Fun times

We have had a very very busy month. We barely moved in, well the boxes are all in the garage and in the basement still - then it was opera time for both MJ and Erin. Erin played "Hansel" in Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" and Mary Jane was the lead in Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors". Brian usually takes the class as a chorus member just so he can see MJ for the month they are practicing every day and night. It was great but we are all glad it is over.

Thanksgiving was great fun. Everyone helped and we especially loved Carol's different napkin folding skills. Sara Salmon was here from Rexburg and our friend Emma Conger came over to go to the Nutcracker with all the girls. It was especially good this year as they had a live orchestra and choir. Thanks for coming everyone - it was super fun.

We have moved FINALLY

Well, we are 95% moved over to the new house. We have moved many times before but it still is a horrible job. When the piano movers moved the piano I had to remove myself to another dimension. We finally got mirrors in the bathroom today - wow, I look bad, moving does age you. Konrad said he feels like he is camping and for anyone who knows him, THAT IS PRETTY BAD.

We had a block Halloween party. I went as the roofing contractor that did our roof. Funny thing is I found my builder's jacket in my garage so I wore it. Konrad went as a wizard. It was a 3 minute job. We had a good time. I wish Konrad could wave the wand and find out where everything is. We are really glad the kids helped. When I was searching through boxes in the garage yesterday I found one labeled "stuff". That is helpful. Well, give us a few years. If you happen to come by I might have you search through the garage with me. Come to think of it, come on over today. PLEASE.

1 hour at the beach

We made a quick trip to San Diego on Saturday. On Thursday Konrad says that one of the districts he works for in California required him to visit some minor children before Monday. So we flew on Jetblue late Friday afternoon and came back late Saturday night. We visited children in San Diego, Murrieta, Redlands and Apple Valley. So we were in the rental car most of the day. We finished with about an hour to spare before needing to be at the airport. We stopped to walk La Jolla Shores. It felt strange and brought back lots of memories. This was our favorite beach when we lived here.
I just have to tell of the first visit in San Diego. It was only about 5 miles from the airport. It was in National City, not really a good place after dark. It was about 7:00 p.m. so we were trying to hurry. We get to this really sad old house. It was two children living with their grandmother and deaf aunt. So we go in and the Grandmother is signing to her deaf daughter that she needs to talk to these people. To my amazement Konrad signs something to her. I forgot that he used to know some sign language. I almost burst out laughing. Anyway, the girls are cute, one 4 years old the other about 9 years old. She is talking alot and trying to convince Konrad how she is taking really good care of these girls. (The court is in battle about sending them back to Tijuana where their mother is - bad situation - drugs and abusive boyfriend, etc. etc.) ANYWAY, the grandmother takes Konrad down the hall to see the bedrooms and the deaf aunt jumps off the couch and hugs me with both arms and starts rubbing my stomach and signing "throw-up' and "getting sick" gestures. AWKWARD. I am thinking, am I making her sick? Is she going be sick? Konrad, get back in here right away please! The little girls are smiling and staring. I had a chance to ask them quickly if they like living with their Grandma and if they are happy. They were cute. These cases are always kind of sad.

Amazing weather, and school is back in session!

Well, here is a picture of the new house with a double rainbow behind it. Things are coming along in the house, the cabinet guys keep taking cabinets out that are wrong and the driveway guys are pushing gravel around. I guess eventually it will be finished.
I have to tell this super funny story about the first day of school. This is about Mary-Jane. We laughed so hard we just about fell on the floor.
Well, she was rushing to get to her German diction class, she goes in and there is a small Japanese lady at the front of the room. She is actually in the wrong class she thinks so she asks the boy beside her if this is German diction and he says "ya". The lady proceeds to say phrases in Japanese and calls on Mary-Jane to repeat - SO SHE DOES. Then the lady claps her hands in a rythem to teach Japanese inflection, etc. So Mary-Jane is clapping along, the whole time thinking THIS IS REALLY WRONG. So she finally stands up to leave quickly, the teacher says, Where are you going? She says I am supposed to be in German class, and the entire class erupts into laughter. Mary-Jane is so funny that in her choir class in the afternoon she introduces herself as a senior, in vocal performance who knows a little Japanese. HAHAHA. Well, it was pretty funny.
Another funny story, (sorry for the long blog), but Konrad had Russ and Brian paint our basement recently. We kind of stopped in the basement after the electrical and drywall was finished. So they are down there painting and the other sub contractors think they are professional hired painters. So Brian and Russ just go along with it. They come home every night cracking up about the other subs trying to trash talk etc. and asking them to fix things, etc. They got a real kick out of that.

Caught in a storm!

This is the second in a series about dangerous situations that have recently happend in our family. We went boating up at Island Park, Idaho. We were out on the lake (I think Henries Lake) and a terrible storm of wind and rain and lightening hit us while Audrey and Alison were on the tube. They bailed off and had to be rescued from the water. I think the temperature dropped about 20 degrees in 5 minutes. I was on the front of the boat and the swells were spraying water right over me. We were kind of laughing/crying. It was crazy?!

Fire!

