FIN!

Done with finals ... finally. I feel like my keyboard has been drooling mish mash for the last two weeks. In a few minutes, Katie will be home feeling similarly relieved. Time to relax and enjoy the season. Can't wait to see so many of you soon.

lookie lookie

See what I made! Spinning is so fun. Want to try it??? Hurry on up!

Love, Mom

We agree.

Unfortunately, we agree with Grant's scathing review about the movie of Eragon. It was a totally different story.

On another note, we are so excited for Christmas. I, for one, am in desperate need of a Christmas break. My students are driving me crazy. Not bad crazy, just I am all out of patience for 12 and 13 year olds. Except for Grant. He's a different variety. The other 7th grade teachers and I are all about field trips on the last day before breaks so we are going to see a movie (probably Charlotte's Web) and out to lunch at a pizza buffet restaurant on Thursday.

Well, that's it for now. It's time to go make lunch for tomorrow. We are so excited to see almost all of you soon and so sad that we don't get to see Katie and Glen. Safe travels and we'll see you in New York!

Love,
Alex and Jon

Eragon was horrible!!!

I cannot beleive that the author of the eragon books let this movie be made. This could just as well been called "A Day In The Park". The movie was nothing at all like the book. They took the names of the characters in the books and put them to different people. The movie was horribly written and the story was so incredibly different. For the readers of the book you might want to see the movie for a few cheap laughs but be warned! do not pay more than 50¢ a person! wait until the movie comes out on video or out at the dollar theatre. If you feel that you must see it do not expect it to be slightly like the book or even entertaining. At the end of the movie i was so disgusted that i had to take upon the task of warning my family. This movie was better made for a practical joke.

Love,
Grant

More pics from W-burgh

Some cuties on the James River ferry.




















A sweet head stand.













A "chookie B" (Ivy's nickname for Rex)










The James River ferry makes everyone smile.

the count-down begins

in two weeks i will be a happy girl. the school concerts coming up will be a challenge. we've been working on songs since the beginning of november, and we still have a good bit of learning to do. but...in two weeks they will be over and we will all be on vacation! hooray! glen will be happy for the break too. finals are upon us, and glen is working like mad. his summer-job firm sent him a finals survival-kit chock full of delicious things,...and his no-sugar goal slightly changed to a-little-bit-of-sugar goal for a few days. i joined in.
ooooh~ big news! i finally got a keyboard from my school! and its not just a keyboard. oh no. it is a full DIGITAL PIANO! i win!!!! it plays like a beauty. but...the fourth grade teacher who brought it to our school threw his back out. i will have to make him a very nice "get better" card.

auction crazy

I am bidding on ebay. So fun. So addictive. I want to buy a Betsy McCall doll. For Ivy or Carol when they are older? Or maybe for Grandma's toy box? I just WANT one. They are so cute. I lost 2 dolls by being outbid at the last minute so I am going to log on at 5:15 tonight and beat someone else out of a red haired doll. Maybe. Oh this is so cut throat. And it is easy to get your bid racked up high on impulse. I bid on a doll dress pattern and thought I was bidding $2. But the seller is in Great Britian. So I ended up bidding 2 pounds. Ouch. But I suppose that was a cheap way to learn that lesson. I will end up with a $5 pattern instead of a $2 pattern.

I am also making carmels today. Gotta get those treats ready to give out. Dad wants to do all the Home teaching this week and I want to get a start on the VT, too.

I LOVE YOU ALL! Mom

baltimore is the TOPS!

at the top of the tallest five sided building in the US.



grant at the top of his skill in stearing a large ship in a fierce and raging storm.



three kids who are the tops.



the most delicious thanksgiving feast eaten this year

Way to Go Dave

Wow Dave,
That is a great time for a three mile run. Are you running allot these days? That is really fun to be improving. I feel like I am just getting slower. I need to start to be a little more diligent. Have you thought of running a 5K? I bet you would run it even faster if you were in a race. There is something about the race atmosphere, lots of energy, that gets your adrenaline pumping.
love jonathan

For Santa:
Laurie told me that I'd better get a Christmas wish list out there. There's one thing I REALLY REALLY want, but it's going to have to be a collaborative effort--Adobe CS 2.3 Web bundle . THAT is what I REALLY REALLY want. Unfortunately, it's well over $1,000 which is why I don't already have it. I've been saving up, though. At the rate I'm going, it's going to be another year or so unless I get some help from you, Santa. If you are reading this, be advised: what I would really like is a donation to the Help-David-Buy-the-Web-Bundle fund. The size of the donation doesn't matter--any little bit helps. Now, Santa, if you are really adverse to the idea of giving donation$ a$ pre$ent$, then I may be able to come up with a very small list, just let me know... but I REALLY DO want the web bundle... a lot!

