Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Spencer trying to capture his run down the slope.

Mark does pretty well on his little snowboard

This is my favorite sledding picture. Notice the terror on Kenta's face.

Isn't Emily cute!

Update

We just wanted to let everyone know that there was a hearing today to change the case plan for the boys. The judge approved it and instead of family reunification the plan is now severance and adoption. We're one step closer to the end! We appreciate everyone's prayers for us and the boys!

Spring has sprung. The grass is riz...

...I wonder where the flowers iz? Yes it is true that we had a tremendous snowfall just Friday morning. It was cold and wet. But by noon, it was raining, and today only small patches of snow litter the lawn, it is sunny and breezey, and in the upper 40's. What does a groundhod know about weather anyway? Some of you may remember a certain three-year-old who had little "pistolas" (his hands in pistol shape) that he would take with him everywhere he went. We had to put a stop to shooting people during sacrament meeting, so we told him no pistolas in church. He would put his little hands in his pockets and pull them out again, no longer in the shape of pistols. Well, today, in sacrament meeting, the younger brother of that certain three-year-old was shooting at the little boy two rows back. I told him to put away his "pistola", and he put it in his shirt pocket. I had to stifle a laugh as I saw the repetition of such a classic moment in the raising of a little boy.

Thanks to all!

First of all we'd like to say thank you to everyone who fasted and prayed for us and the boys. We really appreciate it! And secondly we'd like to let everyone know that the people in New Mexico did fail their back ground check and can not be considered as a placement for the boys. This has been another testament to us of the power of prayer and fasting. Also we found out today that CPS and DDD are both planning to recommend severance at the court hearing next Thursday. We'd like to ask everyone to keep us and the boys in your prayers for the hearing next week.

Peter, Lindsay, Manny and Angel

A family in need...

Peter and I have a favor to ask of anyone and everyone who reads this in time. We don't know that everyone knows this but we are wanting to adopt Manny and Angel. But we recently found out that we might not be able to. There is a possibility that they might be placed with a woman in New Mexico pending their back ground check. Our hope is that they will fail their back ground check as aniticipated.(Her fiancee has a shady back ground). But we want only the best for the boys. We are hoping that we can join together for a family fast for the boys on Thursday February 21st. Anyone who would like to participate is more than welcome to. We would like to thank everyone for your faith and prayers.

Peter, Lindsay, Manny and Angel

and finally..

Granny sent me thesepictures to post, so here they are

A few more now...

More fun with pictures

more pictures

pictures from Granny

The winter blahs...

There has been more snow in Boise this year than there has been in years. We are not way ahead of average, but the whole week has seen inches of snow fall, and Miriam learned that Boise is notorious for not plowing. In fact, the day after we got dumped on and Miriam was complaining about the lack of plowing, the headline in the paper was explaining why they don't plow because it is so rare that there is enough snow to make it necessary. Well, the one year I convince my wife, the Arizona sun lover, to move to Boise, and this is what we get. Anyway, today, it all melted off as we approached 45 and there was a lot of wind and rain.

As if the weather isn't enough to be depressing, Miriam agreed to work 11 straight graveyard shifts, so even when there was sun, she didn't see it. No wonder she hates Idaho. Well, she can survive for just 6 more months, so we are half-way through. We try to make her have some fun. For example, yesterday, we made her go sledding with us. It was a beautiful morning full of up and down fun. My nephew gave Mateo a white-wash, so I really let him have it.

Nothing else too exciting is happening, but I will keep you posted!

A new member of our family

So we were sick of kids and decided to adopt a dog instead. Does anyone want two terribly adorable boys ages 2-3? We have to make room for Daisy. She is wonderful with the boys, a little dirty, and a little sweetheart. She is a Lhasa apso, and yes she does have Marilyn Manson eyes(one blue and one brown). We tried to get a boyfriend for Abbey, but we accidently fell in love with her first.

Peter, Lindsay, and the boys.

