Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!

Hello everyone,

I can't take credit for my title. I heard it this week and it was attributed to Oprah, but I love every new year and I remain optimistic that each new year I'll do a little better.

What an interesting holiday season this has been! Snow kept us in for many days, so we have enjoyed more than our usual share of games, movies, and home-cooked meals. Hey, it's been cheaper than usual, too. We've had a great time together!

It all started on Wednesday, Dec. 17 with our no-snow snow day! The predicted snow did not arrive and I should have spent the day at school (even teachers don't want to go to school on a snow day). I did spend the day grading journals at home and made a quick trip to downtown Seattle with our friends, the Ormes. The snow started Thursday, continued Friday (friends picked Blake up at the airport that night), continued Saturday (Blake and Lance had a good trip to the airport to pick up Sara and an interesting ride back home. Since I-5 was closed, they were diverted to 99 and ended up in downtown Seattle navigating the hills in order to get to I-90). We've missed the Highlander, our 4 WD vehicle which now resides in UT!

By sometime Sunday, we had 11 inches of snow and we were basically trapped at home until the 26th when we finally ventured out again. The Camerons picked us up for church, Sherm Bigelow took us to the grocery store, and Jan Orme took Blake and me to the Eastside for some shopping on Christmas Eve. Sara went to the Seiberts for a sleepover, but Lance won our award for being housebound from Sunday the 21st until Friday the 26th. He was very glad to go back to work!

Our three elders joined us for brunch and their phone calls home on Christmas morning. We had friends over to play games on Sat. and Sun. evenings.

Blake and Sara head back to school tomorrow. Sara needs to get settled in her new apartment and they've been on the phone with friends making plans. We've almost finished packing up the Christmas decorations. I don't like to do this until New Year's Day or later. However, since Sara leaves New Year's Day, I opted for doing it earlier and having her help.

I was reading some articles on Meridian this morning liked a quote from a talk by Spencer W. Kimball. Here's a quote that I loved from the article:

"Let us “be of good cheer” (D&C 78:18), for the Lord will, as he has promised, lead us along and show us the way. He will help us as we decide from day to day on the allocation of our time and talent. We will move faster if we hurry less. We will make more real progress if we focus on the fundamentals. We will even come to know more as we serve more, for as we learn to bear more we are made ready to hear more (see John 16:12 and Mark 4:33)."

I love this counsel: Hurry less, focus on the fundamentals, and serve more!

You can access the entire talk (it's a keeper) by going to the May 1979 Ensign - Spencer W. Kimball, “Let Us Move Forward and Upward,” Ensign, May 1979, 82.

Happy New Year and let's try to do a better job of posting to our blog in 2009!

Love,
The Behnke Bunch - Ramona, Lance, Blake, and Sara

Our precious present!

More pictures are to come when I have more time, but you can see our beautiful Rachelle Dwynne at http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?BirthId=443f0083-f020-465d-8990-a452a08b55b3

Hunter Newsletter 2008

Hi everyone! We hope that you are all doing well. We thought that we’d catch everyone up on what we’ve been up to this last year.
Katie is still the librarian at Mark Twain Elementary School. She has a fantastic job. Part of her responsibilities include reading stories to the children and helping them find books. Anyone who attends her school can tell you that Katie is somewhat of a superstar there. All the students like Katie and treat her just like a celebrity. Whenever one of her students sees her around town they excitedly call out her name and say “hi”. She receives multitudes of compliments too. Often these compliments come first hand from the students. Other times, the kids tell the parents how much they like Katie and then the parents will mention it to Katie when they see her. Among the compliments she has received from her students are that she is beautiful, and looks like a princess and is “cool”. You can’t get better than that! One student told her that she was sorry that she was moving to a new school because she said that the librarian there probably wouldn’t be as cool as Katie. Katie also gets many offers from students to volunteer to help her in the Library during their school recesses. Sometimes they are too young to help her and Katie tells them that they must be in a higher grade. The students then optimistically exclaim “Oh, OK. Next year then!” Of course, we can all understand why the students all like her so much. Katie is a lovely, kind, helpful person with a very likable personality.
When Katie is not working, she finds time to read and work on the fantasy novels she is writing. Katie and I also enjoy reading together. During this past year we have read together The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
I am still working on my Ph.D. studies at the University of California, Riverside. This will be my last year of studies though as I hope to graduate in June, 2009. I am beginning to search for potential employment for after graduation. Right now I am leaning towards a job with a government agency like the Environmental Protection Agency. But I am also applying for industrial and academic positions as well. I still have about 6 months before I graduate, however, so we probably won’t find anything until my graduation date becomes closer.

