GREETINGS FROM GLENDALE

We have been trying to get our news out since August, but it never seems to happen. I am going to give you all a recap of the last few months. In August we took our three children Leslie, Madyson, and McKay on a road trip to southern Oregon. We drove for about 14 hours. the first day and about 4 the next day. I thought it was a long way to go with a 4-week-old baby, but we still had a good time. I don't think McKay knew what he was in for!! We camped on the beach for a week--it was a nice change. Chris and McKay went kayaking and made an attempt to go fishing. On the way home we stopped at the Redwood Forest and went for a hike. The trip was a great success. The rest of August was spent trying to stay cool.

We spent most of September at Lake Mead either fishing or swimming. Leslie started preschool and dance class, so she is loving life. We blessed the baby on the 29th. It was so nice: Chris did a wonderful job. It was really neat to have her two great grandpas and her grandpa help. Linda made a wonderful Blessing Dress--it made the day. With the onset of fall, Chris and Don went to northern Nevada to scout their area for deer. They took Leslie with them and I found out later that they spotlighted until 3am and then slept in the truck. Leslie filled me in on the adventure much to Chris's dismay. My mom came for Madyson's blessing and stayed with us for a week. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to have some help with the kids. Leslie, Madyson and I drove her back to Colorado, and we stayed with her for week. The plan was that I was going to drive home by myself, but Chris got worried about me driving with the kids, so he found a flight out of Bullhead City on Sunday and drove us home on Monday. What a nice guy!!!

So far this month, nothing much is going on. Chris has been deer hunting, and I have been trying to keep up with my two internet classes and my day-to-day things. Madyson is smiling and squealing more every day we think she is so cute. We just wish she would sleep at night!!! I hope everything is going great for everyone. We miss you all.

Love, Chris, Summer, Leslie, Madyson

MELANCHOLY MEL

Today (Oct.1st) I went for my 4-week foot appointment. The ortho looked at the radiographs and told me I have not been taking it easy enough; he offered to cast it in plaster. I said no thank you I will take it easier; he told me to come back in four more weeks and that it could be another 8. I am depressed about it. Then I spent 45 minutes WALKING around the parking ramp looking for my van before I realized I was in the wrong parking ramp (not my idea of taking it easy). There are four ramps, and they are all exactly the same with four floors a piece. Why are seemingly simple tasks so challenging for me?? Is it because I learned to drive in a town without stop lights? Anyway, it is almost funny now, maybe by tomorrow I will be able to laugh about it. Oh yeah, I cut 14 inches off my hair and donated it to Locks of Love, a wig maker for children with cancer. Now Andy's hair is longer than mine.

Andy has a web site under construction; this is the address:

http://www.learnmusic.org/family.htm

Melanie

MARTHA'S MADNESS

September sure came and went quickly! Maybe it's better to wait and post the newsletter until the middle of the month. That way half the month is spent in anticipation of how everyone is doing, and the other half is spent relishing in the great articles! This past month was filled with baby planning, dental school news, middle school happenings, and throwing up.

Since Jeremy and I found out I was pregnant, we've been on this silly little high. We giggle at a lot of things that aren't really that funny and do double takes whenever we see a baby, a young child, or a pregnant woman-and there are some big pregnant women (I can't believe you really get that big. I don't remember Summer, Mel, or Becca getting very big). People probably think we're pretty rude when we see something and then look at each other and start to giggle. It's a lot of fun. I ended up having to tell my principal I am pregnant a little sooner than I planned. This whole throw-up business is really taking a toll on me. I was late two days in a row to school. My principal is a 60-year-old woman, and she pretty much guessed what was happening before I told her. We also went to our first doctor's appointment and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. Hearing that made all the times I threw up worth it. We also have a date-April 16th. For having the baby earlier than planned, we sure planned it well. April 16th is the Wednesday before our spring break. After spring break there are only six weeks of school left. I did some checking up on my insurance coverage, and it turns out I get six weeks of full maternity leave. That's after my regular sick leave runs out. So I'm pretty excited I get out of school early and still getting paid until July. Now I'm just trying to find a sub that can teach music.

Being pregnant sure is more life-altering than any of my sisters let on. I don't know how all of my sisters seemed so together when they were pregnant. I thought I cried easily before. Now I start to cry if I even think about babies. Or listening to the cd's Matt gave me makes me cry. Or I got a new church calling and I started to cry in the stake president's office (it's stake primary music leader-I ended up telling my stake president I was pregnant so he didn't think I was too cuckoo.). I see an ambulance drive by, and it sets me off. Is this normal??? What about the whole food thing?!?! I thought getting braces was a big diet changer. Wow, with this whole pregnant thing I can't eat anything unless it is very very bland (thanks to the advice of Mom). Even then I'll still throw up. I'll have a craving for something and send Jeremy off to the store in a big frenzy. He'll buy it bulk thinking it'll help me feel less sick. Then I'll only eat it once, get sick anyway and end up hating the specific special food he got for me in the first place! And Jeremy has to eat what's left. The last few days have been particularly hard. I haven't even been able to hold down water. I was prepared to call my doctor after 24-hours of the torture. Before I called I tired to eat one more time, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and for some reason, and it stayed in me. Since then, I haven't gotten sick once. Today marks the first day of my second trimester, and I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. Sorry I'm talking so much about this, I'll change the subject.

