April and May Happenings at the Petersens

Carri inspired me to post today. I tried to post the other day but the electricity went out in the middle and I never got back to it. We have had a busy month as I am sure all of you have as well. It started with Alan going out of town to Vegas for a convention. Almost the minute he walked out the door I started a project. I decided to dig up the existing weed garden and plant a vegetable garden. It was a ton of work and I loved every second of it. It just feels so right to be outside digging it the dirt. Alan did not want me to plant a garden due to the many and various animals that would love some new plants to munch on. After about 15 hours of digging, pulling, shoveling, rototilling, fertilizing and watering I was ready to plant. I had quite a time using the borrowed rototiller by myself. I only got two major bruises and almost lost a toe. I planted tomatoes, carrots, peas, beans, cucumbers, zuchinies, pumpkins, watermelons and sunflowers. I used my recycled shredded paper for mulch between the rows. I have lots of rabbit and deer deterents out but I already have deer tracks through the garden. I bought the stuff for a fence but convincing Alan to help me put it up has not quite happened yet.
Luke had his first haircut and I ended up cutting off most of his curl. It does not seem to be coming back. I hate doing losing their curls but they have to grow up I guess. Mark had a performance at school called "Planetary Jammin'". He was very intensely singing and was the police man to all the kids around him to be quiet, look straight ahead, it is your turn now, pay attention and so on. He did a great job and I could hear his singing above the all the other kids. Mark and Bradley finished a great soccer season this month. We thought that Alan got a pretty lucky shot with the soccer picture. Mark did not have much of a clue when the season started how to play but he got pretty good by the end. He loves being goalie and did a great job at it when his team supported him. The other teams got some shots in when he was the only one around to defend the goal. Bradley had a lot of fun in soccer. Not so much on the field but eating the snacks after the games. He likes to run at the back of the pack looking ready all the time. When he did get in the action he usually had good results. Bradley also had a birthday on May 15th. We did a GI Joe camouflage birthday. We had to find tiny plastic soldiers hidden in the grass, do an army training obstacle course, target practice with water bombs, unwrap the bomb(present wrapped 15 times) and tank, tank, grenade (duck, duck, goose). Everyone had a great time. Alan and I had fun decorating the cake together. I love that he helps me with things like that. I didn't include pictures of Mark's first piano recital which he did very well at. He was so excited all week to have his tow and a half minutes of fame. The boys have had lots of end of the year activities including field trips, performances and pride days. We are excited for summer and the relaxed fun that it brings. Hope all of you are well. Anyone that wants to visit the St. Louis area we welcome all!! Love you all Alan and Amy

HI EVERYONE!!

This is a very exciting moment for me. I think I just joined the 21st century. That is if I don't clog the blog and completely screw this up. Well on May 16th about 16 hours after Mr. Bradly boy turned 6 years old Emily Iva did too. She was the most excited and had more fun than anyone else I think. I am going to try to put on some pictures so hopefully you will see some of the kids trying to eat pie without hands(notice Tabbys new haircut). And the K9 version of applebobbing. Joes knee is getting stronger or at least healing a little more each day. He now can walk without crutches, or the cane his lovely friend bought him. He is even back to doing projects around the house. I decided to add a couple of more pictures. Yes that is my sweet girls, Emily at Center and Katies at Quarterback, in thier NFL flag football league. By the end of the season I think they liked playing football. Suzanna is in her end of the year orchestra concert. She loves the violin and wants to be a "professional violin player". I hope she can last into Junior High. We hope all is well with everyone. We love you all, take care of each other. Carri

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Thank you, thank you, thank you, What an amazing gift our children bestowed upon us this Mother's Day. We were both really thrilled, and can't wait for Sept. 14th to fly away to paradise. And that gives me plenty of time to get the old body in as good a shape as is possible. Dad of course will do nothing and still look better than I will, men ought to thank somebody for that little gift. I love the pictures of my grandchildren that appear on this site. I am still waiting to learn how to do that so I can send pictures of Costa Rica, hopefully it will be before we also need to send pictures of Hawaii. Want to see me parasailing or staring down a shark! What's a little zip line compared with that. Miguel leaves us this weekend and we will truely miss him. He is outside mowing the lawn as I speak(I mean write). And I am so happy a few more family members have signed on to go to the Luther Potter Family Reunion on July 1st in Lava. I have just one thing to say to all of you who aren't going, you don't realize you have to face him some day and you have no idea what that will be like. He was never a man to take excuses, lame or not. Oh well, can't say I didn't warn you. All my love,
MOM

Asher Jonathan Vanderpool

If you look through the window of the last picture, you can see Matt Garcia delivering Grandma's new bicycle

