Try again...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fv8rjSMogWA Copy and paste link to view ultrasound

Baby Strackeljahn

Above is the link to our first ultrasound video!

Cousins

Just thought I would post this cute picture of these cute cousins from Chloe's 2nd birthday party

Sam, Patrick, Kimber, Chloe and Ty

My dad

As most of you know, my father passed away Sunday night. Several people have asked to see his obituary, so here it is. Thank you for your sweet calls and messages of encouragement. They mean so much to me.

Stewart Rose, III, retired United States Bankruptcy Judge for the District of New Mexico, passed away Sunday evening at his home in Albuquerque. Stewart had a long and rewarding career as an attorney and a judge, and an even longer and more rewarding life as a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, stepfather, and fast friend. He is survived by his beloved wife, Rose Spader; brother Paul Z. Rose (Ann); daughters Connie Rose Hunter (Tom), Carolyn Rose (David Midget), Sheila Rose Gillespie (Dennis); grandchildren Ian Stewart Hunter, Timothy Young Hunter, Jamie Lee Hunter, Hannah Rose Midget, Lauren Rose Gillespie, and Carlton Davis Gillespie; and Rose Spader’s five children, Denise, Debbie, Michael, Mark, and Matthew, and her five grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 40+ years, JoAnn Dinsmoor Rose.

Stew moved to New Mexico in 1949 and began his love affair with the West. From backpacking through the San Pedro Parks Wilderness (well, with a horse) to sailing his home-made Hobi on Cochiti Lake, to shooting his potato cannon at one-too-many mountain man rendezvous, to skiing at Sandia Peak, to enjoying a stirrup cup before the hunt with the Juan Tabo Hounds, he made the most of this land and this life.

In 1982 Stew was appointed to the bench, and with his customary focus, intelligence, cigarettes, and positive outlook, served for 16 years in positions including Chief Bankruptcy Judge, Judge on the Appellate Panel of the 10^th Circuit, and visiting judge for districts of Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Southern Florida. He received an Outstanding Judicial Service Award from the New Mexico State Bar Association in 1992. He had great affection for his fellow judges, clerks, deputies, and secretaries. Before becoming a judge he was an attorney with the firms of McNeany, Rose, & Sholer and Ashby, Rose, & Sholer.

Please join us in celebration of the life of Judge Stewart Rose on June 1, 2012, from 5:00 - 9:00 pm. Albuquerque Country Club, 601 Laguna Dr. SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the meantime, Stew would suggest that you ride a horse or drink a glass of wine (or both) in his honor. In lieu of flowers please make a contribution to the charity of your choice.

I believe most everyone knows by now.. if not Skye's going to share the news..

This is how we told Sherry and Dale... Dale got it right away, but Sherry said, "You're getting a puppy?" So I "politely" responded... yes, we're getting a puppy. LoL Eventually it dawned on her and she was quite excited, as are we! =o)

Dinner at our house

We celebrated Emilee and Hannah's birthdays this week with a rousing night of food and laughter.  And then we were entertained by the kids (both young and grown) as they joined together for some spontaneous music and dance.

Oh and one more thing:  The date was March 11, not February 11.  It seems I've lost touch with the calendar......

Owl Walk

What a magical evening I had last night! I went on an owl-spotting walk with the Greater Salt Lake Audubon Society in City Creek Canyon. I walk in the canyon almost every day, but it was so enchanting to walk it slowly, with about a dozen people, in the moonlight. The leader had a tape recorder with the calls of great horned owls, screech owls, Saw-Whet owls, and long-eared owls. We saw a golden eagle at the outset, two herds of elk (man, they are huge!), and various small birds. As it got darker the leader played the owl sounds and called a huge great horned owl to us. He sat in the top of a big spruce tree, silhouetted by the last remaining light in the western sky. It was awesome. Then the stars and planets began to pop out. We saw Jupiter, Venus, little Mercury, a really bright red Mars, Sirius, the Pliates Sisters, Orion...about 3.5 hours of walking and listening and chatting softly with some really nice people. Perfect end to a beautiful day.

It's (finally) beginning to look more like winter

The weatherman/woman said the chance of snow this weekend was good.  Of course, he/she has said that many times this year -- all for naught.  So this time, we thought we'd "triple-dog dare" the forecasters and head up to the mountains for a few days.


Low and behold, we woke up Sunday to a fresh snowfall of 6-8 inches of fluffy stuff.  Add that to the existing foot or so and you get a wonderland for good girls and boys and dogs.

Oakley playing in front of our cabin.

He eyes the new snowdrift.

Despite Carolyn's warning, he jumps into said bank of snow.

And immediately, he discovers a desire to escape the mound.

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."
John Ruskin

We hope all is well in each of your worlds.  We're looking forward to seeing many of you in Quincy for Easter.  Much love, David, Carolyn, Hannah (she sends a big "hi" from the NW), Oakley and Circa from under the couch down in SLC.

