Last night at the Glacier

Darwin and I went out to the glacier last night to do some homework for my photography class.  This week we are working on taking pictures in the dark and light painting.  There was nearly a full moon last night, so it wasn't  as dark as it could have been, but the pictures turned out pretty amazing.

I learned a little bit about taking pictures of the moon.  There is a rule called something like "Sunny 16"  Basically, you set your aperture to 16, your ISO to 100 and then leave the shutter open for a long time (I left the shutter open for a full minute for this shot).  I had to take several shots to get it to not look like a shining blob. =)

There was some event going on at the visitor's center and it was all lit up, so I turned the camera on it's side and got the moon and it in the same shot.  I wasn't as successful at getting the moon in focus on these, but if you notice, there was some fog last night, and it made a big ring of light around the moon...breath taking.  I don't have a wide enough angle lens (my widest angle lens is an 18-200 mm) to get the whole ring, but believe me, it was really pretty.

This is a shot I took before we started light painting.  We went out to photo point and set up the tripod.  This was taken at 9:31 pm.  I left the shutter open for 30 seconds at f/16 ISO 800.  If you click on the picture you will notice several red, blue, and green dots in the photo.  I learned last week that these spots are called "dead pixels" and are spots on my sensor that are sort of broken.  Interesting...I never knew that individual pixels could just go out.  The only way to "fix" them is to use photoshop to clone them out, or get a new camera! =)  From looking at this picture, I have a lot of dead pixels!

 

We got out the light sabers and a few flashlights and then had some fun.  I think if it would have been darker, the light sabers would have turned out cooler, but the LED bar flashlight (used to write Alaska), and the LED key chain light (used to write Juneau) we brought turned out really good!  I had fun spelling out words and then seeing if we could read them.

It was getting to be about 10:30 pm, so we decided to pack up and go get dessert before going home.  I thought I would try a few shots while walking of the sidewalk lights.  I took two long exposure shots of the lights and they both turned out black!  I was bummed because I thought they would turn out pretty neat.  Then Darwin casually says to me, "Is it because the lens cap is on?"   OH MY GOODNESS!  It was on!  No wonder the pictures were black!  hahahaha!!!

This is what I was hoping for!  We were already in the parking lot, so I just opened the shutter and waved the camera around.  You can see the sidewalk lights all in a row right on the left/center edge of the photo.  I wish I could have gone back and tried again running past them, but we were getting pretty cold.  We had been out for an hour and a half. =)  Maybe I will go back again soon.

Well, other than homework (which even I am sick of hearing about)...we are all doing good.  We got our new mattress delivered on Thursday.  We bought a Tempur-Pedic Cloud Supreme mattress last month, and it finally got here.  We've slept on it for two nights now, and I've slept like a log.  It is still a little weird...I think it feels like laying down in play-doh...hahaha...but it is very comfortable and I don't wake up at night because my hips or shoulders are numb.

We also found out on the 16th that we MIGHT be moving to Oahu THIS summer!  We should have orders by Monday or Tuesday.  We knew it might be a possibility that we'd have to move, but we had really hoped we could stay in Juneau for another year (or more).  Darwin and I both feel really good about the move...almost peaceful.  It is hard to describe, but I felt like I should be mad or angry or more stressed out, but I'm not.  I am really pretty excited...which I did not anticipate.  I always said I wouldn't ever want to live in Oahu, because it is a big city, and I like living in smaller places, so that is why I can't figure out why I am so excited.

There are two things that we are REALLY excited about for sure though.  We get to live by a temple!  How cool is that!  The last time we lived in a place that we could drive to a temple was in 2000 when we lived in Washington DC!  Ever since then, it has been a plane ride to go to one.  We are super excited that we will be able to drive to this one...and be able to go more than once a year!

The other cool thing about moving to Oahu, is that our amazing adoption worker, Sally Lee, is in Oahu.  She really is the sweetest lady and has kept in contact with us and presented us with options, even when we weren't her clients anymore...which is way more than our agency here did.  We are excited to call her after we get orders, and tell her we are coming!  She always says to us, every time we talk to her, "Oh!  I really want to do your placement!"  I was seriously thinking that if we had to move, there wasn't anyone who could convince me to go through another homestudy with LDSFS and pay another $500...I was ready to give up, seriously.  This is the only situation (that I totally didn't think was even a possibility) that I would continue with LDSFS.  I was pretty sure that we were just going to have to re-evaluate and try another way to find our missing baby.  I'm hoping that this time (the third time's the charm??) we can be done waiting to meet our child.

