Mother's Day

What a wonderful Day!  Jessica made a yummy breakfast: waffles, pancake (yes only one with left over batter for Rachel), and fried eggs.  I got some great new metal spinners from Melissa and Jessica for the backyard. (It’s time to throw out the old ugly worn out ones).  Rachel gave me a nice little card book that she made. I got a nice phone call from Jennifer.  I also got a nice Hallmark from my husband.  Church was very nice.  Two nice talks on how great their moms are by 2 college girls home for the summer (my former Laurels), and 2 talks from some wise sr. men of our ward.  One is 100 years old!  Some great stuff.  The ward was also treated to a sweet song sung by the primary kids.  All the RS sisters were given a box with 3 chocolates in it hand delivered by the YM. YUM.  We came home from church to have the table all set and dinner almost ready- that is one advantage of having Jessica attend the singles ward.  She served us up some great curry.  The highlight of the day was to skype with Elder Kevin Leete.  We were all set up so we could see him on the TV, and Jennifer was logged in too and skyping to Melissa’s account- we had that laptop set up so Jennifer could watch and hear Kevin on the TV.  We all sat on the couch- with the laptop on the coffee table pushed out far enough so we all fit on the screen.  We waited patiently for Kevin to log in at 1. . .however we waited an hour- he appeared at 2.  We had a great time talking and seeing him.  All is good in missionland.  His testimony is strong.  He is working hard.  He is happy.  And we are proud.

One of our mother’s day traditions that I enjoy is to have a mother’s day concert where the kids all perform for me.  Well, earlier this week the kids said that no way was that happening this year.  I was bummed, but had accepted it.  Well, today in the kitchen while Melissa was making brownies- I mentioned that something was missing this year.  She said, “You mean your concert?”  And I said, ”yes”.  She then told me that she had prepared to sing something and that Jessica was going to accompany her.  That brought a smile to my face.  So later after dinner, we gathered in the living room for the little concert (little, cuz there was only going to be one number performed).  To my surprise, as Jessica started playing- I started to recognize the song and was so excited.  Melissa was singing the Knot Fairy!!  She was so cute and sounded wonderful (voice lessons are really paying off).  I was a little thrown off, when the accompaniment sounded different- Jessica had made a new arrangement.  I had to listen to it again to appreciate it and accept the fact that they had made it better.  A big thank you to my lovely daughters for sharing their talent with me.

 It was a very nice mother’s day.  I am very blessed.

Letter from Father to Son

April 29, 2012

Kevin,

Jessica’s home from BYU. She is looking for a job, and learning to cook. Apparently her cooking skills last year weren’t enough for her, and she is on the hunt for new things to cook. I think mom and I are going to be putting on some weight in the next couple of months.  Melissa has also gotten the food bug, and has made 3 different kinds of brownies this week. They are taking pictures of their culinary creations so posterity will remember this summer forever.  

 This week was stake conference, Rebecca joined us for conference. She will be attending FHE a little more now that she is feeling better. She came last week, and we had a fire in the backyard. I had to go to bed but She and
Jessica stayed up at least till midnight burning logs.

 The message for priesthood leadership was “lead by example”. One talk told a story by Ghandi. A mother brought her son to Ghandi, and said that her son eats too much sugar, and wanted Ghandi to tell her son not to eat too much sugar. Ghandi said he couldn’t do that, and told her to come back in a few weeks. She came back in a few weeks, and Ghandi looked the child in the eye and told him not to eat too much sugar. The mother was surprised and asked Ghandi why he couldn’t do that a few weeks ago. Ghandi replied, I couldn’t tell your son not to eat sugar, because I was eating too much sugar. Over the last few weeks I have not eaten too much sugar and now I feel I can tell your son to do the same.  Lead by example in all you do.

Jennifer is back at BYU, and taking more art classes. Bookbinding seems to be her favorite class this semester.

Melissa had a violin recital. Keturah Bay played piano. It went well, they both did very well.

I sent  Jessica, Melissa and Rachel to a Coldplay concert last week. They had a good time. There were 2 warm up bands, so they didn’t get home till after 10:30.  I think it was a good experience for them. They had to go by themselves (Rachel was mortified at the thought that Mom and I might come). They had a good time.

 I went to a work retreat for a day at the Skamania Lodge out in the Columbia gorge. It was good, we had a patent think tank for the stuff I am working on. A Patent think tank is where you brainstorm good ideas that you might not normally think of in your daily work, and file patents on it.

Devin Santa is home! He looks good. I think He’s taller now than when he left. His mom and dad are really happy to see him.

