Family Picture 2009

Here is a family picture with all of us together.  Taken December 27, 2009 in Huntington, UT.

We were all together for my sister Kathy's oldest son, Brett, who will be leaving for an LDS mission next week.  He spoke in Church on December 27, 2009 and did an outstanding job!

Ryan is the tall one in our family.  He is 15 years old, 9th grader at North Cache.  As a Life Scout, Ryan has almost earned his Eagle.  Ryan will be going to the National Boy Scout Jamboree next Summer in 2010.  We are so proud of him!


Stephen is "Mr. Smiles" - our confident one.  He is 10 years old, 5th grade at Summit Elementary.  Our neighbor "hires" Stephen to take care of their cat when they are out of town.  He is a Webelos Scout and is a great young man.


Melanie is our beautiful daughter.  She is 17 years old, can't wait to be 18 in April.  She is a senior at Sky View High School.  As I said earlier, she is a beautiful young lady.  We just need to keep fighting off all of the young men :)

Dec 2009 Jewkes Family Picture

Here is a family picture with all of us together.  I don't remember the last time we were together like this for a picture.


Pictured are (l-r):  Kathy, Richard, Mom (Myrna), Dad (Richard), Rachelle, and Denise.  Taken December 27, 2009 in Huntington, UT.


We were all together for Kathy's oldest son, Brett, who will be leaving for an LDS mission next week.  He spoke in Church on December 27, 2009 and did an outstanding job!


If you want to get a smile out of this - check out Denise's feet!  She is standing on her tiptoes.  She said:  "my feet were not supposed to show. I was on tiptoes because I am taller than Rachelle, but my feet just could not be in my boots any longer. Ha ha"

Thanksgiving 2009 Collage

 

I thought it would be fun to make a collage of all of my Thanksgiving 2009 pictures.

What Shall We Give?

Here is a wonderful message of Christmas giving by President Monson. In the video clip is a short segment of a young boy dropping a gift anonymously at a doorstep, knocking, and running. This is one of our family favorites. We call it "Knock -n- Run".

Christmas 2009

Look who came to our Ward Christmas Party! Ryan thought he would take his turn. Only - instead of telling Santa what he wanted for Christmas, Ryan tried to find out what he was going to be getting for Christmas.

Silly Ryan - You have to be Good First!

Stephen Earns his Webelos Badge

Tonight at Pack Night, Stephen earned his Webelos badge. Somehow the picture didn't get taken, but it really happened. He has been working hard on his requirements and we are very proud of him. Way to go, Stephen!!

Ryan's Band Concert ...

was last night. Stephen & Tammy went to see it and enjoyed it very much. Ryan plays the trumpet, and his group played three numbers. They did a great job, and the gym was packed with parents to listen. Stephen enjoyed taking pictures and having his picture taken.

Pie Eating Contest Video Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 Pie Eating Contest Video This is a fun video to watch.

Thanksgiving 2009 Picture Slideshow

Here are a few pictures that we took at Grandma and Grandpa's house. If you have other pictures that you would like added to this, please let me know and I would be happy to combine them all together.

Stephen Wins the Raingutter Regatta

News flash from July 30th! Stephen built this great boat and won every race he was in by a long shot. We were very proud of Stephen, although they did not give out awards. Way to go, Stephen!!!

4th of July

We went to the fireworks show at Romney Stadium on July 3rd. We took 18 people, including us, and had a fun time. We played UNO while waiting for it to get dark. Melanie & Emily trolled the area for friends or guys. We had glow-in-the-dark necklaces for anyone who wanted them, ate junk food and had a nice time. There was a fly-over of an air-refueling jet which was very cool. Then we enjoyed the fireworks, set to music. Hope you had a nice 4th of July, too!

Temple Open House

Richard and I took the boys and my mom to the Open House of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in South Jordan on July 1st. We had an enjoyable tour there, and the boys were very glad that they went. I am too!

Richard's Clean Desk

It's not too often you'll see my desk this clean!

Jazz Band

Here's Ryan with the Jazz Band (they met after school to learn how to play Jazz) back in March. That was fun, too!

Ryan Plays Trumpet

Ryan recently performed with his school band in a concert. They played some wonderful music - we are waiting for the CD so we can hear it again. Ryan has been playing the trumpet for 2 school years now, and really enjoys it. We like band concerts, because the music isn't as long as at Choir and Orchestra concerts. The 9th grade band and High School band are on the stage behind Ryan, and all three bands joined together to play "76 Trombones" from The Music Man. It was FABULOUS! Keep up the playing, Ryan!