Well, I think that is all I can think of right now.  I'll blog at you all later! =)

Some Stuff

I am still just barely keeping up with my homework, but I have to take a break from it.  (24 photography assignments, 7 economics assignments, and 2 accounting assignments).  This picture was for my photography class.  We have to take one picture of each color in the color wheel (light, not paint wheel)...so that would be red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, and magenta.  This is for my magenta photo.

Anyhow, in way more exciting news...WE PAID OFF OUR VAN!!!!  I had to get our taxes done asap (so I could file for the FAFSA and some scholarships before Feb 15th)...and we ended up getting a nice return.  We decided to pay off my van and buy a new mattress for our bed (we are both having our arms/legs/hips go numb during the night...getting old is fun).  We had about a year left to pay on the van, but it was so exciting to just get it done early!  I got the title for it on Saturday!  We are going to apply the money we were paying for the van towards our boat now...I think it is called a snowball payment or something...anyway, so we will be able to pay that off faster now (especially since the van payment is more than twice what we are paying monthly for the boat)!  I am super excited to be actually paying off debt in a productive way.  It is a great feeling!  When the boat is done, we are going to put the van and boat payments into the truck payment and see if that can go away as well!  I'm hoping to have those paid off in the next two and a half to three years.

All the kids are doing good...Darwin is good.  London's gerbil had six more babies on the 8th!  We gave three gerbils to the Pierces on the 6th (Saturday) and I took the dad and the one baby boy out of the tank then too (since Toto was looking really fat again and they mate as soon as the female gives birth).  I thought I would have at least a week before she gave birth, but two days later Brooklin was trying to pet Toto, and I heard her yelled, "EWWW!  There are babies in here!"  The first set of babies were only 37 days old!  Anyway, we gave another two away on Monday of this week, so now we have one baby girl and the dad left to find homes for, for now...and then six more babies in four and a half weeks.  Isaiah is keeping one of the first babies (a tan girl) to replace his boy gerbil.  The factory has been turned off! thank goodness!  I think he named his new baby gerbil Peanut Butter...but he isn't sure he wants that name for her...lol.

Well, that is all I can think of.  I love school, but it is sure harder this semester than I thought it was going to be!

Glub...Glub!

There isn't much for me to write about.  I feel like I'm in over my head this week.  I have 20 assignments due between now and next Monday (15 of them are for Photography).  I also had activity days tonight which is fun, but I didn't have any time to plan anything for them to do!  Last night my Superman came swooping in and calmed me down (I was kind of panicking) and fixed everything for me.  I don't know what I would do without him.  He listened to me and all of the things I was worried and stressing over, and then he just took them from me.  He didn't do my homework...but he got on the internet and searched and printed everything I was going to need for activity days tonight while I took a shower.  I felt a giant weight lift off of me, and I am so grateful for him and his willingness to help me.  I spent two hours last night doing photography homework (this photo is one of my assignments), and then spent five hours this morning working on Economics and Accounting homework.  I finished three Economics assignments (but there are eight more assignments due by next Friday) and I got one of the two Accounting homeworks done.  I'm not out of the deep end yet, but I am feeling much better about being there.

...oh, and I forgot to mention that all six of us are speaking in church on Sunday...and my talk isn't even started!

February Goals

Today is the 3rd??...and there are only 28 days to begin with?! I better made these new goals quick and easy! =)

1. Update my giant "family pictures" frame. I have two giant picture frames in my living room with pictures of each of our combined 13 siblings and their families and a big family picture of each...one for Strassers and one for Jensens. I bought these frames at Costco about four years ago...and I have (almost) never updated the pictures! There have been many new people added to our family in the last four years. Let's see...I think I came up with nine babies that have joined our families that are not in the pictures on my wall!  I have almost all of the updated pictures for the frame, I just need to put them in.  I'm not going to sabotage my goal by requiring that if I don't have an updated picture then the goal hasn't been met.  (Although, it would be really great if you all could send me an updated picture.  I will definitely be stealing from all your facebook albums and blogs if I don't have a hard copy for some of you).

