DC all safe and sound - Summer did fine on the plane rides again, and didn't throw up this time when we got home. We were able to have her carseat in the seat with us the whole time because the flights weren't full. We got home just before 9 last night - had dinner and Summer got her bath, and then we went to bed. And she didn't go to sleep until after midnight ... I figured her sleep schedule would be all thrown off and she'd be up all night - I hope this resolves itself quickly. She's going to an 8:00 bedtime starting tonight.

Tomorrow I go back to work ... I have some mixed feelings about it because I do like my job and I feel a sort of obligation to stick it out as long as possible because they've treated me very well. But I suspect that as soon as I have to leave Summer for a good chunk of the day, I'll be more than ready to quit. I have 33 days of work between tomorrow and Aug. 31.

Edited at 5 pm for this addition: Summer's 2-month doctor appointment was this morning. She now weighs 12/2 and is 24 inches, so she's in the 75th percentile for her size. She was of course not happy about getting her shots. Before the nurse stuck her, she asked if I'd be okay. Summer has been sleeping most of the afternoon - it's difficult to put her down because she's being very clingy even in her sleep (and really - can you blame her), but I've managed it for the moment.

Hello in Blogland

Everybody thinks I'm cool because I'm posting on the blog. You people have weird definitions of cool, let me tell you.

hey

Sorry its been a little while. Amanda and I have not been home. We've been spending a lot of time at Mom and Dad's and visiting with family there, so we have not had a lot of time to post. Not a whole lot going on right now, just some movie thing and that is about it.

Nathan

Hey Everybody!

Where is everybody?

Why aren't you posting?

We're on our way!

Or we will be in a few hours anyway.

See you tomorrow night. I'm guessing we'll be there between 8 and 9 PM, but we'll see.

Don't send search parties. We'll be there.

We love you all and are very excited (and I should be sleeping)

Love,

Eric, Laurel, and Stevie

Temple Trip

Mom wanted me to post this after I talked to her. With all that was going on before the Europe trip Amanda and I were not able to or did not take advantage of renewing our Temple Recommends. They expired at the end of June. The easiest time for us to renew our recommends would be the 2nd or 4th Thursday of the month which would be the 13 or 27 - both too late to attend in Seattle. How set are we on attending when everyone is out here? With all the goings on next this weekend and next week I really do not see us being able to acquire our recommends. Mom told me not to mention something about the last time we attended so I won't, but you could always ask her about it. Sorry if this is a let down. Everyone else if free to go obviously.

In other news, Emily, that is awesome that you got to go to Timpanogos Cave. I have never been there, but Amanda has, and she kept saying either she remembered things or didn't that you mentioned in your post. I think that next time I make it that way I will have to go there. I really like caves too. I have not been to one in a while.

Tawnia, are you coming in tomorrow. Amanda and I might go and hang out with everyone friday night/saturday morning at Mom and Dad's, but let us know if your car is working or not.

Jared, Thank you so much for getting a hold of Taylor for us. It was very nice being able to attend church again. I also met Noel some really hard last name to remember who used to be your home teacher and then moved to Florida but is back now.

Trina, are you going to call us when you are in SLC so we know everything is well with you? You could also send us all your flight information via email if you wanted. Amanda and I are both very excited to meet Summer and Stevie, and we are very excited to have all the Palmers and Caudles together.

Nathan, thou art the man

Pictures

I put some pictures of some of the places that we went on our trip under our picture section. We have a lot more. I just wanted to get a couple on there. I think that you guys will be able to tell where the pictures were taken.
It is raining right now and I hope that the weather clears up for everyones' visit when they show up. Tawnia, I hope that your car gets to feeling better and I hope that everyone has a better flight than I did when I came back from Paris. The cool thing about that flight was that we got to see Greenland peaking up above the clouds.

Nathan

Timp Cave

We did borrow a car from Tawnia's friend, so we were able to get to the cave. We started hiking about two hours before our tour was scheduled to begin. And we needed those two hours. Clarissa and I aren't used to the high elevation, and the trail does go up a mountain. We did see a snake along the way; I heard it moving among the bushes first, but I didn't see anything for a little while. Tawnia took pictures (she took a lot of pictures). There were a lot of places to stop and rest, and we sat on every bench along the trail. But we finally all made it to the top.

So we got into the tour. Timponogos Cave is not a cavern, and the tunnels connecting the different rooms were very narrow. And there were places where we had to duck, such as to get around a formation that looks like a dinosaur head. There was a lot of cave popcorn and bacon. (Whoever first explored caves must have been hungry.) And there are helictites, rare formations where the stone grows sideways. There are a lot of these in Timp Cave. It's very beautiful. I really like caves.

The tour was fairly short, and it only took forty-five minutes to hike back down. I got a postcard for my collection. And I checked another item off my One Hundred List. (Actually, it's currently my Sixty-Six List, because I never did get it all the way to a hundred.)

