Heather's Graduation

The Best Thing about graduation was having my parents come down from Oregon and my best friend, Denise, attend too! I was so proud to have Reg and Ben there to see me in all my educational glory! It's so nice not to have my energy diverted...no more home work..HAH! Now back to the house work. My thesis was on "How does learning to read music affect reading English text for 'at risk' middle school students." My thesis is going to press this week! YAHOO I'm done.

Autumn promotes from 8th grade to High School!

Autumn was nominated for "Girl of the Year" at Windsor Middle School. She also recieved "Best in Strings" (viola) and "Best in Language Arts". She has a lot of friends and is an influence for good in her class. She will be in the Honors core in High School and is joining the debate team and the volley ball team. She teaches piano, violin, and viola but will be dropping some students to play volleyball...choices choices choices....and all good.

Have you seen my kids lately?

It seems that since I've gotten a digital camera I've completely

stopped doing photo albums. I rarely have time to blog so I'm not getting them up here AND they just sit on my computer in the thousands now...quite daunting. So today I'm eating the elephant one bite at a time. These three bites are little snatches of the joy in my life. Bite one. Spring and Autumn dressing the boys up just for fun!

Bite two. We went to San Francisco to Matt and Danielle's baby blessing and took this photo in the nursery because we don't have a family picture with Amie in it. And bite three is when I took Spring and her best friend out of school for her birthday and we got her ears pierced (family rule-age 12), got her contacts, and took her on a clothes shopping spree. WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Spring is a buzzy bee hive now and loves to go to YM/YW with Autumn and gets to go to girls camp. YAHOOO!!

Visiting Melba...Summer 2002

Just the thought of Grandma Melba makes a warm feeling well up inside of me. I remember special birthdays at her house during summer vacation. In particular I remember a cool cake with plastic animals on it. I remember camping with her and Grandpa. I loved her nails. She hasn’t aged a bit!! She looks like she has always looked, beautiful. I remember when she took us to the Enchanted Forest. I remember she took us to see the sea lions. I remember how Nathan and Adam drove her crazy and made her laugh. I remember how she loved me and was proud of me. I remember how she never missed a birthday then there got to be too many grandkids for her to keep up. I remember her wonderful stories of her life that she dutifully typed up for me for the family newsletter. She was always so supportive. I remember visiting her with my own family and we went to see Grandpa’s tree. It was special. I remember flying up to Portland and dropping in unannounced and without children! She was playing cards or something with her friends. Boy was she surprised. We went out to eat. I loved my special time with her. I remember her wonderful example of service. Her youthful outlook, her sense of humor, her faith in Christ. I am so glad she was born to be a blessing in my life. Happy Birthday Melba!!!

Home School Valentine Party

Ephraim's homeschool class had a valentine's Day Party. The children learned about good manners and the boys escorted the girls to the table. They did heart math and wrote kind things on valentine cards. We played do you love your neighbor and Somebody loves.....with the parachute. We also did the bee dance!

The world is so much more fun when children are around.

Beach Trip to Bodega Bay

I took the kids and a couple of their friends to the beach! It was so fun. I LOVE the BEACH! We flew a kite and built sand castles and shell museums and all the fun stuff you do at a beach.Spring's friends, Kelly and Lina, came with us. Amie is our new Foster Daughter. If you don't know which one she is, she's the little tyke with dark brown hair and blue eyes! We had a great picnic lunch and hiked out to the tide pools and got star fish and hermit crabs and all kinds of cool shells. We played baseball as well. Two teams of four. It was a blast.

CLAN chronical
Volume 7, Issue 6 November 2007
If you would like to receive this by e-mail to save postage please e-mail me at tyrdnhappy@yahoo.com

News from Oregon
The true gathering place for zion
Kathleen Seable
Dad is doing well. So far his heart and carotid artery tests have been good, and today he had a scan to detect any aneurysms. His BP has leveled out, and we started a weight loss and exercise program last night at the YMCA. (This is the one where Holly lost 53# and was featured in the local newspaper with a picture of her holding up her former size 20 pants.) Heidi is keeping busy doing homeschooling with all the kids and running children to football (Jefferson and Anthony) and soccer (Calvin, Alex and Julie). Katie is trying out for the role of Grace in Annie at the Evelyn St. theater. Nathan is interviewing today for an activities director job with the Forest Service in Tillamook. Savages sold and moved out of their house yesterday. Mark still has a couple of weeks obligation at his job so they are floating around between friends and relatives until they come here to live for a few months. They will be building their house next spring, and he got a great electrical engineering job that currently is housed across the street from their building lot. (When I wondered why he would leave a great job in Colorado to take a chance here in the Rogue Valley, he told me that he felt impressed by the spirit to come and had faith that the Lord would provide. The sale of their house and his job offer all came in the same week! Wow...) Give the children big kisses. We are pleased about their many accomplishments, but are particularly grateful for their faithfulness as disciples of Christ. (We feel the same about the parents.) We are being very blessed with our missionary work, and are helping lots of people find jobs, upgrade and pursue training and education. Recently one man came into our "office" at the stake center and thanked us for teaching him power statement skills. He just landed a great job after struggling for three years after a back injury took him out of his EMT career. He felt his presentations made the difference. What joy it brings to us to feel that the Lord has used us in helping to better other people's lives. By the way, we just watched a movie that was very good called "The End of the Spear." Its a true story about some missionary families who went to Ecuador in the 1940's to minister to some aboriginal tribe there. It is well done. There are some violent scenes that may not be appropriate for Ephraim and the underlying themes might be a bit mature for him. But the rest of the family would get a lot out of it, I think. Also, did you see "The Ultimate Gift"? That's a good one for the family, too. Love, Kathleen Seable