2. I will refrain, cease, and desist from playing Mafia Wars and Farmville on Sunday.  I have a slight, nay consuming addiction to these two facebook games.  I don't think I am ready to say goodbye to facebook altogether on Sundays just yet, but I think can give up these two games for four days this month.  When Darwin and I were first married, I was really gung-ho about keeping the sabbath day holy...no TV (unless it was church related), no video games, and I was more focused on good activities.  I give all the credit to my mother who was a stickler for good Sunday activities... reading The New Era, writing to missionaries, writing in my journal, listening to church music, that kind of stuff.  (Thank you Mom!)  BUT, Darwin was not as into the no TV and video games thing (and I do realize that he reads this blog and may not agree with this) but I quit worrying about that part of keeping the sabbath day holy.  Now I'm feeling the need to be a little better at focusing on the Savior on Sundays...it is His day after all.  And just to clarify something...Darwin told me just last week that he didn't think we should watch The Soup (which is on late night cable for a reason) on Sunday evenings (I didn't see any reason not to) so he isn't as "lax" as I just made him sound.

3.  I will exercise for at least 30 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday.  Darwin's sisters recently decided to have a "biggest loser" competition.  They invited me to join them and they set up a blog.  I originally signed up for a core conditioning class this semester that was on Tue. and Thur. mornings, but because of another of my struggles...not being able to let things go, (I had a "power struggle" with the teacher last semester in the spinning class and am still not ready to let it go and fully forgive her) I dropped the class a week before school started.  It was the only class I was going to have on Tuesday or Thursday, so now I have two "free" days built into my school week.  It's actually really good I did, because the homework in my economics class takes several hours to complete and having "free" days to do it works out great.  On the downside, I am not "responsible" to be in class exercising twice a week, so I haven't been.  Typically, I don't make exercising/eating healthy goals, because I don't have anyone but myself to check if I'm doing it, but now that there are weigh in's each week, I feel the need to be a little more responsible.  I would love to have 15 lbs disappear...I'm just not in love with the work it takes to make them vanish.

So, these are my goals for February.  I hope I can make them happen.  I am going to continue working on the quilt and trying to read the lessons for church on Sunday...I just need to focus on some of my other areas for the next few weeks.

January Resolution Summary

I just went back and reread my goals for January.  They were all reasonable, reachable goals but I did not make 100%.

1. Reorganize and declutter my filing cabinets I was able to clean out several files and revamp the way I was filing some of the everyday type of papers.  This was the main reason for the goal, and while I probably could have gone through many more files, I feel like I accomplished my original intention; which was to throw out things I didn't need to be keeping (old phone bills from Maui...) and make it easier to throw out stuff later on.  Instead of having a file folder for each little thing, I made six folders labeled Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/June, etc (two months of "stuff" in each folder) so when the "stuff" is a year old, I can get rid of it for sure.

2. Read the lessons for Sunday School and Relief Society BEFORE Sunday. I accomplished this goal without fail for three weeks.  The fourth week I did read the lessons before class, but not before Sunday (I read the material before church on Sunday, which is an accomplishment in itself since we have 9 am church this year).  The final Sunday, I did not read either of the lessons.  I had been taking my scriptures and such with me to the girls' piano lessons but the last week of January I had some homework that needed attention, so I read my accounting book instead of the scriptures.  I think to further the establishment of this goal into a good habit, I should try to read the materials earlier in the week, because Saturday (the day after piano lessons) isn't really an option and is also the last minute possible...or procrastination...one of my many bad habits.

3.Finish a quilt for my bed.  The quilt is not finished.  I finished all sewing all 273 blocks (and 13 half blocks) needed for the quilt on Jan 14th.  I sewed all the blocks into 13 rows of 21 blocks (and one half block) by Jan 28th.  By Jan 31st, I had sewed 6 of the 13 rows together.  I still have to:  a) sew the remaining 7 rows together. b) cut and sew together a 6 1/2 inch boarder and then sew it to the quilt top.  c) get a backing piece together...i have the material, but i need to sew it together.  It is just a solid color, but the quilt top is bigger than regular width fabric, so I just need to sew two or three widths together.  That's it.  I will post pictures when i am finished and then again when it gets back from the quilter.  I definitely had enough time to complete this project.  I just applied a bad habit (procrastination again) and didn't get it done.  I will continue working on it...especially now that we are waiting for the new mattress we ordered this weekend to get here.  (Thank you tax refund...) =)

I will post my February Resolutions later today...stayed tuned!

