June 2012

Ken. Leah finished school, got her license, and is trying to work more hours at the mall. Aubrey moved to Spokane, is working as a nanny, and will start her fourth year at U of I at their Couer d'Alene campus. I finally finished my kitchen. I'm starting to feel like I'm living like a human again. Almost time for Slippery Gulch and I keep getting volunteered for more and more.

Cassidy & Jesse. This last several months has been a little chaotic for Jesse and me. We are building a house of our very own in Saratoga Springs, UT. It should be done by the end of July and we are SO excited! We are living in Draper, UT right now and we drive down to Saratoga Springs at least twice a week. The construction is going so quickly! We're going to have a huge party when the house is finished, so if you're in the area at the end of July you are invited!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we drove up to Rexburg to see Grandma and Grandpa. It was so fun to see them and spend some time with them. Grandma gave us her Bernina sewing machine and we are so excited to have it and to use it for all the fun projects we'll do for our new house. We love them so much and we are so lucky to have them as Grandparents. We love you all so much! 

Annie. The end of the school year brought lots of graduations and award ceremonies for our family to attend. Rachel graduated from BYU last December, but she "walked" in April. I flew up and spent a few days celebrating with her. She graduated with a BA in Sociology and minors in African Studies and Development. She was accepted into Teach for America, and this summer she is in Tulsa training to be a high school social studies teacher. In the fall, she will start a two-year commitment to teach at a high school in Charlotte, NC. She'll begin working on a master's degree in education this fall, too.

Rob finished is MBA and graduated in May. He has a job in Charlotte, too--so the kids will be in the same area. He, Shante and Jack left here June 8th to drive all the way out there. They arrived safely about the same time their moving pods were delivered. They've found a nice house to rent and are settling in to their new life. Shante is expecting another boy the end of October. Our house is very quiet. 

Will received an award for having one of the top 20 core GPA's in his grade at school. He's ranked #13. He just received is patriarchal blessing and had perfect attendance at seminary. Perfect attendance at school, too. He's as independent and self-sufficient as ever, but now he drives, so he's even more so.

Al has been traveling a lot--again. He's in Zambia while I type. He visited Victoria Falls. Today he's sight-seeing in Botswana. He found out after he arrived that it's a bad place for malaria. Of course, he isn't taking malaria medication. I hope he uses the bug spray. 

Andy and Kay are doing well in Dallas. Kay just landed a great job at a real estate development company. Andy's app business is starting to take off. He signed up his first company, and they have lots of work for him. 

At the end of the summer, Allen will say good-bye to INSEAD, the school he works for now. He's returning to IMD in Lausanne starting in September. He's excited to make the switch. This first year he'll commute between Phoenix and Switzerland so Will can graduate from high school here. After Will graduates, we'll half-move to Lausanne. We'll keep our house here and get an apartment in Lausanne. Allen and I both feel like the Lord wants us to go back to Switzerland. We'll be back for a few weeks to a few months throughout the year. 

I keep writing. This summer I'm working on a book based on Mom's childhood in Rexburg. I've been collecting information for years. I'm excited to pull it all together. My agent continues to try to market my book based on the Glover family, MY ONLY LOVE, and a time travel dystopian romance, SLIPPED. She's reading a middle grade novel I just finished about a nerdy boy who saves the world, THE ORDER OF THE FLICK. I'm remodeling my website. What a headache. I've got a couple new blogs -- http://angelamorrison.blogspot.com and http://oppositechewbacca.com  you can visit. My composer, Harriet Bushman, is writing the music for SING ME TO SLEEP, the musical. Her husband is going to feature four the songs in an end of the year concert. I'm going to put together a SING, the musical blog, too. Before Rob left, he helped me publish an new version of TAKEN BY STORM. I'm excited to have an ebook that works!  Here's the new cover he designed for it. I love it.   

David. David's MS symptoms are mostly under control, except for the back pain. He's going to a physical therapist and chiropractor and will be seeing an MS specialist in Seattle this week. He's eating all the right things and keeps a wonderful, positive attitude about everything.

Jen launched BREAKING BEAUTIFUL on April 24th. The bookstore sold out of her books that night. We had a cake with the book cover on it, red shoes, and lots of friends there to help celebrate. She has just finished the first draft of her second book tentatively titled SHARDS OF GLASS and tentatively scheduled to come out September 2013. (These things tend to change depending on publisher whims.) She's been busy with writing, kids, and Primary stuff. Not always in that order.

 David the Younger now has a driver's license. We kind of feel like we did when he first learned to crawl and then to walk--now that he's mobile there's so much more trouble he can get into. He's very into "his" car, a Honda Accord that's as old as he is and that we've had since Sabrina was born. He's been on two official dates, once to a formal church prom and once to take a girl skiing. We predict he'll be dating more when he can actually drive with someone else in the car, in July, after he's had his license for six months.

Sabrina has completely healed from both of her surgeries and hopes to go back to soccer and skiing next year. She just finished playing Maude Dunlap in her school's production of "The Music Man." She had her "Moving Up" ceremony for her performing arts middle school last week and chose a fluffy pink dress for the occasion, (very much like the dresses she used to wear when she was young enough for Jen to choose her clothes). She's heading to Utah for Especially for Youth next week with her best friend.

Zach is still a star reader, does great in school, and keeps us all in stitches with the crazy things he comes up with. For example, the other day he said, "Why is the word abbreviation so long?" And when we were filling out the permission slip for his last field trip he told us to put 911 as the emergency contact number. 

Daniel turned eight and was baptized last month by his older brother. It was a proud, heartfelt moment for all of us. He has become our Lego maniac, he has constructed a working soda machine (gravity powered) and is working on a Lego crane game.

