Excuses, Excuses.

I won't make any right now, because I think it wise to save my creativity for a later date. Besides, I recently had to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and it was full of pitiful, pathetic, pansies for characters- making constant excuses for bad choices is all that Dr. Frankenstein and his monster did. Let's just say that I have been audibly growling in English lately.

October and November were full of school and water polo. Thanksgiving was a party in Utah with family and friends all around, but we failed to take any pictures- whoops! December was...not that long ago. We kept up family traditions and even made sure Luke got into some of the pictures- matching shirt and all!

Not really, but we were pretty sneaky, don't ya' think? We did get to Skype with him, however, and hear all about Wales (his latest area) and missionary work. Mom's parents (my grandparents) came, and between the eight of us, we had a jolly holiday season. In fact, we even fit in a round of disk golf (Dad's new favorite family activity/sport since we found a course ten minutes away).

As far as January has gone, Levi is doing his utmost to avoid swimming- except, instead of breaking a leg, he broke his wrist. To be honest, Levi has been very sad that I am having an opportunity to catch up to him before he does the mile swim and can't wait to get back in the water. Luckily, it was just a "green break," so he only had to wear a cast for 3 weeks. The bad news is that he managed to tweak a muscle in his shoulder just a few days before he got his wrist back, so he is still stuck on dry land while I get faster by the day.

Eliza likes her new major and might actually stick with it this time!

Mom is working on this crazy intense quilt and obviously enjoys having a project to work on, even if it is tedious to cut and sew and iron and trim and rip and re-sew and re-iron and re-trim.

Marta is waiting on her mission call, which was supposed to come today, but didn't. All I can say is that if she is called state-side, then she will most likely be in Minnesota.

I don't like writing essays- especially research papers. Luckily, everybody else in my family is really good at putting ideas into normal, cohesive, comprehensible sentences while I thoroughly beat around the bush to get my idea across. I just did it again. Anyway, they are lifesavers (especially Marta and Mom) for the math-oriented senior who is just trying to make it through January.

That's really all I have to say right now. Life is good.

- Tess

Sunbeam Wrangling, Water Polo, School's In, and a Long, Dry, Summer

Just a quick post to let you know we're still alive in Soulsbyville (and elsewhere)!

School has begun

Water Polo has begun

I'm teaching seminary again and trying to figure out what to do in an empty house all day.  I've also been assigned to be a helper for the spirited 3 year-old class at church, The kids promptly dubbed me the "Sunbeam Wrangler."

Mark is still commuting and Bishoping.  His big project for the summer,the High Adventure to bike/hike around most of the Tahoe Rim Trail with 14-18 year-old boys from church, was a success.  He knows he is not 25 anymore.

Levi is wondering what he's going to do about his crazy new life as a high schooler, attending seminary and playing water polo.  His muscles and stature continue to grow.

We demonstrated our faith in our 1997 van, "Babe"
by dumping almost $3000 into her, then 
promptly sending her on the road to Utah without us.

Eliza completed a spectacularly enjoyable and successful summer "job" as she spent the last six weeks before school helping out my parents in Wisconsin.  We missed her, but it was a lifetime experience.  She successfully completed one, and is working on the second prerequisite to embarking on a major in Business Management at the Y, and she's enjoying living in Spanish Language Housing.








Luke is learning important lessons on his mission in England, and enjoying the culture there. Go to his blog for more details.

 

Marta left mid-August to train as a Resident Assistant at BYU as she works on her Sophomore year as a Recreation Management major.  She is mother-hen to at least 47 Freshman girls (and two or three more if you count Eliza and cousins).

Tess is getting all kinds of college recruiting mail (passing the AP Calculus exam as a Junior has gotten her quite a bit of attention), but is resolutely looking toward joining at least two siblings at BYU next year.  We just scheduled her wisdom tooth removal appointment, but it looks like she'll escape a tonsillectomy!

Alright, not really Levi, but his slender frame makes his
physique a lesson in musculoskeletal anatomy.

Levi is adjusting to the sleep deprivation of high school with sports and seminary.  His sisters awakened him to the need to earn money for high school expenses, so he's been doing some hard labor for a neighbor.  That and his water polo workouts are adding muscles to his already elevating stature.

A reservoir a a couple of hours from us.  Ours look similar!

Even the "Live Oaks" in the yard are demonstrating their thirst with the continued drought and unusually warm weather of this extended summer.  We are hoping for rain!

And despite hundreds of blog posts, I still can't figure out how to get rid of text that shows up on the preview but not in my post screen.  So if you notice two comments on Levi, just chalk it up to old brains trying new technology!

Denise

How My Job Went Through a Dam Drain

So, a week ago today, a big rock broke. The rock was attached to a dam that held a lake at which I worked (and Marta too). It looked like this on Rock (yes, that is a name).

However, the dam that it was attached to was not happy, so it started to cry...

And then, to add insult to injury, the rock broke even more!

That is when the dam was truly compromised. So now, the lake looks more like this...

(That green stuff is lake-weed on top of  about a foot and a half of sludge,
 with tiny, rotting, dead fish everywhere.) 

...than this.

Like I said in the title, my job went through a dam drain. Literally. Overall, unemployment isn't too bad, except that I don't get money anymore. I mean, I have an extra week and a half of free time before school starts, so it actually made my schedule a little bit easier, which is kind of nice. Oh, well.

In other news, Eliza left to spend a month or so helping the grandparents before going to school, and Marta is leaving for BYU at the end of this week. Levi and I have to go back to school in a week and a half (ugh!), but it will be nice to have a regular, stressful schedule again. Mom is getting ready to teach seminary again, and Dad is preparing to get back into working all the time without a family vacation every two weeks or so.

Love,

Tess