BACK TO SCHOOL

We're three weeks into school and I wonder when things will start to settle down. Those 80-minute periods are exhausting me, but I'm gradually getting used to it. I just have to plan lots of different activities to keep everyone entertained and busy, and oh yeah, learning! That's the tricky one. My three French classes are tons of fun. I have the kids all make fools of themselves by repeating words in French that are hard to pronounce. Remember Chef Louis from the Little Mermaid? I had them singing, "Le poisson, le poisson, hey hey hey, hon, hon, hon!" Maybe they'll need a little quiz next time to sober them up. The freshmen all pass by my room and say Hi. Some of them stop to tell me how scary all their teachers are. I just tell them they can't be any scarier than Mrs. Mackley, and then they feel better. I don't like my English class very well because I have honors, regular and special ed all mixed in together. I get really confused trying to figure out which ones to teach to. I didn't know about the special eds until the second day when all these really weird-looking kids wandered in my room, and finally their teacher followed. I just don't know how he expects them to do the work and read the materials. They don't look like they can even read to me. I can't picture them reading anything more than a Goosebumps, let alone To Kill a Mockingbird. Long as I have good detailed plans, I make it through feeling pretty good about it. My Yearbook editors have taken over their class. They come to see me before hand to discuss lesson plans. It's just amazing. I told them to put everyone on the computers the second day of class, and lo and behold, four of the six computers didn't work! Can't you just see my class the day before a deadline with twenty kids lined up waiting their turns for those two computers! So I did some brainstorming with the school computer specialist, and we'll work on updating the operating systems on the computers so we can get the software to work. He wants me to call my buddy Judy to see if Josten's will help us with the bill. He figures she must be my buddy, because she certainly isn't his! Later I talked to the principal about joining me when I meet with Judy, and he gave me a most emphatic NO! I really enjoy Josten's and hate to lose them...it's just Judy that's hard to get along with. I figure I'd better enjoy the relaxation right now because once the deadline gets close I'll have 24-hour stress!

Meanwhile Ken's finished with registration and schedule changes, so he sits back with his feet up eating popcorn most of the time. Or else he takes a Friday off to go play in the mud in Circleville, where he is this weekend. Weather permitting, he and Jack plan to finish off their cement project Friday and Saturday. Then the real fun begins!

THE LAMENTS OF MELANIE

About two weeks ago I broke the fifth meda-tarsel bone in my right foot.

I am not my happy, busy self anymore. Just happy self. It is amazing how much a girl has to slow down without the use of a foot. That is all the news I have for me.

Andy received his board scores. He did great! What a relief for him to have that over with! he loves third year so far. he is in the oral surgery rotation, loving extracting teeth all day. he is also enjoying teaching three piano students plus Kambri and Michael. Enjoying it or not, he has also been cooking, shopping, washing, cleaning, sorting, putting away; meals, groceries, dishes, children, clothing, toys, misc. Arrange words accordingly to make some degree of sense.

Kambri lost tooth number 2. She is the proud recipient of the first first-grader to lose a tooth this year in Mrs. Zimmerman's class. She seems to like her teacher. She told Mrs. Zimmerman, "My friends told me you are the meanest teacher, I think you are nice."

Michael loves macaroni and cheese with pears and creamy corn on the side (almost as much as hot chocolate) He started preschool and loves his class and teachers. I have enjoyed hanging out with Michael and McKayla at home. (We can't go anywhere, I can't drive) We like painting pictures of Dragon tales and creating trains and tracks.

McKayla has added the word actually to her vocab. She also loves saying "this is my favorite" fill in blank--could be a food, movie, song, tooth brush, shirt, whatever. I did not realize how many favorites she had.

Thats all I'm saying

Melanie

MARTHA'S NEWS

Before we tell you our news for the month, we wanted to tell you how much fun the reunion was! Seeing everyone is always a blast. We love getting to play with the little ones. Not only are they all adorable, they are also so much fun to be with. It's always great seeing everyone!

