uhleyog

Halloween 2009

2009-12-02T13:54:00.001-08:00

Pictures from Fr. Brad while trick-or-treating at his house.

Saints, Cowboys, and a Clown

Now We Are Six.... And One!

2008-09-30T23:33:00.001-07:00

The Three Birthday Kids -- Joseph, Clare, and Catherine -- at the start of their big day, and then celebrating tonight. Happy Birthday Sweet Little Ones!

Notice the detail at the bottom left of the above picture... Catherine, while keeping the smile on her face, manages to keep little sister's hand away from the cake!

This particular 6-year-old was happy, but fading quickly. Going, going....

Gone!

We stumbled upon an easy ice cream cake recipe. With ice cream sandwiches, hot fudge, whipping cream, and chopped up cookies, three cakes were quick and delicious! Oh yes... and the sprinkles. Perhaps one of these days Mommy will love sprinkles as much as the kids do! ;)

A Glimpse at Clare

2008-09-30T22:45:00.000-07:00

Here's Clare learning to walk! What a fun year it has been!

If you wonder why we haven't been blogging... this little cutie might just be one reason! ;)

Its Not Always About the Looks

2008-03-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, you know why I like my hair short? It's so that when I have to drink out of the faucet without a cup, my hair does not get wet."

- Catherine (2/28/2008)

Winter Has Arrived

2007-12-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

This has been a great winter so far with lots of snow. It all melted earlier this month with 60 degree weather, but the temperatures soon dropped and the snow has started falling again. With a fresh new snowfall yesterday, the kids were out in force making Fox and Goose trails. Here are some pictures of the snowfall before Thanksgiving:

Our house covered in snow and icicles:

Some shots of the area around us:

Uncle Mark, reminded us to bring warm clothes for Thanksgiving because he had plans with his new 4-wheeler:

Oops! Joseph and Catherine got dumped.

If it looks cold, that's because it is!

Fortunately, though, Uncle Mark had a nice warm fire in the shop,

and there was some whipped cream being made for the pumpkin pies,

and a Grandpa to warm up with.

Bath & Beyond

2007-12-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

Some shots of one of Clare's baths and her cozy and happy afterward.

Halloween 2007

2007-12-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some shots from Halloween. We had two clowns, a St. Theresa, a Little Red Riding Hood, and a little Ms. Tigger. Enjoy.

"Bongo" is ready to do some trick-or-treating

"Krusty" isn't sure he wanted to be a clown this year

First Stop: Uncle Al's (He had just recently turned 98!)

St. Theresa

We ran into Aunt Rachel and her troupe of cowgirls with live ponies.

Halloween is hard work for a clown.

Check out Santa's new helpers

2007-12-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here are Santa's new helpers. What do you think? Just missing one.

Clare's Baptism

2007-12-06T00:58:00.000-08:00

Clare was baptized on October 27th at St. Peter & Paul's Parish by Fr. Brad Neely. We were blessed by a beautiful ceremony (including a very loudly crying Clare) and many wonderful family and friends who flew and drove from all parts to celebrate with us. Afterwards, we gathered together at our home for a wonderful party and finished the evening by being entertained by talented pianists and actors who were present. Thank you everyone that came!

Getting ready for the big event!

Forever changed!

Fr. Brad likes to bathe 'his babies' in the holy oils

The Proud Family!
By the looks of this picture, it's hard to believe that John and Joseph will make it another 5 hours into the night...we tucked some extremely exhausted - but happy - children in bed at Midnight!

The Godfather

The Godmother

The surprise visitor/photographer

The Gommie (Clare is wearing the Baptismal gown that Gommie made for her children. It has seen many a Baptism!)

The Family

The Cake

The Mommy & Daddy

The Cool Big Brother

The Mommy and The Tuckered Out Star of the Evening

The next day was one of those perfect indian summer days! Wow was it beautiful!

Joseph enjoying the warm fall day

Lounging on the lawn

Mr. GQ

We just love the following photos....two beautiful Elder women with one of the newest additions to the Elder clan! (Clare is Gommie's 17th grandchild and Grandma Elder's 113th great-grandchild. Grandma Elder will celebrate her 98th birthday in January!)

Gommie & Clare (Wow! Gommie hardly looks 50!)

Godmother again! She looks like she fits right in out in Idaho, eh?! ;)

With all the visitors, this was the first time we needed 10 seats!

Pack 'em in!

A Clare Teaser

2007-11-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a little teaser of Clare. Enjoy.

What a great smile!

Clare Elizabeth

2007-10-05T23:18:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, September 30, 2007, we had the honor of welcoming a new little girl into our family. Weighing in at a hefty 9 lbs 6 oz. and a lengthy 21 in., she is happy and healthy and a wonderful blessing to our family. Looking just like her sisters, but with the coloring of her brothers, it will be interesting to see a dark haired version of Theresa and Catherine. So without further delay ... here's Clare:

Clare Elizabeth Uhlenkott
Born: Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 11:04 am Pacific
Weight: 9 lbs. 6 oz
Length: 21 in.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue (so far!)
Skin: Rosy

One of her first smiles

Just 2 hours old

Getting ready to be weighed

The apprentice and our midwife.

We were again blessed to have a wonderful home birth. Thanks to our wonderful midwives and the apprentice, as well as the prayers of so many family members and friends across the country, God truly blessed us with a safe and happy delivery. Our hearts are filled with gratitude!

Mommy and her 4 hr old beauty

Daddy and "Pinky"

The proud older brothers and sisters holding Clare for the first time:

The oldest (Theresa) and the youngest

Joseph and Clare

Catherine and Clare

John about to hold his sister for the first time

As you can tell, Clare's brothers and sisters were very excited to see her and hold her. After his turn with Clare, Joseph, overflowing with joy, went up to his mommy and said, "so happy, so happy" and then with a serious look at Mommy, asked, "When you have another one?" And without waiting for a reply, exclaimed with his hands held wide, "Lots more, lots more!" (Wish we had a video of that!)

Joseph asking Mommy

And to top it all off, we had another set of birthdays to celebrate as Joseph and Catherine turned 5! And they said that Clare was the best birthday present they could have received!

What a birthday!

John thought since he didn't get a cake, the ice cream was all his!

Finally, we want to thank everyone for their prayers throughout the pregnancy, labor, and delivery of little Clare. Also, thank you to all who have helped with our other children and have made meals for us. What would we do without all of you?! Thank you from all of us!

Fr. Jonathan St. Andre

2007-08-18T13:23:00.000-07:00

After having this in my drafts for over 8 months I'm finally getting it posted! Enjoy.

