2008 April: Hope

Well this month has been a hard one for me, my nephew died on the 3rd, he was 18 years old and a great kid. It is hard for me to wright about it but I will miss him and I think of him every day.

I finally got done with BYU-I and ISU and that is so great. I went down to Utah and stayed with Rob and my brother to find a job and a apartment. it was not a fun task to do alone, Michelle was helping all she could form Idaho and California.

Michelle and the kids took a trip to CA to see her family for 3 weeks and it has been hard not seeing them. Michelle is starting to gain some weight which is nice since she has been so skinny, Her last day at her work was on the 25th and she is very happy to quit for a second time :)

Scott and Kyle are doing great and are growing up and turning into little boys, it is scary just to think that they were just born it seems like and just a few days ago they were helpless and could not do anything for themselves but now they really do not want you help. It is funny and cute to see them playing with each other with cars and jumping on the bed and falling down.

Well we hope everyone is doing great. Talk to you all later.

The Hopes

2008 April: Bates

Well, this month started out with a fun breakfast of eggs, toast, and hashbrowns in a beautiful landscape.

The highlight of the month was our trip to Idaho. My family treated us to a BBQ (the Idaho version of the Fatted-Calf feast for the prodigal son) and was spontaneous enough to accompany us on a whim to Green Canyon hot-springs pool. Then, as if that weren't enough fun, we topped off our vacation with a fun night of games at Jason's house with the entire freakish-four and spouses (quite the rarity).

We also had Jason come down this month and stay with us for a while. He is planning to move to Utah country to continue his education. So, while looking for housing and a job he camped out at our house. While he was here we dragged him to the Tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun and, surprisingly enough, there were many tulips and other flowers. It was really pretty (in a manly sort of way... ok, so not really).

At the end of this month I decided to go to Minnesota to check things out for Derik... ok, so I actually went there for a conference. It was a 5-day conference (that equates to about 3.5 months in newly-wed days). Tamara and I were both very happy when the conference was over. I learned a few things, but it was not worth the lengthy separation.

Other than that, we are simply working and preparing for the baby in June.
-Rob & Tamara

2008 April: North

Spring is trying to poke its head thru the clouds here in Pocatello. We’ve had some sun, and also some snow. We had one day with temperatures in the 70’s, and the next day with temperatures in the mid 40’s. It’s been an interesting spring. Today is beautiful though. I’m usually in meetings right now, but because of stake conference we’re home early. The main session of conference was broadcast from Salt Lake. It was broadcast to 67 stakes in South East Idaho. We got to hear from El. Tingey of the 70, Sis. Dalton of the YW’s presidency, El Nelson, and Pres. Uchtdorf. The theme of the conference seemed to be faith, and strengthening families. They also talked a lot about preparing missionaries to serve. Pres. Uchtdorf said something like “you young men don’t need a new truck with big tires, it’ll only drain your savings. You need to prepare to serve the Lord.” I think he might have wrinkled some feathers with that one.

Speaking of missionaries, my little brother came home last week from his mission in Seattle. A sickness he had before his mission flared up again a couple of months ago and he hasn’t been able to work much since. He and his mission president felt it would be best to send him home, and then evaluate it more from there. I don’t know a missionary who was more prepared than Alex, and I don’t know anyone who wanted to serve more than Alex. Luckily his spirits are up and he doesn’t feel like he’s getting cheated out of anything. He’s a good example to me.

This evening I will graduate from Institute. It’s taken me 4 years, one class per semester. I’ve learned a lot and am grateful for the experience. I tell everyone that I’m just grateful to be able to graduate from something. I’ve been here at school for the last 1000 years it feels like, and I’ve still got a long way to go. Becky will also be graduating with an advanced certificate. That means she’s more spiritual than me.

Have a great month everyone, spring is here, and school’s almost done!

