Ty & Nat update 2/24 Goin' to the Temple

We made marshmallow towers/people/stuff for family night. Eli's were, of course, the coolest.

This week I kept really busy at work. My adviser has been testing out a statistics unit that requires kids to think differently about how they do math. I've been at the elementary school all week working with kids on it and having a great time--it's nice to be back in a school.
Yesterday we drove down to Louisville and went to the temple. We haven't been since before Sharon was born and have really been itching to go for several weeks now but haven't been able to find others to go with us to switch off with the kids. Yesterday the Lee's agreed to go with us. We woke up early but the kids were cranky so we had to stop several times on the way down. It's too bad because the weather finally cleared up (it's been a very icy week). Eli cried most of the way down--probably because we don't go on a lot of weekend trips anymore so any time he gets in the car it is with the expectation that we're going somewhere close and he'll have a lot of fun. After a half hour yesterday he realized it wasn't fun and let us know about it for the next two hours of driving. Fortunately once we got there he had a great time playing with his friend Joseph. So we got there late and missed the session but were just so happy that we actually made it to the temple. It is such a wonderful place. We walked in and talked to the temple presidency and explained that we knew we'd missed the session but were just happy to be there and is there anything we can do? We were seated and able to enjoy the atmosphere while President Kloone walked around to see what was happening. He arranged for us to spend a few minutes doing initiatories before we needed to get back to the church (across the street) to trade off with the Lees so they could make their session. It was wonderful to be in the temple doing the work we love so much. Last night we started Stake Conference--and today the kids were wonderful at the morning session, Eli didn't have any problems and Sharon slept the entire time. It was fabulous.

aren't weekends wonderful?

i actually started feeling a bit better this weekend, which was very much appreciated as i had a lot of places to go and things to do! this photo is all of us at kasey's play, singing in the rain. she did a great job and it was really fun to see. in response to mum's (aka elder eyring's) challenge, i was really grateful for an experience i had on friday. i went to meet with a member of the temple presidency to see about becoming an ordinance worker. unfortunately, they don't have any night shifts available right now and i don't think i could work anything else out with my schedule. but the member of the temple presidency and his wife just "happen" to be in the new ward that i am now attending. so it was really fun to get to visit with them and meet them. then today at church i just felt so grateful to be in this new ward and to be able to learn from all of these amazing people. i am really blessed to have such wonderful opportunities! i hope everyone has a wonderful week.

I Feel like I'm pigging but remember my challenge?

So I was wondering if the emails from bryce that mckay set up to be automatically forwarded are including my letters to Bryce. I wanted to share my "aha" moment of seeing God's hand in my life. So if this is repetitious, then will someone let me know that you already saw the email I sent to Bryce. I had a good experience at the temple this week. I tried to relate it in my temple prep class but they didn't seem to get it. I will try you. I was doing initiatory ordinances with names my mom has gotten and was reflecting on the names thatI had been baptized for. I felt a connection to them and thought how much I appreciated them and what they did in their lives so I could be where I was. I thought about how critical I have been sometimes about my parents and how they really were just like the people I was doing work for and that I needed to focus on what they did right/well. The Savior focuses on our potential not our mistakes. So I was grateful to be reminded how blessed I was and that I hoped my children wouldn't focus on the things I have done wrong but on the things I have done right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. well it did have a big impact on me. I love being in the temple. Your dad and I looked out the window at 5:30 and saw how shiny the roads were and that it was very foggy and we decided instead of running we would read our scriptures. We are reading the Pearl of Great Price. I had a thought come to me probably because I had been listening to a tape about pondering and the importance of it. The thought was that Abraham had a lot of time to ponder when he was building an altar. I bet they took a while. Maybe that is a pattern for us when we pray...build an altar. So there is my profundity for the week, maybe. It's not over yet. I love the picture of Sharon and her cute jacket...it is on my screen saver only it is little. How do I make it bigger? Love you all. The noise in the background of the video is McKay and Dallin rubbing their fingers around their glass. This was a game where we all recited How Do I love Thee in a different mood while everyone guessed what it was. I want to send Grandma Fife's because it is a classic but I need to figure it out. The end.