Opera House in Sydney, Australia

This summer Katie and I went to Australia for two weeks so that I could attend a scientific conference held in Sydney. I presented my research on the potential risk of pyrethroid insecticides to aquatic animals. At the end of the conference, I received an award for the Best Student Poster Presentation. That was exciting. While in Sydney, Katie and I took time to sightsee. We visited the National Maritime Museum, the Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife Park, and of course visited the famous Opera House and saw the Harbour Bridge. We spent about a week in Sydney. After that, we took a train north to Brisbane to visit my brother Shawn, his wife Jane, and their son Leroy, and my sister Maryann who is currently attending film school there. It was fun seeing all of them. Katie and I also went to the Australia Zoo (Home of the Crocodile Hunter). At the zoo we saw some of the famous animals unique to Australia including koalas, kangaroos, and wombats and Tasmanian Devils. Overall, we really enjoyed our trip to Australia. We thought that the places we visited were very beautiful. One drawback to the trip, however, was the higher prices in Australia (due to a weak US dollar). We also weren’t too terribly thrilled with the food there, but it was tolerable.

Wesley and Katie in Brisbane, Australia

This Christmas, Katie and I will be visiting my parents in Pocatello, Idaho and then spending New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with my brother Nick and his family in San Diego, California.

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

Love,
Wesley and Katie Hunter

Baby countdown!

I've been scheduled to be induced for this Sunday (Dec. 21st) if Rachelle doesn't come before then. (She's not due until the 27th, but the doctor thinks she is big and wants the delivery to go as smoothly as possible.) Anyways, we are very excited to see our little angel and hold her in our arms. I'm sure everything will go fine, but we would really appreciate it if you guys kept us in your prayers that day!
Love,
Becca, Michael, Aaron, and Nathan
P.S. We will try to put a picture on here as soon as we can.
P.P.S. Check out our blog http://beccamikey2002.blogspot.com for more about our month (including snow here in Bryan!)

Gratitude . . .

I've been reading a lot this week about gratitude. It's certainly made me think a little about those things for which I'm grateful. So I'm want to share some of those with you . . .

I'm grateful for sunsets and sunrises, Kathy, James and Kara, my new daughter (in-law) Shawnee, each of you -- my extended family, the Gospel, my testimony, my opportunity to serve in the Lord's kingdom, my health, Kara's speedy and complete recovery, the home where I can relax and escape from the world, our heritage in the gospel, our Mom and Dad -- who loved us unconditionally and totally and taught us to love each other, their commitment to doing what's right, my job and career, my community (that I love so much), clouds and storms (thanks to Kathy for teaching me to appreciate them), my sense of humor (Scifres corn as some of you call it) that lets me enjoy life even more, and the holidays (all of them) that I enjoy so much.

Well, I could go on and on. But, you get the message. Life is full of so many things that we should be grateful for. So, I challenge each of you to take a few minutes during the next few days and reflect on those things in your life for which you are grateful.

Well, enough of that. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving Day. We'll be at Carol and Steve's. There will be just be the two of them, Aunt Edna, Uncle Fred (Steve's uncle that lives with them), Kathy and I, Kara and Kathy's Mom -- Ganny. James and Shawnee are going to spend Thanksgiving with her Mom in Stillwater. They both have to work on Wednesday and Friday -- so felt it better to just stay close. James also has to work on Saturday.

Kara's already making her list for shopping on the big "Day after Thanksgiving Shopping Day". That's a really big tradition for her (and her Dad, I must admit). Kathy comes along -- because we insist she join us, but it's really a big deal for Kara and I.

We hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving and everything that comes with it -- whether it be great food, great company, football, or a great nap after that great meal. We love you and wish we could all be together. Wouldn't that be great! Have a super day!

Karl and Kathy

Turkey Time!

