Tuesday, December 30, 2008


What a WONDERFUL Christmas! (KP)

KP wrote this:

Hello there wonderful family! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful times last week. I had so much fun being with all of you. I miss my family sometimes and it’s great being with all of you when I get a chance. Speaking of missing all of you, I’m going to make it a resolution of mine to do a better job of writing on the blog. Why, I think I’ll make an attempt to write every week. Remember when we used to do the Weekly Word? I think we should all try to write a bit more. I for one have been terrible at writing since we moved to the blog format, but I promise to be better.

Well, as some of you might know, Mom and Dad gave Emily and me a trip to a broadway show for Christmas. We wasted no time in using it and went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular last night. Much to my surprise, it actually was “Spectacular”. I’d put it right up there as my favorite show in NYC. In case you’re curious, here’s my ranking: 1: Radio City 2: Wicked 3: Mary Poppins 4: Spamalot 5: White Christmas 6: Beauty and the Beast Thanks Mom and Dad for the Christmas Present. It was great!

So Emily has been out here for 4 whole days now. So far she’s loving her job and loving New York. Let’s hope that lasts. I’m glad to have her out here too. It’s been great. We’re headed to Times Square tomorrow to watch the ball drop, just the two of us and 1 million of our closest friends. It should be cold, wet, and crazy, but hey, that’s the kind of people we are……. cold, wet, and crazy.

Well, I love you all! Have the best New Year ever!

-KP

Monday, December 15, 2008

December Schedule- Mom

Hi Family,
Here is the partial scoop for December. Some of this is in stone, but details are scanty, others can be edited. This schedule is based on the best of our knowledge of you have told us your schedules are so if you need to change something or cannot make it, please let "everyone" know by email. If you want to add anything, please do the same.

Dec. 17- Kyle flies in at midnight
Dec 18- Carson's 1 year BD party- Jodi and Matt's- 7-9p...open house type
Dec 19- G'ma kidnaps Spencer and Abby for sleep around the Christmas tree...anyone else invited. It will be FUN!
Dec 20- WSU/ UofU BB game- 4p at UU- Walley ball and dinner following- Bryn works this day
Dec 21- Marler Party at Poll house- 6pm- Good movie to watch?
Dec 22- Marrissa's family- Stringhams 5:30-7:30p- Chinese Haystacks, Lesson and Activity
7:30- ?- Poll cousin party at Scott and Peggy's
Dec 23- Poll Christmas Party- Details coming
Snowshoeing with Bryn and kids (if you want to go, you need to fill out a form)
Dec 24- Day skiing- Party at out house- Games/ Puzzles/Movie (Troy and Marrissa at Stringhams, Ryan & Kath at Loos)
Dec 25- Sticky buns and snowshoeing in a.m.- Hopefully everyone at our house by 1pm...Present time, Snow carnival in front and backyard at our house- big meal for dinner with inside games
Dec 26- Kyle and Emily return to NYC
Dec 30- Cross country skiing with Bryn's kids
Jan 1- Jill and Gary drive to sunny AZ...Gary flies to NewOrleans from Phx airport and back agaon on Jan 3
Jan 4- Jill and Gary drive home

Let us know if you have anything to add or cannot make it to any of these functions.
Editing or rescheduling is also an option if there are better ideas. (Except for Marler and Poll standard parties)

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Gma & ibmom

Dear family,
I noticed I started a blog and must of got interrupted. Hope everything is just about fine with you. We've had some bad news caused by the economy. Jeff lost his job with Empire. He'd worked there for 15 years. Their busiiness has dropped drastically with the slow down in building. My brother Mark who is a CPA lost the job he'd only had a month. He'd uncovered a lot of accounts that had changed. It was a multi million dollar Co. I worry about you all in your jobs. There is so much cut back in every business. WATCH YOUR SPENDING. Cut back on some of your wants. We are going to cut back on Christmas giving this year. We just don't know from day to day how things are doing. Cut up your credit cards. Just have one and use it instead of writing a check. Pay it off at the end of the month. Don't refinance your homes. Get the mortgage paid off as soon as possible. Do like our Prophets have said. STAY OUT OF DEPT.
But always pay your tithing.

Jeff and Linda will be here for Thanksgiving. I invited Shaylee to come down if anyone is driving, you might give her a call. I'm not sure about how much time she has. She has her own apartment now and lives over by Troy.

Glad to hear from Kyle, Troy, Gary, Brynley. Way to go Brynley on the chance to run in the Boston Marathon. Kyle, glad you got settled and glad Emily is going to be back to work for State Farm or Farmers. Who was Vance or Vinve that got her the job? I've heard the name. Hope to see you Thanksgiving too. The weather is wonderful here. It's been in the low 80's. Glad that you'll all be off daylight savings time. Now we'll be the same time as you Utahns.

