Whats all the buzz!

June 24th 2010

Jordyn and Dad were working in the front yard today, when a cloud of bees come flying above. Don't ask why, but for some reason they decided to land in our tree. They coated a branch, obviously protecting their queen. They were all just clustered on top of each other in the shape of a hive. As cool as that is, we couldn't very well leave them there, what if they attacked someone, or what if some kid passing through our yard bothered them. It is a little uncomfortable seeing that many bees all so close to the house. LLoyd didn't want to kill them, he just wanted to have them moved. He talked with people that work with the fire department and how they destroy them, but this person suggested that we find a bee keeper in the area that would raise them. It took lots of asking around but we were able to find someone who actually just lost his own bees. The mans name was Brewer, and when we called, he came over immediately. We were surprised to see that he did not wear a suit, or any kind of protection from being stung. He simply cut the branch on which they were hanging on and gently laid them in a box. There were several bees that did not make it in the box, and they did come out of the wood work once the "hive" was in the box. He held them in his hand and told us a little bit about bees. He said that because of the lack of water, these bees were probably looking for a more suitable location to have their hive. It is quite interesting why bees do what they do. We were quite impressed with his knowledge, his lack of fear and his "love" for bees. We think we made the right choice in calling him and now we are bee free!

Where the Heck is Bullfrog!

Brett moved away from us this year, something that he has always wanted to do; get out of Round Valley. I just cant believe where he ended up! Brett's friend, Mitch, told him about the Utah side of Lake Powell, called Bullfrog, and he helped him to get on there. Now he is living in a dorm, cleaning and maintaining rooms at the Defiance Lodge in Bullfrog Ut. Good luck finding that on the map, its there, but you have to really hunt for it. Its just a small little place with lots of water and beautiful desert landscaping, and one expensive convenient-like store. Brett would really love to get on at the Marina, and has been promised a job there as soon as one opens up for him, in the meantime, he is learning to be a maid! Now that cracks me up! Even better, his boss wanted to make him head of housekeeping because he was a hard worker and dependable, but Brett turned that down so that he could make the switch to the marina when it is time. My son, cleaning rooms, well what do you know! Brett left the middle of March and will be there till the end of September when the season ends. After that, he can come home, or put in for a transfer to some other location where there is seasonal recreation. He would like to go to Hawaii.
For Brett's birthday, Lloyd and I, and Paige and Devon drove out to visit Brett. We were allowed to stay in the VIP trailer for the couple of days we were there. It had 3 rooms and two bathrooms, a kitchen and family room which were all quite comfortable. We enjoyed it. We brought Brett a fishing pole for his birthday and we enjoyed a day of fishing and relaxing as well as checking out the docks and the houseboats one day. Wow, they were nice. Paige and Brett and Dad caught some fish, a few catfish and a couple bass. Devon and I were onlookers and mostly soaked up the sunshine. We all got a little sunburned while we were there. Brett lives in the dorms, not far from the marina and just down the hill from the Lodge. There are lots of dorms there, cuz there are lots of people running the place. Quite impressive. Brett has a chance to see what more of the world looks like and he has the chance to be his own person, good for him! We will have to see in September what else comes his way.

My little girl is growing up!

Number 4 has graduated High School! Jordy did it! She has accomplished all she needed to graduate from Round Valley High School and the Seminary program. We are all very proud of her, especially for being able to memorize all of her scripture mastery and receive a plaque like her brothers before her. Jordyn has also received a scholarship, thanks to the help of her cousin, Alice Metzger, and is will be attending Eastern Arizona College for the next two years. Her $4,600 scholarship will help her with tuition and books for the next two years. Jordyn would like to major in art, as she has been so blessed to have that special gift. Her art teacher at high school, Mrs. Aldrich, has been quite proud and willing to display her students work. She really is good and enjoys studying new medians of art. She hopes to be an art instructor some day and that is what she will be schooling to do. Her schedule is set, after meeting with the counselor at EAC, she will have a busy first year in college, but I think she is going to have the time of her life, while at the same time having some valuable life experiences. I am so glad that she wont be too far away from us, knowing that she is only 3 hours away and that her brothers and cousin are with her there in Safford makes me feel much better. I am so excited for Jordyn because I know that a new phase of life is ahead of her. Not necessarily an easy phase, but an exciting one, and future altering one as well. I hope she chooses well! We are proud of you Jordyn!