Hey family! I was about to send out reminders to everyone to do an entry on the blog for November when I realized that I myself had not done one - so here it is. Life here in P-town is pretty great. The semester is wrapping up - I'll fly home on Tuesday for Thanksgiving and then I only have two more weeks of classes before finals and then it's home for a glorious Christmas break with no homework! WOOT! My classes are going well, but keep me pretty busy with studying for tests and such. I still have my last O Chem test to take before I head home on Tuesday. My roommate, Ashley, is getting married on December 20th, so I decided to sell my contract too and move in with friends. We were able to sell our contracts without a problem, so I'll be moving in late December - I'm pretty excited, although I will miss sharing a fridge with only 4 girls instead of the 6 I'll be sharing with next semester. I've been taking advantage of BYU's International Cinema - they show free international films in the SWKT - this week I saw two great ones - Motorcyle Diaries and The Visitor - I'd reccommend both of them. Friday night I went with a group of friends to hear our friend James perform in the BYU Steel Drum Band Concert. It was a blast. And today we got the "date more, hang out less" lecture from our bishopric - you've got to love BYU wards! I'm looking forward to everyone's updates. I hate that we can't be together during the holidays but through the blog we can keep eachother updated! Love to you all!

Serendipity during Scripture Study!

This was one of those rare mornings when I actually found something during my scripture study to use in my daily life. I'm currently reading Preach My Gospel and I'm in the section about the commandments, specifically prayer. I read the scripture in 2 Nephi 31:9 about not performing anything unto the Lord unless we pray that He will consecrate our performance unto Him that it will be for the welfare of our souls. I thought that it would be a great scripture to share with the Primary children this afternoon at our program rehearsal. I went to grab my small triple to put it in my purse. When I flipped open the scriptures (my travel set), I found a card that read, "We love you Aunt Mona!" from Sarah, Sam, and Erin. What fun to remember my trip to TN and the experience of attending church with them in their ward. When I sat by Sam in Sacrament meeting, I couldn't help remembering when Shaun was just his size and I went to church with him in Tulsa. I went to Primary with Sarah and she went to RS with me. Erin very capably took on the Mom role since Jenny was home sick and encouraged Sara to go to Primary instead of RS, but Sarah can be very determined! Another quick memory from the trip - as we were coming out of Nana and Papa's neigborhood, we looked to the right to see a plethora of paper scattered along the side of the road. These sweet kids decided that we should pick it up and we all jumped out of the car to do a quick good deed!
I continue to be very excited about our upcoming reunion in July. I'm thinking it would be fun to have a holiday theme, since we rarely get to spend holidays together. Meals, games, stories, and activities could revolve around various holidays and culminate with our very exciting anniversary celebration. What do you think? Are you ready to claim a holiday and the accompanying meal and activity?
Have a great Friday. I love you guys!
Mona

Mini reunion

With the looming surgery tomorrow, we've been blessed to have Kay with us. Shaun and his family came over this evening with food in tow, Chinese. We've had a good feast and will commence cardio workouts to bring balance back into our lives.

Papa spent part of the day on Saturday with Sarah and Erin watching their last soccer games of the season. Sarah was all over the field chasing the ball. Erin scored two goals in a 4 - 1 victory. Papa immediately came home and slept for two days; give or take a day or two.

Papa and Shaun will give me a blessing later tonight. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30am. The surgery is supposed to last 6 - 8 hours. Just another typical day for a brain surgeon. Someone here will keep everyone updated on my status so stayed tuned. Maybe we'll get pictures of my brain. By the way, they said that one of the side effects of probing my brain may be that I am turned into a democrat. After which I will gladly pay more taxes and allow the government to make my decisions.

(this was written by a ghost writer)

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! We did! Aaron got to wear his costume for four different events and Nathan for 3. First of all, we went to a pumpkin walk in downtown Bryan last Saturday where we viewed all the entries for a pumpkin decorating contest. The theme this year was Dr. Suess so there was a lot of different and interesting pumpkins. A lot of the schools participate so I think we will try to have Aaron enter a pumpkin in next year's contest.Then on Wednesday night we had our ward Halloween carnival and trunk-or-treat. Aaron and I made decorations and decorated the trunk of our newly bought 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan. (We have been thinking that we probably needed a minivan with the new little one coming and we found a great deal and bought it on Monday.) The boys had a blast at the ward party and our trunk turned out great!

Thursday morning Aaron dressed up again for his preschool Halloween party at the park. Nathan and I ended up staying so I guess we should have put his costume on too, but he was okay with wearing a Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt.
Then of course on Friday we dressed up again to go trick or treating in our neighborhood and transferred our trunk decorations to our doorstep. We didn't have much luck finding houses giving out candy, but that is okay. We all had a lot of fun anyways and we got plenty of candy at our ward party.