Schuneman Update
A message from Space
Trevor Schuneman

First, current address and phone PO Box 456 Spring City UT 84662/ 435-462-9007. We will be here for an undetermined period of time.Update: Trevor (me): Just graduated from BYU with a BS in Biology. Currently working at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). I have applied to 7 PA programs, Missouri State (in Springfield), University of Iowa (Iowa City), U of U (much to my father-in-law's chagrin), Idaho State (Pocatello), Rosalind Franklin (Chicago), OHSU (Portland), and Baylor (Houston). I have only heard back from 2 schools so far; I have an interview at Missouri State on Sept 28 and U of Iowa on October 11. Holly: Loves having a baby around again and not being Relief Society President anymore (although, as she said, if you have to be RS Pres, a BYU ward is the best possible situation. Keeps busy with sewing and crafts and taking care of everything (and I do mean everything since I'm not around much!)Kaelynne: Just began 3rd grade and loves school. She has many friends and loves to play games, sew, play on the piano (she plays by ear) and write stories. Her teacher thinks she is one of the most talented writers she has seen and can see her become a writer someday.Mikayla: Started 1st grade and also loves school. She is the actress Of the family and loves to "ham it up." She wants to be "a scientist" When she grows up and will tell you all about how your heart is a muscle orhow white blood cells kill bacteria etc. She also loves to sing anddance.T.J.: Just began kindergarten and also loves school. His teacher likes him but wishes he was a bit more calm... thanks for that curse mom...you remember..."I hope you have a son just like you when you grow up..." He loves to play Star Wars both in real life and on the Playstation (the Star Wars Lego version). Also loves to play outside as all the kids do. They all have great imaginations!Dallin: still just a lump...but at least now he smiles and makes sounds. Also he is rolling over (back to tummy and tummy to back) and is four months old today. Well, that's the skinny
Trevor

Reflections By Johanna Schaffer:

My Uncle Don has everything and charm, too. As a kid we loved family vacations visiting him because he was so affectionate and had such exciting stuff! We did not have a lot of anything but siblings. Time with Uncle Don meant, delicious foods, resorts, plane rides, private islands and yachting. Here I am at the helm of one of his yachts. He always made me feel special. I think back and realize that I was able to experience some wonderful things that most people raised broke would never have because he was willing to share. If everyone did that- nobody would feel poor. I am grateful to him and anyone rich willing to enrich the lives of others. Tee hee. Good times. Jo Schaffer


Some of the family blog addresses are as follows:
Kim
http://us.f356.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=rkmyersrus@gmail.com
(blog) www.homesteadblogger.com/themyersfamily



Missionaries AND Soldiers
Derek's address:
Elder Derek J Olson
Peru Lima North Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Happy Birthday! .
November

1 Francesca Forsyth
2 gretel seable
9 Syndi Sue McIver, Ammon Ford
10 Nick Perona
12 Mark Savage
21 Kari Atamanczyk
22Sarah Lipman, Gjori Nykreim
26 Naomi Seable

December

1 Angela Guido
4 Devan Perona, Tommy ross
6 Marsha Seable
8 Jakob Lipman
10 Nathan Seable
12 Johanna Schaffer
17 Cassey Larsen
18 Randy Larsen
19 Chris Larsen, Emily seable, Daniel atamanczyk
21 Jack Schaffer
23 Jeff Jarvis
30 Holly Schuneman
31 Kjellsen Nykriem


Clean the kitchen
Wheat Bread
2 cups warm water stir in ¼ C honey and sprinkle evenly with 2 TBS of yeast. When it gets frothy add 1 TBS of sea salt and ¼ C olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 F
Add 3 C whole Wheat Flour and mix well. Add one cup at a time, 3 more cups of whole wheat or white flour, or other flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (May need a little more flour)
Shape into loaves and place on an oiled cookie sheet or in pans. Bake for 20 min.
While waiting for yeast to froth, empty the dishwasher. While mixer is mixing first 3 cups load the dishwasher. While mixing the last 3 cups wipe counters and sweep the floor.
Eat bread in clean kitchen with butter, honey and a cold glass of milk!



REFLECTIONS (Heather Cullen)Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This newsletter is my Christmas letter this time of year. I just want everyone to know how grateful we are for family. For the older folks who set the example of making time for family even when it hurt. For the middle old folks who stuck together through thick and thin (mostly thick! Hahah) and for the
young folk who continue to delight us with their developing skills and talents and love for each other!
As this year closes the Cullen family finds themselves actively engaged in good causes but not running faster than they have strength! I am finishing my Master’s Degree and will be done in June. I am studying the effect learning music on the reading levels of at risk middle school students. It’s fascinating.
Reg is still a supervisor for Sonoma County and learning all kinds of people skills. He also finds time to sing in the ward choir and play trumpet and has picked up a croquet hobbie. When he comes home from work, he and Ben and Ephraim go to the park for some male bonding. It’s really quite cute.
Autumn is teaching piano and violin and managing her money well, saving for college. She plays viola in a professional string quartet and is taking gymnastics and liking it a lot.
Spring teaches piano and violin and is in leadership at the middle school. She is playing cello in her school orchestra and is loving life! She also takes gymnastics.
Ben is becoming a reliable babysitter! He plays cello and piano and recorder and actually practices! He’s a reading machine and loves school. Ben loves his gymnastics class.
Ephraim is playing piano and violin and loves to work with wood, sawing and hammering and painting away! He’s enjoying homeschooling in kindergarten, and is reading at a first grade level. He is learning to be an acrobat in his gymnastics class.
My children’s choir is growing and all the kids are involved in it too. We have 22 members and a long waiting list. We’re cutting a holiday CD this Saturday.We hope you are all well! Happy Holidays to ALL!