Mom 'n' Dad

Dear Family,

February and March really drag on forever. School seems like it will never end! Do the students realize that the teachers and counselors want vacation to come worse than the kids? We have three weeks until spring break, and we can't wait. My classes are the best ever, plus I have my own personal counselor at my beck and call. Conditions couldn't be better, yet I count down the time left every day! Dad gets to break up fights nearly every day. Now that the hall monitors and campus police realize his talent, they just hide out whenever a fight breaks out. He could write a most entertaining book about all his adventures here at Mojave, except he'd have to leave out all the professional confidence parts.

We look forward to spring break, then the end of the year and getting to see all our family.

Love & prayers,

Mom & Dad

Mel 'n' Andy

Martha 'n' Jeremy

March 2009

As the children continue to grow and "wow" Jeremy and me with their new tricks, my days as a mom become more delightful and enjoyable. February just seems like one nice blur. Of course there were times I wanted to rip my kids' heads off. One day Lyle accidentally flung toothpaste on the walls and various spots on the carpet. Looking back, the funny part was that it really was an accident. He was dancing up the stairs with the toothpaste in his hands and didn't notice his hand squeezing paste out and flinging it everywhere! Lizzy regressed for a while and pottied her pants every time I turned my back. I know I could come up with more if I keep thinking about it. February was still a nice blur.

The month began with snow, lots of snow! I looked out the window and had a Philly flashback: I saw snow everywhere and wondered if Jeremy was going to walk to the subway for Dental School or just drive the car. It took a few moments to realize I was in the beautiful Tucson DESERT! I sent Jeremy off to work and got the kids ready for some fun in the sun--oops I mean snow! We played until the snow melted through their mittens and froze their little hands. We went inside and drank hot chocolate until Lizzy wet her pants. By the afternoon, the snow had melted and I breathed a sigh of relief that we were living in Tucson not Philly!

I slowed down our weekly routine by cutting out the exercise classes at the church. The kids and I now en joy more days at the park, more scooter fun, and also have more relaxing jammy days at home. Either way, it's fun. I love being with the kids when we're all together. I don't care if we're at the park, chasing them on their scooters or at home having a jammy day.

Valentine's Day was blast with the kids. They spent the week making Valentines and writing love notes to each other. We made Valentine's pouches and had fun putting our love notes to each other in them. I got little boxes of chocolates for the kids just like Mom and Dad used to do for us. We had a love dinner complete with candle lights and sappy music. We all couldn't stop smiling and giggling.

Jeremy's gotten in the habit of building us a small bonfire every Saturday night. We sit out there and roast marshmallows and watch the stars. Since Lyle's been studying space in school, he wows us with his knowledge. It's fun but then the kids get tired and we put them to bed. Jeremy and I go back outside and enjoy the fire without the kids. This is more fun.

Last week we had an early summer day. The kids were hot. Rummy asked Jeremy if he could go swimming. He said yes and before I knew what was happening, Rummy was in a swimsuit jumping into the pool! Lyle and Lizzy could not be showed up so they quickly followed suite. The water was 55 degrees. Has MK or Matt ever swam in water that cold?

I went on a field trip with Lyle's class. I had Joseph with me so I planned on driving behind the bus and following it to the spot, Sabino Canyon. I missed the bus and I didn't know where Sabino Canyon was. I got some sketchy directions from the office lady. There was another Mom riding up with me so we figured we could find it. 1 1/2 hours later we realized we were going up the wrong mountain. The deciding factor was when we saw a sign that said we were four miles from a ski resort (it was Mount Lemon). I turned the car around and we tried again. We called the school office and got some new directions that were still sketchy. I pulled over and we asked a guy at a corner gas station. Ten minutes later we were there. It took a total of 2 1/2 hours but we found Sabino Canyon. We walked another half mile in the hot sun each holding a baby looking for our kindergartners. We found them and enjoyed the last 45 minutes or so with our children. I guess next time I'll leave Jo-jo at home and ride the bus!

My little Jo-jo is all smiles. He's cuddly, rolls over and smiles constantly. I could hold him all day and still feel like I didn't get to hold him enough. His two lower teeth came in. He didn't smile then. He cried a lot and didn't sleep much. However, I figured out he was teething which enabled me to be a lot more calm and sympathetic. This was the first baby I did this with and it felt good.