Caleb's 12th Birthday!

Caleb celebrated his 12th birthday this Friday.  He got some fun gifts (an Indiana Jones lego set, a set of seven Bakugans that transform into one big Bakugan, a magic trick set, an Indiana Jones DVD game, and a brand new suit and tie),  and we ate out at Bullwinkle's pizza.  He asked for brownies instead of cake this year so I made him some divine brownies with peanut butter chips and peanut butter frosting. 

The coolest thing that Caleb got for his birthday was the Aaronic Priesthood.  He was ordained to the office of a deacon today shortly after 1pm by his father, Darwin Jensen; our bishop James Kearns, and the Young Men's President, Reuben Willis.  Bishop Kearns interviewed Caleb last Sunday and found him worthy to hold the Priesthood, and we are so proud of Caleb for being a worthy young man.  Today he was given his Primary graduation certificate and repeated the 8th Article of Faith in front of the whole congregation.

Caleb, we love you very much and are so happy you are part of our family.  We are so excited that you are taking the first steps to becoming a missionary and a worthy husband and father.  Thank you for being a great student, a caring older brother, and an awesome son!

 

**This next part is for those who are not familiar with the Priesthood of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  This is from the church's website.  I am only copying the part up to deacon, but if you would like to read the whole thing, here is the link.**

Doctrine and Duties Doctrine and Duties Doctrine The priesthood is the eternal power and authority of God. The two divisions of the priesthood are the Melchizedek and the Aaronic (D&C 107:1). Young men 12 to 18 years of age, and older men who are new converts, are ordained to offices in the Aaronic Priesthood. God gives priesthood authority to worthy male members of the Church so they can act in His name for the salvation of the human family. It is the priesthood authority by which John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus Christ, teaching faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins (Matthew 3:1-17; Mark 1:1-11). Aaronic Priesthood authority includes the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel, which is the gospel of repentance, baptism, and the remission of sins, and the administering of outward ordinances (D&C 84:26-27; 13:1; 107:14, 20). Priesthood keys The exercise of priesthood authority is governed by those who hold its keys (see D&C 65:2; 124:123). These keys are the right to preside over and direct the Church within a jurisdiction. The Lord Jesus Christ holds all the keys of the priesthood. He has given His Apostles the keys that are necessary for governing His Church. Only the senior Apostle, the President of the Church, may use (or authorize another person to use) these keys for governing the entire Church (see D&C 43:1-4; 81:2; 132:7). The President of the Church authorizes presidents of temples, missions, stakes, and districts; bishops and branch presidents; and quorum presidents to hold the priesthood keys they need to preside. A person who serves in one of these positions holds the keys only until he is released. Counselors do not receive keys, but they do receive delegated authority by calling and assignment. No priesthood keys exist on earth except with the officers of the Church. Offices and Duties of the Aaronic Priesthood Priesthood offices are divisions of authority with different rights and responsibilities of service. Offices in the Aaronic Priesthood are deacon, teacher, priest, and bishop. The bishop oversees ordinations to these offices. Deacon Worthy brethren may be ordained deacons when they are at least 12 years old. A deacon follows counsel, sets a good example, and may (1) pass the sacrament, (2) collect fast offerings, (3) care for the poor and needy, (4) be a standing minister appointed to "watch over the church" (D&C 84:111), (5) assist the bishopric, (6) serve as a messenger, (7) participate in quorum instruction, (8) serve in quorum leadership positions, (9) fellowship quorum members and other young men, (10) be baptized and confirmed for the dead, (11) speak in meetings, (12) share the gospel, (13) bear testimony, and (14) care for the meetinghouse and grounds.

Lightsabers and shutter speeds

While I was blog surfing one day, I came across this really great blog called Filth Wizardry. This woman is like the Martha Stewart for coming up with fun things to do with kids! I found her blog back in December and I really don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but I'm so glad I did! This idea isn't the first I've pillaged from her site. Back in December, I used her idea to make candy cane shaped cookies for Christmas with my children.

