Merry Christmas to All!

Just wanted to say hello, and wish you all a Merry Christmas!  It was fun seeing all those who came to the party at DeAnn's.  Thought I'd post a few Christmas pictures too!  You can tell that I have taught Aiden really good manners--he never talks or smiles with his mouth full! :)

If Anyone Is Interested

Merry Christmas Eve to all. I hope every one is and has had time to enjoy the holiday and embrace its true meaning. Well everything is going great here and just keeping in the Christmas mood. Well this will be a small post but I wanted to let every one know that I have Created my own blog for Wood working and if any of you get a chance just click on my name and go check it out. At the moment there isn't much on there but there is more to come.

Well we send our best to the Family and
have a Merry Christmas

love Colin, Robin, and Karden

Santa Cow

We went to Chick-Fil-A and they had Santa Cow there doing free pictures.  How could we pass up that photo op?  So we dressed up our little guy in his santa outfit and it turned out really cute.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanks for coming

Thanks to everyone for coming to the party. We missed everyone who couldn't make it.
I hope you all had fun. I really love getting us all together like that. Thanks for bringing such good food to share and helping me clean up. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Love The Kelsey's

THANK YOU!

DeAnn Leon and Sydney!!! Thank you for opening up your home to us and having that wonderful Christmas Party! It is so nice when we can all get together. You guys ROCK!!!

Children's Nativity

At our Ward's Christmas party, Davey was Baby Jesus in the Children's Nativity.  It was fun to see all the children's reactions to him as Baby Jesus.  They all wanted to hug and kiss him.  It was so sweet to see their understanding of how special and amazing our Savior's birth is.  Here are some pictures.  Merry Christmas everyone!  Love, The Roz's

Mick's 50th!

Thanks to everyone for coming to Mick's 50th birthday party!  The turn out was great and we had a blast.  Have you ever seen him happier?!  I haven't!

Family Christmas Party

Hello Everybody! I'm not sure how big this will post, so I'll post the information separately. (You know me, I can't resist turning everything into an art project) anyway, The Family Christmas Party will be at DeAnn's house on Saturday the 15th of December. at 4:00 p.m. Notice that time has changed from what DeAnn told some of you already. It will be a potluck, so bring your favorite something to share. Keep in mind that Janet's girls are allergic to nuts and Patty can't have onions. also, we'll play "Yankee Swap" again with the gifts. Men, bring a $10 men's gift. Women, bring a $10 women's gift. and Parents, bring a small Santa gift for your young children to open and play with while the rest of us are yankee swapping. Hope to see you all there! Merry Christmas!

Look what Emma Got?!!

After months of waiting, it finally came! Emma's wheelchair got here Thursday afternoon. She looks like such a big kid in it. Her therapists have been working with her in a little cart, trying to teach her how to push the wheels to move around. The first time she sat in it, she knew just what to do and started cruising around. Of course, she could only go a few inches as the wheelchair guy was still adjusting the seat and the straps and all. She is still learning to walk, and still will walk someday. It was explained to us that the wheelchair will be a way for her to budget her energy. It takes so much effort and energy for her to move. Instead of her using all her energy to walk to the playground, she can ride there, and use her energy to actually play with her friends. It will also help her in school to sit up for long periods of time (she'll be starting a special needs preschool in March.)

We are incredibly grateful to the Golden Spike Elks here in Roy. Our insurance is good, it paid 80% but wheelchairs are custom made for their owners, and very expensive. It seemed like every time we talked to the medical supply company, the amount of our portion increased. We didn't have any idea how we were going to come up with all the money. They do have a payment plan.....You've got three months to pay, after that, they start charging interest. (18% yikes!) Luckily for us, there was a nice lady who works at the Children's Justice Center with Bub who happens to be a member of the Elks club. She approached him, not knowing that we were worried about payment. And told him that if any of our family members had been Elks, that the elks club could help us take care of expenses for medical equipment. We weren't sure at first if we should take them up on the offer. We are so blessed, and there are so many other people who need help so much more than we do. But as time went on, we just couldn't see how we would possibly be able to do it. It's so hard to admit that you need help to take care of your family, and even harder to ask for help. At first I thought to myself, "This is humiliating" then I realized, no, It's humbling. There is a difference. We found that Bub's grandpa was an elk, as well as our own Grandpa Carr. I got a strong feeling that Grandpa Carr really wanted to help Emma and would be honored for us to use his name to ask the Elks for help. So we did it. It was humbling. very humbling. But they were so kind, and so loving. They 'passed around the hat' and immediately came up with even more than we thought we needed. They told us they wanted us to keep the excess for anything else Emma might need. (Turns out the final bill will take all of it anyway.) It's hard to put into words, but I think Heavenly Father wanted us to have this experience. I feel so much more grateful for everything we have, and everything we have earned on our own after having had to ask for help. Long Story short: We are REALLY grateful to the Elks. We couldn't have done it without them.

