Volcano

My dad is teaching me how to blog. He thinks I will be a blogger extraordinaire someday. So....here goes. I made a real sweet lookin volcano for school last week. I used tin foil (actually, I prefer to call it aluminum foil), textured spray paint, red and orange tempra paint, various landscaping props, and some explosive elements. My teacher said it is the best volcano she has ever seen in all her 75 years of teaching. I was flattered. I think she is just saying that because she knows my grandma. Anyway, here is a picture for your perusal and enjoyment. Now that I am a regular blogger, I will continue to keep you abreast of the highlights of my educational experience. Gotta go finish building a personalized 3.7 gigabyte microchip for my computer class. Peace out, Rachel

Love reading all the postings on the family blog! I love your blog too, Wes and Lori, tell me you are printing a hard copy of all this so you can save it. With technology changing so rapidly I still feel so good having "cellulose" materials.

Our trip to Virginia to see Mike and Marci, Jake, Maggie, and Sophie was so much fun! Jake is so tall and Maggie is so her strong spirited self (I love that in a girl) and Sophie is just too hilarious! She is a little Mike! Her expressions, personality and sense of humor are just like her dad.

Sophie!

Grandpa & Grandma, Maggie & Jake at the White House below:

Mike and Dad at Gettysburg.
Maggie, Marci and Sophie coloring Easter eggs, Jake

We had such a good time being with the DC Trumans and we'll go back! Next year let's all go and spend Spring Break in D. C. There are lots of hotels close to Mike and Marci and it is beautiful and educational!

We love our cousins!

We had so much fun playing with Truman and Kate while Joe breezed over 60 miles of northern Utah terrane. Truman was always watching out for the "little girls" and Lucy and Kate had the best time passing stuffed animals back and forth between their pack'n'plays before their 'slumber party' featured any slumbering.

Bless the cafeteria for cereal and ice cream and space to run around!
We had a great time! (Suzy - we have a gazillion more pictures...I'll e-mail them, or I'll do another post later.)

Happy Easter!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday! I can't imagine the weather where you are could have been as beautiful as Provo's but I hope it was. Lori and I found another great park here in Provo this weekend, it was originally built by a convert from Denmark who worked as the Danish kings gardner before he joined the church and came to Utah with all the early saints. It has recently been restored and represents yet another thing we could look into for activities this summer. So...how do you propose we solidify plans? We could all take a family night and plan one day...but then we would run the risk of planning the same activities...so I am up for suggestions. One thing that would be helpful for us though is to know any ETA's for people, to make sure we have accommodations for any early arrivals or late stayers, we welcome either but we need to know. We have the rooms reserved for Monday to Monday if you want times outside of that let us know. Hope all is well with everyone, we'll talk to you soon.

Family Vacation Plans

Hey everyone,

I was thinking about our plans for this vacation in June. I'm sure it is going to be here before we know it. I was thinking that depending on what we decide to do, we may need to make plans ahead of time. So, I was wondering what everybody was hoping to do during the week we are together.

I think the sporting competition idea is great. A couple of years ago the kids had a great time at Park City doing the Alpine slides. That may be something that would be fun. I don't know if there are any fun swim places or maybe Lagoon where we could spend a day. Do we want to hit Temple square at all or shopping for the girls. I think it would be really fun to have an idea of what we were going to do each day before we even got up there so we don't waste too much time in the decision making process.

If we get a bunch of ideas, then it would just be a matter of having Dad put it together in an organized, cohesive and fairly elaborate itinerary to which we can all refer as the week progresses. Let me know what you think.

Mark

Top o' the marnin' to ya

Happy St. Patrick's day to you all. We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa and they were already quite in the Spirit of the Holiday as you can tell by the photo. Dad's just a little tall to be a leprechaun but it was a valiant effort. We love you all,

Mark and Maria

Story behind the weird link at the top of this post:

We have a close friend who has spent the last year working for the "CP80 Foundation." (Maybe you've heard of it?!)
This foundation has furnished a solution to Internet pornography that involves categorizing and channeling the Internet content.
"Right" you say, sarcastically.
But wait! Suspend your disbelief for a minute!
We really, really believe that the proposed CP80 sollution is totally viable. The concept they're proporting is a bit like Cable TV - once content is appropriately categorized, consumers will be able to choose what they want to receive as part of their Internet experience - and what sort of material is available within the walls of their own home.

CP80 will be introducing legislation in the US Congress within the next few months. They are also working internationally with countries including Brazil, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and South Korea.

Check out the website (just click the link) and you can learn more about the proposal...we're really excited about it!

Hope everyone's doing well!
Wes and Lori