Christmas

Hi Gang,
I have been talking with a few of you and this is this decision for Christmas. Seems like at Thanksgiving we were too busy talking Picture to talk Christmas. So here goes, if you don't like it please call me and we will talk. First we all feel the Family Picture is the best present we could give each other and since it costs $40 plus clothes we would like that to be our only presents to each other. However we all loved the white elephant gift exchange last year so would like to continue with that. So look around your house or favorite yard sale and try to bring a funny gift on Christmas Eve for after Mary and Joseph dinner. Also we would still like to do a family service project and Mindy has a friend she visiting teaches who needs help. She lives in a group home because of mental problems and would like to get her four kids gifts. Mindy says she is very sweet and would appreciate our help. So on Fast Sunday in Dec. I thought we would stand up and explain what the money was for and collect from everyone who wanted to donate (no more than $20 please). That way the children would see that we are helping someone this Christmas. I would then send it to Mindy who would take her shopping. I would love some feed back on this plan.
We love having Amy and Alan and kids living here for awhile. My only regret is how short their stay will be. Thomas has announced that he is used to all the noise now so we ought to have a great time at Christmas when we will be buldging at the seems. Just know that to my family every Christmas was spent at Grandma's house with all the cousins sleeping all over the house. So I will finally feel all is right when the floors and beds are covered with sleeping bodies. Lets raise the roof with our snoring.
Love, MOM

Not as Cute as Dawn's picture...

but I will post it anyway. Congratulations on another beautiful boy. Just a note to show you how much my wife is missing Arizona. Last week, Mateo woke me up early to say that it had snowed. I told him it was probably just frost, to which he replied "You don't even know, Dad!" He was right...more than two inches, and the perfect consistancy for a snowball fight and a snow man. Mateo even insisted on a carrot nose.

We are all a little sick with the cold, so Thanksgiving was a bit subdued, and there was a lot of leftover pie...Not like at the Vanderpools'.

We are really looking forward to a great visit at Christmas.

Love Miriam and Matt

So, I got on the right computer finally. Here are the pictures of Steven Day, and one of Joey and Steven 'cause it's just too darn cute!

Dawn

No pictures, I'm on the wrong computer, but I'd like to welcome Steven Day Brimhall to the blog. He was born Nov. 10th, 2007 at 5:38 pm. It was a very interesting time bringing him here to greet everyone, and mom and baby are both doing very well. He was 8lbs 3oz and 20" long. A beautiful baby boy. The spitting image of his brothers. No doubt which family he comes from!! Anyway, when I get on my other computer, I'll get a picture or two of him up here. Love you all, and look forward to Thanksgiving!!!

Dawn

Beeville Texas

Today I finally got registered again for the blog. Stacie and I have several things going here. We are both still sane (although half the people in this little town aren’t). I have tried my best to pick up a Texan accent and have only succeeded in mocking them. I am earning my living by selling catering for my in-laws. We make regular (once a month) trips to Houston for a head ache study I am in and my head aches which have been reduced significantly. Houston is huge and very green, we love it, we go to the temple each time we go and it is wonderful. One of our favorite things is the last mile of neighborhood you drive through getting to the Temple; it is full of these monster houses (9,000sf plus) you would think they belong in Beverly Hills. We also make regular trips to the Fullers (my best friend from high school) house in San Antonio. They have a beautiful house on a lake and we have enjoyed many great Saturdays on the lake. Stacie is doing well in Hygiene school; it is very difficult and the only thing she does is study, go to class, cook and sleep but it’s what is takes to pass. My classes are really easy and I am going to school full time. I also have recently joined the Coastal Bend College basketball team. It is my way of dropping a few extra pounds and reliving the glory days. We are a division two college so we play division one and division three teams. My knee is acting up so we will see if my poor aching body can keep it up, it was five years and fifty pounds ago that I played the way I have to play to be competitive. In one week I have already lost ten pounds. At church we have a small branch of like 70 and Stacie is a Relief Society teacher and librarian and I am a branch missionary and councilor in the Elders quorum presidency again. Were happy and expecting…..just kidding were not pregnant but we are expecting to come home at Christmas. We can’t wait to see every one then. Love, Cory and Stacie

Final word on picture attire?

Has there been a final decision made about clothing for pictures? I need to know so that we can start looking for clothes. Has there been a location picked that anyone knows about??
Jennifer

Just a friendly reminder.....

Just a friendly reminder to visit the temple this month.

My sister sent this to me today. If you are having trouble placing them head back to the temple TODAY! :)

Trunk-Or-Treat

I am almost ashamed to post because it has been so long. We had a fun trunk or treat last night with the ward and I thought I would put up a few pictures. It was a beautiful chilly crisp fall night and everyone had a great time. (This is not a common thing at our ward activities) We really are going to miss a lot of things about St. Louis like the couple of weeks of a gorgeous fall. The leaves are so beautiful right now and the weather is great. It is nice to wear a jacket (not a winter coat).