Best Mother's Day Ever

Does anyone like to see mom cry? Normally no, but this mothers day we loved to see mom cry. As you all know we gave her a trip to Hawaii and yes we invited dad to go along. We put a pretend airline ticket on a seashell lei and then put them around her neck. Mom at first was a little confused because carri had given these lei's to her when she got home from her trip to Hawaii but then she noticed the card/ ticket on the lei and started to read it. She was smiling and then crying and then balwling like a baby. Everyone else was standing around with big grins, very happy for mom to finally get to go to Hawaii. I can't remember a time when Mom has not wanted to go to hawaii. It is awsome to be able give Mom and Dad this trip. Well Mom we love you and hope that you will have the time of your life.
Mindy

Happy Mothers' Day

Grandmas are great because they do not get too mad at young padawans who train in their living rooms, even if it means giving up their favorite couch. They always know that their grandchildren are the coolest, even if the sunglasses don't quite fit...yet. Mateo and Miguel love their grandma. Sometimes they think they are too old to give her kisses, and sometimes they destroy her new plants, and sometimes they like to interrupt, but Grandma just loves them back! Thanks, on Mothers' Day, and Grandma's sleepover day, and every day. Love Mateo and Miguel

I love the smell of fresh ewok roasting on a spit. The great outdoors are still out there for the taking. We stayed the night at Woods Canyon Lake, just east of Payson. Because of one last final, we got a late start, so we were not able to put the canoe in the water til the next morning. That was a small blessing because we forgot a mattress, and if Miriam had to sleep on the ground after paddling the canoe, she would not have been the only one who got no sleep. Thanks to Mateo's Jedi prowess, the camp was safe from bears, coyotes, and battle droids.

Unfortunately, my Jedi Mind Trick was not working on the fish in the morning, because they weren't exactly jumping into the boat. My dad says it was a while before he learned that fishing trips with boys were not meant for catching fish; they are for catching memories.

Finals, finally

Sometimes it seems that the semester will never end, and then it does, and I wonder where all the time went. Between a trip to Idaho, Cory coming home, three significant projects, and then finals, I wonder where I found the time to see my family, fulfil my calling, or play World of Warcraft. Well, my wife still likes me, so I guess I managed to spend just enough time with her. Of course, "enough" isn't the objective, so something has to give--maybe my calling, because it sure won't be Warcraft! JUST KIDDING. Don't stone me.

Miriam is taking great joy in scrapbooks, family pictures, and teaching her children. Miguel is trying to talk, and sometimes it sounds like English, sometimes like Spanish, and sometimes like he has marbles in his mouth. With his cast off for two weeks, he is up and running at full speed. Still not enough to keep up with Mateo, but give him time. He hates to be left behind. Mateo is not making it easy on Miguel to catch up. He is learning letters, thanks to the genius of Jennifer's pre-school lessons. All the time he will point to signs and say "Look! Ma-ma-Mateo" when he sees the letter M.

That's about it for this week. Tune in next time when you will hear Mateo say "Give that back to me, you scruffy looking nerf herder".

Matt

Blog Wars Episode I: The Phantom Post

Turmoil has engulfed the Vanderpool Republic. The ownership of the outlying parking spaces is in dispute.

Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly tricycles, the greedy RM's have stopped all parking on the small planet of Nielsen.

While the Family Home Evening Council endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the yard, to settle the conflict...

Easter pictures

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter

I wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter. We were sad to miss the big family Easter egg hunt. We all talked about running around grandma's yard with all the cousins and having a great lunch. We did miss it. Alan smoked his pork and brisket for Friday. We had neighbors and friends from school and church over. It was perfect. It got up to 91 degrees that day and we were a little worried about the heat but it cooled off beautifully and everyone seemed to have a great time. I am really going to miss our deck and amazing back yard. You just don't get the green sloping hills and all the beautiful trees in Arizona. The trees have all their new leaves and blossoms on them. St. Louis is stunning right now. There are tulips everywhere and everything is that new bright green with white, pink, purple, and fuschia blossoms. I never knew spring could be quite this amazing. Maybe I appreciate it a little more because the cold winter that seemed to last forever is finally over. I hear we had better enjoy this while it lasts because it gets hot and humid very soon.

Yesterday we planned a very last minute Easter egg hunt. We had two other families over from the ward and ate leftovers from Friday night. It turned out great. You really cant' go wrong with good food and hunting for eggs and candy. After Luke found his first egg he was perfectly content to sit on the lawn and explore the candy inside. His total score was two eggs. The other kids all found quite a bit more. It was nice.

