Emma Haupt - Summertime in New YorkThursday, July 2, 2009
July 2009 - Executive Office of Ken Woodward
Dear family,
I want to thank all of you who phoned or visited me on Father’s Day. I truly enjoyed our visits. Torrie was a bit argumentative, but then it is not unusual for most adopted children to sometimes feel a bit outside the family circle.
June seems to have passed very rapidly, and being consumed by summer home schooling, and caressing my tomato plants, I’m pretty well occupied for most of each day. And as a result, my outside-the-home social life has pretty well been limited to a drive-thru at McDonalds, or maybe, on weekends, a take-out from Panda Express.
Zachari and Joshua have been out of regular school for three weeks, with only eight weeks before it takes up on August 24. I was looking forward to them attending summer school. I had made all the necessary applications, filled out a myriad of forms and asked to have them assigned to the school closest to home (Arden), but the Friday before school started I got a letter from the school district telling me they had assigned Zachari to Arden and Joshua to Churchill, about five miles away. With the starting and ending time being the same at both schools I couldn’t conduct a shuttle service to accommodate both and to send only one would have been mutinous.
On July 15 there will be an official grandsons-handoff to Grandpa Shubin at a pre-determined mid-point near Manteca. He has some exciting travel plans for them during the time he has them which will be about a week, but they are about as excited about leaving home as being scheduled for a root canal. But I keep reminding them that they are as much related to him as to me, and they better keep a good relationship with him at least until the reading of his will. As he is about 20 years younger than me I don’t expect to be around for the reading.
As I read this I’m impressed how much my life is involved with activities I should have been able to put behind me 20 years ago. But I can’t do anything about something I can’t do anything about, so it’s one day at a time.
As participation in our monthly Newswire during the past few months has been disappointing, I have asked the Managing Director, beginning with this issue, to forward it only to those family members who submitted a report. In the near future we may decide that regular family news is not that important to most of you, and we should discontinue altogether.
Love, Dad
I want to thank all of you who phoned or visited me on Father’s Day. I truly enjoyed our visits. Torrie was a bit argumentative, but then it is not unusual for most adopted children to sometimes feel a bit outside the family circle.
June seems to have passed very rapidly, and being consumed by summer home schooling, and caressing my tomato plants, I’m pretty well occupied for most of each day. And as a result, my outside-the-home social life has pretty well been limited to a drive-thru at McDonalds, or maybe, on weekends, a take-out from Panda Express.
Zachari and Joshua have been out of regular school for three weeks, with only eight weeks before it takes up on August 24. I was looking forward to them attending summer school. I had made all the necessary applications, filled out a myriad of forms and asked to have them assigned to the school closest to home (Arden), but the Friday before school started I got a letter from the school district telling me they had assigned Zachari to Arden and Joshua to Churchill, about five miles away. With the starting and ending time being the same at both schools I couldn’t conduct a shuttle service to accommodate both and to send only one would have been mutinous.
On July 15 there will be an official grandsons-handoff to Grandpa Shubin at a pre-determined mid-point near Manteca. He has some exciting travel plans for them during the time he has them which will be about a week, but they are about as excited about leaving home as being scheduled for a root canal. But I keep reminding them that they are as much related to him as to me, and they better keep a good relationship with him at least until the reading of his will. As he is about 20 years younger than me I don’t expect to be around for the reading.
As I read this I’m impressed how much my life is involved with activities I should have been able to put behind me 20 years ago. But I can’t do anything about something I can’t do anything about, so it’s one day at a time.
As participation in our monthly Newswire during the past few months has been disappointing, I have asked the Managing Director, beginning with this issue, to forward it only to those family members who submitted a report. In the near future we may decide that regular family news is not that important to most of you, and we should discontinue altogether.