Since we've been on several road trips, we've had requests to share some of our adventures.  These pix are from our January trip to Moab, UT.  The four of us (Carolyn, Hannah, me and Oakley) had an early morning hike before loading up and moving onto Durango and Albuquerque.

Moab is located in southeastern Utah and is famous for its red rock canyons and surroundings.  Since I'm color-blind, it took me a long time (30 years or more) to gain an appreciation for the scenery.  And now I have...

Christmas Fish!

Meet our new additions from last week...

The yellow fish is a foxface lo and the black and white is a butterfly fish

This is my guy... his name is Po, after the character on Kung Fu Panda


This is a lo in camo mode! Her name is Foxylady. She's Bryan's fish.

Thanks Eric and Monica for the gift card! Unfortunately our petco doesn't sell saltwater fish, but we were able to buy Skye's pet food there and in turn use the money we would have spent on that towards these new fish! Win - Win!!

I'll post a video of the tank next time.

I LOVE FISH!!! =o)

I did get it after all!!

Friday Dinner

So Bryan and I invited Sherry and Dale over for dinner last Friday. It's about time we start reciprocating the act, especially when their kitchen is still "in progress" so to speak. ;o)

We enjoyed a dinner comprised of Cheeseburgers, Kraft Mac and Cheese, and chips... dinner of champions! Hehe... Some day we'll make something better, but hey it worked.

After dinner I glanced over near the tv where a certain "electronic game" was placed and thought to myself... I wonder if I can get Bryan and Dale to challenge eachother... Success! Though, failure on saving the video of the final battle.

This electronic game is a game of reflex... You tap the center button which remains red while playing "count down" type of music and eventually turns green. At the moment it turns green you want to be the first to press the button on top of the handle with your thumb. If you press the button too early or you are the last one you get an electric shock. There are 4 levels/settings of intensity. I had a funny video of Dale getting shocked on the highest setting, but sadly it didn't save. He yelled and threw the control out of his hand.

I thought it was pretty funny... so figured I'd share some photos too....

Christmas Eve Fun

Great Grandma Margaret and Great Grandpa Donald sent (spoiler alert!) all of our grandkids cute stuffed animals wrapped around soft fleece blankets. Hannah devised a scavenger hunt, starting with a clue that lead the gang to Chloe's prize, and working up kid by kid. Each clue was a little trickier, based on that child's age. Sam's was in a place Harry Potter once lived (cupboard under the staircase) and Patrick's was "posted,"outside in the mailbox. It was a great way to start the day and to keep the kidlings entertained until brunch was ready to eat and packages were ready to be opened.

Thanks Hannah for the witty clues, and thanks Don and Margaret for the great gifts. Here is a picture of the kids with their prizes and their clues.

Schonarth/ Altgilbers news

Well I finally got around to posting our wish list. I'll start with the Schonarths:
John : size large shirts, wrangler relaxed fit jeans 33x34. Gift cards to Home Depot, Lowes , Walgreens, and Hy-Vee.
Val: I need a 13" sq flat griddle, or a 2-3 qt casserole dish, super size bath towels, a hand operated can opener with a safety edge cut, size large 3/4 sleeve tops, or gift cards from restaurants, penneys, kohls.
Jen Jr size med sweaters, jewelry, gift cards old navy, walmart, amc, bath n body, kohls, bergners, penneys sears, walgreens, hyvee, county market, or gas cards.
James lg tall tops jeans relaxed fit 34x34 gift cards Menards,Home Depot, Lowes, gas cards, food cards.
Callie is a princess. Her current favorites are Rapunzel, Belle and Cinderella. She wears size 4t slim pants with an adjustable waist and a 4t top. Santa is bringing her a 5'8" 4 story barbie house with furniture, so any Barbie would be good.
Cruz is trying to get into a size 6/9 mo.He needs boy long sleeved bibs they can be found at Babies r us. baby boy toys.

on a different note: Leslie You did good! we watched the Simpson College Hallelujah Chorus flash mob and it was fantastic. My daycare kids came running to see what that music was. Here are their comments:

Cole age 3: that's pretty good and it's not scary cause she didn't put any monsters or spiders in there.

Kaden age 5: That's really nice, it could be a Christmas song.

Kady age 3: That's a pretty church, but my church doesn't have any stuff like that.

Claire age 3 : She makes the bestest song, it's really pretty. We sing that in our church, but it don't sound like that.

Ryleigh age 20months: she squealed, spun in circles and laughed.

Cruz age 7 months: he was tired and fussy but when I 0started playing it he stoppped fussing and just watched it ( he did not go to sleep)

I got a kick out of their comments and thought you might like a childs version.

see all of you for Christmas
Val and family

Hello!