This morning we were able to celebrate our Savior with a breakfast on the porch in the early morning. We ate more great food and read from the scriptures and talked of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful morning with birds singing, trees swaying and a cool breeze blowing. I am so grateful for the knowledge of a Savior that loves us and now guides our prophet and our church. I have been reading the New Testament lately in the four gospels and am so grateful for the record that we have of Christ's life and his ministry. I know that he lives today. Mark and I were talking this morning and he said that he would love to go and see the tomb where Jesus was buried. I told him about Jerusalem and how far away it is and how much I would love to go and see it as well and to walk where Jesus walked and feel the spirit of the Holy Land. Isn't it great that we really don't have to go all the way to Jerusalem to feel that though. We talked about the temple and that Jesus walks there today and we can invite that same spirit into our homes when we are doing what is right. Mark is very sensitive to the spirit and always identifies it when he feels it. He said, "I feel good just talking about it mom."

I am done rambling. I am grateful for my family and for the joy that I feel from family, nature, friends, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!
Amy

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Hi!
We are back from Costa Rica where we picked up one very tall, good looking local and tried to turn him back into a gringo. We rented a great car for the trip and got way more than our moneys worth. Costa Rican roads are 1950's vintage in the southern US where they forgot how to fill pot holes. I amazed we didn't blow a tire or four in some of those babies. We did meet and eat with a large variet of saints in their homes. They were gracious and kind and I only got sick for about five of the 9 days we were gone; no stamina like the youngsters. We saw monkeys, cota mondi's, guanas, and a ton of birds in the jungle. Fortunately we missed all the snakes and all the spiders but one very large one on the arm of a couch(not to worry, no one thought it was poisonous). We met a Northe Americano who had been living there for 42 years and was bitten twice in the foot by their most poisonous snake and barely survived. Of course he was running through the jungle bare foot at night chasing a crockadile when he stepped into a den of snakes. Not a real bright thing to do but certainly very macho. His daughter is a world champion boxer so I guess it runs in the family. We met the famous Willy and he was not a disappointment at all. He says the definition of a hippie is "highly intelligent person pursuing infinite enlightment" and I think he finally found it after 30 years pursuing a drunk, Indian, false prophet. You do meet alot of unusual Americans in Costa Rica, but the Ticas (natives) are wonderful. Changes meeting was a real highlight. We sat in the chapel surrounded by the Lord's finest and watched them sing, pray, clap and cry as their Mission President moved them around, opened new areas, promoted them and altogether changed their lives. He was amazing and so were they. After 8 missionaries, that was the first of that kind of a meeting we have ever attended. Thanks Cory for a unforgetable week.
MOM

working hard

Here is the phantom blog from April 8 that disappeared. Sorry everyone. Glad I found it!

If anyone ever asks you "are you working hard or hardly working?" grab them by the throat, squeeze, and ask "are you breathing hard or hardly breathing?"

The house is empty without mom and dad and tara, with the almost unnoticeable exception of Spencer, Rieko, and Taikito, oh and Sabine, oh, and Keshon and Keona. Oh wait, Miguel is still here too. Maybe it is that the house seems really empty because when I come home at 11, everyone is sleeping. Why don't they want to wait up for me? I don't understand it. Anyway, I am glad that Cory is coming home in a week because it will mean that the house isn't quite as empty anymore. We don't have anyone sleeping on top of the wheat bags yet. In all honesty, living at the Vanderpool house is the greatest blessing my family could ask for. I know it gets a little crazy, Mom, but we are VERY, VERY grateful!

Sorry we won't be there to greet Cory when he comes home. It is a very exciting time. I don't know how we are going to convince Mateo that he doesn't have to say "Please bless Uncle Cory and Colin that they can work hard."

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Let me introduce you all to our latest group of kids. Keyiona (her mother is apparantly quite simple and that probably expains the spelling) is 6 and Kishawn is a normal three year old. We are all getting along quite well, even Mindy who had to babysit 9 kids yesterday while Dad and I went to the temple with Jackie and Rick. We had a great day and it included lunch at the Landmark, which Rick paid for so we owe them big time. Peter and Dad are deep into the new house in Phoenix and we purchsed a new lot in Mesa to build on next, if it ever clears the county. You could grow old and die waiting on a building permit in Maricopa county. It has turned into a buyers market suddenly and who knows why, I mean just as many people are moving here every day as there was last year. Oh wait maybe it is all the big builders like the one Spencer works for who went out and started 30 new developments at once and flooded the market with new homes, if you want to live next to Flagstaff, Coolidge, or Wickenberg. Hopefully someone wants to live in downtown Phoenix or east Mesa where we are building. Andrew is talking about maybe moving to Utah and so is Cory after he comes home. What happened to the Vanderpool resolve to never cave in to that impulse, and build Zion here instead? After a long conversation with Jonathan I realize they could end up anywhere after he gets out. Thank goodness Amy and Alan are pretty much tied to this area. Thank you Bro. Petersen. See ya

We are still here. Interestingly enough, we took the kids to Elephant Rock National Park on Saturday. It is basically an old granite quarry. It's about 90 minutes south. We didn't hit any rain, but the people we left there sure did. The tornadoes went through that area. As much damage as the tornadoes did, I can not honestly believe the towns will look that much worse. Maybe some of the broken down vehicles were blown from the lawns. The tenements on wheels are sure to have sustained damage. The old adage holds true. If you would like to get hit by a tornado follow these easy steps.

