Thanksgiving and Christmas in LA

We spent Thanksgiving in Los Angeles with my family. Most of our time was spent watching football and finishing our schoolwork. I typed out a 25 page paper during our three days in LA and watched the ASU, NU, and BYU games. We also visited our good friends Mike and Jenny, and their little girl. We went miniature golfing at Golf-N-Stuff, which contributed a scene to the original Karate Kid movie.

We're now back in Tempe and finishing up school. The term technically runs until December 15 or so, but I will be completely finished before the end of November. Jen is pretty jealous. Then on December 14 we head up to Moscow, Idaho, to meet Amanda. We're anxious to get to know her and her family. We are so grateful for her decision to allow us to adopt her baby girl.

For Christmas we'll be in LA again, and Jen's parents will fly in for a few days. Usually we spend that holiday with them in Washington, but this year we're rotating my parents in for Christmas. Then we'll return for school in early January, prepare our home for a baby, and return to schoolwork. I've only got two classes left, exams, and my dissertation (which will take a couple years). Jen has about six classes and will complete them over the next two semesters as a part-time student, then complete her exams and final document. She'll graduate in Spring 2010, and I'm expecting to finish a year later.

Its Baby Time

The good news is finally here! We've been waiting for years and a young woman named Amanda just selected us to adopt her baby. We're so excited! All we know so far is that Amanda is seventeen, she lives somewhere near Spokane, Washington, and she is expecting a baby girl on February 25, 2008. We also know that she printed our LDS services profile and thought and prayed over it for a while.

We first found out a couple weeks ago, but information was so slow to come that we were not sure we could really trust that this was for real. We didn't want to get our hopes up until we knew that she really did select us. Now we've sent her a personal email and are anticipating one back from her soon. We have so many questions for her I don't even know where to start. But we'll keep the blog updated as info becomes available.

Other news.... Is there really any other news that is half as interesting? No, not really, but here it is anyway. Jen is still dutifully pounding away at schoolwork. She's on a mission to complete as much as possible before the baby arrives so that she can still finish her program. She only needs a couple more classes after this semester, and she'll work on those part time as I finish up mine. I have two more classes, exams, and then the big dissertation. It looks like my dissertation will deal, ironically enough, with LDS services. I'm going to look at the Church's Indian Student Placement Program (1946-1996), though I've not yet decided if that will be my focus or just one of the several educational programs used by Navajos in the latter half of the twentieth century.

So I guess that is it for now. Look for more to come...

Our new piano arrived! This old girl belonged to Jen's grandmother who passed away a year ago. Her oldest child inherited this 1921 Steinway M but did not have the space for it, so it is on indefinite loan to his oldest child--Jen. But don't be to shocked by the name and date because pianos actually depreciate over time, and this one needs thousands of dollars in repair so it will be a little while before Jen is using it regularly. Right now that is her justification for keeping her upright (also in the photo). Any minute now I need to go pick up the new block I had made to lock in the left leg currently secured by a piano bench and stack of books. Even still, we're excited to have this piece of history in our home.

Paintball

Thursday I went paintballing with the youth from church. We drove out to a field on the southeast side of the valley and had a lot of fun. I made the mistake of charging into a crossfire to save a game, and I'm still paying for it. Most of my welts come from that foolish run. Two days later my muscles are very sore. It hurts to get up and down, and Jen likes to poke and punch my quads.... I hurt.

Back from Olkahoma City

I just got back from Oklahoma City. The annual meeting of the Western History Association met there this year and it was fun to see old friends again. The four-day conference is composed of a variety of panel presentations and a few special events and meals. I also got to meet several of my heroes. My friend and mentor Donald Fixico received the Native American Achievement Award for his life long contribution to Native American history. I was there representing my institution and a resource project I'm currently running to assist teachers and professors who work in Native American history. Overall it was a great experience.

On another note, for the third week in a row my blackshirts (the Nebraska Cornhuskers' defense) allowed over 400 yards--ug! The offense looked equally miserable, maybe even worse. I'm a little worried that the rest of the season will be really ugly. Good thing BYU looks good, so I'll have a winning team to follow.

Other news??? We are getting a grand piano next week. Jen and I are really excited. It is a family piano that her father inherited but has no space to keep. Right now Jen is trying to convince me that we should keep the old piano as well, but I'm not quite convinced yet.