This week I made a visit to her blog and found this awesome idea...making lightsabers out of flashlights and balloons! On top of making a fun thing for the kids to play with, she also suggested turning out the lights and taking pictures of them playing with a long shutter speed...tons of fun for me too!! The post also talked about how she painted one of the walls in her house with glow in the dark paint, and then let her kids "draw" on the walls with an LED light! (and of course taking pictures in the dark again...I love this!) We went to Home Depot and they were selling a teeny 7 oz. can of the glow in the dark paint for $8.96!! I decided I didn't want to spend $72 to buy less than a 1/2 gallon of paint to do one wall, so we left and tried Fred Meyer. They had 8 oz. cans on sale for $3.49! We bought 4 cans of paint and decided that we would buy a large sheet of wood and paint that instead of a whole wall. We haven't bought the wood yet, but we plan to in the next week or so and have another party in the dark!

My kids played with these "lightsabers" for over an hour...and got them out the next day and the next day too! The first two pictures were with the lights on and with a flash so you could see them. The rest of the pictures are with either an 8 second, 6 second, or 3 second delay on the shutter speed. I am taking another photography class this semester, so maybe I can use one of these for one of my assignments!

Darwin working...?

*notice he is doing a "shaka"? maui will never leave us. =)

Battle of the Books

B. participated in Battle of the Books this year. The competition was held in her school library on Friday. There were four teams of three kids from three middle schools in our district. (The two main middle schools and the Montessori school). Below is a brief explanation of what Battle of the Books is from this website.

The Battle of the Books is a statewide Alaskan reading motivation and comprehension program sponsored by the Alaska Association of School Librarians. The goals of the program are to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, broaden reading interests, increase reading comprehension, and promote academic excellence.
Lists of books are chosen and questions are written for all grade levels. Students read the books, discuss them, quiz each other on the contents, and then compete in teams of not more than three students to correctly answer questions based on the books in a "quiz show" format. Questions begin with the words "In which book..." so that the answer will always be a title and author. Teams may participate at the local, district and state levels of competition - with the exception of K-2 students whose competition goes only through the district level.
New lists of recommended titles for each level are compiled each year by a committee of librarians and teachers based on the "Criteria for the Selection of Titles" in Appendix A. An attempt is made to vary the titles chosen according to genre and difficulty so that readers may encounter a broad range of books. At the annual AkLA conference, the official booklist for state competition for the following year is set so that planning to obtain the titles can begin.
The statewide program involves a cooperative effort by many local groups. It is popular with students and has provided new opportunities for academic competition. Battle of the Books has also proven effective in its specified purpose - to stimulate an interest in reading.

This year the book list for 7th & 8th graders was:
Big Empty by JB Stephens
Boy Who Owned a School by Gary Paulson
ER Vets by Donna Jackson
Flint by Louis L'Amour
Giver by Lois Lowry
Magyk by Angie Sage
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Red Kayak by Cummings
Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn
Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce
Outsiders by SE Hinton
Vampire Kisses #1 by Ellen Schreiber


The kids have one "thinker", one "speaker" and one "scribe/writer" on each team. They answer 16 very precise random questions. The librarian (who is from Boston and apologized for not being able to pronounce her "r's"....so funny!) would read a question, then a timer would start. The teams had 30 seconds from the time the librarian would finish reading the question the first time (She always read the question twice, but the timer would start after the first reading) to have the scribe write down the title and author of the book that answered the question. If they wrote down the title but not the author, they got 5 points. Title and author were worth 8 points. Author only was worth zip! When the thirty seconds were up, the speaker could then read off what they wrote down. (there was an adult checking to make sure that what the speaker said and what was written down matched). After eight questions they had a sort of halftime and they read the scores so the kids would know where they were in the competition. B.'s team was leading at the half.


This is a question from the competition. I pushed pause during the wait time because I was recording with my phone (which I have never done) and didn't know how much I could do, so you won't hear the second reading of the question and you won't wait the whole 30 seconds for the answers. If you can't hear the video, the question was "In which book does a character put catfish in the toilet?" All of the teams get this one correct. (Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat)

At the end of the competition the two teams from B.'s school were tied for 1st place with 93 points. They have tie breaker questions in case that happens, and the two teams had to have 5 tie breaker questions before B.'s team won! They will get to participate in a statewide competition via telephone conference sometime in February.

The winning team! We're #1!

Also, B. and her team mates got their pictures in the newspaper on Friday. The link is here.

We really haven't had any good snow this year.

Another picture from my phone.

This year, we haven't been sledding once! We have had a few good snowy days, but they are always immediately followed by several days of rain which leaves us with sheets of ice everywhere. =P We haven't even had very many really cold days. This sign was posted a few weeks ago in the school parking lot.

