The Davises of Newbury Park, The Barkers of Salt Lake City, The Kenningtons of Ontario, Oregon,
The Robinsons of Roseville, The Pimentels of Bakersfield, The Feddocks of San Carlos,
and the Kurts of Canyon Country, CA
The Davis Family Letter
Dear Ones,We're looking forward to Thanksgiving, when the Kurts and the Wurtzes (Dianne's family) will join us, and Stephanie will come down from Rexburg. What a happy crowd we'll be! Our weather has been pleasantly warm lately, so Thanksgiving Day will probably be a nice one.We really enjoyed having Tim spend about five days in Southern California recently. He came for a reunion of his priests' quorum, along with the advisor the boys all loved so much. The young men, most of them now married, were able to catch up on what each of them has been doing since their priest days. And I got some very rare one-on-one time with our son. I took a day off work, so we talked the day away, and on Saturday, he and I went to the temple.Jayma seems to be doing well with her pregnancy. Things are moving along as they should, so we're hopeful that the whole pregnancy and birth will go normally. Thanks for your prayers.Christine and Val's big news is that they are moving to Barcelona, Spain, probably in May or June. Val will be working in a different office for the same company. They've already started learning Spanish and Catalan, both of which are spoken there. They find that Catalan comes a little more easily, since they speak French, and Catalan is a combination of Spanish and French. Christine and Val have found a home to rent which is near a good school for Matthew. I live my thrilling adventures vicariously through them!Christine was recently called to be the Young Women president, with the understanding that she will be moving away in the near future. Busy gal!Dianne made an adorable Pokemon character costume for Ethan for Halloween, and I'm sure the other costumes were cute, too. She enjoyed having Tim spend a day with her while he was here. Jeff continues working hard on Lymabean.com.Stephanie's student teaching in Salt Lake with start after Christmas. She and Mark will be graduating from their respective schools in April, when both will be doing some serious job hunting. Naturally, we hope both of them find jobs, sooner or later, in Southern California. They would like that, too.The BYU-Idaho newspaper did a recent article on Stephanie's artwork, and her fame is spreading. She has some work hanging in a nearby clothing shop, and people have come into the shop just to see them because they read the article. One young man, whose girlfriend loves Stephanie's work, commissioned Stephanie to do a painting that includes the words "marry me." It is to be a gift to accompany his wedding proposal!Kathy's teaching art one day a week at the high school where her husband works, and she loves it. I've never seen anyone with all the clever craft and art ideas she has. She also loves being the mommy of 18-month-old Jane!Natalie continues to have a good time at BYU. We look forward to having her and most of the others (except Tim and Christine) with us at Christmas.I had Veterans' Day off, so Blair and I spent the day in Santa Barbara, strolling the main street. Actually, he was doing the strolling while I zipped around in my Viper Blue scooter. The day was gorgeous and we enjoyed window shopping and just being together. We also saw the movie Marie Antoinette, which was very interesting and beautifully made.I'm thoroughly enjoying editing LaMarvelous's amazing book on the life of his wife Joyce and himself. What interesting stories are in it!Walt's wife Gerrie has had a terrible tragedy in her family. A granddaughter and her husband, who had only been married a year, were sailing with friends on a nearby reservoir just a couple of weeks ago. A wind came up that capsized the boat, and the couple were drowned. The two friends were able to make it to shore, but the water was 41 degrees--too cold to last very long in. Of course, the family is profoundly saddened by this. Tragedies like this remind us of how grateful we are for the gospel.That reminds me how much teaching the Gospel Doctrine class means to me. It takes some time, of course, but I'm learning so much. This calling reminds me that we need to be focusing on our purpose here on earth and on our Savior, and not to be overly distracted by less important things.Love forever to all our precious family members,the DavisesThe Barker Family Letter
The Kennington Family Letter
Dear Ones,
I can't say I followed my own directions by getting this letter in by November 15. I think November 19th is pretty good though.
We are enjoying a warm fall. We've had some rain too. Clint has had a CMV (cytamegalovirus) which is kind of like mononucleosis, that most people get by the time they're 30, so he's been hoping for a fever to help put a stop to it after more than a year. I never saw someone so excited to have a temperature for four days. This means he's sick enough that I get to help him feed the calves. Hopefully he's over it by now and I'm not going to catch it just in time for Thanksgiving.
