26 May 2013 - A week in Idaho

After 35 hours of driving and nearly $1,300 in diesel fuel, I finally arrived in Idaho.  Don't worry, I spread the 35 hours out over three and a half days, and I listened all five sessions of General Conference from April 2012, October 2012, and April 2013.  It was marvelous.  My parents met me in Idaho, we got closed on the house, and the truck was unloaded by Tuesday night.  Aunt Kathy was a most excellent host, and Eric and Lara's family were wonderful helpers in getting the truck unpacked.

When we were too tired from unloading, we took a drive out to Parma.  This is the apartment I came home to after I was born, more than 40 years ago.  Mom and dad said it looks a little nicer now than it was then ;-)

We got Jessica's bedroom set up a little bit...

and Emily's...

and Madeline's.  There are of course plenty of boxes left to unload.

Joanne has many rose bushes to tend in the new yard, and they were already blooming and beautiful when I arrived.

Back in PA, the girls had entries in the school art show.  Here's Emily with her pipes.

Here's Madeline with her ceramic shark.

In the fall, Jessica will begin high school at Vallivue High.

Madeline will enter the 4th grade at East Canyon.

And Emily becomes a middle-schooler at Sage.

It was a week of hard work and a fair bit of emotion, but we are grateful to have the move largely behind us.  We will miss our Pennsylvania friends very much, but look forward to great things and time with family in Idaho.  By the end of the week, I was very tired and I was a little worried I'd killed my dad, but he was still driving when we went to the airport, so I guess he's no worse for the wear.  I flew home just in time to turn around and head to Columbus on Saturday.  There, we participated in the sealing of Lloyd and Lorraine Ealy.  This is a couple I have been working with literally for years to help them get ready for the blessings of the temple.  I was no longer bishop when they were finally sealed, but I was deeply grateful to have been there to be a part of it.

19 May 2013 - The move begins

Jessica had her final choir concert of the year this week.  As is usually the case, the lighting for this photo is terrible.  The concert was good though, and it was a nice break from packing and loading the moving truck.

It took longer than any of us had hoped, but by Friday at 3 PM, I was finally ready to hit the road for Idaho.

The girls settled into our temporary quarters -- a friend's vacant home about six miles from our old house.

They were happy to find a swing.

12 May 2013 - Breadmaking and Concerts

We came to the realization that our summer travels were not going to be remotely possible in our newer, smaller car, so this week, we added some carrying capacity.

Madeline had her end-of-year orchestra concert.  She did awesome (as did all the kids), and it was a nice break from packing up the house for our big move.

As if she didn't have enough to worry about, Joanne had requests from some folks at church to make bags for them.  This is one she did for an autistic woman in the ward.

Despite being all over the world, Joanne is going to be our ward camp leader again this year.  This banner is from the camp kickoff Joanne and Jessica attended on Saturday.

Madeline and Emily learned to make bread in activity days on Wednesday.  Emily has been regularly practicing since, to the benefit of us all!

5 May 2013 - Street Fair

This weekend was the annual W&J Street Fair.  Although we're neck deep in moving preparations, we decided it was a glorious day and we should take a break.  This is Emily and Madeline jumping on the velcro wall.

Jessica took a turn too.  She's nice and stuck here.

They had a Ferris wheel this year.  Emily rode with two students that Joanne and I have both taught.

Jessica and Madeline rode together.

Emily, Jessica and I all climbed the wall together.  We all made it to the top.  The wall is both taller and more challenging that it looked from the ground.

They also had a mechanical bull.  Madeline and Emily were the only two to brave the bull.

Emily didn't look very enthused when her turn came up.

The Henna tattoo lady was back.  Jessica got a narwhal this time.

I even got one.  I sold my motorcycle and I've been missing it, so I got a skull so I could feel tough and manly. 

28 April 2013 - Emily's Birthday

Monday was Emily's birthday.  She's 11!  It's hard to believe time goes by so fast.  Thank you to those who sent gifts, cards, or called to wish her a happy birthday.

Since we'd had birthday cake the day before, this time we opted for birthday cupcakes.

On Saturday, we had a huge multi-stake day of service.  Our project was at Raccoon Creek State Park.  They had a bunch of trees that had come down over the winter, several blocking hiking trails.  I was pleased because it gave me a good excuse to break out the chainsaw and go to town.

Madeline and Jessica were excellent helpers, hauling and stacking the hundreds of logs we cut in about four hours.  The girls were great workers.

Aunt Jennifer was here too, and she and Joanne stayed home with Emily to get a jump on boxing up all our stuff for our upcoming move.

Joanne finished another project this week.  She made this quilt and donated it to Project Linus.

21 April 2013 - Water Polo

Since swim season ended, the girls haven't been in the pool much, but their coach decided that he wanted to offer a water polo clinic, so they've been going two nights each week this month to learn to play.  They've been loving it.

Jessica had a National Junior Honor Society program this week.  She's been in it since last year and this year she was part of inducting new members.  The last few times we've had events at her school the cookies were gone before we got any, so this time we made sure to sit by the door and get to the cookies first!

While we were wandering around her school, we found this bulletin board with Jessica on it, so I took a picture.

Joanne has been trying to wrap up some in-process craft projects in order to get ready to move.  This week she finished up a drawstring backpack for the girls' piano books.

On Sunday we went over to some friends' house in the ward.  Their daughter has a birthday at the same time as Emily so we had cake and ice cream together.

14 April 2013 - No Longer Bishop

This was my final week as bishop of the Washington Ward.  We had New Beginnings for three girls who are coming into Young Women's in the next two months.  Joanne worked for hours making 'values' cupcake shoes.

Here are all all eight value shoe cupcakes.  It was a nice event and the girls all helped deliver the program.

On Friday my parents flew in to be here for my release.  We went to PNC Park for the Pirates game.  It was a little cold, but not terrible, and the Pirates won!

I found a great deal on half-dozen roses that day, so I bought red ones for Joanne, pink ones for Grammie, and orange and peach ones for two sisters in the ward who were in the hospital.

On Saturday Jessica had been invited to represent her middle school in a Western Pennsylvania regional choir.  With Grammie and Grandpa in town we needed two extra seats, so Madeline and I road the motorcycle.  It was cold, so I was grateful to have my beard hat from Aunt Tiffany.  I got some excellent looks riding up to the school about 15 miles away.

Here are all the kids in the regional choir.  There was even one other LDS girl, a young lady from our stake who was invited to represent her middle school.  Jessica knew her from Girl's Camp last summer.

On Sunday I was released.  We didn't take any pictures of that. ;-)  It was good to serve, but it was also time for a change.  It was a spiritually powerful experience.  The new bishop of the Washington Ward is Bob Young, who is a friend and an excellent person in all respects.  His counselors are Phil Conklin and Ben Hansen, both wonderful choices who will bless the Washington Ward.