1. Research where tornadoes are most likely to happen.
2. Research when tornadoes are most likely to happen.
3. Buy a trailer home/modular home
4. Put it on land next to other trailer homes
5. Get a few old vinyl folding chairs and sit out in front of your home.
6. Let everything around you go to shambles.
7. Get drunk

Now, if you followed all of these steps, you have wasted some time. You could have skipped the first two steps. Naturally, if you followed the other steps, you were probably too lazy to follow the first two steps, and the result would be the same. Okay, really only steps 3 and 4 are necessary. The remaining steps come naturally. I know it's possible to purchase lightning rods, but I think there should be tornado rods. We could simply set up fake trailer parks and "fool" the tornado. Of course, we should have a Ghostbusters "Tornado Containment Unit" to allow for easy trapping of the 200+ mph winds.

Before you hate me for being right, let me say that I feel bad for those who were hurt and killed. That is not funny, but I know something that is- giving garlic fries to a 1 year old. Most of you are thinking of how the 1 year old's reaction would make you laugh. Your sense of humor should be more developed. I was thinking of his mother's reaction when she went to change the diaper. I guess my sense of humor needs more development, because the kids laughed even louder when Amy put him on my lap- diaperless.

For those of you that are still concerned as to whether or not I am getting bored of orthodontics, I would ask you to consider this. Something that takes this many years to learn might be a little more complicated and intricate than you give it credit. There might be one or two or 1000 caveats about orthodontics which might have been overlooked. There are many wonderful things about orthodontics. One of my patients comes in every time with a depressed look on her face. She has a huge overbite, and her mother and grandmother say she never smiles. I already know that when all is said and done, she will smile at me and thank me for changing her life. We see it all the time in the clinic. That satisfaction never gets boring.

Keep posting, we appreciate any news from the family. We may not be there physically, but mentally, we know where home is.

Are the Petersen's still there?

We saw the news last night and saw all the tornados coming your way. We hope all is well. We had our share of weather the past few days. We have snow on the Supersitions and Four Peaks and the entire mountain are covered with snow. It is absolutely beautiful. The kids have a week off for spring break so we are trying to keep them entertained. Hope all is well.
Jennifer

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

James and Karla Vanderpool Family
140+ DAY WITH OUT RAIN
Today we woke up to pitter pitter patter... Normally i would not talk about rain but this is a cool story. On sundays paper they had in the paper that all Mormons State wide in Arizona were going to have a fast for the State to get rain. Well i read that and thought the pressure is on. Do i have the faith to bring rain to the State. We fasted and prayed and then waited. Well kind of waited each and every prayer we prayed for rain Mateo was especially good about it. Wednesday it spit on us and i thought well i need a little more faith. More prayers and today we woke to a rain that had been falling since midnight and still till noon the next day. Thank you for blessing us Heavenly Father. It was really cool to have a teaching moment this morning with Matthew that if we have faith and pray that Heavenly Father answers prayers. I love teaching moments like that. Well the Nielsens are happy and hopeful that Matt will get through school he is getting great grades and even gets to spend a little time with the family. YEs my children will know their dad. Amy i admire you for keeping the faith through all the school. YOu and Alan are amazing. Funny story Matthew developed a rash on his legs. We thought it was exezema so i was treating it. It was just getting worse. Then i was sitting outside watching Matthew and Michael play. Michael and i on the trampoling and Matthew walking in the irrigation with his (rain) irrigation boots on. I noticed that the boots rubbed right where the rash was on his legs. Then i realized that the rash got worse every 10 days or so and then went down. Hum right on the irrigation schedule. Well to the sadness of Matthew many tears we had to shelve the boots for 2 weeks and see if that helped clear up the rash. Magic it did. So now we are on the look out for rubber boots that have a cloth lining. Needless to say we live in Phoenix Arizona where we have a snowballs chance in ---- of finding these type of boots. Maybe if we lived in say Alaska we could find them. Oh yes these boots are Matthews favorite possesion. He wears them when ever i will let him. Well we are going to Idaho in April and i have told him that we will look there. I better call my sister in law there and have her look out for them for me. Well we will find a solution to this because if i dont he will still play in the irrigation and then we will probably be in the emergency room because he will cut his foot or something. Well i love being a mom of two cute boys and the great learning experiences that come with them.
Mindy

Just a quick note

We found out recently that Mark will be baptized September 23, 2006. Any and all are welcome to travel here and participate in the event. There will be plenty of room made for any that would choose to come. We would love to have any and all.--Amy

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

James and Karla Vanderpool Family
that was Taiki in Japan...

