September 29, 02

Dear Family,

It’s a windy, rainy day here in Pocatello. I love it too. These rainy days are not only needed but help us appreciate the beautiful, warm, sunny days. Now that we are at the end of September I know from past history that snow could be here within the next few weeks. It was either last year or the year before that the kids were "given" an October snow day and didn’t have to attend schools that day. I look forward to winter just as I looked forward to summer in the late months of Spring. I love the changes in the weather and also love the coziness of winter.

Many of you haven’t received my family newsletter for quite a while. I apologize for that. Somehow in our move my computer stopped working and it wasn’t until a few days ago (thanks to Troy and Mike) that I have it up and running. I did use Mike’s computer for a few weeks but it didn’t have my email program and address book like this one does. I think most of you know that we did move in August. We love our new home at 404 Arabian Ave. We are excited to be Pocatello’s newest Arabians ;o) The actual move went pretty smoothly and we are all unpacked with the exception of a few boxes in our basement.

Grandma Pett’s funeral was held Tuesday in Malad. I still have to keep reminding myself that she has passed away. I really thought she’d be around for several years. I learned so much from her and love her dearly. The viewing was Monday evening. In the obituary it said that the funeral home was on Malad street. I went with Alli and Troy and Pam followed us. I thought I had remembered the funeral home being close to the church but we drove around for several minutes looking for a Malad Street. We finally broke down and asked for help. We learned that there wasn’t a Malad Street in Malad and that the funeral home was near the church and right around the corner from Uncle Marvin’s home. A building I have passed several times growing up. Once we finally arrived I felt dumb for not remembering exactly where it was. Not overly dumb though because Troy and Alli didn’t remember either ;o) Grandma had planned her funeral several years ago. She had outlined exactly who was to do what and what was to be done. It turned out to be a beautiful funeral. Several years ago Alli and I were asked to play a piano/organ duet. I hadn’t played the organ for several years so I felt quite unprepared. Alli and I found an organ arrangement of "The Lord is my Shepherd" which luckily was in the same key as the hymn in the hymnbook. Alli improvised her piano part. We practiced in the church Monday evening for a few minutes and then a few minutes prior to the funeral. I think both Alli and I agree that we played it the very best during the actual funeral. Aunt Marci gave Grandma’s life sketch and Dad and his brother’s each spoke for a few minutes. Following the graveside prayer we went back to the church for lunch. We took pictures there and I learned that every one of Grandma’s grandchildren were there with the exception of three missionaries. Also, all of my Dad’s cousins were there. I just thought it was quite incredible to have so many there, on only a few days notice and with some traveling quite far. Grandma had put our names on the heirlooms, which were to be passed onto us. Following the luncheon we went to her home to gather these items. These items included pretty trinkets and dishes to practical items such as Grandma’s vibratory belt. (Probably only those close relatives will know what I’m talking about) ;o) Jason and Christi were "treated" to a fertility goddess. They obviously (with Christi due in a few weeks) have little need for this and will probably pass it on at Christmas time. No it is not my turn! The way I see it, a few of you have a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, it was strange to see grandma’s home torn apart like it was. She always had it so neat and clean. I hope Heavenly Father had her busy and she didn’t see the mess that was generated by 5 children, 24 grandchildren and several spouses and great grandchildren scattered around her house;o)

Jason, Christi, Kimmi, Troy, Pam and family stayed with us before the funeral and Troy’s family stayed for an additional night afterwards. We really enjoyed their company. Hopefully over the next several months we’ll have our basement finished and even more can stay with us at one time. Tuesday evening we went to Golden Corral with Trevor (Melissa had class) and Troy’s family. Everybody needs to keep visiting us so we can make excuses to go there.

