PG Blackburns Thriving

 I decided to update you all since Dennis will be under commission with the new events in our life. I'm sure you'd rather hear from your brother, but an in-law update is better than no update?

Reed - I'm going to copy your style and try to keep it organized.

Latest happenings:
Dennis -
Job - Job is going really well (I think - Dennis isn't always an open book). He is as busy as ever and running several jobs in Salt Lake, Utah County and Park City. He has established a great rapport with his boss and the two other project managers. They play ping pong several times a week as a release for their stressful jobs. Dennis is always coming home with welts all over his body, because losers have to stand with their shirts off and get hit with the ping pong. Aside from the ping pong, E-Green is doing well and a thriving company. Dennis is always speaking Spanish on his phone and has a great relationship with all the Mexican laborers. He treats them well and they respect him.
Ashley -
Job - I'm finally going part time in July! My work finally came around and let me go part time. I've been asking since last fall and knew if I just stuck it out we'd have a good situation where i'm still making an income and able to work from home exclusively. Starting June 1, I am able work from home full time, then will go part time in July, working 3 days a week. We are seriously indebted for eternity to Debi and Becky for watching Emery. Debi has been watching her for 2 + years now and has never complained once. She is amazing and we're SO grateful Emery had her grandma to watch her. We are also eternally indebted to Becky for watching Emery on Mondays. Emery is obsessed with little Debi and wants to be at her house 24/7. She gets SO bored being with me and Dennis. We're really boring. So again huge THANKS to Debi and Becky for helping us out so much. And Bonnie and Amber for the days they watched Emery, when Debi was out of town. Thanks so much!

Interests/Hobbies as of late:
Dennis -
He hasn't been mountain biking much as of late, because of the rain and because his body is falling apart. We both have like 85 year old bodies. We like to watch TV at night and ice all our ailments. His neck has been really bad for the past six months or so. We are looking for a miracle worker. Anyone know of one? He still works out 2-3 times a week and maintains that dashing physique of his! :) But he just decided he might dabble with yoga instead. To help with his stress from his job and his rickety body.
Ashley -
Haven't been riding my bike much these dates with being pregnant. Still trying to get work outs in when I can and not be totally out of shape by the time the second baby comes. I'm 22 weeks (5 months along) and feeling great these days. The pregnancy has been a night and day difference compared to the last one. Diclegis is a miracle drug! No nausea and no side effects with it.

Book: we are reading the Crucible of Doubt together. It's a pretty amazing book. It is very well written and very eye opening. If you're looking for a good religious book, I definitely recommend it!

House: we are under contract on a home in South Jordan! We put in an offer last week and the sellers accepted our offer, even after they were given a better offer than ours. I guess they were compelled to sell us their house because of the AMAZING letter I wrote persuading them to choose us. Ha. The house was built in 1979 and it going to need a lot of work. Before we move in, we are renovating the kitchen, family area, bathroom and upstairs room to make it more livable. The house is on a great lot in an awesome neighborhood. We are right by the Jordan River Temple. We are really eager to start working on the house and will be looking for renters for our current home! Mary and Trenton - still interested in renting our PG town house? :) We are probably looking to move July or August depending on when we can get the renovations complete. Dennis will do all the renovating he can on his own and will be completely immersed in construction the next few months. He's excited but also stressed. :)

Last but not least Emery:
Emery is quite the character. She is so full of personality. Dennis and I wonder where she comes from. We were both pretty shy/quiet kids growing up, and she has an explosive personality. She might get it from my mother. She is never afraid to approach any kid on the playground and say "Want to play with me?" She has no fear and so much confidence! It's great and I hope it continues as she gets older. She is starting preschool and dance in the fall. She is SO excited. She sees little Debi going to and from preschool and is INSANELY jealous. She is also very excited for the new baby to come. She asks every day how big the baby is. She loves to kiss my tummy and give her little sister big hugs. She has such a tender heart and so much compassion. She always cries in movies when a little character is sad. Dennis and I are so in love with our little Emery. I feel so lucky to be blessed with her.

Whelp. That sums up our life as of late. A lot of good things going on. I cannot complain at all! Things are great and we feel overwhelmingly blessed in our lives. Hope to see you guys soon.