For everyone else:
I achieved a new personal best on Saturday--3 miles in just under 24 minutes. That's almost a 5K (5K = 3.10685596 miles, according to Google). I understand that, while it is not world class by any means, it is a respectable time. What do you think, Jon?

sob

Katie and Glen went home. Darn. Party's over.

I sure do like all the pictures. Thanks for recent ones, Jon and Alex. I am glad you had such a good trip. I'll come with you next time.

I beat Grant at connect 4. Lots of times. Yea Mom.

And I played piano in Primary today. That was fun. Those little kids are so hyper. It was a welcome break from RS.

Hey, Peter, Chrissy, Dave and Laurie! I need Christmas lists!!! Jon, Alex, Katie and Glen are GOOD! Just send them to my email, deal??? SOON! Ideas for the kiddies would be welcome, too. That is if you have things you would like them to have, clothes, etc.

Grant looks bored. I think I better go beat him at another game.

Love, Mom

try again

I messed up adding pictures to my recent post so here goes again.
love you all. The one picture of a view is from the side of the biltmore estate looking towards the back. beautiful rolling hills.
love jonathan

dirty turkey

grant was cleaning the birdcage and had a little too much fun.

he says" thanksgiving was awesome. food was awesome. food is awesome. truly gourmet. i dominated at wise or otherwise. i can pick up katie easily. thats all. thank you and come again."

Hooray

Hip Hip Hooray,
I was so excited to see a post from mom on the blog spot today. Fun to see the crazy picture of Grant and to hear the news. We are back from our trip and had a very fun time. It is always fun to explore and see new things.

Thanksgiving was a fun day. Chrissy and Pete did a wonderful job on the turkey. All of the food was very tasty and it was so fun to see all of those cousins running around and playing. I spent a bit of time with them out at the trampoline. It was also fun to see all of Chrissy's family again. They are such wonderful people and have always treated me so kindly. Of course early in the morning Alex and I ran our 5K downtown. It was a very fun race. We ran into another young couple from church that had moved here recently. He grew up in the ward and then moved back after they graduated from college. They are super nice and it was fun to hang out with them before and after the race. I think we will have some new friends. After the race we went home and started some of the dinner preparations. While Alex dutifully slaved away over mashed potatoes I went and joined Pete and Dave and Josh for a bike ride down by the river. That was pretty fun too. I had not yet been down to the riverside park and I like it quite well. It reminds me a little bit of the provo river trail in Utah. Not quite as long but that is probobly pretty good for me these days. I was really huffing and puffing during the race. After the bike ride was dinner and then just sitting around talking and playing some games and goofing with the kids. We went home about the time the kids went down.

Saturday we got up and did some cleaning and organizing of our lives and then took off to NC. We drove through the eastern tip of Tennesee. Hooray. That is one more state off of my checklist. Our first stop was Weaverville where Alex has some ancestoral history. We just drove around and got the lay of the land. I think we will do another trip for the actual cemetaries in the future. Anyone want to go to Asheville? We then went to Ashville which is just 7 miles away. We went to the tourist center and got some information and then went to west asheville to her great grandparents house and took some pictures. That was particularly rewarding for Alex. Her father had lived with them while he went to college in Asheville and had told her stories about the great banister that he liked to slide down. We got to walk up to the house and peek in the window because no one was home. It was a beautiful, huge house. Fun to see. Next we went down to Biltmore village and just went in some of the cute touristy shops. We did get some christmas shopping done also. Nice to work on that a little. Then we went to Pomodoro's italian for dinner and then went to our hotel and watched a silly christmas movie on one of the cable channels. It was fun though.

The next morning we got up pretty early and headed over to THE BILTMORE. That place is just something else. I have never seen anything so grand in my life. It struck me as even more grand than much of what I had seen in Portugal. I guess it was pretty much on par with Sintra a castle in Portugal except that this was built only 120 years ago so it had many modern conveniences. After walking around the grounds a little bit and doing the basic tour house ( you get to see 70 of the 240 rooms) we went to another area of the estate where the farm economy was based. The estate was originally over 100 thousand acres. Now it is 8 thousand acres. They had a cool woodworker shop with a guy in there who was building windsor chairs and I had so much fun talking with him about the process. He showed me all of the hand tools that he used to rough out the seats and the various spoke shaves and such that he used to make the back spindles. He also did a little woodturing demonstration and told us all about his methods for harvesting and selecting white pine to be used in the chairs. It was fascinating. Also in this little village was the blacksmith shop which is always fun. There was also a couple( a husband and wiffe) playing old timey and bluegrass music. They were very good and it was fun to see them play a variety of songs using guitar, mandolin, fiddle and the banjo. The wife was playing a particular style of old timey banjo called claw hammer and that was very fun to watch. After the biltmore estate stuff we went back to the shopping village and did just another hour of looking around. Then we hoped in the car and got in around 8 last night. Hope I didn't bore you all with this travel log. We had fun and are looking forward to taking more of you guys with us next time we go. Of course the posted pictures are there not so much as to inform but as to intice. Love you all tons.
Jonathan

getting lessons

Katie is teaching me how to do stuff on the blog. I need all the help I can get. I am technologically challenged.