Grandpa is stll hurtung. He doesn't want any more surgery and I doon't blame him. He is trying to build up his legs and back with some strenuous exercises. Jeff and Linda are coming over Mon for FHE. They have the movie about Emma Smith.

Hope I didn't do too much preaching. But we love you all and want the best for you. Our gas is down to $2.63 per gallon. GMA and ibmom

Thursday, October 23, 2008

inez

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Great! Great! Great!

Troy

I just checked, and the last time I posted was June. Woops. Not that that is out of the way, lets get down to the nitty gritty. We had our Fall break at Weber last Friday and it ws ure nice to have a day off. Marissa and I went to Sills cafe that morning and I had a scone, or two, or two and a half ( she couldn't finish her second). That is how to start off a day!
I went to a concert last week for Dashboard Confessionals, Plain White Tees, Panic at the Disco, and some other crappy band that opened for them. Pretty fun even though my ears were ringing for two days after the concert. I know Jodi and Matt, it wasn't nearly as fun as Neil Diamond would have been in AZ, but I am not as cool. Speaking of concerts, we will be having our big concert in a couple weeks and I will provide tickets for anyone in the family that would like to attend. Just let me know if you want floor tickets or assigned general seating. The difference is standing on the floor with that heart of the party or sitting down from a safe distance. Ear plugs are recommended either way. We are about 3 weeks away from the concert and I really hope for a surge in ticket sales so that we can have more activities this year.

I look forward to blogging again, so until February, see ya.
Troy

I am wearing the bag because I was having a bad face day.
This is part of the group that I went to DC with.
Go Cats! We got a great Vball team this year!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Monthly Message

I checked the blog and if I get this message off today it will have been less than a month since my last post. I appreciated the updates. Let me tell you the most exciting ten things from the past month.
1. I loved the surprise of having Kyle show up for General Conference weekend. Sitting in General Priesthood meeting with My Three Sons is one of my favorite things.
2. I love the many talks and am trying to listen to all of the talks again on-line. My goal is one-a-day. The talks seem even more beneficial when I listen to them one at a time.
3. On Sunday Mom and I got to go to the 5th floor assembly room in the Salt Lake Temple for the annual devotional for temple workers. President Monsen and his wife were both there. That room is really beautiful, the feeling of the place was great and I was grateful to have Mom share a little of the feeling of my temple experience.
4. Speaking of my temple experience, this coming month I will have a significant part in the 8 PM sessions on Wednesday evenings. I think it would be a whole bunch of fun to have some people who I love watch me struggle through my parts. I really look forward to my Wednesday evenings.
5. I am in the thick of trying to help plan our High School Reunion. Our 40 year reunion should have been this year, but nobody planned it so we are going to have it next August.
6. Mom and I have really enjoyed having family over to our new home. We love the place and especially love it when people who we love come over.
7. We are thriving in our new ward. Mom serves as Relief Society Chorister and I teach Sunday School every 3rd week. We had the "Empty Nesters" over for family home evening this past Monday and got to know 20+ people in our ward.
8. I have really enjoyed UofU Football games this year. The CSU game last Saturday was really fun. I have also enjoyed having Ryan attend several games with me and seeing Jodi and family not far away.
9. Mom was gone for 8 days to Kansas City and Mesa. I realized again how much I love her and miss her when she's gone. I look forward to every opportunity to be with her.
10. I am sure that we have the 3 cutest grandkids in the world. I love our family. I have enjoyed having Emily, Dean and Marissa in the house lately. Please keep in touch and know that I am available to do anything I can for our family.
DAD

Live from New York!! It's KP!






Here it comes……….an update from across the continent. I know you’re all so excited you can hardly contain yourselves. Well, let’s start with a few pieces of excitement from this weekend. On Friday night we had the sisters over for a discussion with Michael Blamo. Michael is a fabulous 22 year-old young man who I met at church and who has been taking the discussions. We’ve been doing most of the discussions at my house. Friday was his last discussion before his baptism on Saturday. Things went really well and he had asked me to baptize him and confirm him a member of the church. What an awesome experience that was!

