Red's Update

Girls, I love you all so much! This year has been flying by! I can't believe it is October already. Time for picking out pumpkins, the start to change, the weather is perfect for being outside. Oh, if I could be a season I would be autumn! It has been such a fun year out here in DC. Sarah and I went to Israel at the end of August and it was fascinating. A trip of a lifetime, although I hope I can go back some day.

I am going to Boston this weekend with some girlfriends to go "Leaf Peeping" as they call out here in the east. We are calling it the Fall Extravaganza! It doesn't get much better than seafood at Cape Cod, checking out the cranberry bogs and driving through the East to see the leaves. It should be good time. I love Boston.

We had a housewarming party last weekend and it was a huge success. The house looked great after hours of painting and hanging up pictures, etc. All of my roommates are fantastic and all pitched in to make it a really fun party.

November is going to be a fun month with visits from my mom, London and her mom. Sarah and I have been busy planning the itinerary. Be prepared for non stop fun! And then for Thanksgiving I am hoping to escape the cold and be somewhere tropical. I am thinking Cancun or Costa Rica. Any suggestions?

The love department is always a tricky one. No love right now, but I have gone out a few times with a guy in my ward. We have a good time together so we'll see where that goes :)

Sorry this update is kind of boring - I have another blog that I have been posting on pretty regularly so check that out as well (www.mightyredhead.blogspot.com) It is always so good to hear from you.

Love you all! RED

Let's all update!

Hi girls. It's been a while since anything got posted, so I'm hoping to start another streak to find out what everyone is up to. I would love for an upper reunion, just one problem. McKenna costs money to fly now and ticket prices are getting expensive these days. I'll look into though. When?

We are heading to Utah this weekend. Tyler's granmother passed away, and her funeral is on saturday. Ty's grandpa is paying for the whole family to come out for it. This is a good passing, it was her time. A couple weeks ago when she was still somewhat coherent she apparently was talking about how excited she was to see her "daddy". He died when she was 10, and here she is 89 years old. I love the Gospel so much. Just to think that death is something to rejoice over. We have anscestors and friends on the other side waiting to see us. We will be able to be in the presence of our Father and Elder Brother again.

Life is busy, busy. We are having YWIE in a couple weeks; that and personal progress have been consuming all my time. I'm very excited for the program though and pray that the YW will feel the spirit. McKenna and Kate are becoming great friends already. McKenna loves to play with Kate, and of course Kate loves it in return. I love those precious moments when I turn and see McKenna showing Kate a book, or giving her a hug and kiss. McKenna suprises us all the time with how coherent she is. One funny example is yesterday I was getting her ready to get in the car and she says, "mommy, I don't want to go to the store poopy!" (I didn't know she was!) :) She's getting very good at formulating sentences, and expressing her desires. Kate is so big! She's just about 5 months, but she wears clothes anywhere from 3-12 months. It's so weird b/c McKenna was always so thin. She's a great baby, sleeps from 7:30ish to about 6 every night, and very smiley - although it seems I don't have any pictures of her actually smiling! She's a wiz at rolling over to her left, it's automatic at this point. We're going to start her on food as soon as we get back next week.

Tyler got a new calling a month ago. He's the ward clerk. Sundays used to be my days to have all my meetings and get lots of YW stuff done. Not anymore. Oh-well. He was able to pick up an extra class at work, so at the moment he doesn't have a prep period at all. It's making him pretty tired, so this may be the only semester he does this. We're grateful for all the blessings we've receieved for extra income.

Talk to everyone later!

Love,
Jamie

Come play with us in DC!

Girls! I am so excited to have London come visit in November. Maybe you should all come as well and we can have an Upper Reunion! It is going to be so fun to have her in my neck of the woods. Just so you know there is a standing invitation for any of you to come and visit me. And with fall just around the corner it is going to be beautiful out here. Hope all is going well. Love your guts!

Mega Moo

I had a coupon for a free 8X10 photo, so I went and had Megan's picture taken. There were so many cute ones to choose from. It was a miracle that I walked out with only one extra sheet. Anyway, I had to share.
(My scanner is kind of dirty, so the pictures looks a little darker than they really are.)

Girls Camp

What an adventure Girls Camp was this year. Every other year all the girls go to Kolob in Zions National Park as a stake, and on the other years they have a ward camp. This year was Stake Camp in Kolob. I had a great camp director who was basically making sure all the details were taken care of, and the Stake was in charge of the major things. Well, 4 days before we were supposed to head off, I got a call from the Stake YW president saying that Girls Camp was cancelled because of the fires in Utah. YIKES! The Stake planned a day activity the next week, but then it was up to us to figure out another plan. I talked to my camp director, and we decided to have a ward camp. I was on the phone for hours straight for the next couple of days trying to research and find a place, and then getting details in order. We ended up going to Pine Valley (about 30 minutes outside of St. George) which was beautiful. We did all the fun and silly Girls Camp activities. I organized an Iron Rod activity. I set up a rope course around trees and down into ditches and through bushes. Then, one of the nights we had a devotional on being anchored to Christ and holding to the Iron Rod. Afterwards we took the girls, one by one, and blindfolded them and told them to hold to the rod until they got to the end. I was so impressed by how reverent and quiet they were through the whole activity - most of them were really thinking about the parallels it could make to their own lives. We had a little discussion about the activity when all the girls were done, and I think they all really got something important from it. One of the nights I went into a a tent with some of the older girls to play cards. Try as I might to keep them quiet (the camp ground had quiet hours after 10 PM), it just didn't work out. After a couple of the other leaders came over to quiet us down, we decided we better end it for the night - HE HE HE. Anyway, it was a great time, and it reminded me once again why I love Girls Camp so much.

