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.