Long post, but I just wanted to share the news, and I can't help but be grateful.
Love you all! Sooz

Don't Faint, I'm here!

Hi to all. I have not been on the blog before now. I've just had too darn many things going on in my life recently.

I started a new job at the University of Utah Medical Center in the Urology Center. I am the first PA they have ever hired and so far, it has worked out very well. I work with three of the top Urologists in the intermountain area. These guys do more specialized stuff than anybody around. I see patients every day from all around the world. I didn't know it, but we seem to have loads of refugees here in Utah from everywhere; Somalia, Ghana, and a number of former Soviet block countries (I can't spell them or pronounce them). And from all kinds of other countries too.

I still do family practice too. I have been working in Utah County for 11 years and before that, Duchesne County for 3 years. I still have patients that come to see me from Duchesne. I couldn't very well walk off and say sorry, I'm not going to see you any more, so I do family practice every Saturday morning at the same practice I've working at for the past 5 years.

On top of all that I still do work at the emergency department at Timpanogos Regional Hospital when they call me. When they need help, they call and if I'm available, I go. It's kind of nice to be able to say "sorry, not tonight."

I have enjoyed everyone's blogs here on the Meeks Messenger. Thanks to Melody for spearheading it. I am sorry that I haven't been a little more in touch. I'll try to do better. I finally remembered to bookmark the site, so I can find it better.

My love to all!

Jim

PS: Here's a picture of Makell with a recent date. Not a bad looking couple!!

Check it NOW!

Hey everyone,
  Check your e-mails ASAP!  Thanks so much, The Roz's

Just for fun ... Here is a pic of Sara Mickey Keith Gomez (Sara's baby) Allison and Davey. We had fun visiting. Davey is soooo adorable! We love you Davey! -Darcie

Happy Halloween (Late)

Hey sorry this is late but we just had to post a picture of our little skeleton.  Hope everyone is doing well, we are great!  Love, The Roz's

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween has come and gone, and my sweet little monsters are full of sugar!!! Emma picked out her duck costume at the outlets during Girls Weekend. Aiden is a ghost, though I think he looks more like a grimm reaper. It was funny to see such a little guy in such a scary costume. At his school, they don't do Halloween, but they did have a "Crazy Hair Day" on Halloween to kick of Red Ribbon week. We also got his kindergarten pictures back today. I want to see everybody else's Halloween pictures!

Just stuff...

Wow! The National Guard! That's because the Ramonans were getting restless.

From Neuenswander's backyard. Time to leave again...

Is our house gone?

How far away do you suppose that is?

It's Been A Hot Time In The Ol' Town...

