Well Ben that is very touching I am in complete agreement with the fertility thing. I have never had the opportunity to take it for granted and for that I know that I am very blessed to have two very beautiful children who I know were meant for my family and because I had to work so hard to get them I think I appreciate them that much more. I think the sacrifices of young women like your sister in law are the greatest ones in life and that new family will always love her for it. I wish her the best of luck with the rest of her life she is certianly doing the right thing.
Also congrats to Lestie I promise I will call you back today I was sick yesterday and got a little behind. I will also look for any jobs for Tim. They are building a new hospital and surgery center here in IF and I bet there is alot of oppenings there.

Though an interesting series of events, which I will only touch on, a friend of Gigi's will be getting Raelynn's baby through adoption. Raelynn has been struggling lately going through the literal stacks of people who want her baby. Gigi called me some time ago and mentioned that she had friends who were going through the whole infertility thing, they lived in Denver, and were trying to adopt. I told her that there was a long line and it was really Raelynn's decision, but I would tell her. Gigi called again several times and talked with Julie and Raelynn, mentioning how much she was being hounded by the Spirit to get this off her shoulders and at least put them in contact with each other. Raelynn had earlier decided, with lackluster, to go with another family that she liked, but when she did go through Gigi's friend's application, she was strongly impressed that they were the right ones.

The agency helped her call the family and tell them they were now expecting a boy, everyone cried and it was a very emotional moment. So, thanks go to Gigi for following her heart and putting these very capable parents in the front of a very long line, as anyone who tries to adopt soon finds out.

I have learned of late just how precious it is to be able to procreate and raise children. You would not believe what many people have to go through to get a child these days. As dad once reminded us, don't put off having your families, as they will be the single most important thing in your life when you are older and wise enough to realize it. I think we have all done well to heed that advice.

I stated that we were blessing Nicholas in December, but we have changed it to the last Sunday in November. There is still an open invite for anyone who wants to treck up to Polson. Having a boy is definately different, and yes Julie he has christened almost everyone and everything in my house. I am also interested in any information anyone may have on a job for my husband near one of you. Just e-mail it to me at timk@polson.net. We are currently trying to find him a more family friendly job.

Yeah Lestie and Ben! Great accomplishments for both of you. Lestie has finally added a boy to her group and Ben has become an official bike racer! Thats awesome for both of you. Julie, I wish you lived close enough to bake some bread for me. I would love it. Best of luck on your prospering business tactics. All is well here, however I don't have anything great to brag about other than I am still going to graduate in May with my masters and it has been a long haul. I am proud of myself for sticking it through. Maybe I am getting older and smarter...possibly. Lestie your little boy is beautiful. Congratualtions again. My kids will be really excited that they have a new little cousin.

Congratulations Lestie! I still cannot believe you have a boy! Has he peed on you yet? That is one you never really get used to. :) He is very cute, Chris and I both think he looks alot like Tim! Ben, congrats on the race- you are my hero. (on a bike) My biggest accomplishment lately...I have started a little bread baking buisness- it is to keep us going with gas $ and extras. I thought it would be fun, but it has grown faster than I expected! I am up to about 10 loaves a week, and with only 2 days to bake it- Tuesdays and Thursdays. (I have classes the other days) My bishops wife is my best supporter, she has told 4 of her friends who all want to buy from me...I may have to quit school and do this full time! Just kidding.

I am all for the family reunion, since I missed the latest one. I did have a baby, if anyone wants to look at him he is on a web site called growingfamily.com. Make sure you only fill in the required fields (noted with an *). The password to see him is my last name, Katsma. You could also try my link babypage. GOOD LUCK! We will be blessing him the first Sunday in December, and of course everyone is welcome.

Great Job Ben! I think it is great we have a place to brag about our accomplishments!So you all heard Lesti had her baby. He is a boy his name is Nicholas Brandon. he weighed 7Lbs. something! Way to go Lesti!

Since this is my self-proclaimed "Aunt Corrie's brag site" (I hope she never see this) I'll relate my latest accomplishment. Salary increase? No. New car? No. Riding a bike real fast? Oh yeah.

I did the normal Tuesday HP race with the big boys and for the first time ever, I won. I beat the cat 2 racer guy (Rick) who has always been this unbeatable type dude. The three strongest guys were not out, and no pros who ocassionally show, so the competition was not as strong as it can be, but two awesome dudes were there, one of whom has ridden me right off his wheel more times than I can count. So, it went like this. Rick and I and one other dude (Sammy) broke away very early in the race. We held off the peloton very well and after Rick and Sammy tried to drop me, but ended up dropping Sammy, they both realized they could use me and I took some tremendous pulls, stronger, I felt than Sammy. On the final leg there is this monster 300 foot, and very steep hill which is the final sprint to finish at the top. Rick (the strongest one) basically dared Sammy and me to pass him on the final sprint up this hill. After letting him sit up front a good while, Sammy attempted to pass him, but couldn't do it, at the same time, I went around the other side and dropped them both.

I'm savoring it because it may not happen again, and I'm pretty sure he's never going to take another long lead-out and dare me to come around him. It's called the power of being underestimated. No one at LSI has ever won this race, so I'm totally stoked.

Ben that sounds great! We will help where we can, I am not positive on the dates as I will be starting a new job in the schools right then. Plan on us unless otherwise noted. Thank you Julie for your call. I am sorry I didn't check the blogger this weekend...Way to go Ben and Julie! We can look forward to a family reunion in 2003!