Happenings

Hey Mindy and Mom, here's our family update

Reed
1-Thrilled school is almost over.
2-Cannot wait for school to be over
3-Is it summer time yet
4-It's been a crazy year for me and I've loved it but it's also been exhausting.  I'll be forever grateful for the one year I've had to teach history.  I'm glad I took on the extra class and right now am teaching the Civil War.  Of course I think about Dad all the time as I teach about Lincoln, Lee, Jackson, Gettysburg and everything else that goes with it.
5-Preparing for meetings tomorrow and Tuesday for seminary where I will finally get some info on the finality of what will happen for me during the summer and next year.  I do know that I'll be teaching either at East, Skyline, or Olympus.
6-I love being a Dad to Hyrum.  He's the highlight of every one of my days.  I love coming home to him, taking him from Mommy and going on a walk.
7-Watching the playoffs when he can.  Cheering for a Hawks Warriors final.  Two teams that play team basketball.  Hates the superstar mentality that people say you have to have to win an NBA championship.
8-Loving the Cubs!  2015, this is their year.
9-Loves teaching gospel doctrine.  Today's lesson was on the Prodigal Son.  I talked about Dennis the whole time (J/K but since he doesn't get on here it won't even matter)  I actually used a talk from conference and felt like it was one of my best lessons I've given.  Also the 10 lepers and the importance of saying thank you.

Amber
1-Full time and happy Mom.  Loves waking up to Hyrum and spending the days with him
2-Keeps herself busy by hanging out with other moms during the week, seeing Nana now and again, and visiting grandma's in Taylorsville and Salt Lake.
3-Her good friend is named Laura. they go to the gym together and mostly just chat.  Laura's fun to talk to because she has 3 crazy kids that have even crazier stories.  Amber listens and tells me and we discuss that we never want Hyrum to become a teenager.
4-Loves her book club.  Just read Edenbrooke, a proper romance!
5-Just planted her garden and fixed a sprinkler head Reed ran over with a tiller
6-Just bought a armoire on KSL yesterday and excited to re-finish it
7-Preparing for a visit from Dad and sister who are coming in from West Virgina.  They have never met Hyrum
8-Staying busy with Young Women, revving up for camp.  Worried they might release her 1st counselor who she has come to rely and lean on heavily and who is a dear friend.

Hyrum
1-Scoots and rolls all over the place, so close to crawling but can't quite do it still.
2-Surprising Mom and Dad with his strength.  Can pull himself up and stand with assistance from a table, crib, couch, etc.  yesterday Mom put him down in the crib and when she turned around he had pulled himself up and was standing.  Time to lower the crib mattress.  Crazy!
3-Generally a happy boy, generally sleeps good, eats well.
4-Becoming attached to Mom?  It's a fear Mom and Dad have, he brings so much joy to others, we don't want him to grow attached to Mom and Dad and not go to others.
5-Doesn't say any consonants yet, I know Dad really wants me to say Da-da though because he says that word to me 1,000 times a day.

Other Stuff
1-Amber's Uncle is recovering.  Still in the hospital but alert and awake.  We're hoping it's a blessing in disguise for that family

TRAV'S POST

Well, I am at Mom's house and she is forcing me to write an entry.  I only have a few minutes though, so it will be brief.

Our lives are good.  Very, very busy right now.  It is May and we are all so ready for school to be out.  Lizzy, Rachel and Matt are all in soccer.  I coach Lizzy's team and Tammy signed up to Coach Matt's team.  However, Tammy decided she didn't want to do it, so I am coaching Matt's team.  Matt isn't much of a soccer player though.  He will run for about 2 seconds and they decide he is tired and just look around.  It's so frustrating.

The weather has turned warm.  We will be planting our garden next week.  It will be nice to have fresh vegetables again.

Our kids are good.  all growing up.  Katelynn is still a monster, but is at least starting to sleep better.  Lizzy turns 10 in a couple weeks.  Crazy.

Well, I better get going.  I will try to write a longer post later.  Can't wait to see everyone in Mexico

Travis

ALWAYS SOMETHING

Ok, what's really lame is that I started this earlier tonight, then got so incredibly tired that I couldn't write anything sensible, so in my semi conscious state I exited out assuming my draft would be saved.  But, alas, it is no where to be found, so I guess I'm back to square one.  Don't want to think of how many times I've done that!  

So the house is quiet.  Trav and his family are staying the night . That brings the grand total to 16 of people who have spent the night in the last four nights.  On THursday night, Phil was passing through town and I was thrilled to have have him come, along with Nedra, Lori Pond, Laura Duzett and a random friend, They were.keeping with the tradition of staying with me when the come down to the BYU Women's Conference.  We had a nice night of visiting and catching up, and several of your came to join in. Some  were heading to the 9:30 premiere of "The Avengers, Part whatever,:  so you  stopped to visit on youir way.   I am always happy to have company, and tonight was no different, except I have this sinus infection (or whatever it is!) that is driving me nuts.  I have had it for like a month.  I travelled all through Germany and Italy with it.  Finally, on Friday morning, after all my company had left,   I snuck in a trip to the Doctor.  She looked at me 5 minutes and prescribed a powerful antibiotic, a "Z-pack'"  Well, today was the third day taking that; I wish I could see a difference.  I'm not terribly sick, just dragging and tired all the time.  I hate that!  Makes me realize how good it is to feel good, which is what I do most of the time!