Love, Dad
July 2009 - Cannon, Aaron & Mindy & Family
To Whom It May Concern:
This note is to inform you that The Cannon Family (San Diego Version) is alive and well, if barely. We are very excited for the Governors third furlough day to kick in. Nothing boosts morale like knowing you are working for free three days a month. Happily I work in an environment that is very uplifting and Psych staff is generally beloved by all. The officers love to have us there, the inmates love to have us there, the Psych MD's love to have us there, and our Supervisors love to have us there. I know this because they all treat us like professionals and are always very helpful. Good time to be a state employee. Unless you are a CHiP, then it really is a good time to be a state employee.
The Baby has lost her Baby Mind. Yesterday she jumped out of her mothers arms and made a beeline for the pool......and into the pool and straight to the bottom. When her mother pulled her out you would expect a gasping terrified baby....instead The Baby who has lost her Baby Mind looked at her mother in disgust because she ruined her drowning game. Crazy Baby.
Jakob is enjoying life without school. I don't think his mother shares those sentiments.
Mindy is working hard to keep everyone alive (see above referenced story about the Baby who has lost her Baby Mind).
I have finished my first book and we are actively shopping it. I am in the middle my second book's proposal. This one is about keeping your kids safe in the 21st century given that most of the dangers ours kids face didn't exist when I was a kid and spending 40 hours a week inside the bad guys heads gives me a certain advantage over the bad guys. We have one interested publisher. There are 2-3 other books in my head but nothing good ever really comes outta my head so we might just keep them there.
For every one interested we are surfing every Friday morning at Tourmaline. We are in the water by 6:15am. See ya there! Grandpa, this means you.
This note is to inform you that The Cannon Family (San Diego Version) is alive and well, if barely. We are very excited for the Governors third furlough day to kick in. Nothing boosts morale like knowing you are working for free three days a month. Happily I work in an environment that is very uplifting and Psych staff is generally beloved by all. The officers love to have us there, the inmates love to have us there, the Psych MD's love to have us there, and our Supervisors love to have us there. I know this because they all treat us like professionals and are always very helpful. Good time to be a state employee. Unless you are a CHiP, then it really is a good time to be a state employee.
The Baby has lost her Baby Mind. Yesterday she jumped out of her mothers arms and made a beeline for the pool......and into the pool and straight to the bottom. When her mother pulled her out you would expect a gasping terrified baby....instead The Baby who has lost her Baby Mind looked at her mother in disgust because she ruined her drowning game. Crazy Baby.
Jakob is enjoying life without school. I don't think his mother shares those sentiments.
Mindy is working hard to keep everyone alive (see above referenced story about the Baby who has lost her Baby Mind).
I have finished my first book and we are actively shopping it. I am in the middle my second book's proposal. This one is about keeping your kids safe in the 21st century given that most of the dangers ours kids face didn't exist when I was a kid and spending 40 hours a week inside the bad guys heads gives me a certain advantage over the bad guys. We have one interested publisher. There are 2-3 other books in my head but nothing good ever really comes outta my head so we might just keep them there.
For every one interested we are surfing every Friday morning at Tourmaline. We are in the water by 6:15am. See ya there! Grandpa, this means you.
July 2009 - Haupt, Levi & Torrie & Family
This has been a fun month. The girls have been getting along better and Charlotte is more mobile. In the last few weeks, even though she is still "worming" (not fully crawling) she has taught herself to stand and cruise a little. She loves to follow Emma around and this either delights or annoys Emma, depending on her mood. She’s going to have to get used to it, that isn’t going to change. Charlotte was off the charts at her last appt in head circumference and weight. However the Dr. isn't worried and was impressed by how quick she is. We love our smart cute girls! We have really been enjoying the summer with more swimming and visiting the local carousel. The horses there are ALMOST as good as Ginger (grandpa's bouncy horse.) Levi’s been hard at work meeting government deadlines and playing nice with his co-workers. I have been enjoying our ward’s book club, my favorite book so far has been “The Great Divorce” by CS Lewis, I highly recommend it. We hope you all are enjoying the summer. Until next month!