Here's a recap of the funny things the kids said or did: Lyle: "Mom, you see that bright star next to the moon? It's the planet Phoenix." "Mom, you see that moving star in the sky? That's a comma." Hyrum: (praying) "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless everyone in the whole wide world except the Lamanites." Lyle: (during scripture study Jeremy read a verse that contained the word, abomination) "Dad, did you just say, Obama-nation??? Nephi knows about this Obama-nation?" Lizzy (pinches Rummy and then runs over to me before he can pinch her back) "Mommy, Hy-dee teasing me!!!" Lizzy (in respose to anything anyone else says): "me too!" I'm hoping March continues to be one nice blur.

Love,

The Tanners

Becca 'n' Nick

Life is good at the Bryces' house. We're just keeping it real. The month has been very normal. Some highlights are: Jonathan started karate class. He looks pretty tough in his uniform. When his sensei asked what got him into karate I told him Power Rangers. The sensei chuckled and replied with, "Power Rangers, Power Rangers are cool."

Emilyn is 10 months old and her first tooth just barely broke through. She is still just as sweet as can be. Estelle has stepped up her mothering skills and now carries Emilyn around the house. She used to ask me, "Mom, can I carry Emmy down the stairs?" "Can I hold Emmy while I'm walking?" Now she just does it. I spy on her to check on Emmy and Emmy is just as content and happy as can be while Estelle hoists her up, barely keeping balance. Unlike me, Emmy doesn't visualize all the possible ways her sister could drop her. Elissa's been having success with potty training for a few weeks now. I'm just thrilled and am taking Martha's advice on celebrating with the proffesional carpet cleaner in two days. Nick is up to the usual, scheming about things that grow. He installed an underground drip system this month and is now planting some seeds. We love ya all!

P.S. Yes, we only have two steps in our stairs

Lovin' Life,

The Bryces

McKay 'n' Keresa

Jackson had gone into the bathroom to get himself a drink from his little cup he keeps on the sink. I was playing with toys in his room, waiting for him to get back. I heard him scream- not the whiny scream that means Sydney closed the door in his face, or the startled scream that means he tipped the cup too far and spilled cold water on his chest. He did a real scream like he had closed his fingers in the door, or got a toe caught in the heating vent on the floor and broke it off, or something terrible like that. I ran in there expecting the worst, and found him panicky and crying. I asked him what the matter was and he said, "A bug my hand." I guess he reached up for his cup, and when he brought it back down to drink, a lady bug had crawled from the cup onto his hand.

Jackson and I played play-doh while Sydney and Keresa went to a primary activity. While cutting it with play-doh scissors he kept saying, "My love to cut so much! This my favorite part!" Then he would squish the play-doh through the little holes in the squisher toy and say in a little play-doh man voice, "aaah, my brain! "

MK KGW SRW JGW

McKay & Keresa's Blogsite: Us 4 Whitneys

Matthias & Megan

In February, we've seen a little bit of pick up in our class schedules. Both Megan and I have had to do alot lately on our senior projects. Megan's group is mostly into the testing phase of their components, then making sure everything connects up together and still functions like it should. My group is still setting up individual components on our project, but we hope to have it all set up by Spring break. Last week, we both prepared and gave presentations with our respective groups on the status of our projects. On top of this, we've had a bit of increase in homework as well as a few midterms, but nothing as grueling as in past semesters.

On Valentine's day eve, I went out shopping with Kathleen (Megan's sister) to find a gift for Megan that she's been requesting for some time now, but we couldn't find it. So instead we went a bought several bags of Necco conversation hearts, which I sorted through to extract all of the white ones for Megan. Those are her favorites. Then I thought I'd go and check Circuit City's going out of business sale again to see if the Canon Rebels had gone down in price anymore. Much to my delight (and a little bit later, Megan's delight) I was able to purchase the last one which was the display model of the Rebel XS (next to newest release). Because it was the display model, it was pretty well reduced, and we had a very happy Valentine's indeed.