Hi Everybody!
Thank you for your calls and prayers. They were comforting and sincerely appreciated.
I went from freezing snow to burning fire in the space of an hour and a half last Sunday. My, how quickly things can change! As we drove home from the airport after Girl's Weekend, we could see smoke in the far distance. That's not an unusual sight here so, we just speculated where this one could be. When we arrived home we spent the day watching the smoke come closer and closer. There was no information on the news yet so, we didn't know how far away it was nor how quickly it was coming. At about 3:00 Monday morning our neighbor called and said, "It's time!". So, Robert and I began loading the truck. On our fourth trip out the door, I looked up and saw Robert silhouetted by a 50 ft. wall of flame. He hadn't looked up. I yelled, "Throw it in the back of the truck and let's go!" He looked up, threw the cat carrier (with TC and Max) in the back of the truck and we took off. I drove the truck first out of the drive way and nearly ran into the firetruck parked in front of our house. The wind was blowing leaves and dirt and embers so ferrociously across the road it was hard to see anything, including the firetruck. Robert followed me in his car down to Rangeland Rd. below our neighborhood to watch what was going to happen. Soon other cars came and joined us. We watched as the flames mowed through our neighborhood on the hills, not knowing if our house was there anymore or not. Finally, the police came and chased us away. We arrived at the Neuenswander's house in Poway at 5:00. The next day we watched the fire that had been in our neighborhood come rolling over the hill toward the Neuenswander's house in our old neighborhood. When it came time to leave, we went to Robert's office and spent the night there. Liz suggested we call Nate's mom and dad. We did and they immediately invited us to dinner. Oh, it was good! The first real food in three days. We'd been living on water and Fig Newtons. The next day, Nate's dad offered to give us a police escort up to our house. The pictures show what we found. We were sure blessed!! Twenty of our neighbors lost their homes so there are only about 5 of us left. The things we lost are replacable, mostly... the tractor, lawn mower, and golf cart, my tools and craft things, Ramona Communittee Theater scenery, the Christmas ornaments and Halloween decorations that we'd collected over the years, the crib Dad made for Jordan, and the doll crib I got when I was 8 years old. Just stuff. And two of our chickens died. Oh, Mick, all of your stuff burned, too. Sorry. Now it's time for the Great Cleanup. Isn't life exciting?
Thank you again for your love and prayers. We love you all.

Fire Update - 10/23

Hi, Family,

While the weather remains hot and dry, the winds have diminished enough today for the big air tankers to get in the air and fight the fires in the hills around San Diego. As many of you have pointed out, www.nbcsandiego.com is the best source for information over the Internet with their streaming coverage. We stayed at ATC's offices in the Carmel Mountain area last night. Only one Shell gas station was open...Everything else was closed. Today, most of the major grocery and retail chains have re-opened. There is no sense of panic buying or a rush to purchase food...Most people seem to be handling it OK...Our old neighborhood (The Grove) in Poway along Espola Road was spared. There were many homes burned north of Grove and all of the hillsides surrounding it have burned. There have been reports of looting including a home on our old street. As we were leaving the area, we saw the National Guard being deployed on many of the side streets leading into northeast Poway. Fortunately, Mel and I still have our old Poway address on our driver's licenses so we should be able to get around the area. Our next door neighbors in The Grove are in Hawaii until late Thursday so we will probably stay at their home until we can get back up to Ramona. Nate's parents have been wonderful...Dan Wall offered to use his police channels to let us know when they would be letting us go home. Belinda Wall invited us to dinner this evening and we happily accepted...We can only live on fig Newtons and gatorade for so long.

We have a good friend who stayed in Ramona who was able to get to our home again today and give us a better assessment of our property. It appears that the home is intact and the sprinklers did not turn on inside (probably because the power went out). He said Mel's chickens are running around the yard because their coop blew apart, but they appear to be fine. And he found Jordan's big African desert tortoise wandering around the yard...This is a miracle, because his plastic "igloo" was right next to our recently constructed two-story barn that burned to the ground. Also, our propane tank is only 15 feet from the barn...Even though it was burned black, it didn't explode. Most of the homes below us burned to the ground including the home of good friends who are members. The irony is they were building a huge two-bay garage that was framed and almost complete...It made it through the fire just fine. He has a couple of big generators that made it through the fire so we're thinking about pooling resources as soon as we can get back up to Ramona. Currently, there are fires around the only major road leading to and from Ramona so they're not letting anyone up the hill.

We again wish to express our appreciation for your thoughts and prayers. Please know that we're fine...We'll report more as we can.

Love,

Bob and Melody

Fire Update

Hi, Family,

We appreciate your calls, e-mails, thoughts and prayers. The fires continue to rage around San Diego county tonight...The Santa Ana winds that are fueling this conflagration are not expected to die down until Wednesday afternoon. We were fortunate to have a good friend make his way up to our house late today. He reported that although the barn and the outbuilding burned down, our home appeared to be fine. He said it did sustain some heat damage due to the barn's close proximity. All the power is out around our home, with the power poles on the ground. He also said that most of the chapparal had burned around the house so if the fire returns we should still be ok. Most of our neighbors were not so fortunate as many homes around us burned to the ground. We're in Poway tonight, but our old neighborhood is being threatened by fire so we may stay at my office tonight. We'll keep you posted.