TyandNat update 2/18/08

We like to dress Sharon up in very "girly" clothes because it make it obvious that she is a girl... and because she's just so darn cute.


Last week we watch most of the first season of Joan of Arcadia... I know, not too exciting, but it is something different. For Valentine's day Natalie went shopping while I cooked a candlelight dinner. We also opened presents with Eli in the morning--we was thrilled that Santa was back in business. It's was a rough week sleep wise, Sharon is starting to wake up throughout the night again and we've all been a little sick going through the weekend.
Saturday we went to Chuck-E-Cheese up in Indianapolis. It was a pretty fancy one with lots of games and rides for the kids. The Lees came with us and it was exactly what we needed (to get out of the house and do something).
Our excuse for the excursion was that I was hired for next school year as an Associate Professor. What that really means is that I will be funded for another year and likely two. That alleviates a lot of financial concerns we have had. I'll be teaching an introductory course in Educational Psychology. Just two sections each semester while I try to keep up on my research. Yehaw.

Valentines Day

Last year with my roommate Keith, we decided that in order to make Valentine's day fun that we actually needed to do something cool. Rather than sitting around hoping for Valentines that never come (except from you mom), we thought it would be great to make cheesy Valentines.

Here are the Valentines I made this year. I wrote about 20 Valentines and wrote a poem for each one.



Roses are red,
Violets are periwinkle,
Your eyes are so lovely
whenever they twinkle.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your kindness is as big as
The capital of Peru.

Roses are red,
Violets are indigo,
Sometimes I wish
You'd just say hello.

Roses are red,
Violets are sapphire,
You slow down my heart,
Just like a flat tire.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Remember that time
We watched Xanadu?


Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You make me feel
Like an awesome hairdo.

Roses are red,
Violets are sapphire,
If you were a conductor,
Could I be your choir?

Roses are red,
Violets are purple
You are as funny,
As Steven Urkel.




Roses are red,
Violets are sapphire,
You warm my heart,
Just like a hair dryer.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
If I were a shoelace,
Would you be my shoe?

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You warm my heart
Like a nice stomach flu.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your voice is as lovely,
As a well played kazoo.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Thanks for inviting me
To play Frisbee with you.


Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
If I were an Australian
Would you be my kangaroo?

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You are as cute
As Winnie The Pooh.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You are as sweet
As green apple shampoo.


Roses are red,
Violets are violet,
If I were an airplane,
Would you be my pilot?

Valentine Thoughts From Mom

We had a great time last night hosting a Valentine dinner for friends since I had no takers for bringing a boyfriend or girlfriend home for us to entertain and since Ty and Nat are too far away. Someday we will re-enact our candle lite dinner for them. So I took who I could get and we had my new discovery of whole wheat pitas that Kira taught me how to make, only I had too much flour and they were DRY-- but very circular...I was proud of the circularism. It was Greek pitas with marinated chicken, feta cheese, a special dressing and lots of veggies.There was no candle wax on the tablecloth this time. I made sure I had that covered. I had chocolates scattered from the molds that Nat gave me (cute little teddy bears and flowers) and valentines with love poems on them. We played the Oldy Wed game and I have not laugh so hard in a while as we watched the Hughes duke it out with what the question really was or who was supposed to answer it. I was looking for something and found this old letter that your dad sent me while I was at camp and he had the great experience of taking care of the four oldest kids full time. I thought you might enjoy it. Dear Wynette: Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. Hope that you are able to get some sleep. Discovered a more efficient way to change diapers. Once in the morning and once just before going to bed. Saved quite a bit on laundry ( hope you feel like doing laundry when you get back). Decided to rinse all the dirty diapers in the toilet downstairs. I figure it's got a capacity of 6-7. When it's full, I'll do them all at the same time. We finished eating the peanut butter balls this morning and we're out of Sugar Puffs. Any suggestions? Know anybody else that might have some Taco Time coupons?( Burritos aren't so bad after all) Miss you a lot. Give our love to all our babysitters. (the other girls too). Love, Kim and kids PS I forgot where you keep the recipe for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Happy Valentine's Day from Mom and Dad

My love is like a cabbage
Divided into two
The leaves I give to others.
The heart I give to you!
Happy Valentine's Day WE LOVE YOU

Missy Higgins is awesome!!

