August 2003

Hello Everyone,

Summer is quickly drawing to a close, although we still feel the heat of the sticky, balmy midwestern air. It can be a blessing and a cursing as we experience all four seasons (to the max) out here. Thank goodness for air-conditioning and swimming pools to get us through the Summer. I admire our pioneer ancestors more and more. I don't know how they did it all without our modern conveniences.

Our Summer hasn't been all about heat, however. We've had some great opportunities and adventures over the past few months while school has been out.

Wesley celebrated his 7th birthday shortly after his kindergarten graduation. He chose a Spiderman theme and invited his friends to a Ëspidery-webbyÓ party in the park. I still get the chills thinking about all of those plastic spiders we gave to the kids in their goody sacs. Yikes! A little too realistic looking for me. Wes had a great time, however.

Two days after Wesley's party, Tom left for a 3 week USO tour to South Korea. This was Tom's 19th (?) country to visit. Some of Tom's highlights with this tour included going to the non-militarized zone between North and South Korea and . . . This October, Tom plans to do a tour of the Caribbean, then possibly the Mediterranean next Spring. (I'm trying to find a way to tag along on one of these.) Besides carrying his saxophone all over the world, Tom lugs his lap top along wherever he goes. He continues to use this handy lap top to do design work for the University. Most of the time he goes in to work, but he really can do his job anywhere. Tom's talent, intellect, and hard work continues to amaze me.

While Tom entertained our troops overseas, the kids and I headed for the west coast to visit family. We covered California, Oregon, and Washington. Again, I'm thankful for modern conveniences---I don't know if my patience level would have lasted very long in a 4-5 day car ride, much less a wagon ride lasting who knows how long. The plane ride was only a few hours and the kids loved every minute of it! They really are good little travelers. We all had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with cousins, siblings, parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. The only person missing was Tom. Maybe next year . . .

After a month of traveling, Tom, the kids, and I were all reunited. It was great to be a family again.

Since our return home, we've enjoyed having a number of visitors, especially the Rackhams. Having them come to visit was kind-of like the cherry on top! With the exception of Trina's family, we were able to cover all siblings on both sides of the family this Summer. What a treat!

We are now settling into a routine again. Nathan is back to his Legos, PlayStation 2, Scouting, and playing with friends. He will be entering the 4th grade this Fall and turning 10 in September. Nathan totally caught me by surprise this morning. At about 7:30 AM, I went to the living room as I noticed the light was on. When I peeked around the corner, I saw that Nathan was reading his scriptures. Sometimes I wonder where this boy came from. He's just such a good kid!

Camilla is 3 and is full of spunk! Her favorite thing in the whole world is music time in nursery. She loves to dance and sing and laugh and make animal noises, etc. We obviously have a wonderful nursery music leader in our ward. Camilla also enjoys playing with any girl who is older than her. This works out well as most older girls enjoy playing with her as well--especially her babysitter. Often when Camilla sees her sitter (at church or out and about), Camilla tells me to go away so she can play with Ëher friendsÓ. Goodness, this isn't suppose to happen until they're teenagers, right?

And me? Well, most people who know me know that I'm the eternal dieter. It seems like my entire life has been spent trying out one diet or another. In fact, when most people ask me how I am, I feel like my answer can be paralleled with how much I'm weighing that day. So, today I'm doing a little better than so-so as I'm slightly more than half way to my weight goal. By January, if all goes well, I should be fantastic as I should be at my weight goal by then. Now, putting weight aside, I'm doing very well. Life seems a little weird, though, as we're heading toward the Ëgoing back to schoolÓ transition. The boys seem restless and could do with a little more structure to their day, but I like having them around. I guess it's just a Ëmom thingÓ.

Well that about wraps it up. I hope you're all doing well and that you don't hesitate to call if you're ever coming this way. We'd love to see you!!! May you continue to be blessed in all of your righteous endeavors.

We love you, Tom, Michelle, Nathan, Wesley, and Camilla

March 2003

Dear family and friends,

It is Spring and time to update our letter and family web site.

I hope you are all enjoying the renewal of life at this time: blossoms, buds, bird's eggs, etc. It really brings a feeling of renewal and hope after the long, cold, dead of winter.

With warmer weather, we have all enjoyed recent trips to the park, kite flying, picnics, playing in the mud and sand and bike riding as opposed to snowball fights and hiding inside from the below freezing temperatures. The kids have had the week off of school for the annual 'Spring Break'. I think we are ALL worn out from the sleep-overs and playing.

Speaking of playing, Tom just got back from "playing" in Cuba. Many of you may have already read his Travel Logs from this trip. Tom has traveled so

much of this world. Each tour has had it's own interesting and unique experiences. However, Cuba brought its own surprises with Tom entering Camp America where the US Troops guard the Taliban members. Tom also got to do a lot of real playing (not just with his saxophone) but fishing, playing paint ball with the military officers, going for boat rides among the dolphins, etc. I always enjoy looking at his pictures and hearing of his experiences. I hope to someday join him on one of his adventures.

Nathan just finished up his basketball season. He's a little guy, but has lots of spunk. He would now like to try Ice Hockey, soccer again, and of course swimming. He spent quite a bit of his Spring Break playing the NBA Final Four Play Station game. I guess it's his way of pretending that he's Kobe Bryant.

Wesley has many admirers all of a sudden. He occasionally comes home from school saying "I don't know who I should marry: Olivia, Summer, or Madi. They all want to marry me." He's got a little fan club at church, too. I hear on a regular basis of adults who have LONG one-sided conversations with Wesley about Star Wars, Spiderman, or Harry Potter. They're impressed with how well he retains EVERY DETAIL of each movie, book or game that he tells about. Wesley impressed ME last week by actually singing a solo for our Primary Talent Show! He did great!

Camilla has just recently discovered mud puddles. I wish that I had my camera the other day when she covered herself in mud at the park. I now have to call her a mud magnet. She enjoys other things, too, such as the computer, play-doh, drawing, and riding her bike with training wheels.

I have recently had a change in my ward calling. I was released as Primary President last Sunday and will be sustained this Sunday at Stake Conference as the Stake Primary Secretary. (Ugh!) I've already been acting as the Stake Primary Secretary over the last several weeks (doing double duty). Goodness, it's A LOT of work! I find myself constantly on the phone or at the computer. I just put packets for every unit in our stake together for the Stake Primary Girls Day Camp. I'm tired already and I'm not officially the secretary yet. There's lots of meetings and traveling... Etc. I don't know. I'm wondering if I can have my other job back. Besides that, I try to get some exercise and house work in. Most of my joy comes in playing with my kids and talking to Tom at the end of the day.

I'm so thankful for all of you and enjoy getting your emails, letters, and occasional phone calls. I pray for all of you that you'll continue to find peace, comfort, and solace in the Lord's blessings, especially during this crazy war time.

We love you,

Tom, Michelle, Nathan, Wesley, and Camilla