I don't want to take up any more space on here right now so check out our family blog at http://beccamikey2002.blogspot.com/ to see more about our month. It has some pictures from Nathan's birthday and our trip down to Houston that weekend to visit my cousin Adam and his family. Poor Adam had to work, but we were able to go with his wife and daughter.
We love you all!
Love,
Becca, Mikey, Aaron, and Nathan

Family Fast

I invite all of you to join us in a family fast this Sunday for Aunt Velma's upcoming surgery. We'll be fasting for her and her doctors. I wish we all lived close enough to break our fast together with a big family meal - but we will just have to make do with what we do have...this blog - so keep posting!

Better Late than Never

I forgot that we had this blog instead of the Scoop. It's about time I wrote something! Things are going well for me here in Provo. I have senioritis as bad if not worse as when I was in High School. I am living with a bunch of mission buddies in a house right next to campus. There are 10 of us, and I just got a text message that we bought a 15 foot trampoline today. That's in addition to our 42 inch flat screen, leather sofas and ping pong table. When you have the cheapest rent in Utah County you can afford to buy a few extra goodies :)

I love my classes this semester. I have a history course on the conquest and colonization of Latin America, another class on the history of Contemporary Italy. I am studying with a professor of Church History - our readings course is focused on 19th Century Mormon Thought. I also work for him as a research assistant. My other classes are Personal Finance (which has been especially interesting during the last few weeks of market freefall) and a church history religion course on Joseph's Era.

Women continue to confuse me and spend my money ;) But I cannot complain. There are several wonderful girls that I get to take out now and again, but nothing serious yet.

It's hard to believe that my 24th birthday is sneaking up on me!!! I don't know where time flies. I am very excited about my trip this weekend home to see Mom and Dad in Seattle. My roommate Robi, from Las Vegas, is coming along for the ride and for some of Mom's famous chocolate chip pancakes.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful October. Autumn was only here a month in Utah. We've already had snow and pulled out all the jackets!!!

The bump in the road is getting flatter!

My dad asked me to post this month, which is very appropriate since I am the one with all the time on my hands. In this time of recuperation, I am doing just that and little else. But I have gotten more mobile. I've gone from mostly wheelchair to mostly walker to an upgrade this week to a cane! My hobbling on the cane will lead to running soon enough. At my last doctor's appointment four weeks ago he said I was healing and that my bone looked "fluffy" in the x-ray, which is apparently a very good thing in the process of healing bones. In fact, I have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday, on the 15th. We are expecting that he'll say I'm pretty much healed and take my walker and wheelchair away. You know what? He can have them! After that, I am planning on spending a few more weeks at home until I'm ready to face the dreaded stairs in Stillwater at my new apartment. At this point, I have lots of dreams of huge staircases I can't climb up. I think it's because that's the one thing keeping me from being in Stillwater.

We had a great month in September. It started off, for me with lots of pain, and for my parents with lots of nursing, love, and patience. Aunt Mona came at the beginning of the month for her high school reunion. It was great to see her, even though at the time I was barely getting around. Wish you could see me now, Aunt Mona! My Granny came to stay with me for a couple days which was a real treat for me! I was getting pretty lonely and bored so it was nice to have her there to cook for me, talk to me, and keep me motivated to get better!

At the end of September, we went to the Tulsa State Fair. It was a big deal for me, since it was the first time I was really able to get out and do something. James and Shawnee met us in Tulsa and we brought Carol Hammontree with us. She's an excellent wedding cake baker/designer so we took her to see the cake show. My dad surprised me with tickets to see High School Musical on Ice at the Fair. He and I went, and it was so fun! (I'm a huge High School Musical fan. It's no secret now, I guess.) James, Shawnee and I took a picture with some kind of African wildcat. It would have been with a tiger, but the tigers were resting. Needless to say, I was still scared of the wild cat. Afterall, I wouldn't be running anywhere fast if he went on the attack. My wheelchair was too far away for comfort. At the end of the Fair day, we ate at Texas Roadhouse- my favorite restaurant. I had plans to eat there the day of the wreck for a birthday dinner, so it was something I had been wanting for quite some time!

