Friends

I am writing this in our house which is full of teenagers. Rachel is the captain of the speech team and the "official" end of season party was canceled due to sick family members. So she just invited the whole team here. It has been a fun evening.

We barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs and the kids all brought chips, salad, pop and dessert. They played apples to apples and a variety of improv games. You know you are dealing with high schoolers who speak as recreation when they can create scenes on the go and laugh and joke about the process. It is so much fun to watch them work through situations verbally.

It is also wonderful to know my daughter feels comfortable inviting ten - fifteen teenagers over to the house with less than twenty four hours notice.



The weather this week has been wild. We had rain, snow, wind, sunshine, cold and warmth. But my garden continues to grow. My onions have sprouted and the strawberries are beginning to bloom. And on Wednesday Jeff and I will drive to Morris to pick up Stephen for a short break at home. Stephen will be home for four days before heading to Washington. He'll spend a day at the University of Washington checking out the computer science graduate department. Then he'll spend a week visiting my family (Forest is particularly excited to get to spend some time with his cousin). Then he will travel with my folks to Colorado to visit my Opa (grandfather) and Aunt and Uncle. He will fly from there to Utah (Salt Lake City) then travel to Logan where he will spend the summer doing computer human research at Utah State University. We're so excited for him and the opportunities he is pursuing.

Enjoy the spring, it sounds like many areas of the country are getting wild weather.
Diane

May! Life slows down, maybe?

The speech season has concluded and we are all grateful for the season to be done. While we were very excited and proud for Rachel to make the state meet. It did mean that the speech season was very long.

We made a whole weekend of it. Rachel drove down on Friday with the team and the obligatory stop at the Mall of America. Jeff and I drove down and enjoyed the time together. We joined the team for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and had a delightful time.

Saturday after spending the night at a motel that reminded both of us of our grandparents met the team at the college. Jeff and I watched a variety of speeches and were very impressed with the quality of the performances. Rachel and I watched the creative expression finals together. She was inspired and impressed with the finalists.

We then went and spent time with Sarah and got to see her on campus and on in her turf. That was wonderful. She looks so comfortable and at peace even in the midst of school busyness.

We also spent time (and used their guest room, thanks) with Ben and Brandy Utter in St. Paul. They shared with us their favorite restaurants and places. A wonderful, busy weekend.

I am now beginning to work in the garden, my peas are now about 3 inches high. I am getting ready to do summer reading class visits but work is a little slower, I hope.

Here are a few pictures from the state meet, in the arena waiting for results to the final round to be posted.





Have a wonderful May!
Diane

Section Speech Champion!

Rachel called Saturday afternoon very excited. She was named section champion for creative expression in speech. Next Saturday she'll present with the best of the rest of the state at the state speech meet.

She is excited and honored to be returning to the state meet for the second year in a row. She will go with three other kids from Falls High School, including another student in creative expression.

We will also go down for the competition and then spend the rest of the weekend visiting friends and family in the cities. The state speech meet is held at Gustavus Adolphus University campus in St. Peter, MN.

Diane

Spring?

I planted peas this afternoon. I don't think I've ever planted anything outside here in International Falls before the first of May. I may regret it but hopefully not. Two weekends ago I started tomatoes, spinach, oregano and parsley in the house. It is definitely beginning to feel like spring here. We haven't had snow on the ground for a while already, but are only very slowly greening as we've had very little rain. We are expecting rain this week so hopefully will speed up the green process.

We had a busy Easter as Jeff and Rachel worked in the sound booth and I worked in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the church family, an annual teen fundraiser for their summer missions trip. We then had Easter dinner here with Nelsons, Sinclairs and Bob Nye. I left church a bit early to be able to come home and send Sarah back off to school. We had a wonderful weekend with her.

Stephen is in Atlanta for the week. He is working as a student volunteer at the International Computer Human Interaction conference. He will be presenting a paper with the rest of the team it was researched and written with. He will also get a tour of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Speech sections are next Saturday and Rachel is excited and ready. It has been a good season for her.

Enjoy spring!
Diane

How the time does fly!

A month since the last post. Not quite sure why it is so difficult to update here. I think we are living life, not writing about it. In the last month, Rachel has had a speech meet each Saturday. I've had to make the decision to cut hours at the library due to a staff member resigning that I can't replace. And Jeff has recorded 2 or 3 new shows. As a family we've celebrated the Oscars, spent time with Stephen on his spring break, watched winter melt away faster than any year since we've been here and lived day to day.

Yesterday Jeff and I celebrated 22 years of wedded bliss. It has been a good 22 years, even through the rough moments. I wouldn't trade him for anyone else, I don't think there is anyone else willing to put up with my foibles.

I've begun planning the garden and dreaming about what I want to do outside. Rachel is getting ready for speech sections and possibly the state meet. She also competed with the high school band at sections this past Thursday. The band had had some individuals or duos compete but hadn't had the entire group participate in a number of years. They were pretty excited at qualifying for the state meet. Rachel will have a very busy April (but what is new) She follows after her parents and stays involved.

Sarah will be home for Easter weekend and we can't wait. We will be busy while she's here but will enjoy the time we can grab. She is hoping to find work in the cities for the summer and we will miss her if she doesn't come home.

Stephen spend part of spring break in Boston graduate school shopping. He looked at MIT, Harvard and Tufts and was most comfortable with Tufts. He thinks it would be a good fit. He will look at the Georgia Institute of Technology in April while attending the Computer Human Interaction conference as a student volunteer and presenting a paper (with his name listed as one of the co-authors). He is hoping to fly to Seattle in May to take a look at the University of Washington. I keep telling myself, at least he isn't look at graduate schools overseas. :)

Hope your spring is shaping up and everyone is staying healthy.
Love,
Diane

In the News

The family is in the news again, well at least Jeff and Rachel. Check out this great story that ran on NPR this morning. I hope they get a good response and run it on "All things Considered" which is where they were going to run it originally.



And I don't think my link is working this morning so I am going to put the address in below and you will probably have to copy and paste this address to view the story.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/02/26/icebox-theater/

I don't know what is wrong but the link won't load and I don't have time right now to figure out how to make it work.

Enjoy.
Diane

Rachel and clothes

Rachel isn't a clothes fiend, or hog like many girls but she does enjoy looking nice. But she is also an incredible bargain hunter. Yesterday we saw a sign that we thought meant a very nice 2nd hand clothing store was going out of business. Rachel went down after school to take a look. The store isn't going of out business, but they were having a winter clearance sale. Rachel has wanted a formal outfit to wear for a variety of events (like out Oscar party). She found a $10 formal that she really liked and that fit. Her favorite dress, that has been at the store for a while now, is still not on sale but below is the dress she found. I continue to marvel at her ability to find bargains that she likes.