Brakes

So Monday evening my brake light blinked on and then went off.... and it has continued to do that. Today I took my car in to get the oil changed. I mentioned that my brake light had been coming on and that I figured it was because the brake fluid was low.... it turns out that the fluid is leaking... so I have to take my car to the Hyundai dealer in Orem and leave it over night so that they can check it out, order a part if needed, and then fix it. And we were supposed to be hiking Timp Cave today... we pre-paid and everything. So I came home from Springville (where my oil was changed) and started calling all the friends I have with cars... to see if someone wanted to go hike Timp Cave with us. So far the best offer is to borrow one of my friends cars, just as long as I drop her off and pick her up at work. She is very kind to me. Anyway, my hope is that the car is fixed by tomorrow afternoon so that I can still go to ballet and, more importantly, drive to Oregon on Friday. If you could all please PRAY that the car is fixed and that we can then drive safely to Oregon... yeah, that would be greatly appreciated.

love,
Tawnia

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

Today is my mother's birthday. She is very old today so we must take good care of her when she comes back from Washington DC. I hope that she has a wonderful birthday and is able to go to the many museums that she wishes to go to. I am glad that the weather is nice for her now, but I am also glad that she is inside in air conditioning so it isn't too hot for her either. May all of her 57 years of wishes come true.

Love,
Nathan

the real meaning

In looking at what meetings and trainings my boss has scheduled for me, I will be ok taking all day off on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. On Tuesday, I can leave at noon to head up there, and on Wednesday I can leave at 3pm. I know that the world isn't revolving around me, but I just wanted to let you know in terms of movie filming and whatnot. I don't want to miss out on any of the fun, and it doesn't look like I'll miss tooooo much of it being gone those times.

Love you all - time for bed - happy birthday my favorite mom in law! :c) And happy 4th of July to everyone!

Goodnight,
Manda

home at last

Well we made it. It took a little longer than we had planned, but we are now home. It was an awesome trip and we both had wonderful times. We are both also very grateful to be sleeping in our own beds now and to be wearing clean clothes.

Happy Birthday, Adam (on the 25th of June)!!! and Happy Birthday, Michelle (yesterday)!!! Sorry I missed those, we either did not have a computer or it totally slipped my mind. I hope that the both of you had wonderful birthdays.

Amanda and I had a wonderful anniversary on top of the Eiffel Tower, and then eating in the tower's restaurant. It seemed as though that the thing to do in Paris is to climb all the tall buildings to see the other tall buildings. It was fun though.

Well I have to figure out how we are going to get our car and do some other things today, so if you don't hear from us again, we will see all of you in less than a week. Oh yeah... about where people are staying. Amanda might not be able to get all of the days off for the family reunion, though she will be able to join us for evenings and some afternoons. My suggestion then is to have some people stay down here in Salem so I can go back with them in the morning and then Amanda can drive up later in the day. But we can talk about that later... but not too much later because then the reunion might be over.

Love,
Nathan

Temple Square and Fireworks

Hello, family from everyone in Utah.

Yesterday, Tawnia, Clarissa, and I went to Salt Lake City. We tried to see the new Joseph Smith movie, but there were no tickets available, so we reserved tickets for next Friday before we drive home. We went to the visitor's center and saw "Testaments," and we looked at the exhibits there, including a new display on the family. And we went to the Museum of Church Art and History.

In the evening, we went to see Stadium of Fire. It was a bit strange, because it was the first, not the fourth. We tried to watch it from Rock Creek Park, but we couldn't find a parking space. We actually had to drive into Orem to avoid the traffic. We finally found a good spot -- the Maceys parking lot. (We had to be there at eleven to pick up Mindy from work anyway.) We sat on the grass, and we could see the massive fireworks that fill half the sky and the smaller fireworks over the stadium. Then the sprinklers came on. So we had to relocate to a bike trail by the creek across the street. Mindy got off work later than usual, but that was good because we missed the worst of the traffic.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE

We hope you're having a wonderful birthday and that Jared and the kids are taking good care of you. We're looking forward to seeing all of you very soon.

Love always,
Mom and Dad

Report from DC

Dad and I have been enjoying our adventures here in the DC area. We've been here for one week now. I told you about our first day of touring. The Archives is still closed and may be for the rest of the time we're here but we've seen lots of other things. We went to the zoo with Trina and Summer on Tuesday and managed to avoid most of the downpours. Since then the weather has been much nicer. On Wednesday we went on a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. We had our White House Tour that day, too, but due to an unfortunate glitch, Dad missed the tour so I went by myself. We also saw the holocaust museum. On Thursday Trina joined us for our VIP tour of the Capitol building - just the three of us with our own guide. Afterward Adam joined us for lunch in the Senate Dining Room, which you can only do by special invitation. Then Dad and I toured the Library of Congress and then went to the Kennedy Center for a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra. That was a very busy day. Yesterday we went to Arlington National Cemetery and then we all drove down to Charlottesville where we spent the night. Todsy we toured the various sites around there - Monticello, Michie's Tavern and Ash-Lawn (Monroe's home). It was all very interesting. Now we're back at Trina's and ready to crash for the night. We're having a wonderful time and I'll put a whole write up on my Travel Page when I get home.

In other news, Nathan called us last night to let us know that he wasn't quite home yet. Their flight stopped in Dallas and he got sick as they got off the plane. They ended up staying in Dallas and will get home tomorrow. He's fine, now, but when he called I was a bit worried about him.

My legs are doing much better and I've been able to do the walking without too much difficulty. A little slower than usual sometimes, but I'm getting along.

I hope everyone else is healthy and strong and as excited about the reunion as we are. See you next Saturday.

Love always,
MOM