-----
For having never been to an ordination in my life, I have now gone to two in the last six months (editor note: remember that was 8 months ago!). In June (that is 2006) my cousin Fr. Ben was ordained for the diocese of Boise, for which I hope to post some pictures later. Then on December 9th, a good friend, Steubenville Alumnus, In His Image household brother, and roommate for a semester, Jonathan St. Andre was ordained to the Franciscan order of TORs (Third Order Regular) in Loretto, Pennsylvania. What a beautiful ceremony and a superb priest.

In the mist of juggling John, we didn't get any good shots of the ceremony, but we did get some afterwards.

Newly ordained Fr. Jonathan

The singing friars

We also ran into some old classmates from college.

Kevin and Anne Schmiesing and their family

Lisa Farmer

Fr. Dominic, Fr. Jonathan, Lisa Farmer, and Paul Portenlanger.

Then it was off to see Maura's old Texas A&M housemate and her family.

Maura & Emily & Ben

We met Spiderman (aka Nathan)

Mary Therese

Lucy

John was feeling pretty spoiled by the end of the trip ... he didn't have to share Mommy and Daddy with any of his siblings.

John on the airplane

Skipping Christmas...on to the 4th of July!

2007-07-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

O.K. So much for the story and pictures of our Christmas tree. The tree turned out nicely, thanks to Greg and the kids who decorated it while I lay sick with a fever on the couch. Christmas came, then travel to a cousin's wedding in Canada, then sickness with the kids, and then morning sickness, among other things. So you might say we disappeared for a while. We will now attempt, though, to blog once again. However, our baby is due in less than two months, so something tells me our presence here might be short lived! :)

For now, though, here's a picture from our trip to Texas of the kids on the back of Uncle Matt's pick-up truck watching fireworks!

Our Christmas Tree (Part I)

2006-12-22T21:28:00.000-08:00

The Freshly Cut Tree

The fewer branches there are, the fewer ornaments you need, the fewer ornaments to break, the less lights required, and the quicker the decorating job! ;) No, actually, it is quite a nice tree. And so fresh that after being up for 5 days it has hardly lost a single needle, despite the number of times it has been brushed up against by kids, scooters, rocking chairs, flying objects and the like.

Chopping Down the Tree

O.K. So John isn't so sure this tree-hunting business is as fun as everyone says!

Theresa Enjoying the Snow

The snow was much more plentiful in the mountains than on the prairie, so the kids enjoyed the adventure of tromping through the snowy forest. Well, they mostly enjoyed it. A few tears (o.k., maybe more than a few!) were shed when they would suddenly find themselves waist deep in the snow and feeling a bit cold and helpless. Amazingly enough, though, the hardships were quickly forgotten and by the time we returned home their hearts were filled with wonderful memories of our trip to the mountains to find a Christmas tree.

Eleven Years and Counting!

2006-12-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

A Date Night in Loretto, PA.

In celebration of the 11th anniversary of when Greg first invited me out on a date! :) Who would have believed....

A Real Idaho Potato

2006-09-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

We had our first garden this year (thanks to Grandpa!) and did we have a whopper of a crop... green tomatoes (the growing season is a bit short here), delicious corn, pumpkins, zucchini, cantaloupe, and of course potatoes. And did the potatoes do well! Here is a photo of the biggest one of the bunch ... as big as my hand and an easy two and a half pounds. This one will easily provide a whole meal for our family! (Please feel free to send us potato recipes!!) The rest were good sized, too. All in all, not too bad for our first go round.

The monster spud

August Summer Fun

2006-09-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

August started off with a bang and we are now well into September and things just haven't slowed down yet. One of my highschool classmates got married on Fri, Aug 1. It was a very beautiful wedding. Dave and Kerry, we wish you the best!

Dave and Kerry get married!

Then it was off to the beaches ... again! This time to Skookumchuck on the Salmon River with Matthew, Magdalene, and Raphael over from Seattle.

Mags and Raphael

The Great White Explorers ... watch out Lewis & Clark!

Are those goosebumps?

Snorkelin' buddies.

Then we had Paul and Kristin and Patrick, Claudia, and Declan come for a couple weeks. Did we have fun!

Back together again!

Declan and Raphael

The ladies of the family ... just missing Mimi!

And yes, there was a birthday in there!

In the midst of it all we had the newlyweds over for dinner

Together at the Idaho County Fair!

A cool treat on a hot August day.

That smile is as contagious as ever!

You mean I can have sand for lunch and dinner?

I don't think I'd want to mess with this bunch.

Starting a campfire in front of the church???!!! Just practicing for the Easter Vigil, I guess.

Dinner on the deck.

The Biggest Cousin and the one of the littlest cousins.

Paul and Kristin

The mentos experiment continues, this time with a 25 foot high jet of diet coke!

The joys of sleeping outside!

Getting cozy before the cousins and aunts and uncles leave.

Grandpa is getting his workout!

Then, after everyone left and I was visting California, some friends from Seattle came and Maura and the kids got to spend some time with the Hatches and Gary.

Sameniego and Johnny Pops

Laura and Johnny

Horse rides for all! (Thanks, Lauren!)

Maura, Colleen, and John

After I got back, Emily, also from Seattle, came for a few days.

Emily and the crew

Now, as the summer winds down and the fall rains begin, we look forward to next summer when we can do it all over again!

Good Times in Beautiful Santa Monica

2006-08-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a most excellent trip to Santa Monica where a good friend and co-worker from my Tier2/Open Text days, Mr. Thomas Milan, was married to a beautiful Eritrean, Rahel Woldegaber (see these links: link1, link2, link3). Another good friend and co-worker Pat Bucy was also at the wedding. It was a great experience getting to know some of Rahel's family, seeing a totally new culture, learning about Eritrea, and especially hearing Rahel's story and how both of their stories united. I am kicking myself for not getting a "Green Boy" reunion picture, but here are a few shots that I did take:

Thomas and Rahel during the Sunday morning brunch

I didn't get many other good shots. (The fact that these are my best will help you realize how bad the others are!) After the wedding and dinner, the dancing commenced. And did I menton that it wasn't your typical wedding dancing??!! Thre was an Eritrean band and Eritrean music and Eritrean dancing and was it fun! I still find myself jiggiling to the rythmn. The photos below show the last dance (which has a special Eritrean name which I have since forgotten) where we all dance around the bride and the groom with roses (a blessing for children) and money (which you place either in the colorful baskets or on the forehead of the bride or groom).

Being on the beautiful coast, I couldn't leave without checking out the beautiful beaches! Thanks to Pat, who brought a couple boards, I was introduced to the art and pleasures of boogie boarding. And what a better place than in wonderfully refreshing warm water with a beautiful breeze on your face. My only dissapointment was that Maura and the kiddos weren't there, too!

