being social

Friends and family,
Mostly I should apologize for being the worst thus far about contributing. And no Julie, you and dad aren't the only one's who read this blog.
So right now I'm savoring probably the only time in the history and future of the roomates that I currently live with where I'll have at least some of Saturday night to myself. It's really a huge adjustment, one that sometimes I wish hadn't have happened, but the guys are really great. Actually a group of twelve people are on their way over right now to watch a movie. I am so uninterested.
Other than that, we watched Jesus Camp last night. It's a documentary on an Evangelical Bible camp for kids. It was really interesting to hear everyone's reaction to what was going on in the movie. As the kids were falling down and speaking in tongues, a lot of people were really eager to downplay their experiences because of their own. Which was even more intriguing, because one of the main characters in the documentary was an absolute zealot, who seemed really keen on downplaying any experience except for the Evangelical Christian experience. I highly recomend the movie.
Well the crowd is here, so I'm going to go be social.

I love you all always and forever.
Marc

Broken Glasses

Thanks Dad for posting. Maybe you and I are the only ones who read this?? Anyway, I woke up yesterday morning and put my glasses on. But ever since I substitute taught 5th grade gym and played dodgeball they haven't quite fit as nicely. During one of the dodgeball games, a 5th grader broke the cardinal rule of dodgeball. He launched a high speed ball that hit me above the shoulders, knocking my glasses off and making them not fit quite right. So I've taken to bending them in a bit to get them to fit more closely to my head.

Well yesterday morning as I was bending them in, they snapped right in half. I tried duct tape but it would only hold them together for a short amount of time before each lense would start to slowly droop down my face. So I no longer have glasses. I finally got contacts again yesterday morning. Though I did buy another pair of frames. My vision also got worse. I am thinking in probably 10 or 15 years I will need bi-focals. But for now, I am enjoying my glasses-free lifestyle.

Enumclaw Update 1/21/07

Bradley K. Johnson

Journal

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Another busy but good week. This time of year is very tough as I have just finished writing reviews on 11 employees, I need to give those reviews before February 1 and at least a couple of them will not be fun as I will be giving some tough messages, I have a couple of big presentations to the Board in two weeks, and we are going through our year end close and audit.

Tuesday there was a skiff of snow and so once again they cancelled school. The kids were excited but I'm not sure they will be as excited when they are still going to school well into July. We have had the craziest weather over the last couple of months without a lot of blue skies. It was so nice to see the sun yesterday. If every winter were like this one, I don’t know how many I could stand here in WA.

We have had a week of the kids’ basketball games. Rebekah had her last basketball game on Thursday and she did very well including a terrific “and one” three point play. She also had a church game that night and that season is just getting started so basketball is not over for her. She starts school soccer on Tuesday so she will be plenty busy with sports.

Andrew had a game on Wednesday night that I was able to go to at Thunder Mountain Middle School. It was fun to watch him play. His team is not very good as they lost 30 to 8. But he was cute as could be. Their point guard must have had 25 turnovers but the kids have fun. Andrew had a couple of shots and both of them came very close to going in. He has the most ability of anyone on the team but he doesn’t have too much confidence. After the game I was talking to him about a few things and tried to tell him that when you play defense you need to look for the ball as well as your man. He disagreed vehemently and said, “No, my coach said I need to guard my man.” He was doing a great job guarding his man but if the ball came right next to him he would not go for it because he was “guarding his man”. I tried to explain some things about defense but he would not listen. It’s that highly literal side of him.

On the court next to Andrew’s game there was an old man’s league game in progress. Many of the guys looked like they were my age and as I sat and watched I had these pangs of sorrow as I wanted to be out there playing. I miss playing basketball and it has been years since I have been able to really play. My big hope is that in a few years they will make enough progress on the artificial knees that when I have to get mine replaced they will be so good that I will be able to play basketball and run again. That will be a glorious day. If it doesn’t come in this life it is one thing I can look forward to with great anticipation in the next one.

Paul had games on Thursday and Friday. I got to go to the Thursday game but had a late meeting I could not get out of and was not able to go on Friday. Paul played great in both games. Friday was his best game of the year as he had 15 points and led the team in assists, steals and rebounds. I’m so happy to see him playing a lot and playing well. He is such a nice young man and continues to be NBA obsessed. Each night we talk about the games going on and the outstanding performances of the evening. He is in a couple of fantasy leagues and he is checking his standings all the time. I like to tease him about the “stiffs” on his fantasy teams. We are both excited about the NBA road trip in two months. It should be a great time.