Jordyn's series of unessential blabberings!

So these are rules that i have learned from college.
#1 dont leave your chapstick in the car becasue you think it can survive the heat....cause it cant.
#2 AVOID AT ALL COSTS having the marriage talk with any and all relatives
#3 Girls from singles wards are crazy avoid making eye contact and dont look at their "future husbands" in broad day light.
#4 Dont tell creepy old men how old you are cause....just dont do it.
#5 Sleep is good
#6 Telling inside jokes is only good when you are surrounded by people from the inside
#7 When in doubt tell them you have a boyfriend
#8 Shave your legs the first week of singles ward cause there are returned missionaries... first impression are very important*dads side note also shave your arm pitsguys look at pits too
#9 during sacrament if you have a cute dozer provide shoulder and make sure he doesnt drool
#10 mom and dad are only a phone call away

Dedication of the Gila Valley Temple

May 23, 2010

What a great experience we were able to witness today, The dedication of the Gila Valley Temple. There were no church services today anywhere in the state of Az, only different sessions of dedications that were being broadcast to the different stake centers around the state. Our ward attended the session that began at 12:00pm. This was the first time that any of my children would remember watching a dedication. My girls thought the hankerchief thing was kind of funny, but I guess if you have never seen anything like that, you would. This is the temple that my children will be most likely familiar with, at least the ones that actually live in Safford. And since 3 already live there, and Jordyn soon to join them, and Kylie planning to live there next summer, that would be most of my kids. Chase and Devon and Kylie were blessed to be able to see the prophet, Thomas Monson, and Chase was able to shake his hand. Chase and Devon decided to drive by the Temple after the last dedication and noticed that the prophet and his counselors were standing out on the lawn and since the parking lot was not blocked off, they decided to pull over and see the prophet up close. There were other people around, and the grass was blocked off by ropes so that people could not crowd, but the prophet came to them and was shaking the hands of some kids when he looked up and saw tall, red-headed Chase and told the kids. If you ever need help, here is the young man you will want to be friends with, and then he came over to shake Chase's hand. Devon said that he did not feel he needed to shake his hand, but was content to see him smile at him. Kylie was invited to participate, along with her two friends, in the cultural event that happened on Saturday night. She got to be an usher and was close enough to see and shake the hand of the prophet. They were all very thankful for their experiences. All of us were impressed with the prophets sense of humor. The kids thought he was silly at times, but it makes them feel good that he could play and have fun. He especially like to sing!
It was fun taking the time to travel to Safford to go to the open house. It was mothers day weekend, and Jordyns birthday as well. We had several friends join us. Jordyn drove the Corolla and took Danae Turley, William Foote and Paige down. Lloyd and I took down Kylie and her two friends, Katie and Kammie Maschue.We sang almost the whole way to Alan Jackson and the Cars. The Quinlans were also heading down that same weekend, so we were not able to stay with Heather and Chase. Lloyd and I, and Devon and Paige stayed in a hotel. Kylie and her two friends stayed with the sister of the Maschue's and William and Danae and Jordyn stayed with our cousin Alice since that is where Jordyn and Danae will be moving shortly. We had taken a load of Jordyns stuff down, just so it wouldn't be too much to move later. The Temple was absolutely beautiful, I loved the stain glass, and the elegant chandeliers. I cant wait to go attend a session there. The endowment rooms were painted in the scenery that surrounds the Pima area. It was beautiful.
On Saturday we were able to enjoy some of the scenery up close and personal as Heather and Chase took us to a place that we could play in the water. Huge rocks and waterfalls were all around us, and we loved it. We had a small birthday party for Jordyn, but mostly everybody did their own thing and had fun.