Raven, Pumpkin, Owl, Bear.

We went up to the glacier visitor's center on Jan 2nd. My camera ran out of battery half way through our trek back from visiting the waterfall. I had my phone with me, and took these pictures of the kids up at the visitor's center. I just pulled all the pictures off my phone, so I will make a few posts with pictures from my phone.

Toto-chaos

So...are you all tired of hearing about our gerbils?? haha! They are like the new TV in our home. All the kids gather around their cage and just watch them. The babies are now 15 days old and have decided that they don't have to stay in their nest anymore. Toto (the mommy) doesn't know what to do. For the past two days they have been escaping out of the nest and Toto will chase them down and drag them back...the only problem is that when there are seven of them escaping at the same time it is kind of a loosing battle. The little buggers don't even have their eyes open yet, and they just come rocketing out of their nest at full speed and run willy-nilly all over the place. We were all laughing so hard this evening at them! The kids have coined the term "Toto chaos"...for when Toto was trying to round up her babies and they weren't having any of it.

In other news, Brooklin has been sick since Friday with the pukes. She woke me up at 2am Friday night and within two hours had heaved about 15 times. She ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor, and Saturday morning she tried to stand up to walk to her bed and blacked out (hitting her head on a wall when she fell)! She stayed down all of Saturday and today she stayed home from church. She hasn't thrown up anything today, so I hope the worst is past...and I really hope that no one else gets it! She was just bawling there on the bathroom floor at 4am and in between heaving, asked me to go and wake up Darwin so he could give her a priesthood blessing. She was able to get some rest after that. I am so grateful for having a priesthood holder in our home!

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so no one has school. Right now I'm not sure we have anything planned other than sleeping in...hehe. Everyone goes back to school on Tuesday. I don't have a Tuesday class, but I start my next semester on Wednesday. I am taking an Accounting class, an Economics class, and the next digital photography class...9 credits. I haven't taken any business type classes yet, so I don't know anything about how they will go. We'll see!

Everyone else is doing good. We keep praying for snow but so far whenever we get any snow, it rains on it for the next week and it is all gone. We haven't been able to go sledding once this year!

Gerbil babies

The little gerbil babies are getting cuter. There are five black ones and two tan ones...and we haven't picked them up to try and figure out if they are boys or girls yet. They have fur now, but their eyes are still closed. I read that it takes about 17 days for their eyes to open, so they should be opening around Tuesday. They are starting to get out of the nest, but the mama puts them right back in. They are constantly chirping too...it sounds like we have a bunch of birds in our house! Isaiah decided to rename his gerbil because Buttercup wasn't a very manly name, so he has decided to call him Ron Weasley!

7 days old



10 days old

Was that Jesus?!!

This year we have early church. Last year, we started church at 1 pm, and this year it starts at 9 am. (We have to swap times with the other congregation so it is all fair and whatnot...) Anyway, the last two weeks of church have had fewer than normal numbers, because people have a harder time getting up in the morning I guess. Anyhow, because we have less people we didn't have enough Priests (typically 16 to 18 yr old boys) to bless the sacrament, so Darwin and another man in our ward were asked to help bless the sacrament. After sacrament meeting, this guy came up to us and said to Darwin, "I have to tell you this. After you got done blessing the sacrament, my daughter (who I think is 4 yrs. old, but I can't remember) leaned over to me and said, 'Dad! Was that Jesus?!" How cute is that. Then another woman in the ward (she is the Primary chorister) came up to me and told me, "Wow! Your husband has such a soothing voice. I could have listened to him all day. It was very comforting."

He sounded just like Darwin to me...but I have always loved his voice. =)

Hidden treasures found while working on my filing goal.

I was going through a box of random file folders from the shed...insert groan...and found these envelopes from a Family Home Evening we did in 2005. There was a picture and a fill-in-the-blank letter in each one (except Darwin's...he must not have filled his out). The letter was titled "A Letter to Myself", and it was so fun to find them and read what we had written! I am going to type them up on here so eventually they will make it into a bound book. =) The letters are all dated January 31, 2005.

