Karri & Sean...................

So glad to hear from you. Wow it looks so green and pretty there. What's the weather like? Have you eaten sushi yet? When you log on next time post your cell numbers. So what's your house like? How many bedrooms? Have you found a mommysan yet? What an exciting adventure your on, I'm jealous. Karri are you going to drive or just take the train? When i watch the discovery channel, the japanesse look like crazy all over the place drivers. Be careful. Well I'm glad your safe and have found a home. lots of love, wendy

Konnichiwa! Sorry it's taken so long...

Finally, things have slowed down enough for us to write and be a part of this fun blog! Great job creating it Andy & Sarah, love the dark background! Caleb, sorry to hear about your surgery... ouch. I liked the pics from your day trip. I'll attach a few of our photos. Just to give everyone an update: we moved into our new place, and now have cell phones! We stayed at the Navy Lodge, (a hotel on base), for about 9 days, and after being on the road for 4 weeks before then, we were ready to have a permanent home. Three kids in one hotel room was a little crazy, but we survived!We got a place on base, a three bedroom apartment on the top floor of a 9 floor building pretty close to the center of base. We have a beautiful view of the green mountainside, and the ocean (Tokyo Bay) right beside it, and it's pretty roomy by Japanese standards (1,600 sq. ft). Initially, we wanted to live off base, but the places were much smaller without good heating or cooling and we'd have to pay a bit more. It's nice not having a mortgage or utility bill and having the convenience of everything we need so close (especially with little ones). The other nice thing is that the Community Center is right across the street from us. That's where we're going to sign our family up for some fun cultural classes. Like a language class for me, a karate class for Marissa, and Sean wants to take a Taiko drumming class (finally he'll have time for a hobby). They even have toddler ballet for Kelea! But we don't want to stay on base too much, there's so much to see and do outside the gates. :) Last week during our orientation they showed us how to navigate using the trains so we took a "field trip" 20 minutes north to Kamakura (where most of these pics were shot). It's an ancient city with lots of temples and shrines. In the top photo, you see me washing my hands (most people do that to show respect before approaching the temple), but I was just trying to wash the sticky ice cream off my hands. I had been carrying a cone behind my back and it had been running down my hands. Sean told me after we crossed the street onto the temple grounds that it's impolite to eat anything there and they didn't have any trash cans. So I tried to hide it and occasionally would take a big bite in a corner somewhere, but most of it ended up in my hand. :) Right now we're not doing anything exciting, just unpacking our suitcases, buying little necessities like a broom, trash cans, towels and food. The bulk of our personal belongings comes next Wednesday, and we get cable internet/TV tomorrow. So, life's getting back to normal, as much as it can be now that we're in Japan! We've gone out in town to eat a few times and Sean had us try something called "takoyaki" which consists of a chunk of octopus fried into a round dough ball. Kelea and Marissa liked it, but I just bit into the doughy part and left the middle octopus part alone. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to bite into the middle. :)
Last weekend in our attempt to simplify we bought a little Mazda SUV, a '96 with about 40 thousand miles on it, which only cost us $1800. It has A/C and a 3rd row, so it will be just fine for us while we're here. But we had to get the title transferred over, which required a trip to Yokohama about 30 miles north of here on the way to Tokyo. So we all hopped in the car for a half day adventure! It cost about 20 bucks in tolls, and it took us longer than expected to get back because of our stop at the IKEA furniture store. It was jam packed with people because it was a national holiday. Who knew that Japanese people would like Swedish furniture as much as I do! We only got lost a couple of times--if Sean didn't read Japanese, it would have been a total fiasco!! Everyone is so polite here, and the locals like to comment on our kids' curly hair. All in all, we're having a good time, and look forward to having some of you come visit us! Sorry this post was so long, but we haven't emailed since we got here. Next one will be shorter. Love you all!