On to other news. We have had a house full of company this summer. My brothers and niece were here for two weeks last month as well as Sean's sister for one of those weeks and his other sister and friend for a weekend. Then Kyra came for a week (to help out with the kids while I was gone to Girls Camp). Last week, we were just back to our little family and there was no big trip to plan for and no church activities to organize. AHHH. It felt so weird - and nice. I played with the kids and read Harry Potter like a mad woman. Good times. We are going camping this weekend, and then Sean's parents are coming in a couple of weeks, and then we are going camping again with a bunch of my family over Labor Day weekend. Anyway, things are good here.

We are hoping to get the go ahead this month regarding moving to Kingman. Then we are going to get cracking on options (building or buying a house). I'm sure that that is going to be crazy, but super fun too. Well, I love you all and hope things are happy and good for you.

Tera

Young Womens

Hello Girls!

I don't think I have mentioned it yet, but I was called to be 1st counselor in YW a little over a month ago. It is the most wonderful calling, I love the girls! There are only 8 active girls, and I only have 2 that are MM, which will be down to 0 with 1 inactive in just a couple months. But we have combined the MM and Laurels to fix that problem. I have also been put over Personal Progress which I am so excited about! What a wonderful and inspired program that has been put into place since we were all in YW. I am starting to prepare for Young Women in Excellence which will be in October. I've decided on a theme: "Walk in His Footsteps." We will have footprints walking along a path, and on each footprint the girls will write goals they have been working throughout the year; PP related and others. That's about as far as I've gotten so far, but I feel inspired to head in this direction.

Tyler has been busy working on our backyard. It did not come landscaped, and has a lot of obstacles to overcome, but he's getting there. We moved Kate into McKenna's room a few days ago, and I'm glad to say that McKenna actually seemed pretty excited about it. (Even though we usually put Kate in there after McKenna has gone to bed and get her out before she gets up!) McKenna threw us an awesome surprise at FHE on Monday. She said the closing prayer! (We only had to prompt her on how to end it!) We were so surprised because we have a hard time even getting her to repeat what we say. What a neat experience.

On to Woller news... Kristin is moving to Phoenix at the end of next week. We're all pretty bumbed about it and a little apprehensive. I feel bad that none of us are more than a little excited for her. She's got a new job opportunity through her friend that took a job with University of Phoenix a couple months ago. We're having a hard time because of the choices Kristin has been making with friends, money, school, working on Sundays. . . and a few other things. And she's still in the stage where friends are more important than family (at least that's what we all see on our end) that we hoped she would have grown out of at this point in her life. I'm pretty sure I told you about her b-ball accident a few months back, she's still recovering from the surgery. She relied on basketball and the life that revolved around playing so much that we can tell she feels completely lost without it. We pray more than anything that there is a good YSA group in Phoenix that will be willing to reach out to her.

Well, I should probably leave on a lighter note. . . since Red was on the topic of books I'll head that way. There is a series of books out called "The Great and the Terrible" by Chris Stewart. They are awesome and highly recommended by my dad and I. They start out in the pre-existence with the War in Heaven, and then bring it to our day, and how we are still fighting that battle against Satan. Okay. . so leaving it on a 'lighter' note may not have been the right words that's a heavy topic! :) Anyways, I love you all!

Jamie

hi girls!

I tried posting something last week and it wouldn't show up. I was so frustrated so I have been anti blogging lately. So let's play catch up..... I bought a plane ticket to Israel and I am leaving on Aug 25. Sarah and I are going for about 10 days and staying with my friend Kyler, who is working in Jerusalem. The plan is to see Jerusalem, Galilee, Tel Aviv, the Dead Sea, Petra and Eliat...... and whatever else is there. I can't wait!

Sarah and I and our friend Chelsea just moved into a new place. It is the cutest townhouse ever and we are excited to decorate and make it our own. We are having another round of visitors in August so we are trying to get everything set up. I love having so many friends and family come out this way! It has been fun and I love the new projects that are coming up, but my Harry Potter reading has seriously taken a hit. I think the worst is over though and I am back to reading and immersing myself in the magical world of witches and wizards!

My book list for the summer is ever growing and I need to find more time to read. Next up is The Lemon Tree, about a Jew and an Arab in Jerusalem. Then onto Kite Runner, Shopaholic and Sister, Eclipse (my teen fiction indulgence about a girl who falls in love with a vampire - silly, I know!) and the list goes on and on. Good news is there is a brand new library down the street from my new house that I plan to use and abuse for free reads!

I am going on a date with Matt Damon tonight. Well, really I'm just going to see Bourne Ultimatum but I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!

Hope you girls are well. Love you!