We had a little scare with Eleanor's makeup. After I put it on her I washed my hands and and it left them stained red. I thought for sure she was going to go to church this morning with a very red face but luckily it all washed off just fine.

I forgot to bring Darren's costume and Alan had to go chaperone the stake dance so I was there by myself. I didn't get any pictures of him. Here is a picture from earlier in the day at the boys last soccer game. He was loving crawling around in the grass except he kept rolling down the hill.

We only have 19 more days left. There is a ton to do but I am on schedule for packing and feeling rather good about moving. Alan is giddy. He walks around with a permanent grin on his face. He is looking good these days. He has lost 30 pounds doing Atkins again. He needs to get to his ideal weight for insurance purposes and he is well on his way.

ROCKY POINT!

We had a meeten and made some decisions. Hope everyone can work this out but we had to pick the best time for the most people. We are planning to go to Rocky Point (San Carlos was thoroughly researched and nothing large enough for all of us to fit in one villa was found-maybe next year). We pared the week down to four nights and five days the last of May. It will be Tues. May 27th to check in and head for home Sat. May 31. We are considering two different homes. One is Villa De Ensueno which we can rent up to ten bedrooms and the price depends on how many rooms we rent. It is the largest home and we will rent it if everyone comes and costs &7027 for all ten bedrooms and ten bathrooms. You can see it at www.seasidemexico.com. This is a beautiful location but has a rocky beach when the tide is out. The other house is called Nirvanna and has seven bedrooms, six baths. It costs $4800 for four nights. It is four miles into Los Conchos subdivision, therefor we might run out of water if we are not careful in the afternoon. It looks like beautiful home and has a perfect beach. You can see it at www.oceano-rentals.com. If everyone goes there will be 50 people and we will need as much room as possible but there will be more people to share the cost. If not very many people go we could fit in a smaller, cheaper home but just as nice. We think we should charge per person if we divide the bedrooms up evenly, but if you want to save money maybe you could double up with another family. And we would rent less room. For example If 33 people come and we stay at Nirvanna then it will cost $145 per person(seven families) and each family will have its own room. We want everyone to be comfortable financially and physically. Any where we rent requires 50 percent down and we need to make a reservation soon, right now both places are available. Therefore we would like to know what your plans are by Nov. 1st. so we can collect the needed deposit money. Right now everyone needs a passport to go to Mexico (which costs $100 per person) but we were told by Senator John Kyle's office this will probably change and children under 14 won't need one. If everyone has to have a passport we probably won't afford the trip. Therefore we are asking for guanantee of deposit refund if the law doesn't change. We need an alternative vacation spot for those four days if we have to cancel Mexico. Your input would be lovely. This is going to be a great vacation, we are going to have a great time, we want everyone to be comfortable and give our children a gift of a lovely memory with their whole family, and grandpa too.

What is the worst thing that can happen to a hunter who doesn't get a deer? How about hitting a deer on the way home? The driver in front of me very nearly this small herd as they were trying to cross the road. I had to take a picture to sho my father and brothers who hunted all week with no success. One of these, though you can't qute make it, actually does have antlers.

We had a great visit last week with Andrew and Shannon, Jonathan and Carrie, Mom, Dad, Tara and Colin. We did not see very much of conference, but we did see quite a bit of snow, and rain, and more rain. We were so glad that everyone could make the drive up to Salt Lake. It did make Miriam more homesick than before, but she has recovered nicely with some antibiotics.

I almost forgot. The boys were invited to a Trunk-or-treat for their cousins' ward. We weren't going to go, but then one of the cousins came over and was talking about it, so my boys begged to go. Because I am such a good Dad, I let them go with their aunt (good homework time for me), so I had to get costumes in about 5 minutes. Mateo was Spiderman, and Michael was Batman. Good times, good times.

New Post

We decided that we were tired of seeing Jared's pretty face when we looked at the blog so we put up this picture just for a change! No offense to Jared or Dawn or anyone else but honestly, it's a kind of scary picture! :)

Don't try this at home

It is not a good idea to catch a softball with your mouth. First of all, it's not soft. Especially when it's coming off the end of a bat. Second of all, it will result in stitches. In Jared's case, 10. 2 in his top lip and 8 in his bottom lip. 5 are on the inside. We've started calling him "Bubba J". Isn't he gorgeous? I think he's just all puckered up, waiting for his kiss!