We're hearing back from the dental schools and getting really excited. Jeremy's completed five secondary applications and went to two interviews. The interviews were back East: one in Philadelphia called Temple and one in Cleveland called Case Western. He was so impressed with those two schools we're beginning to think more seriously about going back East. Both schools were pretty positive with Jeremy and told him he would receive an answer from them on December 1st (the 2nd at the latest). So we'll see. I think Philadelphia seems as much of a romantic dream city as Boston does, so I wouldn't mind going to either school. Jeremy has a interview scheduled in Boston in November. If we can pull it off, I might be able to go with him. Can you imagine, actually getting to set foot in Boston??? I cry just thinking about it!

My school is fun. I know every year I say it's the most fun and best kids yet, but this year is the best. My classes are so good-both in behavior and in musical skill. I have a strong, close-knit group of music kids who are completely and whole-heartily devoted to band. My choirs all sing; and they sing loudly. My big chorus this year even sings loud. I don't understand but they actually look like they're enjoying themselves this year. I love and look forward to each day. I get sad when I think about how it took three years to get my kids and myself to a satisfactory level, and now I have to leave everything. Of course I'm only sad for a moment when I remember what is in store next for Jeremy's and my life.

We wish everyone the best and hope you all have a wonderful month!

Love, Jeremy and Martha

MOM & DAD

We're still hanging in here. It's hard to believe how fast the time flies by. Teaching at the high school is fun, stressful, easy, difficult, challenging, and I'm moving right along. I enjoy the spontaneous visits from Matt and Ken, and especially all their help. Yearbook's been pretty laid back with an attempt to create a more "professional" environment including donuts, cinnamon rolls, enchiladas, burritos, birthday cake etc. My editors are two Mexican girls who love to share with the class. As we quickly approach the first deadline for page submittal, the "professional" ambiance should hit even harder as we struggle to get it all done. It's fun to send kids to take pictures of everything happening around the school, and even Matt has caught the spirit as my #1 volunteer photographer. He's always reliable and efficient about going after my particular requests for pictures I need. However, Friday when I told him I was in dire need of pictures of the girls' Pirate Motion team, his results rather surprised me...check out the picture below! I ordered a new digital camera with 4.1 megapixels and can't wait to play with it. With a bit of luck, it should arrive in time to take it to Mexico. In French I've organized a summer trip to France and Spain. Boyd Earl wants me to include his Spanish students-thus the Spain part. Anyone who wants to join can go to this website: explorica.com then enter the password "whitney-8603." It's from June 10th for 8 days, so we'll see how that goes.

Dad's been working/playing up in Circleville. Since the cement work went so quickly and efficiently, he's set new goals to finish the walls and roof before the first snowfall. The pictures of the new floor appeared on our email just Saturday (yesterday) so they are really current! I suspect the walls will be up in no time at all, and I'll have to go up for an inspection.

Meanwhile I miss you all, and look forward to seeing you whenever you can make it home. Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, and then Matt's play will be in January. Let us know when you're coming, or just drop in!

Love, Mom & Dad

TALES OUT OF HIGHSCHOOL

First of all, let me apologize for the impunctuality of the newsletter this month. But let this be a testament to how busy I have been! The main thing that's been on my plate this month is the band. For homecoming and also for the football game last friday, I marched over one hundred band students, cheerleaders, and dancers for a spectacular "solid rock" half time show. Also at the game, my trombone quartet I've been working up played my special arrangement of Low Rider. I call it "Low Rider T" (for trombone)! It was awesome! Speaking of homecoming, I also was the Senior Class Float Chairman. We built an igloo and a snowman and also ordered half a dozen penguins. The theme for our wintry float was "Stop Em Cold Pirates!" But as much fun as that was, it certainly was a relief to have it done with. Stress has cooled down a bit with theatre practice since Mr. Dalley has officially commited to postponing the play. He still holds rehearsals every school night (save Mondays) but he just doesn't yell quite so much. The new dates are January 28, 29, 30. Speaking of Mr. Dalley, I sure do have a lot of fun in his English class. I turned my story about eating death chiles and drinking sour milk into a two page narrative essay. After reviewing the submissions, he denounced our class as being "incompetant, abstract, and unspecific." He said, "Let me tell you how a paper should be." He no sooner pulled out my paper and read it to the whole class as a positive example! (he had previously pulled some sentences from my other assignments as 'what not to do' examples) And as if that were not enough glory, I was recognized at the next Monday Morning Assembly as Mr. Dalley's student of the month! I feel like there is no honor higher than that!

Also, some time between last newsletter and now, I don't exactly remember when as I've put off doing the paper this long, Kathlean Cameron took me to the reverse dance. We went into Vegas with a group of sixteen and played laser tag for three hours! After that they took us to play Wally Ball (just like volley ball only with playable walls) at a rec center in Hendersen. One girl in our group was Esther Mortensen. So before the dance, we ate a feast in the castle! It was amazing! They pulled out all the stops. It was a dungeon setting with huge goblets full of bubbly (non-alcoholic of course), whole roasted chickens, big fancy candles, and a fog machine that filled the room every few minutes (this made pictures difficult but the effect was really nice!). All in all, it was a great date!

I hope you all can enjoy this extremely late news. But on the plus side, it gave every one time to send us really cool pictures so enjoy.

Love, Matthias

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