Spring 2009 in Smithfield

Pirates of Penzance

Stephen was in Smithfield City's
"Pirates of Penzance"
View all

Get your own

Stephen Had a Birthday Party

He invited several friends to the pool with him. He loves the water, and jumping off the diving board. Ryan went swimming, too and seemed to have a fun time. After swimming they had "mud pies", and played games together. At the end, Stephen said, "That was the best birthday party ever!!"

Spring Break Trip

Just before Easter, we took a trip to SLC, to spend a few days away from home. One of the places we visited was Temple Square. We took a tour of the Conference Center (can you say WOW!), and took a picture of us by the Temple. For those who know Aunt Rachelle, you'd swear she was in this picture! It really is Melanie, but could be Aunt Rachelle.

This is a beautiful fountain in the Conference Center. It is a lovely piece of artwork as well!

This is the ceiling above the fountain. I think it would make a cool quilt.

These are some beautiful flowers on Temple Square. I just love the colors and the hope of spring.

It was a little cool there, but still nicer than Cache Valley was. We enjoyed several movies, some at the Planetarium. One was "Under the Sea" on IMAX in 3D. So we got to wear these neat glasses.



Then, the kids had a race up the stairs at the Gateway. Ryan tripped, so I'm not sure who won the race. We ate some really great food at the Thaifoon Restaurant there. Melanie got to shop a whole lot (her favorite activity), and got lots of new clothes, mostly at Hollister.

We went to the top of the Church Office Building (first time for all of us), and enjoyed some really great views of the valley, including this one of Temple Square.

Fish Tank Acting as a Syphon

Do you know what will happen if you have a hose with one end in the water and the other end of the hose ABOVE water level?
Answer: nothing.

Now for the trick question: What will happen if you have one end of the hose in the water and the other end of the hose outside and it is BELOW water level?

Answer: You get soaked carpet and pad!

Now you ask - did we learn anything from this? Well, let me go ask RYAN to see what his answer is :)

Sourdough Starter

OK - it's time for me again to venture into the unknown (for me at least) and start to work with sourdough. I say unknown, because I'm not very experienced. I have worked with it some in the past, but gave up and threw it out.

So here is what I am going to try. There is a website http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/ that offers to send you some dried starter that supposedly was used a LOOOONG LOOOOONG time ago. I've spent 80 cents on 2 stamps to send them my self-addressed, stamped envelope. We'll see what happens.

On a side note - I've been trying to answer the difficult question "What is your/my hobby?" I think I have come up with: gardening, and playing in the kitchen.

So, Wish me luck as I start to play in the kitchen again!

Popcorn Fundraiser for Ryan

Hey everyone.
You all know how I am trying to get to the national Jamboree in 2010. I am selling Trail's End Popcorn - America's Best Popcorn! All you have to do is:

• go to www.orderpopcorn.com

• when it asks for a ‘Order Key’, use TEWXQWA
  By using this Key / Code, I get credit for these sales.
• choose from a variety of delicious Trail’s End products
• once purchased, the product will be sent directly to your home!
• What is really nice, is that you purchase it directly from them and pay them directly.
  

If you guys can do this some time before the end of May that would be great.


Please feel free to let other people know about this. THANKS!

Bifocal Glasses

Well - I hate to admit it, but I just bought my first pair of bifocal glasses. Hmmm - now what does that say about me? It must be that people are getting younger, and younger to need bifocals now-a-days. It couldn't be that I'm getting any older!

Another thing I hate to admit - but it is true. These new glasses really help! Now I don't have to take my glasses OFF to read, then ON to see/talk to people, back OFF to read, ON to talk, OFF, ON, OFF, ON ....

Oh, the Joys of Life!

Working on a research Paper

So I have been working on a Multi-genre paper. I'm doing the paper on the nuclear bomb testings. Some interesting facts that I have learned, is that even though the Americans were the inventors of the atomic bomb, it was the Russians, during the Cold War, that built the largest nuclear devise. This devise was nicknamed Tsar, and the power of it was equal to 58 million tons of TNT, or the amount of explosive used in WWII times 10.

The blast wave was still big enough to be measured on the 3rd pass around the world. The location of the blast, is Mityushikha Bay test range, test field D-2, Novaya Zemlya Island (located above the arctic circle in the Arctic Sea). Approximate coordinates were 73.85N, 54.50E. The test was conducted by air dropping the bomb from a specially modified Tu-95N

Emergency Preparedness: 72-hour Kits

Just a quick update for you, I thought we'd work on our 72-hour kits for each family member. On the list of websites to the left, I have included some very handy and easy to use websites. The State of Utah's website, BeReady.Utah.Gov has some very helpful information. Each family member received a "NEW" sports bag at christmas. So we don't have any excuses left.

