A new journey.

Tomorrow is the day. Pasquale may be able to move on. I am heading to the family history center to start finding my family, and get their names ready for the temple. I will keep you posted.

Thought I would share that Pasquale's work has been done! Back in 2002. He's bugging me to get the rest of the family on board.

It's time for Pasquale

Pasquale Vignola
born - 1865  Potenza, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy
died - 15 jan 1900  Denver, CO

Pasquale is my Great-great Grandfather on my dad's side.

His name has been niggling at the back of my mind for some time now.  I tried to get a little info on him and promptly hit a road block.  My dad found out some things, emailed them to me, and I promptly (I am very prompt sometimes!)  archived them in my email and got busy with life.

Fast forward to this weekend - our Stake Conference.

At the 4:00 meeting yesterday, ward leaderships were taught how Family History brings everything together in the Gospel, and that we can't be saved without our ancestors, just as they can't be saved without us.  We were instructed that we need to use our callings to encourage Family History in our wards, and encouraged to take our own family names to the temple instead of doing the work for those names already there.

At the meeting today, President Perez issued the challenge for us to prepare one name to take to the temple before the next Stake Conference in 6 months.

Now, what is my excuse for not getting something like that accomplished??
Distance?  No, I live about 5 minutes from the nearest Family History Center.
Access to records?  No, I have some computer skills, and again the FHC 5 mins away.  Also, in the FHC there are 19 (I think) programs that the Church has provided for us to use which are free to us but would cost a lot of money to have access to at home.
Time?  No, I am down to 2 kids at home, and could definitely find an hour or two a week to work on it.
The work is all done?  Hah!!

Clearly, there is no reason to let my ancestors wonder if I'm ever going to get their work done.  Maybe I can even enlist my dad to help out.

So, I think I know what I need to do.  Pasquale is my first goal, and who knows where he will take me.

It's Time!!

Road Trip 2008

Well, we knew it was coming. It hung over some of us all summer; couldn't get here fast enough for some others - the end of summer. New school supplies, a few new clothes, a new fuel pump for the suburban (that was a surprise!), and most importantly of all, a new college freshman. (note the blue words in honor of BYU!!! ;-)

We took Chelsie down to BYU last week. We had a plan, knew which day we were leaving, got the laundry done, Chelsie was packed - we were close to being ready - when, SURPRISE, the suburban broke down. Wouldn't turn over, wouldn't budge. A bad fuel pump was to blame, and after a rush repair job, we finally got on the road Thursday afternoon about 4:00. Only about 8 hours later than we hoped.

We were anxious to get to Utah, because Brandon and Ashley (with her cute little baby bump) were there. We couldn't wait to see them. Luckily, we got there safely about 2:45 am. and the next day, the party began. We hung out at Pineview Reservoir with Ashley, Brandon and his family, the Cleggs. (I'm pretty sure the Rietz contingency was boring because we were all tired, sorry Cleggs.)

We managed to sneak in a quick visit to Grandma Hughes. She about had heart failure when she saw 10 of us lined up at her door. But after she recovered from the shock, she really enjoyed our visit, even though it was shorter than we planned. Her smile was from ear to ear.

The rest of the day, we hung out at BYU - spending money at the Bookstore, eating creamery ice cream, and walking around campus a bit. Kristin learned what I mean when I say BYU is the best place to play the license plate game, we even saw Hawaii!!! Very exciting for some of us!


After a few days at Clegg's, we drove south and spent the next two nights with Joni and Jim. Joni hosted a nice Sunday dinner and the Schreiners and Kuntz's were there. Kalli showed up for a bit, and it was nice to spend time eating and chatting with everyone. Uncle Jim took Trev fishing Monday morning. What a guy!

Monday was D-day. We checked Chelsie into David John Hall at BYU. John took the rest of the kids to a few BYU sights, and I helped Chelsie unpack, get a little settled and make a list of all the things we forgot, or didn't know she needed.

