September 12, 2011

The Lane's of Virginia

This past week has been busy with achievement days, temple trip activities, and visiting friends.

For achievement days we took magazine pictures and adjusted clothes to make them modest. The lesson was on "why are we modest?"

We went to DC on Saturday. We wanted to go to the Smithsonian but ran out of adequate time to get there and to the temple, so we went to IKEA and found some cute monitors, bowls and plates for baby for under 10 in total! IT was awesome! We then went to the temple and found that Jeff had left his church shoes, temple clothes and the person's name he was doing work for at home. Thankfully, when Julie went to get into her temple bag she found a male name card that needed the endowment done and was able to get it to Jeff in time. It was a nice session. Afterwards we strolled through Toys R us, but did not get anything since they were so overpriced. Yet they had an awesome parking place for us (see picture). We then topped off our day going to Olive Garden on a gift card we got at Christmas. It was a fun trip.


Sunday, we went to a friend's home to chat with them in the evening. We enjoy talking with the couple often. They also gave us some of their son's old clothes; which we appreciate very much.

Grant's News

Grant had a busy week at work, he has had more closing shifts and that is both a good and bad thing. More money, but very worn out feet from running around constantly. On his day off this week Grant started harvesting the pumpkins that were ripe. He got sixteen pumpkins and still has a handful growing. He is also excited to start getting bulbs to plant in the garden that will grow in spring. Not much else is going on for Grant. He is looking forward to the cooler weather this week which will allow him to hike through the marsh, mosquito free.


The Jackson's of Albuquerque

Stacie & Kevin enjoyed getting to spend extra time together on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. They stopped by a local bookstore and then swung by a new pizza place they hadn't tried. Of course, they loved it. It's pizza! They then stopped over at Old Navy to purchase some new pants for Kevin, who was in desperate need for some new ones. Stacie was excited to find a Star Wars lunch box while they were in line. Since purchasing it she has had many compliments, including from her bus driver.


On Tuesday they returned to work and school. Kevin has enjoyed sharing his office space with his friend, Nick. They have spent their down time creating sling shots and designing catapults. Stacie was excited to meet a goal on a work project. On Saturday Stacie & Kevin ran errands and visited the bookstore once again. They were excited to purchase a monkey puppet and a book for their baby, as well as a medieval literature book for Kevin. Stacie was also excited to work on some sewing this weekend. She looks forward on making lots of crafts for their baby.


Today Stacie gave a talk in sacrament meeting. After church Kevin and Stacie received callings in their new ward. Kevin will be serving the Webelos and Stacie will be assisting the ward council in planning ward activities. Later in the afternoon they enjoyed some small hikes up in the Sandia Mountains with their friend, Nick.

The Haws Family of Colorado and Afghanistan

This past Monday I took the girls to the Labor Day parade in Fountain where they made a little friend. We miss going to things like that so it was nice to go to a small town celebration. On Tuesday Haley went back to school while Kayla spent all day playing with Emma. Wednesday Haley had an early release day which she was excited about because she was able to play with her friend Sydney for a couple of hours. Thursday Haley received a Cougar Card from school because she was being a good example by walking quietly in the line. Good job Haley! On Friday we went to a barbeque at the park for a family at church that will be moving to Alaska in a couple of weeks. The girls had a lot of fun playing at the park with all of their friends from church. I really enjoyed being around good people. On Sunday Haley gave a talk in primary on missionary work. She did a very good job and reminded all of us that we all are missionaries to everyone. Andy is doing well even though had to give up half of his room because he finally got a roommate.

The Haws Family of Wisconsin

This has been a tragic week in the Haws home. My Mazda officially died just short of 292,000 miles. I was fortunate to have two sisters from our branch bring me home after the tragic demise. We had all been at the temple and fortunately one of the sisters felt impressed that she should follow me to make sure I made it safely home. In return for their kindness I took them out to dinner.

Logan had a good week. School is in full swing and so is soccer. His team won one and lost one. He is becoming a very accomplished player. He is hoping to add more chickens to his flock this coming week. Unfortunately his egg delivery business had a setback tonight after a fall.

Emily is just as broken hearted about the demise of the Mazda as me. I am determined not to buy a new car until I can pay cash for the car. Emily would prefer looking now for a car. I may be forced to change my resolve after the snow begins to fly. Emily is challenged by her AP classes but she is studying hard and we are proud of her efforts. Emily took her ACT test this last week. We are cheering for her to do well.

Lanette has continued to enjoy school. At school today there was a bomb threat. We thought that Lanette would be quite upset. Luckily she was across the street at Tiny Tigers when the threat was identified. Nevertheless she did great. Lanette join Mom, Logan and me to attend the temple on Saturday. We did a lot of temple work which was great. Lanette has not be as afraid of the water as she was years ago. It is hard to image the difficulties I had with baptizing her 9 years ago.

Mom and I had the pleasure of taking Lanette and Logan with us to attend the temple. It was extremely busy at the temple on Saturday, probably the busiest day in my recall. That was great. We have enjoyed the pleasure of having a surgical residency applicant in our home this weekend.

We hope you will have a wonderful week.

Mom,