2010 November: Robertson

I can now breathe, so I figure that I should get this thing written before the month is over and the new year is upon me. SO, November…I am trying to think what happened way back then…when the world was still innocent and fresh. I think I spent the majority of the beginning of the month nagging slacking students. That lasted up until Thanksgiving break. During the break, We decided that we would spend the time remodeling our home to some extent. So, Morgan found a business that was liquidating some laminate flooring. We bought enough to redo the floor in our back room and the kitchen. We installed it during our spare moments. It really looks rather nice. We are almost finished with it now. We only have to put the trim back on the walls and do some paint touch up. Anyway, since this year is my parent’s 30^th wedding anniversary, they wanted to do something nice and go on a vacation, but their anniversary lands on the day after Eljay gets home from his mission (the 18^th). My mom didn’t think it would be a good idea to leave a newly returned Eljay home alone in a big house with only the little sister Lindsay for company, so my parents decided that they would take their anniversary vacation over Thanksgiving break which meant that said little sister, Lindsay, came and stayed with us. Morgan and I prepared a meal that was way too big for all of us, so I invited over some of my students and my TA (who is conveniently engaged to one of my students) for dinner. At least we had a decent number to gather around and eat all of the food that we prepared. After the dinner, Kyla and Daria took my students to the living room and proceeded to school them all in a game of Wii Mario Kart. I figure that is how I can humble students in the future – have them be beaten by three year old girls. Awesome. After the break, I was back to nagging students, but this time I figured out some scare tactics. I think it shook enough of them up to get them working. That was about our November. December will look crazy (and has been crazy) but that will be next months entry – that will come in more or less on time.

God Bless,

Derik, Morgan and the Robertsons

2010 November: Hope

Well Hello All F4 peeps,
Well the time has gone by fast I have been at my job for almost 6 months now and it is still crazy but I am getting use to it. Michelle is still working over the internet talking orders like you see on TV. Scott and Kyle got their Tonsils out in the first of Nov and they are both doing great they were up running around the next day as if nothing happened. So now they are eating more and have more energy. So for Thanksgiving we were going to Rexburg but the weather made us not go up there so we had dinner with my brother and his family. Then a very sad day happened on friday when Boise State Broncos lost to Nevada. There first lost in a long time. Michelle turned 28 so she is getting old LOL. Other than that we are doing about the same well hope everyone is doing great hope to hear for you all and hope everything is going well for you all

Jason and Family

2010 November: Bates

November has been an excellent month.

Fintan has strengthened his arms and can now hold himself up, so crawling is emminent. Orianna can now talk amazingly well (which she loves to d all the time). We got Christmas lights up. I got my Projector & screen mounted out in the office/garage, and dug through about half of the huge pile of dirt that has been in our driveway for 2 years.

ZebraStrut has been progressing nicely. We got our 5th member, and are now going to get the business license and figure out all that bureaucratic nonsense.
ExpoStrut (the first product we are doing under our ZebraStrut umbrella) is going well. The website is about 75% done, the iPad app is about 50% done, and the card reader portion is about 25% done. Our original schedule was to be finished by Sept 2011, so we are well ahead, even though at the moment we really only have 2 of the 5 people working (until Jan that is).

We went to Idaho the week before Thanksgiving and I built a wall in my parent's basement (well, I replaced a wall I'd previously built from junk in their basement with a reall 2x4/scheetrock/insulation wall). It went well, but I did crack a rib in the process. The worst part was that my dad said "you probably shouldn't do that. I cracked a rib that way once." To which I responded "Yeah, but you're old," approximately 10 seconds before I cracked my rib. Very embarrasing.
The other lousy thing was that our car died in Malad on our way up to Idaho. We'd paid it off just a few months prior, so that was very dissapointing. But, we are now the proud owners of a minivan. We can blend perfectly into any street in Utah. So, if you have any stealth operations you need to do here, you can borrow my van.

We stayed in utah for Thanksgiving. My boss helped me fry a turkey, and I am convinced it is the only way to do turkey now. It took about 30 min from start to finish, and you end up with a delicious fried turkey. Baking takes WAY to long, now that I know you can fry.
Wishing you all a happy holiday filled with fried foods,
The Bates Family

2010 November: North

We’ve had a good month here out East. A big story in the news lately has been the bad weather in the Utah/Idaho area; I guess you guys have had some pretty severe snow and cold over the last few weeks. I want you to know that I’m thinking of you. The day before Thanksgiving Becky, Sophie, and I went for a walk. It was around 2pm and it was so nice out that I left my jacket in the car. I thought of you all as I walked.

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We were invited over by one of my classmates to eat with him and his family and another med student. It was a small gathering of friends and we enjoyed each others’ company.

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving I went and bought new tires for our car; cost: $700. It shouldn’t have taken more than an hour or so to change the tires and do an alignment, but the shop was slammed with people trying to prep for their Thanksgiving travels so I spent 4 hours in the waiting room! I was hoping to get some homework done, but instead I just sat around switching between Fox news and CNN. I took all day Wednesday to finish my homework, which made for a long day, but I haven’t had to think about school for the last few days which has been nice.

On black Friday we went looking for new cell phones, and possibly a new cell plan. I was not surprised to learn that any switch in plans would cost us more than we are paying now. We signed a contract at 2007 rates and everything is more expensive now. We decided to keep our current plan for awhile longer or until they kick us off because they are losing money on us. I was surprised to learn that none of the simple ‘text and talk’ phones they make these days are as nice as ours. Our phones are dinosaurs in the phone industry, 2 ½ years old. I thought that we’d find lots of new and exciting models for us to choose from, and, if we were looking for a smart phone we would have. I guess phone companies have decided that there’s no money in a simple cell phone, so they aren’t working on any new ones. So we decided to keep our old plan and our old cell phones. After that we went shopping for a couch. Up until now we’ve been using Becky’s old bed as a couch. A few weeks ago we agreed that it was time to buy a real couch. So on Friday we did. New couch: $500. All in all it was an expensive week.

One more thing: Becky and I read 3 books together this year, plus another one that we started but didn’t finish. They total up to more than 1400 pages! I just thought you (especially Derik) should know that.

We hope that you each got to take time to count your blessings. We live in a marvelous, wonderful time!

Stewart, Becky, and Sophie

2010 October: Bates

Happy October... in November.

Well, we had a great Halloween. Fintan was a Pumpkin long enough to take a picture, and Orianna was a fairy princess. Tamara's costume & mine were carefully picked to not offend anyone & avoid all faux-paux. I was the naughty Monk with a kiss on my cheek & she was a bar-wench with red lipstick.

We went to a few Halloween parties, but some relatives were nice enough to take video, so I will be lazy and link to their videos.

Orianna dancing to Thriller

Me failing a donut eating contest (something you never thought you'd hear)

& Tamara fairing no better than I did


Other big news includes starting yet another side-business (I know... I start lots of stuff and never finish), but it came as an accident. We decided to quit FashionGenome, but the 3 of us techies enjoyed working together so much that we couldn't help start something else. So we are going to try our hand at making iPhone/iPad apps.
I also am converting my garage into an office/workroom. I made this photobooth for things we need (pardon the audio, my thumb was on the mic).
I have sheet-rocked 1 room, and need to paint it, but it is pretty much done. We also are making a seamless wall in a corner of the garage for a photo-studio (rather than a small objects booth). I figure it's 900 square feet that I have wasted for 3 years, so it will be nice to put it to good use.

We wish everyone the best.
-The Bates Family

2010 October: North

Well here it is, the 10th of November. November is 1/3 over and I’m just getting October's newsletter out. Things have been going really well here. I was worried that my grades would dip a little, or a lot, when Sophie came, but I got a B on my last block! I’m very pleased with that grade. Becky is being a super mother, taking care of herself and Sophie very well. I told her early on that her first priorities are herself and Sophie, and that the house work can wait, or I can do it. I’ve had to step up and do a little bit more, but for the most part Becky is taking her new responsibilities in stride. She is an excellent example to me of patience and hard work. I tell Sophie that she has a great mom.