Wednesday and Thursday I played catch up on housework and laundry. Wednesday night Mike had home teaching for a few minutes, but it was actually the first night he’s had some time at home in over 3 weeks. He hustled to get a rocket sanded for Keaton’s Pack Meeting on Thursday. After football practice Keaton helped Mike paint it and glue parts onto it. It wasn’t the fanciest, but was finished in time for the rocket derby Thursday night. We nick named it the "yellow banana". The rockets were powered by rubber bands. They were shot across the room hooked to fishing line. I had never even heard of a rocket derby. Apparently many others hadn’t either. I think the car derby’s are still the favored, though. Keaton was so excited to have his rocket win 4 out of the 5 races he competed in. He received a 2^nd place pin and ribbon. This was Keaton’s first pack meeting. He was awarded his Bobcat along with a couple of other awards. He should be done with his Bear by the next pack meeting. I’m glad he’s excited about scouts and doing so well.

Later Thursday evening Don, Alli and kids arrived. Don had class Friday and Saturday so they stayed with us. We had fun watching a few movies with them in the evenings. On Friday, besides Alli and her kids, I had Karen McCabe’s 2 youngest daughters stay with us. They were really good and played well with the kids. During the morning, Alli and I decided to take them all on a walk. We started with a couple of the older children walking but by the time we were half way finished we were hauling four of them in the wagon with the two youngest in the stroller. It might have been kind of funny looking seeing us hauling so many kids but it was fun anyway. Later, in the afternoon when Don finished his class, he and Alli went out for lunch. I sat outside and watched the kids play on bikes, and ride-on toys. It is so fun to just sit outside and watch them. Connor loves throwing balls so I played catch with him for a while. He was doing really well to catch a football. It is so cute to see how excited he gets. He’s hilarious to watch bat a baseball, too.

Saturday I had an annual music meeting (teacher’s music club) in the morning. After being apart of it for 4 years things are starting to make sense to me. I really enjoyed it this year. It was nicely organized. The rest of the day was spent cleaning and doing errands. Kailey was also invited to a birthday party for a little girl in her school class. She said the party was a lot of fun. She did a nice job sewing a Barbie sleeping bag out of felt while at the party. Saturday evening we went to the ISU football game. During the first 5 minutes Sacramento State scored 2 touchdowns. It made us a little nervous. But by half time ISU was only 2 points behind. It was an exciting first half. The 2^nd have didn’t slow down a bit. ISU scored 2 touchdowns within 2^nd’ half’s first 5 minutes. ISU ended up winning. I knew I was missing the General Women’s Conference Broadcast but since we have a family pass and there are only 6 games in the season I decided I’d record it and watch it later. I was able to watch it today. It was quite inspiring and I enjoyed listening and watching it.

Today was fast Sunday since next week is General Conference. We didn’t realize it, until choir practice. Apparently we weren’t the only ones that didn’t realize it was. We had a very nice Sacrament Meeting though. The spirit was strong. Elicia bore her testimony. She told how during her first sacrament meeting in this ward she missed her old ward terribly. But now, she doesn’t miss the old ward that much since people have made her feel so comfortable. Her testimony was made example of in a later testimony and then in Sunday school. Both told how we need to make new members feel comfortable like the little girl told in her testimony. We had a joint 5^th Sunday lesson with the RS, Priesthood, Y.W. leaders and Primary leaders combined. We had it in the RS room but I doubt they’ll do that again. It was quite crowded and several had to stand in the hall. Bishop Hayes spoke to us. He is a sweet, humble man and makes a wonderful Bishop. Following church Trevor and Melissa came over to eat. Melissa made some yummy chicken and pasta salad. We’ve missed having them live with us but are glad they live close enough we can still see them quite a bit.

I think I’ve covered everything. We hope all of you are happy and well.