Bob & Mel

A new branch on the family tree

We want to thank everyone for the prayers and support as we awaited the arrival of our little man!
There’s quite a story about Davey’s arrival, I’m sure you are all curious about it (I would be!) I’ll try to make the story short… On Friday the 12th, I was 5 days over due and an ultrasound showed low amniotic fluid levels. The doctor said that things were still fine but it wouldn’t be getting better and that I should probably be induced. So, later that evening we headed to the hospital to get the ball rolling. I was given Pitocin to help dilate the cervix (which was at 1½ cm) and get contractions going.
By Saturday morning I wasn’t progressing much, only about ½ cm every 2 hours or so. The Pitocin levels were raised and the “fun” began. The contractions were long and close together, not allowing much rest in between. They also started to stress out the baby. So they took me off the Pitocin to see what my body would do. My body didn’t continue with the labor so I was given Pitocin again. After about 16 hours of labor and the unbearable contractions without rest, I decided to have an epidural on Sunday afternoon. I was only at 5 cm. With 5 cm to go before pushing, and pushing time on top of that I wouldn’t have made it.
I must say here that Brian was amazing! Labor pain makes you do and think things that you’d never do before. Brian never once flinched at the things he saw and was at my every beck and call. He held me up during standing labor and encouraged me the whole way. I couldn’t have asked for better support!
Within an hour of the epidural I was dilated to 8 cm and it didn’t take much longer to get to 10 cm. It was time to push and did so for almost 4 hours, it was slow going also. At one point the doctor came into the room to check on us and just something about seeing her there really put me into action. A few more good pushes and our little Davey was born! I received an episiotomy and tore a little too! But hey, I gave birth to a 9 lb. 13 oz. perfect little person! We calculated that his head was 11 ¾ cm at birth- 1 ¾ cm bigger that the 10 cm opening. After he was born my nurse said “No wonder it took so long!”
We’ve been home now for a couple days and things are going well. Brian and I are just so in love with Davey, he’s so amazing. We know we are so blessed to have him and are very grateful to have him join our family. He’s nearly 2 feet long at 23 inches. He has my dark hair and Brian’s long body, feet and toes. He’ll probably be taller than me when he’s 10! I love all the little noises he makes. Davey is really mellow and loves to just look around and listen to everything. He has jaundice a little but we don’t have to do any treatments for it. Thank goodness!
We’re going to try to have him blessed on October 28th. My dad and Darcie will be visiting then. I know its short notice but everyone is invited to attend. If anyone is interested in coming, let me know and I’ll give you details. It’s a good time to visit Phoenix, weather here now is beautiful!
The Girl’s Weekend sounds like it will be wonderful. I hope everyone has a great time! Again, thank you everyone for your prayers!
Take care and much love, The Roz’s

Hi, we are staying at the Brickman home again this year. I can't seem to get the directions to stick on this post. I will keep trying and I will also email the directions to DeAnn and Susan. See you all Friday.

Karyn

Girls Weekend!!!

It's almost here! I talked to Karyn yesterday and she said she will post the address in the next day or so. For the taco bar we have the following people signed up for the following things:
Angie-chips & salsa
Collene-drinks
DeAnn- Meat & seasonings & olives
Janet-lettuce & tomatoes
Karyn-meat & onions
Melody-cheese
Robin-sour cream
Susan-tortillas & beans
it looks like we are pretty well covered. Bring any dessert/treats that you'd like. I don't know of any plans for breakfast, so perhaps bring a misc. food item or a few bucks to chip in for that. I can't think of anything else as far as food goes.

Recipes: Just type up the recipes you'd like to bring for sharing and make a few copies of it. We'll just set them all out on the counter or something for everyone to grab.

Has anybody heard from anyone in Jim's family?

David Meeks Rosner has arrived!!!!