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

I can't beleive I missed two important birthdays, first was Lukes which I still wouldn't know about without his mother's blog. Happy Birthday little man from your whole AZ family, we love and miss you a ton. And then Andrew had to remind us as he was leaving last night that it was his 35th birthday. I didn't know it was March 5th or I would have known it was his birthday. The time is getting away from me lately. Have a wonderful birthday son, and enjoy it even if it is late. At least it was Sunday and you didn't have to work on your birthday. We will celebrate his, Matthew Kyles, Spencers, and Lindsey's all on sunday, March 19th ( Birthday Sunday). March is a big month for birthdays. Also Dad and I have decided to compile our family history using stories and some pictures. We would like help from all of you and when it is done you will all get a copy. First we would like everyone to write a page or two of memories of Mom and Dad that we will compile. Please give them to us in a week or two so we can then get other stuff. Amy's memories of Jonathan was an inspiration to all of us and that is exactly what we are looking for. You all can remember something different I am sure and would love to read everyone elses memories from their point of view. So please take some time (not too much) and write away. Love MOM

Luke's First Birthday

This Thursday was Luke's first birthday. We had a great time celebrating his big day. He started the day with his favorite breakfast of scrambled eggs and a drinkable yogurt. The first picture is of his favorite face to make these days. He loves to close his eyes tight and wrinkle up his nose. He knows it is very cute and makes everyone laugh. All of the other kids were convinced that He would magically be able to walk on his birthday since he is just starting to take a couple of steps. They were a little disappointed to find that not to be true. He is making good progress and is very proud of his efforts. He loves to stand by himself but then he gets excited and starts clapping and falls down. We all love having him around to entertain us and to see him delight in the littlest things. It is so fun to experience some of these stages over and over again with each new child. Anyways, for his birthday party we had pizza for dinner and then played in a room filled with balloons. For his birthday cake we put him on the table to enjoy his own cake and he attacked immediately. It was serious business. There was not a smile cracked. He just steadily stuffed as much in his mouth as he could. We were all thoroughly entertained. After we watched him for a while I brought out the homemade icecream sandwiches I made for everyone else. Luke took one look at Eleanor's and quick as lightning stole here sandwich. Ellie didn't appreciate it but we sure thought it was funny. He would have sat there and eaten the entire cake and the sandwich had we let him but we didn't want to deal with a puking baby all night so we cut it off early. We opened gifts after that and the other kids enjoyed his presents almost more than he did. He certainly had to compete to be able to have a turn with them. We had a great time but we missed sharing it with all of you. It was our first one year old birthday party where the most of the family from both sides couldn't share it with us. We miss you all and hope you enjoy the pictures. I was having difficulty with my camera so they are fuzzy. I don't know if you know if you click on the picture it will show you a larger view of them. -Amy

Pictures of Jonathan

Here are a few pictures that I found of Jonathan and my birthdays and just two cute pictures of Jonathan. They are not very good images because our scanner is not hooked up and Alan is busy at church so I just took a digital picture of them and put them on. Again, Happy Birthday Jonathan!

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Well, I just read Amy's Blog about Jonathan and it made me cry, because I remember most of those incidents also, but from a different perspective. What is this about swimming in the canal? The one time I went in I almost drowned, I wonder how many angels were with you with names like Asher and Mark. Today is Jonathan's birthday and tomorrow is Amy's. Neither one of you are here but we will think of you tonight. We are starting a new tradition called Birthday Sunday. On perhaps the third Sunday we will have one party for all the birthdays that month, so no one will be left out and everyone will feel loved, hopefully. The yellow round table will now be the birthday table that everyone will sit around, quite a promotion from former uses. I wish everyone would reminiss like Amy did so I could relive more memories. Love to both of you,
MOM

Happy Birthday Jonathan

I wanted to wish Jonathan a very happy birthday. It has been way too long since we got to share a birthday party. We used to hate it back in the day but I think it would be lots of fun now. I wanted to share a few memories of Jonathan that I can remember. I am going to leave out the majority of memories I have that all consist of me teasing him relentlessly because if we don't talk about them then maybe they will cease to exist.