Well we had a close call with a fire about a mile from us on the mountain. It was super exciting to watch the planes and helicopters working to put it out. We went over to the "New" house to see if it was in any danger and you could see the fire even better from there. The roads were blocked up to our house and Mary-Jane had to say she lived up here to get up to us after her job. It was an exciting night! Too bad our old house didnt burn so we didnt have to sell it. HAHA

Star Spangled Banner

We had a fabulous 4th of July. It all started on July 4th eve which is the night Logan has a stadium show with fireworks. Erin sang the National Anthem. This picture shows how happy she is - this is after she sang!!! We were pretty proud of her. We were so glad to have Carol and Sara come up and be with us. Marek (the hockey player) was there too. He videotaped the entire fireworks. Everytime we were laughing or something he VIDEOTAPED us. It was kind of like our own reality show this week.

The morning of the 4th all the kids went down to the Stake Center for the Scout Breakfast. Then we headed out to the Hyrum 4th of the July parade. Carol went home, she was pretty exhausted after he tour. Thanks so much for coming to see Erin sing Carol.
The parade was hilarious and YES Marek videotaped the entire parade, (zooming in on the dairy princesses I'm sure)
We then had a bar-b-que. Konrad made some great chicken. We had apple and cherry pie to give Marek an all-american holiday.
We layed around holding our stomachs for a while and then drove out to Lewiston (yeah, Lindy's hometown) to see the fireworks. This is our favorite redneck adventure in July. It was a great holiday and we can't wait until next year.

Czech Hockey Player

Russell's friend came to visit from the Czech Republic. His name is Marek Chvatel and he is a professional hockey player. He played on a farm team in Toronto for 2 years and then was drafted to the New Jersey Devils. He didn't make the second draft so he went home and plays for a professional team there. We took him up to the Logan Ice Arena to see him skate. It was amazing. Someone asked him when he started skating, he joked "I've been here about 20 minutes" Alison went skating for the first time. The BEST thing about the skating rink is that it was the coolest place to be on a hot day.

Travel Mishaps

As previously mentioned we took a quick trip to Calfornia for our cousin Nick's wedding. Konrad was already down in L.A. on business so Russ, Erin, Audrey, Alison and Mom drove together. Russell was driving first. When we were just outside of Nephi, Utah we hear this loud sound on top of the car. Instantly we know our luggage has flown off. We were all kind of screaming and Russell veers across traffic to pull over. We thought we were going to have to pick underwear off the freeway, but when we got out of the car we started laughing super hard. We had wrapped our luggage in a tarp (to protect against rain - HAHA, fat chance of that, really just bugs) and then put a bungie net on top. Well, the bungie net did its job. Our luggage was a giant cheese ball on the back of the car. We kept laughing about how the other cars around us must of felt as they saw our luggage launch into a bungie jump. We were reminiscing about this last night and I thought someone might get some amusement.
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Hot Summer

Brian and Russell have been canal jumping to get some heat relief.

Logan has a giant 4th of July party in the football stadium. They have a low budget show but fabulous fireworks. There is a firework company here in Logan that have done the Calgary Stampede fireworks and the Washington D.C. fireworks, etc. so we get a pretty good long show. Just a note of blagging (brag + blog) Erin was asked to SING the National Anthem at this year's show. I am more nervous the she is. I make her sing it a couple of times a day. It is kind of a cheesy show with wierd Dairy Princesses and goofy jokes. Oh well, she is singing at the very end of the show right before the fireworks.
Also, Russell has a friend from the Czech Republic coming to visit us. He is a professional hockey player. He is going to stay for about 2 1/2 weeks. I wonder if he will like canal jumping?.

Hey!

Today is a pretty boring day and I'm posting this blog.You guys have so much happening and we really don't.By the way this is Ali speaking.Well...Brian turned 24 yesterday and today Erin turned 20! Audrey and I are missing out on all the cool things our siblings are doing. But what the heck ! Our time will come eventually , right ? Well next time I post I'll probably right a little more than I did today! CIAO!!!

I am not too sure about this blogging stuff. The phrase, "me, myself, and I" comes to mind. I guess the idea of people out there interested in our lives is the real need.
Anyway, it is a funny phenomenom. Konrad's latest publication called:

ANTI-EMPLOYER BLOGGING: EMPLOYEE BREACH OF THE DUTY OF LOYALTY AND THE PROCEDURE FOR ALLOWING DISCOVERY OF A BLOGGER'S IDENTITY BEFORE SERVICE OF PROCESS IS EFFECTED

was published in the Duke Law School Journal. Kind of a long title don't you think. Academia loves these run-on titles.
Well, know that I logged on I have run out of time, but the run down on what is happening in our lives.
House is 3/4 done, projected move-in October. We shall see.
Russell had two surgeries for damaged tendon in baby finger. Both surgeries failed. He now has a fairly useless pinky.
Mary-Jane left for London yesterday. She was asked to come to sing in an opera that she had to learn (inItalian mind you - Brian was a good coach) in one month. She was pretty stressed and we already miss her.
Erin is in summer school and loving it.
Audrey is at Pioneer Trek in Wyoming.
Alison and I went bowling two days ago and had the entire building to ourselves. She beat me 88 to 74. And that was with the bumpers up. HAHAHA
Brian is 24 years old today.
We were invited to a luncheon with Mitt Romney today. $1000 a person. Forget it.
Well, love to anyone who is reading this stuff ABOUT US.
I wonder if anyone will ever find it.
We just got back from San Diego to Nicholas Grafton's wedding. (Konrad's sister's son) Quick trip with 1/2 hour at the beach.