So my birthday was pretty uneventful. To appease my friends, I met them at Coldstone and we had ice cream. This was the first birthday that I didn't have a birthday cake!! I decided that I was to make the famous german chocolate cake that I love so much, I would most likely end up eating most of it. I am really trying to cut back on sugar so I saved my calories for ice cream. It was de-lish! I got cheesecake ice cream with brownie, almonds and caramel sauce. It was amazing.
Yesterday was a day I won't forget quickly. I won tickets to Studio C on the radio to listen to Missy Higgins, a famous Austrailian singer. This radio station gets up and coming artists to come to Tucson and do a live recording. I first heard Missy on Fronteir airlines. They had a couple of her music videos on their free channel. I really liked her and went to her website and you could listen to all of her songs. Well my friend Elizabeth really likes her too and so when I heard they were giving away tickets I called in. I finally won something! It was a hassle to move my schedule around so we could go but it was totally worth it. We went to this run down studio that was downtown. It was my first time downtown. I don't get out much! Elizabeth and I were there first so Missy walked right past us to get into the building. They had couches and candles burning and all these lights and cameras. There were about 18 people there and so we basically had our own little concert. She played four song for us and the radio people asked her questions. If you would like to hear the songs she sang for us you can go to her website www.missyhiggins.com and listen to them. She performed Wrong Girl, Peachy, Steer, and Where I Stood. The last one she played on the piano and the rest where just her singing and playing the acoustic guitar. After she was done Elizabeth and I hung back and talked to her a bit and got a picture with her. She was very nice. Elizabeth told her how grateful she was to her and her music and she really spoke to her through her music ect. I asked her if she writes the music and then lyrics or vice versa or at the same time. She said it depends on the song but usually she writes the music and then lyrics. I think it is an amazing talent to be able to come up with melodies and such and then write good lyrics to go with them. I just love that she wrote a song that used the word peachy. She is really popular in Aust. and she came to the US to promote her new album and build a fan base here. Too bad she didn't stay to give a concert. It was such a cool experience. I will post the pictures when I get them from Elizabeth.
I hope everyone has a great Valentines day!
Mom, thanks for always sending me a Valentine. It makes me feel special and loved. I really appreciate it.

Wacky Weekends

This past weekend went by way too fast. We enjoyed the World Wide Leadership Broadcast and hope all of you will find a way to view it. It is all about families and has great ideas for those that want to have a family. We then bought new running shoes with the money we got back from our insurance by doing fitness challenges. It is great to get paid for having fun! We went to Orem to return something at Lowe's on our way to go x country skiing and decided we were too tired to go skiing. Maybe it was the overcast skies...brrrr. Brooke showed up about the time we got home from her skiing adventure. Then McKay brought friends, including our most missed and absent from communicating son Dallin. It was Monty's idea of thinking of something to do but he didn't do anything other than decide to come and play Trivial Pursuit. That game did not last too long before we had people reading poetry while others guessed the author or some making quilt tents over the fooz ball table. Becca mostly yawned and wished she were home in bed after a day of eagle spotting. We ate and played and all went home to get ready for Sunday. Dad spoke in our Ward Conference and shared at dinner that night with those that weren't there about being a "fallen" people...as he told about falling from his bike. I had someone call and ask for a copy. I don't know if there is one. Grandma Fife came in the afternoon, then McKay and Dallin for a birthday celebration with Brooke. We ate, played the Family Info game, played Don't Eat Brooke with money instead of candy, read How Do I Love Thee with different expressions ( I have this downloaded but can't figure out how to post it..I need help) and made caramel apples. Dad made the comment in his talk that the day was special because that is when he became a dad. I have thought a lot about our family. What hopes and dreams we have and where we are at. I am grateful to know and see that what is most important we are doing and those things that we wish for, we are all trying hard to make happen. Life is great!

TyandNat update 2/11/08

This week are official starting the home buying process. We've actually been doing homework on this for a long time now but we're seeing our first properties tomorrow. We finally decided on a bank/lender after visiting three. And on Saturday we picked a real estate agent that we're happy to have working for us. We have a pretty good idea of what we want and are excited to start shopping around.
That's really the only exciting news for the week. The kids are doing well, Sharon is sleeping better each week and Eli is just as cute as ever.