 Rachel had a couple of Lacrosse games last week. Both home games at Westview. I think I froze both games, but we won both handily. Rachel played goalie for the entire game on the second game. She let 4 goals go by, but since the other team let 15, I think she did pretty well.

Mom had a birthday last week. I got her a mug, and some flowers and a balloon for her birthday, Jessica made her favorite carrot cake.

Good luck, work hard, teach lots of people and baptize….

Dad

A Heart from Rachel

Bday Cake- 24.5 Candles (half her age)

Melissa after Recital with Keturah her accompanist and friend.

A Busy Week

Dear Elder Leete,

 We have had a busy week.  Dad flew off to New York early Tuesday morning and came back late Friday night.  He enjoyed the conference but described it to me as “drinking from a fire hose”. I guess he was getting an overload of good information.  He liked the location of his hotel- near Times Square so roamed there in the evenings.  He saw Lion King and said that it was phenomenal.  I guess he knows now why we all wanted to see it the last two times it was here in Portland. . . .  He spent the day Friday being a tourist before catching his late flight home.  He took the ferry to the statue of liberty and Ellis Island.  He even squeezed in a quick tour of ground zero before racing to the airport and barely making his flight.  He had a good time and showed us all his pictures this evening.  It wore him out, he went to bed early tonight, and isn’t feeling too good.  We’ll see if he makes it to work in the morning.

 Here back at the ranch we enjoyed the high school choir concert on Wednesday.  Dad had the camera, and mine isn’t working- so this was the first ever concert that we didn’t record.  It was very good.  It snowed, so we had to unbury the car and drive thru snow furies on slippery roads to get home.  Rachel talked me into a night walk in the green space that evening, so we bundled up and headed out at 10pm (Melissa was already in bed).  It was very beautiful and quiet.  Just a little strange to see all the cherry blossoms on the trees covered in snow.  It stuck, so the next morning school was 2 hour delayed.  It was sunny and warm so by the end of the day it was all melted except for some patches and snowmen. After school Melissa talked me into going on a walk with her in the sunshine (quite a contrast from the night before).  We saw that the snow did a number on the cherry trees- many lost some big branches all over the neighborhood.  But I was happy to see the blossoms still there.

 Thursday was the band concert.  They also sounded great.  It just was a little long.  There as a man sitting behind me that was visiting and was totally impressed- he was a grandpa that had been a music teacher at one time- he gave a standing ovation and later I saw him talking to the band director.  I agree that Westview does some pretty awesome stuff- a lot of talent in our area.

Tuesday Rachel planned a fun activity for YW that we all enjoyed.  Everyone came dressed in black.  We played volleyball in the dark with glow necklaces and glow bracelets all over the net.  We had a glow in the dark ball.  It wasn’t glowing too well so I went home and got my old volleyball and we broke a glow stick and smeared it all over the ball.  It looked way cool.  After that we took down the net, put on the bracelets and played soccer.  Rachel had bought only two colors of glow necklaces so we could tell who was on what team.  The deacons joined us later- then it started to get a little crazy….  Everyone had a good time.

Yesterday it was the Winter Classic.  Dad and I worked the doors for a couple of hours so got to see most of the Winter Percussion performances.  I decided that none of them were as good as when my kids were performing!   Westview looked good- they definitely have a style that I recognize.  We weren’t there for finals so I don’t know what the final scores are.

 The girls are now on spring break.  Tomorrow, Monday, Rachel has it planned to go get her drivers permit.  She also has lacrosse practice all week.  Melissa will be having Star Wars marathons- broken into several days- with Cami and Keturah.

 That pretty much covers our week.  Hope yours went well and you had success.  Share with us some of your missionary stories.

Love you lots,
MomJ

Holiday Band Concert

We enjoyed a very festive Holiday Band Concert at Westview High School.  The Jazz Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble played.  To make transitions not so boring, each section of the Wind Ensemble played carols from different locations of the autitorium while they reset the stage.  It made for a very nice concert.  Here are recordings we made of the groups Melissa and Rachel played in: 

Wind Ensemble, Melissa on Tuba

Sleigh Ride

by Leroy Anderson

Wind Ensemble, Melissa on Tuba

Auld Lang Syne

Traditional Scottish Melody

Arranged by Chip Davis as recorded by Mannheim Steamroller

The Low Brass (Invisible) Trio

The First Noel

They also played Carol of the Bells but we weren't ready to record that one- bummer it sounded really good! 

 Concert Band Rachel on clarinet

A Fantasy of Carols

 by Jay Bocook

Concert Band Rachel on Clarinet

A Clebration of Hanukkah

by Howard Rowe