Another amazing blessing was seeing a good friend and college classmate of both Maura and myself, Sr. Catherine Marie of the Trinity, previously known as Catherine Adams. Sr. Catherine joined the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles in Alhambra, California, and now lives her live praying for and serving those both near and far. Sr. Catherine is currently teaching 4th grade at one of their schools in La Puente. I was able to stop in on them early Sunday morning, visit with Sr. Catherine, meet her fellow sisters, and attend Mass with them at the local parish, St. Joseph. It was such a treat to an already wonderful visit.

Sr. Faustina, Sr. Madeleine (the Mother Superior and Principal), Sr. Catherine Marie, and Sr. Mary John

Uncle Matt visits Idaho

2006-08-02T01:29:00.000-07:00

What a treat! Maura's brother Matthew came to Idaho to visit for a long weekend. We all had a great time showing him our home and a little bit of the area where we live.

Uncle Matt "warming up" for the Clearwater Tubing Adventure.

Trying to recover from hypothermia and frostbite after the now renamed Clearwater and Icicles Tubing Adventure.

A little background to the above pictures. We had gone down to the river a week previously when the temps were over 100 degrees and the water was wonderful. The day we decide to take our Texas visitor tubing, the temp dipped into the low 80s. The water, thus, was a bit chilly, even for the hardened Idahoans. Then to top it off, it got pretty windy half way down the river ... with a wind chill temp probably in the 60s. Needless to say, we were all happy to have a warm fire when we got back!!

Dinner on the deck

Going crazy with Uncle Matt

Catherine and her Godfather

Joseph teaching Uncle Matt a few tricks

John enjoying a book with Uncle Matt

The Mentos Experiment

The Mentos Experiment in Action

After some attempts by the fire after our river adventure, we fine tuned the experiment by putting the Mentos on straightened paper clips and dropping the whole string into the Diet Coke. As you can see, it worked pretty well. I wonder what form the next brainstorm will take??!!! (Check out this video that sparked our own experiments: http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html)

Thanks, Matt, we really had a great time and hope you can come back soon!

The Six of Us

2006-08-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

St. Michael's Mission, Arizona

2006-08-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

On our way back from Albuquerque, we stopped by this beautiful mission just across the New Mexico/Arizona border.

Needing some dentures?!

2006-07-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

Theresa lost 2 teeth yesterday! Add that to the tooth she lost a week ago and that's one cute, gummy smile! She is quite excited and proud!

Southeastern Utah

2006-07-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

In my mind, Southeastern Utah is one of the most beautiful places in our country. We traveled through a part of it on our way home and here are some shots of it. Most of these were taken in Capitol Reef National Park.

They call it Capitol Reef because of the many white domes that resemble our capitol buildings, and since many pioneers at the time were ex-mariners they found the area to be dangerous and mostly impassible, much like an ocean reef, thus Capitol Reef. This picture shows both.

Looking down on the Colorado River, and yes we are on the edge of the cliff!

The Dirty Devil joining the Colorado

Hiding from Mommy over the ledge

Excited about getting out of the car and bouncing on a walking bridge

Posing after climbing the rock face

Typical picnic area, just spectacular

Capitol Gorge and the Grand Wash. Watch out for rain -- These are flash flood death traps

There were a couple cars parked on the road here. Can you see what they are doing here? Check out the next picture to see.

Doesn't that look like fun!

Our recent cross-country trips have provided some terrific scenery. If you remember last year we drove through Flaming Gorge National Park on our way back from Matt and Magdalene's wedding. The whole area is just so beautiful. More trip pictures to come ...

The Tea Party

2006-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Rachel joining the tea party

The girls, who thoroughly enjoy playing dress-up, talked Aunt Rachel into joining them! Once they were all dressed they had a tea party. It was all quite fun until Joseph, who's not known for his gentleness, accidentally broke the teapot! By the way, do you notice something missing? Hint: It use to belong to Theresa.

Just not very pretty

2006-07-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Joseph makes one UGLY girl!

I think it is about time we got Joseph some swords, armor, capes, etc. The girls will probably get him in a dress anyway, so I guess it won't really matter! Next it will be ruby red lipstick, mascara, eye liner, blush, and fingernail polish (they've already gotten his toes once). Stay tuned!

Another Texas Adventure Completed

2006-07-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

We just finished another fun and eventful trip to Texas. Hopefully I can post a few pics from the trip. Here is one to get started.

Joseph and Uncle Matt enjoying the Texan heat

Look Who Turned One!

2006-07-12T21:11:00.001-07:00

John made it through his first year

Enjoying a new toy

Should have bought a lottery ticket

2005-09-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

Little did I know or even suspect what was to happen as I walked out the door last night to attend "Mystery Night", a fund raiser for our local Catholic school, Summit Academy.

Having never been to a "Mystery Night" before, Maura and I were excited to experience the event. To attend, you buy a $100 ticket, good for a couple. That ticket gets you a wonderful dinner, a chance at some great prizes, and a bidding number for both the silent and live auctions. Since there are only 350 tickets sold, there's a pretty good chance to walk away with something.

It is an elimination type raffel, if they draw your ticket out, you are out of the running for the Grand Prize, $10,000 worth of gift certificates. Every 10th ticket that is drawn has a chance to win a prize. And then the final 10 people with tickets left in the basket are brought up on a stage in front of the crowd and the real fun begins. They draw out one ticket and do a skit where they somehow eliminate one of the "contestants". The last one left on stage is the winner of the grand prize.

To our great surprise, we made it to the final round and I had the pleasure of going up on stage. Skit after skit I "stayed alive" and in the end our ticket was the only one left in the basket! Wow, can you believe it!! We sure couldn't. They asked me right away what I thought I do with the winnings and I said I really didn't know, since I didn't even know what the list of prizes were! What an amazing night! Thank you Summit Academy.

House guests revisited

2005-09-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about some interesting house guests we had been having. Well, I finally got the video up on our website. A word of warning ... It is a 45 meg download, so dial-up visitors beware. Click on the picture to start the download. And one more thing, you need a quicktime player to watch it. Enjoy!!

Gommie turns 70!

2005-09-07T06:20:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Texas to celebrate Maura's mom's, Phyllis McAndrew, 70th birthday. We have quite a few fun pictures from the trip to share, so we'll start off with some shots from the birthday.

There were actually two birthday's being celebrated that weekend, Phyllis' and her grandson's, Sean Malone. As you can see Sean is not vertically challenged!

The birthday duo

Maura, Phyllis, and Nicole at the party

The next day, Phyllis' actual birthday, Theresa thought she was being quite clever as she snuck up behind Gommie and tied Gommie's birthday balloon to her belt loop.

The birthday girl

Of course, with the whole family together, there was the customary family portrait.

The entire McAndrew clan plus one!