Take Care,

Shan (and family)

October, 9 02

Dear Family,

Last week we had snow! If you remember, in my last letter I said I knew it could come soon ;0) It wasn’t enough to really stick but it sure gave us a taste of cold weather. Keaton had a football game on Tuesday, which we froze through. We had our winter coats on besides being wrapped up in blankets. Several of the kids were injured during the game and I’m not sure if it was because of the other team just being rough or something to do with it being cold out. Our little guys just aren’t as aggressive as most of the other teams. Keaton’s football has been taking up a lot of our time lately. He really loves it though. He says he plays it everyday at school and wants to be a football player for Halloween. While he was at one of his practices last week I took the girls to DI to look at costumes. Elicia decided she wanted to be a bride for Halloween. We were able to find her a long, pretty white dress, a veil, some white shoes and white gloves for a total of $7.50. I also found a red polka dot dress for $1 so with some convincing I was able to talk Kailey into being MiniMouse. I told her that her Kindergarten teacher would love it since she used to work at Disneyland. We bought her some white gloves too. With her black tights, some ears and a black long sleeve shirt she oughta look perfect!

We’ve been really excited about cubscouting in this ward. Keaton’s leaders are so good. Last Thursday they took the kids fishing. I think Keaton has only been fishing once before and that was several years ago. He loved it! He caught more fish then everyone else. He out braved the others by sticking it out in the cold, which I’m sure helped. He caught 7 fish but they split them up between the kids and he brought home 4 trout. That was fine with me. 4 were definitely enough. A little while after he had returned home I asked him where he put the fish. He told me they were up in his room. I had him get them and we stuck them in cold water in the sink. I then debated if I had the guts to clean them. I’m quite squeamish when it comes to fish, but not nearly as bad about lake/river caught fish. I can’t even be in the same room as a dead aquarium fish. I thought I could maybe talk Keaton and Elicia through the process of cleaning but neither one of them wanted to touch the fish. I knew Mike wouldn’t do it either. So I thought I’d make last minute attempt at getting a hold of Trevor or Melissa. Neither one were home. That left the cleaning to the kids and me. I knew if I were going to make them help I had to make the first move. I grabbed a fish, thank heavens it was completely dead! Then with a knife began to scale them. Keaton was eager to cut off their heads and so he did that. Elicia grabbed my camera and kept the little girls out of the way. Keaton really started getting into it and even cut out the eyeballs, which I think he stills has in his room somewhere. After getting through the initial grabbing of the fish, I didn’t have a problem cleaning them. I baked them the next day with lemon pepper. Mike ate some but didn’t like picking out bones and the girls wouldn’t touch them. Keaton ate a little and I ate some.

I’ve been working with Kailey and Emilee on reading and math. Kailey has shown more of a desire to want to read. She sees the older kids reading and wants to be like them. She is beginning to sound out words and picks out words that are familiar to her. I’ll read the Dr. Seuss books and let her read the words she knows or can easily sound out. I think Emilee just memorizes the books as we go along because she’ll say a word that I’m trying to help Kailey with. I think it will be like it was with Elicia and Keaton. I would work so hard helping Elicia on something and Keaton would pick it up easily in the background. So far it hasn’t bothered Kailey too much but it has always drove Elicia crazy when Keaton is learning the same things she does. I have to remind Elicia that there are lots of things that come easily to her too. When it comes to cooking and cleaning she can and does an excellent job. Keaton has greater room for improvement in those areas. For one of his cubscout requirements he had to help with a meal. Last week I let him pick out a recipe from the cookbook and we gave it a try. I learned right off that I haven’t let him spend as much time in the kitchen as he ought to. He was unsure about what measuring tools to use and where and what certain ingredients were. He picked out Cheeseburger Pizza. I thought it was a bit unusual to have a pizza with pickles on it but we did it. Keaton thought it was great and I didn’t think it was too bad. On the other hand, Mike wasn’t impressed.

Elicia has been busy making friends. She told me the other day that some girls asked her at school to practice basketball with them. She was thrilled that they had asked her. They told her they saw her on the list for the basketball team they signed up on. They haven’t started practices yet but the practicing at recesses will help. Last year Elicia’s team didn’t win a game. I have a feeling this team will do a little better. From what I’ve heard, the school we are in now is highly competitive. Elicia hasn’t ever been on a "winning" team so it may be a change for her. Hopefully they won’t be so competitive that the fun will be lost or the kids won’t be as nice on the court.