Dear Melissa,
Today's date is 31Jan05. I am 30 years old. I measure 5'3" tall. I really like to read books with my family. When I spend time with my friends, we often make stamped cards. Some of my friends are Wendy, Olga, Melanie. Here are some of my favorites:

• Song or musician:
• Television show: Survivor, CSI
• Game: geocaching, Sims, Skip-Bo
• Book: the 5 people you meet in heaven
• Food: Chocolate - the good kind
• Primary Activity: Singing
• Place to visit: family
• Hobby: reading, sewing, playing Sims

One goal I hope to achieve by the end of this year is to read my scriptures regularly. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers because when I pray I get answers. I well try to remember to say my prayers every morning and night. See you next year! Love, Melissa
(I didn't answer all of the questions...)

Dear Brooklin,
Today's date is 1-31-05. I am 8 years old. I measure 4 feet 7 inches tall. I really like to play with my family! When I spend time with my friends, we often play the gutar. Some of my friends are Ryann and Aly. Here are some of my favorites:

• Song or musician: cuntry
  
• Television show: The Parenttrap
  
• Game: Harry Potter
  
• Book: Narnia
• Food: Baked Potato
  
• Primary Activity: articles of faith
  
• Place to visit: Sis. Kearns house (Brooklin had just started going to girl's activity days at Tanis Kearns's house)
  
• Hobby: jumprope and read
  

What I most remember about 2004 is school because I was in 2nd grade but learned 3rd.

I was pleased with myself when I learned divtion because it was a challenge to accomplish. One thing I hope to learn to do better in 2005 is my cursive letters. If I could make a wish for 2005, it would be London wouldn't make a big mess in my room.

One goal I hope to achieve by the end of this year is to read for an hour nonstop.

The Primary's My Gospel Standards are important in my life. I plan to improve on the following standards this year: To seek good friends and trat others kindly.

If I'm ever discouraged, the scriptures can help me feel the Spirit. My favorite scripture story is James chapter 1 verse 5, If you ever lak of wisdom, let him ask of god. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers because I have felt the holly gost throu prayr befor. I well try to remember to say my prayers every morning and night.

Well, see you next year!

Love, Brooklin

P.S. I forgot to say that I really like crab and shrimp with melted buter.

Dear Caleb,
Today's date is 1-31-05. I am 7 years old. I measure 3'11" tall. I really like to be with my family! When I spend time with my friends, we often play games. Some of my friends are Charlie, TJ. Here are some of my favorites:

• Song or musician: Are you Sleeping
  
• Television show: Transformers
  
• Game: Hide and Go Seek
  
• Book: Things that Go
  
• Food: Mac & Cheese
  
• Primary Activity: play games
  
• Place to visit: Idaho Falls
  
• Hobby: writing practice
  

One thing I hope to learn to do better in 2005 is how to write cursive.

Well, see you next year!

Love, Caleb

Dear London,
Today's date is 1-31-05. I am 4 years old. I measure 3' 6 1/2 " tall. I really like to play with my family! When I spend time with my friends, we often play. Some of my friends are Kindee, Winter, Ferris, Jakob, Britney. Here are some of my favorites:

• Song or musician: 1o little indians
  
• Television show: Ponies & Dora
  
• Game: London's Clues (which I think is like Blue's Clues).
  
• Book: Sesame Street School Book
  
• Food: Mac & Cheese
  
• Primary Activity: eat
  
• Place to visit: Our Backyard (this was an indoor playground in Juneau...it isn't open anymore)
  
• Hobby: think what to do
  

What I most remember about 2004 is played eye toy because it was fun.

I was pleased with myself when I make my bed because it was a challenge to accomplish. One thing I hope to learn to do better in 2005 is eat my food faster. If I could make a wish for 2005, it would be I wish I could have the whole pony set.

One goal I hope to achieve by the end of this year is to go to kindergarten.


If I'm ever discouraged, the scriptures can help me feel the Spirit. My favorite scripture story is Joseph Smith. I know Heavenly Father answers prayers because he loves me. I well try to remember to say my prayers every morning and night.

Well, see you next year!

Love, London

Dear Isaiah,
Today's date is 31Jan2005. I am 2 1/2 years old. I measure 35 1/2 " tall. I really like to family evening with my family! When I spend time with my friends, we often play with toys in the nursery. Some of my friends are Sam, Caleb Kearns Lance and Hunter. Here are some of my favorites:

• Song or musician: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
  
• Television show: Dora the Explorer
  
• Game: Eye Toy Bubbles

Well, see you next year!

Love, Isaiah