Actually I've been teaching a fair amount of school just substituting. I'm signed up for the high schools in Ontario and Nyssa, a smaller town, and trying to avoid the middle schools. Middle schoolers look and act like they're grownup and then suddenly fall completely apart and collapse in an emotional heap until you yell at them and they feel sorry and try to do better. I had to fill in at the last minute in a 7th grade science class, and they were supposed to pull the hair out of their heads and their arms to look at under the microscopes. You can imagine what this devolved into. Lots of hair pulling and none of it scientific. Sigh. It's an adventure every day. If you can speak Spanish or teach computers or play the piano, you keep getting invited back into those classes. It is very nice to be able to choose when you go, although some days I've gone because the scheduling secretary sounds so desperate. The money is good, anyway.
In October Clint and I went to Boise State University to see Conrad defend his master's thesis, which was coding and upgrading a web-based monitoring system for the $2 million dollar 60 computer "Beowulf" cluster. Written in C++ and Java, it keeps track of 10 pieces of information for each computer. Engineers from Micron and Hewlett Packard are interested in the completed software. He will finish in December and already has several job offers. The website is http://webwulf.boisestate.edu/clusmon/ and if you click on "node list" you can see each individual computer and the information being monitored every 10 seconds. Conrad and Sarah are expecting our baby granddaughter in early December, so good things are happening in their lives.
Clint's 81 year old father Hugh, who identifies completely with being a dairy farmer, went through a series of potentially hazardous accidents, so he's agreed to not milk the cows anymore. It was hard for him to do, but he is looking a lot more rested now. He is having a great time visiting his children for several days at a time. Our nephew Tyson has taken over the milking. Tyson's mother Heidi, who was the one diagnosed with Lyme Disease, is doing spectacularly well. She is now feeding herself and can walk and take showers when six months ago she could not even hold her own weight. The nurse who has been working with her is taking inquiries from all over the country from people with chronic Lyme Disease. It is wonderful to see so much progress made.
Casey promises he and Katie will join us in a year, if the Church doesn't get to him first. He has been offered a job by the Church Educational System flying around the world installing and troubleshooting the TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning) placement software he has been working on for the past several years at BYU Provo. I knew he'd be offered a job but he keeps reassuring me that he wants to be his own boss and live in the country and build Katie an art studio. We certainly do have a lot of artists in this family. Casey has spent some time in the Church Office Building but didn't like that either, fortunately for us.
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving,
The Kenningtons
The Robinson Family Letter
Dear Family,
The wedding went very well. It was heaven having Craig and Rachel, The Myers, Mom and LaMar, the Pimentels and the Feddock family there. It was so nice to see and visit with everyone. And they were all so very helpful. It was such a treat to have a short drive to our new temple. And it is a beautiful one.
Genna and Jeff are doing great. They are living in Rocklin, the next city over. The first week they attended their new ward, Genna introduced herself and someone said “We have a Genna, but she spells it with a ‘G’”. Can you believe they are in the same ward with Genna Manning Sherman – the person responsible for that spelling? Small, small world!
The day after the wedding we drove up to Tahoe for baby Clementine’s blessing. She wore the pretty white dress mom made and she was as good as gold. No crying! Craig and Rachel flew home that afternoon from Reno. We wish everyone could have stayed longer.
The week before the wedding we got to go to NYC for another bond. This time I spent the days going around by myself. I managed the subways just fine. The confusing thing was coming up onto the street and not knowing which way was which. I was able to go to a session at the Manhattan temple. It was wonderful. We went to a play and I rode in my first limo. It was a very fun trip and the bond meetings turned out to be very productive.
We are so happy the elections are over. The city council members we wanted to win did, and all the annoying phone calls and mailers have stopped. I must admit I deleted without listening to recorded messages left by Arnold Swartzenegger and Clint Eastwood. Sorry!
We will be going to Heather and Brian’s for Thanksgiving. They redid their kitchen (gorgeous!) and it will be perfect for a holiday meal. Genna and Jeff will be in San Diego for their delayed honeymoon that week. Rachel’s mom will be visiting Craig and Rachel in Arkansas then. Next thing you know we’ll turn around and it will be Christmas.