Paul and Rebekah went to the Especially for Youth program in Renton yesterday and both loved it. We all had a busy day yesterday. Rebekah had her annual basketball team sleep over at the Middle school on Friday night. I went and picked her up at 8 AM and then went back to pick up Andrew. We needed to be out of the house because Rosie had all the RS Presidents in the stake over for breakfast and we needed to let her have the freedom of no children to disrupt their discussions. (Paul and Melanie slept in late). So I took the youngest two to breakfast at the Pony Express restaurant in town and then we went up to the church to play basketball for an hour or so. Those two play together very well most of the time but they will go off on major fights every hour or so and it gets tough as can be. Andrew does not do well with any kind of teasing and will quickly go into a rage if anyone teases him.

After basketball, we did a couple of geocaches. The kids love to find those things and it is a great activity. When we got home, Rosie and I went over to Mount Peak for a good hike. We have loved our new plasma TV and the sound system. It is a wonderful experience to watch a movie with this set up. I also appreciate the Clear Play system that takes out all the bad things in movies. The sound system has been wonderful as I just plug in my ipod and get a world class music listening experience.

I finished a couple of wonderful books. Maravich by Wayne Federman was a great biography of my boyhood idol, Pete Maravich. It was an excellent story about a man who totally changed his life and became a wonderful disciple of Christ the last few years of his life before he died at the very young age of 40 of a heart attack. He was the greatest basketball player in my eyes and the things he did changed the game dramatically and have never been equaled. If he were playing today he would be every bit as big as Michael Jordan was.

The second was Jane Austen’s finest novel – Emma. She was such a tremendous writer and I loved this book. Her insight into human nature is as good as anything in fiction. I just started reading

This afternoon Rosie and I went home teaching and then went to take some cookies to President Rodarte and Joe Dahle. Pres. Rodarte had serious surgery this week on his ankle where they had to fuse it to eliminate some horrendous pain. Joe was coming down Mt. Peak on Thursday and stepped wrong on his foot and broke two bones down by his ankle. It took the paramedics over three hours to get him off the mountain and he will be in a cast for at least three months. I sat and talked with both of them for a few minutes, and it was obvious both were in severe pain but positive about the future. As we drove home I told Rosie we need to be grateful every day for our good health and every prayer at night I thank the Lord for this priceless blessing. Things can change in an instant just as they did for Joe who is healthy as can be and in excellent shape.

Janice told me a great story about my brother Scott. He was in UT last weekend and borrowed her truck. When he left he took the keys to the truck with him to Atlanta. She called me to tell me and we both laughed as he is an absolutely brilliant guy – I’m sure his IQ is off the charts, after all he has a PhD from MIT – but he is like the absent minded professor sometimes. A couple of days later she called to tell me that she had received the knife on the key chain in the mail but not the keys. She couldn’t figure out what had happened so she called Scott to ask him. He was not there but Melanie told him the following. He got to the airport and at the security screening they told him he could not take the knife on the key ring on the plane. He would have to leave the knife there. He told them, “I can’t do that this is my sister’s knife.” SO they told him he could mail it back at the post office just down the way. So Scott dutifully went to the post office and mailed the knife to Janice but did not include the keys. No on as yet has been able to determine why the knife was sent but not the keys. I told her she may have to go to Atlanta to get those keys.

Mels continues to love her classes at college and she seems to be doing well. She also loves her part time work at Kids Space and she plays soccer once or twice a week as well as the community orchestra

Robert Earl Keen and Sledding

Dad - thanks for your thoughts - it is nice to hear what's going on at home. Mike was watching that Jazz game you and Paul saw in Seattle and got really frustrated by the end of it. He is a serious Jazz fan, but it looked like a really exciting game. Rebekah - that does sound like an amazing new word. I have to admit, I can't really figure out how to say it.

John and I had a really nice weekend. We went to Park City on Saturday night to hear Robert Earl Keen. He's a musician from Texas and he is an amazing songwriter - very funny and witty and can tell great stories in his songs. Well, I was kind of tired and the concert didn't start until 9:30 or 10:00 but we got there around 8. They had a band opening and they weren't that good - the bassist did some weird turtle head bob that made it difficult to look at him without laughing.

Then we had a long time to wait until Robert Earl Keen and his band came out. It was a small venue, and everyone was crowded standing up, trying to get as close to the stage as possible. But let me tell you, it was worth the wait. Live music is amazing and Robert Earl Keen definitely exceeded my expectations. He has an amazing group of musicians who play with him and my favorite part of the whole concert was watching the steel guitarist grin with sheer joy as he played with the other band members. Amazing.