Liz....my sister

Liz glad to see that you "remembered" how to log on. FYI, posting pictures is easy, just click on the picture icon above where you type the blog.
I got my stitches out and my finger feels better. Today I had some therapy where they sent a negative current through my arm to help pull some of the swelling out. I slowing feel like I am turning into a bionic man. First a couple screws and now some electricity. Soon I believe I should have my super powers and indistructable body parts.
Andy -- next time that guys come in just tell him that his breath stinks, give him a baseball bat and tell him to fix his own problems. Gross! I bet the free cheapo toothbrush and floss you gave him was like all he wanted for Christmas. Hopefully he knows the toothbush is for his teeth and not his hair.
Suzy's brother Wil is flying in tomorrow for a visit. Kind of a senior trip. We are really excited to have him. We have some fun adventure planned and will def. post some pictures. Switzerland, etc. Kind of weird being the brother-in-law receiving the visit. For so long I was the little brother coming to visit. Those were always great memories for me so I hope to show Wil a good time.

Caleb

Hello again!

Holy cow! I forgot how I got onto this thing to post a blog. I kept going to the link in Andy's email and it doesn't let you post a comment until you're logged in. DUH! Anyway, yes Caleb I will teach mother dear how to use this wonderful website. Mom, Dad, Jensens, Adam and I are getting together tonight for some cream cheese pancakes and bacon! Then we're off to mom and dad's to clear out the garage and take home fun treasures. I bet you all wish you lived here right now huh! Adam and I are great. Only 4.5 more weeks! Today is my last day at work again. I quit once and got called back in to replace a fired woman, who should have been fired a long long time ago. We finally got our BSU season tickets! We've been on the waiting list since the Fiesta Bowl! Go Broncos! Our unnamed baby girl has her own BSU get-up with bracelets to match mommy! Anyway, life is great for us. I have no clue how to upload pictures into here but I'll try to figure it out.
Liz

the grindstone

My heart goes out to my brother and sister in law in Germany. All those picnics in the beautiful countryside, interesting historic sites to visit, green forests in your backyard to explore... the monotony must be rough- one day blending into the next.

Well, I thought I'd include a few pictures of my recent activities, in this case an occlusal composite on tooth #3. The decay didn't at first look very significant or very deep, but (and this is the exciting part) when I opened up the tooth I discovered burried carries much closer to the pulp than was anticipated! I carefully excavated the infected dentin, then double bonded the prep and restored with an a2 hybrid composite.... and saved the day. The world just got a little bit better.

On a different note, Ellie was asking Sarah about the urinary system yesterday. She found out what a 'bladder' was. She then whispered 'Mom, do boys have bladders?

Karri and Sean, we are anxious to hear about Japan and possibly to see some pictures. Hope things are going well.

We miss you all.

Hey Family,

I'm so excited to have this blog space for all of us to keep in touch with. Thanks to Andy!!! Jared's looking for welding jobs and i go back to school on the 27 of August. Jillian going to be a first grader this year, she starts next Thursday. Eden has two more weeks till baby's here, her due date is the 22 of August. The weather has been warm here in the high ninties, i love it. We had such a great time at the coast with everyone. Thanks Liz for all your hard work organizing it. Caleb and Suzy i found some great round trip tickets to Germany for $245.00. I would love to visit in the springtime. Sorry to hear about Caleb's finger, i hope your feeling better Caleb? Well i love you all tons, love wendy

Our Saturday

Well I will continue the German updates until others start responding. First, I have attached an updated picture of my finger....mainly just b/c it looks a lot worse than it is. I still have a limited range of motion, but that will just take time.

Second, I attached some photos of our day trip to Idar-Oberstein today. Little town about 1hr from our house. I had been there, but wanted to take Suzy back to see it. It is famous for a church that built right in to the side of a mountian. Built in 1442-1444, the church still stands as the landmark of the city. The only access to the church is through a tunnel that you hike up about 100 steps to reach. On the inside of the church parts of the rock cliff are incorporated into the structure. After spending some time in the church, hiking to the castle above and it and checking out some of the shops (all selling the same cheapo gemstone necklaces) we drove the other side of the valley and had a little picnic in the back of the BMW stationwagon (we are kind of liking the whole wagon versatility thing). Yeah, we propped up the tailgate with a shovel handle and had a nice lunch. Then I popped the hood, put in some oil, fired it up and drove home. I know hill billy, but it gets us around and it only cost $1,600.

So is this a Caleb, Suzy, Andy and Sarah BLOG?

