Cruise Pictures

The night picture of the ship was when we got back from the ruins at Tulum. I got Julie playing with a turtle and the picture of her with the pirate was the day we went to Hell, then one of the ruins at Tulum.

It was great fun - great weather - great company. I hated to come home to the cold and the snow. Next week I go to the Huntsman Cancer Institute Hospital for some surgery so we will see what the new year brings.

Happy New Year and Love to all of you - JB

Love from AZ

Tomorrow is the start of a new year! I hope it is better and more productive than this year. Unfortunately I think I am going to have to do more than hope to make this happen. I finally have electricity and hot water. My car is broken down again but I am buying the part today to fix it and all should be well before 2009 is upon us. I went to see Dustin on Sunday. He is doing good and he looks great. He said he didn't get any cards for Christmas except from me and a note from Dad and Nick. So if anyone wants to drop him a line it is Dustin Hill #200356, ASPC Winslow Coronado Unit 5B2, 2100 S. Hwy 87, Winslow, AZ 86047 He said when it becomes 2009 he can say he only has 2 years left. It has been cold in Arizona but probable not as cold as some of you have been. Kory, Jen and I went to lunch with Nate and Alayna a couple weeks ago. I am glad they called me while they were down here. Your all invited anytime. Hope everyone has a Happy and Prosperous New Year! Love to you all. Paula

2008 on its way out!

Just got back from 10 days in Florida and the Caribbean. We flew down to Tampa on Friday the 19th and boarded the cruise ship on Saturday. It took until Monday morning to arrive at Grand Cayman, where we played with the turtles, the stingrays and toured the island. I will try to get some pictures on here by tomorrow. Some of the turtles were huge - like 400-500 lbs and and very old, but the ones we got to pick up were a lot smaller - maybe 12-14 inches across and 5 lbs. The stingrays were spooky - we had pieces of squid to feed them and they would just mob you - we were probably 2-3 miles offshore and the water was 3-4 feet deep. There were 8 or 10 boats out there at any given time with 50 or so people in each boat!!

Then it took us overnight to get to Cozumel which is an island but our activities were on the mainland so we took a ferry boat over on Tuesday morning in VERY rough water - lots of people were sick. Then we had to walk about 2 blocks to the buses - they were too big to get close to the harbor and about an hour ride to the ruins at Tulum. The Mayan ruins there were fantastic. I had some fish tacos there with a pico de gallo salsa made with habanero peppers - talk about some serious heat!! I just sat there and kept eating and sweating!! Then back to the harbor and another fun boat ride back to the island and our cruise ship.

We cruised back to Tampa arriving there early in the morning on Christmas morning, and stayed there until Monday afternoon when we flew home. I ate a ton of fish and we saw some great sights. We got to go to the Tampa Bay Bucanneers football game with Oakland - my first NFL game. Loved walking around looking at Christmas lights in 70 degree weather!! We got to eat at some amazing places in Tampa - Debbie works for the company that owns Outback Steak Houses, Flemings, Roys and some others so we got the royal treatment and some awesome food!! We also went to Tarpon Springs, which is a Greek enclave with sponges, great places to eat and a lot of shops with sponges, goat's milk soap, etc. We also went to a fish market where we got a 5 pound filet of black grouper for grilling.

I said before we went I wanted to eat fish 3 times a day and I didn't quite do it, but I did eat fish at least twice a day every day and sometimes I got fish 3 times in 1 day. Mike and Becky were there from Las Vegas and Bruce and Debbie live in Clearwater so there were 6 of us on the cruise - it was a blast.

I think it was about 20 degrees when we got to Park 'n Jet and start shoveling the snow off the Jeep - it was hard to be thrilled about being home at that moment, but when we got home the sidewalks and driveway was cleared - haven't found out yet but think our tenants downstairs did that!!

I will try and do some pictures tomorrow and a few final thoughts before we move on to a New Year - Love to all - J.B.

Clan Flannery Checking In

This is late but only by a few minutes (it's 12:39 by my clock) so I'm going to go with it. Overall all is pretty well here in lovely West Valley City. Maggie and Aidan had the entire month of November off track at school (which is roughly translated into a month of torture for their parents) and yet they continue to draw breath (and we only had to go to the hospital for stitches once) so I'm going to call that a win.

Maggie did cut her own hair again but I figure that she's the one who has to walk around looking like that so any punishment I give her is just redundant. She continues to read a lot and watch a lot of Disney channel (although she has not seen the new High School Musical movie) but suddenly staunchly refuses to have anything to do with either Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus (I find I don't miss them).

Aidan has discovered the exciting world of video games (given his father's prediliction it was only a matter of time) but he's still in that "to make my guy jump, I have to jump" phase so he is still getting quite a bit of exercise.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with at my parents' which was nice, but quiet (for an occasion at my parents') with only eleven children there. Shaun had to eat quickly so that he could get to work and therefore missed most of the fun, (chatting, boardgames, Isacc biting his cousin so hard he drew blood) but at least he didn't have too work hard, since apparently the people in the Salt Lake valley all ate themselves into the kinds of comas that do not require medical attention and he came home early.

Isaac, in addition to the biting, has really started talking, and singing, up a storm and now you can rarely get him to shut up. But I find that the "I have poop again" song is starting to grow on me.

Ian at nearly a year old has decided to walk and it couldn't have come at a better time what with all the delicious things to be found on the bottom half of the christmas tree not to mention the sawdust and woodchips now scattered throughout the house.

Speaking of, our kitchen addition is going quite well we've got all the sheetrock hung and the mudding and taping starts this week (I'm just going to tell myself that the white dust covering every surface is fake snow and was part of my decorating plan for Christmas) and then we're putting the floor on. it's actaully pretty amazing to tlook at it and realize that we did it pretty much all ourselves. (Your family tends to be a little, and by a little I mean A LOT, more constructiony than my family so you may not find it amazing but trust me, it is.)

Shaun and I continue to work a whole heck of a lot and (it seems like) not do much else but we're well and hope you all are too.

Oh and Happy Christmas, in case we don't see you,

Last minute pics, I hope!!

OK - 2 pictures of the Gothic Arch and 2 pictures of Lark's Rock - I have lots of pics and video and it was a great adventure.

Love to all - JB

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Hope all of you did too! We had dinner with Russell's family, got our tree up and the house decorated. Luke is really excited about Christmas stuff this year. He has been loving all the lights in yards and all the x-mas decorations at the store. He was way excited to put our tree up. On Friday, he got to meet Santa Claus! He was at a little craft fair they have every year, and while we were standing in line he kept saying "My turn! Lukie's turn now!" Mostly, he's kind of a shy kid, it takes him a minute to warm up to most people. But not Santa! He ran right over and hopped up in the sleigh, got his candy cane and said "Ho, Ho!" He got his picture taken, and when I told him he had to get down he told Santa "I'll miss you!" As we were walking out to the car, he was crying because he wanted to go back in and see Santa again. He has talked about nothing but Santa since. Hope everyone has a good month!
Love-Meg, Russell and Luke

Thanksgiving and other adventures

We had 2 great trips to Moab this month including one trip to Blanding and Red Canyon. In the middle of the month, we went with a bunch of our Lone Peak 4 Wheelers club for our monthly trail ride. We did Klondike Bluffs on Thursday on our way down, then Elephant Hill on Friday. It was great fun and a bunch of our people had never done it before. On Saturday, we did Hell's Revenge where we had some great adventure and one mishap. Marlin Sharp laid his Wrangler over on it's side at the top of Hell's Gate. No one hurt and not too much damage. From there we hurried to Gemini Bridges to get some pictures driving across the Bridges in case they decide to close them to vehicle traffic.

On Sunday, we did the Secret Spire and the Dellenbaugh Tunnel on our way home. They are both to the north west of Moab, so they work well for short trips on the way home. We aired back up in Green River, ate at Ray's and came home.