We also went sledding yesterday in the -5 degree weather. It was cold. We went to Tibble Fork up American Fork canyon where there is this bowl shaped hill that made for frequent collisions at the bottom as people departed from different parts of the hill and hit the bottom at the same time. John went down and almost flew off his tube when he hit a bump and before he could secure himself, he hit another bump and heard his vertebrae crunching like celery. Luckily he can walk and he thinks it even may have realigned his back. Who needs a chiropractor when you can go sledding in ridiculously cold temperatures. Everyone else got a little gun shy after various run ins with the hill or other sledders so towards the end, I was the only one running up the hill for just one more ride down.

Journal -- January 14, 2007

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sunday evening on a long weekend because of Martin Luther King Day, which REI now recognizes as a holiday. Unfortunately, I am going to have to go into work for a few hours in the morning. Between our year end close and all the reviews I have to write I am totally swamped at work and can not take the full day off.

After church this afternoon, Andrew, Rebekah and I finally went out with the GPS unit I got for Christmas and did some Geocaching. The kids loved it and I think it will be a great activity to get them into hiking and exploring. It is remarkable what technology can do today and I love to see it being used to excite children about being in the outdoors. Drew and Rebekah were so excited when they would find a cache and are anxious to go again tomorrow.

Yesterday Paul had a game and he played well but I get so frustrated with his coach for the way he treats the kids. He also had a game on Tuesday and he had a very good game as well. Their team is doing well as they have not lost in the region and only lost one non-region game.

Friday his coach made him stay for the whole late practice, which would usually not be a problem but that night we had planned to go the Sonics vs. the Jazz game in Seattle. He got out of practice at 6:30 and the game began at 7:30. He got to Kent as fast as he could, picked me up and then we drove straight into Seattle. We hit the scalpers as soon as we got there as the game had begun and our timing was good. We bought two $120/seat tickets for $40/seat. They were good seats for a fabulous game. The Sonics won in overtime 118 – 106 and Ray Allen, the Sonics all pro guard scored 54 points. It was an incredible performance, maybe the best individual game I have ever seen. While we wanted the Jazz to win, Ray’s performance was more than enough to offset our allegiance to the Jazz. It was a game neither of us will forget and made us even more anxious to go on our road trip.

Yesterday Melanie and I went to Paul’s game as Rosie was working much of the day and evening on her talk for the first Ward Conference Sacrament Meeting today and a lesson she had to teach with that Conference in RS. She always gets uptight about it and then it goes well for her. She is a great speaker and doesn’t give herself enough credit.

Our weather has been very severe again this week. On Wednesday night it started to snow in almost a white out. Paul and I were going to go to the Sonics vs. Heat game that night. Paul had been looking forward to seeing Dwyane Wade play and was disappointed that we did not get to go. But it would have taken us all night to get home as the roads were terrible. It took me over an hour to get from my office to Auburn and I wasn’t sure I was even going to make it home that night. When it snows here everything shuts down. Once I got above Auburn there was virtually no snow. Thursday there was about 7 inches in Kent and we only an inch or so here in Enumclaw. Nevertheless they cancelled all classes and the kids were excited that school was out. On Friday they started school late in Enumclaw and canceled Melanie’s school again. The temperatures have been very cold for WA, as low as 15 degrees the last couple of nights. In Cache Valley it has been about 10 below. I wonder if I am ready to go back to that kind of cold. I can hardly take 15 degrees above zero let alone 10 or 15 below.

Melanie’s teacher called today and asked if they could have class tomorrow. Melanie was all excited as she loves school and has told each of us fifty times today how excited she is to be able to go to school tomorrow.

I sent the older kids the attached email with some details on our trip to Greece. After my research and discussion with Cris, I am more and more excited about this trip. It should be one of the best trips we have ever taken. It will be fun, educational and hopefully a time when we will all grow closer and create some lifetime memories.

pulchritudinous!!!

so Julia and i were having a war on email where we would call each other synonyms for "beautiful", and one that i came up with was pulchritudinous. i think it is one of the most interesting words i have ever heard. if you figure out how to say it, you will agree. this past week has been a blast because it has actually been snowing!!!
on Wednesday and Friday, we had late starts, at 10. we also had school off on Thursday, which was bunches of fun because i hung out with Julia and my other friends at the golf course for half of the day sledding, and then went to Julia's house and watched step up(my all-time favorite movie.....like ever!!!!!!!!) and cars. Cindy was also up for the past week, and left of Thursday. she and Andrew would get up almost every morning at like 6 and run to get a doughnut and bagels. i am very very excited for April Julie! i cant wait to have another sibling, by marriage that is. it will be fun!!!! well, i have to get off the computer, but i love you all bunches and bunches!!!!!!

