Jason & Jen

August was a busy month for us. The first part of the month we had a lot of fun as a family going on a few day trips. The first day we went to Raleigh to The Museum of Natural History. We saw everything from real butterflies to dinosaur bones and everything in between. The kids really enjoyed it! We spent about 3 hours there and then drove home and went to Chuck E. Cheese pizza for dinner. The next day we drove to Blowing Rock, NC to visit Tweetsie Railroad, NC’s first amusement park. They have an old-fashioned steam engine that rides around the mountain, several rides, shows, and stores. It was a beautiful day to spend in the mountains riding the ferris wheel, the carousel, and the tilt-a-whirl. Parker was even able to ride some of the rides too. On the last day we went to breakfast and then we went miniature golfing. Kelsey scored the only hole-in-one! Although it was a pretty exhausting couple of days, we all had a great time being together and we were glad that we were able to pull off some “normal” family activities and still take care of Parker.

Speaking of Parker, he started crawling this month!!! He is doing great and it seems like he gets stronger every day. He also started physical therapy once a week to build up his strength and endurance. We hope that in the next few months he will become strong enough to carry his IV backpack all by himself. That will give us and him a lot more freedom. Kelsey started second grade last week She loves it already and is looking forward to a great year. She will turn eight years old this week and be baptized on September 13th. We are so proud of her. Connor started preschool this week. He will go three days a week in the mornings. He has really enjoyed it so far. We hope it will be a good change for him and prepare him to go to kindergarten next year. Jen and I are both keeping busy working and keeping the family going. It seems like a lot of work sometimes, but we are so grateful to be together and to be so blessed.

Grandpa & Grandma Romney

Grandpa: I can't believe how fast the months are flying by. August for me was pretty uneventful except some pretty tasking projects at work. I got through them all and am looking forward to visiting Jason's family for Kelsey's baptism. Last month a few of us commented on Grandma Cora's life and the positive effect it had on all of us. Since her death and funeral last month I have been pondering and thinking back on my life and the many experiences that I have had with my family. I am truly grateful for the heritage I have and the legacy of commitment to gospel principles that has helped form my life. Obedience truly brings for the blessings of heaven. I am thankful for the gospel and the foundation it has been for me. I am also very thankful for your mother and grandmother. All good things in my life I tribute to her. She has been such a good influence on me and for each of you. She keeps my in line and is a good support in my church callings and work. I love her very much. We are having a lot of fun "hanging out" with each other and having the ability to do just about anything we want to. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all that He has given and provided for us.
Love DAD/Grandpa

Grandma:
Wow--How is it possible that another month is gone?! We are leaving Saturday the 6th for Winston-Salem. It will be great to see Jason's family and to attend Kelsey's baptism. We will return home on Sunday the 14th. I finished writing the Primary program and the first rehearsal will be while I am gone. It's really hard to figure out how long it's going to last until you have a full run through--right now that's my biggest worry and I won't know the answer until a week before the program. Dad and I totally loved watching the Olympics and that's how we spent most evenings for a while. Now that I teach literacy in the mornings at work, my day goes by very quickly and it's a real challenge to get my other work done in the remaining hours. I come home totally exhaused so watching TV is very appealing. Chris and Mindy treated us all to a Real Salt Lake Soccer game which was fun. Then last Saturday we met the Dangerfields in Cedar City and saw a couple of plays with them. Sunday we drove to the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre--really a sad and horrifying event in church history. I now want to read the recent book about it that the church authorized. We drove home Sunday afternoon as Bill and Joanne were in town and coming to spend the night with us. Their lives have really changed now as Joanne's aging parents both live with them and both are experiencing declining health. Joanne has had to really cut back on her floral business as caring for her parents consumes so much of her time. I have taken Nanny to the ER twice this month with uncontrollable nose bleeds. The first time they coterized (sp.??) it and that lasted almost two weeks. Last night, actually early this morning,they had to pack it with a balloon thing that they then pump air into so it will put pressure on the spot. I guess that's pretty uncomfortable but she has to leave it there until Sunday and then go back to the hospital and have it removed. I'm just afraid it will start bleeding again while I'm gone so I hope I can get her into an ENT on Monday. The good news is that we did manage to finalize the sale of the Logan house--Joe and Amy will continue to live there until Joe finishes school in December. I think we'll be glad we sold it when we did. Have a great September everyone!! Love, Mom (Grandma)