 We are doing well and looking forward to a less hectic summer. You're all in our prayers and we look forward to the next time we get to see everyone.

Dan. We're having a very busy summer. We've had visitors from Russia, camp for Danil, and swimming and dance lessons for Sophia. Soon Danil will be going to Russia for a few weeks and we are planning a trip for the rest of the family to Russia in October. Giselle is speaking in full sentences now and holds long conversations with each of us.

Nadya is taking summer classes including art appreciation which she doesn't appreciate. I'm building a shed for all my junk as the neighbors are encouraging me to do so. :)

We're anticipating the summer rains, which should come soon, to give a little relief from the heat. Still sending out pastor applications, for fun, and have been given some opportunities to preach on Sundays at our home church.

Other than that, it is life as usual for us. We love you all.

Laurie. We just returned from a whirlwind trip to take Camille to Provo where she will attend summer term at BYU and then continue with fall and winter semesters. Camille graduated from McNary High School on Friday, June 8th and we were on our way to Provo on Monday. She has been excited to go to BYU for a long time, so we are happy for her, but we have been home for one day and I can tell already that our house is going to be way too quiet! 

 We were also able to visit Mom and Ramon in Rexburg for a few days. It was really good to spend time with them. They are grateful to live in their nice home in a helpful neighborhood and ward. Ramon's eyesight is failing which is very hard on both of them, but they are happy to have each other. We wish we lived closer to them.

Neil recently attended a luncheon where he sat at a table with Vice-Admiral Beeman of the 3rd Naval Fleet, and as a result of their conversation, he has been invited to fly onto a naval aircraft carrier "experiencing an arrested landing" and then be catapulted off again the next day. Neil is so excited!  He said it's like a little kid kind of excitement. I will be at girls' camp that week which I am really not too excited about at all!

A quick update on our family - DaNeill is in Redmond with her three little ones and we are excited to have them come to Twin Lakes in July; Nick, Rachel and Alexa are also coming to Twin and then driving back to Oregon with us; Greg, Kandice and family are in Pullman where Greg is finishing a master's degree; Chris and Jessica are moving to Saratoga Springs, UT where Chris will be teaching at West Lake High School and they will have a little girl in September; Cassidy and Jesse are also moving to Saratoga Springs where they are building a house.  

Life is good. We are grateful for each of you. We love you.

Merrily. Recently, Abraham enjoyed Medieval Days at Cub Scout day camp while Solomon attended a Kamehameha Schools camp. Victor graduated from Wilson High School in Tacoma and Eliahs finished his junior year. Kaela works at a Chinese restaurant on Oahu. She's looking at joining the Coast Guard this fall. Kelsey is in Tekoa studying for the GRE. She sent me photos of Slippery Gulch and my 30th high school reunion.

Robert started painting the house. The color you see in the photos is primer. The siding came pre-primed and treated for termites. We assembled the water catchment tank. It looks just like a grain bin. Today we worked in the rain. We'll probably never have to worry about running out of water here. Our to-do list is getting shorter!

Ken is coming back to Hawaii for a brief visit while he helps a friend move to the Big Island. Robert's brother is coming with his family mid-July. We're really looking forward to spending time with family.

Amy. We finally made the move a few weeks ago. Our new address is: 313 Hollowdale, Edmond, OK 73003. I'm loving it! I never imagined how beautiful it is here, and the people are so wonderful. I can hardly handle all the cookies people have brought us! We're looking forward to Britt & Steven coming to visit in a few weeks, then a trip to the Archibald's cabin in Wisconsin, then Sean is moving home in August to go to school here in the fall. We send our love to all of you!

Lucy. First, I want to thank everyone who came and helped with Sidney's wedding. We couldn't have pulled it off without all of your help. It made me realize what an awesome family I have. I love you all so much! It was one of the best weekends of my life. Sidney and Taylor are so happy! The morning after the wedding reception Sidney sent me a text that said "Thanks mama for giving me the most perfect wedding!" That text alone was worth all the hard work. It really was the most perfect evening, it ended way too fast. The newlyweds are all moved in to their darling little house and Sidney is having so much fun decorating it.  

 

   

 

Carly is busy this summer with four different volleyball camps, including one at Pepperdine University in Malibu. She is so excited! Every morning they get to practice on Malibu Beach and then the afternoons are spent in the gym. Both girls had girls' camp. Adri's mattress up at camp had a family of mice living in it. Yuck! She thought it was funny watching all the other girls scream and wished I was there cause she knew I would be screaming the loudest. Adri had basketball camp and now she gets to spend the rest of her summer laying out, swimming, hanging out with friends, and shopping. Everything a summer should include! Matt and I are planning a trip for our 20th anniversary the first of August. We've rented a cabin in Lake Tahoe. It will be nice and relaxing.

Hope this finds you all healthy and happy! We love you all!

Jim. The “Waldo Canyon Fire” is bad but it’s on the other side of the interstate from us, about 15 miles away.  The picture is a view from our front window on Saturday afternoon a few hours after it started when it was about 500 acres – since then it’s grown to 5,000+.

Until this afternoon it was going OK.  Very rugged country but they hadn’t had any injuries or lost any structures, and it was burning generally away from the city.  About six hours ago thunderstorms came through (without any significant rain) and kicked up 60 mph winds that doubled it back straight into the northwestern suburbs.  A number of houses burned, don’t know how many but I think the news in the morning will be bad.  The evac area now includes our old neighborhood along with much of the NW corner of Colorado Springs.  The base you’re hearing about is the Air Force Academy – partially evacuated.  It sounds like the overnight winds will be more helpful so maybe this will be the worst.  Not expecting the fire to be completely out until mid-July.