We hope you are all doing well.
We love you!
The RobinsonsThe Pimentel Family Letter
Dear Family,I know I'm a little late with my letter. Oops! We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving with Andrea and her puppy, Zoe, and a member of our branch that didn't have a place to go. Ron's brother gave us a turkey fryer last year for Christmas so we decided to try it. We have had fried turkey while spending Thanksgiving in Louisiana years ago and we loved it. I am sending along a picture of the contraption Ron built to make it a safe experience (thanks to Alton Brown). I thought we might as well do 2 since the oil was hot, but then I decided to roast a turkey so we could have stuffing and gravy. Three turkeys for 4 people! Andrea and I went out to do a little shopping on Friday afternoon which was fun.Roger is getting excited about graduation coming up this spring and doing another internship. He has a chance to go to New York City for that, but is also considering a possibility in Colorado. We'll see!Bret had a recital last month. If anyone is interested in listening to clips of him playing, he plays the bassoon and clarinet here:Andrea is learning a lot by having a puppy (see picture of her Boston Terrier) . She currently lives in Alameda, but would like to find a place in San Francisco. She is doing very well at work. She did this website for the SanDisk MP3 player:I guess I will be the third sister to fall to the knife and have a hysterectomy. I decided to schedule it right before Christmas because I already have 2 weeks off of work and the kids will be home to help out with everything. I have fibroids and a prolapse. They will be able to take it vaginally and also hoist up my bladder. It's not that bad, but an easy repair to do while they are in there already. I'm starting to get a little nervous about the whole thing. It has helped me plan ahead for Christmas. I got most of my packages mailed before Thanksgiving.I went with a friend from work to the L.A. fashion district recently and we bought knock-off designer purses. It was a fun trip. She is really into the name brands, unlike me, but I had fun and got 2 nice purses (Coach and Dooney and Bourke fakes).I am enjoying my job at the dental office, although my favorite part is my Mondays off! I can pack a lot of errands into one day! The branch fills a lot of our time, but we still love it. Ron is finishing up the quarter. Most people think he gets December off, but he just isn't teaching--he still has research to do.It is started to get cold here! I guess it's all relative, though. Can't believe that another year is almost over. They sure are flying by! Next year is my 5-0 year. Yoikes!!Love you guys! -Sarah & Ron
The Feddock Family Letter
Dear Peeps,
That's corporate for "people." As in, "I'll have my peeps call your peeps." Breanne can't stand it when Michael and I say peeps. I guess it has some other connotation at school, or maybe we're just not cool enough to use a word she has heard at school. I think she just doesn't realize how very groovy her parents are. Where have we gone wrong?
Our girlie turned Sweet 16 yesterday (Nov. 18th). Well, she was already sweet but now she's the 16 part, too. The festivities began Friday evening as she went ice skating with her best friend. The friend stayed over night and the next day several girl friends from Breanne's Mia Maid class met here and we walked to a favorite Japanese restaurant a block or two away. Dad paid the bill after they ordered, we left, and the young ladies had a wonderful, grown up time on their own. I remember Mom making a Chinese lunch for me and my friends for my 16th bday. She even made green invitations that read top to bottom and right to left as they would in the orient. Anyway, little Michael was crushed that we weren't staying to eat with them but he was quickly healed when we walked next door to Chuck's donuts to drown our sorrows in maple bars. It's surprising how much he can eat when it's something he really likes.
After the restaurant the girls walked back here and hung out, opened gifts, and ate one of our favorite ice cream desserts. It's an Oreo crust in the 13x9 pan, a layer of ice cream on top (mint chip this time), a layer of ice cream topping (Hershey's syrup), then topped with a layer of Cool Whip. That never lasts long around here. You can do any ice cream/topping combination. Like Butter Pecan and caramel topping would be good.
After the girlies went home we had pizza for dinner then went to see Kenneth Cope do a concert in our own stake center! Linda gave us a CD of his and we listen to it almost every Sunday morning. He is an LDS singer/songwriter and is so inspiring. You can't listen to his songs without your testimony growing. His guitar chords and progressions and clear voice are mesmerizing. He also quoted a couple of his favorite Shel Silverstein poems. Very cute.