It seems like our weekends have been incredibly full lately. Saturday was the first day in a few months and the last Saturday of the season that we could make it to Lagoon. We had free tickets that we didn’t want to miss out on. It was our first time to go during Frightmares. We had extremely nice Fall weather and the park wasn’t very crowded. We were able to walk right on several of the big rides and all of the little rides. I think the only time we had to wait more than five minutes was at the special spook alleys. During Frightmares they have 2 pretty scary ones and then a couple "kiddy" ones. The kids liked one of the little ones that gave out trick-or-treat bags and they were able to walk through and receive candy from costumed employees. The whole Lagoon Park was decorated for Halloween and in the evening they had Fog machines going and "Ghouls" walking the streets. We watched a show, "The Frankie Bunch", which was really cute too. While riding a few of the rides I felt a little sick to my stomach. I thought at the time maybe as I have gotten older I’m more prone to motion sickness. I felt better when I wasn’t on the rides and throughout our drive back to Pocatello. Sunday morning, I woke up sick though. Gradually throughout the day, I got worst until I was having stomach cramps overlapping each other. By evening I started to feel somewhat better. We had invited Jim, Jeff, Greg and his girlfriend Jenny over for dinner. Mike did the cooking. I think he did pretty well. I wasn’t up to eating so I wouldn’t know for sure. Yesterday I felt weak but lots better and today I feel pretty much over it. Mike thinks it was something I ate. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with it, but I don’t think I’ll be cleaning and baking fish for a while.

Even though it was kind of a busy weekend, we were able to listen/watch most of conference. Saturday morning we were able to listen to conference on our way to Lagoon and then on Sunday. Since I had to be sick, Sunday was a good day since I could just lie around. If it had been a regular Sunday there is no way that I could have made it to church. I have enjoyed listening to the talks so far. There are some things I feel like we are doing okay but I know we can do better. With our kids getting older it makes me feel an even greater pertinence to spiritually prepare them for the things they will encounter in life.

I just realized we have only 15 minutes until Kailey leaves for Kindergarten and we haven’t had lunch. I’d better bring this to a close. Hopefully all of you are doing well. Have a great week!

Love,

Shan (and family)

October 14, 02

Dear Family,

I think if I remember right, I started last week’s letter in the middle of the week, which is good, because I have a hard time remembering what goes on early on in the week. The days here have been very nice lately. Emilee wants to learn how to ride a bike. I believe it will be some time before she actually gets it though. She wants me to hold her hands on the handlebars and run up and down the street with her. Kailey on the other hand, hasn’t been as interested in riding her bike as I had hoped she would be.

Elicia began her basketball practices this past week. They are a really good team. Last year Elicia’s team lost every game. This new team at Gate City was apparently undefeated. They plan to be that way again this year. I was surprised that they (the three men coaches) started the girls with lay ups right off the bat. I don’t think Elicia’s team ever did them last year. The coaches told the girls they all had to make baskets by lay up before they could quit and go onto something else. One little girl on the team has a broken arm. She plays right along with the other girls. She makes a lot of baskets too. There games start in a couple weeks. Keaton is supposed to start basketball soon too. He finishes football this week.

Friday night I had my "Mommies Night Out" for Bonkos. We had a good time listening to 80’s music and eating while playing our dice game. It got over a little after 9 and then after visiting for awhile, my friend Julie and I went to Wal*Mart. We both realized that night that we needed to get birthday presents for a birthday party her son and Kailey had been invited to. While I was away Friday, Mike took the kids and had what Elicia described as the "Best Night Ever". They had to do a little shopping at Home Depot and then went out for ice-cream and McDonalds before coming home to watch a movie.