Troy Garrett, one of our club members who has helped me a lot working on our Jeep, couldn't go to Moab that weekend, but was set to go with some friends the next weekend with some friends who were going to rent Jeeps. We met them on Saturday morning at the Moab Diner for breakfast, then they went across the street to Moab Adventure Tours to rent their Jeeps. We took them on Poison Spider Mesa, which is not a beginner trail, but it is not too hard and is a great place to take beginners who want to see what Jeeping is really like. We had a great day, and finished up UNDER Gemini Bridges because we were running out of daylight and they could see it from the top in their truck. We did the top the next morning, then when they headed for home we headed for Blanding.

We had a great visit with Mom and Dad on Sunday afternoon, looked at pictures and info on Lark's Rock, got GPS coordinates and instructions. On Monday morning we got up and headed for Red Canyon. Dad had said we could see the rock when we got to the Marquis Mine turn-off and when I said to Julie "There is the turn-off to the Marquis," we both turned and looked over our right shoulders and instantly saw the Rock. We took some pictures from there, then drove on down to where the road crosses the canyon and turned up the bottom toward the rock. We drove to within about 200 yards and walked the rest of the way. Took lots of pictures and video that I will get on here.

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet at our house. I have a foot in bad shape, so we didn't do much and I went to the Doctor on Friday morning. I have some kind of infection, am taking antibiotics, soaking my feet and waiting until Monday morning to go back to the Doctor.

Hope you all had a GREAT THANKSGIVING and that all is well with all of you.
Love ya all, - J.B.

NKOTB Rules!!!

On 11/15/08, me, Molly and Marisa went tothe E-Center and saw New Kids on the Block!! It was probably one of the funnest things we've ever done together. We had floor seats on the 33rd row, which was great. Then, 1/2 way through the show, they came up on a platform in middle of the floor and we were, like, 5 rows away from them!! And I'll just tell you, they are still so hot! Peggy (love you pegs!) watched Luke and Savannah, and Gavin had a "boys night" with Paxton and his brothers. It was so fun to hang out, just the 3 of us, and do something we've wanted to do for, like, 15 years. (My dad wouldn't let us see them in concert when we were kids because he thought we were too young.....lame!!) We also got started on out christmas shopping a little bit. But pretty much the highlight of my month (year?) was Jon, Jordan, Donny, Joey and Danny. (Those are their names, for those of you who aren't fans) So much fun to hang out with my sisters, wish we would've taken a camera!!! Hope everyone is doing well.
Love-Meg

The Pulse Tour!

Earlier in November, I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas for a dance convention. It was called The Pulse Tour, and a lot of the choreographers from So You Think You Can Dance teach master classes. I went with some of the teachers from our studio. It was such an amazing opportunity! There were so many people and the classes were all packed. We learned many routines and had great, inspirational thoughts from these incredible instructors. Yesterday at our studio, one little girl saw these pictures up on the wall and was asking questions about them. She said, "are they as good as you guys?" I immediately gave her a hug and promoted her to the top of her class!

Tyce Diorio

Shane Sparks

Mia Michaels

Squash and other fun

Yesterday was our annual squash outing. We got up early, gathered up stuff we needed for the day and headed for Brigham City. We did get some squash, but I think we were a little late in the season – we didn’t have all the choices we usually have. We ended up with butternut, acorn, banana, blue Hubbard, sweet meat and pumpkin. We at least have enough to get us into the New Year.

Ate lunch at Maddox’ – Julie had a sirloin steak and I had a superb piece of salmon – barely seared and just fabulous. We went up I-84 thru Morgan to get to Park City. Saw a bald eagle and quite a few hawks. We checked out the new Columbia Sportswear store at the Outlet Mall but they didn’t have any pants my size. Our sack of canned goods was our entry fees to the Adopt a Native Elder festivities. I bought Julie a new turquoise necklace and she got some ear rings. We listened to some singing and chanting and saw lots of fabulous rugs.

Tonight we attended the annual Holiday Fireside for the Mt. Timpanogos Temple workers. Elder L. Tom Perry was the guest speaker. He and Sister Perry gave great talks and it was fun to go to the American Fork Tabernacle. I had never been there before except in the basement where the Family History Center is. It is really a cool old building.

Hope all is well with all of you!!

Happy Halloween/End of October

Hope you all had a great Halloween - it was pretty quiet at our house - I was on a Marketing teleconference call for over 2 hours and Julie had to work kind of late. So we just ignored the doorbell and went about our business.

It has been a pretty quiet weekend at our house, but I saw this recipe on TV and we decided we just had to try it. We watched some woman make it and it looked really good. It was a little time consuming but not hard to do.


Huevos Rancheros with Black Bean Puree

Prep Time:
15 min

Cook Time:
35 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
4 servings

For the salsa: 2 small tomatoes, seeded and chopped 1 small onion, chopped 1 medium jalapeno, chopped 1 garlic clove, chopped 1 tablespoon lime juice 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Frank's Red Hot) 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Black Bean Puree: 1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 clove garlic, smashed 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon lime juice 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil Pinch salt
2 (12-inch) flour tortillas 1 tablespoon melted butter 8 eggs, room temperature 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese Sour cream, for garnish
Special equipment: 4 (4 by 2-inch) ramekins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
For the Salsa: In a small bowl mix together, tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, garlic, juice, olive oil, hot sauce, and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
For the Black Bean Puree: In a food processer, blend all ingredients together until smooth.
To assemble: Stack tortillas on a cutting board. Using the bottom of the ramekin as a guide, cut 8 circles out of the tortillas. Spread the bean puree evenly on 1 side of each tortilla round. Place a round in each ramekin, bean side up. Crack 2 eggs into each of the 4 ramekins, followed by 1/4 cup of salsa, and 1 tablespoon each of Cheddar and jack. Cover with another tortilla round, bean side down. Do not jam the dishes with too much. The eggs will expand during cooking and overflow. Brush tops of each tortilla with butter and bake on a sheet tray for 35 minutes. Top with remaining cheese during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Cheese should be melted and golden on top. To serve, top with sour cream and salsa.

Give it a try and tell us what you think!!

For those of you who live in a cave - these pictures are of Lark L's Miracle Rock in Red Canyon - pictures taken by President Kay Shumway. Julie and I are hoping to get down there in November and go see it if the weather cooperates.

Happy Halloween from Vernal!

This is Lukie the Beagle!! We ordered his costume online, and he loved it! He had a really fun time trick or treating and got way more candy than a 2 1/2 year old probably needs. We had a really nice month; carving pumpkins, making halloween sugar cookies, decorating the house with pumpkins. Molly and Paxton and the kids came out for Savannah's birthday on the 18th (my mom and Marisa came too!) And we had a really fun time going to the pumpkin festival and the corn maze. Savannah was the cutest little birthday girl ever in her new party dress and her tiara!

Everyone at our house is doing really well. Russell is still really liking his new job, and my dad is going to get a promotion at Cutters! I had to work a few extra days this month and hardly knew what to do. Luke really likes that he can talk because now he can really order us all around. He is so cute and big. Hope everyone is doing well and had a good month!

Love-

Meggie, Russell, Luke and Duane.

Just in case anyone forgot how pretty m eand my sisters are....here is a reminder! LOL!

Savannah is 2!!!

Savannah turned two on the 18th! We had a great time in Vernal to celebrate. We took the kids to a pumpkin festival and a cornmaze. They got to feed goats, go on a mini train ride, and get lost in the maze. It was great fun! Savannah is a bit obsessed with Diego, her party was themed around the great animal rescuer. Savannah is such a sweet, beautiful, funny girl. She loves dressing up, Diego, babies, Diego, reading, Diego...you get the idea. She is talking so much and bossing everyone around. She loves her brother and they have so much fun together. Ofcourse they do have the occasional disagreement, we are working on having perfect children who never fight or argue, but it hasn't happend yet! We love and adore Savannah Skye and could not live without her! As you can see from the photo, Gavin had a little trouble with someone else having a birthday. He wanted to know why his birthday wasn't that day. He said it was too long to wait for January! He was very eager to help open presents and play with them. He gave me all the details for how he wanted his birthday party. Ahhh....kids! We love 'em!