Thanks for your input. They called us today and said someone else wanted it, so we went ahead and put our deposit in. I hesitate to be so bold, but since it is our year for the reunion, we'll go ahead and make it the plan. That gives you a year to deal with it. We wont make you come out any other time. As for Gigi and crew, we're sorry, but we'll come to Washington in 2004 when it's your turn. That goes for Polly, too. Polly, you need to have yours in Vegas, though.

Whatever you want to do is fine. We are happy to go anywhere.

Ben I think we could do that! Sounds like a ton of fun. I do not know how thrilled I am about the drive though. I guess Gigi is farther! How much would you want for food? That looks really good for our family everyone will have a bed and a ton to do!

Gosh Ben, that sounds perfect! Especially the cost- for us anyway- sounds very reasonable. I think 4 days would be perfect, since some have to travel quite a ways to get there. The dates are good, hopefully Chris' graduate program won't have started yet. Count us in!

Hello everyone. Julie and I have the reunion next year and we are planning it already. We stayed at Snow Mountain Ranch for a family reunion a year ago. It was very memorable and fun. Julie called them and they had a cancellation in one of their 8 bedroom cabins, which will sleep up to 40, for next August 17th through the 21st. Other than that, they are booked out until 2005. We placed our name but must confirm it by the 16th of this month.

It is called Snow Mountain Ranch near Winter Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It is at 8500 feet. You get all the benefits of camping, climbing, hiking, etc. but get to stay in a huge cabin with seperate rooms and bathrooms for everyone with a common area and kitchen, similar to the one Lisa had us in, only all the rooms have at least one queen bed with bunkbeds, and most have two.
This is the actual cabin that is available:



Some of the highlights of the place, all included in your fee, are:

Indoor basketball court (always unused when we were there).
Indoor roller skating rink.
Indoor climbing wall.
Indoor Swimming Pool.
River, lake and canoeing.
Miniature golf course.
Bike trails.
Horseback Riding.
Dance Hall.

For more info, see: YMCA of the Rockies.
Roughly, without food which we can bring, or there is also a caffeteria that costs $5 per meal, the total cost per family (10 families) would be $240 more or less depending on family size assuming 3 nights. We think this is an excellent opportunity for you all to see Colorado and get together next year, at a reasonable price.

Please post your thoughts on this, or e-mail me. If we do make a reservation, we need to pay 35% six months in advance, and a $300 deposit now (which we can take care of). We can do up to four nights, if we want to.

Congratulations on your new job Jarom. I am sure you are relieved to get settled. I wish someone would write all my reports and stuff. Best wishes. You are only @ 2 hours from here so you had better come and visit once in awhile. I enjoyed seeing everyone for the quick trip to SLC. Life seems to go by so quickly between visits. I just want you all to know I love you and think about how you are doing even if I never call. It is fun to have a way to communicate with everyone without charging up a phone bill anyway. We are selling our van and getting a new car. Maybe when we get a new car we will go on a trip and stop and see a few of you. We are also working on a Lake Powell trip. We'll see what I can come up with.

Hey everyone:
We had a great time seeing everyone at Tyler's place last weekend. It is soooo nice being 3 hours away instead of 13. I thought the activities and fun things were well planned and everyone who contributed should be thanked. -- Thanks. Anyway, Jen, Ethan and I are officially residents of Twin Falls, Idaho now. In case you were not personally told, I accepted a job with the law firm of Pedersen, Clark & Jackson in Twin. I have been working since Monday the 30th even though we have yet to move our stuff from Idaho Falls. For the first week I was driving to Pocatello (130 miles) at night and sleeping on Julie and Chris' floor. They were great hosts. We were able to get into an apartment/fourplex this week and the owner let us move in for free if we would paint, clean, etc. So Jen has been doing that while I go to work during the day. This weekend we will actually move our things down from IF and officially be in our new home. My job is great and everyone here treats me very well. It is strange being called "Mr. Whitehead" and having people screen all your calls, make your appointments, open your mail, ask if they can get you refreshments, etc. I'm not even supposed to type my own letters and documents - I am supposed to dictate them. "It takes too much time" or so I've been told. But, eight years of habit is hard to break. I feel stupid asking my assistant to "get me a file" or "make a copy of this." However, when I try and do it myself she immediately intervenes and says something like "the attorneys aren't supposed to touch the files, they mess them up - ask me and I'll get." Hard to argue with that. Anyway, all is well with us and we hope to see you all more in the future. My new contact info is:

Jarom & Jennifer Whitehead
321 Morningside Dr. Apt.#3
Twin Falls, Idaho 83301
Cell: (208)520-8120 or 520-3432 (for now)

Pedersen, Clark & Jackson
111 Shoshone Street Suite 202
Twin Falls, Idaho 83303
Ph: (208) 734-2552
Fax: (208)734-2772

We are home and well! We really missed our own bed! It was nice to see everyone! Man we are a huge family!

Back to the grind. I was glad to see everyone. Hope you all had a good time.

Here's a comic for the lawyers among us.



Also, the pictures from the reunion are up.

Note the new random picture of the day on the left.

Hope the weather cooperates for you Ben! We are excited to see everyone tomorrow!!!

I like the planetarium idea, it sounds very in-doors-ie. The weather forecast is looking travelable, but it could change. Our alternate route, I-70, is expecting 6-12 inches of snow tomorrow, so if I-80 (Wyoming) is open we'll make a break for it.

Gigi -- Julie wants your most popular seasonal candle, whatever that might be, we loved the little apple-cinnamon one you gave us last year. It's all gone.

Anyway, Jake is apparently back in town. We look forward to seeing him once again.