The next day we went up to the mountains outside of Sierra Vista with Becca and Nick's family to try and find some snow to slide down. Unfortunately, any snow was not accessible by car, even though you could clearly see that up on the mountain there was plenty to go around. We still hiked around and had a very enjoyable time. And we got to take some pictures with Megan's new camera.

Last month also saw an engineering job fair and the industrial affiliates workshop in the College of Optical Sciences. The industrial affiliates workshop is where all of the different companies that financially support the optics college come to present to the students what they've been doing, the students present to the companies what they've been doing, and all gather together for mutual schmoozing at various events. I interviewed with a few companies and talked to a few companies that I interviewed with in October. Insight Technology in New Hampshire invited me to fly down for a second round of interviews (the invitation came a few weeks before industrial affiliates, but I'll talk more about that trip in a little bit). Two other companies besides Insight seemed promising, but no word yet on any invitations to second round interviews with them.

Megan and I had our first OB/GYN appointment last week. We got to see our baby in an ultrasound, and she even turned to look at us when the doctor snapped the picture (we refer to the baby as "she" but really don't know anything yet. "She" just feels right and sounds much better than "it".) Megan is progressing super well and feeling much better (most of the time). She's even starting to show a little. Mostly, her abdomen has just firmed up nicely as the baby makes more room for herself and pushes Megan's abs out. Megan is starting playing with the big bag of maternity clothes that Becca lent her, and her mom took her shopping last week to buy some other pregnant ware. Megan says that with the ultrasound picture in hand and her expanding belly, it's starting to feel alot more real for her now. She even can identify times when the baby might be moving inside her, and she thinks she knows where her legs and arms are.

So as I mentioned, I'm on my way home from New Hampshire right now. Insight booked me a flight, a rental car, and a two-night stay in a Marriott. I can't help but feel pretty important and special to them with how much they were willing to wine and dine me.

I flew all day Sunday, and due to bad weather in Chicago, I didn't arrive in Manchester until 1:30 am Monday morning. Technically the hotel was only about a five minute drive from the airport, but since it was such a nice night, I thought I'd miss the only turn I had to make and drive through Manchester for a little while before doubling back and finding my way to the Marriott. I woke up a few hours later to a healthy snow fall covering everything! It continued to snow all day long, and I realized why an ice scraper / snow brush was included in my rental car.

Insight was only a few minutes away from the hotel, but it was such a blast driving in the snow for the first time that again I thought I'd miss my turn with the snow obscured street sign and continue the snow sight seeing! It was much easier than turning around right away anyhow. Eventually, I made it to my interview and I spent the day interviewing with 7 people who would be either my direct boss or my superior in one way or another. I was escorted around by my potential manager through all of the labs, clean rooms, and manufacturing shops on the three different properties as he took me from interview to interview. This lasted until about 4pm. Then in the evening, he took me out to a very nice local Italian restaurant with girlfriend and we chatted about the company, U of A, New Hampshire, Arizona, his family, and how much fun my growing family would have in New Hampshire.

Throughout the evening, his verbiage seemed to change from "If you end up with us at Insight..." and "If an offer comes through for employment with us..." to "When you and your wife are here with us in New Hampshire..." and "When that offer letter comes..." So I thought I'd dare and ask how confident he was that there would be an offer letter. He was a little taken aback and said matter-of-factly "Oh! 100% confident! I'm the one who'll be making the offer, as you'd be working in my group. I'm the one who opened the position, and I hope to fill it with you!" He then went on to tell me impressed my initial interviewer in October had been with me out of the twenty other college kids that signed up for interviews that day. He said that that interviewer had even asked a few of my professors if they'd recommend me. Then he said that he'd gotten immediate feedback from my several interviewers, that they were all very impressed, that my supposedly "toughest" interviewer was me my strongest recommendation, and that one of them had even said, "Hire him. Hire him now." He said that my offer would be a little high, but that I was an investment and that they expected me to learn quickly and fulfill a need as an Optical Manufacturing Engineer in his group. He said to expect an offer in the mail within a few weeks. When I got back to the hotel room, I kind of jumped up and down and couldn't stop smiling. I feel a little bit intimidated and that they have high expectations for me, but I'm sumamente excited with how the trip went and the opportunities that lie ahead for Megan and I.

Con Amor,

Megan and Matthias

M & M Whitney.