Well it took a lot of pushing (five hours worth) but we got this beautiful baby!!! Good Job Allison! David was born at 8:22 p.m. on October 14Th, 2007 (one week over due). He weighted a whopping nine pounds and thirteen ounces. He is already 23 inches long. (Wonder where he gets that from?)Allison is doing well ... she was just very tired. Of course! Congradulations to you Allison and Brian!!! Welcome to the world David!!! We are all so very glad that you are here and we are very excited to meet you! -Darcie

Still Waiting

Hi Everyone, This is Darcie using my Dad's log in name because I can not remember mine. so Allison was due on Sunday October 7Th, 2007. No baby ... so on Friday she was induced. The last update I got (Sunday around noon) was that she was dilated to six centimeters, was super worn out and decided to get an epidural. When I was talking to Brian she was trying to take a nap. Please continue to pray for her and the baby (Brian, too!). I will let everyone know when that little bundle of joy arrives! We love you Allison!!!

Anybody Interested?

Hi Everybody....Just wanted to let you all know that Aiden is doing a fundraiser for school. If they are successful with this one, they won't have to do any more for the rest of the school year. The proceeds from this sale will fund the PTA reflections contest, The Science Fair,Field Day, Math manipulatives, book sets for classrooms, class parties, and teacher grants for classroom supplies.
If you would like to participate, and are able to help, you can log on to www.kathrynbeich.com during checkout, enter the registration number 141725 for Aiden to get the credit. They've got gift wrap, magazine subscriptions, gifts, goodies, baking mixes, dishes and all sorts of other stuff. If you want the frozen Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough you'll have to order in person.
The fundraiser goes till Tuesday October 16th, and will be delivered the week of November 12th.
Thanks for your support!
Sooz

ok here is the front yard not quit finished and the back isn't done yet so i have no pictures of the back. Here is another one of the girls too. xxoo, karyn

Here are some pictures the concreat we just had done... We did 96 yards in all.... I Also though you would like to see the girls and Robbies Steelhead he cought in Washington

xxoo Karyn

I have a quick question, I need a head count on the people that will be staying the night in Deer Valley. The Deer Run home is no longer available the owner is coming in for that weekend. i am now needing to pick another home. Please let me know asap how many will be needing a bed so I can pick the right home.
Thanks,
Karyn
xxooxxooxxoo

Girls Weekend Taco Bar....

Okay, Everyone seems to be up with the taco bar idea, so why don't we just list the ingredients here, then in the 'comments' you can sign up for what ever you want. I think we should also say that if you have a treat or a snack that you would like to bring, that of course you're welcome to bring that too.
so, off the top of my head.....taco ingredients are:
tortillas/shells
beans
meat
cheese (melody)
lettuce
onions
olives
tomatoes
sour cream
salsa
(am I missing anything?)
maybe someone might want to bring
torilla chips
salsa
seven layer dip
drinks
dessert

Happy Birthday to Sarah

about girls weekend....

Carlyn is going to bring all her hair stuff to girls weekend to give haircuts to anyone who wants one. If you want color, let her her know so she can bring the right stuff. But for color, you'll have to give her some $$$ to cover the cost for her. I think she might also want to know if you want a haircut too, so she can schedule her time.

Janet has an idea to do a taco bar for dinner instead of pizza. Does that sound good, and would everyone be willing to bring an assigned ingredient for it?

Robin had the idea to bring one or more of your favorite recipes to swap so we can all get new ideas for dinners etc. Don't you get sick of feeding your family the same stuff over and over and over again?...

Who all thinks they are coming anyway? I'm in!

P.S. Thanks Karyn, for getting us a house again! We LOVE it,and we LOVE you!

Girls Weekend Update

Hey Ladies,
I just wanted to let you all know that Karyn was able to get us a house.
It's the Deer Run house. That's the one we stayed in the first time. If you want to look at it go to deervalleylodging.com and click on private homes.
We are going to have a blast!!
Can't wait to see you all there.
Love,Ditto

What's your name?