My next round of guests came with the Griffin kids.  While Becky & Dave went to St. George, I tended. They slept at my house Friday night, but first I was busy taking them here and there, feeding them dinner, taking them to a movie, etc.  Everyone was good....everyone was easy.  Saturday was busy with kids coming and going...Ben to a tennis tournament, Eli to a service project, a soccer game for Ricky.  I tried to get a bit accomplished in my yard, but did not get far...still dragging.

Beck & Dave came home that night (Dave's birthday), raving about the good break they had had...after tasting a bit of their busy life keeping up with 5 kids and their busy schedules,  thought it could not have been long enough!

My last round of company came today....Trav and his family came to spend the night, with stuff going on tomorrow.  THey brought a LOVELY dinner with them, and served me.  So good!  It's been nice to have them and see their kids.  Wish I had more energy, tho.  Tomorrow at 12:30 they have tickets to the Payson Temple Open House and I will go with them.  Looking forward to that!

So what I really should do is a brief recap of the month of April.  It may seem redundant to most of you, since I  either see you or talk to you regularly and keep you updated, but I have, after many years, stopped keeping a journal.  Weird, I know, to quit now, but I figure there's a big enough record of my life.  Maybe TMI. So this will stand as my April Journal.

HIGHLIGHTS

1-Phil and Kathryn's visit from Denver for Conference/Easter week.  We had some glorious days with the cousins especially enjoying each other.  Phil had to work a good part of the week, but still we had good times.  A visit to the Family History Discovery Center in Salt Lake, a trip up the Canyon for a campfire dinner, family dinners, an Easter egg hunt, our traditional visit to Pizza Pie Café, and of course, Conference.  Travis and Tammy made it up for the weekend, and it was good to have everyone together.

2-On that busy weekend, Mary & Trenton went with me up Provo Canyon, where I had been asked to talk to the youth of Gordon Creek Ward at their Youth Conference.  It was up at a lodge, and it was a good night.  So good (and always a little tender) to see those people I have loved.  Kim Martino invited me up.  She is serving as YW President, and to think there was a time when she was less active!  Her counselors were Linda Dimick, our old next door neighbor who was barely active, and another gal that had struggled to be active.  So good to see these good women serving!  The YM President was Alan Maynes.  After a lifetime of serving and working with youth, he shook his head at his present experience.  “It’s just hard,” he said.  “I don’t know what to do with the kids these days.  They are so busy they don’t have time for mutual, they don’t know how to work, they’re spoiled….I sympathized and remembered how Dad had struggled with his humble calling in YM after having been Bishop, Stake President, etc.  Some of the hardest work done in the church is in the trenches….by those not really recognized for their efforts.

3-Germany.  Just a few days after Phil’s family left, I left for Germany.  Mindy had worked hard to plan and execute an amazing road trip during my visit.  I arrived on a Wednesday, and by Thursday morning six of us were loaded in our van and on our way.  We drove south, up over the Italian Alps and into Florence Italy.  The sights were breathtaking.  I actually enjoyed the car travel.  It gave us time together…I had the kids close for those days, when usually they are so far.  Mindy had reserved a villa for us in this little sanctuary on the outskirts of Florence.  It was run by two Italian sisters, and it was lovely.  Truly felt the Tuscan spirit.  Our days consisted of museum visits, a guided tour through the Tuscan countryside, a visit to Piso, where we marveled at the Leaning Tower, various attempts at restaurant eating (with varied results with the children!)and of course, Sunday attendance at the local Mormon church.  We expected to find a little struggling Branch in Florence, but found a nice church, where we had to sit in an overflow, because the chapel was filled!  I figured they must host a lot of tourists.  They even had headphones ready for us so we could listen to the service in English!  I know some find it easy to skip church when they travel, but it’s always been extra important to me to remember my covenants when I am far from home and hoping for safety and protection.  When all things seem strange and new and different, it is reassuring to me that Heavenly Father is still there, ever constant, ever blessing me.