Hi all!  Been awhile since I've been on here I just never use a computer anymore so trying out this version of the blog on my phone will see how it goes! (though I still vote that we get everyone on Facebook and use the family grouping there ;) )
As for Christmas wish list.
For me
Clothes (cute stuff and cardinals welcome) size medium, 27x36 Jeans
Shoes size 8 for heels 8 1/2 for other
Cute purses
Earrings (mine are double pierced)
Victoria secret gift card
Nail polish
fountains day salon gift certificate
Restaurant gift cards
Visa gift cards (to go see my family down south)
Xbox Kinect games (biggest loser and dance central 2 or 3)
Giant cooking pan (12" or bigger for browning our 2 pounds of hamburger)

For rocky
Anything hunting related (deer and duck)
clothes ~ tops xxl, Jeans 36x36 (relaxed boot cut from old navy or Levis)
Camo led flash light from menards
Farm and home or gamemasters gift card
Visa gift card (to put towards new truck and Jeep parts)
Newest call of duty xbox game

Think that about covers it for now :)

addendum

well, blogger doesn't seem to let you upload two files at once, so here are the other photos that should have gone with that last post.

The first is Dave with Oakley and Jon with his new puppy. The second is my new brace--4-6 weeks in it.

Wrist in rehab!

The bones in my shattered wrist (thanks to newly adopted dog/brute Oakley) have healed. The pins are out, the external fixator is off, and I have started PT. Here is a photo of the fixator, which felt like having a brick strapped to the end of your arm, and a photo of my new brace, which we call the sport model. I will also include a photo of the #$@#$ dog, who is sweet and goofy and strong as can be. His only remaining fault is that he loves Dave more than me since Dave has to do all the dog walking these days. Just kidding, but Dave has asked me frequently what kind of dog I am getting, since he obviously has his.

St. Louis!

St. Louis is cold!!

Hiya! So this video is from rehearsals so we aren't in costume but you get to see a bit of behind the scenes from the play I was in--A Piece of My Heart. And I sing a little bit. My friend Erin was the director. It was fun and a lot of work. We got a great reaction from the crowds. Don't worry, I'll remember you all when I am rich and famous. :) Oh, I'm the girl in cowboy boots. :)



Here's a picture:

Other than that, I'm just working a lot. The kiddos are good, of course, but I'm looking forward to Christmas break. I think all the teachers are, more than the kids even. :) Today we played Candyland and one of my kindergarteners developed a fascination with "Cat Fancy" magazine. I'm still working at my restaurant, too, and my favorite beer is out--Coffee Stout. Yum! It's only available in the winter.

I know I need to post a Christmas list--I'll try this weekend. Aunt Sherry should have a copy of mine for anyone in Quincy, too.

Love you all!

Julie

Greetings from Iowa! Way to get things started Nikki. I was just thinking, we really need to get lists posted. Things are well here. Eat. Sleep. Tumble. Basketball. Sprinkle in church, choirs and school. That pretty much sums things up. We will be heading north for the holiday to historic Mason City, home of The Music Man. The kids are excited to be tortured by their older cousins and to play with the dogs.

I can be candid here because the kids don't look unless I show them-

Kenzie- Juniors size 2/short in jeans. Juniors small or medium in tops. Size 7 shoes. She loves anything trendy. Not a fan of pink, sweaters or turtlenecks. She likes jeans, sweatshirts, fun socks and loves boots. The warmer the better. Is getting a new bike from Santa. Likes books that are for teens that are scary or gory. Vampires, ghosts. Has an Ipod, so accessories (ear phones, cases and Itunes) are always good. Likes hats, scarves, gloves.

Brady- Boys size L or 12-14 in athletic pants which is what he mostly wears along with a boys XL tshirt & sweatshirts. Likes fleece (he has a camo Columbia jacket he loves as well as an Underarmour sweatshirt Hannah got him last year). Plays football, basketball & baseball. A new football would be a hit. Likes fiction books with sports theme. Likes to play Wii. Is also getting a new bike from Santa. Loves nerf guns. Is starting to hunt geese & pheasant so hunting apparel is good. Green moss, I think.

Leslie- Would love a new blender- basic model, nothing fancy. Just to blend a margarita or a malt without smoking. Kitchen dish cloths (dark green or brown) or bath towel (white or cream). Bath & Body wall air fresheners or candles (cinnamon, pumpkin spicey sorts).

Eric- XXL sweatshirts or tshirts. He would like to start ice fishing with Brady so a gift certificate to Bass Pro or Scheel's would be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am most thankful for each of you.

XOXXO,
Leslie

Christmas List

Well after talking to a Saltwater Aquarium specialist tonight... my wish list for Christmas consists of money for setting up a new tank the right way. I know it's not going to be right away, but I'd prefer to do it right this time.

I found a guy by the name of Dave Atkins that used to be here in Quincy, but moved to Springfield maintain the saltwater aquarium set up at the new Scheels.

http://www.sj-r.com/photo_galleries/x898076150/Scheels-salt-water-aquarium

That is a link to some photos and info about the tank he maintains. Pretty cool! This guy knows his stuff!

Easy shopping for me this year! lol