What a Week!

So we got our super adorable puppy last weekend. He is so cute and we just love him. He has been a bit of a stinker but we knew going in the small dogs and male dogs are harder to potty train. Our breeder didn't help us out with that much by letting him only use potty pads and never really introducing him to grass. It has been quite the week. He is now sleeping through the night which is such a blessing (I really love to sleep) and he is mostly pretty sweet. He is definitely part schnauzer as he is a sniffer and a digger.

In other fun news, the reason I have not posted a million cute pics of our boy is that our computer that we have had for three years and that has been across the country and world with us is finally dead. We have replaced our power cord four times and this time it has only been about a month and it will not stay powered without pushing the cord in the back with all your might. Even then I can only get enough charge to see what emails I have received but not enough to actually read them. I think it is time to officially call it quits. If anyone knows where I can get a cheap desktop let me know. I now have to do all my computer work at school and I try not to stay here any more than I have to. As soon as I find a genius way to get my pics from my camera to the web without a computer I will let you know.

Nate's mom and sister and her kids came to stay with us last weekend. We had a good time in spite of all the very un-Boise-like weather. This town is so geared to the outdoors that when it rains there is NOTHING to do. Bowie was in heaven with all the kids to play with though. We are going to get him good and socialized with all the visitors we have had and will have in the next few weeks.

I would love to comment on my favorite conference talks but with all the craziness this week/month/year/lifetime they are all still just sitting on my tivo. How I would just love to have 8 hours to spare!

Oh my gosh!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

I being slightly or even a little more retarded, could not figure out how to get here for the life of me. I couldn't call upon my memory because I have none. I am in Mesa. It is blazing hot down here. As for Matta's I think they just moved it to Brown and Higley! Mesa Drive is kinda a bad part of town now. They will get a lot more business from a more affluent crowd out east. Just not to far out east. I am expecting it to cool off any day now, and my friend George will come back to work on my house. We need to finish the Arizona room and the bathroom floor and then I can start working on the yard. Which is in bad need of an overhaul. The winter crowd will also be here soon and I hope to be able get some kind of job. They are building like crazy all around me. I visited Dustin a few weeks ago, he is doing well and taking some kind of class. Kory is welllll, Kory! Never a dull moment. If you can dream it he can take it apart. Love to everyone! Hopefully you will see me a little more often. Paula

Posted by Paula at 2:57 PM

Traffic Meter Lights

Today is a soapbox day - I get on the freeway at 1600 North in Orem pretty much every morning and we have a new metering light to deal with. You just have to love the logic of UDOT. They changed what has been 1 lane for years and years into 2 lanes so they could put up 2 lights so you merge back into 1 lane to get on the freeway!! Plus it is an uphill on ramp so what the lights really do is make you stop so you can't even get a decent run and get up to speed to merge into the freeway traffic. I suppose they have all kinds of data and research about how great the metering system works but for those of us in the trenches every day, it just doesn't make any sense. This is actually only one of a long list of things I would love to discuss with UDOT but I think I will give up for now. Hooray for UDOT!!

On the bright side I stopped at Thanksgiving Point yesterday and got to visit with Mike for awhile. We talked about family and business and had a great visit. Friday is the last Farmers Market at TGP - Julie and I haven't made it there once this year - I can't believe how fast the time goes by - so we are going to try to get there on our way to Salt Lake on Friday.

From what Megan says it sounds like they are having great fun in Vernal - sure hope to hear from more of you - how and what you are doing!!

Hi from Vernal!

Hello everyone!

Just a little update from the Barnes/Hanberg house. We have been doing a lot of fishing in the last month. Not a lot of catching, but a lot of fishing. My mom was up for the weekend in early September and we went to Oaks Park (where this picture of her and Luke was taken.) We only caught one fish, and it was cold! But we had a nice time. Pen had to come up so that her and my dad could go pick out all the tile and carpet and colors for their new house!

Then, we met Molly and Paxton and the kids @ Moon Lake, outside Altamont, and fished for the day. We caught 7 fish that day! And the kids had such a nice time running around and playing. It was fairly cold that day, and at one point we all had to sit in the truck because it was raining so hard, but we still had such a good time.

Russell started a new job as a water hauler on 09/29/08. He really likes it. It will be a better job, and he will make more money. Duane is still at Cutters Wireline, and will probably be moving up to CEO any day now! (So nice having him live with us, we may not let him move into his own house at the end of next month!) And we can't even wait for the end of the school year when my mom will move up here and we will get to see her everyday. I am still at the clinic, working for my same doctor. Luke still goes to Russell's moms' house while I work and loves it! He is getting so big and smart. He is talking a lot, and has just started having little conversations! He is really excited about Halloween; well, mostly he just really likes pumpkins. We got his Halloween costume (a beagle) and he packs it around with him all over the house.

Hope everyone is doing well, we sure like to read all of the updates on the blog.

Love all of you,

Meg, Russell, Luke and Big D (Duane)

It's About Time...

Let me just begin by saying (writing?) that if you thought of those commercials for the Church when you read the title of my post, you are not alone (though you, too, may need psychological help). I wasn't thinking that at all, until after I typed it. Immediately after I had the first thought, I couldn't read the title anymore without hearing the ellipsis between "about" and "time" in my head.

I haven't written for a long time... I suppose the justification for that is that I was waiting to be able to announce my new job... which I still don't have yet. I started looking at the end of April, and I think there's a very good chance that I'll finally have one by the end of this week (although, in fairness, I thought that last week, too). So, since I have nothing interesting to report, but I haven't written for a while, I'm ready to write something... less interesting.

AJ is growing up at an alarming rate (as kids that age always seem to do). He will be a year old next week. He walks pretty well, although he learned to walk on carpet and without shoes, so it sort of threw him for a loop when we started putting shoes on him. He doesn't love walking on hardwood floors, concrete, or other non-carpet surfaces, but he's starting to get the hang of it. He's been trying to talk for a while now, but he doesn't really say anything intelligible. He does mimic what we say fairly often. His latest is "hot dog" though it really doesn't sound anything like "hot dog" in English. Maybe in another language, but...

Going back to work (assuming that ever happens) is going to be weird for me. I've been home during the day with AJ virtually every day of his life...

Alexa is healthy and happy, enjoying 3rd grade and has recently developed a love of bowling. Well, maybe love is too strong a word. She started a Saturday morning bowling league last week. We will have to see if it sticks.

I promise to write again when I get a job. Hopefully that means you'll be hearing from me very soon.

More from the Flannerys

If you leave this board

(Yes, those are nails.)

laying on the floor like this

then your husband might step on the board and one of the nails might go into his foot far enough that he has to reach down and pull the board (and the nail) off (out) of his foot (And he might have to go to his ER and get a doctor there to clean it out so that it doesn't get infected and give him a Tetanus shot so he doesn't get lock jaw.) and you might feel really bad and really guilty.

If, however, your husband leaves this board

laying on the floor like this and he steps on it. You'll still feel really bad.

But you'll avoid the guilt.

Let me entertain you

Isaac loves cars. I don't let him play in my car but that requires some work on my part. The car must always be locked. (I'm not a locker by nature, my parents not only don't lock, they leave the keys in the cars. And I was raised with that so the locking thing took some getting used to.) But it doesn't end at locking. Ike, he's 2 remember, can unlock my car. He's perfectly comfortable unlocking either with the key fob thing or the key itself. And he makes sure to lock the door behind him. (I may not be a locker by nature but he is.) He likes to turn on the lights and the blinkers and generally do things that make turning on the car very interesting for me the next time I get in it. He also likes to put the key in the ignition and turn on the radio. And because that's not interesting enough anymore, he starts the car.

