Mom and Omi

Here's Mom and Omi when we were in Hameln last year. We had a good time with her, despite her being so particular about how she likes things. I was very excited that Sigi and Geerd came down to see us. They were very friendly and gracious. I hope to spend some time with them during the trip that I hope to be taking to Germany.



Here are Sigi and Geerd. Every picture I took of her she had her eyes closed.


The highlight of my trip into the town was a picture with the Pied Peiper of Hameln. I assumed he was a native Hamelinian until Dad told me later that he was an American. Does anyone else find that funny? Does anyone else find it questionable that he was walking around carrying a piece of mistletoe?

Some Fall Colors in Vienna

This is on a mountainside in a little town called Halstaat, in Austria. It is literally built on a mountainside that runs right into the lake on the left. We took a train thing up the really steep side of the mountain. You can see the track on the bottom in the center.






Then walked the rest of the way through scenery like this. It was gorgeous. I'll just take the liberty to post a few more of my favorite secenery pictures.





The pathway leads to this tiny little village, if you can really call it that. It's a business that has built up around this ancient salt mine. We got to go down inside it . . .


Wearing these awesome jumpsuits. We had to wear them, because they have these giant wooden slides that you get to slide down, but since they're old and wooden, and there could be splinters . . . yeah. It was good to have some protection.

Not much... but I'm here!

I wanted to show that I/we are posting now, even though I don't have much to post. Thank you Doris and Jef for continuing to keep this thing on life support, and having faith that it's wayward prodigal children might one day return.

What new news... Jere is teaching the 8-10 yr old boys in Primary now, and I'm still loving YW. Jef took fabulous pictures of the YW for our modesty fashion show, and he was so great about it! Had a swell time. Thanks, Jef!

Abby fell off of her bunkbed the night before we left for Georgia - she was still hurting 10 days later, so we took her in for an x-ray. FRACTURED. Yes, I let my child go 10 days with a broken wrist. Anyone want to nominate me for Mother of the Year? In my defense, Renee had Russ Nickles look at it while we were gone, and he said it was probably fine. But still... She narrowly avoided a cast, and got to wear a splint for a week or two.

Ella is now riding her two-wheeler with NO training wheels. It took her half an hour to learn, and she's so proud.

Johnny has joined the Tiger Cub Scouts down at Scout Hall, and they roped Jeremy into being Den Leader for lack of other volunteers. They have their first meeting this week, so we'll see how it goes....

Liv is talking a little, but unless you know what she is trying to say, you don't get much of it. Still, give her time...

I'm super-duper, just waiting for whatever is coming next - who knows? Wish we could see you all again soon. Heather

Update

So, everyone, my big plans for travelling Europe continue. I know I told everyone I wanted to go to Germany for a year. I'm continuing to plan for that. I have a few resources I am calling on to help me find a job there. Keep your fingers crossed for me. My ambitious year has now turned into more like six months, which is fine. I think that's all I'll be able to afford, and I think I'll be ready to come back to the States after that anyway. :)

I got a great internship up in Salt Lake, at the Church Office Building, editing oral histories in the Church Archives. It's already been a great experience, sometimes quite humbling, but that's a good thing. It pays really well, and I am extremely grateful for it.

I just but my plane ticket home for Christmas. I'll be flying into Medford on December 23 . . . and will be staying indefinitely. Weird, and slightly terrifying. My life in Provo will officially end on December 23. I bought a one-way ticket back to Oregon. Hopefully I will be leaving early in January for Germany, but all of my plans are up in the air right now. So, there may be some juggling around of me while I am there, if that's okay with everyone. I must say, I am very excited to finally get some real time back in Brookings.

This is a final plea to keep in touch with the blog. I think it's a great opportunity for us to keep in touch. Have Jef show you how to post pictures and things, and if you can't post pictures, just type things!

I hope you're all doing just peachy keen. See you in December.

Doris

Ahh...the time does fly

Wow, well, I had a great post all written and then the explorer window locked up and I lost it all. Great!!

The general gist of things, Holly is the new ward organist and I have been called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher to replace Jeremy. I have great pictures up on the website...http://www.hatchphoto.smugmug.com you should all check them out.

I will try and make a cheat sheet for those whom internet and blogging is a new thing so that everyone can stay connected, or not but at least it will be everyones choice instead of not doing it because they don't know how.

Anyway, I will leave you with a Japanese proverb...

inu mo arukeba, bo ni ataru
sometimes even a dog will walk into a tree.