Did I mention the gelato in Italy.  Positively the most decadent and delicious dessert I have ever tasted.  It is like translated ice cream……oh so rich, oh so good.  We stopped for it somewhere every day we were there, sometimes twice a day!  I was terrified at the weight I was gaining, but stood by my old motto,

“Carpe Diem!”  Our last night in Florence was capped off by a cooking class we took from one of the sisters at the villa.  She cooked, of course, only with natural, unprocessed, fresh foods.  Everything seemed extra healthy, except for the COPIOUS amounts of olive oil she cooked with!  Anyway, we learned a lot about herbs and spices and everything else and it was great.  Then, we enjoyed dinner in their dining room, with Ben joining us.  All of this, mind you was in their villa, which dated back to like the 1600’s.  Wow.

On our way home from Florence, we swung out by the Mediterranean coastline and spent a night there.  Breathtakingly beautiful.  We visited the beach, enjoyed the quaint little towns, and took a ferry ride up the coast.  Mindy’s smartest move on this trip was to bring scooters for the two little girls.  They pushed their way around Italy on those scooters, never tiring, never falling behind.  Impressive that they were able to navigate through the many roads we walked, some quiet, some quite busy.  Then it was Friday, and we were headed home to Germany.  After a long day of travel, we arrived late at Mindy’s.  I got to bed just before midnight, only to arise at 4:30ish to get ready to go to the airport for my flight home.  Ben was the valiant soul who got up and drove me there. 

The trip was never to be forgotten….just a few observations about Mindy’s family:

BEN- Mindy did well marrying Ben!  He is ever good natured, every willing, ever accommodating.  He loves his children fiercely and serves them tirelessly. 

He is A GOOD MAN, and it gives me great comfort to know that Mindy is so well cared for.

MINDY-Does anybody else remember Mindy when she seemed a bit of a wimp?  I always said she acted as though she thought she was an only child, wanting special care and attention.  Well, she has emerged as a strong, capable, even tough woman!  Becky described her as intrepid, and that fits.  She walked and walked, never afraid to climb to the highest towers, to carry James on her back, to keep going and going and going.  This girl is a force to be dealt with.  She’s had the challenges of military life….of moving often, being in strange surroundings, etc, and they have made her strong.  Nice, Mindy.

EMILY-Emily is quiet, thoughtful, smart, logical, compliant, and so easy.  She is NOT the squeaky wheel (can you guess who is?) and she does not get the grease. But she seems happy, and she is good.  She touches my heart

CAROLINE- Gets greased frequently, cuz she squeaks loudly.  She’s illogical, unreasonable, independent, loud, and can be very uncompliant!  At the same time, she is a charming little pixie with an infectious smile and a VERY fun spirit.  Gotta love her.  She touches my heart, as well.

JAMES- “James-y Waymes-z,” as his family calls him, strikes the balance between his two older sisters.  He is generally easy, with streaks of difficulty.  He is a rough and tumble little boy but  beautiful to look at.  I was so glad to have that time with this little boy none of us know very well.  He is loving and fits perfectly into his family, who loves him so much.

4-Home to the states, where I struggled to recover from jet lag and this nagging sinus issue.  Various calendar items, including Relief Society Mettings, a Ward Breakfast, two last shifts at the Timpanogos Temple, a couple of family weddings, time with friends, a visit to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Amber and Hyrum, and a Book Club.  No wonder I am tired.

With that, I will close! Now I will be finalizing plans for  our trip to Cancun.

Details will be forthcoming.  Working on a Humanitarian opportunity for us.  Tell your kids to save some space in their suitcases (you, too)!  This should be quite the trip!  Thirty six  of us, with three vans,  and  hotel like accommodation.  These are the golden days.  Carpe Diem!

In Mexico

Hi everybody! Saludos de Mexico. Currently we are in the school where we will  be teaching English. Our host mother dropped us off at 8:50...but apparently we don't need to be here till 9:30, so we're taking a minute to write home.

It is HOT.  Last night the low was 73, and it probably didn't drop below 80 in our little concrete apartment (bedroom/hallway/bathroom). Apparently may is the hottest month of the year in Merida...so...that's good. :) 

We are staying with an older woman named rosa. She doesn't have any children or a husband in her home, we dom't really know her story yet. There is another girl named Rachel also staying in the home. That was a little unexpected, but I think it will be good. She has been here for three months, and will be here for two more. It sounds like she hasn't especially enjoyed it because she's felt isolated in the home...but maybe we can help with that. Rosa, our host, is as sweet as can be, and has been hosting for 15 years. She said that Merida is extremely safe, and that people are moving here like crazy because of the tranquility in the city.