Dawn

(PS Tara had a fabulous hit this game! Too bad Jared and I missed it. You'll have to have her tell you all about it!)

Colin's home

Colin came home on thursday home to only a few of hes family there to meet him but enough to make him feel loved. He looks just like he did when he left and is happy to be here. They went to the temple on the way home from the airport. We all got together and had dinner that night it was a lot of fun. He is working for Spencer for a few days before he gets a real job and going to have his home coming talk on the 23rd of this month. That is all of the future that he has planned at the moment. So he is doing good and looks happy.

P.S. Abby was thrilled to see him and sleeps with him every night.

I have work enough to do...

Miriam really, really wants to come to Phoenix for Christmas. Either that, or I have bad breath. She has been picking up so many shifts, that we get one or two evenings a week together. Her co-workers all speak very highly of her and look forward to shifts where they will work together. I picked up some altoids, so if nothing changes in her schedule, we will soon know if it is because she misses her family and does not want to be the "weekest link" that prevents a complete family picture. We checked prices, and though it is expensive, there is great probability that we would fly in on Christmas day. Here's hoping!

It has been fantastic to spend so much time with the boys--even if my homework has suffered a very little bit. Yesterday, Mateo was invited to a birthday party for one of the boys in morning kindergarten. Mateo is in afternoon kindergarten. I thought maybe the invitation was placed by mistake, but Mateo seems to know the boy, and nobody noticed us as encroachers. It is funny being back in my home town; at least six of the eight parents went to highschool with either my older or my younger siblings. It is all very nostalgic.

Another great part of being here is working as an adult with all of the leaders who taught me as a child. Next Sunday, Miriam and I are speaking in sacrament meeting. The next week I get to teach gospel doctrine. We are working hard as ward missionaries, and I am taking a family history class at the institute, so lots of opportunities to serve!

May the Mail Be With You

The only way we can get the boys to write letters to Grandma is if we promise them to drop it in this box. Perhaps it is because the letters are so precious that they will only trust them to the Jedi. Rest assured, your mail is in good hands.

Perhaps you have seen some of these elsewhere. This one is right by the student union building on campus. We couldn't resist the photo op. Life is good in Boise. The thermometer read 75 for the high the other day while I noticed that Phoenix was sitting at 110 for the umpteenth time. I know it is a temporary advantage, but we will enjoy it while it lasts. Mateo is enjoying his school. Although he is reticent when asked about what he learned, with enough questioning, he always comes around. Michael loves his "new" cousins. Natalie is almost his exact age, and they play well together. His vocabulary is expanding by leaps and bounds. As I type this, he is asking his mother if she will open the gate so that he can ride his bike. Where? To Grandma Vanderpool's house of course. It is an almost daily occurrence. I think he misses her, but he is adjusting well. The ward here was quick to put us to work as ward missionaries. They also must have known that Miriam would be tempted to sleep through church after working her graveyard shifts, so they made her the Relief Society Chorister. She can't do any damage, but she has to be there every week. They are also glad to have us when it comes time to work at DI or the cannery during a weekday because I can almost always fill those assignments
Although we have moments (or in Miriam's case, hours or maybe even weeks) that we wish we could be in Arizona, when it comes time to make cookies, we take advantage of the distance from Mom to make triple batches of peanut-butter-chocolate-chip cookies. We are still having fun, hoping that Indian Summer will come early and stay late, but certainly not suffering.

MMMM Nielsen

Just thought I would pass this on!

My dad, (Keith), was diagnosed recently with hyperparathyroidism. The parathyroids sit right in front of your thyroid, and they control the calcium levels in your body. My dad had one that wasn't working right. He had surgery on Thursday, did splendily, and came home on Friday. When they went in, it wasn't hard to figure out which one was going bad, it was 40x it's normal size! But everything is well, and dad is recovering this week at home. If you'd like to give him a call, please do so!

Dawn

First day

Mateo is going to kindergarten today. He met his teacher, Mrs. Lyles, last week, and is very excited to be going. He will be in the exact same classroom where I went to kindergarten back in 1979. It is surprisingly the same. The one major change is that they now have a "SmartBoard"--a whiteboard that can interact with the computers (which are also new since I was there). I am pretty sure that I am more excited for him than he is.