scene right out of an action movie

June 11, 2010

I was almost done delivering mail, heading down main street in Eagar back to the post office. On my right was a group of people doing an Eagle Project right in front of Cal Glass. I looked to see if I knew who it was when just a few houses down, very low in the sky was an airplane in trouble. I could see that the pilot was trying to stabilize the plane, I knew he was way to low and was not going to go far. The plane wobbled side to side for a minute and headed towards the school. I knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to land the plane on the soccer fields on the north side of the dome. However, he was too low, and was not able to crest the school. He hit the north side of our high school. I had pulled over to the suicide lane so that I could watch without hitting anyone, and I did watch, I watched as the plane came in from the back and slammed into the roof. I

was right in front of the school marquee and decided to drive behind the school. I was there within minutes of the crash. I jumped out of the car and snapped a picture with my cell phone.

There were other cars doing the same thing I was, but they mostly headed to the front. When I pulled over to take a picture of the roof of our school on fire, there were only about 4 other people back there with me. I jumped in the car to come around the north side of the auditorium to see exactly what was hit, when a huge explosion sounded. Debris and smoke and the smell of jet fuel filled the air. I was able to snap a picture from outside of the wall near the auditorium but it was so smokey, all you could really see was smoke and nothing else.

It wasn't long before the sirens were approaching and I did not want to get penned in. I still had the outgoing mail that I needed to get back to the post office. My postmaster, Mary Nedrow, is very much in the public eye, she serves on the school board, and was the town mayor for Springerville until just recently. I knew that she would be getting all the info. I hung around at the post office for a few hours to hear what all she was hearing. I could not believe the phone calls she was receiving from newspapers, news channels and other board members etc. At first we heard that it was a man and a young woman from Florida, we thought that maybe it would have been some politicians that were supposed to be having a meeting in the auditorium that very night from all across the state. I was panicked thinking about all the people that could possibly be in the school. It was about 2:15 when the plane crashed.
When the firefighters were actually able to enter the building, and doing a search of it to see if there was anyone inside, were amazed that no one was actually in the building at the time. Because of budget cuts all across the nation, employees who would be working during the summer are on 4 10's which means that no one would be working on Fridays. However, there was a painting crew inside the building, but the foreman decided to let them all go early that day since it was Friday. He let them go at noon. Terry Cates was in the auditorium with some of her crew to set up for the meeting that night, but they never even heard the explosion. They had no idea what had happened to the school. What a miracle it was that no one was in the building at the time of the crash.
Now, 3 days after the crash, we know that it was a family of 4. Ulrich was their last name. It consisted of two daughters, one was going to be a Junior this year, her name was Alexa, and her little sister that is about 6years old, a dad, with graying hair, and the mother. When the plane hit, somehow the wing snagged and was ripped off, and landed in front of the school The plane came to rest on top of the school, and then exploded. Of course, we have lots of wood in the building so it caught very quickly. We had response from several areas around us bringing their fire trucks to help put out the fire. Lakeside, Pinetop, Greer, Show Low, St Johns, Tucson Electric Power Plant sent out a fire unit and Alpine, and of course, Springerville and Eagar. Show Low had a water tower which was very helpful in putting out the fire as quickly as they did. Our school would have been completely gone if it had not been for them. It burned for quite awhile and completely gutted out the offices, freshman hall and special ed rooms. Unbelievably, the high tech center and library which flank these areas were untouched. Of course, there will be lots of smoke and water damage, but it is truly amazing with the reported temperatures of the building during the fire that more damage was not done.
Last night the school board met to discuss what possibilities they had for the upcoming school year. Lots of things were discussed, but nothing definitely decided. Mary was able to go through with the other school board members and some staff and do a walk through. She showed us lots of pictures of the school. I am sure we will be hearing more about what will be happening to the school soon. In the meantime, our little town has made it big time into the news once again. I am just so grateful that no one from here was hurt.
Tonight, many townspeople, and alumni are gathering for a memorial for those who lost their lives in this tragic event.