That's our room. We got two single beds pushed together. Nice.

We'll keep you updated as more adventures happen. Just wanted to let you know we are safe and sound and happy in Mexico.

Love you all!

Shaha update

Hmmm… I don't really know where to start.

Well, maybe I'll just copy and paste the post from our family blog since I don't know who all checks it.

But before I do that, besides Caroline's birthday bash, things have been good here.  Ben and I had the chance to go to the temple together yesterday… sadly it is only the second time we've been able to go together since being in Germany!  Hopefully we can go a few more times this year.  It's hard with it being over two hours away…  finding a babysitter for that long.  We swapped with another family in our ward that lives on base, but I tell ya what, it was not a very fun Saturday when we had to spend it watching their four kids and ours.  Totally insane, and we probably won't do that again.  But, it was nice to go with Ben and since the presentation was in German, we had headphones with multiple languages to chose from.  I chose to listen to it in French, which helped keep me awake and alert.  Ben and I were also the witness couple, and considering I had run 10 miles that morning, my knees were not exactly thankful.  But overall it was a really good experience.

So, yeah, I signed up for a half marathon in May… should be fun.  We are so looking forward to Mom's visit in April.  We are going to spend a week touring the northern part of Italy!  Italian Alps, Tuscany, and the Mediterranean coast.

Ben is busy with work, as always.  The kids are doing well.

 The most exciting thing around these here parts is Caroline has made some recent breakthroughs with her eating. In the past week she has tried jam, yogurt, broccoli, and meat and has responded positively to all of them (although the broccoli has been hit and miss).  These breakthroughs have come about since we've instilled new rules/guidelines at meal time, one of which is, "Try a little bit of everything.  You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it." Reading the book, "French Kids Eat Everything" has really given me some great tools and the confidence to steer these kids in the right direction.  Also, Caroline going to Occupational Therapy has been helpful.  The therapist has started introducing food to her  … the therapist told me to take her to the grocery store and let her pick a yogurt out, bring it to OT, and they would eat one together.  This was disastrous as she threw a crying fit in the store saying she didn't want ANY yogurt and she didn't want to go to OT.  Well, after much persuasion and reassuring, she went to OT and since that day has enthusiastically had yogurt every day!  OT comes into play because her aversion to new foods is based so much on her fear of textures. And the jam thing is huge.  All I did was make a smiley face out of jam on her pb toast.  I told her she had to eat the whole piece.  Amused by the smiley face, she ate all around it, and then finally nibbled her way through the jam part.  She enthusiastically pronounced that she likes it!  (I know you guys are thinking this sounds too simple, why haven't you done this by now… but really, it's been very difficult.)   Now she gobbles up her pb&j sandwiches instead of nibbling on dry pb ones.  She actually might put on some weight which would be nice.  We still have a long road ahead, BUT, she is progressing, so that's happy for us.  

Here are some recent gems from Caroline:

Mom, is today fast Sunday or slow Sunday?
(a bit confused) Um, it's slow Sunday…
Oh man!  I HATE slow Sunday!!
(With a little probing we realized she thinks fast Sunday is Stake conference when she doesn't have to go to primary, and slow Sunday is when she has to attend all three hours.  Yes, we have a heathen on our hands).

Emily:  Mom, I have a joke for you.  What do people call a butterfly?
Me: What?
Em:  Butter.  Fly!!! (very amused with herself)
Me:  Did you make that up?
Em: Yes.
C:  That doesn't sound like a joke.

Me: Em, what kind of sandwich do you want?  PB and jam?
Emily:  (being difficult) No!
Me:  Pb and honey?
Em: No!
C:  Emily, how about pb and pb?!

Day after St. Patrick's Day
C:  Dad, next time you have to wear green, I think you will wear brown, and I will punch you.
Em:  PINCH you.

And sorry if this long report about the daily nuances of child rearing has bored you to death.  But, this is my life.  Now for Caroline's birthday party:

 I am quite sure that never in the history of the world has another little girl looked forward with as much anticipation to her birthday as Caroline has…

she's pretty much been counting down the days since December 26.

And I can't tell you how RELIEVED I am it's over! 

We did a little family celebration last Sunday here at the house.  

She insisted on "wall-to-wall decorations" (she read that term in a Berenstain Bear's book and has not forgotten it).  So, Em and I spent an hour decorating while C very impatiently waited in her bedroom.

"Mom!  I'm ready for my partyyyy!"

"Mom!!  I'm ready to come ouuuuut!!!"

Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have of our decorating job… 

Thinking of a wish:

Blowing out the candle on her cookies… because why would you have a cake?

