Laurie’s family and celebrate Laurie’s birthday. The wedding day was perfect and a great spiritual experience. It was great to be in the temple together for their sealing. We pray for our family’s blessing each day.The first of October Robert, Merrily, Solomon and Abraham came to visit us on their way to conference in Salt Lake. We had lots of fun visiting. Bryce went to dinner at Craigo Pizza Place with us. We then went on a grand tour of Rexburg and the BYU-Idaho buildings scheduled to be completed in January. Our happiest times are when we can be with our families.
Melody. Aloha! I'm set to dovetail a couple of house sits over the Christmas holidays. I'll have three days of crunch, but I couldn't turn down "just feed them!" when it's on my way to work and home. Nancy just cut my hair again and we went to lunch and a movie. She showed me a "new" used book store in Kona.
At work, I got to come home early last Friday night when the power went out -- very timely. We've had other power outs around the island lately, too. I'm having unusual schedules: we have a couple of girls out on emergency and boss is on vacation. There’s a medical convention in town, so we’re busy. A candy shop closed at the mall, and maybe one store going out next month. Almost all the stores have sale signs up. We're doing better than most.
On the home front, I'm still over 2400 emails in my inbox, but I have been taking my time. (Amy, thanks for the pictures!) As it's been raining and windy lately, I've been able to work indoors instead of out.
I've been in my upstairs-garage apartment for over a year now; doesn't seem like I've used it much. It has a homey feel, and more of my things fit than I thought. There's a missionary bed (hint, hint), plus I still have a whole big house that my friends haven't sold yet. They're dangling a new buyer. I think it's finally going to sell, then I'll have more time for me! But I so enjoy "helping" over there. I've been a recreational weeder for three years now.
Laurie. Hello from Oregon! We are having a great fall. I took a very quick trip to Pullman to see sweet Zachary and Joshua -- Greg and Kandice, too! Pullman brought back many good memories. We walked on campus where Annie and I used to have adventures, and I took a picture of the second story window that David fell from one day. I remember Lucy ran into the kitchen saying, "I hung on to him until I started
to fall, too! So I let him go!" We all ran outside to find him. He had landed on his rear, thrown up and rolled down the hill. I was also reminded while I was at Valley Crest Village of the time that Annie tried to get into the wrong apartment at 6:00 a.m. with a load of laundry fresh from the dryer! Such great stories!We are in the middle of another remodel. This time we are taking a bedroom to make our master bath and closet bigger. Lots of dust, noise and cold -- I'm not sure this poor house can take much more pounding. (Or me either!)
Camille is a busy junior. Probably her favorite activity this fall has been powder puff football. Her junior team beat the seniors, which is very unusual because the referees seem to favor the seniors. Camille did an outstanding
job and even had several good runs with the ball. It was fun to watch. Between football and soccer she stays pretty beat up and she likes it. It just doesn't seem right to go to a formal homecoming dance with bruises all over your legs!Neil, Camille and I took a weekend trip to Las Vegas to visit Neil's parents. It was great fun! Neil helped his dad with a rock wall and Grandma helped us find a homecoming dress for Camille. Grandma and Grandpa Nelson went on an amazing roller coaster with us. They are good sports! I think we would have enjoyed the ride more if we weren't worried that they might have a heart attack in the middle of it. Of course, in my opinion, that wouldn't be a bad way to go!
In case my older kids don't
write, DaNeill completed basic training in the Air Force Reserves and is now back in Everett with her three sweet girls. Nick and Rachel are in Colorado. Rachel received her Master's Degree in Public Administration this summer. Greg and Kandice are in Pullman where Greg is doing graduate work in Mechanical Engineering. Chris and Jessica are in Provo with Jessica working full-time and Chris banging on drums and things. Cassidy is having a very fun second year at BYU. We loved having her home this past summer.That's about it from us! I love you all and am so happy to be part of this wonderful family.
David. We made it through our crazy, busy summer of Trek, girls camp, and EFY. The kids are settled into school. Here's the rundown:
David (the younger and now tallest in the family), is in high school (gasp). He has three honors courses, band, and early-morning seminary. He keeps busy with skateboarding, his social life, and homework.
Sabrina is in seventh grade at our district's performing arts school. She's in the advanced choir, plays soccer, is buried in homework, but still keeps a busy social calendar.