Love to all,
Jef

Last One for Today

I recently got to go to Mesa Verde in Colorado, a place (thanks to the #3 childcraft) that I've always wanted to go. It is the home of the ancient cliff dwellings and it was spectacular. This year is the centennial anniversary of the park and they opened two special hikes to the public. Tommy, Nicole (a friend of ours), and I bought tickets for one of them and it was well worth it. We got to hike on an original indian trail and use their footholds in the rocks. I took a million pictures, but after a while, they started to kind of look alike. Anyway, here are some of my favorites.

Dennis and Karianne

Dennis and Karianne have finally, officially warmed up to me. Yeah! Well, Dennis has liked me for quite a while, but Karianne doesn't care for strangers so much, so it's been kind of hard sometimes, but now she seems to have come full circle. I need to get over to Jak's and take advantage of it while I can. These pictures were taken at Patrick John's reception. Dennis and Karianne are fond of making funny faces and posing for pictures.

Some More Pictures

I have tons of pictures from various trips I have taken, and want to share some of them with you. I'll try to post new ones as often as possible, and I'll think of the funniest stories I can share with you so it's not so boring. :) I'm learning as I go, so if things seem a bit disorganized at first, it's probably because they are.

Marks Reunion

It was wonderful to see you all. I had such a good time. I wanted you to all have access to some of my pictures, so I'm posting them here. If any of you want copies, just let me know specifically what you want, and I'll send them to you via email. If any of you have superb pictures, by all means, post them too! I hope I get to come home again in August for a few days. If not, well then, you'll just have to wait your turn like the others.

L&R Marks Progeny

Hey everyone! I just thought I would let you all know (sorry it's a bit belatedly) that I decided to walk in August. I'm still not officially graduating until December, but since there's no ceremony in December, I'm going to walk in August. I apologize again to Mom for not saying something sooner. I really didn't think anyone would want to come, since I didn't care much about walking and decided to more as a whim than anything else. Still, if any of you have a whim to come (and believe me, I will not be in the least offended if nobody comes-it's an awfully long way to come to sit through a few hour long boring ceremony) the ceremonies are Thursday, August 17 and Friday August 18. If you want more details, you can contact me.

I am getting so excited to come home for the reunion next week. I'll see you all soon!

A Glorious Thing

Well, aren't temples glorious places? I was blessed to be able to travel to San Diego and participate in my brother John's sealing to his wife and took this great night shot the night before the sealing took place when Laura (John's wife) went through for the first time. The sealing was great...it really made me remember the things that are important in life. Spirit was very strong and both Mom's were in tears the entire time.

It was a great week even though I had to shovel dirt and plant trees for two days out of a 5 day vacation. I had dinner with my father, who, as many of you know, hasn't wanted to have anything to do with me for the last 12 years. He called me and said that he wanted to meet and talk and we did. It was a small step down the path to reconciliation but a step non-the-less.

I got my In&Out Burger fix and went to see a San Diego Padres game, courtesy of my mother and all in all had a grand time.

It will be interesting to see if we can get Jer and Heather to publish some photos from their trip to the blog site and if we can get the rest of the family on board with posting about their families and commenting on other posts. Maybe we should have a short class on posting when the reunion rolls around. OR NOT...anyway...

It's a monster

Well, Holly just got done taking Rebekah to the doctor. 12lbs 8oz. WOW! She is growing really fast. Alana was really tall and underweight, looks like Rebekah is going to follow in her father's footsteps. It's so exciting to be raising a couple little skwibbletts (to borrow Dad's phrase) Alana came out this morning and I remarked on the fact that her hands were cold. Her response was "guess I better go get in Mama's bed." I thought...did I use phrases like "guess I better" when I was 2.5 years old? I don't think so. It's obvious that she gets her brilliance from her Mom.

I went to my old college friend's wedding in Salem 1.5 weeks ago, and took Alana with me so that Holly would be able to rest and look to Rebekah, without having to worry about Alana as well. Anyway, Austin (Allison's brother--Allison is the one that got married.) was telling me that the sunday after the wedding he was commenting to his parents on how even though Alana was the least known child at the wedding, compared to the other children that were there and known by most of the wedding guests, she was the most played with and fawned over. Austin's mom responded to that saying, "...and she is the smartest little girl her age that I have ever met." It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who thinks that my little darling is super smart. Anyway...I've included a picture in here for your viewing pleasure.

Life in the fast lane

Well, not really...I just wanted to have a catchy title for this post. How did I do?

Well, I hope that everyone will be able to bookmark this site and contribute frequently. I really appreciate all the kind words...and what not...but it was super easy to set this up.

If you have any questions, or anything goes wrong...let me know...and we'll try to get if fixed.