Becky and I have started to think about where we want to end up for our 3rd year of med school. Most med schools are associated with big hospitals and so the 3rd year students just rotate in the hospital. But our school doesn’t have a big hospital next door so they farm us out to different hospitals in the state. We have our choice of about 25 different locations, all in WV, or very close to WV. A few weekends ago we traveled 5 hours North to Wheeling WV, then a little farther North to Weirton WV. Jason, those names might sound familiar to you. Weirton is only about 30 min. away from Pittsburg. Both Wheeling and Weirton are small towns. Wheeling is a big port on the Ohio river and from what I’m told, while the Church was headquartered in Kirtland OH, many of the Saints went down to Wheeling because of the port. I was surprised to learn that the reorganized church is very big in that area, and our church is very small. Wheeling only has one little branch, and it’s the only branch for several miles in any direction. I guess when Brigham took the Saints out West all their property and goods were given to the Saints who stayed behind. So the RLDS church got kind of a boost when we left. Jason, are you familiar with any of this? Did you run into any of this history while you were on your mission? This coming weekend we are traveling East to a little town called Petersburg WV. It is a small town, but it has a ward. If we end up there we will only be a couple of hours from D.C.

We celebrated Sophie’s first Halloween this year. We dressed up as a pumpkin patch. I’ll attach a photo for Rob to post. You can’t see Sophie’s costume very well, but Becky made her a cute little hat to match ours.

We hope all is going well for you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Stewart, Becky, and Sophie.

2010 September: North

Sorry I’m late this month, we too have had some big changes this month. Technically, the story I’ll tell you about occurred in October, not September, but it’s a big story for us. On Friday Oct. 1st at 5:30 in the morning Becky and I drove to the hospital. Becky had a c-section scheduled for that morning. We were scared and tense as we waited in the waiting room, and then again up in the OB wing. It was strange to think that we were about to add another member of our family. They allowed me into the operating room to witness the spinal tap and the c-section with the question “you’re not going to pass out are you?” I assured them that I was fine, so they allowed me in. It was difficult to watch Becky being prepared for surgery, shaking, and obviously nervous, and yet not be able to comfort her. They allowed me to hold her hand as they extracted Sophie. At 8:14 am Sophie Lucille North was born; she weighed 6lbs, 7 ounces and was 18 inches long. She had a full head of dark hair, which has since gone blond. After the surgery I followed the nurses and Sophie upstairs while Becky stayed down in the OR for her post-operative care. Up in the nursery everything was quiet and calm, like the stillness after a storm. I got my first chance to spend time with Sophie; I feel like we bonded for the first time there. She is so small, so delicate, and so perfect. I am a lucky father.



We spent the next couple of days in the hospital while mom and baby convalesced; the nursing staff was wonderful and supportive. They took the time to make sure that mom and baby had the skills they need for the first few months of life (breastfeeding). On Sunday afternoon we all came home. Our life has been different since then, as you all know. The first time that Sophie woke up crying during the night I thought “who’s crying in my house?” Since then I’ve become a pro at changing diapers. I’ve learned that you always need to keep a diaper under baby, because things can come at any time without warning.



This is the big news for our family. Other than this, life is proceeding normally. I’m still in school, still trying to cram as much knowledge into my little head as possible. Becky has quit her work to stay home. I know she misses the people she worked with, they treated her very well. We hope that all is going well for you too.


Stewart, Becky, and Sophie

2010 September: Bates

I've been so busy with Fashion Genome that I haven't had time to write a real newsletter all summer. So, I am taking a break to write more.
Unfortunately since all I have done was work, I will have to reach into the category of planning and musings to fill up a big-boy-sized newsletter.

The weather here has been amazing. I don't mind the heat, but it is nice to have it just be pleasant outside. It's the sort of weather where you feel like napping in the sun while cuddling your wife. I haven't been outside much, but the since I commute a decent amount and my car has no air conditioning, I get a pretty good feel for the weather.

Orianna is talkative as ever. She is very social, and loves to tell people stories, and tell them "good job" if they do anything that she deems worthy of praise (usually things that are too hard for her to do, or too tall for her to reach). She also is very happy about being "so tall." So, if I end up with a 6'3" teenager, I will have to show her footage of her dancing about praising her height so she can't complain when she has to slouch to dance with a guy.

She has also discovered the inglorious "why?" While I don't mind explaining things to kids (because I loved that my parents would, instead of just saying "because")... but she abuses it by not having a granularity where stopping asking why is ok. But, I just use it as a chance to say lots of weird words like "paramecium", or "optic nerves", or "psychological imperative". In the words of Tamara, "Our poor children."
Her other big accomplishment is her iPhone Prowess. At first I just assumed she was a genius 2 year old leaps and bounds ahead of the rest in mental development... but after seeing many kids her age with the iPhone, I am convinced that 1) adults constantly underestimate kids 2) touch computing is a vast barely-tapped resource for early child education. Orianna can already read many words, and knows her ABC and can identify both uppercase and lowercase letters & numbers, and can count to 20. While I would love to claim credit (either for nature or nurture), I am afraid that television and the iPhone have been her most powerful instructors. So, at some point I will likely start programming educational tools for touch computing, as I am convinced that it is a great way to educate kiddos.

Tamara has been great (as always) helping me work. She has pulled far more than her share of parenting, housework, and even yard work. I would feel far worse about it, if I weren't on the clock right around 100 hours a week plus commute time.
Tamara has spent a lot of time during the day with her sisters who each have similarly aged children. It has been fun to parent in a social group. Often on Sunday's we will eat dinner at Tamara's mothers house, and everyone just kind of collectively parents everyone under the age of 5. It's amazing how relaxing it is to parent other people's kids than your own. I think Mark Twain said it best, "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do."

FashionGenome has progressed well. We are on the cusp of launching the site live and having the ability to actually make money, and have several Venture Capitalists who have all promised to invest if we can show any level of traction (sales) (basically to prove that we are done-enough with the site for it to be viable).
Though that makes it sound like my workload will decrease, it is quite the opposite. We are launching a sister site that is a subset of FashionGenome and is "Powered by FashionGenome". So all the FashionGenome work is still left for me to do, plus maintaining a sister site, plus providing an API for other sites to tap into in case they just want to subscribe to our service so that fashion genome can "power their site" too.

Lastly, I am in the process of converting the 900 square foot workshop behind my house into a viable office for FashionGenome. It is a little tricky because 1) I know jack about construction, and 2) the laws are a little fuzzy when it gets to home businesses that you don't actually "own". But, I think I have all the legal stuff figured out, especially since the government sites all say "As long as you aren't polluting and no neighbors complain, we are willing to turn a blind eye regardless of whether or not you are bending the rules." Lucky for me, I don't even have neighbors. But, I think I am complying to all the rules anyway, so it should be fine.

Well, I hope everything is going well for you blokes and your families. I apologize for any incoherency in my email, as I often type at random now due to sleep deprivation ;)
But, we are happy, well, and hoping to finally dig ourselves out of our money-pit home. Hopefully FashionGenome will provide that means.
-Rob

2010 September: Robertsons

Hello everyone,
Wow. September. Enough Said. We have been consumed by our very busy lives here in Idaho Falls and surrounding environs. I, Derik, officially started teaching at BYU-I at the beginning of the month. After one month, I have set several students on edge, and more than one has wondered what in the world they were thinking by taking my class. But all in all, I have a good bunch of kids, and we (and by that I mean myself and possibly my TA) are having a grand old time. I have unofficially been asked to teach another “class” this semester. So once a week I team teach a class on Existentialism, Sin, and Free Will with another professor on campus. I am trying to carve out a nice little home for myself in the department, so if there is any time in the future when the opportunity arises that I can actually apply for a permanent position, I will have a big advantage.
My schooling in Pocatello is going smoothly as well. I am taking two classes, and they are keeping me busy. I commute down to Pocatello twice a week for these classes. Neither one is too labor intensive. I am taking an Intro to Grad studies which is a cake walk since I have already taken a class very similar in Minnesota, but I couldn’t get the credits to transfer, so I just sit and debate. Great fun. I am also taking a TESOL Methods course which is completely new to me. Not the most exciting thing for me, but it will be good for me and for my resume later. The biggest kick I have had in the classes has been the fact that two of my old professors from BYU-I are in one of my classes. One of the professors was my advisor as an undergrad and I was a TA for the other one for about a year. It is a bit surreal to have a class with them – let alone to debate them on a point of theory.
Kyla and Daria have started in at a Co-op preschool done by several women in the ward. Each week they go to a different house to have school. They have really enjoyed “play-school” and can’t wait to go whenever they can (and even when they can’t). They are all too happy to tell anyone who will listen all about their tiger hunts, rainbows, telescopes, and songs. They are also enamored with their bedroom in their new house. Everyone who comes over has to see their bedroom – it isn’t an option. They will drag anyone down the stairs by force if necessary. Just a heads-up warning if anyone visits.
Morgan is enjoying some of the moments that she is getting alone and to herself every now and then when Jamis is napping and the girls are at pre-school. It is leaving her with a few moments every now and then to do the things that she wants to do around the house. She is also enjoying the neighborhood. She has a few good friends just a couple houses down and can go and visit during the days.
Jamis had his 1 year birthday this month. He is quite the happy kid; although, he is developing a large independent streak. He loves to play with his sisters, and they, for the time being, really enjoy playing with him.
We are settling into our ward. Both of us have now received callings. Morgan has been called into the primary board (we have yet to find out what that exactly means) and I have been called as 2nd counselor in the Elder’s quorum presidency. We’ll see how that goes.
Anyway, I think that does it for us here. We are looking forward to October with fear and trembling (if September was bad – October looks to be a whole lot worse). But we will report on our successes and shortcomings…or just our successes come the end of the month. Until then, we wish you all the best and God’s many blessings on you.
The Robertsons