If you have any favorite website dealing with emergency preparedness or 72-hour kits, please let me know! I would love to see any good websites on this subject. Just leave a comment with the address, or email me. Thanks!

Check This Out!

This is a deer that came to feed right next to our kitchen door. He looks like he's had quite a winter, and he was looking for something to eat. I was hoping he would eat the weeds that are growing (already?), but he only nibbled at them, and it didn't look like he got much. If we could have opened the door without scaring him off, we could have touched him on the nose. He even heard the ring of our phone and twitched his ears to listen.

Mom Took a Class

on cake decorating. For the most part, it was fun because I had a trip down memory lane. The teacher would share an idea or show how to use a tip for a certain design, and I would remember my mother decorating cakes when I was a child. She did all of the designs that I was shown that night. My mom was a great cake decorator, she even made my wedding cake. I think the hardest part for her, was the stress of getting everything "just right", but I thought they were beautiful!

So here is my attempt at decorating a cake. It has been such a long time since I tried cake decorating, my boys thought this cake was "awesome". Of course, it helped that it tasted good, too.

I guess I will try again soon to decorate a cake. I just have to think of ways to decorate it. Everyone there at the class said there are great books out there, so I might have to pick one up.

Funny Joke

We actually are not an exciting family, but we do like jokes. Stephen read this one on a laffy taffy wrapper the other day and I quite liked it.

What is green and sings?




Elvis Parsley!

Of course, I had to explain it to him, as Elvis is a little before his time. I had him call Grandpa to tell him the joke, because Grandpa likes to sing with Elvis.

Classes for next year

So I'm trying to decide whether or not I am going to take band next year in 9th grade. Also I want to join the marching band but that will cost more than I can afford. The reason why I can't afford it, is because I am saving my money for the National Boy Scout Jamboree in 2010.

Ryan

Sister's 40th Birthday

WOW - I can't believe it. My sister is turning 40! (I'm not going to say who is older - she or I).

Now the big question is - who in the family are more excited about this?

Could it be my sister - excited that she is finally the BIG 40. How about our parents - knowing that they now have 2 "kids" that are over 40? OR - Maybe her kids so they can tease her that she really is getting OLD.

Happy Birthday Kathy!

Spelling Bee

Our class is doing a spelling bee.
I got 2nd place 2 times.
The words were very hard.
One of the words was cartoon.
I might go to the school spelling bee.
There is going to be a tiebreaker tomorrow.
Three people are going to be in it.
Savannah,Paul,and me.
I will get a word list if I win.
I will study the word list if I get it.

-- Stephen

Isn't Life Fun?

I like the name of Orange Jewkes ... it may be after a food, but it is a yummy drink. We parents might try to be in a trend, but we fail miserably. I mainly like to be able to do new and fun things.

Ryan is trying to earn enough money to go to Boy Scout National Jamboree in July 2010. He is selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts right now. I can't wait to get mine on Saturday! YUM!

Melanie has the day off today and is watching a movie with friends.

Stephen did very well in his class spelling bee yesterday. He is not afraid to try things.

Silly Silly Silly

Well in my defense,
first- the name of our blog... orange jewkes.... was a joke. i said it just jokingly and they actually used it. i think its stupid cuz its associating our name with a food... yeah that really makes us sound great. haha.

second- i think this whole blog thing is really silly cuz my parents wanted one so they can be in the trend.

third- i think right now the only people reading this is us... so its basically us telling eachother the stories of our life. its like living twice.

-Melanie

Top 10 Things We'll Miss About George Bush

From David Letterman, here is a clip of his Top 10 Things why we'll miss George Bush.

Deer Crossing

Our yard seems to be where the deer like to be. These pictures were taken from our bedroom window looking into our back yard.

Car Wreck

Look at how our year started out in 2009. Melanie was involved in a car crash while on her way to work.


Okay - put yourself in her place. You are 16 years old, alone in the car, and on your way to work, while driving on a slick highway. Suddenly, a driver slides into your lane of traffic and you slam into him.

Now the big question - Who do you call?
Your parents? The police? Best friend? Nope - she calls her work to let them know she'll be a little bit late. Then she is sending and receiving texts messages from friends.


Only after these important calls, does she call her parents. Her dad, of course, thinks she is just kidding when she calls.


Yes - Melanie is okay and "NO" it wasn't her fault. But as you can see, the car was a total loss.


Check out the windshield on the passenger side? It looks like someone slammed into the window.

We think it was her guardian angel 

As for work - well, she didn't make it to work at all that evening. Instead, she spent some time in the hospital.