Saturday, November 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Ben & Happy Thanksgiving from Logan!

Thanksgiving was wonderful in Logan this year! Our car was packed full with Lorin, myself, Polly, Bruce, Molly, Ben & Courtney. We headed up north for the holiday & went home the same night. It was a quick trip but well worth it. Ben's birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so I had a Thanksgiving birthday cake for him at Grandma's (we also did cinnamon rolls with candles in them that morning, but the only picture I have of that is pretty blurry) along with all the yummy Thanksgiving pies. Thanks so much to Grandma & Grandpa for inviting us up to dinner this year, everything was perfect, worked like clockwork & looked effortless although I know it was far from it. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone & happy birthday Ben! Sorry we didn't get the pictures up on your actual birthday :)





I will also take this opportunity to plug my own kids & all their cuteness - despite the above picture of Polly. She was too excited for the cake & couldn't get it under control for a picture with the birthday boy. Both kids were well-behaved for the most part & we were happy to be at Grandma's where there were plenty of bedrooms for time-outs & naps.

Thanksgiving in Irvine

Missing Sam for dinner
Not the same with out Mikey, John, Beth, Jack Lily
The table looked so wonderful!


My yummy meal! My mother worked so hard for 2 days and it was all so wonderful! Thanks for all the food and leftovers.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Harvest Cup 2008 - The Emmetts Are Back

After a few years absence, Emmetts were once again on the field and roaming the sidelines at the 2008 Harvest Cup Soccer Tournament - hosted by the Irvine Strikers Soccer Club. For many years this was our life at Thanksgiving. Brian and Michael both played for several years with the Strikers.

Here's Michael in the Strikers Red and White 1997.

Brian in the more current red and black from 1998.

This year Sam is back in town for her second Harvest Cup, shown above playing with what looks like a ball from the 80's.

Sam's team was getting killed in the first game. Mac's interest was fading.....

It was fun to be back on familiar sidelines at UCI. L to R, Tom, Shelley, Mac, Kristin, Annie, Brian and Jackie with a few extra's thrown in.

One of the problems with the first game is that the ball seldom found it's way to Sam's feet.

Alex on a break away, but a strong goalie still stands between him and the back of the net.

I think Alex will tell you this shot got by the keeper for a goooooaaaaaal.

Word of warning, Mac is not a big fan of some stupid uncle snapping photos from point blank range. Alex, however, is another story....

If you're not careful, Mac may just grab your camera and turn on you - snapping several photos in just a couple of seconds.

If Mac can do it then so can I.

Parting Shot

Thursday, November 27, 2008

"As God is my witness, I thought Turkeys could fly."

Here's a clip from the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati". For the younger crowd, the sitcom centered around the characters working at a struggling radio station and in the episode this clip is from the station manager, played by Mormon Gordon Jump, hatches a promotion to give a free turkeys but do so by releasing live turkeys from a helicopter over a shopping center. The clip picks up with Les Nesman the station newsman reporting the promotion from the shopping center not knowing exactly how the turkeys are going to be delivered. (The old clip was removed from the internet due to copyright issues so I add a summary clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST01bZJPuE0&feature=related




And here's our Thanksgiving day in Chicago.


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Carly Turns 7 and hits the fashion runway!


For her 7th Birthday, Mary arranged for a party at a "salon" that included dressing up for a modeling show and tea party. What is this world coming to?


Carly's gift from her sister Emily included the bear and a medallion that says, "There's an angel watching over you."

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Emily turns 22 and Ben & Courtney announcement

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!

Sorry Emily I did not get this posted on your birthday. I was in South Dakota moving cattle and building fences for Kyle Wolter. He was diagnosed with bone cancer 6 days after returning home from our Wyoming elk hunt and is in a Sioux Falls Hospital ICU.

But, on to happy subjects. Emily turned 22 on November 11th and is an amazing missionary in Maine.



And even greater news!! Ben and Courtney have taken the big step which we learned about over turkey dinner on Sunday evening. A great precursor to Thanksgiving!

Congratulations to a very happy couple!





Tuesday, November 11, 2008

90 Years Ago The Guns Fell Silent


William S Fife in WWI uniform - likely taken prior to his departure to serve in France


Grandpa Fife in 1968 recovering from the epic buffalo skirmish at Thermopolis, WY

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.*

* 4th verse of Laurence Binyon's 'For the Fallen'

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Lily came to town....







It's Over..... for now.

With 96% of the Proposition 8 votes counted:
YES: 5,220,694 52.2%
NO: 4,792,873 47.8%

This is a pretty incredible result when you consider that California also passed laws to protect chickens and other farm animals (which will drive meat production to other states and Mexico) and also voted not to allow parental notification if a minor daughter seeks an abortion. I didn't have a lot of faith last night when I saw the CNN exit poll showing NO ahead with 52%. In this case it looks like the exit polls were wrong.

It was an incredible effort by a ton of folks - most of whom would have preferred not to spend so much of their time and means to support this.

Our house was buzzing yesterday with GOTV (Get Out The Vote) activity. Volunteers monitored the polling locations, kept track of who had voted then made personal visits and phone calls to those voters previously identified as Yes on 8 supporters.

Since the first signs went up a few weeks ago, most have been stolen or destroyed within minutes or hours. Few survived the night. One friend of mine confronted a guy who claimed to be an attorney who had stopped his BMW to steal a Yes on 8 sign. When asked why he was taking the sign, the guy said he didn't like the fact that Prop 8 takes away rights. "Do you know it's illegal to steal these signs." "So what?" "Name two rights that are being taken away." The guy finally said, "Hospital visitation." "Nope, same sex couples have that right, try again." "There are thousands of them." "I'm just asking you to name two." "F you." Then off he went, leaving the sign alone. For the record, the only 'right' taken away by the passage of Prop 8 is the right to call a same-sex union 'marriage.' Granted, there are other rights that same sex couples don't have but they are federally mandated and enforced and deal with issues like inheritance and how one of the spouses goes about changing their surname after marriage. No matter the outcome of Prop 8, federal laws were not going to change.

The LDS church has taken some heat from the media and the No on 8 supporters. I suspect the missionaries in California are going to find some doors angrily slammed in their face, but they will also find some who will invite them in because they admired the willingness of the church members to stand up for an issue. One 'No on 8' ad released just days before the election, depicted Mormon missionaries going into a home of a lesbian couple ransacking the house, taking their wedding rings and ripping up their marriage certificate. This ad was so mean spirited that not only did it sway undecided voters to the Yes on 8 side, but also served as a rallying call to many volunteers who were burned out and limping toward the finish line but suddenly found the energy and motivation to work harder and longer than they might have. There is no doubt in my mind (and in the mind of the No on 8 supporters) that without the efforts of thousands of LDS volunteers, this proposition would have gone down in defeat. Many of our neighbors who joined us at our sign events complained "I wish our church would take a stand," but so many churches would not because they could not afford to lose their liberal congregants and their donations.

The Armada now looks happy with just LOTOJA and Norda's stickers on back. I hope it stays that way.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Joel's Baptism and Halloween



Thanks to all the Tuellers and Emmetts who came to support Joel. It was a warm enough November 1st to enjoy a backyard lunch.
We enjoyed bar-b-que pulled pork sandwiches topped with cole slaw and a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables arranged like rainbows. The rainbow platters are to remind us of a wonderful primary song which was sung by fives cousins and a sister at the baptism:

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain
and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,
and I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.