2010 August: North

August was a good month for us. School started for me. So far 2nd year is better than first year, but it's still a lot of time spent in front of text books and the computer. I am really looking forward to 3rd year when I get to go out and work with real people. We've had a couple of experiences already this year to work in a doctor's office, and it is refreshing to remember why I chose this profession in the first place.
We now have everything we need for Sophie to be born. We purchased some things, but have been very blessed to receive much of what we need as gifts from friends. We were not expecting to receive so many gifts and it has really touched our hearts. It is just another testimony to us that if we will do our best to keep God's commandments He will provide for us in miraculous ways, and He often does it through other people. So now we have all the stuff and we're just waiting for Sophie to finish developing her lungs and then she will come and join us. It is an exciting time for us as you all know. Sorry this is so short this month. I just took a quick study break, I have a test on Monday. We hope that life is good for you all.
Stewart and Becky

2010 July: Hope

Well were to begin, well Rob had his birthday and we moved to american fork, lets just say moving is not the funninst thing in the world, lets see what else happened..oh yea I had my birthday it was just a small one which was nice just a few family and friends was there. then the next week we went up to Idaho for a family reunion, it was so fun everyone from my family was there well all but a brother but it was still fun, we went to Ross park in Pocatello which is a swim park and they boys had a grand time, then that saturday we say the Blue Angles which if anyone how has not seen them and have a chance I would very highly recomend it, it was so cool, I have some pics on my facebook page. and other than that it has just been work and family, Michelle is still working at her job online and Scott and Kyle are just being crazy kids like normal, so the summer is going to fast so if anyone has anything that can slow time when at home and speed it up at work if I just use it for a bit that would be great just let me know :)

Hope you all are having a great summer

The Hopes

2010 July: Bates

Solid work for me this month. FashionGenome is starting to take off. Our investor day is Sept 10th, so that's when we will find out if all this work leads to any $$$. I am now CTO of FashionGenome... which is basically just a fancy title for "be an entire development team by myself." Luckily my Hardare/IT team (my friend Shaun) is amazing, as is our Graphics Department (a guy named Dustin). Even if I don't get paid though, it will have been well worth it as a learning experience, and also just for the satisfaction of actually creating something again.

Well, I touched on this last time (because we were late with newsletters), but Orianna turned 2, the 4th was busy as ever, Fintan was born, and I turned 27. July's are gonna be busy months in my forseeable future :)

Tamara went to Yellowstone with her extended family for a family reunion. She took both kids on a huge road trip by herself, and managed not to go crazy.

2010 July: North

July started out with us in Rexburg ID. It was so nice to be back with family and friends. We were in Rexburg for the 4th of July parade. I was surprised to see that I recognized the winner of the Junior Miss pageant, but I couldn’t put my finger on who it was. My mom must have seen the perplexed look on my face because she said “that’s Derik’s younger sister up there.” Then I remembered; congratulations to Lindsay, she looked very nice up there in the parade. We watched Rexburg’s fireworks that night from my parents’ front yard. We had been invited to go to IF with Camille and Juan, but I remember how long it took us to get home 6 years ago when I went after my mission and so we decided to just chill at home.

Early that next week we drove back to Becky’s family on the West end of the State. One morning Becky’s dad and I got up early and went on a four-wheeler ride out in the desert South of the farm. We went way out to some of the canyons and creeks out there. I got to see some neat country. Then as we were climbing a steep hill to get a better view of one of the canyons I fell back off my four-wheeler and it came tumbling down the hill behind me. Luckily I was able to step out of the way or my life could have been very different from then on. I had a sore hip and shoulder from where I landed, and the four-wheeler was a little beat up, but that’s pretty good for a four-wheeling accident. It’s not uncommon for someone to go to the hospital after rolling a four-wheeler. I felt very blessed that day as we were riding home.

On July 13th we got on a plane in Boise ID and flew home to WV; it was a sad day for us. Becky went back to work immediately after we returned; the employee that was hired to replace her wasn’t doing her job very well, so they had to let her go. I spent my last couple of weeks before school started reading (I read 3 Harry Potter books this summer, all I have left is number 7), hiking, relaxing, and sadly, studying. School got started on the 3rd of August. I’ll have more on that for next month.



Stewart and Becky

2010 July: Robertson

Greetings everyone,

So, as I think back over what has happened over the month of July, the biggest word that comes to mind is waiting. We have been waiting for our house to close, we have been waiting for school to start, we have been waiting for the weekends to come. Waiting, waiting, waiting. During the month, I started to get things ready for my time teaching at BYU-I with a few preliminary meetings and logistical things (get an office key, mailbox, etc). I am contracted to start work on Aug 16th, but before that time I am supposed to do some on-line orientation – 15 hours worth. I have some mixed feelings about the whole orientation content. Needless to say, I will keep my mouth shut about the things I raise an eyebrow over. It isn’t good to question a new employer let alone one that is immediately run by a general authority.

Anyway, on the house front – we have been getting more and more jaded with the entire process at the same time loving our realtor more and more. Things were going smoothly enough until the bank got involved. They did their appraisal and then, inexplicably, they ordered a second appraisal. This is almost unheard of, and we have no idea why they requested a second appraisal. So that pushed things out even more. And then the second appraisal came in and said that the exterior of the house needed to be repainted. The seller (after fixing all of the things that we requested be fixed after our home inspection) was going to walk away after hearing that the bank wanted him to repaint the house since it was going to cost him about $600 and he was only obligated to fix things up to $300 (which he had already used fixing the previous things). But our superhero realtor somehow talked the seller into sticking with it and painting the house. I’m not sure how he was able to do it, but we are grateful that he did since we really don’t want to start this process over again. Hopefully the bank doesn’t surprise us with anything else and we can close this week. Fingers crossed.

We have spent a lot f time this month (almost every weekend) down in Logan with Ann and Miriam and their families. It has been really nice to spend time with them before they had to move to their new destinations. But it was really nice catching up and getting to know my brothers-in-law a bit better. We were able to go to Bear Lake and many other places around Cache valley.

Morgan also celebrated her birthday this month. She bemoaned her age a bit, so I will not publish that at this time. She had a nice birthday (so she tells me), and she had a great dinner and received a gift card for a nice, long professional message. Other than that, we are just trying to get ready for school in August. We hope that all of you are doing well.

With love and regards,

The Robertsons

2010 June: Hope (as imagined by Rob)

So I (Rob) was a slacker and didn't alert everyone that newsletter time was coming... I think it had something to do with Orianna, Fintan, & my BDay plus the 4th of July. Curse festivities! j/k.

But, I did see Jason a fair bit, and can tell you the following about his month. I will write as though I were Jason.
_____________________________________

So, this month I decided to donate my body to science. There is a new robotic liver that they can implant in living people as a test to see if it could replace a real liver. My former liver is now pickled in a vat above my mantle...

Oh wait, that was my dream... oh yes...
This month I got a job at Stone Haven Dental on the border of Lehi/AmericanFork.

We found a nice apartment in American Fork that is far enough away from Rob's house that he doesn't constantly pester me for dental favors.