My mom is great! Carol Hammontree has been a fill in cook at the daycare for the past couple months while the regular cook is taking time off for medical reasons. My mom loves having Carol there, she is a great cook and so creative! Having Carol there is taking a lot of stress off my mom's job. It would be so great if she could stay there permanently. My dad is busy, busy, busy. Half of his busy-ness is in taking care of his injured daughter. He's pretty overprotective of me, but he's really good at shuffling the wheelchair and helping me into bed and making sure I'm always comfortable. So is my mom of course! But I've never seen this overprotective and nursing quality in my dad. It's really sweet! What would I do without great parents?

Til next time, I'll be staying busy with scrapbooking, reading, painting my new dresser with a crackle finish, and watching too much t.v. I guess I should try to enjoy this down time.

Thanks for all your prayers for myself and my family during this bump in the road. We love you all and keep you in our prayers as well! Love hearing from all of you on the blog!

Kara

Conference favorites!

I just wanted to share about conference before I forget what I liked, senior moments and all that you know.
I loved Elder Bednar's talk Saturday afternoon on prayer. There were several others who also touched on prayer as well, must be something we need to hear. I particularly thought the part about not asking for anything but saying all we are thankful for was important. Sometimes I know I forget to be as specific about blessings (and needs) as I should be. I found his talk very helpful. I look forward to the Ensign so I can read it.
Kay

FILL OUR DAYS WITH THOSE THINGS WHICH MATTER MOST!

What a treat to hear Pres. Monson's Sunday morning talk. It made me cry as he spoke of days of having children in our homes that pass all too quickly. He encouraged us to make the most of today so that we can provide pleasant memories for the future. He closed by speaking of the Savior and gave us this quick summary:
1. Adapt to the changes in our lives
2. Realize what is most important
3. Express our gratitude
4. Find joy in the journey.
That's just one of my favorite talks. It's like asking me to name a favorite book. I have many! How about you, which talk touched you and inspired you?
Love,
Ramona

Australia

This is actually from August, but since this is my first entry, I wanted to tell everyone about our trip to Australia.

We left for Australia on Thursday July 31, and arrived on Saturday morning. First we went to Sydney so Wesley could attend the world SETAC conference. He presented a poster on his research at the conference and won the award for best student poster. When he wasn't in meetings we saw some of the sights of Sydney. We attended church there on Sunday. We visited the National Maritime Museum where we toured four historic ships. We also visited the aquarium and Wildlife world, where we saw some of Australia's unique wildlife including kangaroos, koalas and crocodiles. We took a ferry to the Sydney Opera House and walked around the building, admiring the unique architecture.

On Friday we took a train to Brisbane, where we were able to spend some time with Wesley's brother and his family. We also spend a day at the Australia zoo, where we saw even more wildlife, and even got a chance to pet kangaroos and koalas. But, we didn't pet the crocodiles! Finally, on Thursday we flew back to California.

I'm back at work now, in my third school year as librarian. Wesley's busy with schoolwork, but we do manage to find time for fun once in a while, like Friday night when we played The Lord of the Rings Risk with some friends in our ward.

Sunday Morning wih the Prophet!

Hi family,
Just wanted remind you to share some of your favorite talks and thoughts from conference right here on the family blog. We don't get to gather and watch conference together, but let's make this our cyber gathering space. I'm inspired by your righteous lives and examples. I look forward to our conference sharing time!
Love,
Ramona

Recuperation continues

Aug. 18
Recuperation continues!
We are happy to say that Ben has been to Church the last two Sundays with just his walker. He was also able to walk from the hospital parking lot to his PT appointment with just the walker. So he is progressing well! We haven't even had the wheel chair out of the car for almost two weeks.

Katie and Wesley returned from their trip to

Australia last Thursday and we had a belated birthday(since they both had their birthdays while they were away) celebration for them on Friday night. Katie blew out one of Wesley's candles!

Oct. 3
The past month and a half has been rather uneventful. Just more of the same, PT, dentist and striving to walk more. I have to say I have enjoyed not going back to work. I think I can get used to this retirement gig!!! Although at some point I might want to find a little more to do than reading Twilight books, I just finished all four! Ben is now on the first one.
I do enjoy hearing about all of your interesting activities.
Kay and Ben

Back to school

Besides writing about the hurricane, I haven't written since August 16th so its about time to give an update!

