30 August 2009 - School Started

Hi all,

Well the big news this week is that school started for the girls. Madeline is in full day kindergarten now, and at least for this year, all three are in the same school.On Friday, we dropped them off for school and then headed for Columbus, OH, where we were able to attend the temple and get back (almost) by the end of school. Fortunately we have friends whose kids also go to the same school who were able to fetch the kids for us and keep and eye on them until we made it back.The other big project this week was putting a ceiling fan in the family room. Ceiling fans seem like they're always more trouble than they should be, but this one was particularly tricky because there was no light fixture or wiring for a light in this room. Fortunately I was able to snake the wires I needed and get the fan mounted, and surprisingly, it went together pretty well.While we were shopping for fans, the girls did some exploring amongst the boxes and shelving at the Home Depot. I'm almost certain management wouldn't have liked the kids climbing in and out of their inventory, but it was pretty harmless (not much for them to destroy), and it kept them busy while we investigated our numerous options.

We hope you all enjoy an excellent Labor Day weekend, and although school has started, we still are looking forward to one last week of summer.

23 August 2009 - Jerry's House and Boating

This week I drove out to New Jersey to help Joanne's brother Jerry work on whipping his house into shape before moving from Maryland. He's going to be a Computer Science professor at Montclair State University. Here is a photo of one entrance and a campus building.
The house has been neglected for several years, so there's plenty to do. We painted a section of ceiling and mounted a new ceiling fan to help keep us cool.
This is a guest bedroom we were working on fixing up. It was almost ready by the time I had to leave on Thursday, thanks largely to Danae's dad who was also in town to help with the house.
A channel had been cut into the family room floor for a sewer pipe, so we had to put some cement in to smooth it out prior to carpet installation.
This picture made me laugh. Calista was being very quiet. I came upstairs and I thought she was in time out because she was sitting silently and looking at the corner of the room. Then I realized she was watching Blue's Clues.
We worked hard from Monday through Thursday, but then I had to get back home. I needed to check on Bill Shriver, who continues to mend despite his diagnosis, and I also needed to get ready for the youth boating activity we had planned for the ward youth group.The boat was provided by the Stouden family. Kari is in the Young Women's presidency, and though her husband is a non-member, he was very willing to show the kids a great time on the water. Here are a few of the young women catching air on the tube.We played some games and ate some good food while at the lake too. We went to Youghigheny (Yaw-ki-gay-nee) Lake. These are a few more of the youth who attended the activity.Among other things, I was the burger/hot dog chef.Here are some of our young men, Kevin Moorhouse, Sam Urban and Taylor Robinson. Kevin will leave to serve a full-time mission in Buenos Aires West, Argentina on September 23rd.So it was a tremendously busy week and I was sore (yes, I rode the tube) and tired by Sunday, but it was totally worth it. As I always tell Joanne -- you can sleep when you're dead. In the meanwhile, it's best to stay busy and have fun.

Matt

16 August 2009 - Jessica's Birthday

This week it was Jessica's turn to be the center of attention. It is hard to believe 10 years have passed. Since Jessica was born, we have bought four houses, moved five times, and collectively earned three graduate degrees. (Oh, and had two more kids).
The gifts are always exciting, even if they're not for you.
There was another slumber party, this time with fake nails.Here are all the girls that invaded my house. I mostly hid.Oh great, more Webkinz.
I was glad to have Jessica's birthday to give some positive focus this week. I had to perform another wedding, and I spent a lot of time at the hospital with a long time member of my ward, Bill Shriver, who was diagnosed with Leukemia. Although it was a little scary for a couple of days, he's doing a little better now.

9 August 2009 - Fun with the Fails Family

We did nothing all week but have fun every single day (oh, except for that I performed a wedding on Saturday, which wasn't as much fun). Other than that, the cousins had a blast all week long. On Monday, we spent the day at Idlewild Amusement Park.

We rode the Log Jammer...

...the Wild Mouse...

...and the Spider, among other things. We also spent several hours at Soak Zone, the water slides inside the park.

On Tuesday we drove to Cleveland, OH for the night, and Karl and I scratched one more Major League Baseball stadium off the list. We watch the Indians and Twins play at Progressive (née Jacobs) Field.

The next day was spent in Kirtland, visiting church history sites in the area and enjoying the scenery. Our first stop was historic Kirtland. This is our whole group in front of the Newell K. Whitney store, which houses the School of the Prophets.

Then we went to the Morley Farm, which has its own little version of the Sacred Grove.

After that, we toured the Kirtland Temple.

And we ended our day at the Johnson Farm about thirty miles south of Kirtland.

For the latter part of the week, we stayed closer to home. We had a birthday party for Aunt Jolene...

...and one (a little early) for Jessica.

We played golf. This is Kurt taking a turn with the putter.
And we ate snow cones at the Pony League World Series, which is held each August in Washington, PA.

When we couldn't watch baseball anymore, we played water balloon baseball in the yard to beat the heat.

When Sunday rolled around, we were certainly tired, but still sad to see Karl and Jolene and our cousins have to head home after a week of fun.

We're enjoying our summer as it begins to wind to a close, and hope you are too.

Matt

2 August 2009 - Pool Party

Hi all,

Because I had to work on a grant project all week, there wasn't much excitement until the weekend. On Saturday, Karl's family arrived in the afternoon in time for our annual ward pool party.

Here's Madeline making like a fish.

Amanda taking a dive off the board.

Emily's turn.

Kurt giving it a try.

After the party when everyone was showered, Jake's video game became a spectator sport.

The pool party was a great success (Joanne is now the sole Ward Activities Committee chairperson, supported by good committee members). Things went well and we were happy to have family here to enjoy it with us.

Matt