*Jonathan and Spencer watching Pinocchio over and over and over again. They sure loved that movie and everyone else hated it.
*Making a snow fort in Colorado when I got home from kindergarten with Jonathan and always coming in with frozen hands.
*Of course giving him the poison. It really was pretend koolaid and he wasn't supposed to drink it. I didn't have it out for you at that young of an age.
*Playing cars at the top of the stairs with you when one happened to fall off and so did you. Once again a very innocent accident. I was only four.
*Picking wild grapes in together in Texas and our lips itching from them.
*Climbing the stairway walls and doorways.
*Playing enchanted forest (the little game where you look under the trees and move around the board). I don't think we ever finished a game.
*Visiting Aunt Jackie in Houston together just you and me. Didn't we sneak into a pool after hours, and go movie hopping? They were good examples to us.
*Going fishing for crawdads in the river in Georgetown.
*Spending the night together at the Potter's in Texas. You and Scott loved to bother Natalie and I.
*Watching your wrestling matches and football games. I only saw a few but it certainly made me afraid of you. You became a wild man. That is probably why you were so good at it.
*Playing countless games of connect the dots, hangman, and tic-tac-toe during sacrament meeting.
*Having you cushion my fall when I drove into the ditch. Thanks for that.
*Swimming in the canal, and having massive mud fights in the mud bog we called a road in the Guadalupe house.
*Climbing trees together in the same house.
*Loving to see how sweet and tender you could be with your pets. Was Aragorn your dog?
*Seeing you as a dad is very special.

There are so many more but I will stop there. It has been fun to think through memories with you. We did have some good times together between all of the fighting and teasing. I do apologize for being relentlessly cruel to you. I love you and hope you have a great birthday!!!!!
Love you--Amy

It has been almost a month since I last posted. I have been bad, very, very bad. I'm sorry Mom. You and I seem to be the only ones who care if anyone posts or not. I still check the site and have loved that Jonathan and Andrew posted. Even if they were short and sweet. I haven't posted because my life seems so routine and boring these days. Yesterday the kids had the day off of school and it made me dread the coming summertime. They were acting like they had been bored for days on end and were just picking at each other all day. We even went to Turtle Park, the Zoo and met Dad for lunch at his school. Granted the trips to Turtle Park and the Zoo were very short due to the 32 degree weather. We had to get out but the weather just wouldn't let us stay for long. I am so ready for warm weather. I would take the humidity and heat over this any day. I just about cried when I heard you had almost hit 90 degrees in the great AZ. We had a high of 17 two days ago and still no snow. This place is rotten when it comes to weather. I can't believe Colin likes it.
I am facing the big 30 birthday next week and it is freaking me out. I don't know why. 30 year olds are supposed to be all grown up and settled in life. I think I have multiple new wrinkles appearing just over the stress of getting older. That can't be good. Mom was 30 when she had me. I don't know why that is weird to me but it is.
Alan is doing well in school. People keep asking me if he still likes what he is doing. You must be worried that he has gone through all of this and is going to hate it when he is done. Well, rest assured that he loves orthodonitics but just hates the school part of it. He says often that he thinks he is going to have the best career in the world. He is constantly frustrated with his immature classmates that love to make innapropriate comments and are constantly doing rude things. His class is becoming known as the rude ones. That makes him absolutely crazy. If Alan is anything it is respectful to professors and fellow classmates.
Mark is doing much better in school. He works hard and gets a "good" rating most days. He got a note home saying that he was doing the right thing when everyone else was choosing otherwise. This is a huge thing for him. He even got a "super" rating the other day. I think he is finally adjusted here and is feeling good about himself. It sure makes our life a little easier. He is taking piano lessons and loves to practice. He is so proud of himself when he gets a song memorized and can play it perfectly. He played "Yankee Doodle" for his music class in school last week and couldn't wait to tell me about it when he got home.
Bradley and Eleanor are fine. Ellie is much happier lately unless she gets tired and then she is pure rotten. She cannot deal with little sleep just like me. She is getting quite good at saying innapropriate things at the innapropriate time. She loves to tell the handicapped grocery bagger that he talks funny or say "shake your booty" during sharing time any number of different things that emabarass me and she thinks are very funny. Luke is weaning right now and is not loving it. I am trying to get him to take formula/milk from a sippie cup and he is refusing. We are down to one nursing a day but he can't be getting anything from it. He is as adorable as ever and is even finally making attempts at walking. The kids think he will magically be able to walk perfectly on his first birthday in less than two weeks. Ah, the dissapointments of childhood. I need to run and pick up Bradley from kindergarten. Happy day to all. We miss everyone.
Love ya--Amy

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Yea, Jonathan Blogged! My day is made. Well besides that I have two appointments today, one for two root canals, not mine but Miguals. Since Andrew and Shannon are moving into their other house we inherited their chickens, and they are a big hit. Mindy is busy all day long protecting them from our other wild life (not just the animal kind). We are hoping the novelity wears off soon. The big question is will Mom and Dad actually get rid of the sheep to make way for the other horses; after all they are an instuition around here. Too bad there isn't room for another bedroom somewhere in the house, but eight seems to be our limit. Cory sent us a list of things he plans for us to do in Costa Rica and all I can say is it isn't too late for anyone who wants to join us for the trip of a lifetime. Love,
MOM

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

OK, I am already feeling guilty about my blog a couple of minutes ago. And I remembered that last night (Valentines night, and the day his wife left for a whole month) Spencer presented me with a beautiful set of knives he ordered 3 weeks ago. That was amazing and makes up for alot. Thanks Spence.

