A good looking bunch!Ken (via Aubrey). Hey everyone! I thought Id start filling in for Dad, since he is just horrible at getting any info out there. Leah started back to school, and if all goes according to plan she will graduate at the end of this school year. She is working two jobs: Arby’s and TJ Maxx. Such a busy bee! Dad is working hard (gotta pay for college!) and working hard on the building in Tekoa. He just put in a ton of new windows and is definitely the talk of the town. As for me, I started at University of Idaho (GO VANDALS!) on August 24. I am double majoring in Architecture and Interior Design, and it is definitely keeping me busy. I love it here! I’m so angry I was sick and couldn’t make it to the reunion. I miss everybody! Hope everything is going well with everyone.
Love, Aubrey (and Leah and Dad)
Jim. Hi all. We're coming to the end of a busy time here. Spent the month of August getting Beth and Tyler moved to Colorado Springs and Tyler into school out here (6th grade), side trip to see Beth's family in South Carolina on the way. I had a retirement ceremony (small) and party (big) on the 28th. Beth started work here at the very end of the month - she's helping to integrate the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard into space missions for now until the Colonel assignment system decides what to do with her next spring (she should get promoted around next April).
I'll be joining a firm called CyberSpace Operations Consulting on October 1st so didn't have a very long retirement. CyberSpace Ops is a small group of consultants but is about to grow. I'll be doing some space-related work for the Army while I get oriented to the biz, then we'll see.
We waited until we got past the hump to have Beth's household goods from Virginia delivered so are just now wading through all the boxes and combining our furniture, etc. This is the first time we've actually lived together so we have a lot of stuff to get rid of - fun, though! In the process we dumped Comcast and went with DirecTV so my Comcast email address went away - I'm at jameswolf1576@gmail.com now. I also got a personal blackberry so my mobile number is 719-287-4123.
Laurie. Just like everyone else, I want to thank Merrily and Robert, David and Jenni and their families for hosting a wonderful family reunion. We enjoyed ourselves very much and really appreciate their efforts. It takes lots of time, effort and arranging to make it all happen -- and it did, beautifully. We'll have to try the boat again with all of you on a warm day.
Our house is very quiet these days. With only Camille at home now, life is a little different. She keeps an awfully tight schedule with seminary in the wee hours of the morning, school, choir, the musical, soccer and driver's ed. She is nearly burnt out already! She is happy to have made the Varsity Soccer Team but is not happy about having to be a dancer, as well as a singer, in the musical. Apparently there are some lifts in the dance they are doing and she isn't sure if the guy she's dancing with can handle it! He's not very big...
Cassidy may send her own news, but if not, she is at BYU living in the infamous Gates Hall #198 (my old dorm). And, according to Cassidy, I may have been the last one to clean the bathrooms 30 years ago! She has decided her favorite class so far is Humanities and she likes her ward. She's a pretty happy girl and is getting along well on very little sleep.
Neil took the boat out the other day with some people from his work. It was a retirement party for his boss from Germany. He came home with an injury (it's already doing much better) and some destruction to the propeller of the boat. When Camille found out she said, "Dad, are these friends good for you to be around? Do they make you a better person?" We have been chuckling about that a little. I suppose that might have been our reaction if she had done the same. Anyway, Neil is back in the working world after having a summer of no complete work weeks!
I am up to my neck in "eggplant elegance fabric" as I have been recruited to help with the choir dresses again this year. I have all kinds of little volunteer projects to do, and I enjoy them. I have a good life.
Thank you all for the great family that you are. We love you. P.S. Congrats to Drew!
Mom & Ramon. We want to give a big ‘thank you’ Merrily and Robert and their family and David and Jenni and their family and everyone who came for a great family reunion. Families are sacred. I agree with Merrily; she said she wishes we could all live by each other on a big cul-de-sac some where. I think that is what heaven is going to be like. It was so much fun to see Melody going through a box of her school papers. We just cheered when each family came thru the doors of the church. Thanks David for arranging our hotel and transporting us to and from the airport. We had a safe flight home. We have been working on our home with new metal soffit and all the wood around the windows. We remodeled our front door and installed a new window in the office.