Love,
Torrie, Levi and the girls
Torrie, Levi and the girls
July 2009 - McClintock, Robert & Susan
The word from Carmichael, California is 'HOT.' Our emphatic interjection for the word HOT is -- !!!!!
For those who abide in the easy temperate flow of an on-shore breeze -- either Atlantic or Pacific -- we envy you about as long as it takes to say the word HOT because we are now assured the tomato harvest will come and Grandpa's tomatoes will be abundant. It is possible that any who have never eaten a fresh tomato, a fresh ear of corn, fresh string beans, or any produce that took less than half-an-hour to travel to their point of purchase will wonder why the folks in Carmichael think HOT is beautiful. Don't dwell on it too long, just go find a farm-fresh tomato.
Having shared our 'sage' wisdom for the moment we move on to say that though we are HOT in Carmichael we are also well. Life is mostly quiet and routine. Emily visited with us for a week this month. She talked us into seeing, with her, the musical play "The Lion King"... and what an amazing stage play it is. The audience was abundant with young excited children. When the curtain rose on the opening act we were agog with the inventiveness and ingenuity of the costumes and make-up. (What kind of genius does it take to put actors on stilts and call them Giraffes or build gigantic Slinkys and call them Elephants?)
The Digital Transition from comfortable, clear video to expensive, fuzzy high definition television took its toll on the Capitol City community and Susan's work load...as viewers who had prepared for the HD TV experience found out that their expensive HD TVs were not receiving HD programming (because only a handful of producers are able to make programs in high definition do to the high expense of the new equipment) and unless one has a TV the size of their family room wall and can sit 25 feet away from the screen all the viewer sees is annoying fuzzy old-style programming. One week before the transition the FCC threw a last minute regulation at our company television stations that almost derailed our ability to meet the conversion deadline. The last time there was this much angst in the television industry was when two competing home recording systems came on the scene in the late 1970s: the BETA system versus the VHS system. (Guess which system the Executive Office bought. Is there an eBay category for Oops?)
That pretty much covers the month of June for the McClintocks.
Happy Pioneer Day to all!
For those who abide in the easy temperate flow of an on-shore breeze -- either Atlantic or Pacific -- we envy you about as long as it takes to say the word HOT because we are now assured the tomato harvest will come and Grandpa's tomatoes will be abundant. It is possible that any who have never eaten a fresh tomato, a fresh ear of corn, fresh string beans, or any produce that took less than half-an-hour to travel to their point of purchase will wonder why the folks in Carmichael think HOT is beautiful. Don't dwell on it too long, just go find a farm-fresh tomato.
Having shared our 'sage' wisdom for the moment we move on to say that though we are HOT in Carmichael we are also well. Life is mostly quiet and routine. Emily visited with us for a week this month. She talked us into seeing, with her, the musical play "The Lion King"... and what an amazing stage play it is. The audience was abundant with young excited children. When the curtain rose on the opening act we were agog with the inventiveness and ingenuity of the costumes and make-up. (What kind of genius does it take to put actors on stilts and call them Giraffes or build gigantic Slinkys and call them Elephants?)
The Digital Transition from comfortable, clear video to expensive, fuzzy high definition television took its toll on the Capitol City community and Susan's work load...as viewers who had prepared for the HD TV experience found out that their expensive HD TVs were not receiving HD programming (because only a handful of producers are able to make programs in high definition do to the high expense of the new equipment) and unless one has a TV the size of their family room wall and can sit 25 feet away from the screen all the viewer sees is annoying fuzzy old-style programming. One week before the transition the FCC threw a last minute regulation at our company television stations that almost derailed our ability to meet the conversion deadline. The last time there was this much angst in the television industry was when two competing home recording systems came on the scene in the late 1970s: the BETA system versus the VHS system. (Guess which system the Executive Office bought. Is there an eBay category for Oops?)
That pretty much covers the month of June for the McClintocks.
Happy Pioneer Day to all!