And this was such a cute picture that I couldn't help to not throw it in!

Grandma Elder and John

Harvest time on the Camas Prairie

2005-08-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

Harvest is one of my favorite times of the year. It probably has to do with growing up on a farm and getting to ride all the big machinery, so I'm glad that Theresa and Co. now have the same opportunity.

Harvest time

Our neighbors and (how'd you guess) distant relatives (third cousins to be exact), the Frei's, invited Maura and the kids to join them for a day on the field. Theresa actually got to go early since the twins and John needed a nap! I guess she got a special code name for use on the CB. She thought that was pretty special.

The farm girl ... code name Solvana

Joseph driving the big tractor

The Frei farm crew!

Mark and Kim, Ron and Glenda, thank you very much for bringing the farm life to our family!

Click on the Pictures!

2005-08-30T15:28:00.000-07:00

Just to let y'all know that you can click on the pictures to see the "big" version of them.

So, if you have a high speed connection or you don't mind the wait, click away!

Our REAL house guests

2005-08-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Our first house guest was Maura's mom, Phyllis. She arrived just a week after John was born and stayed until the end of July. She was a tremendous help as we adjusted to our new addition. I just hope our other guests didn't make her trip too memorable! (See previous post).

Phyllis, Catherine, and John just after Phyllis' arrival

John's Baptism

Then, right before we left for Texas, the Taylors dropped by on their way home from Pittsburg with their new car.

Laurel and Ryan and Theresa, Joseph, and Catherine

Laurel and John

Not only did we visit, but they really helped us as we were getting ready to leave! Ryan changed the oil in our car and then washed and detailed the car. And if that wasn't enough, he got on the lawn mower and mowed the lawn!! Thank you very much!

Ryan and Joseph mowing the lawn

Laurel and the girls

House Guests

2005-08-28T05:24:00.000-07:00

Little did we know who would answer Maura's "come one, come all" invitation!

First there were the friendly earwigs:

We'd come home at night and there would be thirty of these critters covering our floor. It became our nightly "Earwig Jig" as we would dance across the floor trying to avoid squishing them under foot. Ok, ok, so it wasn't that bad, but they are so small that they can get into everything. We found them in towels, clothing, the toilet, the refrigerator, and under the toaster. The worst was one Sunday morning as we are making coffee, finding twenty of them crawling up and down the glass water level tube. We even teased that they had gotten into closed pop cans!

The infestation has stopped, thank goodness, we think due to turning all the lights off at night and bagging the grass on our yard. Not surprisingly, though, Maura has become quite adept in the use of a fly-swatter!!

And just as the earwig problem was resolving itself, here came our second set of visitors:

This second infestation probably had something to do with our landlord cutting the hay in the fields and scaring them into our house. I enjoyed the 'hunt' through the house, but it sure excited Maura and the kids. Catherine, though, surprised me as I was showing them the first dead mouse, still warm and soft. She wanted me to wrap it up in a blanket so she could take it to bed with her!!!

Where have I been??

2005-08-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't been blogging! I've been putting lots of hours on the job ... too many hours, so I haven't had much time. I'm down in Texas now visiting the in-laws, so hopefully I'll have some time to post a few entries. We have lots of pics to share.

Three men and a baby!

2005-07-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

Three men and a baby!
(Fr. Ed White, Chisup Kim, Ed Hopfner)

Do you believe in coincidences? Sometimes things happen with such clockwork that I'd rather believe there was something divine about it. That is what happened June 27th.

Maura's mother, Phyllis, made plans to fly into town to see the new baby and help our family out for a while. At the same time, a good friend of ours from Texas A&M, Chisup, whom we had lost touch with, gave us a call and said that he would be in Eastern Washington and would like to visit us in Seattle on his way back to North Carolina. Seattle ... well, we don't live in Seattle any more, but it turned out he wasn't too far away, so we arranged to meet him for lunch in Lewiston, ID (map), when picking up Phyllis from the airport.

Well, on the way down to Lewiston, we got a phone call from some Seattle friends who were passing through Cottonwood, ID, and thought they'd try to look us up. They dropped into town, stopped at the city hall, which happened to be open, and asked if anyone knew where we lived. The city clerk said she didn't know where we lived, but she knew my parent's phone number. They called and my sister Rachel was home ... by herself ... which never happens ... and she gave them my cell phone number ... the new number ... that I had just changed. How she knew that number I still don't know.

So, that is how they happened to call us right before we lost cell coverage. And, since they were on their way through Lewiston, too, we arranged for them to give us a call when they got into town and we all would meet for lunch.

We got to the Lewiston airport early and were waiting for Phyllis' flight, when Chisup called to tell us he had just arrived in town. So we had him meet us at the airport.

A couple minutes later, our Seattle friends, Fr. Ed and Ed, called saying they had just gotten to town! So we had them meet us at the airport.

Just then, Phyllis' plane touched down and she was in the lobby minutes later. Within two minutes, Chisup arrived, and within another couple minutes, the two Eds were there, too! What a reunion! Once all the pleasentries were made and the luggage was gathered, we all went off to have a nice lunch at Zany's Hollywood Grill. They kids had fun watching the electric train, Chisup had fun holding the one week old John, and we all had a great time catching up.

Dinner at Zany's

What is the significance of the paths of a seminarian for the Diocese of Raleigh, North Carolina (Chisup), a priest from Seattle, ordained just two weeks previously (Fr. Ed), a theology student in Berkeley, CA (Ed), a grandmother from Texas (Phyllis), and a family from rural Idaho(us), all crossing one beautiful day?? I probably will never know, but I still marvel at how everything fell in place for us to all meet for lunch. We are so grateful for such good friends and for the unexpected opportunity to spend an afternoon with them!

Oh, one last thing ... guess who, after inquiring into their next stop, we discovered the Eds were on their way to visit? The family of one of my college roommates! WOW! What a small world ... even in the Great Northwest!

We welcome John Thomas into our family!

2005-06-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Introducing John Thomas Uhlenkott!

Our little John Thomas was born Monday, June 20, at 2:16pm. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. We are all so glad to have him with us -- he is truly a miracle!

Ah...what a nice rest! That birth stuff isn't easy!

Mommy and little John.

Mommy and John share a few special moments together. He was a rather stubborn boy during the labor, but fortunately by the time he finially arrived, he was pretty darn cute and Mommy quickly forgave him! :) What a precious little boy -- how Good God has been to us!!

Daddy introducting John to his big sisters and big brother.

Meeting their little brother for the first time!

What a great moment!! Theresa, Joseph, and Catherine welcomed little John with such joy and excitement. There is not doubt he will be well loved!

Finally getting to hold John ...