Zach is one of the top readers in his class; he continually amazes his teacher with how much he reads. He still lives on the trampoline, and enjoys his mom as his Bear den leader.
Daniel is in first grade and has managed to stay out of trouble this year *fingers crossed*. He continually amazes us with his math skills. He recently learned how to do a back flip on the trampoline. (Now all of our kids can do one.)
David (the older) has kept busy with work and photography. He had a great time seeing everyone at Britney's wedding. This fall he has done a bunch of senior portraits to add to his awesome scenics. He has a website at www.davidwolfphoto.com where you can see his incredible pictures.
Jen chose a literary agent, (Sara Megibow at Nelson Literary,) after having four offer her representation. In September, she got to visit Annie and Lucy in Arizona and attend the SCBWI conference there. She had so much fun at the conference and spending time with Annie and Lucy's families. In October she got to go to another writer's retreat in Anacortes, WA. At press time, her novel TIGERSEYE has an offer from one publisher and she's waiting to hear back from three other editors before she makes a decision. We will let everyone know when something is concrete. She now has a blog, www.wolftalez.com, and a website, jennifershawwolf.com. Huge thank you to Annie for all of her advice and support!
We are all anxiously watching the ski report and looking forward to what is supposed to be a great ski season! We hope everyone is well!
Doug. We have two missionaries in the field now: Drew in New Hampshire, and Nate in
Ventura, California. Drew has 1 year left and Nate just flew to California today, 11/1/10. Bryce is busy with college at BYU-I and was just called as the Elders Quorum President in his ward. Teresa and I had an eventful summer. We both broke our arms playing softball and baseball. Teresa broke one of her forearm bones in her right arm just above the wrist when she was hit by a softball during our game. I broke my left humerus bone between my shoulder and elbow (not very humorous!) while diving for a ball in a baseball game. It has been a long summer with not much tennis playing or scuba diving :( We should be good to go by January though! The kids are all busy in school and activities which keep us so busy we rarely have time to sit down. Teresa says that will keep us young....I am hoping she is right! Hope you are all well. We love you! NEW ADDRESS!
Elder Drew Bodily
164 Madison Ave, APT 6
Skowhegan, ME 04976
Annie. We're getting more and more settled. I finally got to unpack Great Grandma Hunt's china and the chocolate set. It's all been in storage for six and a half years. It came through perfectly--not a single crack or chip. And it looks fantastic in my dining room even though I'm not actually going to use that room as a dining room. We bought a 1915 grand piano that we are getting refinished to put in it instead of a table.
We love having Rob, Shante, and Jack around. Al is gone all the time, so it's great to have them here to keep Will and me company. Rob is a great help, and Shante cooks dinner for us. Yum!
Andy and Rachel are coming home from BYU for Thanksgiving. We're looking forward to seeing them for a few days. Last year's Thanksgiving got canceled when we all got the flu. We're hoping that doesn't happen again this time. We bought Al a BBQ Smoker for his birthday so I think we'll have to have smoked turkey for dinner. Good thing we're having dinner with Lucy. She'll cook a regular turkey. Phew. We're looking forward to Dan and Nadya joining us for Thanksgiving, too.
Will is doing very well at school. He has all advanced classes, except Spanish, so his GPA is over 4.0. He works hard and is very responsible. The Lord blessed us with a bunch of really great kids. They keep Al and me on track.
Al travels too much. He's trying to figure out a good strategy so that can change, but as long as the US economy is weak and the Asian economy is strong, he'll end up flying the Singapore or France to teach. Kind of a long commute.
I'm still busy writing. This fall I'm working on CAYMAN SUMMER (Taken by Storm Book #3). I released the second book, UNBROKEN CONNECTION, with Rob's help, this summer. As a huge experiment and a gift to my loyal readers, I'm posting CAYMAN SUMMER on a blog as I write it--one poem, dive log or internet chat at a time. It's turning out to be a lot of fun and great motivation. I'll publish it in book form next spring. Andy helped me design the blog and Rob designed the cover. You can visit at http://caymansummer.blogspot.com.