Here's a little something fun to try!
1. YOUR ROCKSTAR NAME (first pet + current car)
T.J. Nissan
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie)
Banana Split Snickerdoodle
3. YOUR FLY GIRL/GUY NAME (First initial, first three letters of your last name)
S. Fit
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal)
blue dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name, city you were born in)
Meeks Salt Lake
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first three letters of your last name, & first two letters of your first name)
Fitsu
7. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME ("The" + 2nd favorite color, and your favorite drink)
The Red Rootbeer
8. NASCAR NAME (the first names of your Grandfathers)
James Ray
9. STRIPPER NAME (the name of your favorite perfume/scent, & favorite candy)
citrus chocolate
10. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (mother's & father's middle names)
Kay Earl
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Waters Wichita
12. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, favorite flower)
Autumn Iris
13. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now)
Raspberry Blue Jeans
14. HIPPY NAME (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Toast Willow
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME ("The" + your fave hobby/craft, favorite weather element + "Tour"
The drawing thunderstorm tour




What are your names?!!!

HELLO!

Thanks for inviting me to be part of this blog. I am so excited that I can actually participate now. YEAH!!!

All is well here at the Meeks/Pierce household. I just wanted to leave some photos of Keith and Mickey so everyone can see how cute and big they are.

Love Darcie

Greetings Everybody

Hi Ya'll!!!
It's been awhile since I've posted. I've been going 90 mph all August and was only home 10 days out of the whole month. We went up to Utah for Jane's graduation, I went on a road trip with my friend Liz, we spent a week at Lake Shasta and a few days in Oregon and then went to Iowa to visit Lizzie and Nate. Whew!
I'm so looking forward to the Girl's Weekend and home EVERYONE can come. I missed the outlets last year but I learned my lesson and am excited to go.
Some of the people I invited to participate in this blog didn't go through so, tonight I reinvited Collene and James and Jordan and Darcie and Maribeth. If you know of anyone you think would like to participate, please let me know. It's so fun hearing from you. I don't want anyone left out.
Colin and Robin, that baby is SO cute!!! Congratulations Emma on sitting up by yourself! Happy Birthday to DITTO, MARIAH, BOSTON, CARLYN, CLAYTON and an early Happy Birthday to CLINT AND SARA!!!!!!!!!!! Sara, are you on here? I don't know your email address...
Good September to you all.
love,
Melody

Guess what....

Emma has been sick today, (a snot-nosed cold) so she and I did not go to church. I spent the morning reading the histories of Nana's father and grandfather that Pam sent to me several weeks ago. I just love to learn about our ancestors and get a sense of who they were, what their lives were like. Nana's grandfather Sylvester Henry Earl joined the church in Ohio, and moved to "Zion" just in time for all the persecutions of the saints in Missouri, then Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters, etc. So interesting to read how matter-of-factly he tells about it all, and so neat to read that Joseph Smith gave him a blessing on his way to serve his first mission in Ohio. I wish he would have mentioned what the blessing had said, or described feelings about it. Still it was so interesting and left me with a love for the great heritage we have been blessed with.

Last night I had just changed Emma's diaper and left her laying on the floor so I could get her bed ready for her, when I turned around and found her sitting up an playing. I was a little baffled, but was so excited this morning to catch her in the act and discover that she can now go from laying down to sitting up by herself!!! This is a major MILESTONE for her. We have been working a long time to build her arm strength, and to get her to put any weight on them at all, and suddenly she's pushing herself up on them! I'm so excited for her and so proud of her. I tried to take some pictures when I saw her doing it next, but she was on the wood floor, and her hand got stuck in her dress, so when I set the camera down to move her hand, I missed the picture of her actually pushing up, but you get the idea. Here's a picture of Aiden too. Just for fun. Love to all.
Sooz

Mark your calendar!

Hey girls, Melody asked me to send and e-mail to all the girls, to have you all save the third weekend in October for girls weekend that is OCTOBER 19 & 20. Karyn is still waiting to find out if her request for a Deer Valley house will be granted, but Melody already bought her plane ticket, so it will have to be that weekend regardless. Just in case, does anybody have a plan B for where we could stay?

nothing new

Hi all,
Not much new with us. Sydnee started her senior year at Murray(Go Spartans!!)
She is taking her CNA class in high school and will be done in the spring. She wants to work at the IMC hospital. She already volunteers there.
Leon and I are going to Green Valley on Friday for my birthday. I'll be 38. Does that make anyone feel old?Love to everyone.
DeAnn

bored

Hey all,

Today I was really bored so I decided to take pictures of Karden. Since he can't go out in public yet, we haven't had any new born pictures of him, so I decided to do some my self. Here is what we came up with. All is about the same for us, Colin started school last week. Karden is still on oxygen but doing very well. We're hoping he will be off in the next week or two. I'm still at home taking care of him until October or so. All in all life is great here in Ogden!

