President Hinckley

Just wanted to let everyone know, in case you didn't hear it in the news, President Hinckley passed away tonight. He will definitely be remembered for all that he has done. Such sad news, thinking of all that he has done for the church, but he has longed to be with his wife for so long. . . I am sure it was such a joyful reunion. He died aroun 7 pm, from natural causes (age) surrounded by family in his home. The story hasn't been released from church headquarters yet, so I don't know where to tell you to find an up to date story.

Mom and Dad's Blog

So, don't forget that mom and dad have their blog, and mom actually made a post!!! I think the url Dan gave us is wrong so make sure you just spell it right and you will be able to get on or click the link http://thekievukrainedoc.blogspot.com/. Things seem to be going well for them.

Dad's Pillow

Dad left his pillow at Sarah's and is in mourning. He spent the first day in Kiev looking for a pillow, and made Mom follow him everywhere. They finally found something that met his requirements. Good thing he didn't realize the pillow was missing on the way to the airport, or they never would have made it as Dad would have gone back to Sarah's to collect. Their computer is being installed today (as I type) they should be on-line shortly. Mom says they have a big 3 bedroom apartment on the north of Kiev.

Newsletter

I guess I need to get another newsletter out. I guess I should also send everyone an email, because a few out there don't read this. So, please have them into me by February 1st. Thanks

They Made IT

So, I received an email this morning that I sent out to everyone regarding mom and dad. I hope you all got it. If not, let me know. I am not going to post it here because it contains a couple of different numbers, so there you have it. I know we all thought they had most likely arrived, seeing how we hadn't heard otherwise, but it is always nice to have some visual confirmation.

Kiev

As usual Mom and Dad failed to take and or remember any one's contact details, which is why the mission home never sent us an email saying they landed ok and are getting settled. Here are some contact details:

Ukraine Kiev Mission
Mission Office Address:vul. Pushkins'ka 2-4/7 apt 43Kyiv, 01034
Ukraine Mission Home Address:vul. Prorizna 10 apt 24Kyiv, 01034
Ukraine Mailing Address:P.O. Box 144 (or A/C 144)Kyiv, 01001
Ukraine General Phone: (011 380 44) 461 90 19

I will post the mission email address and their phone number as soon as I receive it.

Mom and Dad

I was just wondering if anyone has heard from mom and dad?

Sigh.....

SIGH.......SIGH.......SIGH.....

Poor Sierra died.......

Sierra died today. Causes unknown. Suzy will be lonely now. We buried her under a tree down a little in the gully. She was a good dog and I'll miss her

Breaking the shackles of oppression....

I have freed myself from the golden-handcuffs and resigned from Goldman Sachs. Letting you know so as to avoid rumors floating around. Suspect you are asking yourself two questions: 1. Why and 2. What are you going to do.

1. Why - Goldman is an amazing firm and the professional opportunites it's provided have been phenom. However, it's also meant 15 hour days, not seeing Asha except on weekends and a miserable existance in Bangalore this past year (life wise). I took some time in early Dec to reflect upon where I was with my life, where i wanted to be etc. I also had an opportunity to meet Peter Hillary (Edmund Hillary's son) during that time and he shared some thoughts that struck a chord with me. Someone asked him what he wanted his legacy to be, given that he had such a famous father. His reply was that he wasn't worried about a legacy, as most people tend to forget things over time. His focus as a parent was on his family and children, who looked to him for support and protection. And most importantly you have to live life for yourself. I realized that I hadn't really been doing that. While we had a great life materially, we didn't have much else. Pris and I came to the conclusion that we'd actually been happier living a modest life in Singapore, but spending more time together. Money does bring a certain amount of stability, but it cannot truly provide happiness. So that is the why.

2. What - no idea yet. We will be relocating back to Singapore sometime in March. We've purchased a 3 bedroom flat (if we can get to closing) and are looking forward to life in civilization again. No jobs lined up at this point (yes, I saved/planned for this contingency) though we have a few good options in the works at the moment. We also considered moving to Idaho and living with Trumie until we worked out a job, but decided to spare him ;-)

Pris is due late April, so we're trying to figure out move details, where we'll live in the interim etc. Very hectic and busy at the moment, but we are looking forward to the change.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Can you fly into the country with temps this low? I would think the planes couldn't handle that cold of weather....Mom/Dad, please dress warmly, take your ski face masks with you, make sure you have plenty of layers and blankets and come back in 18 months with all 10 toes and fingers, and nose, still firmly attached.
Jupiter Kalambakal - AHN News Writer

Moscow, Russia (AHN) - Russians are bracing for temperatures of as low as minus 55 degrees Celsius (minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit) in Siberia as Russia's emergencies ministry warns on Wednesday of its impending dangers in the coming weeks.