July 2009 - Slade, Jeff & Crystal & Family
It has been awhile but we are still here, just with a new email address. It is tanfelice@skybeam.com. We are all enjoying our summer, the kids are enjoying having a break, I am enjoying having a break, and Jeff is enjoying having a job. He is back at WalMart in Denver. He has been there since April. He is very happy and says it feels like "home." Most importantly, he is happy to have a regular paycheck. I will be returning to the high school next year to work as a psychologist and will also pick up a middle school as well. So, next year, I will be working full-time. We hope I won't need to do that longer than one year, but we will see. Mathew will be starting middle school, Felicity will be starting 3rd grade and Andrew will be back in preschool. We will be busy, busy....so for now we are looking forward to continuing with our relaxing summer!!
July 2009 - Woodward, Kevin & Tammy & Family
Tammy and I enjoyed being “Ma and Pa” for 150 Mia Maid and Laurel-age young women early in the month of June. This was part of a type of girls camp which we conduct in the odd-numbered year known as Daughters of Promise. It is a high-adventure camp, but with a very spiritual focus. In the even-numbered year we conduct a similar experience for our Teacher and Priest age young men known as Aaron’s Camp. It was a great success.
We made mention last month that we were planning to have Steven Covey come and speak at an adult fireside. Well he did and it was marvelous. Prior to the fireside I met a non-member fellow by the name of Weldon Long who was in attendance. He had spent time, a fair amount of time, in prison. While there he picked up Covey’s 7 Habits book, which he said changed his life. Today he is a very successful author, speaker and entrepreneur. Brother Covey spent some time with him afterwards. It was interesting in that the reason Brother Covey was in town was to discuss with state officials a pilot program he has been conducting for inmates in the Colorado prison system.
Tammy was extended a release from her calling as the Primary secretary. She is currently without portfolio. That is bound to change soon.
I spent a week in Orlando on business. Unfortunately, the weather was much better back here in Colorado.
On Monday the 29th, we attended the Tabernacle Choir concert at Red Rocks in Denver. Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway, it was fabulous. We attended a church public affairs reception prior to the event held for several prominent individuals in the state. The governors of Colorado and Wyoming were in attendance. (Governor Ritter of Colorado conducted the choir and orchestra for their final number.) During the course of the reception, President Monson stepped into the room, unannounced. He was greeted, and spoke to the reception guests for about 15 minutes. Shortly thereafter, everyone, including President Monson, headed to the amphitheater for the performance. It was evening we will not soon forget. For that matter, I’m sure we never will.
Lots of love,
Kevin and Tammy
We made mention last month that we were planning to have Steven Covey come and speak at an adult fireside. Well he did and it was marvelous. Prior to the fireside I met a non-member fellow by the name of Weldon Long who was in attendance. He had spent time, a fair amount of time, in prison. While there he picked up Covey’s 7 Habits book, which he said changed his life. Today he is a very successful author, speaker and entrepreneur. Brother Covey spent some time with him afterwards. It was interesting in that the reason Brother Covey was in town was to discuss with state officials a pilot program he has been conducting for inmates in the Colorado prison system.
Tammy was extended a release from her calling as the Primary secretary. She is currently without portfolio. That is bound to change soon.
I spent a week in Orlando on business. Unfortunately, the weather was much better back here in Colorado.
On Monday the 29th, we attended the Tabernacle Choir concert at Red Rocks in Denver. Needless to say, but I’ll say it anyway, it was fabulous. We attended a church public affairs reception prior to the event held for several prominent individuals in the state. The governors of Colorado and Wyoming were in attendance. (Governor Ritter of Colorado conducted the choir and orchestra for their final number.) During the course of the reception, President Monson stepped into the room, unannounced. He was greeted, and spoke to the reception guests for about 15 minutes. Shortly thereafter, everyone, including President Monson, headed to the amphitheater for the performance. It was evening we will not soon forget. For that matter, I’m sure we never will.
Lots of love,
Kevin and Tammy
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