Last Tuesday, Ramon was getting ready to come home from work when he had a bad fall off of the curb to the parking area. He managed to drive home. When I went out to his truck he was slumped over the steering wheel and seemed confused. He said he’d had a bad fall. I said, “Let’s get you into the house.” He was having trouble walking. We went along the car and sat down on the back step in the garage. I took his heavy work clothes off. He couldn't help or stand up or do anything to help me. I felt his head and shoulders and he was very hot. I called 911 and they came and took him to the hospital. He had a temperature of 104 deg. They ran a lot of tests and pumped him full of IVs He doesn’t remember from the time he got in his truck until they took him to his room from the emergency room about four hours later. They kept him overnight and his temp was OK the next morning. He has been gradually getting stronger each day. We send our love to all.
Merrily. Summer ended with Solomon’s basketball team taking 2nd place in the league, both Solomon and Abraham back in swimming lessons, and me running a Cub Scout day camp. Solomon earned the Arrow of Light and moved up to Boy Scouts. Abraham started Cubs and is so very enthusiastic. Next week we’re going on a Seattle Historical Hike – kind of a scavenger hunt for historic markers around the city. Victor and Eliahs are back to school at Wilson High School. They have geometry together. Solomon’s school moved just over a mile from our house. I bike with him sometimes. I hadn’t been on a bike since I was about his age and the first couple of days about killed me. Abraham lik
es 2nd grade but would prefer to spend his time building elaborate Lego vehicles and making up stories about how they battle each other. Kaela continues to work at a restaur
ant down the street from us. Kelsey is in school, too, and has both Spanish 301 and French 101 this semester. Doesn’t that sound confusing?We went to the Puyallup Fair. Our kids love Christmas, camping, and the Fair -- probably in that order. Here we are on the ferris wheel. Solomon won the dog at (you guessed it) a hoop shoot game. Solomon made his very last shot and the dog is named LUCKY, of course!
David. It has already been a busy fall. Daniel started kindergarten, which he loves. And we haven’t heard from his teacher yet, which we love. We’ve discovered that Dan is a different critter than the other three who never got in trouble and would be mortified if they did. A typical day-after kindergarten conversation goes like this:
Jen: Daniel, how was kindergarten?
Dan: Great!
Jen: Did you get in trouble?
Dan: Well…I did have to stay in from recess for like a billion minutes.
Jen: Why did you have to stay in from recess?
Dan: For hitting.
Jen: What? You can’t hit other kids!
Dan: I only hit a couple of kids, and it was part of the game. (Apparently “Cops and Robbers” is a game that requires hitting.)
At least he hasn’t had to see the principal yet, and the teacher seems to be taking Daniel in stride. So far.
Zach started third grade and David and Sabrina started at their new performing arts middle school, Aspire. David ended up in drama, which he didn’t want, but he has friends in that class so he’s okay with it. He did say that the drama teacher is a little nuts. After the first couple of days, Sabrina has decided that she loves middle school. Since Dave and I both despised middle school, I’m so happy to hear that. The only problem is a long day and a long bus ride. They get on the bus at 7:45 and don’t get home until almost 4:30.
David and Zach both play football. David is in his last year of league football, and it seems like a much more violent game this year. In their first game four players from our team were benched with injuries. In the second game, David took a hit that bent his knee back the wrong way. The doctor told him that he needed to stay off it for six days, but David said no way. He played fine in the last game, but ended up with a face mask shaped bruise on his hip. (Really, we should send pictures.)
Zach is tolerating football. He loves the games, but he’s dying to play defense so he can tackle. For now, he’s stuck on offense. He doesn’t like practice because it cuts into his trampoline time, and he has a severe allergy to up downs. It’s funny to watch Zach on the line and to see that for now he’s one of the bigger guys on his team.
Sabrina is into soccer. This year they’re playing full-field and can do slide-tackles. The only problem is they have a small team and a limited amount of subs, often none at all, so they get plenty of running time.
Jen cried and cheered when Dan started kindergarten. She’s enjoying a quiet house a few days a week, trying to write, trying to keep the house clean, and trying to keep up with the kids’ activities.