Fun times here in NY. We all gobbled til we wobbled. Yum yum. Today we ate leftovers for lunch. Glen finished off the yams. Good dipping sauce! And katie and I are talking about setting up the tree. How about it? did anyone else set up their tree yet. Katie did. She's GOOD.

Grant is trying to beat Glen at Nintendo. And Dad is reading. Sounds like home, huh.

My spinning continues to be fascinating to me. I have made 4 skeins of yarn already. My spinning is getting more even all the time. Fun fun.

I miss you guys. Especially the kiddies. And So does Dad.. This morning he said, "I need to play with some grandkids". So hurry on to NY. The cute pictures are killing us.

We love you all SO VERY MUCH! Love, Mom

Hey

Will one of you east coasters post an autumn picture for me? I miss those trees! I love the green rolling hills picture Jon posted! Thanks!

HOORAY!!

Coinstar beat the offer from the other company so Dave got a good raise! oo-de-lolly!

Boy, it sounds like Jon and Alex have some super fun plans! Running in races and going on vacations. We are doing Thanksgiving as simply as possible this year. Dave is brining the turkey as I type, but we BOUGHT our rolls! We were originally going to eat with A. Kathleen but she cancelled since they are sick. We were going to bring the turkey, so now we are bringing it to Dave's parents'. However, they are all in CA except Dave's dad. Thus we have two turkeys for three adults and one baby. And I don't know if I count since I haven't been able to eat all week since my intestinal virus. Even the smell of brown sugar was making me sick tonight. Turkey for leftovers all this month, I think.

Carol accompanied me to my orthodontist visit today and sat on my tummy while they worked. I figured it would be a quick visit and she would probably last. At first she was fascinated with the office but as soon as the orthodontist started poking around in my mouth she flipped out. She screamed and looked at him like, "What are you doing to my mommy??" The worst was when they found a loose bracket they had to replace. They had to grind off the old cement and that really freaked her out. Poor cutie. They were all really nice about it, though. All the hygenists flirted with her as they went past.

Love you! Have a happy thanksgiving! I am thankful for you guys.

Forget the turkey, I like pie!

Wow, another week has zoom zoomed on past. It was a very tiring week. Young mens callings can involve a bit of time. This week consisted of combined activity service project making thanksgiving baskets and delivering them on Wed.. Thursday was stake priesthood in Rocky Mount (about 30 minute drive from Roanoke). Saturday was youth stake service project and cleaning of the chaple by the young mens. It was all good stuff and I am really enjoying my opportunity to interact with the youth. We have some really great kids and I am enjoying getting to know them better. It does kind of wear you out though. After the cleaning of the chapel yesterday morning I just wasn't good for much around our house. I just kind of goofed off and lazed around while Alex was productive and cleaned and organized.

I am getting excited for the holidays. So many fun things to do and to look forward to. I am especially excited about a trip up North for Christmas. Thanksgiving will be fun too. It will be fun to see all of the Isoms. Also, Alex and I are going to run in the drumstick dash on Thanksgiving morning in downtown Roanoke. On Friday we are planning to head down to Asheville NC for a couple of days to see the Biltmore estate all jazzed up for Christmas and also to do a little bit of sightseeing. We are hoping to be able to find Alex's great grandmother's house. She has some family history down there so we will see what we can find. I am also getting in the mood for some Christmas cookie baking and some decorating. Plus, Christmas shopping is always fun.

I do love you all tons.
Jonathan

Happy Day

Carol stood by herself and walked about 4 feet today. I guess she knew it was her birthday. Mandy's kids all started started walking within a day of their birthday. A lady at coinstar has a son who did the same. I guess birthday standing and/or walking is normal.

Dave got a job offer for a place called netvision. Basically, they deal with internal security policies for large networks. See www.netvision.com for more info. Nobody knows if we'll take it or not, but a raise seems imminent...

Laurie says I'm not putting enough exclamation marks in this post!!!! Can you believe it?!!!!!! I guess ! I don't use them all that much!! ... !

Alright, Dave. Scram! This is all terribly exciting news and you are not doing it justice! Carol was of course extremely adorable today. We (she) ate ice cream and opened presents. Since this is actually her fourth birthday party she was fairly well-versed in the proceedings. She opened her presents with relish and kept looking for more wrapping paper to shred. She enjoyed the ice cream a lot. In fact, that was about all she would eat today. She's on a little kick where she won't really eat much. I'll pop something in her mouth, she chews it up a bit, then spits it out and tries to feed it to me. Yum.