Theresa cannot hold John enough. And her repeated phrase is "I just can't believe he is ours." She will be a great help in the days ahead.

... after eight long months of waiting!

Catherine and Joseph are learning about being a big sister and big brother and are loving it. I think having to share him with the rest of the family will prove to be a challenge! Perhaps they would have rathered twins. :)

Home Birth

2005-06-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, they do have hospitals out here in rural Idaho, but, yep, we tried the home birth option this time anyway ... and it was awesome. Awesome in every sense of the word. To be in the comfort of your own home, to be in the presence of extremely competent midwives who also understand the power and necessity of prayer and join in with your prayer, to have your baby in their own home from the very first moments of life outside of the womb ... the list could go on and on.

Our midwife, Sherry Riener, and one of her fellow midwives, Cathy Ward, did a great job and we felt totally at ease with them. The way certain things were handled made me know that they were very much on top of the situation, and that if anything needed to be done that they couldn't do, they would have had us in a hospital before we would have even known we were being transported. Sherry and Cathy love the mothers and babies they minister to and would never do anything that would put them in any danger. And here are some pictures of Sherry when she came back to our house to check up on Maura and John.

Sherry, our wonderful midwife

Sherry and the kids

Thank you very much Sherry and Cathy!!

More Pictures of John

2005-06-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of John and family.

Uncle Paul and Aunt Kristin meet their newest little nephew.

Daddy and John.

Happy and content with Mommy.

Joseph loving John.

Sleep, John, sleep.

E. coli!!

2005-06-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we did get our water tested and the results were not good. They found E. coli in the water. Yuck!! Luckily we hadn't been drinking the water and according to the EPA, most strains of E. coli are not harmful. So, odds are we are ok.

So, I thought that maybe just cleaning the well would help in that regard. But, after Purexing the heck out of it and then re-testing it, E. coli was still found in the water.

Meanwhile, we needed some clean water. Most strains of E. coli might be harmless, but if there are any strains in the water, the water is susceptible to contamination from animal waste, and thus the possibility for coming across the dangerous strand is very real. Fortunately, we are water and pump people, so out comes the leaky water tank which we were able to plumb into the house.

Still, seeking a more permanent solution (you'd be surprised how quickly 500 gallons are used!), we thought we'd approach our landlady and see if she would be willing to drill a well for us. (She had wanted to drill before, but had spent so much on the remodel that she thought the drilling could wait a while.)

As luck would have it, the day Maura went to see her, she ended up being in the hospital and had almost died the previous night. Providentially, her docs were able to diagnose the problem as Wegener's Disease, a rare auto-immune disease of the blood vessels, and start treatment immediately. Her road to recovery looks to be a long one (say a prayer for her!) and so obviously she is not in shape to deal with our water problem.

So Now what??!!

Just when we had almost lost all hope ... Miracles of miracles, my dad knows her son, Bob. So he called him up and before you know it, the well drill was driving up! What an answer to prayers! Definitely a small miracle. After 3-4 weeks of having to get water every other day, and dealing with a limited water supply, we now have a much greater appreciation for access to good clean water!

My cousin Brett came over on a Saturday,figured out a good place to put the well, set up the drill, and started drilling

After going through some good top soil, we hit some red clayand then we hit some surface water and things started to get a little messy.

Brett, Paul, and I watch on.

Fortunately, we soon hit hard rock (30 - 35 feet), and Brett stopped drilling to drive some casing and seal off the ground water. Once the 30 feet of casing was in the ground and the hole was dry again, drilling commenced. Fifty feet later we were out of the rock and back into a hard clay. After another 10 - 15 feet, it was time to call it a day.

Now is when it gets interesting.

First off, Brett and Co. are worried that this hard clay is the cap to a high pressure artesian well. Sounds good in theory, but they are actually a pain in the bum. Plus, Brett wasn't so sure his seal would hold and the water might come up around the outside of the casing.

Secondly, Monday, June 20th, was the day they were to start drilling again ... and if you've read the post above, you know what else was happening on June 20th. Needless to say, neither Maura nor I was out there taking pictures!!

So, while Maura and I are busy getting John here, Brett and Co. pulls up and starts drilling right outside our window! I don't think Sherry or Kathy had ever had that sort of birthing experience before.

Now, Brett decided not to worry about the artesian possibility and to plunge on. All I know is that later that afternoon, they hit water

... at 2:15pm to be precise.

What is the significance of that!!! John and Water within one minute of each other!!! Wow! Water is the sign of new life and here we have new life!

And not only was it water, but it was a lot of water ... at least 80 gallons per minute. Small cities would be able to function on 80 gpm! That is a double, triple Wow!

Water!!!!

Here is a shot of when we first hit water ... the surface water. This is probably about 5 to 10 gallons per minute. Now imagine this picture with 10 to 20 times the amount of water!

Thank God for small miracles: our water and our beautiful little boy!

Our Little House on the Prairie

2005-06-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of our new place on the Camas Prairie!

Our new home

We moved in May 7th and are starting to feel a little settled. Our landlady had just remodeled the whole house ... new wood flooring, new bathrooms, new insulation, new heaters. She really did a lot to this place. Our only concern is the water. It is a hand dug well, but it is pretty close to the feed lot. They say it gets dirty a couple weeks in the spring when it is really wet. We should probably get it tested.

A view from Lukes Gulch Road

We are a good bit off the road, so Maura likes that with the little ones. We are also in a bit of a draw so that we don't see any of the neighbors. Our own little private residence.

Getting buzzed by our friendly spray plane pilot

And little did we know that later he would be back to spray another field that would put him directly overhead! Didn't get pictures of that one ... we were to busy ducking! :) Actually we were to busy running from one side of the house to the other. Joseph was in heaven!

Farewell to some great friends

2005-05-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from a last get-together with a few great families. We are going to really miss having them around.

Kim and Julie

Greg, Chrissy, and their new baby, Jude

And now we interrupt the animal game for ...

Theresa happily taught the Johner and Schmiesing children one of her favorite games, "The Animal Game." Clare had a hard time breaking character for the picture!

All Aboard!

Once the animal game was over and they had all eaten their fill, it was outside and ride the wagon.

Getting ready to slide, one, two, three ... go! (Whose back there keeping Joseph from a false start??!!)

Then off to the local park, where we tried to share the skateboarding court with some local teenagers.

Guess who fell off first!!

Happily there were only a couple casualties from the merry-go-round. The worst was when a girl not in our group got thrown off when Kim and I decided to push it together! Oops! Fortunately, she wasn't physically hurt, although, I don't think she'll be wanting to ride any merry-go-round any time soon.

Thank you Kim and Julie for putting this together! Enjoy the beach!
Greg and Chrissy, it was great having you in the Northwest for a little while. Cows and horses in Ohio ... beware!

