October 10, 2010

From the Editor's Desk

Its 10/10/10. That is pretty amazing. There has to be something cosmic to this date. I hope you have had a wonderful week and that you will enjoy the latest family blog post.

The Wisconsin Haws family

Logan played his second to last soccer game of the season this last week. His team including Logan has put together a stellar season. They won all but one game and they tied the team that they did not win. They ended this week with a win 6-0. Logan has contributed a lot. On Friday they had a team party that Logan enjoyed. On Saturday he went with friends to Powers Bluff. They had a great time.

Emily had her wisdom teeth extracted this week. It was a hard week but she had a lot of friends drop by with ice cream, milk shakes and other tasty treats. She enjoyed Friday evening and Saturday with Mom, Mirah Kolts and a lot of the Relief Society sisters in Minocqua at the Kolt's "cottage".

Lanette has a fairly quiet weekend at home. Grant and I worked on the house while she read, talked with us and enjoyed a movie with Logan and me. We watched Prince of Persia. It was a fun, exciting movie. Lanette is a bit frustrated with her school but this will probably be her last year at the School for the Blind.

Grant is in his final few days training in Stevens Point and he will be immensely happy to have his one minute commute home back, especially when he closes and doesn't get out of work until one or two in the morning. Tuesday is his last shift in Point, and then Friday night he will be closing the Marshfield store all on his own. This weekend he helped put on a "Bartender Boot Camp" at the Marshfield store, which was basically a training meeting for all the Applebee's bartenders, to show them how to make a bunch of drinks. Grant is excited to plant all the bulbs in the garden this week. He has tulips, daffodils, and hyacinth bulbs to plant so that in spring the yard will be super pretty

Mom joined Emily in going to the Kolt's cottage. She roomed with Sister Smith. They had a great time but apparently endured more snoring from some of the sisters than she endures with me. She enjoyed kayaking on the lake and good friendships.

I had a fairly quiet week. I was delighted to be able to finish the attic ladder system. I am working on the basement storage areas now. One of these days I will have to hang up my hammer. Work has been challenging and interesting at the same time. My new responsibilities as resident research director and scout master keep me challenged.

News from Newport News

The weeks seem to keep flying by. This week Haley had back-to-school night; we were able to see some of the art work that Haley has done and also see her school journal. She is doing very well with phonetic spelling, and also loves to draw pictures for her teacher Ms. Crithers. I thought it was very nice of Ms. Crithers, because all of the drawings that Haley has given her she has hung up on the mirror above the sink in the classroom. Kayla was very excited this week because we finally found her some pink snow boots for when we move to Colorado….ooohh the things that can excite little girls! Andy started school last Monday at the Army Logistic University (ALU) at Fort Lee, VA, and will be in school until the day before Thanksgiving. He is gone during the week but we are very grateful that he is able to come home on weekends to be with us. Melanie was able to coordinate with one of her friends whose husband is stationed at Ft. Carson, to look at some Townhomes for us. We were able to find and set up a very nice townhome in Widefield, CO, which has relieved a lot of stress off of both of us. We have been very blessed by finding this Townhome due to the fact that it is in a great school district, safe area, large home with a garage, and only about a 20 minute drive to work. We also will be in a ward (church) that we already know two families (from when we were stationed at Ft. Irwin and Ft. Lee). We also got some family pictures taken a couple of weeks ago. If any of you know Andy, we had to beg him to get them taken because he does not like to “plan” for pictures, but I thought they turned out okay.

The International Haws Family

Mom and Dad,



Our week went well. Two weeks I should say as I did not get a version out last week.



The kids are doing well in school and have just finished mid-terms. This week is Children’s day in Brazil, which is my most hated holiday. Serious, the kids don’t have school on Monday or Tuesday this week and have had more days of presents than Jews during Hanukkah. Lucky for me this is almost done.



Renata has enjoyed herself. An International Theater festival is in town and she has been out to several of the performances. She has tickets yet for a couple more and I believe that she will enjoy them.



As to myself, I heard “plays” and “presents” and could only think of Dickens and Bah-Humbug. But that is not to say that I have not enjoyed myself. Work has been very exciting. I have an app at the Apple waiting for review. Hopefully in a week or two it will be approved and available in the App Store. It is based on the website Steven is building.



Hope that you have had more excitement.



Love,

Jeff



The Virginia Lane's

This Tuesday is Julie and Jeff's first anniversary. Congratulations! Julie told us that she and Jeff will be off enjoying their anniversary so we will wait to next week for their update.


The Jackson's of Albuquerque

querqueLast Sunday Kevin made the most delicious cinnamon rolls. However, the cinnamon rolls were so large and rich, they decided to share them with others. They invited their neighbor and friend, Cesar to come try some and then delivered a few to their friends, the Hardmans. On Monday Stacie and Kevin enjoyed FHE together and decided to re-commit to their scripture reading. Thank you, General Conference, for the encouragement. :-) On Tuesday Stacie picked up photos at Costco to begin her next scrapbooking project. In the evening she attended mutual where the youth played a "missionary relay" where they practiced teaching lessons, tying ties, sewing buttons and ironing shirts.


On Thursday Stacie and Kevin headed over to a fellow graduate student's house for a dinner with friends. Although Kevin really enjoys his classes and fellow graduate students, Stacie & Kevin are nervous for the future at UNM. Since the school is run by the state, whenever tuition is raised, the state raises it an extra amount to go straight into the state treasury. Next year they anticipate raises in tuition, but continued budget cuts that threaten Kevin's ability to get an assistantship or to take the classes he'd like to take. Stacie and Kevin would appreciate your prayers as they search through all their options for the future.


On Friday, Stacie and Kevin attended a dinner a the church with the bishopric and other new members of their ward. They enjoyed getting to know more people and playing an intense game of volleyball. On Saturday they tried to locate their stake cub scout training camp but they weren't able to make it up the mountain in their poor buick. After a work meeting for Kevin, they went out for their monthly pre-fast-Sunday feast at a Chinese buffet. There was some strange food that they had never seen before, like a marshmallow like roll called a "Peach Roll" that didn't taste anything like peaches though it looked beautiful.


This upcoming week they look forward to spending time with Kevin's parents and Carolyn & Brent while taking time off work and school.