Has someone shown mom how to log into this blogspot and how to post?(liz?) Hopefully the rest of the family will catch on to how this works.....if not Me, Suzy and the Weirs will have a nice little connection.
Weir family back to school, wow, doesnt seem like summer should be over yet. I can just see the excitement in Ellie's eyes.
So my finger still is swollen like a son-of-a-gun, doesnt bend right, is numb to the touch, and aches. Interesting....wasnt it like that before the operation, three screws, 4 puke buckets and 7 stiches? I guess it had to be done, but seriously. Suzy is busy with some homework so I am just killing some time writing to this blog spot (which takes a little bit of effort using only 9 fingers). So because of my surgery doctors orders are 14 days of no work, not bad. I probably wont be able to handle not doing anything for that long, but I am staying home this week. Today Suzy and I went to a Zoo in a nearby town and then to a large shopping mall. The Zoo was neat, a little old and run down, but neat. We both enjoyed the Elephant cage , Giraffe cage and birds of prey demo. The mall was just like any other mall, busy and stuffy. We ate some ice cream that was made to look like a hamburger and looked in a few stores. Weather has been nice and cool here, a little rainy. Hey this is cool, but what does the family think about web cams? It would be neat to see everyone every once in a while.

I would attach a photo of my finger again, but the camera isnt connecting to the computer.

1st Day of School for the Weirs

Ellie was our first to wake. She had made her bed and was in the shower by 6:25 a.m. She has been looking forward to this day for a long time!

Jacob caught his bus, like an old pro, and was anxious to reconnect with Mrs. Hilderbrand.

Ben had to wait until 11:30 for school to start and was all about his backpack and folder.

I am so excited for each of them and a little for myself that the school year has begun!

school again

We are just about as ready as we can be to get to the new school year. Non stop spongebob is not good for anyone. We all met Ellie's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Sharr, the other day and she seemed very nice. Ellie was impressed with the miniature kitchen they had in the room. We're thrilled that Jacob will have his same excellent teacher that he had last year as he starts third grade. We also were very fortunate to find a preschool teacher that was willing to take a chance on a certain stocky, non potty trained two year old twice a week. We'll see how that goes but he's excited about it.

We got some free tickets to the 'go diego go' show this weekend and the kids liked it although it was tailor made for Ellie. She was dancing in front of her seat and obediently pawing the air and/or yelling out answers as the performers prompted. Ben sat through the entire thing quietly with his mouth open probably fixated on the animal puppets. Jake had his jaw propped up by his hand most of the show, slightly bored (he's just a little too old for this stuff).

We'd had a scout outing planned for this past weekend and Jacob was allowed to go which is rare. He was so disappointed when it was cancelled because of rain that I told him we could do something else fun, just the two of us like a hike, etc. He thought about it for a while then said that he'd like most of all to go to the office and 'do some lab stuff'. So, that's what we did and he had a fun time playing with wax and pouring up an impression of his thumb.

Caleb.... a finger fracture? Alright, I guess that's pretty tough, but you've got to learn to handle your anesthesia without barfing. Very not tough.

Second half of our vacation

We had a wonderful time with my family in Idaho. Thought we would send a few pictures depicting what we did.

1. Rode horses at the ranch

2. Went to Lagoon for Suzy's Mom's side of the family's family reunion...The CRYERS

3. Went waterskiing (Caleb thinks he's tough because he did it with a broken finger...I agree.)

4. Hot Springs

5. Pot Luck dinner with those residing in IDAHO. FUN FUN FUN.

Caleb and Suzy

Greetings from the beautiful Deutschland

Well, We are home and semi back into things with the time change. Caleb finally went and got his finger x-rayed and as some might have guessed, it was broken. He went in for surgery on Friday. Everything went well. Thankfully the anethesia wore off within 8 hours post-op because I was tired of carrying the warm puke bucket to the sink. He came out with three screws in his pinky and a big cast. Next week he will be attending occupational therapy sessions to improve the movement of his finger.

Life is wonderful for us. We find ourselves talking a lot about the fun we had at the reunion. So good to see everyone together, and for me to finally meet the complete family.

Love to all,

Caleb and Suzy

Hello Family

Hi Family, it's Liz. I think this blog spot is great! I hope everyone enjoyed their time in Oregon. Adam and I had a lot of fun. I'm at 34 weeks now. I just had a doctor's appointment today and everything is going great. The doctor said I'm boring! I will upload some pictures on here. Thanks Andy for setting this up! It's great!
-Liz