Technically, first day was yesterday for me, but it was only interpersonal communication, so no big deal. Today I have taxation of partnerships, taxation of corporations, advanced financial reporting, and financial statement analysis. I might make it through.

Miriam is working hard. She picked up four shifts last week and has at least 30 hours this week. Because of my experience with sleeping during the day, I make sure the boys are out of the house for most of the time she is trying to sleep. We bought a new bed, so that should help! Because of our opposing schedules and all of the partying we have done since moving to Idaho, Miriam hasn't had much time to do scrapbooking or any of her many other interests, so hopefully, with the three hours Mateo is in class and Michael is in quiet time, she will be able to fit in those things that will help her keep her sanity as winter sets in. So far we have both been VERY happy here, but we were disappointed that Grandma Vanderpool's visit was so short. With a little luck (and a lot of shifts for Miriam) we will be able to visit Arizona sometime when the winter is a little more imposing.

We love and miss you all

MMMM Nielsen

Murphy's Law

This story must be told from the beginning, so let us start there. Wait, happy birthday Dad even though it's a little late, you were hiding out in Oregon. Okay, where was I, oh yes, the goths were at the gate. No, that was the introduction to why I like peppermint patties. About a year ago, we made a purchase. For some reason, we decided to buy a very large tent online. We actually set it up in the yard and had a fun time "camping" 100 feet from a flushing toilet. Needless to say, life has been a little hectic with scout camp, priest/teacher superactivity, the national orthodontic residents convention here in St. Louis put on by the residents in my program, saturday and Thursday evening at the dental office, mutual every Tuesday night, well you see I haven't had much time to spend with the family. So, when Amy asked, "do you have anything this weekend?" my first thought was oh no, I've forgotten something. However, I looked at my schedule, and I only had two patients on Friday, and both in the morning. "No, I don't have anything," I said. "Why don't we go camping?" Now, I place a question mark there because it is grammatically correct, but if you would have heard it, it sounded like "Unless you are having a myocardial infarction, we will be going camping this weekend!" Did I say I didn't have anything, what was I thinking. I finally agreed because I would like to eat next month. I realized I have an overnight activity coming up with the mutual at which I am cooking a dutch oven meal of stew, dumplings, and cobbler, and I have never done that before. Naturally, I can't cook this without some dutch ovens, so off to Cabela's I went on Thursday evening. By the way, a good trick to keep from spending too much money in there is to go just 15 minutes before closing. As much as I wanted the 22" 29 quart dutch oven, I could not justify it, so two 14" 12 qt. ovens would have to do.

Enter Murphy and his law. My 11:00 patient did not show up until 11:35, and by then, the instructor was elbow deep in a treatment planning session. He got to me at 11:58. Why don't we LQ#K$^@#$L^L%LJ #$PTP#$U#jto3i 3i4u35yo354Y#$%Y^3yt. This makes as much sense as what I would have written. Anyway, I finished at about 12:40 when I thought I would be done by 11:40. On another note, please recognize when a hint is given. I told her, next month, you are my only patient on the 21st. Would you like to move a week earlier or later? OH, that's my birthday she says. Well, would you like to move it then? No, I'll come in then. (She completely missed the first hint). Okay, I've got all day open, so would you like to come in at 9:00? No, I'll come in at 11:00 again. (missed hint #2).