Dave is busy with work, but is taking time for photography. He did senior pictures for three girls in our ward and gets out to take scenics whenever he can. Sabrina loves to go take pictures with him. He and Zach went on a fishing trip to Sekui and ended up catching a forty pound squid and a couple of salmon.
We had a great time at the reunion and can’t wait to see any or all of you again. Dan still talks about Will, and the other kids would love to hang out with their cousins again. It’s great to have such a big fun family. All our love…
Nick & Rachel. This exciting saga of the Nicholas and Rachel Nelson edition of the family letter is entitled “Differences between Nicholas and Rachel.”
1. At the end of this year, Rachel will be only two short semesters away from graduation with a Master’s in Public Administration. Nicholas will still have three years to go in his pursuit of education.
2. As we both recently moved, we both recently received new callings in our new ward. Rachel gets the fun opportunity to work with the 8-11 year old girls in the Activity Day program, while Nicholas must slave away in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency. They won’t be doing any modesty fashion photo shoots anytime soon.
3. In the pursuit of completing our portion of the adoption paperwork, Rachel toils mercilessly over each question and ponders the profound impact of each and every answer she provides on the extensive and through questionnaires in which we must participate. Nicholas, on the other hand, zips through his portion and finished his responsibilities in regards to the questioning weeks before Rachel was done. We will submit all our paperwork this week and will continue to wait for our background checks to clear, sometime around January.
4. Recently we both took a trip through the majestic, desolate plains of Wyoming to South Dakota where we saw four faces of beloved presidents of the past carved into the side of a granite mountain. While Rachel was attempting a picture with what appeared to be Nicholas’ finger picking Thomas Jefferson’s nose, Nicholas was captivated with the geology of the surrounding Black Hills.
5. Finally, all of Nicholas’ versions of the family letter are quite indistinguishable one from another, but Rachel’s mind is full of delightful imagination and comes up with new and creative ideas on how to share our exhilarating life story with our wonderful family.
One thing that is not so different between us is that we both love our family very much and are blessed with such wonderful people in our lives. Thank you for your love and support and for reading our portion of the letter.
Amy. It was great seeing y'all in Seattle (that's my Texas accent slipping out.) We got here about a week before school started and the boys have been such good sports. It hasn't been easy for them, but they are doing much better than we expected. Lacrosse isn't nearly as popular as it was in Colorado; they think football rules the world here. But the high school added a fall league this year (it's been just spring here), so Sean is making some friends and having fun. Lacrosse starts in November for Colton. Brian started basketball, and loves school. The boys were all jealous when we heard Colorado already got some snow, but I love the warm weather. Brittany is doing great at BYU, we're trying to convince her to stick with engineering, but doesn’t love it. We're under contract on a house. We move in Oct 26. The boys can't seem to remember in the apartment we can't run, jump, or bounce balls, so that's a challenge. Overall, we have been amazed how friendly people have been, and it has been great having Larry around a bit more. Once we get settled, we know we will love it here!
Doug. Our big news consists of Bryce getting his mission return date from Texas on Nov 19 (he will be home for Thanksgiving) and Drew getting his mission call to the New Hampshire, Manchester Mission! They will have a month to get reacquainted before Drew leaves on his mission. We are doing really well as a family and are single-handedly financially supporting the grocery stores here in SLC area to keep everyone fed. Not Joking!! But there are many blessing and good times that come from having our large family. Thanks to everyone in the family for supporting all of us in this new adventure. We love all of you very much! A bit of sad news is that Madison's mother, Kathryn, passed away on September 4 at the age of 46. She will be missed.
Dan. Not much to report since we saw most of you recently. Thank you to our hosts for such a great job organizing the reunion. It was wonderful seeing everyone and spending that short time with you.
Like I said, nothing very exciting here. Danil is busy with school and activities. We are enjoying beautiful autumn weather. We got two little boxer puppies (Bonnie and Clyde), working on some music stuff for church, Nadya is pregnant, work is busy doing two major remodels, took a trip to Phoenix, hiking, yard work, etc. Nothing new really.
Love you all. We are fortunate to be part of such a great family.
Sedona mudslide, Sept. 18, 2009