Saturday morning I went to Brooklyn to help out with a service project called NYC Cares. It was really neat, we painted a mural on the side of a school. I’ve attached a picture for your viewing enjoyment. Anyway, after the painting, I headed back to Manhattan for the baptism. It was wonderful. Michael’s mother came and really enjoyed herself. She also came to church the following day for his confirmation. The sisters have an appointment to meet with her this week. Michael was so happy and so was I.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to confirm Michael a member of the church. I just realized that that was the first time I’ve done that in English, at least for a living person. It was a fabulous Sunday and the ward was very supportive. So many people congratulated him and said hello. He was walking on cloud 9. I also received a calling on Sunday. I’ve been called to serve as a ……….. wait for it ……….. wait for it ……….. oh I wish it was a Sunday School teacher. Turns out I’m going to be a Ward Missionary. Which is fine. It won’t really entail a great change in my behavior since I’ve already been quite involved in the missionary efforts here in the ward, but it will be nice to feel like I’m fulfilling a calling as well as fulfilling part of the threefold mission of the church.

Anyway, life is good here in the big city. I’m keeping pretty busy between work, going to the gym, helping the missionaries, volunteering in Harlem as a tutor, playing soccer and basketball, and talking to Emily on the phone. Well, speaking of Emily, she was out here last week. Many of you probably heard the news, but in case you haven’t, she accepted a job with State Farm Insurance and she’ll be moving out here on a date yet TBD. It will probably be in December or January. We have Vance to thank for her job. She’ll be working in a position that supports all of the State Farm agents in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. Her boss reports directly to Vance and Vance was the man that made it all happen. I owe him big time. We’ll see what happens when she gets out here. It has been a really tough decision for her to make this move, but she did it, and I’m glad she did.

Well, I think I’ll close things out for today. I think you’ve all had enough to read for a spell. I’ll attach some pics for your enjoyment.

-KP

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Inez & GMA

Dear Family,

It's so nice to see the blog going. I've kept waiting for someone else to write and for some special news. Thank you all for the anniversary greetings. GPA took me over t0 the CC in the Golf cart for the fish fry at the CC. It was nice to be out for a change. A young boy came over to the table and asked how everything was. We told him excellent and that we were celebrating our 61st anniversary. He said, "What is the date today?" We told him the 17th. "He said: "Oh my goodness, it's my 5th anniversary. I just got too busy. I'll have to get her a dozen roses.

We bought a membership for next season, but no golf fees. If GPA ever gets to golf again, he can use a punch card or if he gets out more tha 10 times, he will just pay cash. But at the rate he's healing, I doubt that he'll be out. Jeff and Linda are coming over Mon night to barbecue steaks. It is so nice to have him stop in and tell us of some of his experiences with his ward members. Jill stopped in the hospital with Jeff the night he picked her up at the airport, to see a 16 year old girl who had been having seizures. They didn't know what the problem was. Someone had administered to her a day or so before. She was home the next day after they had visited her. The Dr. said, it was really a miracle. He didn't know what her problem was, but she was home and out jogging.

The financial system is really in a bad way. My advice to all of you is to stay out of debt. Only use one Credit card and pay it off every month. Do good at your work. Be prepared if they down grade your salary. Ryan, keep on in the ups and downs of the market.

Jodie and Brynley, Shaylee is having a hard time adjusting to being at home. She has no friends and could use a few friends now. I hope I haven't raged on too much. We love you all too much.
ibmom and GMA

Somebody's got to do it


Jill says:
I was inspired by Matt and G'pa who wer inspired by Brynley to post. Soo...here goes. School is very enjoyable this semester...not too much pressure and we talk about relevant things that to me are interesting...call me crazy.

Yesterday was a good news day. I got a scholarship for $16 grand to take a course called "Improvement Advisor" that is offered through the IHI, Insititue of Healthcare Improvement based in Boston. It is a 9 month course and begins in February. That means I will be working on an improvment project of my choosing at my organization (Huntsman), but will use their guidance and methodologies to move through the course. Wahoo!! I also had my poster project accepted at the same organization and will present that in Nashville in Dec.
I was in Kansas City and presented a Medication Reconciliation project to a nice crowd this past month and that was fun. Many people are very interested in this subject because it is madated by the organization that grades your hospital and keeps their doors open if you are compliant...so some day you will notice that you will be provided with a list of your "home" medications when you go to an office appointment or get admitted to the hospital.

Thank goodness for Neil Diamond..he was the excuse to see G&G again and oh boy, did we have a great time. What a blast Carson, Jodi and I had at the fair in sunny Az. We did it all, snow cones, animals, rides, tattoos, people watching etc.
















Troy, Marissa, Dean and Brynley came for dinner last Sunday and we topped it off with a great game of sparkle. I won't mention the winner, but let's just say the Polls came in 1st -4th place. It's all in the wrist!










Dad was able to talk to eveyone in the fam this week and I get to hear the reports vicariously, so I sorta know what ya'll are sort of doing.
Happy Anniversay to G&G yesterday...the 17th! Wahoo...a few years of bliss to celebrate!
Love you all more than the full moon this week!! mom/sis/daughter etc

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sweet Caroline....whoa, whoa, whoa!