Amy. Thanks again to everyone who was able to come to Brittany's wedding! It was so fun to get together. You really made it wonderful for us. And for those who couldn't make it, we missed you terribly and the next get-together will be mandatory. After the wedding we spent a week in Wisconsin at the Archibald's cabin. That is always the favorite week of the year. This year they added 4-wheelers and paintball guns to the lake toys, so the boys were in heaven. They even saw a bear when they were out on a 4-wheeler trail. Now the boys are back to their usual...school, lacrosse, basketball. I went back to school this fall, too, at Univ of TX San Antonio to finish up my Accounting degree after 20+ years off. It's been quite an adjustment, but I really like it. Larry got a good promotion, so hamburgers will be in our future for a while. Brittany and Steven are doing great, working and going to school. She should have her wedding pictures up on Facebook any day. We're having gorgeous fall weather if any one is tempted to get away! 
Jim. Our big news is that we're moving again. This time it's only a dozen miles, though - from NW to NE Colorado Springs (into Black Forest for those who know the area here). We're pretty confident Beth won't get another assignment before she can retire as a Colonel in a couple more years, so our plan to get Tyler through school here is looking good. So we bought a 2-1/2 acre lot in the trees adjacent to a park and we're building a house with a nice Pikes Peak view and a big study (I work from home quite a bit). We hope to move in by late next summer.
Tyler turned 13 a couple weeks ago and Cooper the puppy turned 7 months a few days later - both growing fast.
Ken. I’m either working at the salon or working on my house. With both of the girls settled in school (Aubrey at UI and Leah at SCC), my life has been blessedly uneventful. Alan VanVoorhis and I are going to Seattle Thanksgiving weekend to see Kansas City embarrass the Seahawks.
Greg & Kandice. Hello, Family. Many things have happened since we last wrote:
9 April 2010: Greg turns 25 and graduates from BYU-Idaho.
14 June 2010: Zachary turns three!!!
July 2010: We move to Pullman, WA for grad school at WSU. We go to Twin Lakes -- the best place in the world.
8 August 2010: Joshua starts nursery.
29 August 2010: Greg and Kandice celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary.
11 September 2010: Uncle Klain visits. We all go to a WSU football game and they win!
September 2010: School in full swing. Greg called as Ward mission leader. Kandice called as choir director.
October 2010: We look forward hearing from our family.
P.S. To see more check out our blog: gregandkandice.blogspot.com.
Merrily. We took a five day, seven state, 2500 mile road trip. Day one, we drove to Bozeman, MT. En route,
we introduced the kids to the old Get Smart TV show, thanks to our public library. Now we use our shoes as phones. “Would you believe it?”Day two we spent in Yellowstone National Park. The weather was gorgeous and the crowds were small. Then we headed south to Rexburg, ID for a great dinner with Mom, Ramon, and Bryce.
Day three, we visited Bear World (a must when you’re in Rexburg!) and drove to Cedar Hills, UT where we stayed with Robert’s cousins. Day four, we attended the LDS general conference in SLC.
Day five, we drove 1100 miles home via Nevada. In one day. I don’t know if it’s frightening or reassuring that we haven’t yet outgrown road trips.
Here's Robert, Solomon, and Abraham at the Great Salt Lake.
Lucy. I hosted the Relief Society Holiday dinner at my house yesterday and it consumed my life this past week or so...but even my windows are clean. We wrapped our summer up with a cruise to Alaska and Brittany's wedding. It was great to see everyone. The day we got
off the cruise, Merrily hosted Sunday dinner. It was great to spend time with her and David's families. Our cruise was amazing. Alaska is such a beautiful and unique place. We saw so many things we have never seen before.For fall break we rented a cabin up in the mountains and got a little break from the heat. Sidney took family pictures for us while we were up there. She is amazing, she would get the picture all set up and then she would run and jump in the frame and pose like a pro! The girls are all doing great. Sid is a senior, working on her photography and applying to colleges. She hopes to go to BYU-I. Carly is in 9th grade this year. She was elected captain of her volleyball team and is now trying out for the Club volleyball team. Adri is in 6th grade and has hung up her ballet shoes and is giving jazz a try. So far she loves it.
We are excited to spend Thanksgiving with Annie and Dan's families. I can't wait for some smoked turkey! For Christmas we are hoping to go up to Idaho but I still can't get barf-fest '08 out of my mind so plans might change. We love you all and hope you and your families are all healthy and happy.
