Up and coming (rapidly)

Just a little reminder (in case you needed one) Christmas is rapidly approaching! AAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Tension breaker....had to be done! Anyway, with that out of the way, Truly there are only 10 weeks left till the celebration of the birth of our Savior. This year, I would really like to focus more on the reason we celebrate. Sounds easy right? Oh how I wish it were as easy as typing the words on the screen!

For me and my family that will mean a whole lot of down sizing as to what will be coming in, and going out as far as gifts are concerned! It will also mean a whole lot more of homemade type gifts for those whom are accept-ant of these type of gifts. ( we have some super freaks that we call friends, and if they don't know where it has been, they will just throw it away. Food wise) Anyway, since this has been in the front of my thought process these last few days, I was wondering if you wouldn't all share with me, ways that you might be able to thing of in which to either cut back with out becoming Scrooge, or things you would like to receive that would be less costly than one might think of.

Also could you share with me ways that you have found to celebrate the real reason for the season in your homes and with your families. I know that my family is in a totally different place than the rest of you, with Megan and Ford rarely being at home, and if they are home it is even more rarely at the same time. Still I would dearly love to make perhaps the last of the Christmases spent at home with Mom & Dad (ie. me and Chet) ones that they will remember with fondness and want to reflect on whenever they think of Christmas. If that is still possible. Any ideas would be much appreciated. I love you all. Miss you and hope we will all be in the same space again sooner than not! Sorry if my bringing up this fast approaching time of year triggers any unwanted stress for anyone, that was NOT my intentions!

Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a business guru. In a recent blog post he wrote,

"Would they miss you if you didn't show up? Would they miss your brand or your writing or your leadership?

If you work at the local fast food joint or the local library and you don't show up for work, do they consider shutting the place down? If you're on the team at the ER and you have a bad day, would someone die?

Everyone is capable of being missed. Most of us would be missed by our family if we secretly moved to Perth in the middle of the night. The question, then, is not whether or not you're capable of being missed. The question is whether you will choose to be missed by a wider circle of people.

It's a risk, of course. You have to extend yourself. You must make promises (and then keep them.) More pressure than it might be worth.

Except when it is."

Thanks for being people who would be missed. Hope your worlds are rotating well.
Love to all
:)

Oh My....

Oh My!!! SO I must admit honestly that I never thought at any point in my life, that our family would be at the cross roads that we are at right now!

My heart seems to be an open gaping wound with no healing in sight. What happened to the family eternal that I had imagined in my mind??? Where has that family gone??? I know that we have all headed off in different directions over the last several years but for the family that in my mind had it more together than most, we have sure been derailed!

Is this what comes from getting comfortable? Lax in our day to day efforts of trying to become better at being a family? I don't know, but for some reason it strikes me strongly that we have gotten very comfy in our positions in life. SOme with their responsibilities with kids getting to school and such, me with my kids trying to grow up as adults and make it in the real world...and Dad & Mom trying ti figure out how to hold it together as a married couple who has fallen out of love too many times to really be able to bandage this one...

Which ever scenario you are looking in at or our from, it seems to be the only one that matters! I wish so much that the only view that mattered was the one that we could se each morning as we take a gaze in the mirror. However, everyone in some way or another is affected by the gaze, that we seem to think is so casual. My heart hurts in way I never thought was possible! My belief in things that can and can not be accomplished is wavering... can there be a happy ever after? I am not sure if there can be...but I am for sure hoping that there might be and that those if us that remain will and are willing to fight for it, instead of giving in to the over powering desire to have everything go our way! I love you all! I miss my family! Hugs! and loves!

the art of avoidance

so. we are anxiously waiting for the keys to our very own new home. i have a million and one things i should be doing, but i am skillfully avoiding them all by posting to the family blog.
this has certainly been a summer of adventure for our little family. as i type our one year old boston terrier, Zoe, is snoring at my feet. she snores like a grizzly bear. we love her. she was abandoned and we got to adopt her. her history is a mystery, but she is funny and noisy and gentle; a good fit for our family. we think her future is bright.
i am so sad that i won't get to join some of you tomorrow at the park. i hope you all have a blast. hugs to everyone.
mom and dad -- you are amazing in every way. can't wait to see you next weekend.
we are almost home!!! come and visit soon!
love you family!

I know I am a day late, but Happy 4Th everyone! I love and miss you all, and hope you all are doing well! Things here are hoping as mostly usual, and time s for sure not standing still. Hope things for all of you are going well. Wish I had time and money to make it out to see all of you. Despite being poor like everyone else, things are going good, hope the same can said for all of you!

Hello Everone

I would like to thank everyone for cards,and other well wishes on fathers day, Christi and the girls surprised me and come down on Thr.night instead of Sunday, because they knew mom would be up in SALT LAKE TO THE GEM fAIR, AND THEY DIDN,T want me to be alone.. Christi made a special chickem enchilada, dinner for our diner; I want you all to know that it was really good..We have had fun with them here I took them up to Gunlock to see the water coming over the spillway, then we went down to the Santa Clara river to look for rocks and play in the water..they have been hiking and other activities.. They are still trying to get use to the hot weather we are having..
I had a Dr,s appointment and everything went well.. Then Monday I had a blood draw and again everything is still pretty good.. I really thank all of you for your prayers in my behalf, and I know the Lord is hearing them and I am thankfull..
Jan and her friend Rita, came down for about 3 days to stay with us so they could attend traing for their school lunch program it was fun to get to visit with both of them, even if it was until the early morning 1 am, but they still made it to all their traing.. Jan and Rita, left for home Fri. afternoon so they could spent the week end with their families..
I have beenwaiting up fot the dariy to come, it is here and in the fridge, so I will sign off for now.. I love all of you very much... Love DAD

Hello Family

Yes, it's me. Don't faint in your chair. I'm actually posting.

We had a busy weekend. The Utah Valley Children's Choir came to our area for a performance. We had the good fortune of hosting four of the young women that are part of the group. It was very enjoyable. The kids took to our four visitors almost immediately. Jesse stayed up later with us and visited and its fun to see him learning how to interact and open up a little bit more, especially with girls. He enjoyed it too, though I think he would actually try to deny it, but soon the smile would break through and he wouldn't be able to hide it.

Jennah's sister, Sarelle, and her family are moving to Kansas. Dan has a new job there. They stopped here for the night last night. It was fun to visit, though my visiting time with them was cut short. Caleb has a Inguinal Hernia (sp?). At first, we noticed there would be a bulge near his groin, but he didn't complain about it and it would pass. However, withing the last several weeks it has been causing him pain. Last night the pain was really bad. A couple of weeks ago we took him to the ER for this because we were advised by multiple sources to do so to ensure that there wasn't any constriction of the intestines. All was well, but we needed to get it treated. We had an appointment for June 23 with a pediatric surgeon. But last night was pretty bad. I was in the hospital with Caleb all night. He was up until about 2:00 in the morning when the morphine finally kicked in and they were able to push his intestines back in. I finally got a couple of hours sleep when they took us up to the pediatric ward so they could monitor Caleb until morning. Needless to say, we got an earlier appointment with a pediatric surgeon and we will probably have a day surgery for Caleb very soon. Keep us in your prayers on this.

Aside from our eventful few days, life moves forward fairly routinely on most days. We hope you are all well. We will be coming out to Utah in July. I will be flying into Salt Lake on the evening of the 21st of the morning of the 22nd and I'd love to see as many of you as possible on that Friday. Then we'll head down to St. George for a couple of days. I'll be in touch with you all directly to see what arrangements we can make.

Love you

Dave