L&R Marks Progeny

So, I wrote a long extensive explanation of my plans, and somehow, it didn't get posted and is now lost in the vastness that is call cyberspace. Short version: I am now graduating in December instead of August. The classes I was in this term would have been only just possible to complete without failing, but I wouldn't have gotten anything out of them. Plus, I desperately need an internship and most places won't give one to post graduates, which was a problem for me. Now my spring term will be so much lighter it will hopefully even be enjoyable some weeks...okay, I'll settle for days if I have to...and I'll only have one class to take fall semester. So hopefully I can land the internship I want with F.A.R.M.S. (for those of you who still aren't familiar with it, it is the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies--a journal publish I believe quarterly) and get a lot more out of that course, the fall section of which specializes in editing scholarly Mormon works. Another bonus for me. What does this mean to all of you? Very little, except I'll be done with school in December, not August, Merry Christmas to me. It may mean something to Jamie, though, because it is now much more likely that I will be able to meet you for your layover...at least one, if not both. I know I've asked you a million times now, but when is it again?

Anyway, I am excited to have this blog and will try to post as frequently as I can. I'm excited to read about all of you, too, so post often! Now I must get back to my wonderful world of reading. I'll talk to you later.

Doris

L&R Marks Progeny
I hope I'm actually doing this right . . . here goes. I have some news for everyone. I decided to postpone my graduation until this December. It's kind of annoying, because I'll only be taking one class my last semester, but it made more sense all around to do it this way. I was taking two editing classes this term, the prereq for which I won't be taking until summer term. It proved to be only just possible, and so, after finally realizing that the only advantage to staying in the class would be to graduate in August, (which, granted is a big advantage) I should just wait. It will give me a much better life spring term and will actually increase my chances of landing an internship. It would have been hard to get one for only summer term and it would have kept me very busy (many places don't give internships post graduation, so this was a little hitch in my plans). Instead, I will get a lot more out of the class in fall and will have much more experience behind me to get my internship. I still have plenty to do, though, and best be getting back to my reading. I hope everyone is doing well! I'll try to post as often as I can.

I echo the sentiments of Mom and Doris, I think this was a great idea, and thanks to Jef for setting this up. Jason has just done tech support for both AD and Jere, so I know they are both online and able to view and contribute as well. Now we should all be in the loop together.

The Jason and Jamie Ryan family are doing well. There isn't anything of great interest to report, sadly. Progress with our new home is as impeded by red tape as ever, and it seems we may never see the end of it. Just when we think we see light at the end of the tunnel we get more bad news. Oh well, we figure it will happen some time or other, and we just get to continue being patient.

Jason has taken on some added duties for the union in exchange for a sweet 6-2/weekends & holidays off schedule. It keeps him pretty busy, and he managed to squeeze a laptop out of the deal, so everybody's happy.

The school year is drawing to a close, and next fall Carmen will be in Kindergarten. :) We are looking forward to a fun and eventful summer, and I can't wait for our reunion.

Doris, good luck with your awful next couple of months. Are you going to be able to make it out for the reunion, or will you have to wait until after graduation?

Loren and Sandra, any word on plans for next school year? I'm sure the hiring process is going on right now at most schools, if not already completed. Any definite plans yet? We are so anxious to have you guys closer to us.

It's great having Holly & Jef in Brookings. Now if we could just get the rest of you closer!

I, too, am going to see Jill. I leave the Thursday before Memorial Weekend and layover in SLC for four hours, where I plan to see Jacki and possibly Doris as well (what are the chances, Doris?) and I am looking forward to that.

I hope you all are doing well, and we are eagerly waiting to hear from everyone else to find out what you are up to. Post soon!

Love,

Jamie

Here is a shot of Rebekah just hours after birth. Isn't she great?

I figure that since I started this process, I should be the first to post.We've had a major addition to our family and Rebekah Anne is very healthy. We'll be blessing her on the 21st as the 7th is stake conference and I'm out of town on the 14th. We hope your thoughts will be with us, even if you can't physically make it.

Alana is a great big sister, always wanting to share her treats but then reminding Rebekah that she doesn't have any teeth. We try to make sure that we pay extra attention to Alana as she gets used to sharing time with Rebekah and she seems to be doing just fine. Smart as a whip and musically talented too, she is really starting to blossom.

Holly is recovering quickly and is up and about. Getting some reading done between naps and getting ready to go back to teaching piano lessons. (I think.)The business is going well, I've booked a couple of weddings for the summer and done a few senior portrait sessions already and we hope to have all of you in the studio for family portraits in the near future.Well, hopefully this "blogging" thing can be a boon to the family communications and not a hindrance.

Publish well.