We are all doing pretty well. I am now in my 3rd trimester and getting bigger and bigger by the day it seems. In fact, my doctor thinks that by the rate I am growing the baby will be 9 pounds by her due date (Officially December 31st). At this point, he is aiming on inducing me on the 22nd. I wasn't planning on having her that early since my boys both came late, but it will be fun to have her here on Christmas!

Michael is back at school so is a lot busier, but it is going well. He is enjoying his fellowship working at an elementary school mentoring the students and helping the teacher 8 hours a week. He only has 3 classes this semester which is definately a plus and then he spends the rest of the time working at the lab doing experiments.

Aaron started preschool last month and absolutely loves it. We are doing a home-school type thing with 3 other moms so I teach one week out of the month. They went on a field trip today to the dentist and Aaron really enjoyed it (which is amazing because he hates going to the dentist). He is learning to read and write his letters right now.

Nathan is growing like crazy and trying to keep up with his brother. He likes to try and copy everything Aaron does and loves singing songs. His favorite song is "Once There Was a Snowman". We go to the park when Aaron's at preschool on the weeks that I am not teaching and he enjoys having me all to himself and seems to talk a lot more. He'll be two on the 13th so we are going to the Houston Zoo to celebrate!

Well, I hope you are all doing well! Oh, and if you want to see a cute video of the boys dancing after church one Sunday go to our family blog http://beccamikey2002.blogspot.com. They started doing it on their own so we had to videotape it!

Love,

Becca, Michael, Aaron, and Nathan

Campaigning in CO

This weekend I was able to travel to Grand Junction, Colorado to campaign for Obama with the BYU Students for Obama. It was a great weekend! We drove there Friday night and spent all day Saturday knocking on doors, canvassing neighborhoods to get a since of how people were planning on voting. I was able to get a number of people registered to vote who weren't and we got to talk about issues such as the economy and healthcare with those who were interested. I am very excited for the upcoming election. We drove back to Provo Saturday night. Back here in Provo everything is going well. This semester I'm taking Organic Chemistry, Molecular Biology (with a lab) and Physics (also with a lab). My fun classes are D&C and a shadowing internship that I'm doing at a local pediatrician's office - I spend 4 hours a week following the pediatrian around. I love getting to see all the babies come in for the 6 month and 1 year appointments. I just got a calling in my new ward - ward historian. Not super exciting - but I should be able to do it just fine. BYU's football team has had a stellar season so far and Blake and I are really enjoying going to the games! Susan - you have to let us know if any of the kids ever come up for games! That's about it for me here in Provo - I spend most of my time studying. This past week I took my OPI (oral proffiency interview) - it's the last thing I have to do to finish my spanish major. I think it went well, but I have to wait four to six weeks to find out my score. I'm looking forward to General Conference next weekend. We should try to post some of our thoughts and favorite talks here on the blog. I hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Sara

Hurrican Ike

I know that you all are probally concerned about us so I wanted to give you a quick update. They said on the tv that we had some hurricane force gusts, but mostly just a tropical storm. It is still raining and a little windy, but the storm is far enough past us that they have taken us off of tropical storm alert and flash flood alert. It was a little worrisome hearing the wind whistling outside, but there has not been any damage done to us or our home. We haven't even had a power outage. We are very greatful that we are out of the danger. They said on the news that this is the worst hurricane that has hit this area of Texas since 1961. We were also very greatful to be able to get two trees in our yard taken down yesterday before the storm hit. One was hollow on the inside and the other was split down the middle from lightning so they very well could have fallen and done some damage to our house if they were still there. Well, we love you all! Have a great day!

Here I am!!

OK, here I am, I finally got myself added. Life has been pretty crazy. School started last week, Aug. 25 for my kids. Whitney starts pre-school next Tuesday, and she cannot wait. She has been going stir crazy with all the kids being gone. I have been busy since we got home from Tennessee studying for some tests that are provisions on my teaching license, which passing them will also qualify me as a 'highly qualifed teacher', which I have to be to be hired. There is a part time kindergarten position that I am interested in and hope to start doing mid-September, early Oct. when the hiring freeze is lifted here. The tests I needed where the PPST (which I had taken while Scott and I were dating at BYU and did really well on, but couldn't find my scores, so had to retake) and the Praxis II. When I saw the practice test for the essay portion I had to take, I knew I was going to have to have a Priesthood blessing to pass. As it turned out, Scott's cousin Willie Waite gave me a blessing the Sunday before the test instead of the night before like I had planned. That week before the test ended up being a calm, productive week and I was able to find many beneficial things to study. Anyway, I did pass all five sections that I needed, and am so relieved. My scores were even 'great' scores. I am surprised at the number of people at the testing center for the Praxis who were there for the 3rd time!
Jessica is doing well again as 'libero', the defensive specialist on her volleyball team. Haydn is playing offense and defense on the jv football team and loving it. Jeremy is playing offense, defense, kick off, kick return, punt squad.......everything, so he is very excited. His first game is Saturday. He had a scrimmage two weeks ago, and his team looks really good too. Amy thought she was going to play soccer this year, but can actually play volleyball instead, so she is very excited about that. Nathan will be the lone soccer player and is excited about being the 'older' grade on the team. haha.
Well, it is late and I am tired, so I will stop for now, or I will just blab on and on. But, I made it on, so my goal for next time will be to get some pics on! : )