What's missing??!!

2005-05-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yep, Theresa lost her first tooth! And like all things she does, it wasn't the conventional way most children loose their first tooth. She had to make it interesting.

Theresa acquired a couple cats that have been living in the hayloft in the barn, and being the responsible young girl she is, she would feed them every day ... well, maybe every third or fourth day if they were lucky ... but, in any case, this happened to be one of those lucky days for the cats. Theresa has a special way that she feeds these cats ... she fills up a small bucket with cat food which she brings down to the barn, so as not to have to bring cat food down every time. This also happened to be one of the days where she had to refill her cat food bucket.

The problem with the bucket is that she can't climb the ladder to the hayloft and carry the bucket at the same time. So she devised the scheme of tying some bailer twine to the bucket, putting the twine between her teeth, climbing the ladder, and then proceeding to pull the bucket up to the loft. Pretty ingenious, except in this particular case, when she somehow dropped the bucket ... with the twine still between her teeth! Out popped a tooth.

Now, even more amazing was the fact that she didn't cry at all, except maybe cries of joy. I have hardly ever seen her more excited and happy. To her, losing the tooth was a rite of passage. Now she really is a big girl!

We never did find that tooth, but Theresa was bound and determined to have the Tooth Fairy stop by, so she wrote a letter explaining the situation, put the letter under her pillow, and sure enough, the Tooth Fairy took care of her! :)

Matt & Magdalene's Wedding

2005-05-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

We got back recently from my brother Matt's wedding down in Denver. What an amazing wedding and an amazing trip! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. As always, I hope to share more with you soon.

Matthew and his beautiful bride, Magdalene

The wedding party and family

Magdalene and Theresa, one of her flower girls

Joseph and Patrick, the ring bearers

A picture of the family.... just weeks away from the new addition.

On the way back we drove past Flaming Gorge National Park

And now it's almost May!

2005-04-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

Wow ... it has been a long while since I've sat down and actually written anything.
We have lots of pictures to share, so hopefully, I'll get my act together and start posting again!

Tis Almost Christmas ...

2004-12-24T01:16:00.000-08:00

'Tis almost Christmas and all through the blog
not a post was to be found, all lost in a fog.
Long has it been that something was written
Except that one about a cute little kitten

So, thus it is late with the moon out bright
that I sit here to share, show, and write
of our trip last weekend way up north
to the house of the Johners did we venture forth

Where much laughter and jubilation was heard by all
as the children skipped and jumped around the wall
While with great company we did visit, you see
The Johners, the Schmiesings, and Fries soon to be

Thank you, thank you, thank you
From all of us at casa "U".
To Kim, Julie, Anna, and Gabriel,
and the little one yet to tell

(Now you know that I never would have made it as a poet! Hopefully, though, you will enjoy these pictures even more!! And, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas)

Anna Johner, Schmiesings: Jacob, Clair, and Max, and Theresa

Making New Friends

2004-12-11T13:20:00.002-08:00

The kids have been making some new acquaintances out here ... and not necessarily of the human kind!

Theresa, Patrick, and Joseph are off to the barn. And yes, we did get snow, but sadly it is now 50 degrees out and the snow has all melted away.

Catherine was first to the barn, not wanting to wait around for the others.

Three new kittens were recently born. Here are two of them with their mother. They are yet unnamed, but I'm sure that won't last long.

Orion was very happy to have been fed some hay and oats.

The Big Train turns 27!

2004-12-06T05:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday, Paul.

Patrick, Joseph, and Catherine (P, J, & C), now referred to as the trio, or just PJC, work on a joint birthday card for their Daddy/Uncle.

Welcome to Idaho

2004-12-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

Can you belive it! It has already been four weeks since the big move. The weather has gotten colder, we've had some great snowfalls and beautiful sunny days, and now it is already December.

Dad and Paul have already put me to work with some big jobs. And, just to give you a sense of that, normally the pipe down the well is 1", but the last few weeks we have been dealing with 4", 5", and 6" pipe! These pipes are so big, that a small child could fall down them. And to make it more interesting, we had to pull the 6" one twice and we still aren't done. The 6" job is for the City of Grangeville. We set the new pump, but then there was a short down the hole, so we had to pull it out to see what happened. It turned out there was a cut in the wire from either the factory or from a rock as we set it the first time. Now we have to fix the wire and then set it again. Maura came to visit the first day, and took some shots.

We had to hire a crane since our hoist wouldn't even be able to touch the weight.

Getting the wrenches all set ...

and then wrenching it tight.

Taping the wire and airline to the pipe.

Happy Thanksgiving

2004-11-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Three turkeys wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Dr. Matt with Patrick and Claudia

Our Helpers

2004-11-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

Like I said before, we couldn't have done it with out the help of all these wonderful people. There were many more that weren't captured on camera, but here are those lucky ones! :)

The Boss

Dad and Heather

Anna and Shelly

Gina and Maura

Ana and Maura

Emily, Gina, and Rachel

Someone had to eat the pizza (Robert and Mark) ...

And take care of the kids (Paul, TJC, Paulie, and Clare).

Thanks again everyone.

Goodbye Seattle

2004-11-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

[Updated 11/25/2004]

I have been meaning to add some text to this post for some time, now, but the move and new job has left me with little time. So on this day of Thanksgiving, I would like to say a big "Thank You" to all of our wonderful friends in Seattle. You have all given so much of yourselves from when we first arrived to our final departure. The memories of "Craft Night" at the Achesons, JB's 40th birthday party poker night, Husky game with Pat, long hours of coding and playing basketball with Thomas, Rosary nights at the Hatches, the many adventures with Gary (life with Gary is an adventure!), sidewalk counseling with Maureen and Ed, dinners with the Burslems, the two Camp Cushman weekends, and many, many more memories come flooding back as I sit to write this.

And how can we forget the support you have been to us and our growing family. You all helped us through at least 4 moves in our short time in Seattle. And the twins! How could we have done it without you!!! The last two years have been very long and challenging and it is only because of you that we aren't in the looney farm!

So, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. We just can't thank you enough.

We already miss you all and can't wait until we return after Christmas to catch our flight to Texas. We hope to see some of you then.

We would also like to extend an open invitation to all of you to come and visit us in Idaho. For those of you brave enough to tackle the snowy winter drive, there is some great skiing out here, otherwise there is always the beautiful spring and glorious summer. Come in August and we'll go tubing down the mighty Clearwater or will take you to the local county fair (not quite like the Puyallup, but its free!). Come anytime, there is always something to do ... Grandpa will make sure of that! :)

Again, we miss you, thank you, come and visit, and good bye for now.

New job, new house, new ...