I knew I had some help

I jotted down a couple of notes earlier in the week to remind me that I had seen the hand of God in my life. As I look at the notes now I see that the special experiences may mean very little to anyone else. Nevertheless I feel that I've seen the hand of God as I've read your tributes to President Hinckley. Your testimony of a living prophet is remarkable and the result of a witness of the spirit. A second experience came as I reflected on the completion of a couple of minor repairs. The dishwasher door wouldn't close so I looked it over, removed some screws, pulled and pushed it around and finally discovered the hinge on one side had been knocked out of alignment. I pushed it back into place, made some minor adjustments and it worked. Later that evening I replaced the doorknob on the front door with a new one purchased on my way home from work. The howling wind from the night before rattled the door reminding us that I hadn't yet repaired the door. Long ago we discovered that it only appeared to close tightly because of the magnetic seal. Once any pressure was applied it would rattle in the frame due to an ill fitting latch. The new door knob has an additional plunger on the latch and after some minor adjustments it clicks into place and keeps the door firmly closed. After putting my tools away I thought of how often minor projects blossom into major repairs requiring much more time and expense than I had planned for. This time around the repairs went well and were complete when I put the tools away. That's not normal for me. I knew I had some help. -kbc

my reflections

i also enjoyed watching pres. hinkley's funeral yesterday morning. there was such a sweet spirit during the meeting and i was so impressed to be reminded of all the wonderful things that pres. hinkley has done in his life. i really felt the desire to try a little harder to be a little better! so i decided i would go to the temple that afternoon. i could always spend more time at the temple. i had the neatest experiences there! i received a lot of answers to things that i have been thinking about lately. i was also reminded of my wonderful ancestors and the great lives that they led. i am so thankful for their examples! after the session i was able to do the sealings for some family names that grandma has given me. the officiator of the sealing was a sweet german brother with the strongest accent. he reminded me of elder uchdorft and once again i was reminded of what great examples i have had throughout my life! thank you to my family for leading such exemplary lives and for being such great friends to me!

TyandNat update February 2nd

We spend a lot of time reflecting on the life of President Hinckley this week. It was nice to think back at all he accomplished and taught us. Other than that, there wasn't anything especially significant that happened this week. I had a few minor successes with the job search for summer work, and had a productive work week. I'm really enjoying my research right now. I also spent much more time with the kids this week than I usually do. I had them Tuesday morning (Nat's basketball) and a few nights as well... to give Natalie a break. They are a lot of work in the afternoons. We blessed Sharon today at church. Oh, and I made pea soup this week--I love that stuff! Here's a fun video of Eli going through the first phase of getting ready for bed with us. Our normal routine is: get pajamas on, read scriptures, read piggy book, read two other books, sing the "Nemo Song," hugs and kisses and high fives and fall asleep. Works like a charm.

Special Weekend

It seems Utah is weeping. It has snowed all week except yesterday which was President Hinckley's funeral. We were grateful to be able to view President Hinckley's funeral in our home and feel the love of all for a Prophet such as he was. McKay was here but under the weather ...or lack of sleep. We got up early and went to Out and Back and got ski poles!!! We sorta cleaned them out since we got 5 pairs. We got some for Kurt and Chamaine so that was 2 pair. It was one of their great sales where they feed you breakfast and have great sales. We got home and listened to the funeral, went to Marie Huff's for a farewell Open House for the Memmotts ( around the corner) and then went skiing with the Wollenzien's up Payson Canyon. That was a first for us and very fun. We skiied up to Beanie Creek Trail and the Ghrotto Trail head and decided a repeat trip needed to be made with snowshoes in tow so we could hike to the waterfall. We then went to the Flinders where we played Wii games like tennis (I creamed your dad), bowling, and guitar--my personal but obnoxious favorite. I took my Ro Botana and vacuumed while we played. I am the envy of all that see it thanks to Kira. We saw one on clearance at Lowe's for $140. Today is a big day for dad. He is setting apart 4 new bishops and creating a new ward. That's life in the fast lane for us. Have a great week and Happy Birthday to Brooke and Kira. We love you all.