My Guess

It looks a lot like a product only women are familiar with. I think it would be inappropriate for a male like me to even write it in the blog.

Dad

Can You Guess the Medium?

Kendall created a piece of art. He installed it in Jill and Mike's living room. I was able to appear in the picture because I provided the medium. A clue for those who know Jill's twins: the medium is the new word Jeffrey and Jonathon learned this week.

Another photo shoot

I am happy to see the family is getting going on this. Nice job team. Thanks for the "Bonj" Stephen. It was real nice. And Dad thanks for your thoughts about the visit to Utah. It was really nice to see you out here. John and I really enjoyed being up in Logan with you. It is a little bit hard to see Grandpa aging so rapidly physically.

I wanted to write a little about the photo shoot that I participated in this past weekend. The Italian artist, Angelo Musco, a visionary really, had to come back to Utah to reshoot some of the scenes we shot back in March. In this artistic piece, I am a nine month pregnant woman who is going into labor and alone with no one to help me. When I described what I was doing to John, he looked real skeptical and kind of weirded out. Then he said after a pause, "I mean, I want to be supportive of the things you're involved in Julie, but that sounds really crazy and pretty much completely weird." Which is not an inaccurate statement.

I had this moment of hilarity when I was in the freezing desolation of the Salt Flats and Angelo with his colorful striped scarf twirling around me told me "I need you to turn left, then right, then turn round on yourself. Think dramatic, BIG, movements!" All the while he's making large swooping dramatic movements. It gave me a moment of pause - what was I doing?

On another note - I was at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house on Saturday evening and Grandma was looking over "the collector's edition Star" magazine. This is the conversation that ensued:

"Now Julie, there was one thing I didn't understand about this cute newsletter."
I braced myself for some commentary on my "years of rejection."
"I didn't understand Andrew's - what is circa? What does that mean?"
So the only concern from Grandma Miller was the meaing of circa. I think the newsletter was a success. Thanks for all of your hardwork Stephen.

BONJ

Hi All-thought I woul join the fun. I loved your posts Melanie and Julie. the thing is this weekend was really nice in the city-it was 69 degrees on saturday, can you say warming of the globe... I don't have much to say, but wanted yo u all to knwo I am up and active on this here world wide web blog, so let's get this thign going. Bomb.

Hey Family!

Dear Family,
How are you all doing? I am doing great. I miss all of you so much. I love everyone a lot forever. I am so glad that we got to spend Christmas together, it was so much fun, I loved being with everyone. I am so glad that we are a family forever, that we are so close, best friends, sisters/brothers/our wonderful parents. By the way the 'STAR' looks so awsome, I like it a ton, thanks for all of your hard work and I am sorry if I offended you or made anyone mad. Please forgive me, thanks! What are you all up too? How is school going for everyone or work? Do you have any interesting stories? Please make sure to e-Mel back, keep in touch!
I just started school again, today, for my next quater- for winter at 'GRCC', I am having so much fun already, I love the classes I am taking: Guidence and Disapline and Art for Children, I am only taking two classes this quater as a collager, that is 6 credits. They are so interesting. Kid's BASE is so much fun, I am loving work so much, and the kids are so cute and funny. I am still going to collage part time and work part time. I am still volenteering at Mrs. Buck's room with the pre-school special needs children, Mrs. Slatton, Camp Berachah as a theraptic assistant. I have been helping the family out, taking care of Kay and Sammy, playing soccer/ babysitting, flute, horseback riding, doing ASL/ SEE- sign language, I get to still teach the Sunbeams- this year I get to teach Oliva Rodarte and Noah Kephart, etc.
It was so interesting because yesterday at work, I was helping the new students, and trying to help all the other kids, during snack, it is so fun working with kids. Also, I learned in class that disaplince actually means to teach- from the word disciple- or to follow/ guide. That will help me to know that when working with kids you should teach them something, change their behavior, disapline them in a postive way, not negative like how we usually would think disapline is.
Thank you everyone for always being their for me, being examples, and I can't wait to see you all soon. Sorry I have to go to work now. talk to you all later, please keep in touch everyone! Just to let you know that Kay and Sammy are doing awsome.
I love you all a lot,
love always and forever,
Mels