Hello Everyone,
I think that it is time that I actually sit down and get this letter written. I am in limbo right now as the department is moving my office. So half of my things are here and the other half is in my new office. I am simply waiting for someone to come and move my computer and printer because according to the university, I’m not capable of moving this 10 pound contraption up a flight of stairs. Oh well. So December for us was a crazy month. The month started with our new floor being delivered. We had found a stock of laminate hard wood floor that was being liquidated, so we bought it and used it to replace the floor in our back family room and our kitchen. It has done wonders to improve how the rooms look, and to get both of the redone only set us back about 600 dollars. For that price, I can’t beat it. Especially since it probably can raise our property value a grand or so ( the flooring that was in the kitchen was rather sad). While all of that was going on, I was finishing all of my classes at ISU. End of semester projects, got to love them. I came out pretty well from the classes, and feel satisfied with the work I put into them. Now, I get to gear up for the start of the winter semester which I think will be a little more intense. I will have to be a little better about how I manage my time. Throughout the coming months I will be reading a couple hundred pages a week just to prepare for my classes at ISU (good thing I got a little ahead during the break).
My teaching classes went pretty well for the semester and ended on a positive note. I only had to flunk 5 of my 90 some odd students. Good enough. The student feedback I received was largely positive, but I am changing several things up during the coming semester. BYU-I has a space shortage. They will very quickly have more students than they can fit into classrooms on campus, so everyone is experimenting with ways to serve more students with no extra space. The popular choice so far is to do hybrid classes where one class session is face to face and the other is online. That doesn’t appeal to me, so I am trying a different hybrid class using small tutoring groups. One class will be lecture where large concepts and theory is taught and the other class will be broken up into small group discussions around campus led by either myself or my TA. It should be good if not a lot of work.
We had lots of Christmas parties throughout the month with ward and elder’s quorum parties. The twins finished their first few months of pre-school and can’t wait to go back in January. And Jamis has begun talking. He can say the “daddy”, “mama”, “hi”, and “no” No is his most frequently used word.
Our month saw a few celebrations. First, we were able to go to the airport and welcome Eljay home from his mission to India. It is fun having him back around. We also drove out to Minnesota for Christmas break. It was good seeing that side of the family again; although immediately after Christmas everyone started getting sick. We had kids throwing up and everyone got a cold. It was no good. We were able to go and visit our old branch for a Sunday. That was nice to see some old friends again. Christmas itself spoiled all of us. I got just what I wanted: books, movies, and games. The kids got clothes, movies, and some games. And Morgan received a Cricut and accessories. I understand most scrapbooking people know what that thing is and can become very jealous of those who have one. In the world of scrapbooking I guess there are the haves and have nots. The Cricut is the determining factor. Needless to say, I think I scored some major spouse points for that little gift.
Our drive back home from our Christmas break, we entered a blizzard at the Minnesota/ South Dakota boarded and drove in white out conditions until we hit the South Dakota / Wyoming border. I always said that there isn’t a whole lot to see in South Dakota; this time around, there were times through that I couldn’t even see the road. Oh the joys of winter travel. Anyway! I will be needing to bring this to a close. I am off for another round of teaching. Hope that all of you have a very good New Year!
Derik and the Robertsons
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 December: Bates
This month was a hodge-podge of side-projects and home-improvement.
We are trying to refinance, so we did a lot of work on the house in an attempt to appraise high enough to refinance. Sadly we only have to appraise $67,000 less than what our house appraised for when we bought it to qualify. Sadder still, there is a good chance we wont appraise high enough. It would be great though, as it would reduce our payment by $200 a month. Keep your fingers crossed!
ZebraStrut is now registered for business. I still need to get content on the website, finish our first product (ExpoStrut) and have all the partners sign a contract, but things are looking good. The office in the garage is also progressing well.
Fintan is on the cusp of crawling. I think if we dressed him in less slippery pants, he would have it down.
Orianna is still loving to sing and dance. Her new favorite song is "Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte (you may know it from the end of Beetle Juice). It is pretty fun to dance with her. I will sing that song for her before bed, and she will shake, jump, and dance.
Tamara has been knee-deep in parenting, while helping me with all the home improvement.
I got a bunch of Wii games for Christmas, so I am depriving myself of sleep in order to get to play them ;) I got Donkey Kong Country (thanks Jason!), Goldeneye, & Super Mario Galaxy 2 (all of which are completely awesome [as long as you have a gamepad for Goldeneye. It sucks with the wii-mote]).
Hope you were all as spoiled as I was for Christmas, and that your New Year is a great one!
-The Bates Family
We are trying to refinance, so we did a lot of work on the house in an attempt to appraise high enough to refinance. Sadly we only have to appraise $67,000 less than what our house appraised for when we bought it to qualify. Sadder still, there is a good chance we wont appraise high enough. It would be great though, as it would reduce our payment by $200 a month. Keep your fingers crossed!
ZebraStrut is now registered for business. I still need to get content on the website, finish our first product (ExpoStrut) and have all the partners sign a contract, but things are looking good. The office in the garage is also progressing well.
Fintan is on the cusp of crawling. I think if we dressed him in less slippery pants, he would have it down.
Orianna is still loving to sing and dance. Her new favorite song is "Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte (you may know it from the end of Beetle Juice). It is pretty fun to dance with her. I will sing that song for her before bed, and she will shake, jump, and dance.
Tamara has been knee-deep in parenting, while helping me with all the home improvement.