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Been thinking alot about those who are living far away last night and today. I wish Jonathan and Kari were on the internet more and that Amy would communicate more, after all she started this whole thing. Did you notice that Colin didn't write this week, Mindy says for sure that he is in the hospital or something, me I think he is in some snow bank and needs a savy person to come along and rescue him before he freezes to death. I just hope they send his package back that I sent him, wouldn't want to waste it. No kidding, that kid better not miss again, I hate few things more. One of those things are getting reports of foster kids who kick dentists, bus drivers, and school aids. By the way can you tell this is a feel sorry for yourself session. But what do I have to feel badly about, I have 11 lovely children and a great husband and no valentine from any of them. Of course I didn't give them one either, who needs the silly things. Guess what, Peter might come to work for us, I hope he does, we need him.
Love,
MOM

M&M and M&M

School, school, school, and more school. Someone thinks I need my masters of accountancy, and I guess I agree, but it means at least one more year of school making graduation in the spring of '08.

Unfortunately for Mom, I will be living in her basement even longer. Two years of "Deep Thoughts from Downstairs". Do you think she will survive? Fortunately for me, she loves my wife and children. She especially loves being involved in the development of Mateo aKind Miguel. They are growing all too quickly. Mateo is learning A-A-Apple and L-L-Lightsaber in preschool. Miguel's vocabulary is developing too. He can say Mommy, Daddy, Grapa, Abby, and StaWa. No, I am not exagerating. He asked his mom to turn on StarWars yesterday. One of the proudest moments in my life was less than a month ago when Mateo called Miguel a "scruffy looking nerf-herder". I am turning my children into geeks. So to balance, we are going to buy more children's sports movies like Bad News Bears, Kicking and Screaming, etc. Hopefully they are not yet completely lost to the dark side.

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

OK, so I'm writing to myself. I will make it my journal. We have had a rough week with our new kids. Two were kicked out of school after one and a half days and the other one isn't very easy. But we are commited to keep them until we go pick up Cory on April 4th. They have to be absent on Sunday evenings though because having the family come here is one of the most important things in my life. We have to hang together. We have our reservations and are very excited. Tara had to sacrifice EFY to go with us, but it has to be worth it. We are also committed to go to Kansas and see the twins this summer and visit Amy and Alan too. We miss our St. Louis babies. If we could only get another peek at Absher then our life would be complete. If you didn't know Shannon came out of surgery in good shape; the tumor was a benign sist. We are all rejoycing over that. We had a really great visit with granny while she was her and she reminded us it was our turn to go up there next. I could just travel constantly if it were possible, but it isn't. Aunt Jackie is here and we went to lunch and the temple the other day. I could live like the other half (you know the people our age who are actually done raising kids).
MOM

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Well, no one has posted lately but I don't want this to go away. I want to let you all meet our latest family members. They are three kids from Phoenix. They are one half hispanic and one half Blackfoot Indian. They are sweethearts and pretty quiet because two of them are mute, but they can hear. They are 15 year old Miguel, 12 year old Salvadore and 10 year old Ashiana. They will go to school but it is taking awhile to get them enrolled. Mindy is helping me a ton and I appreciate it. We have a deal worked out that helps her too. So we are glad to have them even though Abbey tries to eat them daily. I have to do something about that dog. Don't tell Colin. Alan I have to barbeque pork for the Blue and Gold Banquet next week and do I wish you were here. Colin, Dad bought a new weed eater, and do I wish you were here. I guess I will have to grow up and do these things on my own.
Love MOM

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Well, it has been quite a day here, the twins left with their new family and we all had a good cry. Yasmine knew what was happening and was not happy but Dad gave them both blessings and it seemed to help. I had my first math test and bombed it, but still don't even care. Also it is Dad and my anniversery (37 years) and he has a high priest group meeting. I wish more people would post pictures, I love the one you put on. Love, MOM

Here are some snapshots from our day.

Beauty Queen? Highly unlikely.

I have been feeling like Eleanor and I needed to do something fun that was just for girls so when I saw the email for the Beautiful Baby (newborn to age 6) contest I signed her up. We got to go shopping and buy a new outfit and then spend half a day at the mall playing on the playground, eating, spending time together and then walk across a stage together. Eleanor being who she is made it quite difficult to get her to wear the new outfit and get her hair done and to actually walk across the stage. We had lots of fun playing on the playground and picking out gumballs and even riding on the carousel. When it came time to walk across the stage we were laughing and having fun (you practically have to trick her into doing anything that is not her idea). We went on stage and she immediately stuck out her tongue at the judges and giggled the entire 45 seconds we were up there. Everyone laughed. All I could do is smile and know that I could not expect anything different. She ended up getting second place to a little girl that was very poised and smiled and waved like a beauty queen. We did end up having a fun time and she got a trophy. Everyone ended up a winner in the contest. It was the first and probably the last of our beauty queen days. We do have the option of sending her to the state pageant where she would have eight different costume changes and need to submit four different pictures (headshot, full body, her advertising some product, and a snapshot), and I would need to go out and get sponsors and sell advertinsing pages for the program and it would only cost us about $1000 to have her ready. Sounds absolutely ridiculous and not up our alley. We are quite content to have had a nice day together. She will always be our little beauty and our little stinker.