Saturday was an extremely full day or us. It began with Mike leaving for the Homecoming Parade at 8:30 am. His office had a float in it which he road on. Shortly after he left, Alli and kids arrived. We woke up Elicia, Keaton, Kailey and Emilee and got them ready to leave. We then picked up Trevor and headed for a spot in front of Pocatello High School. There we set up chairs on the sidewalk and got ready for the parade. Kailey had to be at a birthday party at the 10:00, the same time the parade was to start. Fortunately it wasn’t too far away. I took her to it and then got back to Alli, Trevor and kids. There were 100+ entries in the parade and lasted for over 1 ½ hours. The homecoming parade is one of our favorites in Pocatello. They throw more candy then any other parade :0) After the parade we picked up Kailey from the party and then headed home. We weren’t home for long when Mike arrived home to take us to Bengal fest. It is a bunch of activities that take place prior to the ISU football games. After eating free hotdogs and watching the kids bounce on a trampoline and run an obstacle course we went to the Football game. The games usually last for around 3 hours and surprisingly the kids did really well. Keaton and Elicia enjoy watching. Kailey and Emilee will even watch a little but prefer watching people around us and the other stuff that goes on during the games, like the cheer squad. The game was really a good one. We barely won 18-14. In the final seconds of the game the other team lost control of the ball in the end zone. We couldn’t even see the final play from where we sat. It wasn’t until we saw it on the news that we actually figured out what had happened. Following the game we went home to quickly eat and Mike and I left for a wedding reception. When we returned home our friends the Lukers had arrived. We played games and snacked until late. After they left, 11:30 pm, Mike and I quickly left for Smiths Grocery Store. We wanted to take advantage of their "case lot" sale. We grabbed a few cases and a couple gallons of milk. We were pretty wiped out by the time we arrived home.

Sunday Mike and I went to choir practice. We’ve enjoyed singing in the choir together. It is the first time we’ve been able to do so since Elicia was a baby. We are working on Christmas music which is really fun. After choir practice we had an hour to get everyone ready for church. Since both Mike and I were giving the prayers in Sacrament meeting we wanted to be there early so we could sit close to the front. In our ward if you don’t get there a head of time, you end up sitting clear back in the gym. We had some super good talks in Sacrament meeting. A lady in our ward spoke about how we can relate the story of the 3 little pigs to real life. She explained that we need to be prepared for the "Big Bad Wolf" and build ourselves a strong home of bricks. I never had thought of that analogy but thought it was a good one. While the lady was speaking her husband had to take out their baby leaving their 3 year old on the bench by himself. Mike motioned for him to come sit by us (only a few rows back) several times Finally the little boy started to come back to us. When he got to us he politely informed us that he already had a Mommy and Daddy and then went back up to his bench. It was really cute. Keaton thought it was hilarious. After church Trevor and Melissa had dinner with us. Melissa had to go to work but Trevor hung out with us for the rest of the day. We decided to go for a drive in the mountains just outside of town so we could see the beautiful scenery and it’s Fall changes. Later we ate popcorn and watched the Living Scriptures DVD Lorenzo Snow. Elicia seems to really enjoy the Prophet Documentaries and Keaton will watch them too but Kailey and Emilee usually don’t last long. We have our DVD player in our bedroom but have it wired so we can watch whatever is playing throughout the house. In the middle of our show the screen changed and we saw that the DVD player was being opened. Next thing we knew , Peter Pan had started. Mike ran upstairs and found Emilee to be the culprit.

I think I’ve covered pretty much all that is worth covering. We look forward to hearing about Troy’s family’s trip to Disneyland. Hopefully all went well for them. We love you all!

Take Care,

Shan (and family)

I have a few minutes so I’m going to start this week’s letter and hopefully get it done today. I find when I put it off I’ll either wait too long into the week or skip a week altogether. Most of the week was a pretty normal week for us. I’ve tried to get into a better routine in the morning with the kids. If I hustle them along in the morning it is amazing what they can get done and our whole day goes smoother. It is always nice when Elicia can get her piano practiced before going to school. After school she gets busy with homework and other activities. After a neglectful summer, I don’t want her to fall too behind with piano. Also, reading our scriptures as a family before school is working out rather nicely. I never thought we were "morning people" enough to try it. I still don’t think we’re fully "all there" in the morning but it’s getting done at least. It is kind of nice that the kids are too tired to start goofing around also.

