Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Phoenix Zoo

Jen and Abby were invited to the Phoenix Zoo yesterday, and so they went in the wee morning hours (entered the park at 6:30am) to avoid the Arizona heat. Here are some shots.



Friday, July 24, 2009

Still No George P. Lee

Thanks to all who suggested ways to locate George P. Lee, former general authority in the Mormon Church. As I mentioned before (I think), my research on the Indian Student Placement Program would benefit greatly from an interview with him. I did find that he was interviewed several dozen times by Leonard Arrington (1917-1999), former Church Historian. Too bad Arrington gave Lee the audiotapes for transcription and they've never been seen again. My hope was that IF I was able to contact Lee, I might be able to convince him to deposit those tapes in an archive (that and I'd love to chat with him about my project and his insights as a general authority as the church was closing down the Indian programs). As a preview for you all -- or any who care -- I believe the Mormon Church was closing down its Indian programs (including the Indian Student Placement Program--the topic of my dissertation) as part of a larger movement away from special programs for different groups. Faced with a suddenly worldwide church (hundreds of thousands--maybe millions--of converts outside the US in the 1960s and 1970s), leading authorities (Quorum of the 12 Brethren) wanted to cut back on energies devoted to a small group of people (US Indians) and instead strengthen the many. This attitude was punctuated by the feeling (among Mormon spiritual authorities) that US Indians had failed to reach their potential despite decades of invested energies (though many administrators felt differently).

At any rate, below are the failed addresses I've tried for George P. Lee; the post office has returned them all with no forwarding address. So, if anybody has a different address I am still anxious to hear them. Rumors of his criminality and evading government required registration as a sexual predator no doubt contribute to the difficulty in finding his actual residence (even if I found him, I am not sure he would reply to my letters).

1108 1300 W.
Saint George, UT

326 2230 E.
Saint George, UT

P.O. Box 241
Tuba City, AZ

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Summer Vacation - 1st Half

So, this summer we took a drive to Utah where Matt did research while Jen and Abby began their vacation. We stayed with Jen's brother, Brent, and his wife, Nicole, and their dog, Crash.
We also fit in some time to visit an old friend. Below is Jenny Park and her daughters. Jenny and Matt grew up together. We've been friends for about thirty years. How many of you have known your own family members that long?
We also saw some of Jen's old college friends. Below (left to right) is Nathan, Collette, Katie & her kids, and Karen (along with Jen, Matt and Abby).

After Utah we only spent a couple days in Arizona before departing for California to see Matt's family in Los Angeles and Jen's family near Sacramento.
Above: Matt's sister sold her Mustang, and so her husband (Brandon) and I had to push it up to a truck that carried it up to the buyer in Canada.
Below: Matt's mom commented that she wanted a sprinkler system in the back yard, and had already hired a laborer to clear off all the old weeds and grass. When she mentioned there was formerly a sprinkler line in the back yard (20 years ago) I resolved to dig it up and restore the line. It turned out that Brandon and I had to dig up most of the back yard and put in quite a few new pipes and heads and basically built the system from scratch. Still, it was a good bonding experience for my brother-in-law and I, and now he knows how to do the job that his parents have also wanted done.
And since there was no grass in the backyard, we took the opportunity to build a bonfire and cook some BBQ. Mmmm.... Fire roasted food....
Jen and I also taught the family to play Mexican Train; they enjoyed it, but I think Brandon prefers to stack the dominoes (while Heather likes to destroy his efforts). We created our own domino based version of Jenga.
Matt also got to visit with an old friend--Jenny Wilcox (no relation to Jen's family). She has two cute kids who made great playmates for Abby. Abby really needs a sibling, if not for her sake than ours. Abby has too much energy for any two adults to keep up with; she needs an adoptive sibling to play with too. So when you see our happy little family, remember to think adoption and help us find the next member of our family!

After southern California we headed up north to meet all of Jen's family. Most of them live in Washington but they came down and we all stayed with Jen's brother (Kevin) and his wife (Alix) and sons (Noah and baby Preston) in Vacaville. Jen's sister (Tiffany) and her husband (Mia) and three daughters (Brynley, Kennedy, Kylee) stayed in a tent in the back yard. Below you can see what happened to intruders.



Jen's extended family has a serious pool addiction. Anytime we're together they MUST spend at least one day in a pool. Here is the first pool of our little visit.

We also went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom while in Northern California. Above Abby spies a butterfly in the most humid building on earth (they have a lot of butterflies in there), and below we all watch a performance of Shuka, the amazing killer whale.

We also spent a day in San Francisco. We parked at the beach and the kids ran around a bit.

Then we went to Ghiradelli Square where someone thought it was a good idea to split a $35 pile of ice cream sixteen different ways. Matt was disgusted by the thought of slopping around bites of rapidly melting ice cream and passed on the activity. He also didn't think it was worth $2.00 per bite of melting ice cream. Maybe it was a good idea for those who'd never been there before.
While in the Ghiradelli Ice Cream restaurant Abby demonstrated her signing. She is actually better than this, but this is all I've got on film. She is speaking more and more each day, anyhow.

Then we all went down to Fisherman's Warf to see the sights. Below the Shakespeare's try on a few hats (these people are strange).


We also watched the sea lions sit on the docs. We spent almost half an hour there. Fascinating isnt it?


Summer Vacation - 2nd Half

The Vacation Continues...

In northern California Jen's family found another pool--this one is at Alix's parents' house. We spent a lot of time there and it was fun.
Grandma took some time out of the water to sit with Preston (Kevin & Alix's baby boy), Abby, and one of the twins (hey, they are hard enough to tell apart in person, so give me some slack on the photo).



Abby enjoyed the trampoline.

We took a family photo.

We also watched fireworks on Friday, July 3rd, at the country club where Alix's folks are members. We got to sit on a golf course, play some games, and chase Abby a bit. It was fun, but it would be more fun if we had an adopted sibling for her to play with!



One day Tiff gave haircuts, and Nicole lamented not learning how to cut hair so I demonstrated my trust in her steady hand and we all gave her pointers as she carved up my head. She did a great job, and now she's ready to open her own shop.
On another day Kevin and the girls all went to the nearby park. Inst Abby adorable?






Thursday, July 9, 2009

Google is Great

Yesterday we returned home from our two week trip through California. We have lots of pictures and stories that I'll post later, but right now I have something else to share.

Google is Great.

Why is Google great? Because the almighty and mysterious gods who rule the internet and determine what web sites come up on a Google search have selected our cozy little site to come up as the very first hit when you type "Matt Jen Abby" or "Matt Jen" along with pretty much any word on our blog. Give it a try... "Matt Jen adoption" "Matt Jen college" "Matt Jen Utah" etc. (you get the idea).

While I have your attention, let me share another interesting thought. This evening I mowed the yard. It was 7pm and still over 100 degrees outside, so I took a shower afterward and found that if I just run the cold water it is still plenty warm for my shower. So, for the rest of the summer I'm going to just take cold showers and see if it is sufficiently comfortable and if it saves on our gas bill.

On another note, Abby is talking up a storm. She speaks more now than ever. Mostly she just repeats words we tell her. They don't quite sound correct, but she is on her way. We're also proud that of the 50 or so (mostly one but some two syllable) words she has said so far, she has never said the word "no." You see, we're not crazy to hide that word. By now that is the favorite word of most children her age, so I count it a success (though we may have just delayed the inevitable).