Tomorrow Bree will go to the DMV to take her written test for her learner's permit. Here we go!!
Mini-Mike will turn 6 in a couple of weeks. He is such a little smarty. With a quick and grown up sense of humor. Maybe that happens when you live with three adults. And what an observant child. Especially when it comes to cars. His Dad has over 100 slot cars (they are Hot Wheels-sized cars that run on an electric race track). Over 100, okay? So the two Michaels are walking home from G'ma and G'pa Feddock's house. At night. As they are walking along, Michael-the-dad notices a '69 Pontiac GTO in an underground apartment parking garage. The garage is not not well-lit, and the car is black so detail is a little hard to distinguish. Michael says to Sonny Boy, "Hey Mike, check out that GTO, I have a slot car just like it." Little Mike just glances over, turns back to walking, and says, "Yeah, but the spoiler on the trunk is too high." Just like that. With just a glance. He's done that sort of thing before. He really seems to know the lines and proportions of cars. What does it all mean?!!
A couple of weeks ago little Michael was the star student in his kindergarten class. Being the star student means they get to be the line leader every time they line up, they get to bring in a poster of pictures of themselves to tell about to the class, etc. One thing you can do is have someone in the family come in to talk to the kids. That's when Michael and his Daddy got up to talk about the model car they've been working on. So cute! His poster was fun to make. Besides putting up various pictures I put a larger picture of his head right in the middle. I cut it out so it's just his disembodied, face/head, with his enthusiastic smile. The teacher liked it.
Since I haven't found a part-time job yet I have had the pleasure of going with his class on a walking field trip to the San Carlos police department and also to a ranch on the coast where they learned about animals, where some food and clothing come from, etc. What a bunch o'cuties. I do feel a little bad that Michael is cuter and smarter than all the other children. And he can read like you can't believe. I'm not even bragging.
Here's a little funny I'm telling on my boy. Last week I was making his lunch for school. We were out of bread so I put peanut butter and jam on a wheat tortilla, rolled it up and cut it in half on an angle. Irresistable, right? Well, he came home and there was only one bite out of his PB roll-up. What? I asked him about it. I commented that I know he likes PB & J, and that he's used to the wheat tortillas now, so what's the deal? He said "They are not in the right spot." "What does that mean?" I asked. He went on to explain that, "Everything has a spot, like feet go in shoes, and peanut butter and jam go on BREAD and NOT on TORTILLAS!" I will be sad when we don't have a little one around anymore. Their perspectives are so refreshing and delightful.
I'm enjoying my calling in Relief Society. It's not as overwhelming as I thought it would be. That's probably because I've been SO blessed with two wonderful counselors and a fabulous secretary. I had no idea how wonderful they would be, and in ways I didn't know we would need. Funny how that works! They truly carry me. We are working on assessing the literacy and culture change needs of our Spanish ward members and hope to put something useful in place there.
That's about it for now, kids,
Lovelovelove, the Feddookies
The Kurt Family Letter
Dear family,
I have been absent and behind in my letters.
Christine (15) is in 10th grade and doing well. She took the classroom part of her driver's education this past summer. She is currently on a waiting list for the behind-the-wheel part... much to her unhappiness; she will not get her license on her 16th birthday in January. She is quite the pixel artist - she draws amazing things on the computer, as well as in her sketch books that travel everywhere with her. She is contemplating joining the working world... she is beautiful and grounded... making her the neighborhood therapist for the girls and something to be admired for the boys. She recently received a plate of cookies from an anonymous admirer.
Christine made her Halloween costume in June - so she could wear it to an Anime (Japanese cartooning style) convention. I can't remember the name, but it involved dressing in black - which seems to be the order of the day. We are planning her 16th birthday... we allow friends-party on the 8th and 16th birthdays... so here we go...
Nicholas (13) has had a challenging year at school. He loves to read, and does so in class... his teachers are frustrated by the fact that he can quote their lectures, even though he was reading. He can answer the test questions verbally, but getting them on paper is a challenge... his teachers are working with him, to give him the credit for knowing the curriculum, while working with his particular style of learning. He is a gifted and brilliant child! He comes up with the most creative solutions! He is about to receive his Life Scout award in the next month or two; next stop, Eagle! Pete and Nick have been huddling over his Eagle Project... it will have something to do with collecting books and getting them to the USO... For Halloween, Nick dressed up as a character from one his books - Ichigo - a Japanese character with a big sword. Nick particularly talented in the kitchen and at the BBQ... he often BBQs at ward parties, as well as at home, and the help is greatly appreciated - in both places!