Her favorite gift is her "Brave" bow and arrow set.  She's hilarious with it.  I'll be sitting at the kitchen table and all of a sudden an arrow will come sailing into the room from nowhere.

The other night Ben hit into the chair as he was clearing the table so Caroline decided it was time the chair learned its lesson.  Here she is shooting it at point blank range.

A few days later we hosted a Frozen themed friend birthday party.  Oh my.  I don't know if we'll ever do a party on this scale again.  She invited SIXTEEN kids, and ALL of them came, plus their siblings since it was a school day which meant no dads were around.  I didn't mean for it to be this supersonic.  The problem is that this base has a lot of four year olds, and Miss Personality over here is friends with all of them… the guest list just couldn't be trimmed back…   So, we just went for the gold… go big or go home, right?

We held it at the Community Center, which has a great set up. 

The "ice blocks" are missing.  They were supposed to be blue jello cubes.  Except they were green because I couldn't find blue.  And they were not cubes, they were blobs.  So, I just gave up. 

My artistic friend made the labels, aren't they cute?

Diego was a tad off… 

They built snowmen out of marshmallows, pretzels, mini chocolate chips, and toothpicks.  The kid on the right here is pretty proud of his mutant creation

The moms jumped in and helped make everything run smoothly

James just kind of roamed the party, trying to fly under the radar

We played this elimination game similar to musical chairs, where they all danced around to Frozen music and then jumped on a plate… in theory it would work well with maybe 8-10 kids.  We had 24 playing, so it was kinda crazy.  I was just happy we had beautiful weather.  It's not often we have nice weather on March 16!

The piñata of course was the biggest hit (no pun intended, hehe). 

All 25 kids just lined up single file to take a whack at it. 

Then the stampede for the candy

Cake and ice cream:

And that's how it's done!

As we were sweeping up the last of the cake crumbs Emily asked if she could go home and start making her bday invitations.  

Shoot me now. 

Denver update

OK, this is way overdue.  Thanks Bonnie for getting it set up.  Now that I now how to do it, next time will come WAY faster.  

Not quite sure where to jump in.  So I looked at all my recent photos on my phone and I'll use them to give you snippets of life in Denver.

We can get discounted ski tickets before the season begins - we have been about 5 times this season and still have some passes remaining even though temperatures have been in the high 70's this weekend.  Below I'm on the lift with Sam and Neil on Christmas Eve.  Both boys started pretty conservative this year, but with Sam certainly better.  They have both been about 7-8 times in their lives before this season.

Here we are, later that evening.  We had  a woman and her daughter from our ward over for Christmas Even dinner, the traditional bread, cheese, and milk by candlelight.  Christmas was fully anticipated this year, Neil and Josie especially were crazy with anticipation and excitement.

Travis!  Do you remember this game?  The Braithwaite's had it and we loved it - I think it was your favorite.  It is "Hotels".  We bought it for Neil for Christmas this year - they are not in print anymore so this is somebody's set for 25 years ago.  It is interesting to play it now as an adult, it is a lot like Monopoly but the Strategy is not that complicated.  After about the first 6-8 rounds it is pretty much 100% luck, depending on the roll of the die.  Since it takes 1-2 hours to play, it usually ends with much misery, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.  Neil promises every time that he'll be OK if he loses, then when he does it is the saddest thing you've ever seen.

From the "top view" here, the sleuth can also detect that in this particular game, mom joined us, and we played downstairs with some fresh oven baked cookies and (pictured from the top) milk.  

Neil has turned into our game lover.  He also got Monopoly and I also gave him the original Stratego (40 piece) game.  The new Stratego games are cheaper and only have 30 pieces on each side.

Sam and Neil are both playing chess now too.  They are getting better, and both really enjoy it.  When I play Neil I give him a starting advantage - like I play without my queen, or without both my rooks.  Neil showed some creativity the other day - I came down and he had set up the entire board with Lego Star Wars characters.  I was impressed!  He was proud of himself.

We have gone to two Colorado Avalanche Hockey games.  IE bought 4 season tickets - we won't do it again, because sometimes they are hard to use well... for example, we've had cancellations a couple of times that have allowed us to use them at the last minute.  You can't tell but these are pretty good tickets - row 16.  I took just Sam and Neil at the end of January.  Then last night (March 14th) we had seats again.  Kathryn and I tried to find another couple for a double date - but in the end we couldn't find anybody, so we took the boys and left Josie and Jensen home with a babysitter.  It was fun.