Government agencies were placed on high alert, reports AFP. The ministry ordered local administration officials to prepare for the extreme chill expected to last until Jan. 21.

The ministry warned that the unusually cold weather could kill, cause frost-bite, conk heaters and cut electricity to homes, disrupt transport, increase the rate of car accidents and even destroy buildings across Siberia.

The freezing temperatures have already caused overloading of electricity grids and power interruptions in the regions of Irkutsk and Tomsk because of overused heaters in homes. Two people have already died and more than 30 others hospitalized with forst-bite in Irkutsk, reports AFP citing state media.

Bloomberg reports that worst hit will be the Siberian region of Evenkiya, while neighbor Georgia, whose climate is subtropical, already plunged to as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius. Lake Paliastomi in the western Georgia froze for the first time in 50 years, reports Rustavi-2 television.

Average temperatures in large Siberian cities in January usually range between minus 15 degrees Celsius and minus 39 degrees Celsius, according to data from weatherbase.com. Schools have been closed down in at least four regions because of the cold.

The acclimation of Stupidty.

Al Gore, Barack Obama, The Clintions, John Edwards, liberal media, wacko enviromentalist, hollywood(not all of hollywood), Nacy Pelosi, Dirty Harry, and so much more. Ask youself this one question. What have they actually contributed to our society? Other than more stupidity. Q

Hooter Hider

Mom,
I found this picture on a friends blog and saw that it had adjustable rings, which I think would help. Just thought you might want to consider it, and make the straps bigger.

Where The Hell Is Matt?

How have I missed this site. This guy makes me smile. I love watching him dance all around the world. Lucky guy. If you've seen this and haven't told me about it why not? If you haven't seen it check it out...

wherethehellismatt.com

I'm so adding a link to this on my blog.

New Mission Blog

So mom asked me to help her set up a blog for their mission. The url is www.thekeivukrainedoc.blogspot.com If you have any better ideas for a url or a title of the blog, let me know. I've also blocked it so only people who have been invited can see it. I don't know if they want it that way, so mom, let me know. This either means that I need to remove the permission, or get everyones email addresses again. I have some but not all. I also created an account for you(mom) and dad, just your hotmail address and I believe I used your password for said account. So now when you log into blogger, you can just type you email and password and it will log you in as J and J. If you have any questions, just let me know.

Calling Grandma

Asha wakes up every morning and wants to call Grandma, but no one ever answers the phone. Please let us know when a good time to call would be (before you head to Siberia). And who am I going to call now? I've been calling Mom every week at least once since I left home oh so long ago....so lonely now, brings a tear to my eye.....

NEW MOON RISING

This is about a year old, but soooo funny. Hillary gets mooned at a rally, no nudity don't worry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDy04nalCk

Zoo in the Cold

We went to the Zoo yesterday. It wasn't horribly cold, in the 30's and the kids loved it. It was fun, although a little strange to see camels, zebras and giraffes in the snow. I will try and post a few pics soon.

Drugs

turns out I tore an ankle ligament our last day at the beach. Big wave hit me and I rolled my ankle and felt a "pop". Finally saw a doctor yesterday who prescribed an anti-inflamatory pill. I happily popped one before bed as well as one of my pain killers. Turns out the anti-inflamtory is also a pain killer. So I have now over dosed on pain killers. I feel no pain, but wired like what....last time I do that.

And when I shared the ankle news with Boo in true son fashion he says great, now you'll just get fatter." Gotta love those kids...

And there will be no winners in the US presidential election, only losers.

FOUND

Check out this website. It is really interesting. Stumbled across it from another site. I think I'm going to see if the local library has any of the books. Looks very interesting.

http://www.foundmagazine.com

BTW, Quentin, Romney will NEVER be any of the current wanna be's VP pick because the rest of the group really, really do not like him. He will have to win or give up this election cycle.

No sure winner

It came and it went and we still have no front runner for the GOP, but we do have a candidate that has finished well both times and won one state. Mitt appears to be either a good candidate for VP or will come out on top within the next few weeks as the candidate of choice after super tuesday. For all to know, I am for Mitt or Fred to be our guy(s). Now if they would join tickets that would be a great team. Other than that I will remain mute unless something happens this coming week with Mich. and Nev. primary's.