Jeremy has the highlight for this month. I'm not sure if everyone knows, but Jeremy has bad heartburn. I have no idea how it feels because I've never had it, but it seemed like his is worse than usual. The "tum" stuff or baking soda solutions do not work. He usually gets by with drinking milk. However, camping out at Dad's property in Circleville, we were milk-less. After a night of throwing up acidy stuff and almost making me throw up because of Jeremy throwing up, I decided that was the last straw. When we got home to Turlock we made an appointment with a gastro-ologist. After a consultation appointment, the doctor wanted to immediately schedule Jeremy in for a endo-something (it's where you stick a camera on a wire down your throat to look at your throat and stomach). Less than a week later, Jeremy went to the hospital for the endo-something. They had him hooked up to an I.V., a bunch of other wires, and a respirator. The camera went in and the doctor found five ulcers in his esophagus and some more in his stomach. He concluded that Jeremy's sphincter in his esophagus doesn't work. It turns out the acid from his stomach was slowly eating his throat away! The doctor told him he couldn't even begin to fix the problem until his ulcers were better.

Jeremy left the hospital with a prescription for the "little purple pill" and another doctor's appointment scheduled for the end of September. The doctor promised us that if Jeremy took one of these pills a day his heartburn would "miraculously" go away and the ulcers would begin to heal. Then after so many weeks the doctor can begin to diagnose the real problem (the non-working esophagus). We were very skeptical about this pill, but it really does work wonders. We purposely eaten spicy food, drink orange juice and eat any other heartburn-causing food. He has not had any heartburn since then. We'll go back to the doctors at the end of September to discuss a more permanent solution. In the meantime here's a side note for Nick-if any of your patients complain about heartburn, give them Nexium, "the little purple pill!"

Besides the spicy food hey-day, the rest of the month was relatively non-adventurous. School began last week for me. It was quite a calming, non-stressful event.

All my kids seem pretty normal and calm. I have a few heart-wrenching kids this year. I have two little 6th grade boys that live in a group home. They're really good and very conscientious about their behaviors. I also have a little suicidal drugged-up (they say it's all prescription) boy whose mother is dying of cancer. He's also a sweet little boy, but crying for attention. Lastly, I have a boy in my beginning band class with only four fingers on each hand who wants to play the trumpet. I want to take all of these kids aside and give them big hugs. All in all, my kids seem the best yet this year. We'll see tomorrow; it's the first day we'll play or sing!

We hope everyone else is enjoying their school year and the cute new babies.

Love, Jeremy and Martha

THE CHILE REPORT FROM TUCSON by Matthias

Recently Ma, Pa, and me took a trip down south of the border (the border of Nevada that is) to check up on the Bryce Family Chile farm (while were in the neighborhood we stopped to visit Becca and Baby and all that but anyway). While at the farm, head farmer Dan Bryce gave us full show, from pickin' in the fields to roastin' on the roadside. When we were all done we took home a nice big bag of mild chiles and a smaller bag of the "super hot death" chiles. Back in Logandale, the first dish out of the kitchen was none other than deep-fried cheese-filled chiles. I licked my lips and sampled a bite no larger than my thumbnail. Boy was it good. Then I notice Dad's face is turning red. Mom contorts her face and says, "Oh dear." Then I notice I'm hiccoughing convulsively. I'm burning up. Big time. I run over to fridge and pour myself a nice tall glass of milk to try and appease some of the pain. After gulping over half of the glass, I notice an odd smell then an odd taste. The milk was over a week expired. Now I'm spewing AND hiccoughing over the sink for the next few minutes and Mom and Dad are laughing yet crying (it was a funny scene but they still had chiles in their own mouths). After that night, I've been a little bit more tentative sampling anything Dad makes. Mom and I have contests to see how many chiles we dare to put in our omlets. So in short, the chiles are wonderfully delicious but may be hiding a fire within!