I love you guys! Can't wait to see you in just a few weeks!
Laur

... and Dave

!

a fine farewell

we got a new car. and boy is she a beaut. '04 corolla and we just brought her home tonight. it was heartbreaking to leave our old trusty volvo at the dealers though. it felt like we were taking a good old pet to the vet to put it down.

today in school i started a volleyball unit. we practiced bumping and setting with balloons. i think the kids really liked it. starting on monday i will also be pulling kids to do title 1 work with small groups (remediation work.) i'll be very greatful for something to do in my mornings.

hugs

family traditions

Hello Y'all,
Greetings from the south. I've been fixin' to post on this here blog spot here all day long but I just haven't got round to it. Can you tell my vernacular is improving?

We had a great weekend. Especially tonight. Pete and Chrissy and the kids came over. We hadn't played with them all for over a week it felt like. Actually, Alex watched the kids yesterday while I was on a hike with the scouts and while Pete and Chrissy cleaned the church and went car shopping. Tonight we just sat around and talked, ate burritos, sang some songs and doted on the cuteness that radiates from the young ones. I will post a few shots from tonight for your viewing pleasure.

The hike that I went on yesterday was way fun. I wished I'd had a camera with me. We hiked Sharp Top at the Peaks of Otter. The view was wonderful and it was a gorgeous day. The young men in our ward are few but sure are fun, good guys. I wish Grant could have been on the hike with us.
love jonathan

Christmas is Coming- the goose is getting fat

start thinking about present ideas!
this week we have started working on our winter concert at school. the kids are learning a winter song, a chanukah song (spelling?) a kwanzaa song, and a christmas song. if anyone is in the philly area, you're invited! there are some pretty cute kids at my school.
except...... today one poor kid was pretty sick and soiled his pants TWICE. whew it smelled bad. i got to sit with him in the office. P-U. i am very thankful that we had a mom who would keep us at home when we were sick.
laurie, glen and i would like to join in the health challenge. but a little different. glen has been off of sugar for a little over a week, and is doing great. and i will go without oodle noodle soup. and cupcakes.
muchas smoochas.

Mid-Term Madness

Katie and I went early this morning to vote before she went off to school. We should have known that there would be a long line. A lot of politically active retirees living around here. We are discussing election law in my 1st amendment class today and I'm on call. I figured it would be a good idea to participate. Katie and I never tell each other who we voted for, but we enjoy talking about the issues etc.

I admire your work endurance, Dave. You sound like a litigator.

Poor Sick Carol

Carol had a fever last week. For about two days all she wanted to do was sit on my lap and cuddle me while we watched Baby Einstein. She would just sit and stare with droopy eyes and her mouth slightly agape. Every once in a while she'd get excited about something on the TV and she'd point at it and say, "Da!" I felt sad for her but enjoyed the cuddles. Sunday the fever broke but she's still feeling cruddy as is evidenced by the tantrums that she throws about every ten minutes. I think I prefered the cuddle stage. Poor Carol. Poor Mommy.

But our big news is that Mom is coming!!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! We are going to have FUN!

Dave has been working long and hard. He had a 26 hour 'day', except of course you can't fit 26 hours in a day. He just stayed at work for 26 hours straight and worked hard. And now his project is pretty much wrapped up so we get to see him again! Hooray! I always love having a husband around.

Muchas Smoochas.
Laurie

Hello out there?

We have been eagerly checking the new family hub this whole week and nada. Where is everyone? We are here in our new place and loving it. This week was quite productive in our new home. We unpacked everything downstairs and started putting our pictures up. It is feeling very homey. We worked a little bit on our second bedroom last night. It is on its way from becoming a dumping ground for all of our random stuff to a study. We'll post pictures when we get a little bit more done. And when we find our camera.

Friday night we went furniture shopping. We are in the market for some furniture. The two things that we want the most are a loveseat and a kitchen table. We found a sofa that we liked pretty well but we're going to try and shop around a little bit more before making a commitment.

Saturday was a super fun day for us. We helped with a move in the morning and then watched Ivy and Rex in the afternoon. We took them to the pool at the YMCA and they loved it! Rex was shrieking with delight and Ivy was laughing just standing in the water. As a dutiful aunt and uncle, we provided a nutritious dinner of french fries and a lollipop. We also went over and played with the big kids (Peter and Chrissy). Jon smoked us all in a game of St. Petersburg. It was so painful Chrissy couldn't bear to finish the game.

We are getting so excited for the short Christmas that we will be able to spend with all of you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Love,
Jon and Alex