Let me tell you how fun it is to stand outside a car that you can't get into because it's locked with the key inside and try to talk your two-year-old into turning off the car and letting you in. Really, really not fun. (Here's a hint, if you show any sign of how mad you are he won't unlock the door.) So we keep the keys on top of the fridge where he can't get them. Yet.

It's not just my car that he likes. He's an equal opportunity car lover. He climbs into my mother's car when we go there, He'll climb right into any car he can find. He doesn't talk a whole lot but he can and will identify the "owner" of any car that he recognizes. He knows which car is Laura's and which is Grandma's. He yells out "Ne har" (Sydney car) every time our neighbor drives by. (As an aside, I'll tell you that he calls our van "mine har" that's mine car. In his mind it's not my car, it's his.)

Ike also climbs the fence of our fully fenced yard. He's been brought back by the neighbors on more than one occasion.

Given the above, why was I at all surprised when the Maggie and Aidan came running in the other day crying because Isaac had locked himself into a car that was left parked (but apparently not locked) on the street? (They were crying because they were afraid he was going to suffocate in the car. There wasn't much danger of that.) Whose car it was, I have no idea, but I feel safe saying that Ike has now taken things to a whole other level.

And I thought raising Aidan was going to be bad.

Love to all, wish me luck- Allison

It just keeps getting better

I love my minivan. I know that’s not the cool thing to say, a minivan is not a “cool” car. Most people put off and dread the day they have to become minivan owners. Me? I was stoked for it! I love my power locks and power windows. I really love my dual rear power sliding doors. And don’t even get me started on the DVD player, I adore it. And for previously mentioned reasons I love that you can not take the car out of park and into gear without a foot firmly depressing the break.

But there’s one thing I do not love.

I do not love that the car must be turned on, with a foot firmly depressing the break in order to get the car out of park.

Let me just give you a hypothetical situation.

If, say, your car was pulled all the way up under your carport and, say, your daughter said she wanted to wash the windows (of the car) then you might say yes, even though you don’t think it’s a very good idea, because you can’t think of a reason to say no fast enough. And if, say, you told her that while she was at it she should clean all the crap out of the car and then you handed her the keys to the car so that she could get in it (because in this hypothetical you had to always keep the car locked and you had to keep the keys on top of the fridge lest your hypothetical two-year-old son try to steal your car) then about a half an hour later you might see your daughter leave the house with a CD in her hand and you might follow her out to the car to see her putting said CD into the car CD player (which means the keys are in the ignition so that the CD player has power) and she has not only a bottle of Windex but a bottle of Clorox Clean-up spray. And if you yelled at her and sent her to her room and grabbed the CD and the Windex and the Clorox Clean-up spray then you might lock the car and not think about it until the next day.

And if you went out to your car the next day at 8:45 after having wrestled four children into church clothes alone because your husband is at work and you’re staring down the barrel of three hours at church with four children, alone then you might find that your car won’t start because your daughter left something on and you’ll just load the baby into the stroller and tell the other kids to get their bikes and you’ll walk to church in your heels and you’ll still manage to only be five minutes late and make it in time for the sacrament (because you are that good).

But the next day when your husband is home with the other car, if the van has to actually be on in order to get it out of park, then you won’t be able to put it in neutral so that you can get it out of the one car carport and into a place where you can reach the battery, so you’ll have to very carefully pull the car into a spot that’s only about 6 inches wider than itself to get it next to the van and you’ll still have to hook two sets of jumper cables together (safety first) because the battery is, of course, on the side of the engine closest to the house and farthest from the open side of the carport.

If all of that happened, then you might wish that the car didn't actually have to be on to get it out of park.

I’m just saying…

Oh and if the above ever happened to you I would recommend that you find out what was left on and turn it off as soon as you realize that the battery’s dead because then there’s a chance that the battery won’t be so dead that jumping it doesn’t work (despite the very safe arrangement of your jumper cables) and it has to be replaced and you’ll take the old battery out and you’ll take it to Checker and you’ll tell the guy there that you need another battery just like it and he’ll ask you for the make and model of your car despite the fact that you know what kind of battery you need because THERE’S ONE SITTING ON THE COUNTER RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU and then he’ll ask you for your name and phone number (?????) and then your credit card will be denied and you’ll use the other one and $85.00 later you’ll carry the sixty pound battery back out to your car yourself while the dude from Checker tells you to have a nice day. Maybe it won’t make any difference since the battery was already so dead that the power locks didn’t work, but it could.

Birthdays I can think of !!

In September we have Jeremiah on the 26th and Jabe on the 29th, then in October we have Debbie on the 11th and Peggy on the 12th. I'm pretty sure there are others I am missing - don't stone me please!! Just put them in so we will all know!!

Anyway, Happy Birthday to all of you, those I can remember and those I can't! Take a drive up one of the canyons and look at the colors - they are getting to be spectacular - I was up American Fork Canyon on Saturday and had a chance to look at the leaves while I was picking up garbage for about 4 hours - we gathered tons of garbage and some of our people built fences for the Forest Service - at one of our locations out west they pulled up about 1 and 1/2 miles of old fence and planted 3500 trees!! I think we had a total of about 250 volunteers and put in about 1300 man hours.

My tomatoes are getting huge and the salsa has been fabulous - I pretty much take it to every party, meeting, picnic and outing we go to and everybody loves it and wants the recipe. I finally sort of invented one but I don't use is and I don't measure so it gets a little tricky!! We were making quesadillas the other night and I had run out of the bottled jalapeno slices so I took a bright red jalapeno from the garden and cut it into rings and put it on my quesadilla. Whew!! I almost had to get out the fire extinguisher - it was seriously warm!! So if you want any jalapenos let me know - I have lots and they are spectacular.

National Public Lands Day

This Saturday (actually tomorrow) September 27th is National Public Lands Day. Many clubs, groups and organizations will be involved in projects all over Utah and the rest of the country to help the Forest Service and other government entities with clean up, fence building and other needed maintenance activities.

I belong to the Lone Peak 4 Wheelers, a 4 wheel drive club and we will be working with the Utah 4 Wheel Drive Club (U4WDA) and other off road clubs working with the Forest Service up American Fork Canyon on a variety of projects. We will be meeting at Tibble Fork Reservoir at 8:30 AM and get to work about 9:00 AM.

Once again we are getting to the end of the month so I hope to see more of you "blogging!!"

Great News!

Nate passed the Bar! We got a letter this week saying that he is a full on lawyer. Next step: getting a permanant job! There is always something to do. Thank you for all the kind thoughts and prayers. We are getting our puppy next weekend so I will post more then.

Time Flies

Thought I would take a minute and report in. We did a trail called Bear Canyon this past weekend with our club - it runs between Moroni and Manti down the mountains on the west side of that valley - we saw some spectacular views of the Manti Temple from up on top. You can go to http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1127614926&k=YYDTYZPXTXYM5ACAPG35S3
and look at the pictures that Julie pasted in her FaceBook thing. We got new gears in the Jeep and I got a front locker from Julie for my birthday so Jeeping is a lot different now. This run was more like a Sunday afternoon drive, just scenery and visiting - no real obstacles - I barely had to put it in 4 wheel drive. We also got a tour of one the mountain top microwave tower areas. One of our club members is about to retire from Utah Power and Light and maintenance on those tower has been his job for years. It was pretty cool to see them close up and get a little explanation of how they work.

I haven't made near enough salsa this year but the days are slipping away and I am doing the best I can. I have Roma tomato plants 6 feet tall and 4 feet across and tomatoes the size of big oranges. Also have lots of peppers of various kinds, colors and sizes and I have been eating them like crazy. We had lots of squash earlier in the season and it was really good.

I talked to Lark L last night and they are doing OK - Mom finished another quilt last week and has 2-3 more in the works - she is now well over 170 quilts. They do keep her busy. Dad says he is thinking of tearing down the Gothic arch - he hasn't been able to work on it since the 4th of July and thinks maybe it should go down instead of up.