Summer is Over... Now Back to School

Well, the summer is finally over and school has resumed. I'm pleased to say that after the past three years of graduate work my final year looks like it will be much easier. I'm looking forward to having more free time to spend how ever we want.

Here are a few final photos from this summer's escapades:

Here Jen stands triumphant over the remains of a massive vine hedge (formerly 3 feet wide, 6 feet tall, 50 feet long). We spent two days cutting it down and ripping out the extensive root system. In the process we found all sorts of odd items buried in the vines--children's toys, Christmas lights, and a beer can or two (we don't drink). Jen is standing on one of the smaller posts that further complicated the fence removal.

Here is the new fence we built in place of the old nasty vine covered fence. The gate was not yet hung when we took this picture, but now it is all done. All that is left is for our grass to grow and fill in the dirt patches that we dug up while removing vine roots.

And finally, here is Jen with one of the twins, making a lovely face.

Washington Photos

Well, our stay in Washington is coming to an end, so let me preempt Jen with some of my favorite photos from the trip! I'll begin with our first week in Pacific Beach with Tiff, Mia, and our nieces.

Brynley, Kylee, Jen, and Kennedy

Matt and Brynley

champions of the 'Founder's Day' games

Mark (Jen's dad) loves model planes

Jen covets a friend's mini cooper

nieces on the beach

Jen and Mark at Kevin's (Jen's brother) birthday party

Brent marries our new in-law, Nicole

Matt and Brynley (our six-year old niece)

Off to Washington!

Well, Brent (Jen's youngest brother) is getting married in a week so we're off to Washington State to join him. It will be fun to see family again. We saw most of Jen's family when we were in Provo (they came out to for her cousin's mission home-coming) but I didn't get to see Jeremiah (Jen's sister's husband). So we'll spend a few days with Jeremiah and Tiffany at their home in Seabrook, a fancy smancy resort community he is building on the Washington coast. Hopefully Kevin (Jen's other little brother), Brent, Jeremiah and I can get in an evening of our classic spade's rivalry. Kevin and I pair up against Brent and Mia.

My research trip to Utah went well. I was a little frustrated by the LDS Church archive restrictions, but the archivists there tried very hard to provide me the materials I requested. My research centers on 20th century Native American (maybe just Navajo) relations with different churches. The problem is threefold; first, in the LDS Church there is a need to maintain a united presentation. The church stands on a foundation of inspired revelation and authority, so it is hesitant to release the correspondence of members of the Indian committee because it may reveal disagreements and conflicting ideas about how to work with Indians. Second, the topic of Native American is a controversial one, and the Church would rather not release sensitive materials that may come back to bite it. I noticed that almost everything referencing George P. Lee, excommunicated Navajo general authority, was restricted. And third, the topic is so recent that many of the people in the files I want are still alive, and so some personal information remains sensitive. Even still, the archivists were wonderful about helping me to get to most those materials. I really appreciate their help. BYU's archives were the most fruitful. I found plenty of documents that clearly spell out the Church's Indian policy. Now I've got to do the same thing with the Catholic Church, and then a Protestant church or two. Then I'll hit the Navajo archives, and hopefully my advisers will be able to get me more access than I'd normally enjoy.

Today is our last day at home for a bit. The governor is coming to visit, and it is too bad we'll miss her by a few minutes. We just closed on our home (last Friday) and used a special program that has caught the governor's attention. She'll wanted to stop by our house and meet us but her schedule dictates that her visit must be at 3pm, and our flight out of here is at 3:45, so we'll just miss her. Instead she'll look at the house next door which is still for sale under the same program we used. Oh well.

So I better finish my laundry and get packed. I hope these entries let you feel like you know us a little better.

We are in Utah!

Matt and I drove up to Utah on Tuesday to do research at BYU and the Church archives in Salt Lake. I was unsure where to even begin with the research, but I have found interesting information on one of the early Mormon Tabernacle Choir directors, George Careless. I have a lot of reading to do now! Hopefully the research will turn in to a published article or maybe even the topic for my final paper.

It is a little strange to be back in Provo once again. I lived here for 9 years and it feels somewhat like coming home. But things are different and many people have moved away. We went by our old house and it's still so cute! My family arrives this week to celebrate the return of one of my cousins, Heath from a mission in Brazil. It will be a great fourth of July! I cannot wait to see my three beautiful nieces: Brynley, Kylee and Kennedy. I wish my little nephew, Noah was coming too. I am the luckiest Aunt in the world. Below are my nieces and nephew in photos we took at Disneyland.