I dunno what he is doing with all the spare canines I've collected for him, but I suspect some experimentation with vampires... BAH, dreams again, sorry...

Anywho, this apartment is identical to the one I had in Orem 2 apartments ago. It's kinds weird, but nice to already know where all my stuff can fit.

It's also nice to live close enough that I can TP Rob's house for half the gas money... though the price of TP is outrageous!

I also told Rob some other cool stuff about my job, but apparently his memory is too poor to remember them all. Something about this dental clinic is one of 3 in Utah that has some fancy equipment that can do... something... that's cool.
-The Hopes (as imagined by Rob)

2010 June: Bates (and a little July)

Wow, very busy month.

Ok, so I have been hectically working at my day job and a side project called FashionGenome. I have been working 80 - 100 hour weeks and finally don't feel like a lazy slob when I read everyone else's newsletters ;) It should go live in July, so we will see if it goes anywhere or not.

Other than that baby-preparations were the only other big thing. Tamara was due on June 28th (2 years and 1 day after her due date with Orianna), but didn't have the baby till July 5th. Fintan Thomas was born at 6:05 am after a grueling 30 minutes of labor in the hospital ;) I am in awe of Tamara's in-tune-ness with her own body. She doesn't particularly like hospitals, so she contracts at home until she is sure the baby is coming. Orianna took 4 hours, and was just over 8 lbs, so Tamara had to shatter both records with a 10 pound boy in just under 30 min.


Fintan seems to be doing great. Tamara is also doing amazingly well. In fact, she felt so goo that we left the hospital the same evening (though the staff was not happy about that). But, since she got to sleep in her own bed and didn't have nurses bugging her every half hour she was very rested the next day. A visitor told us, "You guys are way too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to have just had a newborn!" So, we really are doing just fine.

My mom & little sister, Erica, came to stay with us for a week and help out... so, we decided to infect them all with a horrible stomach flu. It was great fun, and I am sure they are reticent to leave tomorrow. Luckily we all recovered fairly quickly, and Tamara and Fintan managed to forgo the plague as per their newbie-antibodies (lucky babies and mothers!) Haha, seriously though, I got it sooner than anyone and I think it is because I have a weakened immune system because I have been working so much... Or maybe it was because Orianna chose me by cuddling with me, turning her head toward me, and unloading about a quarts worth of digestive tract onto my chest. The daddy-daughter bond is a strong one, and it just isn't right unless you are sick together ;)

Hope you are all well. Cheers,
The Bates Fam

2010 June: North

I spent the first few week of June hiking, packing, relaxing, etc. I decided to take advantage of my vacation time and get out to see some of the beauty of West Virginia. I went on a couple of day hikes and really enjoyed myself. Now that I’m the scout leader I will be taking the boys out for some hikes and I wanted to scout out some good areas. I think I found a few that will work really well.

On June 9th we flew across the country to Boise. We weren’t sure how Becky would handle the flying, but she did just fine (and as far as we can tell the baby did just fine too). Becky’s parents picked us up and we spent a week with them on the farm. It was good to see them again, it seems like it has been so long. We had a family reunion in Swan Valley at the foot of the Tetons in a beautiful valley. 2 of her uncles asked me to work on their backs (Rob I think you warned me about this several years ago); I was able to help one, but I had to tell the other to wait a year or two until I learn a little more.

Then we came to Rexburg. I’m sorry that I didn’t get the word out that we are here, because I have heard that at least one of you (Derik) is in town and we probably could have met up. Unfortunately we are leaving town tomorrow morning for Bruneau. And by the way Derik, I was watching the 4th of July parade and saw the Jr. Miss float and thought “that girl looks very familiar, where do I know her from…” Then my mom told me it was your sister. I told my family that I used to pick on her when she was little. Tell her congratulations for me, I’m happy for her.

Here in Rexburg we spent time playing, talking, debating (our family’s new favorite pastime), swimming, eating, walking, etc. It has been a wonderful time. Being here has given me some perspective on just how much I have grown in the last few years. Life changes us, it’s up to us if that change is positive and uplifting, or degrading. It has also been bittersweet for me to realize that the Rexburg of my youth exists only in my memory and the memories of those who lived it with me. Rexburg has changed and there’s no going back. Becky and I took a stroll through the flower garden up at BYU-I today, and I told her that, though they are beautiful, I almost wish I hadn’t come back. I love the gardens of my memory and seeing the new ones, crammed full of ponds, and pathways and buildings, reminds me that the real flower gardens, the ones I remember, will never exist again. Okay I’m done with my sentimentality, it’s just that there are no other people who can sympathize with me like you guys can.

Tomorrow we drive back to Bruneau to spend another week with Becky’s family, then we fly back to WV on July 13th. We hope that the Holiday has been good to you all. Rob, we hope you have a healthy little addition to your family now.

Stewart and Becky

2010 June: Robertson

Hello Everyone,

Well, June was a very hectic month. We made some very large purchases in the month or at least initiated some large purchases. We realized since I will be doing a lot of commuting over the next several years with school and work that it was time to get a second car. Since prices and selection of vehicles are much better in and around Chicago and the twin cities area, we decided that it would be best to get a car and drive it out to Idaho instead of trying to get it after we moved. So we ended up getting a ’07 Toyota Corolla for a little under 8,000. We spent the first part of the month packing, sorting, and cleaning out our apartment.

We spent as much time as we could with Morgan’s family so they could get as much time with the kids as they could before we had to move. We ended up leaving Kyla and Daria with Morgan’s parents while we loaded truck since we knew that there would be a melt downs if the girls saw someone trying to carry away their beds, couch, etc. The day of packing the truck finally came. Several things happened. First in the morning we received a call from the place where we were renting our truck telling us that the truck that they had for us was having engine trouble and they needed to get us another truck. However, the closest truck was about 40 min away and the place couldn’t go and get it. So we ended up driving to a different town and picking up the truck and driving it to Winona for the company. At least they gave us a perk for the slight hassle and upgraded our car carrier with no extra charge.

I had one of my scouts come over to finish up a merit badge that he was working on so I could sign it off for him (cutting it close). As we were loading the truck, he was giving his report and what he learned by doing the requirements of the merit badges. For one of his requirements, he went to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona where he saw an exhibit on the history of fishing lures and an exhibit of paintings done by some famous impressionist painters like Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh as well as several of the Hudson River School artists like JM Hart, Colman, and Whittredge. In his 14 year old mind the paintings only deserved a cursory glance; the fishing lures were the main attraction.

We had a good chunk of the branch show up and help us load and clean our place. We were able to get most everything done during the first day when we had scheduled two days to get everything done. We were able to finish everything quickly the next morning, return our keys, and drive to Rochester to stay the night with Morgan’s family. We left to come to Idaho early the next morning. I drove the moving truck and Morgan drove the Corolla with the kids in tow. Her mom drove out with her to help her. I had a plant for company. After two very long days, we arrived in Idaho. We put all of things in storage and started looking for a place to live. The cheapest place to rent in Rexburg for what we are looking for is asking $725 a month and we couldn’t find a house for under 100k that didn’t have too many problems, so our attention moved to Idaho Falls. We found a nice little house across the street from the IF Temple and put a bid in for 82,500. It was just accepted, so we will start all of the other process to see if we can close it. Other than that, we are enjoying our time staying with my parents and getting ready for school to start in Aug.

I think that is pretty much everything that has happened to us this month ignoring any scandalous details that might have popped up. We look forward to seeing many of you more often now that we are back in the West.

Derik, Morgan and Kiddos

p.s. Congrats to Rob and Tamara on the new arrival.

2010 May: Hope

procrastinated...

2010 May: Bates

Whiteboards are the devil. Those words best sum-up the month of May.

Usually when you get done with a task (like getting home from work, or finishing a chore) you sit down and lazily think about what you should do next. It usually only takes a minute or two, but it is a relaxing minute. I have ruined those minutes.
This month we hung a whiteboard in my office. It was mostly to help me keep my side projects straight (what needs to get done next). But, I added a section on it for household chores, home improvement, etc. This is great because it helped me to be really efficient and get lots of stuff done... but it also makes it so easy to see what I have to do next that I don't get to sit and think about it for 2 zoned-out minutes.

But, the good news is that Tamara's BDay went great, as has all the home improvement we've done this month (including installing an above-ground pool to cover up a patch of weeds I just can't seem to kill). My side projects have been going great (including one I got drafted into recently by some old mission buddies).