Hope you are all well - hope some of you are reading the blog - I'm not seeing much activity here.

Sechrest update

Nate and I have had a super busy month. He started his new job and is loving it. I started school a few weeks ago and it is killing me. I am starting to understand why a lot of people don't go back to school after they leave. I am just not in the student mind set and I am so out of shape. Walking to and from school has made me so sore. But, it's really good to be back in school. I am doing well in my classes and managed to talk my way into a lot of the art and lab classes that I need for my major.

Nate and I are going to go in a few weeks to pick up our little puppy. He is so cute! The breeder named him Alexander but we will be changing that.

Nate's little brother, Daniel, is leaving this week for his mission in the Atlanta Georgia North mission. We went down to Utah last weekend for his farewell. My mom and the girls were in Blanding, so we hung out with Nate's family. It was good to see the extended family (it's amazing how quick you lose touch) and Nate's siblings. Nate's cousin, aunt, uncle, and I had to do a last minute musical number for the farewell because no one was informed that there would be one on the program. I noticed it listed on the program five minutes before sacrament meeting so I grabbed the singers in the family, rehearsed in the parking lot, and I think we pulled it off pretty well. The rest of the weekend went smoothly.

I am hoping things settle down but that is not likely. All is well in Boise. Hope everyone is doing well, too!

Labor Day

We had a great adventure this past weekend - went to Blanding and stayed with Mom and Dad - Steve and Truman were there and Peggy and Shelby were there. We just stayed Friday night then we were off to do the "Hole in the Rock" trail with the Red Rock 4 Wheelers out of Moab. We had 4 other rigs from our club so about 1/4 of the the group were Lone Peak 4 Wheelers. We started at the Cal Black Memorial Airport which is about 10 miles from Hall's Crossing and head south into the desert and the slick rock!!

The idea is to go in 4-5 hours, camp, go to the end of the trail and back the 2nd day, back to the camp and out on the 3rd day. But there are times when Mother Nature just doesn't cooperate. The first night we got lots of rain and wind, but managed to get by. 2nd day started out cloudy but with some blue sky - the trail was brutal and the scenery was spectacular. Right after we went down a place called The Chute we got hit with an unbelievable cloudburst - it just poured and streams went from a inch deep to 4 feet deep in 10-15 minutes. From where our Jeep was I could count 19 places where the water was pouring off the slickrock. So we had lunch and waited - we were still 5-6 miles from the end of the trail but the trail leader said what was left was even more technical and a lot of slick rock to we turned back.

Even though we didn't get to the end of the trail it was a great adventure and a lot of fun. And it means we have to or get to do it again, so that's OK!!

We stopped in Green River on the way down and loaded up on melons for Mom and Dad and then stopped on the way north and really loaded up on melons for us!! Home safe and sound - Jeep very dirty and reddish-brown - the desert turned into lots of mudholes and we managed to hit our share!!

Love to All - J.B.

Wanderers All

1113 South 200 east
Blanding Utah 84511

August 25, 2008

Wanderers All - my neighbor writes of the terrifying importance of attitude. He told of a young lady with an exceptionally good attitude - when questioned about it she said it was intentional. Further questions revealed that she had followed a bad school year and attitude with a seminar that taught - "Go a week without saying anything negative." It was difficult. She followed with another week. She then determined to make it her life style. The neighbor declares that she is a beautiful person, both spiritually and socially.

Lawrence Welk is reputed to have said, "If you don't get better, you will get worse."

Surely a better attitude and a desire to improve are traits that I and a number of other Wanderers could profitably seek after.

Back still out no work on my rock project in a long time. My love and blessings to you all.

Lark L.

Keeping up with the Flannerys

Shaun and Allison- Nothing particularly interesting to report. Allison has cute new hair (thanks Peg) but other than that just chugging along.

Maggie (8)- Started third grade in July. Loves to read and sing. She's a fantastic help with the babies and often a joy to be around.

Aidan(6)- Started first grade in July. Also a very good reader. We've thankfully had a little respite from the solo trips to Costco but some suspect that he's just trying to lull his folks into a false sense of security before he tries some new stunt.

Isaac(2)- After getting a bit of a late start Isaac has decided that talking is kind of cool after all and now he rarely shuts up. Isaac has also developed a love of all things on wheels. He's very good on his bigwheel (is it normal for a two year old to execute three point turns?) and loves the cars. (to the extent that he gets a hold of the keys and unlocks the car, gets in and starts it up. His parents are not amused.)

Ian(8mo)- Ian has started crawling and pulling up and while it looks like he probably won't walk at 9mo. like both his brothers did, we'd be surprised if he makes it to a year (unless I start pushing him down. I've thought about it.)

Summer has flown by for all of us and there haven't been any fun vacations but we're considering making that a priority, just as soon as the kitchen addition is done.
And that's all she wrote.

Sad news from Arizona

So I run into some people I know at the Farmer's Market at Thanksgiving Point today and they introduce me to friends of theirs from Mesa, AZ. Somewhere along the way this pleasant interchange turns into tragedy... they inform me that Matta's has closed its doors. The Institution, the Tradition, the Chips and Salsa, the Sandy's Special is gone. It's the end of an era for the Washburn family, and apparently many others as well.

Tonight while watching the Olympics (more relay teams bizarrely dropping batons - it's the Olympics for heaven's sake, hold onto your batons!) I looked it up online because I was still in disbelief and sure enough they closed back in January. They say they are reopening elsewhere and have already opened a Matta's Grill but I'm afraid it will never be the same. They could have warned us so we could have gone for a last meal, or at least "a chip". Will Filiberto's be next? Paula, you need to be more vigilant and let us know what's going on down south.


While I'm on a food topic... I was reminiscing the other night about tomato sandwiches while eating a wonderrful tomato sandwich with fresh garden tomatoes from Melanie and Kevin's garden and white Great Harvest Bread from the best bakery in the franchise. And as good as it was, which was really quite good, I have to say that the best tomato sandwiches I have ever had were made from garden fresh tomatoes from Dad's garden(s) in Grand Junction and the round white bread Mom baked in High-C Fruit Juice cans. Now those were some good tomato sandwiches. The other difference between then and now is that somewhere along the way I developed a definite preference for mayonnaise over Miracle Whip. Although sometimes I skip the bread and mayo altogether and just eat the tomato with salt and pepper, or occasionally drizzled with a little olive oil. It's hard to go wrong with a good, fresh, straight-from-the-garden summer tomato. Our neighbor, Bill Christensen, brought us some just the other day. I might have to go eat one right now.


Love to all,


Mike

Hot Days of August

I can hardly believe the month is more than 1/3 gone already. We spent the 1st weekend of the month in Blanding - it was great to visit with Mom and Dad and we did some hiking in Butler Wash and saw some great ruins, petroglyphs and pictographs. It was extremely hot and we covered a lot of country but we were hardly ever lost and we saw some great stuff. We saw Penny and Duane, Casey and Marisa and Molly and Paxton - they were all there moving furniture and other goodies all over the place!! Took a bunch of Green River melons to Mom and Dad on the way south and stopped coming back north and stocked up. The Vetere's are great people and we have gotten to be good friends with them over the years and have bought tons of melons from them!!

This past weekend we stayed at a cabin in the mountains above Mt. Pleasant. One of the guys I work with at the Temple has a cabin there with his extended family. We mostly did NOTHING - just took it easy - read - ate - lazied around!! The mountain weather was wonderful. We did do a little geocaching on our way home. That's always fun.

One of my tomato plants is 6 feet high and at least 3 feet across, but the tomatoes are very slow to ripen - I go a few very early ripening, but now not much. We have been eating squash, peppers and zucchini like crazy. My lawn is only so-so but it has been very hot and I try to conserve water when I can.

At the end of the month you will wish you had written earlier so do it now and avoid the month end rush!!!!!!!!!! Love to all - J.B.