Kara needs to drive a tank now...

Well hello everyone!

I'm at work a little early this morning and decided to get some good old fashioned blogging done. First off, here is what Kara's car looked like after it got in a fight with a mustang. Like my dad said, we are so blessed that Kara and mom are okay. It really could have been a lot worse. We can laugh about it now, though. It was funny because we were moving that day and didn't have enough seats for all of the people that were helping. My brother-in-law, Logan, was on a motorcycle with Shawnee (I didn't like that very much, but oh well). He wanted Kara to ride on the back of the motorcycle with him. Kara refused though, saying that it would be more dangerous on the motorcycle.

We are happy to be finished with all of the wedding stuff. Thanks for all of the love and support. We had two outstanding receptions. We know that there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that went into getting everything ready. Mostly sweat though, because it was really hot. This is such a great family and I can't wait for Shawnee to meet the rest of you. We had a wonderful time in Florida. We got there late on monday night (thank you tropical storm enrique), but it wasn't too bad. The hotel was very nice. We spent the entire day on Tuesday at the beach. We went to Clearwater beach first, but it was a little crowded, so we drove about an hour north to Honeymoon Island. We of course had to eat lunch at Honeymoon Cafe. It was really cool, then we took a ferry to Caladesi Island. That's where we spent the rest of the day. It was really beautiful. There was probably 30 or so people on the entire island with us, so it was easy to just sit and relax. We spent the next day at Busch Gardens in Tampa. We both love zoos and rollercoasters, so we were excited to go somewhere with both.

We're back home now. We are both just working hard, but also trying to squeeze time in for date nights and so forth. Last Friday we went to Guthrie, OK and had a "Drive-in" themed date night, which included a trip to our favorite drive-in, Sonic and then a movie at the Drive-in. We saw "The Dark Knight" for the second time. It was really fun. I've really been enjoying grilling as of late. I hope to be a grill master soon, but only time will tell. Shawnee and I have both talked about how excited we are for the Colorado trip. It's going to be so much fun. This is such a great idea! I hope we can hear from everyone soon!

We love you!

-James and Shawnee

One more thing . . .

I forgot to share something else with you. This week I finally got caught up with reading my newspapers. I had newspapers all the way back to August 1st that I hadn't read yet.

Anyway, when I read the Tulsa paper for August 2nd, I found an article entitled "Police to target red-light runners". The article went on to say that August 3-August 9 had been declared as The National Stop on Red Week. Kara's accident occurred on August 9.

We thought about sending a copy of the article to Lindsey -- that's the girl's name that ran the stop light and broad-sided Kara. But, I guess we won't.

A Celebration & A Slight Bump in the Road . . .

We began the month of August with James and Shawnee's wedding and receptions. They were married on Friday, August 1 at the OKC Temple and we then traveled to Stillwater for a reception there. Arrived home about 12:30 AM, got a few hours rest and hit the ground running to get ready for the McAlester reception on Saturday evening. It was a busy day, but everything was so nice -- the Cultural Hall at Church was beautifully decorated, the food was wonderful and a good time seemed to be had by one and all. Lots of friends and relatives joined us for the evening.

As parents, Kathy and I couldn't be prouder that Shawnee has joined our family. She seems perfect for James and they are so cute together. We can't wait for everyone to get to meet the new Mr. and Mrs. Scifres!

Yes, there's been a slight bump in the road in our life, but we are so blessed! Kara and Kathy's accident on Saturday, August 9 could have been so much worse. As most of you know, Kara has 2 fractures in her pelvis -- one in the front and one in the back, both on the left side and a fractured rib. Kathy just got tossed around and is sore, but she's pretty much fine now.



