29 June 2008 - Back Home

Hi everyone,

Things have been pretty quiet since our return from Utah. We did the usual things one does after returning from vacation -- laundry, yard work, etc. Our neighbor Faith was really glad to have some kids to play with again after two weeks away.

On Saturday, we went to a graduation party for a young lady in our ward who has recently earned her Master's degree. Afterward, we had a dinner and spent some time with our friends Don and Eveldora, who we haven't seen for a long time. It was good to reunite with them.

This is a picture of Madeline cranking the handle of a wishing well at the house where the graduation party was held. She was mesmerized by it.I guess that's about all for this week. Gratefully, it was a pretty quiet week.

Take care and have a good week,

Matt, Joanne and girls

22 June 2008 - Utah (Week 2)

Hello everyone,

Well, I got a little behind on the blog during this week trying to get back on track after returning to Pennsylvania from Utah. We had a good trip, but we're also glad to be home.

We had a family photo shoot at Murray Park with all of the families from my parents side. After the photo shoot, we let the girls play in the park for a while. This is Madeline with cousin Megan.Here is my mom and dad with all of their grandkids.
The girls were good sports about the photo shoot, and we got some good pics.
On the Saturday before our trip ended, we went to the mountains near Cedar Fort to ride four wheelers. The kids did a decent job immediately finding an old fire pit and getting filthy in the dirt and ashes.
Don't I look awesome in a motorcycle helmet? Madeline looks better than me I think.
We went to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum with Grandma Fails. The girls had a lot of fun there.
We even got to watch a 3-D Dinosaur IMAX movie, and look cool doing it.
We spent Tuesday at Temple Square in Salt Lake. We rode the train to the city and walked around the grounds and the Main Street plaza.
We also got to see my old mission president, Elder Claudio Costa, who currently serves as a member of the presidency of the Seventy. We had a very nice visit with him for an hour or so, catching up on the goings on in Brazil and discussing common friends. He also gave me some good advice about being a bishop, which was greatly appreciated.
We went swimming almost every day of our trip. This was taken under the bucket dumper at the Scera Swimming pool in Orem. Madeline is in the pink swimming suit just to the left of the waterfall.
That's about all for the trip to Utah. We were glad we got to see so many of you while we were there.

Best wishes,

Matt, Joanne and Girls

15 June 2008 - Utah (Week 1)

Hey everyone,

Well, we made it to Utah on Tuesday, and were glad, for the first time in more than four years, to have a direct flight from Pittsburgh. We were able to work with my dad on some projects, and spend some time with our families this week.

This photo is of Jessica, Megan and Emily at Hogle Zoo on Friday.The girls are always game to read with someone who's willing, and Grandma Fails is always willing.At Grandma North's house in Midway, a dip in the ditch was a good way to cool off.Even mommy got in to cool off a little.
Here are all three of the girls on the bridge.The girls got a little silly.
We took a family photo with my dad and Grandma North. Joanne was taking the picture.
All the girls got to ride on Grandpa's new 4-wheeler. I did too, but the ranger that stopped me didn't like where I was riding it. So we mostly had to stick to the yard.
Afterward, we went to Orem and went swimming in Oma's pool. After swimming, we went to fireworks at Orem SummerFest.

Happy summer!

Matt & fam

08 June 2008 - Piano & Playhouse

Hi all,

I finally got the pictures from the girls' piano recital. This is their teacher, Suzanne Price, with her four students. The boy is her son Ben, who is Emily's age, and the little one in the red dress is her daughter Courtney, who is not a piano student.
Here is Emily in action.
This was the best shot we got of Jessica, though she's done and walking away and not playing in this photo.
It has been super hot here this week. We got out the limbo sprinkler to cool off a bit.
The playhouse is coming along. I got some swings, a tricky bar, and a roof on it this week...
And also some walls and a railing for the balcony. I still have to secure the railing a bit more (kid proof), add some windows, and a rock climbing wall, but that will have to wait.
We're looking forward to heading to Utah for our trip this week. I'll post some more from there.

Matt, Joanne and girls.

01 June 2008: Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

As is traditional, we had our annual Memorial Day church picnic this past Monday. The girls always love the horsie part of the picnic.
The girls took advantage of the opportunity to brush one of the horses while it wasn't being ridden.
Emily on one of several rides that she took over the course of the afternoon.
The swing set is coming along. I got the monkey bars done and attached, but still need to do the swings and the roof/walls of the swing set. We're getting there.
Best wishes for a great week,

Matt, Joanne and girls

25 May 2008: Preschool Ends

Hi all,

Well, Comcast went and got a severe case of the stupids. They took down the FTP site I was using to upload all of my weekly web site updates and photos, and put in a fancy Flash-based web interface that makes maintaining any kind of a weekly web site a real pain in the butt. So I've decided to make the jump to blog format and put the pictures up here instead. I fail to embrace change, probably because I've been doing it the other way for four years. Oh well, we'll see how this goes for a while. You can click on the photos to see slightly larger versions of them. I'm not crazy about the format, but it's OK I guess. Also, if you want to go back to any of our previous web site updates (pre-blog web pages), you can find them here.

The girls all had their final day of gymnastics this week. The gym takes the summer off, except for kids who are training for team or individual competition. The girls had good teachers this year. This is Emily with her teacher, Miss Laura.This is Madeline with her two teachers, Miss Cassie and Miss Rachel.

Madeline's last day of preschool for this year was this week as well. They always have a picnic at the Washington Park for the last day of school, but as you can see, it rained a good bit and made the playground almost unusable. This is Madeline with Miss Joanne.
Here is Miss Michelle.
I've started building a swing set and playhouse for the girls. It's not much yet, but it's gonna be awesome. In this photo, I'm pouring concrete on one for the four foundation posts for the playhouse part. The girls helped me design it and we are building it from scratch.This is the playhouse part framed up with all four posts set now. I'm trying to build it bomb-proof, so that if a tornado ever comes through and knocks down my house, the playhouse will still be standing. ;-)
There will be a set of monkey bars and swings coming out to the right. The floor area of the playhouse is 6'x6'. Joanne wanted it that big, or bigger, because she is living vicariously through the girls. She says that when she was little, she always dreamed of having a real play house, so she's making it hers, but sharing it with the girls.

Best wishes to all,

Matt, Joanne, Jessica, Emily & Madeline