It's literally been months and months since I last posted, but Grandpa and Brynley's latest posts have inspired me (Matt Holbrook is posting here).


Last weekend we went down and spent some time with Gma and Gpa Marler in sunny Arizona. Yep...while it was snowing in Utah we were living it up in the warm high 80 degree weather. I got to go golfing, so that was nice. Jodi, Jill and Carson went to the Arizona state fair.


The biggest highlight, other than playing fink w/ Gma and Gpa, was when Jodi and I got to go see Neil Diamond in concert. That guy puts on quite a show!


Last month I took Jodi fly fishing for the first time. She got a couple of fish on her line, and even managed to bring one in all by herself on her first time out! (please refer to the photos above)
We've also been having a great time cheering for our Utah Utes football team this fall. It was fun to go out and see the Utes play Michigan at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Love you all!
MPH

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Dale

Dear Family, when I see the exhausting work that Brinley is writing to us about, I feel we should
respond to that pretty little gal...She is full of life and excitement is her game. When she writes to
us in the blog and sends pictures of her and her friends and places she has been, it makes a good
day for this old Grandpa Dale M.

Now were here in sunny Az. looking forward to all of you making a trip down here,weather it be
thanksgiving,christmas or winter time and our prayers are for your safe and happy journey.
Our hope is to make your stay as fun and pleasant as your deserve..Why I say that is because,
you are the diamonds in our life and have given Inez (mom,gm,gpm) and I the most enjoyable
years of 0ur lives...So you see, we owe, we owe..Come soon and let us make a payment...
Love Grandpa Marler

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Hi Family

Brynley says...


Well, I'm a little disappointed with our blogging efforts, so here I will be the contributor again. I hope all is well with you and yours...if you choose to read these updates. I will quickly give you a couple of happenings in my life.


First the boring...work is going great, I still love it! We've been doing a rock climbing class with the kids, and it's so fun to watch them succeed and get better. Hiking, tennis, boxing, soccer are also happening, and I really like it.


Next boring thing-I have moved to sugarhouse. I now live with Kim and two other roommates. It's a fun place to live and I need to remember what it's like to have a roommate that I actually do things with and someone I can relate to, it will take a small adjustment, but I like it. I'm dealing with the commute (5 miles and 15 minutes).


I lived through the st. george marathon, and it went surprisingly well. I went running last night and I just have a toe that hurts today. So recovery time is about 4 months better than last time I ran. So having said that, it looks like I"m off to Boston in April. Me and Kim are going to run and then I think I'll be done running for a while. Honestly, I'm not incredibly stoked to train through the winter months...but you gotta do what you gotta do.


For those who don't know, I'm now serving in the relief society presidency in my ward and that takes up a lot more time than my previous calling. It's a good thing and hopefully will keep me active. I'm learning a lot and hopefully I can continue to learn from others.


It's been a while since we've seen everyone together, that makes me very excited for Thanksgiving, it will be great to all be together in AZ again...sure hope that Ryan and Katherine will make the trip!:)


Well it would be wonderful to hear from any/all of you soon. Hope all is well, love you all!

Before...
After...yes it's still raining
Good Work Katherine!

Jodi and Mom did it too, I'm so proud of the girls in my family-hard core rock climbers!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Don't want to be last

Good Sunday Morning Family
It was great to see some blogs. Thanks for the updates favorite mother-in-law, favorite middle child and favorite mortal. Here is my humble little list of my top ten things going on.
10. Tomorrow night I get to have Spencer and Abby over. The ladies in the family are going to play and I can hardly wait! If any of the male family members want to come over, we'll try to have more fun than the ladies.
9. Troy brought a nice young lady over last night. She get points for a) being a Wildcat, b) coming from a CES family c) being good looking and d) being fun. Her ping pong skills need a little work.
8. It was fun last Sunday having Brynley and Dean over. Dean gets high marks also for; a) being a big time Ute, b) having a GREAT laugh, c) letting me beat him at Fink
7. I am loving my Wednesdays at the temple. If any of you can attend the 4 or 6 or 8 pm sessions this week, it is my last week to get to be the bad guy.
6. Work is going well. I need to schedule my life so I am working closer to 40 hours a week than 60.
5. I have been missing Carson this week. I hope we can connect better this week, starting today.
4. I get to? speak at the Institute at WSU next Sunday evening at 6 PM. Sunday dinner doesn't look like it is going to happen with Mom and I. We get out of church at 4 PM and have to be at the Institue at 5:40.
3. I enjoyed watching some football with Ryan yesterday. The Utes and Cougars are so much fun to watch. Utah was lucky yesterday. I'll need to talk to the coach about those turn-overs. It will be hard to cheer for a team other than WSU next Saturday. I don't think I have ever done that before.
2. I loved getting Kyle's update! I miss you a whole bunch.
1. This week Mom and I celebrate our 33rd anniversary. My wife gets more wonderful every year. Thanks for making my family = my life.
DAD