This picture is on the home screen of my phone right now.  I took a "family selfie" at family member's-only night at the Science museum.  Kathryn's dad gave us an annual pass for Christmas this year.   We went on a cold night in January - spent most of the time in two exhibitions:  one was looking through their live telescopes, we saw a comet, and we also saw Neptune, which I had never seen before.  It wasn't impressive, but still cool to see to the outer reach of the solar system.  The second area was where the photo below was taken - in the dinosaur exhibit.  They have quite a team of paleontologists and nearly all the work they are doing is with fossils coming out of southern Utah, including some new species.  The kids were pretty fascinated.  Fun to have that resource so close to us here.

The last weekend in January we had the annual "Klondike Derby" for all Boy Scouts.  Sam turned 11 in November and, if you didn't know, got his Arrow of Light certificate that month (exciting!).  I have mixed feelings about scouts - it just feels outdated and it is a lot of work and leader commitment to it in the church seems to be diminishing some, which means more burden on parents to do it, and it seems like I've got enough things to hassle Sam about (piano, spelling bee, soccer, etc) to not have to chase down where things are with his Scouts advancement.  All of that that is long-hand for saying that I've done basically nothing since November.  But parents/boys were invited for the Klondike.  We went up in the mountains and caught a break on the weather - the low was about 20 degrees and there was no wind.  Last year it was right around 0.  I slept in my 15 degree rated sleeping back with like 3 layers of warm clothes on and still froze.  The activities the next day were fun, and I think Sam enjoyed it, even though none of the kids in our ward came (we combine with another ward and it was all them plus Sam).  Here's a picture.  Doesn't he look great?

By the way, I am Cubmaster.  I planned the Annual Blue and Gold Banquet that we completed on Feb 24th, it is a relief to have done.  We made it "Oscar's" themed (it was two nights after the Oscars), we had Hors d'ouevres for dinner and watched three movies that each of the dens had made.  I think it went really well.  Kathryn helped out, as did many others.  Turns out that having a popcorn machine and a chocolate fountain is pretty much all you need to guarantee success at Cub Scouts.  Sorry, no pics.

Winter has been very mild, to say the least.  In January we had two days in a row at 70 degrees!  We had lots of days in the 50s and low 60s.  So Josie learned to ride a bike.  Bless her heart.  She has a little balance bike on which she long ago mastered the art of balance and steering.  But pedal bikes are completely different, I guess.  She got the hang of it really quickly, but her confidence was very low and on the second day we did it (after she successfully rode on the first day) she passed several people who were out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon walk and she was just HOWLING about how she couldn't ride a bike... just as she cycled right past them.  Finally I made her stop so she could get a hold of herself - we were both about to have a nervous breakdown.  Then she got distracted by some pine cones while we were talking and 2 minutes later she was climbing back on the bike all excited to go find some pinecones.  We did 3-4 laps through the neighborhood, looking for pine trees with pine cones.  Her fear was gone.  The next day she excitedly climbed on her bike with me again in search for pine cones.  I thought we had in whipped.  Well, snows finally came in the second half of February and we were out of commission for about 3 weeks.  We went out today for the first time in a month - she did fine but of course was fidgety the whole time and worried she was going to crash.  I'll spare you the details but skiing (we went for a few days the first weekend of March, more below) and reading have been the same.  She picks them up pretty quickly but she'll sob her guts out telling you she can't do it, right as she is skiing down the mountain or reading you a few words.  Then someone she'll flip a confidence switch and the world is alright again.
 

This is a great pic.  I was determined to go jogging on a Saturday afternoon about Feb 20th.  Kathryn went for like 4 hours for a haircut (OK, so only 2.5 hours... but that is forever!).  It had begun to snow lightly so I put ski goggles on him, wrapped him in about 5 layers, and headed out.  About 25 minutes out at my max distance from home (3 miles), the snow began to come down WAY heavy and I could hardly see.  Then the wind started to flow and giant gusts brought "whiteouts" falling from the trees and onto Jensen and I.  He was fine, he fell asleep, but I passed cars and a few other people out walking who got caught in the quick storm acceleration and they all looked at me like I was a freaking lunatic.  And I guess I probably was.  My phone died while running because it got to cold, and when I got back to the house the main camera was also dead.  But I did get some video footage of Jensen stirring, he was covering in 1.5" of snow (looked nothing like this) and was NOT happy about the world he woke up into.  Luckily, he woke up at home.

Jensen is now eating real food - which means he is having real diapers!  Gross!