We had a great time seeing you all last weekend. Becky and I don't get a lot of chance to hang out with other married couples, let alone high school friends. We are glad to see that everyone is doing well. I'm glad we're keeping in touch. Friendships are worth a lot, and I think we should put forth a little effort to keep them going.
God bless you all,

Stewart & Becky

2008 April: Robertson

Greetings,

We just put the girls to bed after an entire day of fighting them. OY. I wonder what all I could get done in a day if I had all of their energy. While my bruises are healing, and I’m catching my breathe, I decided to go ahead and write this letter about our month. April - what happened? We started the month celebrating my dad’s 50th birthday, and I finished teaching my first semester of philosophy. My reviews came back mostly good. I had one student say that I was among his/her favorites and another say that I had a gift for teaching philosophy while always inserting truth into the conversation. On the flip side I had one student say that I went out of my way to offend him and shake his testimony. He called me a blasphemer and anti-mormon. He called upon the college to supervise my class because I am out of control and both he and his wife agree that philosophy will make any mormon who studies it question their faith and testimony. So, from that student I learned Mormons should stay as far away from philosophy as possible and I should probably be burned at the stake for heresy. Needless to say, the review caught me completely off guard because I was unaware any of my students felt that way. I knew them all by name and tried to talk with each one before class started. Whoever the student was, either they never came to class or were being a bit two-faced.
I will admit that the review shook me a bit and I find myself hesitating a bit before I jump into class wondering if there is a closed minded student in the class that is not paying attention and will take my words the wrong way. I will admit that philosophy is incredibly dangerous if you approach it with a closed mind, because when that happens, everything in philosophy is perceived to attack you in a very personal way. The constant attacks will beat you down after time. However, if approached with an open mind (read: humility) the truths emerge and the falsehoods fall to the wayside. The more I look at it, close-mindedness is a very real precursor to selfishness and dogmatism (yes - I just implied that dogmatists are selfish - I’m a heretic I can say that) (Morgan: this is turning into a philosophy lesson) (Derik: oops - ranting and raving again - but heck if I’m going to erase what I just wrote - moving on)
I spent the entire week break between semesters grading my students final papers (Don’t get me started on those) and working. My parents, the twins, Miriam, and Lindsay used that time to go on a cruise to Mexico while we enjoyed the snow in Idaho. It was nice seeing everyone at the little get together. Who knows when the next one of those is going to be? (Morgan: eh, July) School started again for me. I’m using the book that I wrote and already had a couple of students calling me on it wondering how much I am making off of it. When I told them nothing - I did it out of charity (and a resume builder) that made them be quiet for a while. I think the majority of my class is going to be a hoot. There are still two students that I am trying to figure out. All in time, I guess.
Morgan and I attended a department dinner for the Humanities and philosophy department up on campus. That was a nice dinner. It was catered by Johnny Carinos in Idaho Falls. It was really good. The professors there started talking Humanities smack - that was a riot to listen to. They were bragging about who had been to the most European countries, who could speak the most foreign languages, who could read Sir Gawain or Beowulf in their original languages, who could name the obscure Italian operetta, etc…I wish I could have taped that conversation and then played it for a business class, ha! Or better yet - the body building class. But the food and company were fantastic, and Morgan and I were the youngest there.
On the home front, the girls are enthralled with patty-cake and Kyla loves to grab your hands and make you do it. So you sing the rhyme, but she will be clapping your hands together and make you go through the motions. She loves to be the grown up. Both girls can now locate their noses on request - Kyla mostly locates the inside of her nose; so much for the grown up thing. Daria is quickly picking up a shoe fetish. She loves shoes. It doesn’t matter who owns the shoes, she wants to wear them. They love to go outside. We just wish that our apartment complex will do the spring cleanup on the lawn areas to get all of the winter trash off of them so we have somewhere to take the girls - some warmer weather would be nice as well.
I asked Morgan what she has done. She’s cared for people and has tried to keep everyone sane and healthy. She has done a wonderful job at that. She really is a wonderful woman. I think that is all that we have to report on for April. Wishing you all the best,

The Robertsons