End of the month

I'm getting a fair amount of flak about the blog versus the paper newsletter. If you have any desire to vote (more than you write!) you may do so. I don't know that we will be making a change but we may discuss it. I am going to Blanding this weekend and I'm sure the topic will come up!!

The long hot summer is moving on. I have lots to do in August and the summer has been very busy for me because of my involvement with a number of foreclosures and short sales. Unfortunately, both are a rapidly growing segment of the real estate world. Most of the news we hear is down right UGLY, but it is what it is and life will go on.

We didn't go with the Lone Peak 4-Wheelers in July. They went up American Fork Canyon but we just had too much going on and my Jeep was having some issues as well.

Hope all is well with all of you and I hope a lot of you will BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's Going on in Blansville

Well, mostly a lot of nothing. But here goes...
1. Duane has moved to Vernal and is working for an oilfield outfit called Cutters. He is a shop hand and build wiring harnesses (whatever that means). He is living with Megan and Russel in their basement right now but has put a new house under contract and could move into it as early as October or November. It appears he wanted to move back to Vernal, so he did.
2. I have to teach one more year and then I should have enough money to buy my last 2 years. So this weekend I will be moving to mom and dad's basement and live with them for the school year. Hopefully, we will be able to tend each other. Dad has given me an ultimatum...I have one week after school is over to be moved to Vernal. So, although I can honestly say I NEVER wanted to move back to Vernal, it appears I will be doing it anyway.
3. There is lots to do here. Someone, who will remain nameless, planted a rather large garden before abandoning me and it. So I have been doing lots of watering and weeding and watering and weeding (oh, and don't forget swearing!). I'll never understand why the weeds can do so well and the plants wilt at the first sign of sun. But anyway, it's a lot of work.
4. Maggie came and stayed with me after the reunion for about a week and then we went to Vernal with Marisa and Casey for the 4th of July. We had lots of fun while she was here. We scrapbooked, made cute little journals for her to write in, checked on the bunnies (I have 3 big ones and 5 babies), checked on the chickens and duck and gathered the eggs (a lady came and got the chickens and duck the day we left to go to Vernal), went to visit Granny and Grampa, went to get an ice cream cone, spent time with Marisa and Casey, went to see their NEW GORGEOUS house a few times, watched some "dreaded" TV, and just generally had a good time. Although, in defense of myself, I have to say that Maggie already knew how throw, pitch, or have an amazing fit when she got to my house. I really don't think I taught her anything new about that subject. Anyway, while we were in Vernal, we ate, played in the water, ate, watched movies, ate, played with Lukie, Gavin, and Savannah, ate, watched and participated in amazing fireworks, ate, went to the parade, and ate. It was lots of fun. Maggie went home with Molly and I went home with Marisa.
5. School starts next week on the 7th of August (Happy Birthday Stephen) for teachers, but I will be in Provo at a scrapbooking workshop called Creating Keepsakes University and the Provo Marriott with Megan on the 7th, 8th, and 9th. We are excited, panicked, awed, and nervous at the same time. I'll give you an update next month. Anyway, back to school. I keep saying that it might as well start because I won't be anymore ready in another month. This year (my last, I hope) I will be teaching 7th grade CTE for 4 quarters. It is just an introductory class to show what they can do in Family Consumer Science classes (Home Ec) in high school. I'm making some changes to the curriculum but it shouldn't be too bad. I will also be teachin FACS Explorations to 8th graders for 2 semesters. It is another introductory class. First semester I will also teach General Financial Literacy, Child Development, Foods I, and Clothing I. Second semester I will also teach General Financial Literacy, Interior Design I, Foods II, and Clothing II. It seems like once classes start it really zooms right along, so it shouldn't be too bad, except for not having a chaufeur (I have no clue how to spell that word).
6. Mom and dad are good. It's great to be able to spend so much time with them and try and be of some help to them. Dad is experiencing quite a bit of pain in his back. He has been going to physical therapy but isn't convinced it's doing any good. He will be getting one of those chairs that helps him to stand up, soon we hope. He gets outside a little to change water and give intructions to people helping him, but has a hard time standing up for very long. He doesn't eat much and is thin and frail, but watches lots of different sports on TV and helps with turning mom's quilts. We are about to get hooked up with the internet at his house, so that will be a whole new experience for him. He'll be burning up the search engines. Mom is doing quite well. She doesn't eat much either and is also thin and frail. She works deligently on her quilts and enjoys coming up with new patterns and ideas. I think they are relatively happy and content.
Of course, who knows how they'll be once I get moved in and start bossing them around!!!
7. Much l0ve to all of you. I hope the rest of your summer and the rest of you year is productive and rewarding, or at least fun. Pen

The Bar, BSU, etc.

Nate takes the Bar exam this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. Things are getting tense and he is studying like mad. Once he passes he will finally be a real live lawyer! It has been a long road and we will both be glad to be done with this last major part.

I recently went, somewhat against my will, to Boise State orientation. It was good to see the campus and I was excited to get signed up for my classes. After I went through the whole "don't steal, don't walk around campus alone at night, make sure you study" spiel I tried to register for classes. They informed me that I had been discontinued and that I was not actually a student at Boise State. I yelled and waved my brand new student ID in their faces and said "I beg to differ!" enough times that they finally called the deans office and had someone with special clearance re-enroll me. Of course I had to wait until the next day to register for my classes so everything I need is long gone and I am showing late enrollment so I am not eligible for financial aid. Needless to say the day was not fun and I still have an endless list of people to yell at before everything is fixed. For example, even though I took AP English Lit in HS, Honors English Composition and Advanced Persuasive writing at BYU, I apparently have not filled the English 101 requirement at BSU. BS-U is right so far. I am trying to stay positive and take my mom's advice that yelling gets you nowhere, but it makes me feel better to yell. Finally, after all this, I did get some fun classes--not ones I really need, but fun all the same. I am excited to get back in the swing of things, and I'm sure things will look up any time now.

This month has been slow but good. The weather is so perfect here that we try to spend at least part of the day walking or at the park. We are trying to get used to walking several times a day so that when we finally get a puppy we will have good habits. Nate starts his job August 4th and I will start school at the end of August. I have started watching Design on a Dime on HGTV and I have all sorts of fun ideas for our apartment except that we can't really paint or install anything so I am pretty limited. If anyone has ideas on decorating a space you can't paint, let me know. I also made friends with a gal in my ward who is a dynamite sewer so I will see if I can't learn a thing or two. Much love to all!!

Hot Summer

The long hot summer marches on - the 24th of July has come and gone but we still get fireworks on Saturday night. Our ward has the Cul-De-Sac of Fire!! Home made ice cream, cookies, a parade, karaoke and lots of fireworks in the street!! I can hardly wait!! It is great to see some of you taking advantage of the blog, especially with pictures. Hope all is well with all of you.

I've Heard the Flannery Kids Called Lame (I'm not saying where)

I started a friendly newsy post listing what each member of the family has been doing lately but even I was bored reading it so I decided to repost this from my own blog.

We have literally thousands (OK maybe thousand, look we're not made of money here) of dollars of toys in the "playroom" at our house. Why do I put the word playroom in quotes? No, it's not just that I don't know how to properly use quotes as you'll find here (No, seriously, go. You won't be sorry. I'll wait. ------ Back? OK, let's continue,) It's because no one plays in it. EVER.

The playroom has become the repository for mountains of toys. And the mountain is so big and so high and so tall (1,000), that on one even tries to dig through it to find a toy. Do they look for games? Not a chance. How about dress-ups? Surely the princess wants to dress up. Negatory good buddy (2,000).

The playroom is too much of a mess to do anything with (and some day soon, I'm going to go in there with an empty garbage bag and come out with a soul so very much lighter) so my children, resourceful small people that they are, have found alternate methods of entertainment. Something that they can and do spend hours at a time doing, something that brings joy to their little hearts, something that keeps them relatively quiet and non-fighting for nearly the whole day. What is this magical instrument of fun? you ask.