FROM McKAY

Well for the newsletter, I am all moved in here with my Vegas partners. We are seven bachelors living in a 3 room 2 bath apt in a nicer part of Vegas. Our apartment is like a country club. We have a weight room, sauna, two swimming pools, a personal dvd-movie theater with about 50 seats, an internet coffee shop, a waterfall, a playground with sand for children, and covered parking. Sounds a little better than my other Vegas apartment eh? Dus is one of my roommates. We go to church here in Vegas, which is good because my other roommates used to all go home for their girlfriends every weekend and so I was all alone on the weekends plus nobody to help me remember to go to church. But now we all go together. I have a pretty good load: 17 credits. I have a really great Spanish class. It's only 8 or so students, and a really hard core serious class, so I am excited to go to it every day. The teacher is a girl from Buenos Aires, and her Spanish sounds really cool, almost like Paraguay Spanish... I just landed a job with Outback Steakhouse. I am a host. So today I went to that good old Clark County Health District to get a health card and take a food-handling class. It took all afternoon, but was very interesting. You watch this movie about how to serve food, and how to store it so to keep it safe from bacteria, and how hot or cold to get it when you prepare it. of course the place was packed full of people because of back to school immunizations, and many of them could only speak Spanish. So I had an hour between my shots and the class, so I told them I could translate and they put me right to work. It was grand. I have figured out a schedule for myself (that probably sounds pretty dumb to everyone else but me) But I am excited because I will have plenty of time to study, and also time to work out, and go to work, and study the gospel, and do everything I need without having more than an hour of idle time. I am really proud of myself. I feel like I am climbing that tall latter of success that I struggled on for so long. I can see more and more how much I have to be grateful for, and also all the things I have to work on. I love and miss you all. Sus hermano, mk

TALES OUT OF HIGHSCHOOL

All of my time for the past three weeks has been busy busy busy. My stress caused by my class load would probably be enough to kill a small horse. But this last week had a little bit of extra stress. Last thursday in theatre, we had singing auditions to cast for the musical. So I've been working up Do You Here the People Sing? from Les Mis. I almost wish I would've had a little bit more to prepare so I could've worked with Mom to learn it in French! But still, even singing it in English landed me the lead role of Adam. After school rehearsals start as soon as Mr. Dalley can get us all together to tell us so! Oh boy! The production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is scheduled for November 19-21, the week before Thanksgiving.

I've been whipping up my bands into shape without delay. Jazz band has already had one performance at a Monday Morning Assembly and has another scheduled soon for Open House. I chase Varsity Band around the football field trying to get them ready for the half-time show at homecoming. At first I thought drum major bored me; playing is much more fun than conducting. But when I got in front of that hundred piece band for a pep assembly last week, the invigoration was indescribable. Not to mention all the respect I get from underclassmen!

Right after school comes tennis. I get such a kick out of playing tennis, I don't know why I didn't start earlier. Don't get me wrong, the memories I made playing football will never leave me. But never have I enjoyed sports so much! Before school started, I drove into St. George with some a few others for a week of tennis lessons with a pro. But things haven't really started to click for me till about last week. I really feel like I've got a handle on it. I usally play doubles with this heavier guy (I say heavier in a very polite sense) who still needs some work. But coach said I really impressed him in our last match with Eldorado, and I may get a new partner. I only hope that to my new partner, I won't be the "heavier guy that still needs work" that causes loss and frustration! We well see. But so far the tennis team all together is undefeated after three matches. That's saying more that the football team (0-2). Yay!

Every spare moment I get I help Mom by being the official un-official photographer and computer guy for the yearbook (how would I put that on my resume?). And in every spare moment besides that I still have been reading Les Mis, not a whole lot, but some. :)

Next month for the newsletter, I promise to get motivated and get the news out at least a week into the month :) Give hugs to all the little 'ns for me.

Happy Trails, Matthias

P.S. I've enclosed scans of my senior pics (well, only my proofs. but you can get the idea of what they'll be like.). Also there's one of me on the tennis green.