Relocated

Hello Everybody,
Just wanted to let you all know that I have moved!!!
I'm now living in Orem in a lovely little basement apartment with two roomates. It's a fairly big place, and I have a large room with a big closet and private bathroom, and I really like it here so far, especially since it's only about 3 minutes from work! Anyway, for those of you who have my contact information here's the update, and those of you who don't, WRITE IT DOWN!!!

Kohl Meeks
1675 Mountain Oaks Drive
Orem, UT 84097

Cell: 801.318.4426
Email: zelgadis13@gmail.com

Love you all, hope all is well, and I wish you all the best!!!

Love,
Kohl :D

hello from the MADSENS

hi how is everyone? Life here in Heber City is grand!!! We are in the process of a huge cement project on our drive way and side yard that I hope will be finished sometime next week. I will post pictures when they get it done. Robbie is going Salmon fishing next Friday all the way to Washington State with a couple buddies for 8 days he is so excited he can barley stand himself. I am going to NC on the 19th for a couple weeks to visit the fam there too. We are only going to see each other 11 days in September WOW....The dogs are great Maggie is finally starting to mellow a bit and Gracie is as neurotic as ever, Tristin started middle school 6th grade.....She loves it and is doing well. What weekend in October are we doing the sisters weekend? Who is coming? I have to run, love to all!!!
Karyn

Anybody interested?

We have a nice big solid wood desk that we want to get rid of. It was a hand-me-down to us from Franklin Covey who was getting rid of a bunch of office furniture. It used to be my computer desk, but when we moved, it was too big to fit through the basement door. It's been sitting in our garage for the last year. It's got some sort of white wash to it. It measures about 4 feet deep by about 6 feet long. And has 6 drawers. One of the drawers holds legal size hanging files. It's a great desk, we just can't get it in, so don't need it anymore. We'd love to be able to give it to someone in the family if you need it. Otherwise we'll just DI it. Let me know if you are interested.
Susan

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!

Today was Aiden's first day of Kindergarten! Last night, the principal had a little party called "The night before kindergarten" where all the new kindergarteners got to go to the school in their pajamas to listen to a story and eat cookies and milk. So, we took a picture of Aiden and Emma on the doorstep in their pajamas before we left. The other pictures are from this morning. When I picked him up after school today and asked him to tell me about kindergarten he just said: "It's great." I did hear from another girl in the neighborhood who is also in his class, that they made a giant gingerbread man, but when they went back to the cafeteria to get him out of the oven, they found out that he had run away! Aiden says he thinks they'll find him tomorrow. What fun it is to be a Mom and watch your kids grow up and do all these fun things for the first time.

Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone!  Jen and I haven't posted anything lately, so I thought I would catch you all up on what's been going on.  We recently moved back into my mom and dad's house to save some money for my future entrance into law school.  It's a little weird not having our own place like we have for almost six years, but we really appreciate my parents' (and Clayton & Makell's) willingness to open their home to us.  I think we have all done pretty well adjusting to the new lifestyle.

Jen's birthday was on the 6th, so on her birthday weekend she and I went to Park City to relax and have some time together.  As her present, I got her a massage, facial and pedicure at the Pappion Spa located in one of the hotels at The Canyons.  We also went out to eat a lot, of course.  Jen and her sister Wendy also did some clothes shopping at the outlets at Kimball Junction.  It was definitely what the doctor ordered.

Yesterday we had a yard sale at my parents' house.  Mom and Mariah both threw in some things, and it turned out to be a great success.  Total combined revenue for the day was a little over $400 - not bad considering that none of us had ever done one before.  School started back up for both Jen and I this week, so we plan on being extremely busy for the next few months, but who isn't, right?

We hope this post finds you all doing well and that you have enjoyed your summer.