It's the TELEVISION! And if I have to hear the "i-Carly" theme song one more time I'm going to put a bullet through my head.

Seriously, it's summer. No school, sunshine, the last few days it haven't even been too hot, and all my kids can do is sit on their posteriors watching other kids, inane, bad acting kids, doing things. My kids don't even play the Wii!

I should make it clear here that I'm really just referring to Maggie and Aidan here, Ike will happily ride his big wheel around the yard for hours and Ian is only 7 months old, just give him something disgusting and dirty to chew on, preferably a shoe, and he's set. If he loses his thing to chew on, however, it won't be any of his older siblings who help him out, at least not while "Chowder"'s on. I came in from outside Monday, drill in hand, to find the baby screaming on the floor and both Maggie and Aidan sitting on the couch not 3 feet away eyes glued on Spongebob. Nice.

This morning I made them come outside and help clean up some of the cement from the recent demo of some steps. They fought over the shovel, the work gloves, they even fought over the chunks of concrete (as if there weren't enough of those around) and then started the whining. Finally I said, "hey I know what you can do, you can go sit on your lazy butts in front of the television." And they were gone. Sarcasm (and therefore the majority of what I say) is so lost on my children.

After spending the last two days working on the kitchen and seeing through the window my precious children turning into precious lumps on the couch I finally lost it. I unplugged the TV.

I know, drastic measures. But I couldn't, could not take it for one more minute. Maggie threw a royal fit, something she's been doing a lot since she got home from grandma's (thanks Pen). And Aidan proceeded to follow me around literally hanging on my arm and asking when dinner was. It was 12:30.

Seriously, these kids have bikes. They have scooters (OK scooteR, but still), they have a swing-set and a sandbox and a yard, all at their disposal. Too safe? Well, we are doing construction. There are also hammers and all manner of nails and wood which they are allowed to play with and destroy 'til their little hearts are content. (I do have three boys after all) There are rocks a plenty, and dirt in abundance. I know if they put one ounce of effort into it they could get something really fun going.

But they don't, they sit and whine and look for things to eat and whine and ask if they can play on the computer and whine. This TV unplugged thing is working so well I think the TV may just stay that way for the rest of the summer.

SUMMER!

We are loving summer! We are enjoying gardening, swimming, swinging, lots of sidewalk chalk, riding bikes, mud stew, water balloons and eating outside. Gavin and Savannah couldn't be happier outside. It is amazing how dirty they get each day, so we are having lots of bath time too! Gavin is taking swimming lessons and learning to love the water. He was timid at first, but now he is very brave and puts his whole head under the water. Savannah is starting to talk. She is mastering lots of new words. They are both such happy, wonderful kids. We are so lucky to have them! We celebrated Paxton's 29th birthday on the 2nd. We had a great 4th of July, in Vernal, to celebrate Megan's and Pen's birthdays. The fire works were a big hit, all the kids loved them. I am off to Las Vegas on the 22nd for a dance convention. We have a great group of girls going, and it will be so much fun. It was so nice to see everyone at the reunion. Thanks to all who made it such a great time! We hope you are all having a great summer!

Happy and Hot 4th of July!!

Feels like the weekend even though it is only Friday - I loved seeing that
Alayna's fingers got better!! Julie is in Las Vegas this weekend (Mike's B-Day is tomorrow, so she went down to celebrate. I got up this morning and went to a flag raising down the street and then a sidewalk pancake breakfast. We got to talking about salsa @ breakfast because of the scrambled eggs, so I said I was going to make some and I would bring it over later for sampling to Capps' - they did the breakfast, but I helped cooking pancakes!! So in a few minutes I am off to their house with 2 different batches of salsa made from canned tomatoes - I can't wait until mine are ready. I have tomatoes about the size of a baseball and VERY small jalapenos!!

Sechrest Update

It took like six months but I have finally figured out how to contribute to the blog. In case anyone is interested Nate and I have a blog of our own: nateandalayna.blogspot.com. But since we don't update that very often either, here is a little update.

Nate graduated Law school at Notre Dame in May and we moved to an apartment in Boise, ID where he will be clerking for a judge this year. We didn't like our apartment so after a weeks vacation in Hawaii, we moved to a better one across town. We are now settled in and we make a trip to Salt Lake every two weeks or so for one reason or another. We love being back west and being closer to family. It was wonderful to see everyone at the family reunion this last weekend. It had been a long time since we had seen a lot of the cousins and the cousins kids. It was good to catch up. We are happy and healthy up here in Boise. Feel free to stop by if you are ever in town.

Great Reunion

I hope everyone enjoyed the reunion as much as I did. Lots of pictures were taken, so I hope they show up here - hopefully today!! We had great food, great activities and great fun - anyway I did. It was great to have my Aunts - Veloy, Val Gene, Velyn and Virginia and Uncle Ray and Uncle Kelly for our lunch on Saturday.

I really enjoyed the Museum and movies, but then I hadn't seen any of that stuff before to it was all new to me! I thought the talent show on Saturday night was exceptional - we have lots of talent in our family and it was really fun to hear and see and share.

Our Lone Peak 4 Wheelers trail ride was out in the west desert this month - we were south and west of 5 Mile Pass which is west of Utah Lake. We wandered around out there exploring and ended up at Little Moab where we had a great time climbing the big white rock obstacles out there.

As June draws to a close, I wish each of you the best of summers and hope you will all take the opportunity to participate in the blog - share adventures and pictures and everyday life. Nate and Alayna - don't forget to look up Uncle J.B. and go visit - I know he would love to see you!!

From Grandad

You wandering bloggers-
If you think I don't know how to blog, you're right but if you can get help you can do anything you want that's worthwhile. One wiser than I named Confusion or maybe it was Confucious said, "You shouldn't overspend at the moment. Frugality is important." Although I didn't teach that well because the Grandmother just paid for all the confusion or Confucious for the past few days and it was well worth it. The Gothic Arch is officially underway three rocks on one side and two on the other. It will go slow, only a rock or two at a time when I lean on somebody for help. Your Grandmother and I thought this was a great festivity. Blessings on y'all thanks for your thoughts, calls, and prayers. Bushel and a Peck.
- Old Man Washburn

Reunions!!

I attended that Fay Washburn Truman reunion a couple of weeks ago - Aunt Velyn and Aunt Virginia were there. They had 40-50 people there and there were1 or 2 I sort of know but a whole bunch I didn't know!! Mostly I went to meet Fay who was Grandpa Washburn's (Alvin LaVell) step-sister.

OUR reunion is this weekend - Friday afternoon at Mike's house - anytime - bring snacks - we will be just visiting - playing games - eating. Saturday will be Thanksgiving Point - Gardens in the morning and Museum in the afternoon - then to Mike's church that night for dinner and a talent show - we especially want the grand kids to do anything and everything they wish to do talent wise - that is especially for Grandpa (Lark L) and we all hope and pray that his back will let him be there and enjoy!!!

Cute pics from Vernalville!!!

Hello from Vernalville!

Hello from Vernalville! We are all doing really well out here. Luke had his #2 Birthday on May 18th. We had cake and ice cream with Russell's family on the actual day, complete with dalmatian candles he couldn't get enough of. He got a swingset and several new trucks for presents. Then the next weekend (memorial weekend) my parents, Marisa, Jane and Lindsey, and Molly and Paxton and the kids all came out for the weekend. We had a birthday party for Luke on Saturday, and then for Jake on Sunday. Luke got a pool, swim trunks, and a slip and slide; so that made for a lot of outside fun. We also saw Jacqueline and Dylan (michael's kids) a lot and went bowling with them.

Russell was on vacation for the week, because he has 2 weeks a year that he has to take and this was the week that he got assigned. He played golf just about everyday, and he is a new convert to Rockband, so there was quite a lot of noise. He and my dad hung out quite a bit, doing the things that guys do (fixing trucks, golfing, telling lies.)

