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