2004-11-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

Why does it always seem to happen in three's! I'm actually surprised that we don't have triplets! Yes, that's right! We have a new little one growing away in the warmth and comfort of Maura's tummy. We were able to get our first look yesterday and saw his little heart just beating away as healthy as ever.

At just under a centimeter in length, the latest Uhlenkott is causing havoc with his mother. How can someone so small cause so much trouble! :) Thank you to Maura for taking on this sacrifice for our family. We really do appreciate it.

It will be a relief once the next few months of sickness are past, the moving is over, and we are settled in our new place. We are looking forward to seeing our new baby in the flesh on Father's Day.

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

2004-11-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween!!

2004-10-31T18:26:00.000-08:00

Moving

2004-10-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

I guess it was bound to happen at some point: We are leaving the Seattle area. We have met so many wonderful people out here and it makes us sad to have to say good bye to all of you.

We are off to the land of the Idahoans to make water for the natives. We will be joining forces with my brother Paul and my Dad in the family business of the installation and service of domestic and public water systems. Basically that means a whole new line of work as I get down and dirty digging ditches, pulling pumps, wiring control curcuits, and a host of other interesting and physical tasks.

We are really looking forward to living close to family and having a more active occupation. No more sitting day after day in front of the computer. I will admit, though, that I will really miss that life. Hopefully the fresh air, clean water, and crystal clear skies will help sooth the withdrawl symptoms!

Let the packing begin!

Why Bush?

2004-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, it is amazing how this blog is getting around.

First some background info. Eric, you can skip down a couple paragraphs to see my reply to your post.

My previous picture post of Joseph (the one with the Bush sticker) was viewed by a fellow blogger Eric, who then posted his comments on his own blog. (Link to follow after some disclaimers!)

Now, I wouldn't have even noticed this, except my site statistics started getting lots of referrals from this 'ericthesonic' blog, so I thought I'd check it out and see why all the referrals. And I still almost missed it. Eric had written a post where he commented on 'uhleyog'. In his post was a link to 'uhleyog', and thus all the referrals I had noticed.

Have I piqued your curiosity yet? If so you will want to view the post and comments, but I want to warn you that there is quite a bit of profanity in the post. So, I am going to provide a 'family friendly' version below. If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity, then you can always view the uncut version.

The Post: Eric basically said that he checked out our blog and loved all the pictures and thought we had a neat family until he saw the picture of Joseph with the Bush sticker. Seeing that made him think we are a bunch of morons and other unmentionables.

Well, I wanted to respond to his post (and the comments that were made to his post) to poke a little fun as well as provide a little explanation. That in turn prompted a response by Eric, which is prompting this response.

I thought, since Eric had issues with the picture, other people might as well, so maybe I should make a public statement so people know where I'm coming from. Thus this post rather than a comment.

So, Eric...

Thank you very much for apologizing. Now I know something about you! 1. You are a decent person (pro), 2. You use way to much profanity on your blog (con)! :) Seriously, though, I really do appreciate you taking the time to apologize and also for putting your reply out in front on your blog and not just hidden in the comments.

You first ask if my comment was sincere. I can assure you that it was 100% sincere. What do we have if we don't have sincerity and truth? (Comedians, maybe? :) - hah!)

You asked why I believe Bush to be the better candidate, and since you asked I'll explain. I didn't want to put that into my earlier comment since it really didn't have anything to do with the purpose of it and I didn't want you to think I was being preachy.

Why Bush? I hope you can be patient with me as I explain and hear me out to the end. I will vote for Bush because he is against abortion and because Kerry is not. Am I a single issue voter? No, but when an issue is very important, the other issues take second place. And I believe abortion is that important. To some people the important issue is the war. To me it is abortion.

Why is abortion such a big issue? Eric, we are killing babies!! I am a father and I have been through the 9 months of pregnancy and I would have to be a "moron" if I didn't believe the life in my wife's womb wasn't anything other than a little baby. And yet, we allow the lives of those little ones to be taken.

A friend of mine just recently reaquainted me with the statistics and thus the seriousness of the issue. Statistics are fine, but it wasn't until I applied them to the local area that I was shocked. I live in the Seattle area with a population of approx. 2 million people in the greater Seattle area (King county). Apply the worldwide abortion rate to Seattle and those 2 million people are gone in 20 days! Apply the national abortion rate and we live a little longer: 1 year 3 months.

What about the war and the death penalty, you might ask. And I agree with you (assuming you are opposed to both)! I don't like the war and I never did. It's not that I think it is the evil atrocity some are making it out to be, but I had a bad feeling about it from before it ever started (a topic for another post). And although I don't believe the death penalty to be a moral evil (because of the self-defense idea, again for another post), I do question whether it is something that is needed today.

But, regardless of whether one is right or wrong, killing is killing. So why is abortion so big and not the war or the death penalty? For me, the numbers alone answer that question. Abortion kills 1.3 million each year, the death penalty kills less than 100, and the war has killed approx 20,000. That means that the war and death penalty body count is only 1.5% of the abortion body count!

To me, that makes abortion seem pretty important.

Eric, I've gone on and on and if you are still with me, I hope you don't think I'm being preachy or anything. It is such a hot topic for people that I want to try to really explain why. I guess I also feel so strongly about this because I am a father and have had little newborns who are so utterly helpless and dependent one me that I can't imagine anyone wanting to hurt them, let alone kill them.

Well, now I did it, I branded myself as a radical anti-abortionist! :)

Hopefully, though, you can at least see why I feel the way I do. If you want, I ask you to return the favor and tell me why you believe Bush isn't the better candidate and (I'm assuming) you think Kerry is. I don't mean this as a political debate or battle. I am just curious as to where you are coming from.

Anyway, thanks again for your reply and apology. It really meant a lot.

Gommie's Visit

2004-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

It was with much sadness that we put Gommie on the plane yesterday to return to Texas. The kids had a great time with her, and hopefully she with them! Theresa loved her evenings playing St. Therese paper dolls with Gommie, and Joseph and Catherine loved the many books, rhymes, and songs she shared with them. And as for me....I got spoiled having her company and her help all day long! We are already looking forward to our trip to Texas after Christmas!

P.S. Just for the record, Greg has finally succeeded in getting me to post something on this blog. He has been very persistent! :)

Gommie and the kids

Gianna!

2004-10-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

There is a beautiful new Uhlenkott in the world, little Gianna Marie, born Oct 2. Congratulations Dan and Mimi!

Check out their new blog: the uhlenKottage

Welcome Gianna

Proud Mamma and Papa

2004-10-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

Developmentally behind, maybe.
A political genius, most definitely!