I got a bunch of Wii games for Christmas, so I am depriving myself of sleep in order to get to play them ;) I got Donkey Kong Country (thanks Jason!), Goldeneye, & Super Mario Galaxy 2 (all of which are completely awesome [as long as you have a gamepad for Goldeneye. It sucks with the wii-mote]).
Hope you were all as spoiled as I was for Christmas, and that your New Year is a great one!
-The Bates Family
2010 December: North
We have had a wonderful Christmas vacation this year! The story of this Christmas vacation starts a few weeks before Christmas. We got an email from Becky’s sister Emily, who until two days ago was a missionary for our church, was stationed in Clarksville, TN asking us to come to Clarksville for Christmas and stay with Becky’s cousin who is stationed there at Fort Campbell and we could all visit together for a few hours. She said that she wanted to visit with us, but we all know that she really wanted to visit with her brand-new niece. We thought we’d have some fun, so we told her that we had already committed to other plans for Christmas and that we were sorry. Then we made plans with Becky’s cousin to come and visit.
Fast forward a few weeks. My last test was on Friday the 17th; it felt so nice to be done with homework for a couple of weeks. We spent the first few days just hanging around the apartment, sleeping in, watching movies, and reading books. A friend loaned me the last book in the Harry Potter series and so I spent a lot of time at the first part of the break reading it.
On Thursday the 23 we packed our bags and left for Clarksville, TN. We encountered some bad weather on the way, but arrived safely. Becky’s Aunt, Uncle, and 2 other cousins were also visiting as well, so we had a full house. We talked and played games, and drove around to look at the lights. Sophie was the center of attention for most of the time. On Christmas Eve we called to my family gathered out West and listened while my younger brother opened his mission call. He has been called to serve in the California Arcadia Mission, English speaking. We are very happy for him!
On Christmas Day Emily had scheduled a baptism for one of their investigators. She knew that her cousin’s family would be there, but she didn’t know Becky and I would be there. When we walked in the door her jaw dropped. She ran and hugged Becky and said “You lied to me!” It was a fun surprise. The baptism went well. I was even asked to give the closing prayer…in Spanish! I took a year of Spanish in college, but my Spanish has rusted a little over time. I was grateful for the chance to participate in that way. After the baptism Emily and her companions came to visit at Becky’s cousin’s house. We had a houseful! It was like a mini-family reunion in the East while the rest of our families met out West. We had a delicious meal and spent the rest of the day talking and mingling.
The next day was a Sunday, so Becky and I attended an early morning church service and then hit the road. We drove for 5 hours and stopped when Sophie had had all she could handle of driving. We spent the evening in a hotel in Sevierville, TN, which, we learned is the hometown of Dolly Parton. The next morning we went to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. We really loved the exhibits there. It was expensive, but worth the money. The neatest display there is a tunnel that takes you underneath the pools. It feels like you are diving in a coral reef, with fish, a giant turtle, and even sharks swimming all around you. There are lots of pictures and videos posted on our blog. We really like Gatlinburg, TN. It’s a neat little family-friendly vacation site. It kind of reminds me of Jackson Hole, WY, only bigger. After the aquarium and a delicious lunch at Corky’s BBQ we headed for home. This will be one of my most memorable Christmases ever I think. I really enjoyed the trip, and I’m so glad that I have my favorite traveling companions with me: Becky and Sophie.
Fast forward a few weeks. My last test was on Friday the 17th; it felt so nice to be done with homework for a couple of weeks. We spent the first few days just hanging around the apartment, sleeping in, watching movies, and reading books. A friend loaned me the last book in the Harry Potter series and so I spent a lot of time at the first part of the break reading it.
On Thursday the 23 we packed our bags and left for Clarksville, TN. We encountered some bad weather on the way, but arrived safely. Becky’s Aunt, Uncle, and 2 other cousins were also visiting as well, so we had a full house. We talked and played games, and drove around to look at the lights. Sophie was the center of attention for most of the time. On Christmas Eve we called to my family gathered out West and listened while my younger brother opened his mission call. He has been called to serve in the California Arcadia Mission, English speaking. We are very happy for him!
On Christmas Day Emily had scheduled a baptism for one of their investigators. She knew that her cousin’s family would be there, but she didn’t know Becky and I would be there. When we walked in the door her jaw dropped. She ran and hugged Becky and said “You lied to me!” It was a fun surprise. The baptism went well. I was even asked to give the closing prayer…in Spanish! I took a year of Spanish in college, but my Spanish has rusted a little over time. I was grateful for the chance to participate in that way. After the baptism Emily and her companions came to visit at Becky’s cousin’s house. We had a houseful! It was like a mini-family reunion in the East while the rest of our families met out West. We had a delicious meal and spent the rest of the day talking and mingling.
The next day was a Sunday, so Becky and I attended an early morning church service and then hit the road. We drove for 5 hours and stopped when Sophie had had all she could handle of driving. We spent the evening in a hotel in Sevierville, TN, which, we learned is the hometown of Dolly Parton. The next morning we went to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. We really loved the exhibits there. It was expensive, but worth the money. The neatest display there is a tunnel that takes you underneath the pools. It feels like you are diving in a coral reef, with fish, a giant turtle, and even sharks swimming all around you. There are lots of pictures and videos posted on our blog. We really like Gatlinburg, TN. It’s a neat little family-friendly vacation site. It kind of reminds me of Jackson Hole, WY, only bigger. After the aquarium and a delicious lunch at Corky’s BBQ we headed for home. This will be one of my most memorable Christmases ever I think. I really enjoyed the trip, and I’m so glad that I have my favorite traveling companions with me: Becky and Sophie.
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