Fishing and throwing them back...

We went fishing yesterday. Had to throw the kids back, sorry the fish back, as we had no way to cook them. Was a bit slow, think Boo and Caitlin spent most of the day sleeping. Caitlin wouldn't touch the bait, so Boo and I reeked of squid by the end of the day. Boo caught two fish, a crap fish and some other blue thing. I caught one orange wrass that was too small to keep.

Can't wait to send these horrible, undisciplined brats back to their Mother ;-) last trip together with both of them, though I would be willing to send them on a trip to military boarding school.

And They're Off

Mom and Dad made it to the MTC. It was sort of anticlimactic. They showed up, checked in and said, "Say your goodbyes". There isn't any "Called to Serve" video, no pep speeches, no singing either. I am sure you will hear from them soon either via phone, email or mail. I didn't get an address or anything so I can't help you out and didn't get any dates either.

The Missionaries

This is dad and I getting ready to go to the MTC. We are spending our last evening at home with Sarah and Daniel and their families. Hope all is doing well. We will miss you all, pray for you and think of you often. Luv m

New Blog

Asha now has her own blog. all of her adventures will be posted there. ashamuse.blogspot.com

Monkey Pics

Monkies in Action.....

Asha likes the elephants

Perth Zoo

Returned the monkeys to the zoo today....have to say this is one of the nicest Zoos I have ever visited. Asha loved it and was particularly fascinated by the 14 foot croc.

speaking of weird dreams

yeah i had a dream that i was on a date w/ a guy i know. :D
not as weird as your's, mother.
maybe you should lay off the drugs...

Analyze This Dream

Wow, I had the STRANGEST dream I think I have ever had last night. It skipped from one thing to the other and ended so bizarrely. Here it is as I can remember it....starts out I am going somewhere on a motorcycle with someone who stops at a sign to add part of his name to it. Something along the lines of the street sign said Billy Cyrus and he added Ray to it. Then we get to the garage and I am admiring the bikes and show him mine which is missing its tires. Then flash to inside where I'm rushing to meet the SILs of the family to see some great new baby items. Ivana is pregnant and wants this new stuffed toy for the baby. I keep trying to give her this outfit saying it would look great on Lucas. Then I flash to outside to something that reminds me very much of Irving's track. I'm helping some kids with hurdles and a coach comes outside yelling at Kade saying he urinated all over in the locker room. I'm mad at the coach and start yelling for Kade myself. We go inside to see what he's talking about and it is actually a cave type drawing on the floor of some kind of animal in yellow and browns. I'm looking over it very carefully when I flash to this building and I'm observing, not one of the people there. There are three young men, none that I know, and they are inside a stairwell at an old California mission style looking church. They are arguing and suddenly there is this loud, loud banging that makes everyone think the bell is ringing, but suddenly this huge hammer/mallet thing comes smashing through the wall above them and huge perfectly round boulders come rolling out. Two of the boys are okay but the oldest one gets his foot caught by one of the boulders and is trapped. He tries to back away, pulling on his leg but leans back too far and gets smashed by more boulders, getting beheaded. Once the boulders stop coming the two other boys make their way outside and as far as they can see there are huge boulders, but sitting on top of every boulder is a severed head and one boy realizes they are all of the people he has ever known in his life, plus weird things like cartoon characters' heads. That is when I wake up wondering what the heck my sub-conscience is trying to tell me.

Penguin Island

Spent the afternoon at Penguin Island enjoying the wildlife....at least when the two brats weren't going at it. Have decided no more trips with the two of them ;-)

We took a river cruise to Fremantle yesterday, though didn't realize the markets weren't open. Did have a very nice lunch of steak pie (which Boo ate) and mash.

...

my bad :D
i was kidding but okayy

this week

i really want to do something interesting but my brothers are restricting me. were putting them up for adoption so call me at ******** if your interested. we were planning to go to bennihanas or however you spell it for lunch but, you see how well that worked out. my family is boring me.......

Edited.... Redhead please be careful when you post your phone number on the blog. Bowb. If you get your parents permission to post it then it will be ok.

and yet more beach...

more of the beach....

Life is a beach....

Went to the beach today. Asha didn't care for the water or the sand. Kept saying "Pris, come back. Pris, stop. Pris, no water" Was sooo funny. And then she had to wash her hands off every 2 minutes to get the sand off before she would eat anything. We rented a boggy board and had fun in the surf. Was particularly funny when Caitlin's top came off and she didn't realize it.....We plan to go back a few more times before we leave.