Therese - The Movie

2004-10-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

We are blessed to have the new Therese movie showing in our area, so yesterday (Oct. 1 - her feast day), my two brothers and I went to see it. The first thing that I really liked: No Previews!! It is a movie that I recommend to anyone who is able to see it, even if they have no interest in St. Therese. She was an amazing woman, and although the quality of the movie wasn't of the "big screen" level, it shows in great detail the life she lead and why she is such an amazing saint. Go see it, you'll be glad you did.

Feast of St. Theresa

2004-10-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today is a very special day for our family, as it is the day we were engaged (yes 6 years ago!) and it is both Theresa's and Maura's feast day.

The following picture is part of a St. Theresa story. Maura has been doing a novena to St. Theresa leading up to today's feast day. Last week, our local Catholic radio station, Sacred Heart Radio (KBLE AM-1050), was having their annual Pledge Drive. Maura, unable to tune in to much of the event, finally was able to listen to the last hour or so of the Pledge Drive, during which she called in and made our standard pledge. Somehow that small gift won the prize for that hour and the prize was the most beautiful bouquet of roses I've ever seen. The flowers were definitely a gift from heaven for Maura. Thank you St. Theresa.

Happy Feast Day, St. Theresa!

The Twins are 2!

2004-09-30T23:58:00.000-07:00

Well today was their big two year birthday, Joseph at 6:06 pm and Catherine a mere ten minutes later. We were blessed to have both Grandparents in town for the event as well as a couple uncles and an aunt. It is late now and Uncle Mark is itching to get back to the computer to work on his library program, so I'm off to bed or will be conned into helping him flush out a few bugs. :)

Moments before the cake was devoured.

Sr. Rose, a favorite of the kids.
(the Skittles might have something to do with that!)

The Memory Game

2004-09-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

Theresa has fallen in love with the memory game! Every night as the twins nurse to sleep, she talks me in to playing a game with her. And she is getting good! Now that she can easily beat me, I've started to wonder how she does it. Well the other night she let me in on her secret. She figured out that the backs of the wood pieces are different and she has been memorizing the patterns in the wood! Now she knows that one of the pig pieces has this sort of line on the back and one of the dog pieces has a sort of swirl. I was amazed! All this is from a 4 year old! She was and is mighty proud of herself.

But that wasn't the end of her chicanery. Last night we are playing again and I'm talking with her about her "trick". Pointing to a piece I say, "So, Theresa, this is the pig." She nods her head. "And this is the other pig," I ask pointing to another piece. Again, she nods her head, this time with a slight smile that I didn't understand at the time. I continue on with my talking, trying to compare her "reading" the backs of the pieces to the "reading" of words. After finishing my diatribe, I continue with my turn of the game, totally forgetting the "pigs" that Theresa had pointed out earlier.

Of course, I turn up two pieces that don't match. Theresa, now with a sly smile and a mischievous giggle, turns over the two pieces pig pieces that were definitely not the two pig pieces she had pointed out earlier! "I tricked you," she said. "I didn't want you to get those pieces, so I pointed out the other ones."

Wow! I just had to sit back and chuckle.

Theresa and her "Memory" game

2004-09-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

This is a quick picture that I found to post to test out the photo posting features of the blog. I'll try to put up a picture or two of the birthday party after it happens!

Mommie and Theresa

Celebrations

2004-09-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

Up early this morning and out for a quick run after feeling miserably sick last night. Thank you to my beautiful wife for all she does for me, especially when I feel so miserable!

Getting ready for company and for the twins 2nd birthday. Amazingly enough, we will have both grandparent(s) in town as well as some uncles and an aunt! Gommie is flying in from Texas for a couple weeks and Grandmommie and Grandpa, Uncle Mark and Jacob, and Aunt Rachel are passing through on their way to visit my sister in Steubenville.

Then for the weekend, the uncles are staying and we are all going to have a great time.

Haloscan

2004-09-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just added haloscan commenting and trackback. If anybody has comments on this system please let me know. I don't like the idea of splitting up the data. It be nice if everthing was in one place. I guess I could use blogger for commenting and haloscan for trackback, since trackback was the main reason for adding haloscan.

I definately would recommend that if you use the automated system for adding haloscan to your blogger blog, that you make a copy of your template. I didn't and have been regretting it. The automated system is nice (it even added this post!), but it didn't give you the option of saving your original template somewhere local, or store it on it's server so you could go back to it if need be.

----------- added by haloscan automated sytem -----------

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Big Fat Glancy Wedding

2004-09-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we attended one of the most beautiful weddings we have ever been to. It wasn't beautiful because of the thousands of dollars spent on flowers or because of the 10-tier wedding cake. It wasn't because of the ensemble orchestra at the reception or the beautiful country club where the reception took place. It wasn't the gourmet food that the caterer served. It wasn't any of these things, because none of these things happened.

So what made the wedding so beautiful? The only answer is its Simplicity.

The simplicity of the ceremony, of the reception, of the entire event, made it possible to focus more on the event itself, the marriage of Robert and Maya. It made it possible to focus more on the sacrament, more on the couple that have now joined themselves together for the rest of their life.

Thank you Robert and Maya for showing us that it isn't the extravagance of a wedding that makes it so special, but rather the pure and simple love of two people now united as one.

And now I am proud to introduce Robert and Maya:

Robert & Maya Glancy

Why uhleyog?

2004-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Some people might ask, "Why uhleyog?"

It goes back to my college days, when on the field, teammates had a hard time saying "uhlenkott" at all, let alone saying it quickly and multiple times. Thus began the nickname "uhley" which after some agressive football games, became "muhley".

So somehow the two words "uhley" and "blog" somehow formed together in my brain as "uhleyog".

Gmail

2004-09-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

I just got an invite from gmail (via Freecycle!) and after one day, I'm hooked. I love the way it handles replies with it's convesation thread idea. Plus, how can you beat 1 Gig of storage. I downloaded the Gmail Notifier, which shows up in the systray. It checks for mail every 2 minutes. I also noticed that there is an app that handles gmail via POP3. I haven't tried that one out yet. I wonder how it will handle gmail's conversations?

Since it is still in beta, the only way to get an account is to be invited. Another reason to Freecycle!

I'm sure that I'll learn a lot more in the next few weeks. :)

Freecycle

2004-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with you the joys of freecycling! We've just started, and have already given and taken items. Rather than throw stuff away, offer it to members of your community. You will be amazed at how many people will see a "treasure" where you see "trash".

For more info visit http://www.freecycle.org and find a local group to join. The Seattle area has at least 5 groups.

Welcome to uhleyog!

2004-09-03T11:46:00.000-07:00

I have heard of web logs and have even visited some in the past, but have never looked into it any further ... until now!

And thus begins the uhleyog.

Although, I'm not a prolific writer by any stretch, I will try to have a new post ever once in a while.