This month was our 3 year anniversary. Each anniversary has a corresponding material (silver, gold, platinum, etc...). I decided that this year was Macramé. So, I built a life-sized statue of Tamara out of vermicelli.
Just kidding. We were pretty lazy this year. I don't really have any time off to waste because the baby is due in june, and Tamara has been pretty achey and had lots of early contractions with this pregnancy, so we took it pretty easy.

Well, I think that does it for us. Here's hoping Macramé anniversaries catch on ;)
-the Bateses

2010 May: North

I’m free!! We took our last final on Friday. Now I have 2 months of relative freedom ahead of me. It’s a good thing I’m done too, because my brain was just about full. Going in to the last test I was really burned out, my study time wasn’t as effective as normal, my motivation was gone. I felt like a little kid, looking out my window at the sunshine and the trees and wanting to go out and play. Instead of a mother making me stay in I had a wife…and it’s probably a good thing I did. Medical school is a team effort and I have a great teammate! Rumor has it that about 10% of our class will have to retake the year. I ache for them. This has been a challenge that I would not want to relive. With the help of a wonderful wife and the Lord, I did well in my studies. One of my teachers told me that he hopes that if he ever has to go to the emergency room I am the doctor on call. I think that is just about as high a compliment as a faculty member can give. I have given my best and feel that I’ve succeeded.

Becky and I learned that we are having a little girl. We are very happy. We’ve decided to name her Sophie Lucille North. I keep hearing again and again that she will have me wrapped around her little finger as soon as I hold her in my arms. I also keep hearing that she will be fun to be around until she turns 12 or 13. Well I guess we’ll see, but Becky and I are very happy.

This will be my last monthly email. These emails started when I came home from my mission and moved away to college. A lot of things have changed since then, and I have decided to stop these. If you want to keep in touch with Becky and I, and I hope you do, drop me a line, I still respond to emails and am always happy to hear from you. Also you can check our blog at http://stewandbeck.blogspot.com/. Becky does a great job there, and you get to see pictures of our adventures too. I’m also on Facebook. (Rob, I will still contribute to the Freakish Four blog)


I hope things are going well for you all,

Love,
Stewart

2010 May: Robertson

Greetings everyone,

What a month. I could go on for pages and not give the month justice. So here are some basic highlights. First of all. The month started with my parents flying in from Idaho to attend my graduation. It was great having them here for the few days that they were able to be here. When they left, Kyla and Daria had a minor break-down and keep asking to go and visit them. My graduation was relatively painless (for me). The commencement was a little under two hours and the commencement speaker was odd and didn’t make much sense (since she was director of the NY Times Education department I guess it was fitting concoction of poetic nonsense). Following commencement was a hooding ceremony were each master graduate was able to pick an individual or individuals to bestow the master’s hood on him or her. The master candidate was able to introduce the individual and explain why he/she picked that person(s). It was a very good ceremony. I picked Morgan to hood me, but Kyla and Daria came running up to the front of the room to be a part of it as well. It was cute. The rest of the day was filled with parties and family gatherings.

While my parents were here we took them to the old town cemetery to see the old graves. There is a vet from every war the US fought in from the Revolutionary war to the present in the cemetery. It was neat to see all of the old graves. Nothing like that in Rexburg. While there I think that I picked up a little friend, but didn’t find it until the next day.

On the following Monday, I was getting ready for the day. I noticed a little brown spot on my arm and tried to brush it off, but then it started to wiggle. I looked closer, and it was a firmly embedded tick. After freaking both my wife and my mother out, I was able to get it out with a knife and tweezers. By the following day, I had developed a nice rash around the bite area and by Wednesday morning, it hurt to open my hand closest to the bug bite. I went into the doctor and he diagnosed lyme disease and put me on a regiment of hard hitting antibiotics. Since the disease was caught early, there really isn’t a chance of it coming back, so no worries there.

I then received an email from BYU-Idaho saying that my name has been approved by the Church Board of Education to be hired at the University. So I accepted and the contract was sent (I signed it today – I have rarely felt so good signing my name).

On about day 7 of the 10 day antibiotics, I awoke in the night with horrible pains. It felt like the worst heartburn attack I have every had. I ended up awake for most of the night and sitting on the couch. I looked at the antibiotic I was on, and it said that sort of pain was a possible side effect. So I suffered through it for the next few days until I was done with the antibiotic. I was hoping that the pain would then go away. Nope. If anything, it got worse over the next few days. I tried eating a piece of chocolate and ended up doubled over on the floor gasping. That was when I decided to go in to the doctor. I went in and the conclusion was I was headed toward an ulcer. My body had built up too much acid thanks to the antibiotic while possibly killing some of the good bacteria in my stomach with the result that I was getting acid burns in my stomach and possibly esophagus. I had to do a bunch of blood work to make sure no other organs were damaged (they weren’t). I was put on an extreme antacid that stops my body from producing acid. After a week on that stuff, I am back to normal health – more or less. If only June would be a more restful month – ha!

Morgan has basically been taking care of me for the past month while at the same time, trying to find a car and a place for us to move to in June. She continues to astound. She was scheduled to get her tonsils out at the beginning of the month, but the doctor decided to postpone that indefinitely. They are now on a wait and see course for the next bit, and considering all of the other health problems this month, that was a blessing. Besides my sicknesses, Everyone went through a cold this month and Kyla even developed an Ear infection. So she is on antibiotics now as well – albeit nowhere near as robust as the kind I was on.

Jamis has exploded with energy. In the course of the month he has gone from army scooting to crawling, pulling himself up, furniture surfing, and climbing stairs. We thought he was just an early developer until he grew fangs (I’m not joking, pics will be up on our blog shortly). SO there you have it. It isn’t a case of just a precocious child, we are somehow rearing the undead. I guess we just have to be extra careful around his bite, and boy does he like to bite (and pull hair, but I’m not quite seeing how that fits into this entire vampire phase). We are hoping he gets his middle teeth in soon enough, but in the mean time, we have to take some very good pictures.

I have gone on long enough. So I will bring this to a close. We hope that each of you are doing well. We think about you and pray about you often. God bless you all

Derik, Morgan and Kids Robertson

2010 April: Hope

Well it was a great and a very stressful month. It started off with my mom and dad coming home off their mission; then it got stressful.

I took my National Board test on the 5th: 500 questions and up to 8 hours to take, then a wait for 2 weeks to see if I passed and well...I did pass, one test down and three more to go.

Then I had my graduation on the 26th it seems odd that I am done with my schooling. Then on the 29th I took my written Local Anesthesia and it is 55 questions in 60 min and you can only miss 5 or less to pass and in order to do the clinical local anesthetic test (this is were we have to give 2 injections) well i passed both of those so now just one more test and this one is the most expensive at $1,100 and it is when we have to clean a patient that has to have specific criteria to be excepted and you only have 3 chances to have a pt that qualifies, well my got it in the first try thank goodness because if you her 3 strikes your out (you fail the exam) So I started cleaning and you get 2.5 hours and everything was going great and I got done 30 min early so I got to do some touch-ups which made it nice, so now I get to wait once more for the results. It will about 3 or so weeks. So in the meantime I am looking for jobs, I have applied to jobs in Utah, Idaho, and Colorado.

Everyone else is doing great.
-Jason

2010 April: Bates

Well, I lost 40 lbs (though gained 10 back the next lunch... so I am at my desired weight) and won a TV. I am enjoying the TV a lot, though I rarely watch it. It is great at captivating Orianna's attention (I'm such a great father).

Tamara's brother got married this month, so we were busy helping them get all their dolls-and-dishes in order. They are both really young, so it will be a little rough getting going, but it should be good- as they are both great kids.

We are excited to be in the final stretch of Tamara's pregnancy. June 27th is her due date.

We started spring cleaning pretty early this year. Our garage is cleaned out, our front yard has a make-shift-fence around it (so Orianna can play in the yard), and we are working on figuring out how to tap into our sewer line to add another Bathroom in our house (wish me luck... so that our house doesn't end up covered in poop). We still aren't sure if we want to keep both kids in the same nursery, or sacrifice our guest-room/play-room so that they have their own rooms and don't wake each other up (as we have cinder block walls... so they really muffle sound well).