Jake (10) is a brand new Webelo! He is a lively and creative one. He builds the most amazing things out of Lego's, cardboard and scrap lumber! He is doing quite well in school. Jake has been doing his best to protect himself and his little sister from the bullying of some neighborhood boys who ride the bus with them. He did a magnificent job, until it got a little out of hand, and he needed to tell us - nothing terrible, it just wasn't stopping. A phone call to the principal of the school took care of it. The bus driver, parents and kids were spoken to by school administration, and all is well now! Jake is our knight protector! For Halloween he was a Disney video game character - Cloud Strife from the game Kingdom Hearts - he carries a big sword.
Katie (6) is flying through first grade. She has no trouble AT ALL making friends. A new first grader moved into a house down the street, a few weeks ago... she and Cameron were fast friends.... He's had dinner with us every night for nearly two weeks... this may need an adjustment. He and Jake are buddies, now, too... it is a recipe for disaster... but we will keep an eye on it.... Katie dressed up as Raven from the TV cartoon series Teen Titans... her white tights and blue hooded cape look very cute!! She loves to wear dresses still, but will play in the dirt without a second thought - go figure!
Our family made a trek to New Jersey again this last summer. We visited the same friends as last year... but this time we took day trips to Palmyra , Baltimore (for an Anime convention - with our NJ friends), Gettysburg and New York City ... the history of both country and church was a real thrill! Our hostess is an incredible treasure trove of historical and personal information... she was a pleasure to have along... we learned so much! Pete is keeping busy as Scoutmaster.... He works hard to get his boys advanced in their ranks and is a wonderful teacher! He was brave enough to take them all to scout camp this summer. Whilst there, they lost all of their candy bars to a bear, who broke open the locked cooler... the bear passed by all the fruit and went right for the chocolate - (Jen thinks it was a female bear...) and who wouldn't! Our cooler will forever have bear teeth marks in it... The boys really like Pete and his story telling talent; he really connects with them. The scouts will have a fund-raiser auction in the spring. The YW president is not going to be able to chair it this time, so Pete and Jen will take up that responsibility. The funds raised go to scout camp and girls camp... and that is not to be missed. Our ward makes a good chunk of change from that event. Jen will make several things, and Pete will coordinate the logistics.
Pete took us on the annual trek to the train shop in Pasadena .... We buy an LGB train car every Christmas... Jake was chomping at the bit this year. We can't put up the trains until the tree is decorating and we were slow to get that done... the engineers are happy now...
Jennifer is keeping busy as Webelos leader. Her 12 10-yr-old boys keep her hopping. One den meeting in particular will remain her for a long time. She taught them how to play chess. While this phenomenon was seen once before, it was thought a fluke... BUT, the 3 ft square paper board, and labeled disks entranced the boys that night, for a whole hour. Pieces and moves were discussed. The boys were broken into two teams to play against each other. They hovered over the board, huddling about their moves. Jen gave them instructions regarding the consequences of certain moves and what they ought or ought not do... but the boys made their own decisions... they danced around the room, whooping and hollering when they captured or cornered pieces... then they'd huddle up again... it was the most amazing sight... to see these rowdy, rough and tumble boys mesmerized by the game of chess. They were given a package of game rules and instructions. My sons, who can have very short attention spans, and can be very rowdy, are also mesmerized by the game. Her class heard all about how Dad used to play by the newspaper, and how he could do that... and that he used it to learn the game. They heard about how the older grandsons made it a goal to beat Grampa at the game... Jen suggested to the parents (at Pack Meeting) that they think about giving their scouts a chessboard for Christmas... after telling them the story. I know that one boy in particular, who has a learning disability, will get one... he is really interested in the game.
We are happy and reasonably healthy. Our children are doing well and keeping (mostly) out of trouble. Christmas and New Years will be spent at home... and we like that!
All our love, Pete, Jen, Christine, Nick, Jake and Katie
Archives: Sept. 2006 Letters