Walkin Away The Pounds!

Houston Bound

We made up our mind to move from Charlotte to Houston just after I told Becky that I had decided to name the new baby after the county in which he was to be born. I guess Becky decided that "Harris" was a better name than "Mecklenburg."

After my one-day, 1,100 mile drive from Charlotte to Houston, I visited a half dozen rental houses in the area right around the Houston temple and found a good one that we will rent for a year. I will try to attach a photo if I can figure out the technology of this web site. The house has a very nice pool in the backyard and all of us are excited about jumping in when we get there.

The plan is to load up the 26 foot U-Haul truck one week from today and head out on Saturday morning. We will probably make the drive in two days, although that schedule may be affected by children's temperaments and/or one of the many hurricanes that live along the gulf coast like so many trolls under a bridge.

I begin my new job at Bracewell & Giuliani on September 15th. I will be doing energy work, mainly commodity trading, with some asset sales transactions and a bit of real estate thrown in.

Becky has made contact with a new doctor in Houston and will go in for an initial visit a few days after we arrive in Texas. Switching doctors at 32 weeks of pregnancy takes guts.

I will pass along our new contact info once we get it finalized. Wish us luck.

Jon

Stuart's 2nd birthday celebration

August Is Almost Over

Hi Everyone!

I don't have much to say but thought I'd try this new-fangled thing the kids call a blog.  I have been laughing all day about something Steve said this morning when he woke up.  He figured out in his sleep that the words to Gilligan's Island fit to the tune of "Ghost Riders In The Sky."  I told him that that was quite a coincidence because I'd dreamed the words to I Dream Of Jeannie went to the tune of "Peter Gunn." 

The Rock and Roll band Steve is in , The Phat Old Professors is playing quite a bit around town.  Their next gig is at the college president's BBQ next week.  He has been working with his choir on "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "I Need Somebody To Love" by Queen.  They will sing with the band at their choir concert in October.  I am so excited to hear it.  The last time I heard those songs performed live was at the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus concert.  I swear they had guys in sequined leotards riding unicycles and twirling batons.  It was fabulous.

We had Jake, Kara, Joe and Karyn all here for a few days.  We did a lot of fun things and I really loved having everyone together.  We went to Arches National Park (a few days after one of the arches fell down)  and went on a great hike.  I have been keeping the wound on my shin alive ever since.  

School started two weeks ago.  We have the largest Freshman class ever this year at the college.  It is fun to have full classes.  In case I forgot to tell any of you, I got the full time job.  They called to notify me the Saturday night before I had to start the next Thursday.  I had just picked all the kids up at the airport and was driving through a fierce rainstorm at 10:30 pm when they called.  

Dana has moved into an apartment with 4 other girls.  So far so good after I went over and shoved her room mates stuff off of Dana's side of the room.  It is amazing how people don't see that there are two people in a room and realize that you each get half the space.  Dana is in my Intro to Dance class and has been a great student making lots of comments (the right ones - it is almost like having a plant in the audience!)  I've got some pretty good dancers in my company and we are working hard on our upcoming performances.

Steve commented that our jobs, working with college students, keep us young, while killing us a little bit each day.  At the beginning of each semester I get so sore - but it is good to know that there are muscles somewhere deep inside and that they are getting some exercise.

The night time temperatures are really coming down now.  We are usually in the 40s each night.  Tomorrow night the school is having another "star party" at the top of Ephraim Peak.  We went to one when Mom was here and it was spectacular.  I swear you could see every star in the universe and most of the planets too.  And if that's not enough, they have cookies and hot chocolate.  

We are still getting inundated with zucchini even though we have no garden this year.  Are the rest of you getting lots of produce?  People will leave baskets of vegetables in the lobby at church and on top of the mail boxes and people send emails at work begging people to take their zucchini.  In AZ we had the same phenomenon with citrus.  

Jake and Kara arrived safely in Ohio last week after a three day, twelve hours a day drive.  Kara has had a few interviews for jobs.  We hope they are happy and enjoying this big adventure they are on.  Joe and Karyn are in an apartment in Mesa and have started school this week.  

For someone who had nothing much to say, I've rambled on quite a bit.

Please write in when you can.

Pote  

When the dog bites, when the bee stings...

I (Jenn) was going through some old emails and found one from Grandma in Jan. 2003. I had emailed her for a school assignment to ask what some of their favorite things were that had been invented during their lifetime. This is the email I received back.

Here are a few of our favorite things. Microwave ovens, credit cards, ballpoint pens, Barbie dolls, air conditioning, clothes dryers, electrictypewriters, weather forcasting (somewhat accurate), nuclear powergeneration, velcro, panty hose, plastic bags, polio vaccine, artificial Christmas trees, Walmart, satellites and space stations, strapless bras, tennis shoes, sunscreens, lipstick that didn't come off on other people. You can probably tell which are my ideas and which are Grandpa's. Gma

I remember Dad grilling Charlie Bice on his claim that, due to his photographic memory, he didn't need to read the Book of Mormon again.
Jon

Our Visit to the Empty Sea

Hello, Hoffs! And Merideths, and Johnsons, and Purdies, and....

Hello, Everyone!

This month was pretty busy for Jeff and I. We had fun seeing the relatives that came for Ben's farewell and then a fun trip to Utah to drop him off at the MTC. He's going to be such a good Elder. He's already learning so much and even had a letter waiting for us when we got home, which mom only read like 8 times. :)

We also just got back from camping for our anniversary this year! It was (sneeze) a lot of fun and we even brought home a couple caterpillars by accident. Apparantly, I fell asleep on the way home and told Jeff he smelled funny. Who has more fun than we do?

Well, we wish everyone a happy month!! Love,

Jenn & Jefferson

Pictures

These are the pictures on the side. You can click to see them bigger here! Make sure not to close the window but just hit the back button to come back.