So work has been OK.  Two years ago we were almost exclusively supporting the mining industry, but we are now about 70% oil & gas, and we happen to be in that small group of people who like HIGH gas prices now.  Business has slowed down for us.  We are OK for now, but we'll see what happens over the next 3-6 months.  There are some big contracts we are trying to bid on.  The equipment is very different than what we have build before.  We used to make electrical equipment for the mining industry (like substations that worked underground to power coal mining equipment that is all electrically operated).  But we are doing more and more "process & pumping" systems... here is a picture of a large water disposal plant.  when Oil & Gas companies produce oil, it comes up in a mix with water (varies a lot, but let's say 50/50).  All that water has to be pumped back down into other formations deep in the earth, since it is very salty and also still has traces of oil in it.  This is a 70 foot long pump and electrical plant that pumps 10,000 barrels per day of water about 2 miles deep into the earth at 2000 psi.  These pumps are huge, about 28 feet long each.  It was the first project of its kind we have done.  The learning curve is crazy, we are making lots of mistakes along the way but figuring things out too.  On this one we LOST about $250K.  We very rarely have projects that lose money, so this one was a disaster.  But, great learning, and more and more the future of IE.  My role has been building the engineering team (hiring) and identifying new markets to sell to including the right products.  Obviously, it doesn't always go perfectly.  But our mining competition is suffering heavily and we have had nice growth - the question is whether we can sustain it with low oil prices.

Wow this entry got too long, sorry.  Our big news is we are trying to move.  So I have been taking pictures like these... the first is of our laundry room area, where I'm trying to get some doors to cover the washer and dryer.

The previous owners left this fridge in the garage.  It operates, it is old and might have antique value, we took this picture to post on Craigslist (much better than throwing it in the dumpster at work, my original plan).  Within 30 minutes Kathryn had a dozen interested calls.  People wanted us to hold it for them and we just wanted to get rid of it, the garage has been a mess and I finally cleaned it out 100% yesterday.  We told them first come first served.  I think we had this image of some people with a cool loft coming and getting it and it rounding out a fun furniture setup.  Nope, we should have realized it would have been some form of "white trash" that showed up first.  The people that hauled it away had an old suburban that was PACKED full of crap and mess.  this guy came and hardly cleared out a spot, instead he just tried to force it in the back and it wasn't going anywhere.  he cleared a "depression" in the sea of trash, and after a few more false starts, I convinced him to take the door off of it and slide it in on its front, which worked.  I wouldn't doubt it if doesn't work now.  People are so crazy.  This guy was like Lloyd Judd but maybe after having like 6 Red Bull's are something.  Anyways, fridge gone, garage clean.  

  

We are hoping to list our home by end of week.  We aren't quite sure where we'll go, but there are a few options.  We are pretty sure we overpaid when we moved here... but the market is even hotter now here, so we should get the same money or more out of it... we'll just have to pay more for the next house too.  Only the real estate agents and the property tax people win in this deal.

Last, we have done more skiing this winter, as I alluded above, including me taking Sam on my birthday, conditions were near perfect that day and I took this selfie (man I'm a dork!).  The kids didn't have school the Friday afterwards so we stayed in a condo in Keystone for a couple of nights the following weekend.  Kathryn's brother Ben met us there to help with the kids.  Josie and Neil improved quite a bit.  And Sam it now doing everything without any supervision.  It has been fun.  But best part is just being together.  

Hopefully that gives you a feel for our lives.  Some other quick things:

1) Neil's Spanish school is going great and he is speaking quite a bit.  It is crazy to see how quickly he is learning (Estoy muy celoso!!!).  Josie just got accepted into the same school so starts Kindergarten at the Denver Language School in September.

2) Sam had a piano teacher and I didn't like her much - she just moved (hallelujah) and now Sam has a new teacher just 3 blocks from here.  She is great - and Neil has just started lessons too.  He is way behind Ricky... and I don't think he'll catch up.

3) tilled the garden yesterday (mainly to get rid of the weeds as we prepare to list) but planted some tomatoes in "walls of water".  Made me think of dad of course, but also of Becky and her science fair experiment.

4) Kathryn is keeping way busy in getting the house ready to put on the market.  We are clearing out all the storage areas, junk in closets, etc.  It is amazing how much stuff we have we do NOT use.

5) Jensen still doesn't sleep very well - but everything else is great.  He has an awesome personality.  Today he had everybody at church smiling.  What a blessing to our family.  Neil is especially cute with him.

We miss all you guys.  We are coming to Utah for spring break, from approximately March 29 - April 5 (Easter Sunday and General Conference).  Can't wait to see you all then.  Much love!

Phil