What a derelict I have been for not posting to the blog in several months. A few events have occurred in our family since the new year, so let's get into it.

McKenzie's dance team did well again this year. She had a little extra pressure on her as Captain and wanted to do as well as the team did last year. As they went through the competitions, the team wasn't looking as strong as it normally does: plus, you know how high school girls can be - creating lots of drama for their mama! Well, here she is with her team at the end of their final competition in Yakima. Notice how everyone is sticking up a finger - no, there was plenty of Klenex in the house - they are making an editorial comment about the superiority of the Beamer Titans. For the 4th year in the 5-year history of the school, the dance team won the State Championship. All the mom's were extatic, the dads were proud and the girls were relieved that they didn't have to spend so much time together any longer.


Here is a shot of Kenzie during their routine.


















Brandon took an internship in San Diego beginning in January because he was too woosie to enjoy another Rexburg Winter. When his job ended, we took the family down to spend a week with him.

Her is a picture of the kids at Sea World getting on a roller coaster. The two chicks in the front didn't want to get wet so we naturally put them where the water would never flood over the nose of the boat. Oh well, I didn't engineer the thing.











We rented a house on Mission Beach and had the best of the ocean on one side and Mission Bay on the other. We had fun sailing (well, I had fun sailing), watching Flipper, visiting Uninversal Studios and going to the Mormon Batallion Visitor's Center in Old Town.


We got a little sun while we were sailing

One day I had seafood for lunch.








A few weeks ago we sent out an e-mail announcing that Whitney is getting married to one of Brandon's roommates. We took him to San Diego with us too. Actually, he was in Los Angeles for an intership the same time as Brandon so he just came down with us and spent the week. His name is Curt Gillis and is from Houston, majoring in Business Management. This is how they will look when they get married.

This is how they will look next year.

Be sure to put their wedding date on your calendar and make the trip to Seattle - August 15th is the wedding in the Seattle Temple and August 16th will be the reception in our backyard. We promise to have excellent Seattle weather for the events. The wedding dinner will be at Marggiano's Restaurant in Bellevue - a nice place for a meal.

By the way, Mckenzie graduated from high school the other day. Here she is with her proud mother. She graduated 7th in her calss with High Honors, so we are rightly pleased with her hard work and dedication. We never had to ask her to do her homework or assignments. Once in a while we had to ask her to start earlier on Sunday night, but she always got her work done without stressing her father. Mic is working the summer before leaving for BYU in the Fall.











Brandon is playing baseball at BYU-I this summer and Whitney is getting ready for her wedding so we took a short trip to visit them. While Melanie and McKenzie were looking for wedding junk with Whitney and Brandon was in class, I took a little hike along the rim of the Snake River just north of Swan Falls. The hike was terrific - and quiet. The only people I saw were fishermen in drift boats down on the river.

Like I said, Brandon is playing ball, and is the coach of his team as well. This was the first time we have seen him play since high school and it brought back those glory days. Here is a picture of Brandon at bat. It was a funny shot because in this shot he blasted the ball into the scoreboard for a 3-run homer. His team ended up losing, but only after both teams generated a lot of offense. Pitching is the key talent for this kind of league and the talent pool gets spread thin. Brandon hadn't pitched since about 6th grade but he figured he couldn't do any worse that his number three pitcher. He started throwing some pitches in practise a few weeks ago. His No. 1 pitcher taught him how to throw a curve ball. Evidently Brans thought he had the stuff that day so he put himself in and threw a couple innings. I couldn't stop giggling even though he did pretty well. One guy did tagged him for a trip around the bases but Brans just hung in until the game was over.

Since we were in Rexburg for the 22nd reunion of the Teton Dang collapse, we decided to take a trip to the old dang and see what was left. Here is a shot of everyone (but me) at the look-out point above the dang. That's the river on the far side of the canyon making its way past the earthen dang. Sorry you can't see the whole dang, but you need a bigger camera - or better yet, next time you are visiting BYU-I, go by and see it yourself. It's still quite amazing after all these years.

Well, better go - be sure to click on the link to McKenzie's blog where you can look at some of her photographs.

We continue to keep you in our prayers, especially those who need a little extra, speaking broadly - you know who you are. Let us know how you are all doing. We look forward to seeing your blogs as well. - Love, Melanie, Steve and the kids.