Homeless...

Well we are now officially homeless. We closed on the house this afternoon. It was bitter sweet walking through the empty house making sure nothing got left behind. Bryan's dad said he could have made 1/3 of a Skye w/ all the fur he swept up. Hehe I'm posting photos of the house.. and also on our way home from MN this weekend we went over the new 35W bridge and I got photos of what I guess are the monuments on either end??

Christmas Names

Ok, so it was pointed out that I dropped the ball over vacation as I totally forgot that we need to draw Christmas names. Mom & Chris & Leslie came up with an idea. I will post all the names of the family members. Each family will choose a number for each member of the family to buy for. Please post the numbers of your choosing. Once a number has been chosen it is no longer available to choose. I have a master list that has a name associated with a number. After you have chosen your numbers, I will tell you which names you have for Christmas. We will need numbers 1 - 33. Here's the list of all family members: Grandma, Grandpa, Sherry, Dale, Chris S, Tony, David M, Carolyn, Susan, David E, Leslie, Eric H, Laurie, Bryan, Nikki, Eric S, Monica, Julie, Jon, Emilee, Patrick, Sammy, Kimber, Ben, Ashlee, Tyler, Hannah, Jessica, Rocky, Sara, Chris L, Mackenzie & Brady. Please let me know if you see anyone who I may have accidentally forgotten or if you have questions as to how this will work. To give everyone time to check the blog, please wait to post your number until Monday, Sept 22nd.

In other news... I think I'm finally done traveling for a while. I don't think I was home more than 5 days total in August. Boy does that ware a person out. Sassy was way mad at me, but had a good time staying with Mom & Dad. Mom & Dad were up over this weekend. We had a good time shopping, but boy was it cold. Happy belated B-day's to Jessie & Monica. Happy early b-day to Leslie, Kenzie, David M & Benj. Going back to Tae Kwon Do next month & hope to test for my high green belt. Headed to KC for the Nascar race in 2 weeks. I'm taking Brady, Bryan & Nikki. It's Nikki & Brady's first Nascar race. I know Brady's extremely excited & hope Nikki is too. In zoo news, we start working on our expansion this spring. We will be going from 23acres to 103 acres in the next 7 years. I'm very excited about some of the animals that will be coming in soon that I get to work with. Anway, not much is new around work. Big whigs coming in this week for budget talks. Let me know if anyone has questions!

Love you all!

Business trip to Boston

Hi All! I had to fly to Boston for a physician recruiting summit with the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday of last week. We worked for two days, and then they took us to a Red Socks game on Friday night at Fenway. They shut out Toronto 7-0. It rained hard until the 5th inning, but it was a fun, fast-paced game. We were in an open-air sky box so you could sit and watch or stand and talk--good for me because I knew with my back I could never sit for a whole game. Most people flew home Saturday morning, but I decide since I went all that way, I should make the most of it. I had done some research and booked a whale watching trip out of the New England Aquarium, which was just two blocks from the hotel they had us in. So I checked my bags with the hotel and jogged down the street Saturday morning and caught this wonderful catamaran-type boat, specially designed for whale watching. We cruised out of Boston Harbor and ocean-ward for an hour and ended up in a National Marine Sanctuary, which to everyone on the boat, just looked like more beautiful calm water. We saw a total of seven humpback whales and three minke whales. The humpbacks were in clusters, three and then four with a mom, calf, and two escorts. They will stay in this nutrient-rich water until the true cold of winter and then head south where it it warmer but not as good for feeding. It was so cool to see them this up-close, but boy did I envy all the people in small fishing boats all around. The whales were bigger than their boats and very respectfully bobbing in and out between them. That must have been such a cool feeling. Here is a shot of Boston from the harbor--a wonderful city, and the whales I saw.

Still trying to get a photo of Hannah's beautiful smile. She got her braces off last week.

Lia Sophia

Hey all! Haven't had much time to get on here, sorry I have been pretty busy with school, work, and life! Today I am completely exhausted and now that we're home from church and lunch I don't plan on going anywhere the rest of the day!
I just wanted to make sure, most of you should have received the jewelry party invites that were sent. I'm hoping anyway, I wasn't responsible for sending them out so who knows! Just wanted to let you know I know most of you won't be able to make it but if you see something in the catalog (that was supposed to be sent with the invite) just let me know and I'll put the order in. If I give her 5 "outside orders" the day of my party (Tuesday) I get $25. I'm not holding my breathe though, things are not looking good for this thing. I've decided it will be the last of these things I do for quite some time!! Feel free to share with family/friends and don't feel like you have to get something, I really just can't wait for it to be over with as the stress of being a party hostess doesn't go well with me.
Well anyway I need to get to my homework and possibly take a nap if there's time (hehe) so we'll talk to you all later!
Love you all
Jess

Congratulations on the successful move David and Susan.  We hope you enjoy your new home.  

Jon finished his first week teaching computers at Syracuse elementary.  Contrary to his belief, the students did not eat, nor boo him.  He is running around all day, with hardly any time to go even go to the bathroom, but the students already love him.  They love his last name, and are excited to see him and wave to him in the halls.  I think Jon is enjoying it too. 

I took the kids to get their hair cut today.  It was Kimber's first hair cut.  Now her bangs won't hang into her eyes.  You can see from the pictures that she didn't particularly like the haircut, but it turned out very cute.

I am juggling my jobs fairly well.  I rearranged my schedule a bit so that I am in my classroom the days that my more difficult students are there.  I really like the students this year despite the problems they have sometimes.  

Well dinner is ready (thanks to Jon).  I better go.

Love you all!

Emilee and family

 

New Home

Just an update that we have made it to our new home in Tennesse! We were lucky to have Jess,
Rocky, Sara, Chris, Nancy and Megan to help us out! Now if only all the boxes were unpacked!
Actually, we don't have too many more to unbox, we did end up having to get a small 5x5 storage unit, but I don't think that is too bad going from a three bedroom house with garage and attic to a two bedroom apartment!
It was a really hot move, but they were all troopers and got us in by Sunday afternoon-I think they just wanted to be done!! The kids even found time to hit the mall before the end of the day.
David and I are just happy to be "settled" so to speak and are looking forward to finishing the organizing and exploring our new hometown!
'Ya'll come see us!' anytime!!
Love to you all-Sue

End of Summer

Wow, summer went fast. Hannah is back in school, taking fabulous classes like Chemistry, Honors English, Western Civ, Latin, health. Great teachers and looking for more ways to spend time with her best friends. She's on the Frosh/Soph volleyball team, and at last Thursday's game the coach asked her to bench for JV. She even got to go in for the last point. Sounds like she was a little terrified, but the coach obviously had faith in her and wanted her to have the experience. We spent the long weekend at the cabin with some great friends, a big momma moose and her baby, three red-tailed hawks, and many deer. The hiking and reading were fabulous, and Dave's chicken enchiladas put everyone into a happy food coma Saturday night. It rained all night Sunday night and we woke to the most awesome mist/fog Monday morning. It burned off, but was followed by bands of torrential rain, hail, and eventually snow.

Here are some summer photos--Carolyn's home grown tomatoes, Dave and Hannah's Oops I Made a Pie Berry Pie, Kimber learning to walk. And then the weather from the weekend.