Sadly for John and I, when we're in Utah, we can't avoid shopping, so that took up most of the rest of Monday. A happy thing about Utah is that Olive Garden is close to BYU, so we met Joni and Jim, and about made ourselves sick on yummy salad, bread sticks and pasta. Jim was the only one who managed to get a refill on his pasta, the rest of us were too stuffed.

Then, the inevitable came, we had to leave Chelsie in her dorm, and head up the road. I was not ready to leave her, but really, when would I be ready. She was the only one on the floor, and I was worried she would be lonely. Little did we know, Spencer Clegg, Ashley's bro-in-law, was also in Provo, called her, and they hung out a little. Thanks Spencer. Hopefully she was able to climb into her bed without hurting herself. She wanted a little storage space under her bed, but didn't expect a bed so tall she needed a step-ladder to get into it!!!

Cleggs hosted us one more night which cut a little time off our trip, and after a little sleep, made an early morning departure. We plugged along all day, and made it safely home.

Kristin knew before we left that she had Mrs. Kinzer and Trev found out he had Mrs. Feeney. We made it home in time to get to the open house on Tuesday. Good thing because the next day was...

The first day of school! Everyone seemed to get out the door with no problem, but silly us, forgot to bring umbrellas. We can't remember the last time it rained on the first day of school, and it didn't just rain, IT POURED, just about the time Kristin and Trev had to be there, so all 3 of us got a little wet.

Amber was happy to be with her 8th grade friends. Alli was VERY happy to be able to drive herself to LHS by herself, and Michele wasn't quite sure what to do with herself at first, but we all will adjust just fine, no doubt.

Travel logs aren't much fun, and as I read this, I realize that is exactly what I have just written, so to end I'll give you just a few of our favorite highlights to maybe take the edge off the boringness.

- Ashley and Chelsie watching me try sushi. Now I can cross that off my list
- Singing to our favorite Disney songs in the car (I look once more - just around the river bend...there goes the baker with his tray like always...you've got a friend in me...lavender blue, dilly dilly. Just to name a few)
- Seeing the baby bump and feel him kick
- Olive garden bread sticks
- BYU football QUEST T-shirts. Only $5.00 at the bookstore
- Playing the license plate game at BYU
- BYU creamery ice cream
- Seeing Chelsie's reaction to all the couples holding hands on campus (She was not ready for that.)
- Being able to spend time with the aforementioned friends and family
- Pulling into our driveway Tuesday afternoon

A few other bits non-trip related. (Note the color change)

Trevor got to attend his first pack meeting last week. He received his Bobcat badge and is already working on his Wolf. Keep up that enthusiasm, Trev. All the way to Eagle Scout!!!

Also, here is a picture of our house, complete with exterior paint, gutters and downspouts. As you can see, the yard is next on the list. Not sure if it will ever be the same.

I leave you with a sunflower from our garden. A sweet reminder of summer's end, and fall close on it's heels.

graduation day

It has been a busy few weeks around here with the NAIA World Series, the end of school and Chelsie's graduation. She did a great job receiving her diploma and did it without falling up or down the stairs. (Way to go!!)

I helped organize the food for the all-night party and John and I both worked from about 11:00 pm until the bitter end, around 3:45 am. It was a fun night, and Chelsie scored big by winning one of the grand prizes - a 32 in. plasma tv. She is hoping to sell it to her dad and use the money for school since there isn't really anywhere to put a big tv in a teeny little dorm room.

We had Grandma and Grandpa Rietz here for the day of Graduation, and Grandma and Grandpa Sollenbarger here from Friday until Wednesday. Chelsie appreciates her grandparents' support.

She and 3 friends celebrated a few nights later with a party at our house. The bonus room really came in handy since it decided to rain all day and night. No movie on the side of the shop as planned. But the big room held plenty of people and it was a fun albeit late night. We are now done celebrating and getting back to life as we know it.

The kids are all done with school and looking forward to the summer routine, Chelsie is working and Alli is hoping to be working soon.

Trev had his first baseball game last week. He is a pretty cute little ball player. (He wouldn't appreciate that description, I'm sure.) One night he played catcher and it was a mystery to us how he could move with all that equipment on. It looked pretty cumbersome for a little guy.