Gabrielle's Birthday

Fun-filled graduation weekend

Jordan and I had a fabulous weekend this past week - my family & Robert and Melody came out to Utah for my graduation. It was so good to see everyone :). Each semester BYU has University commencement on a Thursday, followed by individual college commencements on Friday. So it's a busy two days. My college's was at 8 a.m. (a little to early for me, considering we had to leave Murray at 6 to be there by 7 so I could line up and everything). Aside from the early hours, our weekend was fabulous. It definitely feels good to be done with school :). We were tour guides for my grandparents, who hadn't been to Utah since the 1950s. They loved the mountains, Temple Square, touring the U and BYU and Sundance. Now that graduation and finals (for Jordan) are behind us, Jordan has two weeks off until school starts up again, and he is enjoying his two-week break by getting started on law school applications, which can be turned in as early as October.

Thank you, Janet, Scott, Hannah & Ava for surprising me with the fun door sign and decorations!

7 weeks and counting!

I realized our most recent post is two pages back and decided it was time for an update from us. Things are still going great! There's only about 7 weeks left before our little one joins us, we are very excited! We're just trying to prepare the best we can; getting a room ready and taking classes at the hospital. We can't wait to meet our little person.
Brian continues to enjoy his job doing engineering analysis for a small company near by. He had his 25Th birthday this month. I had surprise party for him with some of our friends. I can't believe we're both 1/4 of a century old!
His training keeps him busy a couple nights a week- running, swimming, cycling. He recently did a 100 mile mountain bike ride from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon and back. He did really great overall but had some trouble the last 15 miles or so due to fatigue. He really loves to get out there and test his endurance and abilities. Brian will be doing the Arizona Ironman again in April 2008, training for that starts in January.
Brian's grandfather, Bill Rosner, passed away in July. He would have been 82 this year in October. Brian flew to Indiana to attend the funeral services and was a pallbearer. It's funny how funerals always kind of end up being a good time... you get to see people you haven't in a while and you share an emotional connection with them. Everything seems easier that way, when there's other people there with you. He said it was very nice to see all that side of his family again.
Brian is currently serving in our ward's Elders Quorum presidency. He's had that calling for the past couple years with 2 different presidents. He enjoys it overall, it gets him out of his comfort zone every once in a while which is good for anyone!
As for me I quit my job at the end of April and have very much been enjoying my time at home. I was also recently released from my church calling as Young Women's President. There's really only about 6 Young Women in our ward. I have very much enjoyed attending Relief Society again, it's been almost 4 years. I am now mostly just trying to stay cool and make it through the summer!
Sara gave me a sweet little orange kitten for my birthday. We named her Polly and that now puts the cat count to 3 in our house. Polly is very much a kitten and has rocked our world, especially for the other cats! She's a crazy little thing, you never know what she'll do next.
It's been so great reading about what every one's up to on the blog. I hope everyone will keep posting! See ya, love ya, The Roz's

There's no place like home...

We have just returned from a lovely vacation in Portland, but it's always nice to come back home....especially after a 14 hour drive with the kiddos. Oregon is a beautiful state, and Portland in particular has some really interesting people and places in it. One of which is a donut shop called Voo Doo Donuts. They are famous for very creative donuts....the "voo doo" donut is a jelly donut in the shape of a man that comes with a pretzel stabbed through the middle. The maple donut with bacon on top was absolutely delicious, but we all voted the 'tang' (yes, the drink the astronauts took to the moon) donut best.

We also went to a cajun macaroni restaurant. It was SO GOOD. and the fun part was that they made fancy tinfoil sculptures with your leftovers. Aiden's meal got made into this HUGE sword. It didn't quite fit in the car.

A lot of the trip revolved around food because...well look at us! It's no secret that we like to eat, but Bub's brother Chris that we went to visit, is in culinary school there. however, there were other things involved in the vacation too. We did some site seeing, including the Multnomah falls, a fish hatchery with 12 foot sturgeon in it, the Tillamook cheese factory, the Oregon aquarium, and we even drove to the coast for a few days. We stayed in a "yurt" at a campground across from Beverly beach and enjoyed shopping at the waterfront of Newport. We also visited Yaquina Head lighthouse. the trip itself was fun, but Emma's expression says it all about the drive there and back. Hope all the rest of you are doing well!