Thursday and Friday the kids were out of school for Parent/Teacher Conferences. I went to Kailey, Elicia’s and Keaton’s all in a row on Thursday morning. Kailey’s was first. Her teacher asked me if she has a shy bone in her body. Kailey is doing really well. A year ago I wondered if I should get her some speech therapy but her teacher said she didn’t even notice a problem and that the people doing the kindergarten screening didn’t detect any sort of a problem. In fact, in the kindergarten screening her Language skills were extremely high. Her teacher told me very few students scored as high. The gross motor section of the test is where Kailey struggled the most. We need to work on hopping on one foot and skipping. Elicia struggled the first few weeks of school and her report card reflected it. I think she was just trying to hard and not utilizing her time effectively. For example, her teacher would ask the class to write down answers as the teacher asked questions and Elicia would try to write the whole question down and not have time to write down the answer. She is doing much better though and working on concentrating. When she concentrates on the task at hand she does really well. Keaton’s teacher describes him as a nice, quiet boy. I warned her not to let him get to comfortable in class or that might change :0) With the exception of handwriting, he received nearly a perfect report card.

Keaton finished up with football this week. He really enjoyed it and looks forward to playing again next year. He says he would really like to be a receiver. He loved having Trevor work with him on it Thursday night. I told him if he kept practicing catching throughout the year perhaps next year he might get a chance at being a receiver. I think next year we’ll for sure try to get him on Gate City’s team (where he goes to school now). He loved playing with Jefferson’s (his old school) kids but it was just too long of a commute to go every evening. He starts basketball practices this week and they won’t be too far away. Speaking of basketball, we decided to get a portable basketball pole and hoop. We have a sloped driveway so thought this would be better for us. We’ve missed having a hoop since moving to this new home and promised Keaton we’d get one since we had to leave our old hoop. I’ve taken the kids to the school a few times to practice but that’s not as easy as just going out the front door. Mike left out of town and so I took it upon myself to put together the hoop. IT said that 2 adults were required but I figured Keaton and Elicia would do. We worked hard on it one day and then realized that there were 2 left brackets instead of a right and left bracket in the kit. I had to call the manufacturer and get a right bracket. It came quickly within a couple of days so we could get back to work at setting it up. After putting it together twice (since I accidentally forgot a part the first time) we stood it up and noticed that the hoop rim was upside down. Although Elicia and Keaton said they didn’t care, I knew I had to change it. It looked kind of silly upside down. Now it is all put together but we need to get sand or something to put in the base to keep it from tipping over.

Early Friday morning Mike flew to Coeur D Alene, Idaho. He had some meetings to go to. He should be home in a couple hours. I like his quick trips a lot better then his long ones. Friday night I was so exhausted from just keeping up with the kids. Besides missing Mike when he’s gone I realize how much I really need him too.

I committed several weeks ago to help out at our ward’s Super Saturday, which was yesterday. I also learned late in the week, Keaton had one more football game Saturday morning. With Mike out of town this put me in somewhat of a bind. I was glad Alli was able to help me out. She stayed and watched Keaton’s game while I went to Super Saturday. Later we had Elicia baby-sit while Alli came to the church to work on a project. After an hour or so the kids called and said Connor was hurt and so we packed up our stuff and went home. Keaton had taken Connor in the front yard (which he shouldn’t have with us gone). He pulled him in the wagon hooked up to his bike. Apparently Connor fell out of the wagon and scraped up his face. When they called I could hear Connor crying but when we got home a few minutes later he was up in Keaton’s room content watching Keaton play Nintendo. Elicia was really upset about it and blamed Keaton for not obeying her. Next time I’ll have to give better instructions before leaving the kids at home. After we got home and got things organized a bit, Alli and I took turns cutting each other’s hair. We figure we’ve saved quite a bit of money being able to do this for each other. Also cutting the members of our families hair has saved us bundles!

Emilee is tugging on my arm wanting me to play "match game" with her so I’d better close. Keep us updated Jason and Christi---We can’t wait for Molly’s arrival! We love you all!

Love,

Shan (and family)

Oct. 27, 02