The most disappointing part of the month was the job offer I got (how is that for ungrateful?). I applied at a job my friend referred me to, and they offered me $6,500 less than I currently make. When I asked them why, they said that my boss thought I sucked as a programmer (they said it more tactfully). I asked my boss about it, and apparently he is a bad reference to give, because he doesn't come across well over the phone. I am still a little miffed at the answers he gave to their questions... but too late to cry over spilled milk now... or is it? I think my new plan will be to write an Emo song about job-depreciation or something, maybe my miffed-ness can turn into a hit single ;)

Well, until next month,
-Rob

2010 April: North

A lot has happened this month. For starters, in case you haven’t heard yet, Becky and are expecting a baby! We just announced it starting a couple of weeks ago; the baby will be due in October. We have been praying for this for a long time. We feel overjoyed that the Lord has heard our prayers and sent us a little baby. It has been exciting to hear its little heart beating and to think that we will soon be joined by a little person. We know it will bring a big change in our lives, and though change is difficult we know it will be worth it. One of the little children in my Sunday school class today asked why it sometimes takes so long for our prayers to be answered; he suggested that maybe it was because God is listening to so many prayer’s at once that He just doesn't have time to answer them all right away. I assured Him that God has the ability to hear and answer all of our prayers at once without any delay. I taught that God waits to answer our prayers because there are valuable lessons to be learned along the way. I used the example of our baby and taught how Becky and I grew and learned a lot while waiting for our baby. I’m glad that He decided that our waiting is over.

Speaking of church, today I was sustained as the Young Men’s leader. So I will no longer be teaching 8-11 yr. old children, I will be teaching 12-18 yr. old boys. I will also meet with them for an activity once during the week. Our ward doesn’t currently do much with the Boy Scouts, but the Bishop wants to start the program up again, and so that will be my main task. Scouts seems like a long time ago for me, but I’m confident that things will come together and we will have a good time. Derik and Andrew I will probably be calling you for advice soon.

Early this month I got a tentative diagnosis of Celiac Sprue, tentative because we don’t have the money for the test that would give a firm diagnosis, but all the symptoms are there. Celiac sprue is when the body is allergic to gluten, a protein found in wheat barley and rye. The main treatment is to stop eating wheat, barley and rye. For almost 3 weeks now I have been following a gluten-free diet; I am feeling much better than I was before. It means that I can’t eat normal pasta, bread, or crackers, and lots of store-bought foods contain wheat. I eat lots of corn, meat, beans, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. It means more work for Becky to find and prepare good meals. I couldn’t have made this change without her. The food I miss the most is her homemade bread. No other recipe equals it. Luckily I can still eat mashed potatoes and ice cream. Without those 2 foods (yes ice cream is a food in my book) I don’t know if I would survive.

Life is challenge and a blessing isn’t it. We hope things are going well for all of you.

Stewart and Becky

2010 April: Robertson

Here is an extremely truncated version of highlights turned into bullet points since I have next to no time this or next week:
First of April, I went to Rexburg to interview for a teaching position at BYU-I - still haven't heard back.
Presented a paper at a graduate conference on campus - was the talk of the town
Finished teaching my College writing class
Everyone at my house currently has a cold
Jamis has three teeth and army crawls everywhere
Morgan is looking for a place for us to live in Idaho
I have 65 pages to write in the next 3 days
I graduate (hopefully) in four days
I have been called as a youth sunday school teacher - but still kept my YM Pres. calling.
My family arrives for graduation in 3 days.
Ann had her baby, so I now have a niece.
Morgan goes in for surgery to have her tonsils removed on the 14th of May.
Have a great May -
Derik in behalf of everyone else at home.

2010 March: Hope

Well it has been a few months since the last time I wrote. Well things are getting a bit crazy now, since the last time I wrote I finished another semester of school and started my last semester.

The boys are doing GREAT they are growing and learning little things every day.

This month I passed my mock boards. Now I just need to pass my real boards, which I take on April 5th and the last weekend of April.

My parents got off their mission in AZ the other day and I was able to clean my dad's teeth when they came a stopped by on their way to Rexburg, the boys were all giddy when they saw them. It was a great day.

Now I am just studying for my 8 hour test on Monday. Other than that we are doing good and we just take it day by day.

The Hopes

2010 March: Bates

March can be summed up by diet and exercise. The weight-loss competition has pretty much enveloped my time for this month. I spend most of my spare time exercising. But the good news is that I am winning by a lot. My team is in the lead, but we have a much narrower margin. There is only 1 week left, and I have lost 36 pounds (in 5.5 weeks). I am at my ideal weight again, but hope to drop another 10 pounds in the final week, and then build back up to my ideal weight with muscle.
So hopefully a week from today I will be $200 & a 32" TV richer (good timing too, as our TV just started shorting out so that you have to smack it to get it to turn back on).

We went swimming a couple times this month. Orianna is getting more used to the water, but still is rather clingy. Occasionally she will kick and paddle her arms a the same time- but most of the time she wants at least 1 appendage firmly grasping an adult. Luckily Lehi city pool is heated, but even still Orianna is so scrawny that she freezes after an hour. But, it's fun to go for a little while.

We got Orianna an early BDay present (curse your splendiferous deals kids.woot.com!). It's a little nylon-wire maze thing. There are 3 tunnels and 3 cubes, and you can connect them however you want. She has had fun crawling through those with her cousins. We connected it to her Christmas gift (her little bounce-house-ball-pit-tent) and now we have a freaking amazing playroom. So, it looks like we're rich, but each of those gifts cost $20, and were her only gifts (from us anyway- all our relatives spoil her though), so it is in moderation ;) Though it does make me wish I could fit inside all these toys!

We got a silly game for our Wii called "Samba de Amigo." It's kind of like Rock band for Maracas. So all you do is shake the maracas in different directions according to the beat, and occasionally strike a pose. It is fun because it is so silly and makes everyone spaz out. Hopefully we will get some more people to come play it so we can laugh at them... I mean with them.

Lastly, my fried Shaun got me an interview with a company in Lehi who apparently pays much better than my current company. My interview is on Tuesday, so there is a chance I will be changing jobs soon. I'm not sure, but there is a chance. Their office is 3 miles from my house, and a bike path connects my house directly to their office. So, I could bike to work without having to worry about getting run over- which would be awesome.

Well, That's it for us this month. Cheers,
The Bates Family

2010 March: North

The highlight of March was spring break. There were times when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but I tried to take one day at a time, and eventually, it came. Becky had to work for the first few days of the break. I stayed at home, cleaned, read from a couple of books, and watched TV shows on Hulu. It was wonderful to decompress from the stress. On Thursday morning Becky and I loaded the car and headed to Clarksville TN. Becky has a cousin in the military who lives there with his family. The drive over was beautiful. We live in a green, lovely part of the country. I really enjoy the open road. Becky and I have been reading a historical fiction book set in the Revolutionary War, and I really enjoyed listening to her read as we drove through Kentucky’s green mountains and fields. We spent Thursday evening and Friday with her cousin. On Friday we toured some of Nashville with his wife and children (he had to work). We saw the zoo, the Parthenon, and the Grand Ole Opry (actually a big mall that sits right next to the Grand Ole Opry). Some of you are saying “Stewart, the Parthenon is in Greece, not Nashville, you must have plugged in the wrong coordinates to your GPS and accidentally ended up in Greece.” Well it’s true that I have been known to get lost, but I’ve never ended up on the wrong continent before. The City of Nashville commissioned an exact, full-scale replica of the Parthenon be built for its Centennial Celebration. Why the Parthenon? I’m not sure, but it is pretty cool to see. It gave me a sense of appreciation both for the Greeks who built the original for worship, and the architects who built this replica. At the zoo we got to listen to lots of jokes from Becky comparing me and my kin to the animals on exhibit. She thought she was so funny that she posted one on our blog (I love you Becky). There was a lot to see at the mall and the Grand Ole Opry, but the kids were getting tired by that time and so we headed back. We're sorry that we didn't get to see you Hermana Hegerhorst. On Saturday morning Becky and I woke up very early to go to the temple just South of Nashville. I felt refreshed and calm in the temple, what a wonderful place to worship! After the temple we headed for home. We drove all day Saturday and got home late that night. It was a lot of driving for not a lot of site seeing, but it felt good to get out of Lewisburg and leave our daily routine behind. I’m grateful to have my best friend by my side for this adventure of life.