Celebrate- (Jill-Mom)


Kyle Kid, That was a great update even though we have talked a bit, most of this was brand new to me. I think that would be way cool to live so close to Grand Central park. Brynley and I had a blast riding through there on bikes and I love just seeing the zillions of things that people do in their leisure time. So please keep the cards and letters coming from IHEARTNY.


We loved seeing Abby perform at Northridge's halftime on Friday night. Spencer was fun too, especially after G'pa bought him a root beer. I had a good week with school and work is going well too. I have a great boss who give me lots of freedom to choose my work/projects. It's a good place to be in. Still horseback riding and loving that like none other.

Hope to see most of you at dinner today...gotta run and for VT.

Love you all!!
mom/daughter etc

New York, New Yoooooorrrrrrrkk!!! (KP)

Okay Folks, it’s time for a real update. I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting a few words from your long lost middle-child brother, so, here it comes!

First of all, I want to thank all of you who had a part in my surprise birthday/going away party. It was so much fun seeing some of those people that mean so much to me. I love you all so much. I’ve talked to most of you since I’ve been out here, but I’ll give a recap of what’s been going on this month for those who I haven’t updated.

I HEART NY. I do, and I even own the shirt to prove it. Okay, I don’t own the shirt, but I used to have one that I got from Savers and I tie dyed it. I’m not sure what ever happened to that shirt. Anyway, back to business. I’ve been here in the city for three weeks now. So far I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m starting to get busy and sink my teeth in at work so that’s kind of exciting. There’s so much to do and so much to learn that it’s kind of overwhelming sometimes.

For those of you who don’t know or who might be wondering, I work for American Express. Okay, really though, you might not know what I’m doing. I work for a small finance group that supports our Global Advertising and Brand Management (GABM) division. So basically all of the American Express ads that you see on TV, newspapers, magazines, online, etc., and all of the sponsorship stuff like the PGA, the US Open, Fashion Shows, and other stuff like that, that’s what this GABM group does. So as exciting as this might sound, you might think that I get to go to these PGA and US Open events, and hang with the celebrities that you see on the commercials like Jerry Seinfeld, Beyonce, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, and the rest of those folks. Well…….you’re right, Jerry is always hanging out in my cube trying to be funny and I’m like, “I’m Working here!”

Okay, really, obviously that’s not the case. What our group does is to do exciting stuff like making sure they’re paying their invoices correctly and on time, calculating the bonuses we give to the Advertising Agencies, checking up on compliance issues, reading contracts to make sure that people are using money correctly, helping decide policies for how we distribute tickets to all of the events that we have tickets for, moving money around from department to department, and more exciting things like that. I know, you’re all jealous.

Okay, enough about work, let’s talk about the rest of my life. My roommates are great guys. I was a little worried at first because I didn’t really know them and we are all very different, but as it turns out, they’re all great. Kyle Baughan works for Amex too, Preston Thomas worked for Lehman Bros. and now works for Barclay’s (who just bought parts of Lehman) for the time being, and Nathan, my actual roommate is a law student at Columbia. We get along great and our house is pretty nice. Along those lines, we actually have a really big living space with two fold out beds, if anyone ever wants to visit, there’s room in the inn.

As far as my everyday here, I usually get up around 6am. I take the subway down to work and usually get there a little before 7. There’s a gym at our building, so I just workout in the morning and shower there. It’s great. I usually start work at 8 or 8:30. I usually take off around 6 pm and get home around 7 pm. I brought my bike and I’m so glad I did. It’s been so helpful and convenient. Plus, it’s really cool seeing the city from on top of the streets, instead of under them on the subway. On the first two Saturdays I went to the church to play basketball in the morning. Yesterday I went to these awesome soccer fields and played soccer. It’s great living right next to Central Park. They’re renovating the chapel on the west side so we all have to go to the chapel on the east side. I walk through the park and stop on the way for some great Sunday reading. We’ve had the sisters over several times for discussions with an investigator. His name is Michael and I think he’ll get baptized in October. We’re doing another discussion on Tuesday with a guy named Kentor, he’s great too. I love being a part of the missionary work. It’s so refreshing being out here where there’s so many opportunities to serve.