Then last weekend, we went out to salt lake and Luke got to play with Gavin and Savannah while Russell and I went to Lagoon. It was pretty fun, but I lost my phone on Wicked (about 3:30) and had to wait until they could look for it next, at 8:00. They found it, minus the battery, but the screen ended up being cracked and so I had to get a new phone anyway. Lame.

Luke is getting so big and cute. He talks quite a bit now, and several times through the day asks where everyone-that isn't with him-is ("Where dad? At work. Where pop? At work. But he asks for Ceese (Marisa) and Gavi the most and sometimes cries when I say they had to go home. And he is in the stage where he wants to know what everything is, and he repeats the last word or two of everything you say to him. We are really having a fun time playing outside, and he really likes going golfing with his dad. We got his 2 year old pictures taken last week, by the same lady that did our family pictures last fall. So I'll include a few of them so you can all see how gorgeous he really is!

Love all of you and we'll see everyone at the reunion!

Just Some Stuff

It's already a new month and a new issue - those who get it by mail have been mailed to. Just got back from a Red Cross Charity Golf Tournament that I have been playing in with some of my friends for a few years. It is a major fund raiser for the Northern Nevada chapters of the Red Cross and we got involved a few years ago because my buddy Dave Gunn used to be the director of the Provo Chapter.

We had 2 great 4 Wheeling adventures in May - our club ride was to Richfield and we did a couple of spectacular trails down there then over Memorial Day weekend we did Lockhart Basin in Canyonlands over 3 days and 2 nights. Camping was fun and we had a great time - there wasn't a lot of 4 wheeling until the very end - I will get a picture or 2 on.

Finally got the baptisms done for all the names that Uncle J.B. sent me - I got about 75 names from him, so now we can get started on the rest of the work. I did the baptisms with some kids from our Ward and their leaders and it was really a fun experience.

I read Alison's story and liked it, but then I read the comments and I don't get the joke - so will Alison or Jabe tell me what I am missing?? Thanks to all who wrote in May - I hope more are reading than writing and encourage all to take a minute and write something - we haven't had a good story from Duane in quite a while!! And the pictures are great.

We are doing a Dutch over affair with Julie's family this coming weekend - we should have around 70 or so at her Mother's house so we will be doing quite a few Dutch ovens!!

I need to get a head count for our upcoming reunion - soooooo Steve, Paula, Peggy, Mike and Penelope - I need a tribe count from each of you to help us plan meals etc. Don't forget:

WASHBURN REUNION

JUNE 27-29

Mike's house on Friday afternoon

Thanksgiving Point (Saturday)

Mike's Church Staurday Night

for food and Talent show.

Bottle Chapel and Cutest Grandkids ever!

A day late and...

You know to where the road of good intentions leads. Oh well; better late than never. The months fly by.

Congratulations to all those who have completed or are about to complete another year of school - especially Penelope and Duane who are getting close to completing their last year of school forever!

I am attempting to get a Bottle Chapel picture posted here. It's quite cool - it's cement, or some kind of mortar, about 6 or 8 inches thick with whole bottles placed throughout in patterns with both ends sticking out and showing on the inside and outside of the walls. (Technical difficulties; I'll have to post it later.)

Brien has been at Jacob Lake for 3 weeks and seems to be doing well. He says he's making good money and likes the people who are there. They seem to be quite talented and interesting. Brien has been called as the Branch pianist.

We had a great tour of children's museums. Each one was very well done but the Indianapolis museum was by far the best we saw and if you get to St. Louis you should definitely check out the City Museum. It's not a children's museum but it's a very interesting collection of found objects, recycled items, architectural artifacts, etc. put together by one artist that has a unique, if somewhat bizarre, vision. I think Guy would have found it to be fascinating. It reminded me of his collecting skills and his ability to turn his churches into works of art. I kept wishing he would have been there with us.

It is reunion time almost immediately. We need a count from each of the siblings of how many people from each of your families are going to be here. Especially in planning food we need to know how many will be here for lunch and dinner on Saturday, June 28th. A breakdown of adults and kids would be helpful as well.

Debra and I have a big week coming up; 25th wedding anniversary on the 2nd, Debra's birthday on the 5th and mine on the 8th. We're hoping to get away later in the summer to celebrate - too much going on right now.

Consider trying to make it to Stihl Timbersports (ESPN lumberjack contests) Wild Outdoor Festival at Thanksgiving Point this coming Friday and Saturday (6th and 7th) and the Plein Air Art Festival in the Gardens on the 20th and 21st - over 65 painters and sculptors working throughout the Gardens - very cool.

Love to all - looking forward to seeing you soon.

Mike

Boys!

Isaac was playing out in the yard the other morning. I went out to check on him and I found him crouched down, looking intently at something on the driveway.

"Ike," I call, "whatcha got there?"

He looks over in my direction. "Sbleh bleh," he says standing. (Most of what Isaac says sounds like Sbleh bleh, it's a pretty versitle term, kind of like smurf or dude.)

"Sbleh bleh?" I ask as I walk over to him.

"Sbleh bleh," he confirms crouching back down and pointing.

I peer intently, my gaze following his finger.

"It's a spider," I say.

Now I am female but I find that I don't get all that worked up over spiders. In fact I had a very live and let live attitude even toward spiders in my house until I found a black widow. A big black widow. On my mop handle. About half an hour after I finished mopping (it had, very obviously been on the mop since I pulled it out to mop that morning). When I was six months pregnant. Since then I kill the arachnids in my home. But I still don't get too worked up about seeing spiders.

And this is the smallest spider ever. It is the size of an ant. Not one of those big ol' army ants, one of those teeny tiny itty bitty ants that you almost can't see. How this thing ever attracted the attention of my two-year-old son I have no idea.

"Sblehbleh," Ike repeats. (Obviously he was saying sblehbleh rather than sbleh bleh, silly mom.)

"Did you find a spider?" I ask.

"Yeah." (Probably the only word he says that someone who doesn't live with him would understand.)

"Is he a little baby spider?" Of course I'm talking in high pitched baby talk voice.

"Yeah."

"Is he cute?"

"Yeah."

"Do you like that little spider?" I ask innocetly.

"Yeah," he says. And then stands to his full hight of nearly two and a half feet. He lifts his cute little size 6 sneaker. And stomps on the spider.

*sigh*

James Fredrick Washburn Family Reunion

Dear Lark and Arlea and family,
My name is Fay Washburn Truman. My father is James Fredrick Washburn. My mother is Ella Stevens Chapman Washburn. James and Ella had 3 children together: my sister (Lois Washburn Holms), myself, and my brother (Quinn Evan Washburn). Lois and Quinn have already moved on to be with our parents.
My brother’s sons recently visited me and asked “Why have we grown up not knowing the Washburns?’ Actually, Lois, Quinn and I grew up not knowing the Washburns. So, I thought I’d organize a reunion and introduce the Washburns to the Washburns.
It is being held in Orem on June 13th looks like it will be too big for our back yard, so I’ve arranged for the church house right next door.
Please come and get acquainted and sign your name on the branch you belong to on the Washburn family tree.Please RSVP with the number in your family who can attend by June 7th, so we can count how many chickens to kill and assign salads and desserts etc. The Quinn Washburn family will grill the”Famous Quinn Washburn Chicken” for us!

Get acquainted reunion for the descendents of

James Fredrick Washburn

to be held Friday June 13th

in the cultural hall at 195 West 300 South

from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Please RSVP to Fay Truman @ 801-225-9314, or @ 349 South 230 West, Orem, UT 84058

or alIenbarb.alldredge@gmail.com

Directions to Reunion:1-15 exit 271 — Orem Center Street. Proceed west on Center Street to 400 West. Turn right at the light. Go to 400 South. Turn left at the 4 way stop.Make your first possible left at 280 West. Proceed one block north to 300South — Turn Right. The church is one block away on your right.