This weekend is General Conference. We are sitting at home enjoying the spiritual uplift that we feel. Yesterday was my birthday. Becky worked hard to make it a good day for me; unfortunately I am fighting a cold right now, so I haven’t been much fun to be around. We hope things are going well for you all.

Love,

Stewart and Becky

2010 March: Robertson

Greetings everyone,

March has been a busy but good month for all of us. We have spent most of the month trying to figure out what the future will hold for us. We have started to hear back from the Ph.D. programs that we applied to. We were rejected from two, accepted to one, and waitlisted for our fourth. So, Idaho State admitted us into their program – we have hesitantly accepted. We are still waiting to hear back for a final word from our waitlisted school Washington State. So, unless we have a good offer from Washington, we will be headed to Pocatello for the next few years to finish this part of schooling. The only problem is that ISU is not able at this time to offer much financial support, so we have been looking at possible jobs in the area to help pay for the first year or so of school.

I was contacted by BYU-Idaho about two weeks ago telling me that they are going to offer a couple one year appointments for the English department, and they wanted to know if I was interested in applying. I said yes, and long story short – I am flying out to Idaho on Tuesday to interview for the position – on the University’s bill of course. I hope that I will be able to do well in the interviews and get the job. It would be a blessing, for sure. They have me interviewing with several people in the department along with an associate vice president, the dean, and a member of the seventy. I will then get to give a teaching demonstration. It will be a stressful and busy three days.

The other big event in March was a conference I attended in Fargo, ND. This year Morgan was able to go with me. We dropped the kids off at Morgan’s parents’ place and we traveled to the near-flooded city. The conference was okay. I presented a paper, but there was hardly anyone in the session – there was hardly anyone at the conference for that matter. But Morgan and I had a good time in spite of everything else. We were able to go out to a great Italian place in downtown Fargo and enjoy each other’s company.

In health news, March brought on an onslaught of various illness to our house. Almost everyone had a cold at some time or another. Morgan also came down with pink eye and Kyla got an ear infection. The drugs have been flowing freely at our place to say the least. I think that does it for us here in Winona. I guess I could say that we also just lived through the warmest March in Minnesota for over 100 years – not a lick of snow and temps up into the 80s some days. We’ll see if April follows suit.

We love you all.

The Robertsons

2010 Feb: Bates

February was much like the previous months. Lots of work, lots of side projects, and lots of running around.

We did discover a restaurant for Valentines day that was very good (but also very expensive). Tamara ate fish, and actually liked it- which is a huge landmark. She has always hated fish, so it was pretty cool.

The weather here is warming up again so we are able to go on more picnics and walks, which is fun.

I entered a weight-loss competition at work, and was shocked that I was able to lose 10 pounds in the first week. It would be fun to win and get a HD TV and money... but I don't have as much potential to lose as some of my co-workers... but we'll hope that will-power wins over potential ;)

Unfortunately nothing really fun happened this month. We'll see if we can remedy that for next month.

-the Bateses

2010 Feb: North

It has been a crazy month. I had a test 3 weeks ago and we still don’t have our scores back yet. We are taking the final test for this class in 1 week, and we don’t know what our grades are. It’s a little scary to go into the final like that. I guess it helps us each do our best instead of brushing it off if we know we did well on the midterm. Let me tell you about one little stressor in my life over this last month. In my course of study we are put into small groups for 10 weeks at a time. In those small groups we choose what we want to study, we compare notes, we teach each other, etc. We work very closely with our group, so it’s important for the group to get along. Well my current group has not gotten along very well. We have struggled the whole time in our meetings. There is a lot of interrupting, discord, and chaos. There have been accusations made about people playing favorites, and ignoring other’s opinion. It all came to a head on Friday. We had our most tense discussion. Some cutting personal attacks were made; luckily I was able to avoid that. It even got so bad that a faculty member was called to come in and settle the matter. He used some strong words to tell some of the group members to grow up. He reminded us that we are in medical school, not junior high anymore, and that we need to be willing to work, or we should find a new school. It was very tense for awhile. Fortunately we won’t be meeting again in our current groups; we get new ones next week. Not every day is that bad, in fact we’ve had some very productive days, and I will have some good memories of this group. Although painful, this is an important experience because we will spend the rest of our lives working with disagreeable people. Doctors are notorious for being arrogant, and we will have to work with them every day. It is important to learn to disagree but not be disagreeable.

Last night was our school talent show. Because I am a member of the club that sponsored it I was involved. My main duties were with the fundraising aspect. We held a silent auction and a raffle. I believe we raised well over $1000 last night. We are donating it to local charities and performing arts companies. The talent show was held in a building that was originally built by Andrew Carnegie, so it is technically a “Carnegie Hall,” and my club opened the show with a dance number, so I can now truthfully say that I have performed at Carnegie Hall! My debut was spectacular. The crowd cheered and cheered, well, at least my wife cheered. The closing number was very unusual. It was a faculty “band” made up of 2 accordions, a banjo, a tuba, a saxophone, and a French horn. They played the chicken dance song. I never thought I would see the Assistant Dean wearing a chicken hat and playing the accordion. It was a fun night, and a great learning experience. I think Becky will be posting a video of my brief dance solo on our blog soon, so swing by and check it out.

All things considered we are doing well. Becky is learning lots at her work. She has already moved up the totem pole and is training another worker on how the office works. In church she has been released from the nursery and called to be the Relief Society secretary. She didn’t think she would miss the nursery, but she does. I think she enjoys mingling with the other women her age and getting more spiritual nourishment than the little children can provide. We feel blessed and happy and we hope the same for you.

2010 Feb: Robertson

I'm feeling productive...

Well we slacked off a bit in writing last month, so we will do better in making up for it this month. School started with a bang for me in January. I hit the ground running and haven’t stopped since. All of January, I was gearing up to take my comprehensive exam. This single test determined whether or not I could graduate with my Master’s. If I failed, it would have almost been like I just wasted the last two years of my life – probably not that dramatic, but you get the idea. I was constantly reading some book or article trying to get all the information I could into my head and keep it there. I as giving presentations to others taking the exam in the hopes that I would remember even more. Morgan would quiz me on dates and events that surrounded the authors that I had to study. I had 17 different works that I had to know inside and out and be ready to write an essay explicating any of them.

The day of the exam came, and I went to the library. For my first question, I had to explicate the Declaration of Independence. I ended up writing a 9 page essay in three hours explicating the philosophical ideas and rhetorical devices used in the first two paragraphs of the document. There was then a hour break for lunch and then back to the library for part two. The second question I ended up using a Marxist reading of literary history to show how Frankenstein was able to maintain a continuity with the Gothic tradition (ideology) while at the same time begin a discontinuity (antithesis) which resulted in the Science Fiction genre. Again I had three hours and wrote another 9 page essay. All in all, 18 pages written without any books or notes in six hours is respectable, I think. After that I started to sweat bullets because I started to second guess myself almost constantly. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long to hear back from the grading committee. I ended up receiving a “high pass” on my Frankenstein essay and passing my other essay with flying colors. I was the only one out of the graduates this year to receive a high passing score. Now hopefully a Ph.D. program will take me.

The rest of February has been spent trying to get caught up with all of the work that I didn’t do in January. I have been getting caught up in all of my classes that I am taking and the one that I am teaching. I feel sort of bad for the class I am teaching since I wasn’t able to focus on them as much during the first month of class, but I hear what some other graduate students have been doing and don’t feel quite so bad…

Other than that, we have been busy fighting off sickness here. The cold has laid everyone here low. It hit the girls twice. The first round was bad enough that we ended up buying a nebulizer to give them breathing treatments. We have only had it for a month, but it has since become an entrenched member of the family. Kyla and Daria also started a pre-preschool class that they get to go to once a week where they play games and make crafts. They love their class, and Morgan loves it too since she can go and socialize with adults while the girls are in class. It becomes a highlight of the week for everyone except me since I don’t get to go. The girls also celebrated their third birthday in January. They were really excited to learn that this time the birthday cake was for them. They have been asking for birthday cake on and off since then. They point out the birthday cakes at the grocery store and tell us that we need to get them. They are becoming quite the independent little thinkers, and the things they say, most of the time, are really cute. The other day I told Kyla that I would get her a treat if she cleaned up the living room. She started running around the room yelling, “Treats! I love treats! I’m so excited!”