Okay, so you might want to know what’s going on with Emily. I’ll be brief. I know this has been a long post, and I’m guessing some have not made it this far. Anyway, things are good. We had a lot of fun on our “across the country” trip and we’ve decided that we’re just gonna date each other for the time being. We talk on the phone every day and there’s even talk of her moving out here which is encouraging, but by no means a sure thing. We’ll just play it day by day and see what happens.

Well, this may be the longest post this little pollswww has ever seen so I’ll cut it off right now. I’m very excited to see all of you and I miss you and love you so much!

Love,

KP

Friday, September 19, 2008

gma marler

Hy Brynley & Kyle,
You're the only ones who have blogged since I did. I've received e-mail from Jill, Jodi, and Ryan.
Well, lots has happened since then. I won't take them in any particular order. GPA is feeling better on some days. He's had 2 epidurals which helped somewhat. He figures he's got to build up the muscles arund his hips. He doesn't want the spinal surgery so we'll just have to wait and see. The stock market is scary. Yesterday up. The presidential elections are scary. Which way will it go? I really like the choice of Sarah Palin for V. Pres. The Diamondbacks won 3 against San Francisco, here. They play Colorado today over there. Our boys started out pretty good. But 3 major players hace been out. Upton came back and has had 3 or 4 homeruns. I went to the temple Wed. with Lanae Brimley Peck and am going to try it every 2 weeks. Shaylee will be home on the 22nd and will start immediately at Weber. She's going to be living at home with her parents. Ben has filed for divorce. She will need a lot of TLC. Brecklyn is doing OK. She is having a hard time with the prosthesis and she and Mike have set their wedding for the Spring.
Got to close now. We love you all much, much, much. GMA

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

More to come! (It's me, Kyle)

Sorry I've been such a blogging slacker. I've got a lot to talk about, so I keep on waiting for a big block of time to open up and it just isn't happening. Anyway, I've had some requests for travel plans so I'll throw them out and blog about my life later:

I'm coming back for my eye appointment on November 14th:
November 13: Arrive in SLC 11:59 pm
November 16: Depart to NYC 11:15 pm

I'm going to AZ for Thanksgiving!!!
November 26: Arrive in PHX 11:26 pm
December 2: Depart to NYC 11:45 pm

I'll be home for Christmas!!!
December 19: Arrive in SLC 9:26 pm
December 25: Depart to NYC 11:15 pm


Love you all and I'll talk to you soon!!

-KP

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

So it's been a while for everyone

Brynley
Okay family,
It appears that the summer is coming to a close as it is no longer scorching hot outside. So no more excuses that the "summer is just too busy to post" excuse. I miss hearing what everyone is up to, and I will assume that you would all love to hear about me, so ready or not, here ya go.

August was wonderful! I can't thank all of you enough for coming to Bear Lake for my birthday, that'll go down in the memory books.





Kyle's party was fun on his birthday, and it's wierd that he won't be back for this Sunday dinner...I miss you Kyle, and would love an update on your trip and your job...how are you?
I went camping a couple weekends ago in Maple Canyon, then we climbed all day Saturday, it was a good group, and the whole "mixing groups" thing worked out great, everyone got along.


I went to the Jack Johnson concert when he came into town a couple weeks ago, and really loved it, but I'll be honest, I'd prefer to spend my money on other fun things. But it was a memorable night with Mikey Mose.

Our hiking group continues to go well. I was counting the hikes tonight and we're up to 15 this summer, I guess you can say it's been a successful summer if hiking = success.



Oh, and if you happen to still be reading this, I have some great news!!! We just got word at work that we were accepted to receive the grant from REI that we were working on almost 6 months ago. They are bringing us a check for $5,000 tomorrow. That means that we'll get to start 3 new programs, and it'll all be paid for. I'm so happy!!!!

Well lastly, I did have a great Labor Day weekend, I sure didn't labor much though. I did get to spend a lot of time with Rachel and her family, and after having more than a dozen people commit to hiking the narrows this weekend and then fall through, I was still able to make it on the hike, with one other person. We had all kinds of fun all weekend long. We went climbing, sunset watching, eating, Ute watching, sleeping, driving, rock throwing, site seeing and most importantly narrow hiking.