Our house is finally painted! It is quite colorful and everyone really likes it. There is a lot of touch up to do, but we will deal with that after we get back from our travels. I especially like the red wall in the kitchen. It adds some spice! Our house truly feels like a home.
Well, I want to include pictures of the house and my nieces and nephew, so I will sign off for now. Have a wonderful day!

Visiting Utah

So this week we are in Utah doing a little research. It is very glamorous. We sit in very quiet rooms requesting and reading manuscripts all day. Delightful! Jen is researching George Careless, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Director in the mid-late 1800s. I am looking at religious influences on Southwestern tribes, and here in Provo looking at some old records on the American Indians Studies and Research program, as well as the Indian student placement program. Hopefully our research will make it into publications.

While we are here we will also going to spend a little time with family. Jen's cousin is coming home from a mission this week. He was in Brazil. I'm excited to see Jen's brother, Brent (or as I call him, Brentilda). It is nice to be back in Provo for a little bit, and it is funny how some things change and others remain the same. We attended our old married student ward today, but there was only one couple there from the days when we lived here.

Summer has been productive. We worked on the house a bit, but Jen wants to write about that. I worked for the university for the first half of the summer. I maintained a list serve and web page, and now I'm feeling a little more competent about managing a web page of my own. Maybe I'll open one up soon.

So that is it for me, today. I hope you find these entries give you a bit more insight about our personalities.

Okay, so I am just trying this for the first time. I really like pictures, so I will probably include lots of pictures! Today, I will begin with one.

Don't I have the best husband in the world? He gave me the card, flower and some cool tiki torches for the backyard! What a sweetheart! Tiki torches may sound like a strange gift, but we are anxious to have a backyard party celebrating our new little home and I want tiki torches to "set the mood!" We are just waiting for some grass to grow and we will definitely have a fun party--have to show off our wonderful new barbecue!

I think that is enough to get things going. I will include some before and after pictures of the house and yard. It's hard to tell in a picture, but we've sure done a lot of work. Thank goodness for summer and a break from the demands of school!

Okay, the word for today is hemidemisemiquaver. I found it on Merriam-Webster's word of the day and Jen was pretty excited about learning a new musical term. Lots of websites offer a "word-of-the-day," but Merriam Webster provides more challenging words.

Today I'm anxiously waiting by the computer for two reasons: first, my mentor professor wants to meet today but he's hard to tie down to a time, and I think he'll probably just email me a half hour before his preferred meeting time; and second, I received an email from a potential buyer who needs a book asap, so I said I could overnight it if the order came in this morning. Now I have to wait and see if it comes in. I sell books on Amazon.com, or at least I did. My supply is dwindling since we left Nebraska and I've not replaced them. While attending the UNL I took advantage of the university press' semi-annual book sales. They sold their overstock and damaged books for pennies (well, $2.00 for a softbound; $4.00 for hardbound). I would buy up all the books I could find that were in excellent condition and that I thought would sell for a profit, and then I'd post them online. I generally undercut everybody else's price, except for a few books that were only selling for a dollar or two. I viewed those as bad investments and just gave those books away. Anyhow, enough about my book sales!

We just moved into a new home, and we don't actually close on the property until June 13, but we're already living in the home as part of a pre-occupancy agreement. We've been doing lots of yard work and cleaning up the insides a bit. We changed all the light fixtures and door nobs, fixed and expanded the sprinkler system, pulled weeds, planted grass seed (it was just dirt and weeds), and planted a little garden. We started the garden a little late to see anything grow, but it is a good experience. The peppers all seem to do well--they love the Arizona sun and can grow almost year-round. The tomato is struggling, and two of the watermelon plants already died. The third watermelon plant is just coming to life, but we have low expectations for this season. I think we're going to plant some snow peas in the back soon. They grow fast and it is not too late to plant them and expect results.

Well, Jen is making breakfast and I have some reading to do (I've got a growing list of books to complete this summer). Thanks for reading, and we'll post more soon.

Welcome to our lives!

Thanks for visiting our new website. We hope to list information and images that will give a broader picture of our lives. Stay tuned for more!