I get home, and Amy is working feverishly to get everything ready to go. We packed, picked up the kids from school and stopped for gas. It's a good thing we needed gas because in the five minutes it took to pump the gas, Mayor Glenn Welsch's remark comes true in reverse. You know what they say about Missouri, if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes. Only we liked the weather. The skies turned black, and released rain- not Arizona rain. We headed back home for a tarp. Traffic was a mess, and we ended up arriving at the campsite at about 4:30. We set up the tent, got soaked in the process, and unloaded the rest of the equipment. The tailgate of a pickup is excellent at catching rain. The bed of the pickup was very wet, and consequently, everything in contact with the bed was wet. All of the sleeping bags and a couple of the pillows were soaked in enough places to be annoying. We debated our sanity, then questioned our judgement. (Here it is important to note that I was not the one who suggested going camping, so I'm not in trouble) Amy left with the kids to go back to town to see if she could buy a canopy/gazebo. I stayed and started the dutch oven cooking. About an hour later, Amy gets back and I open the truck door. She tells me there's a Super WalMart about 20 minutes away and I see a box labeled Red Gazebo Top. I look around, "where are the poles?" "Aren't they in the box?" Realization hits her. Well, it doesn't matter because the rain is letting up. I finished the stew around 9:40. Kids are not as good as adults are when it comes to ignoring hunger pangs. The stew was delicious as were the dumplings. The cobbler was golden brown, and Amy had made whipped cream, so that was great. Then that dang Murphy shows up again. Did you know that the rain fly on tents is not actually water proof? It is water resistant. On our HUGE tent, the rain fly has spots where it collects water until there is enough weight to force a drop of water through. It rained all night, dripping on us every 30 seconds or so. They should make air mattresses out of more durable material. Amy enjoyed a little more comfort than me because for some reason, my laying on that mattress increased her body to ground distance. I blew it up again when she got up to feed Darren. It seemed to leak faster the second time. Well, the next morning, we woke up and actually had a decent day. We had breakfast, cleaned up camp, then went on a tour of one of the caves in the area. It was fun for the kids for the first two minutes of the hour and a half tour. Mark and Bradley actually liked all of it, but Eleanor and Luke were ready to go almost immediately, and they couldn't see my mean face telling them to be quiet because it's dark in there. We got home okay, and overall had a great time. Mark wrote an essay for the principal and wrote about how it poured on us, we ate late, and it was harsh. See if I ever take him camping again. We hope all is well. We look forward to moving back in just 16 weeks.

I about fell out of my chair I laughed so hard!!

My sister sent this out on our family site and I thought I would die laughing. It hits a little to close to home. I am just glad that my kids are not the only "joys" to have in the grocery store. Moms this is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Follow the link to the ebay auction site and read the commentary.
Jennifer

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-POKEMON-CARDS-THAT-MY-KIDS-TRIED-TO-SNEAK-BY-ME_W0QQitemZ130144061675QQihZ003QQcategoryZ60238QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Matt and Mindy,

You are missed! Jared is going through fishing withdrawls!

I just realized I don't have your emails or real address or phone number. Mindy, I can't get you and Jeryl together for scrapbooking if I can't get a hold of you! She's way excited to see you again. Email me (if you can) at jdbrimhall@excite.com.

Anyway, not much going on in the Brimhall family. All three kids in school, and mom sitting around the house all day. And when I say around the house, I mean AROUND the house. As in as big as a... Steven is going to be as big as his brother was when JJ was born.

Love to all,
Dawn

I caught the biggest fish. I caught the ONLY fish worth keeping.

We give BlueGrass a whole new meaning

As the truck's gate was finally rolled down, a dust storm was just rolling in, so our departure from sunny Arizona was--to Mom's joy--delayed for a couple of hours. After the shedding of many tears, we mounted up and pulled out of town. The governor on the U-haul kept me below 70, which is good because the truck speed on all major highways in Arizona, Utah, and Idaho is 65! After very little sleep in Flagstaff, we made a long haul to Lehi where we spent a lovely evening visiting with Andrew, Shannon, Jonathan, and Keri. Arising at the crack of ten, we were on the road for the longest time to travel between Salt Lake and Boise in history...EVER...including Lewis and Clark! There was construction at at least four separate locations, two grass fires, and one major car accident. Also, there were two potty breaks and one lunch break. 9 hours later, we pulled up to our new home and began to unpack.

It has been a lot of fun so far as we have begun to get involved in a new ward (callings are probably coming this week). It is still a little strange to sing the hymns in English again. The Nielsen clan is at least as crazy as we remember them; so far there has only been one offense taken and no serious injuries. All four of us have had strep throat in the last week, so things have been a little lethargic. Just before we all got sick, we spent four days in the mountains near Crouch (almost two hours north of Boise). I fished every day, even trying my hand at fly fishing which, with a lot of pracitce, I could be very good at. Since I had to get an out of state license, it cost me $80.00, so to make the expense worth it, I am sure I will be getting a lot of practice! When I get my camera back, I will regail you with more fish tales.

Miriam took a part time job as a Psych Tech at a mental health hospital. In the words of my social worker sister, she basically babysits crazy people. Working two shifts a week, she should make more than enough to get us back to Arizona in a year. Because she will be working nights, the boys will hardly know she is gone. Such a blessing.

We are looking forward to a visit from Mom and Rieko this weekend. I will try to keep you posted of any other major occurances

MMMMNielsen