Well there's an update on my life, I'm sure it's more than any of you wanted, but that was an invitation to give a small insite on your life. Let us all know what's going on. I love you all!!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Dear Family,

I can't thank you all enough for all the wonderful times and memories. I loved sitting in that corner listening and looking at all the the sights and sounds. I loved to watch you prepare the meals and then eating them. I loved going down to the beach and even getting on the boat and watching kids ski. Brecklyn and Abbey were also there. The sights and sounds on the beach were wonderful. We got everyone to help clean up and so we could leave early, without breaking anything. We left Tues. afternoon and got to Maddox and had a wonderful meal. The three great granchildren were dolls and ate most everything on their plates. Carson would put the straw in his mouth and Jodi had ice water in it and he loved to drink water from the straw. I took most of my Stake back to Gary's and Kyle finished it off. That was fun. I rested most of Tues., then Milt and Marge took me to a place near Ogden for lunch. Then we drove right into the Country Club and saw it. We went down to Riverdale Road and saw how that part looked. Then we went to downtown Ogden and saw the Temple and different things and then we went to Farr's Ice Cream and I had a Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream Cone. Yummie! Then we went up 36th and over past their house and ours. We then went on the back road over to Jerry Priest's new home. Didn't go in. But he lives way up Combe Road and lives next to Dr. Godfrey. Boy was I tired when they got me back home. But Gary and Jill took me over to Ryan and Kathryn's
House. It is beautiful. I even got up the stairs and saw Abbey and Spencer's Bedrooms. Slept good that night and Ronda and Jackson picked me up to take us to Bountiful El Matidore's to meat Bonnie, Clyde, Diane, Linda and Joshua. I was proud of Ronda. She knew how to get us there and back. Then that night, Kyle took me on a tour of the basement. It is a beautiful home and I hope you all have fun there. Cory picked me up and took me to the Airport and they had the wheel chair and also had one in Phoenix and Linda and Stuaret were there. THANKS TO YOU ALL, I HAD A WONDERFDUL TIME. Love, ibmom & GMA

Monday, August 18, 2008

Thanksgiving...are you in?

Well family,
Grandma called me this morning and said something is wrong with the blog. It doesn't show any updates. We figured out that nothing is wrong with the blog...just the family.

So I'll start with a statement. Grandma and Grandpa we would like to reserve a place at your home for Thanksgiving.
Anyone else interested? Well we are in. You can view our flight info below. We found the cheapest rate for $234 on Travelocity.

Here is our itenary. We can't wait!


Wed, Nov 26, 2008
Salt Lake City, (SLC) to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, (PHX)
Depart: 12:15 PMArrive: 01:49 PM

Sun, Nov 30, 2008
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, (PHX) to Salt Lake City, (SLC)
Depart: 05:15 PMArrive: 06:54 PM

Dale

Hey family gang....I've been watching the Poll Blog for some news besides my last little bit
which is the last one entered.. Any way I'm the new kid on the block and will be looking to see from you....Love from DALE (dad,grandpa,great grandpa)

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Jill and Grampa

Hey family!!!!! guess what? This little gal who we call Jill is one top notch computer
instructer and has me going pretty good on it ...so my hope I will be able to send you a message
or thought now and then so be aware of Dale,Ok! thank you Jill..Love all of you.

Friday, August 1, 2008

gma & ibmom

Dear Family,

It's been a while since I've posted, but after reading everyones blog, there's lots to shout about. Congrats to Jodi, Matt, and Carson Lee for being sealed and I'm so glad that his Great Grandfather was able to be there. We are looking forward to seeing Gary and Jill and Kyle and Emily down here tonight. Jill called from Provo and they are on their way down and will be here tonight. Then a week full of fun and games and then I hope I'll be on the plane for Utah, where I will get to see Gary and Jill's new home. Thanks to Jeff taking me there and Gary picking me up. My kids on both sides are wonderful to me. We'll be watching a Diamondback game when they come tonight. They have been exciting. Last night, they played L.A. The score was 2-1. Brandon Webb was pitching. They are fun. After the game. we watch one of our new DVD's We got a new collection of Gary Cooper. They're all in color and no advertising in them. We're tryinmg to get some new DVD's to take the place of the old vcr's that we have taped ourselves.
Brynley, sounds like you're having a blast on and off your job. And are they lucky to have you!
Well, I've got to get busy on some more BYU lessons. I'm studing the Doctries and Covenants. And are we ever blessed to be members of His Church. Love you all. GMA & IBMOM