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Happy to say Granny and Herb are here and I have been good except for saying that a certain member of the family had better just shut up. Oh well, some of us never learn. We have several new games here and are playing regularily, and probably will till school starts and I have to nose it to the grindstone again. In answer to Peters question, perhaps you have to be old enough to understand death, not just see it. My question is, is Harry Potter special just because his mother sacrificed herself to save him or is he truely special? In my opinion he is the bravest kid I ever saw. He walks into every scary situation willingly, in places I would never think of going. That is the main reason I enjoy those movies, oh yea the special effects. I read Narnia years ago and loved it because the beasts in it were more human than most of us are. But I didn't think the movie captured the lion 's significance and dept very well. Dad however loved it. Thanks for blogging, I understand there are other people reading our bloggs, amazing!
Love,
MOM

Notice from the Department of Mystery:

This is me surfing. I am laying on the surfboard, making my way back to the break point to catch another wave. The belly rash I got that day mad me feel oh so smart.



Can anyone answer a question about Harry Potter? In the 5th book we are intruduced to Thestrals, right. Well according to Hagrid and Hermione, the only way you can see the horse-like creatures is to have seen death. Ms. Rowling made it clear that Harry could not see these animals until after witnessing Cedric Diggory's death. My question is did Harry witness his mother's death as a child? In the presence of dementors Harry is reminded of the last few pleading words of his mother before You-Know-Who tried to kill him. I would think that this would qualify Harry as a witness to death, but I could be wrong.





We are excited for Granny and Herb to be down in the Valley. Also, I can't wait to introduce Lindsay to Jonathan and to meet their little boy. It is an awful disappointment, though that we won't be able to see Kari too.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat na nagbasa ng sulat ko. Sana, meroong magco-comment dito. Ayaw ko kapag walang bagong sulat, kaya ito na nga!

Happy New Year

Can you believe it has been twenty days since I last posted? It is amazing. I just went through the pictures I took in December and thought I would post a few. The first one was of our first real snow. We enjoyed hot chocolate inside before going out to sled in the back yard. The next lovely picture of Eleanor is the result of telling her that I had chapstick in my makeup bag upstairs. Isn't Luke cute in his reindeer antleers? One of the best activities we did while at home was the hike up in fountain hills. I love being outside in the desert in beautiful weather like that.
We had such a wonderful time in Arizona. We already miss everyone. There just wasn't enough time to see everyone as much as we would have liked to. We did try to go and say goodbye to mom and dad but who knew they had church that early in the morning. Darn Arizona mormons go to church at all hours of the day. We were sad to have missed them and even more sad that we missed out on Dad driving us to Las Vegas. How did we not arrange that earlier?

We are back to the grind with school in session again and all of the fun responsibilities that come with a family. It looks like I am going to learn to be an aerobic instructor afterall. I start training in just a couple of days at the YMCA. I love that place. Alan says he is going to start going so he can shed a few pounds. He refuses to try Spencer's diet so he needs to do something. Eleanor is even more difficult now that we are home. All she wants to do is go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and play. I sure hope we both survive her childhood. I just don't know some days. Dinner time is calling, post agian soon.--Amy

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Where is everyone?
Am I talking to myself? It has been a productive holiday, been getting our office all organized and stuff. Dad is almost finished with the entertainment center and it is gorgeous. I am looking for colors to paint it right now, and trying to get registeded to take pre-calculus next semester. Spencer had his tonsils out last week and he is still miserable. He tried to go to work but they sent him home. I think living on a liquid diet(even if it is ice cream) has made him get slimmer. I'm thinking about trying it, but just my luck I would gain weight.
Write somebody,
MOM

James and Karla Vanderpool Family

Hi everyone! Are you there Kari and Jonathan? It's Sunday and I think Amy and Alan left town withour even saying goodby, and that's without seeing them for a couple of days. Well we had a great time with them any way. Our church started at 8:00 am today and I love it, got us out of bed and busy and we even got a seat in the chapel by being only 10 minutes early, and we have such alot of time after church. It was a wild and wooley Christmas and we all survived with the skin of our teeth(sorry Alan). Tara is indeed going out with a 23 yr. old but I told her she is not going to get serious or any thing, if you are worried about this, ask Andrew, he's the perpetrator. Well the meat loaf calls!
MOM