Chris & Mindy Rosqvist

Well, the month of August was very fun for us. We decided to put some of our home projects aside and do some fun things before the summer is over. We went camping twice, once with the family up in Idaho and once with our friends close by. We always love camping!! And our big vacation for the summer was going to Seattle for about a week. We have some friends that live in North Bend who have a huge summer party every year that is just like a carnival with all the carnival food and games, homemade rootbeer, and an outdoor movie. And all of this takes place in their yard! They live on about 2-3 acres surrounded by forest!! It is beautiful. Also, we went waterskiing and hiking while we were there. Not too much hiking happend, however, because it was so hot and humid while we were there. We were able to go to a huge waterfall a few miles from their house called Snoqualamie Falls. We drove there and it was only about 1/4 mile to walk to the falls. It was so cool!! We had a great time. We also just had our 3rd year anniversary on Sept 1 (labor day). We just enjoyed eachothers company and did a few fun things that weekend together. We both had to work on our actual anniversary, so we couldn't go anywhere far. Everyone needs to look on page 9 of their Sept Ensign and find a picture of Chris. The picture was taken back in the early spring in our other ward before we moved. The lady that we worked with on the activities commitee was in charge of getting a few people willing to be photographed doing different things for the Ensign every couple of months or so. She said she needed a picture of a man praying so she asked Chris! They didn't know what month it was going to be pictured in so we have been looking for it every month for the last 4-5 months and it finally showed up!! I am excited to go see Jason and Jen and the kids in Sept. and be there for Kelsey's birthday and baptism. I can't believe she is going to be 8 already! Hope to see everyone soon!!Love- Chris and Mindy

Carrie Romney

Sorry I forgot to add to the blog last month. It totally slipped my mind. August came and went very quickly. Like usual I am having a hard time remembering everything that took place. A few weeks ago, I quit my job at the marketing company. Things weren't going well, and I was more frustrated all the time then I was enjoying the job. Since I was just on a commission basis, it wasn't too hard to leave. So now I am just working at Missionary Mall and teaching a Spanish class Monday and Wednesday evening. My class has 8 adults in it that are learning for their professions or just for fun. The ones that are in it for the fun are starting to realize that learning a foreign language isn't really considered fun. It can be very confusing and takes a lot of work to learn. I try to make the class fun and not overwhelm them too much. I admire their ambition because I don't how I would have learned Spanish if I wasn't living in a foreign country and had to learn to speak to eat and live. I was passionate about learning the language and still enjoy the opportunities I have to use it. I really enjoy teaching. So now I am back to trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up. I may go back into marketing, but I am feeling more ambitious to try something new. After 10 months of dating, Curt and I broke up...for good this time, I believe. The first 3-4 months were amazing. We were super in love with each other and wanted to get married, and then he freaked out. We first ended the marriage planning towards the end of March when we broke up for about a week. Then we got back together and for the past 5 months the relationship was one giant roller coaster. There were some really good times when it seemed we were going to make it work and then some really low times when Curt would become unsure about his feelings for me and his desire to marry me. We had really good communication and talked about all his doubts and concerns, but I finally realized the emotional tear the ups and downs were having on me. We had one last long discussion, and I told him that I wanted him to make a decision and be committed to it. So he decided he didn't want the relationship anymore (Not really the response I was hoping for). I am very sad that things didn't work out, but it all ended on a good note and I am grateful for that. More to come next month. Hope you all are doing well.

Joe & Amy Fail

Well, I agree with everyone that the months fly by! We've enjoyed the summer and warm weather. We recently enjoyed going to a REAL game with the family. Thanks Mindy and Chris for inviting us. We were surprised at how fun and entertaining it was! Neither one of us have ever really been into watching or playing soccer, so it was a fun; new adventure.
Joe has just started school again for his last semester!! We are both excited that he is almost done. Now I am thinking about going back to school (What are we thinking!??)
Now that Mom & Dad sold the Duplex Joe is off the hook for mowing the lawn. He says he enjoys the break, but I know he really likes doing stuff like that.
That's about it for us. We hope you all have a wonderful month!!

* Here are some pictures of Xander enjoying the water while we cleaned our cars. Joe loves to get him soaked!