Sunday, July 27, 2008

King's 24th

I can't believe how fast summer is flying by. It has been a good, hot, busy summer for everyone it seems. I do believe that the highlight could have been this weekend. Thanks to Jodi and Matt and Carson for a memorable week! It was so neat to have the whole family in the temple with Grandpa in the front. Well done Matt with the blessing and Jodi in having everything so organized for a fantastic breakfast. It turns out that I really love my family! I can't wait for Bear Lake, another couple days with you guys makes me excited!!!
Well, I had a memorable 24th, and made a quick trip to King's peak. I had a really busy day at work on the 23rd and made it home at 9:00 that night exhausted, but we headed up to King's Peak anyway, I slept wonderfully for 4 hours, then we were up and started hiking. It was just me and Kim, we left the car at 6:15 in the morning and returned at 9:30 at night, it was a long day hiking, but it was wonderful! The entire time we were in awe at the beauties all around. We saw a bunch of cool animals and a whole lot of scout groups too. No fireworks though, but it was a great day off of work!
Work is going well too. It's going to be a busy next couple of weeks, but I will have an 8-5 work schedule for the first time in my 10 months on the job, so I'll take it! We've taken a group of kids hiking for the past several weeks, and it has been so fun to watch them appreciate the mountains too. I'll tell you what, kids will say the darnedest things, it's so fun to be with them for their first experiences in nature. We just finished our Summer basketball league that turned out to be awesome thanks to our volunteers. I also taught a volleyball camp and mmmm, loved that too. We had a frisbee class, rock climbing class and canoeing class that ended last week as well. I guess you can say that I really enjoy my job. We have a basketball camp starting in the morning and a sports camp the following week, so I guess I better get some sleep. Aren't they cute?!

Sometimes Pictures Tell It All- (Jill)

July has been a busy fun summer month. Here are some of the Highlights. Reverse chronological order.


Jodi, Matt, Carson- July 26, 2008
Ogden Temple



Holbrooks and the Polls- Carson's Sealing



Troy- Star-gazing and conveniently located

Kyle and Emily.......Ryan legitimately in the background









San Diego



Chicago with Full Moon


Spencer and Abby- Lagoons a'la fun with G&G
7-10-08




























Monday, July 14, 2008

Farewell to the Philippines (Kyle)


Mag-Aso falls in Bohol. It's no Havasupai, but it was still a pretty cool place.



This is the Tarsier. It's the world's smallest primate. They're only found in Bohol. Aren't they the cutest thing ever.



Yes, you're right Troy, they're trout. Very large trout. This was off the coast of Bohol. I went to this tiny island off the coast of Bohol and did some snorkeling. It was amazing! It was just like Finding Nemo.



Oh man, these kids were great!



Here we are. The students at the Academy for Creating Enterprise. We just finished my last FHE in the Philippines. They're so much fun.



Well how about this? I’m writing my final blog post from the Philippines. It’s tough to believe it’s already come to an end. It’s been an absolutely amazing experience and I’ve loved every minute of it………well, almost every minute, there’s been a few bus rides that I might not put on my list of things I love about the Philippines. Anyway, the time has come for me to leave these beautiful islands behind and to spend some time in the great state of Utah before moving to another island that’s slightly more populated than the island where I currently reside.

Tomorrow I leave Cebu at 8 pm. I fly to Manila and then to San Francisco. I get to San Francisco at 8 pm on the same night. I get to live Wednesday night twice. It will be great. The bummer is that I can’t fly to SLC until Thursday morning, so I get to spend the night in the SF airport. I’m really excited to see you all!

Well, my last few weeks here have been wonderful. I took a vacation last week to an island called Bohol. I’ve been working pretty much every day, including Saturdays and then doing a fireside on most Sundays so I realized that after almost 6 weeks in this tropical paradise, I hadn’t even been to the beach. Everyone from the Academy was excited for me to take a few days off and they recommended I go to Bohol. I’m glad I did. It was amazing. I’ve posted a few pics. Don't worry, if those aren't enough pictures, I'll be sure to take you through the slideshow picture by picture when I get home. I've only got 1,158 pictures right now.

The day I got home from Bohol, I took off again for a tour of another island, but not for vacation, it was back to work. We did three seminars in three days, rode buses like crazy, and finished it off with an overnight boat ride that got us back to Cebu in time for church on Sunday. The boat ride was great! They booked a suite for me and I had my own bed and a little deck that I went out on to watch the sun rise.

Last night we had an FHE with all of the students. We played the present exchange game with a bunch of my stuff that I had wrapped up for them. It was a blast and they were all really grateful. I’m sure going to miss these guys. It’s been so much fun being here and I’ve made such great friends with these wonderful people.

Well, I’ve gotta go. They’re planning a surprise party for me that starts in a few minutes. I wish Edo wouldn’t have spilled the beans this morning. His English isn’t the best and I’m pretty sure he didn’t know it was a surprise. They had me fooled because they told me we have a meeting today at 3pm. I just put it on my calendar and didn’t think twice about it. Well, then this morning Edo said, “So Kyle, we have birthday party 3 o’clock today?” Bummer. I love surprises too.

I love you all and can’t wait to see you. I’m HOMEWARD BOUND!!