Morgan has been busy trying to keep everyone healthy and keep me in line (not too easy). Other than that, she has had even more frustrations with her calling as the branch presidency keeps taking away the people that she calls. So she has lost a nursery leader and a cub scout den leader. The problem is with our size of branch, there is no one left to call. Hopefully things can be figured out soon. On the plus side, she and her 1st counselor were able to go and have a girls night out and go to the movies. She really enjoyed that. Morgan has also been busy researching possible places for us to live after we leave Winona depending on where we get accepted. She is ready to leave this town and move on to the next chapter of our life. Can’t say that I blame her. I should be getting back any responses to Ph.D. programs here in March, so we will know soon if we will be allowed to advance to that chapter or not. Oh, the wait is horrible. Anyway, I think that brings everyone up to speed on how we are doing. We wish everyone the best and keep you in our prayers daily.

God Bless,

The Robertsons

2010 January: Bates

Well, I've been a busy bee.

I am working on several side-project websites (some of my own, and some as favors to other people). So that has encompassed most of my free time.

We've also been passing a cold back and forth between us, so we've been pretty sick and tired recently. Orianna is starting to feel better though, so hopefully we will get more sleep because she wont be up as much at night.

In the entertainment realm, I bought Lego-Star-Wars for the Wii, so I've played that most everytime Orianna has kept me up at night. It is entertaining to play, and cutsie enough that it distracts Orianna from feeling sick.

I also ventured a Wal-Mart visit at 2AM to get some more orange juice for Orianna, and I discovered an amazing fact: Walmart has AMAZING deals... at 2AM. We usually shop about 6PM on a weekday or 10AM on a Saturday. I always see these empty racks with $1 - $7 signs... but nothing except XXXXL clothing is ever on them. Well, at 2AM these racks are populated with cheap clothing and doodads. I ended up buying Orianna several $1 shirts, several $2-$3 dresses, and myself several $2-$5 shirts. So, the next time I want to go clothes shopping, it will be at 2AM.

Tamara had her first doctor's visit, and the ultrasound is scheduled for next week, but we aren't finding out the gender (at least not from the technician, but I'll review the DVD to see if I can figure it out on my own).

Cheers,
-Rob, Tamara, Orianna, *expected-one*

2010 January: North

Sorry I’m late this month. Things have really been piling up. I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. This has been an unusual winter for Southern West Virginia. My neighbor said today that in a normal winter the occasional 3-inch snow fall is big for them. This year we have had nothing but snow and cloud cover. Church has been cancelled 3 times due to the weather, and tomorrow we are only having sacrament meeting. The school kids in the area are probably going to have to make up snow days during the summer because they’ve missed so many. This is a very rural area and it takes a long time to get all the little windy roads cleared off. Friday afternoon I braved the storm and went and bought snow chains so that if there ever was an emergency we could get around. We put them on for a test drive and I felt like I was in a tank, I plowed through snow piles, and crawled up the steep icy hill in front of our house. When you drive on asphalt you still feel like you’re in a tank because the car bounces around a lot. Becky made me come home before I tried anything too crazy…it’s probably a good thing.

I’m keeping up in school. It is sometimes long and painful. I’ve been sitting at this computer all day doing homework and taxes (it’s now 7pm and my brain is fried). We just finished one of our biggest classes for 1st year students. I think I got an A, it’s kind of exciting. Usually when one class finishes another one starts to take its place, but for my particular track nothing is taking its place for a couple of months. That means that I don’t have to go in to school on Tuesdays. I can do all my work from home. Beautiful!

Becky is still working at the pediatric dentist’s office. The dentist just had a baby last week and so she is relying on Becky quite a bit. She must have seen that Becky is someone she can trust. Becky likes the people she works with and is learning some very valuable skills.

We hope everything is going well for you all.

Godbless,

Stewart and Becky

2009 December: Bates

This Holiday season was a Frantic one!

We went to Idaho for both Thanksgiving & Christmas. We got to see the Robertsons while we were there, which was fun. We played a game where each player's goal was to be as miserable as possible- so naturally I won ;-)

Starting in December, we've had to watch out for UDOT possibly demolishing our home. So far we haven't seen any bulldozers though.

Provo Canyon is a great place to sled, we discovered. But, it has multiple places where small cars aren't very well suited to climb their slippery hills.

Orianna is very active and can say tons of words now. It's interesting that toddlers go from mutes to full-on talkers almost imperceptibly.

But, the most time-intensive aspect of life has been job hunting. I applied to a bunch of jobs, and had various interviews/follow-up-emails/phone-calls/etc... But, I think I've decided to stay where I am at because I *can* work just 40 hours a week here (if I try really hard to come home on time, and don't work through lunch). So, I will use that spare time to get more of our side-projects done. My business partner and I keep coming up with more ideas, but we don't have time to do them... so we are going to try to sell a bunch of ideas, and use that capital for the projects we want to invest in long-term. So, we'll see how that goes.

Sorry that this newsletter is kind of helter-skelter, but it'll have to do.
Hope everyone is doing excellent!
-The Bates

2009 December: North

There is too much to say for this month; I’ll have to be brief. Becky got another job this month. It came as a referral from the museum director. She felt so bad for having to let Becky go that she was on the lookout for any job she could refer to Becky. Becky is now a part-time receptionist at a pediatric dentist’s office. She enjoys the atmosphere and is gaining valuable skills. I think it’s a great opportunity for us. On Friday the 18th I finished my first semester of medical school (cheers and applause). It’s a good feeling. I don’t know all my final grades, but I am confident that I passed. I put in the time and know my stuff. Also on the 18th we got hit with a huge snow storm. It dumped 2 ft. in less than 24 hours! Lot’s of people got stuck on their way out of town. It took Becky and I 4 days before we were dug out enough to use our car.

The first part of our Christmas break was spent here in Lewisburg relaxing. It was so nice to be able to sleep in. My to-do lists included things like “watch another episode of Star Trek” and “read my book.” Christmas morning was unusual, but comfortable. We didn’t have any other family with us, it was just Becky and I. We read the Christmas story in bed before we went and opened our presents. It was relaxing and fun. We miss our families, but it’s also fun to establish our own home and traditions. We went to some friends’ house for Christmas dinner and stayed and played games. It was a wonderful holiday!

On the 29th Becky and I loaded up the car and headed to Washington D.C. We went to the temple that day. The temple is spiritually rejuvenating. I feel better prepared to face the future. I’m glad we took time to go. I have extended family on my Mom’s side living a few minutes north of the temple. We stayed with them during our trip. It was neat to get to know some of our family a little better and we are grateful for their hospitality. On the 30th we went to Baltimore to visit the National Aquarium. It was a fun day. There’s too much to explain about our day in Baltimore, it was a lot of fun. For pictures and a couple of videos go to our blog that Becky maintains so nicely: http://stewandbeck.blogspot.com/. That night we went to see the lights show at the temple visitor’s center, and met a former roommate for dessert. Thanks Josh, it was fun. On the 31st we came back home. It’s been such a fun break and a fantastic end to an eventful year. One year ago I never could have guessed where we’d be or what we’d be doing. Life is truly and adventure! May God bless and keep you safe.



Stewart and Becky

2009 December: Robertson

Greetings everyone,

I need to get this done, but time is short, so I will be brief. December was a good month for us. I finished up another semester of school in the first part of December while still maintaining my 4.0 – yippee. I just have to pull it through again with the next semester (hopefully the final one) and then I’m set. Our big news for December was our trip out to Idaho. The girls handled the 20 hours car ride to Idaho surprisingly well. We bought them a car dvd player and that worked its magic on them beautifully. We enjoyed time with family and friends who we were able to see and missed those who were not able to see. We played lots of games, ate good food, cooked good food, played in the snow, went to live nativities, and celebrated. We were all sad to leave. Kyla and Daria have asked for Grandma, Grandpa, Annie, and especially Tagg almost every day since we have been back. They really enjoyed spending time with their cousin. We got back to Minnesota, and I started running getting ready for school to start and getting ready for my comp exams on Feb 5. It is a crazy time, but hopefully we can make it through the coming month. We are thinking about all of you and can’t wait for a time when we will be able to see all of you again. God bless you in the New Year,

Jamis, Daria, Kyla, Morgan, & Derik