When I told Kara about the new blog -- she said maybe we could post a picture of her car on the blog. (James -- You've got the only picture of it on your cell phone!) The had to use the jaws of life to get her door off, so they could get Kara out of the car.



Anyway, she's doing so much better. Getting up and down is so much easier than it was when she came home from the hospital last Tuesday. We're sure grateful for the wide doorways in our house -- because we're able to take her in the wheelchair anywhere she needs to go in the house.



We're going to see an orthopedist (not sure if I spelled that correctly) here in McAlester on Monday afternoon. That's an important appointment -- because Kara will be out of pain pills by Monday night.

Well, that's about all for now. We appreciate everyone's concern and prayers for Kara and Kathy. We could feel everyone's love during the past week.

I like it! Well, we've had a great start to the new school year. Erin, Sam and Sarah started 3 weeks ago and are all loving their new teachers and classmates. Erin and Sarah have started soccer practices. Their first games will be this coming Saturday.

We had a new roof put on this past week. It went rather quickly, in about a day and a half, the workers had stripped the old roof, replaced a few damaged boards and put on the new shingles. We like the work they did. We have a new color, it's a dark evergreen color that is what they call architectural shingles. It has a nice textured/3-D look to it.

Last week was a great one for the McKee's in middle Tennessee. Mom/Grandma/Nana came home on Wednesday. She is doing wonderfully at home and loving the new digs. Thanks to Aunt Mona, Nana's room is very tidy and maneuverable. Last night we had a celebratory dinner. We wanted to celebrate mom coming home and show our thanks to Heavenly Father for the miracle that we witnessed.

On a sad note, our long time friend Jessie passed away last week. Jessie was our Black Lab mix of almost 16 years of age. This is a long time for a dog of her breed. She led a full life out here on the farm. A dog couldn't ask for a better life than to be able to freely roam around on a combined 30+ acres. She was truly the queen of Jake Branch Road. Jenny got her when she was just a few months old so Jessie pre-dates me. It was very difficult for Jenny and the kids. We buried her here on the farm.

We really enjoyed Aunt Mona's visit. I once again succeeded in not having my kids officially photographed by Aunt Mona :-). It honestly is not intentional.

Big time congrats to James and Shawnee. We can't wait to meet you next year in Colorado. On that note, Jenny's mom just got back from Colorado on a visit with her brothers and sisters. She brought back with her some brochures on things to do like white water rafting, train excursions, gold mining, etc. Start thinking about things like this that we can do.

We love you all. Have a wonderful August!

Shaun, Jenny, Erin, Sam and Sarah

Pink bows and frilly dresses!

Greetings from Texas!
If you haven't guessed by the title, we are going to have a little girl! We had the ultrasound yesterday and are very excited about our coming addition to our family! I'm so excited to be able to get all the cute little girl stuff!
We have had a busy, but good month. We moved into our house on July 26th and are mostly unpacked now. It's fun to own our own house! We have a lot more space and it is great having a fenced back yard for the boys to play in. We got a little wading pool and the boys love it!
Oh, and we were also able to go up to Oklahoma for James and Shawnee's wedding! It was busy, but lots of fun! It was very nice to see everyone and to meet Shawnee. She is very sweet and compliments James very well. They are a very cute couple!
Well, I should get back to my family. We love you all!
Love,
Becca, Michael, Aaron, and Nathan Johanson

Portland - the end of the line!

I've had a crazy travel month. I was in TX on July 19th, TN on July 26th, OK on Aug. 2nd and OR on Aug. 9th. I hope to never again spend four consecutive Saturdays in four different states. But I had a lot of fun! This is Sara and I in front of Powell's, our favorite bookstore. We went to Portland on the train last weekend and saw her friend, Janna. Now I'm home for two Saturdays before my Labor Day speedy trip to OK for my class reunion.
Enjoy your last few days of summer and add to our blog soon!
Ramona

Welcome to the 21st Century!

Yep, that's right family, I'm taking us into the tech world. Welcome to our new family blog...this will take the place of our email newsletter, which means no more Bossy Mona. But it also means that ya'll we be responsible for posting regularly about your lives and what is going on in your neck of the woods. I'm really excited about this and I think will be really fun! So...everybody, get ready to blog!
~Sara