Hi Family

May 16, 2012

Hi to everyone! You seem so far away. I really enjoyed all of the Mother's Day calls and chats. I had an excellent feast here at home. Tommy has perfected the "crab boil". We even dumped it on a green plastic tablecloth and ate with our fingers. It was delicious. And it was a beautiful day in the backyard. The rest of this week has been hot hot hot and today is windy. Remember last year when nothing would grow until the end of June because it was too cold and rainy?

Rumor has it that Rilee is okay, safe and very busy. Tommy talks to her briefly each night. Tommy is busy gardening and doing house projects. I thought their house was spotlessly clean already. He has suggested that we wrap a garbage bag on Dennis leg and float the Green River. We are definitely doing that when Dennis gets the walking cast.

We went to the doctor today and changed casts. Someday someone might ask you what color cast you want. Be prepared. We weren't. It was too early in the morning. And Dennis was wearing his bright green surfer shirt. So we chose black. The doctor seemed to think that the physical therapy wasn't that big of a deal and that he should be walking when we go to Poland. Walking sort of, but walking. That was more hopeful that we expected.

I will find out how Danny and Jenni are doing soon. Tommy is going to help Dennis while I go to Seattle over Memorial Day weekend. I can't wait to see them and the boys. Ollie's birthday is the 27th of May. Ollie will start school this fall at Coe Elementary with Jak.

Travis and Agata read us the menu for their wedding night. I want to taste all of that food but it will be a challenge. This will be Olympic eating. It sounded delicious with many Polish dishes. Agata is waiting for the first fitting of her wedding dress. I hope it goes well. The fabric and design are lovely. The invites should be coming soon. I think the Currit package will arrive at my house.

Alex and Brynna are introducing new interns to Thailand. Apparently culture shock is to be expected. They are busy and happy. It was so good to chat with them. I am very grateful for skype and g-chat. I know when we met Agata we felt like we knew her already. It is a very authentic experience.

I have been gardening with the help and advice of Dennis and Tommy. It's a struggle to get things started. Dad is good at weeding. We still have to plant a corn patch. We are trying to figure out if we want the typical early corn which might ripen while we are in Europe or if we will risk the full season corn and hope to harvest when we get back. We are actually growing it for the corn stalks. The fence is so ugly.

Ty and Dawn and the girls were over last night. Laurel wants to learn, learn, learn. I need to play more and prepare more for her to do. Lilah knows a lot. She can tell a triangle from a square and even pointed to one block and said it was a diamond. Her vocabulary is amazing. Dawn is half way through this pregnancy. Ivy is kicking now. We are looking forward to this little person very much.

Thanks for your Mother's Day calls. I love you and miss you.

Mom

News From Home

May 3, 2012

Hi from Sandy. There isn't much news, but we are missing you all. Dad has survived a week and a half with a cast on. He's almost half done with this round. It's been hard. He likes helping everyone. Being helpless is hard for him. He has discovered he can weed the gardens. Fortunately there is a lot of weeding to be done. Just to make things a little more interesting, they are resurfacing our street today. Everyone is parking elsewhere. I needed to have Laurie Martineau help with the lawn mower that wouldn't start. He had to hurry over early in the morning before they pour the sticky tar. I'm lucky. I don't need to cross the road to walk around the block to where my car is parked.

Rilee has arrived safely in Jordan. Did you know she left on the day the U.S. shot Osama Bin Laden. I worried about that. We look forward to further updates on her journeys in the mid east. Alex and Brynna are in Chiang Mai, swimming, working out, napping, eating the world's best food. Tommy is plowing into his work without distraction. I think he is actually looking forward to really putting in the time at work.

We are looking forward to our trip to Poland for the wedding. I wish we could help with the last minute chaos and problems. But we will arrive as guests and thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

I'm trying to get back into shape. I figure there is enough work around here to keep me busy. I'm going with Dawn and Tyler to her ultrasound on Monday, then we are going out to lunch and shopping. Dawn's folks will be in town this week. Dawn has also bought a membership at Red Butte Gardens. That should be a fun place to explore with the girls. We might try to go this Saturday.

We miss Danny and Jenni and the boys. I feel like Jak will have front teeth before I see him next. I love the video of them crushing rocks in the backyard. Try to get them to do that when they are teenagers.

Dad talked to a friend at work who tore his achilles tendon and now runs marathons. Everything I've read said that the surgery returns the athlete to full performance. I'm looking forward to a complete recovery. But this isn't a head cold. It takes a lot of patience.

We have a lot of wedding anniversaries coming up. Congratulations to all! We love you and wish you the best and all happiness and joy.

Love, Mom

May Days

In an unexpected turn of events Warsaw has become beautiful! The weather is delightfully warm, the air smells of spring, everyone has emerged from their respective rocks and is out enjoying the city. We decided to take advantage of it ourselves and bought a little grill from the supermarket and had a bbq yesterday. Our good friend Peter hopped on the train from Łódż and joined us. We went to the beach on the Wisła near the Zoo that is a short walk from our house. It was pleasantly full of people yet not crowded, easy to find a spot. We weren't sure at first about the legalities surrounding grilling straight on the beach but it turns out they changed the rules just last year and its totally fine. You can even make your own fires, and there is plenty of dead driftwood around for fuel (at least at the moment -- I wonder how long into the summer that will last). For us apartment dwellers this is an immense pleasure, to be able to have an improptu bbq a few steps from the house! We hope to make a habit of it this summer. We grilled up some sausages, asparagus and zucchini and had an absolutely lovely evening.

Life can be really good sometimes, even  in Warsaw. It's a great lesson to be reminded of, and probably the reason May exists. Even, sometimes, in April.

Hello everyone!

Alex and I have made (and actually updated!) a blog:

alexandbrynna.tumblr.com

You should go there and learn all about all of our incredibly exotic and exciting adventures in Thailand!   . . . such as eating breakfast! And lunch! Wow! There will be more exciting things to come at some point anyway.

We wanted to have a medium through which we can keep in touch with everyone, so we hope you have fun looking through our pictures, and we would love to hear from you, either through comments on the blog or through email, or through skype.

We love you all!

Brynna & Alex

Where Did Everyone Go?

Hello from home. We are limping along. We had lots of rain last night and this morning. We love rain. Alex and Brynna are in Thailand. They have settled on an apartment in Chiangmai. We miss them a lot. Rilee leaves this coming Tuesday. She and Tommy are packing in the barbecues and parties and good byes. We are going to miss her and hope to hear a lot about her adventures. Tyler and Dawn and girls are doing well. Ty mowed the lawn yesterday and did some yard work. It's that time of year when there is lots to do. Dawn is feeling good. The girls just got new haircuts and look darling. Laurel wanted to help garden. She wants to help and learn everything. Dad is trying to be patient with his recovery. He went to work for half a day today. A friend loaned him a knee scooter. I have to admit, I thought it was motorized. I couldn't figure out the concept. But it isn't. Of course. You push it with your good leg like a regular scooter. Apparently it is very handy and makes life a lot easier. It might even go to Europe this summer. Danny ran a grueling race last week. What with our problems and some car problems he had, I never asked him what his time was or if he did well! His comments are on his blog. He said it was picturesque, but I never really heard if he would do that race again. I think it was hot. How about the weather? It will be cool, if not cold, tonight. Then I think it gets ridiculously hot this coming week. Everything is blooming and bolting without a lot of color. What's the weather like where you are? I wish I could spend a day with each of you to get the real (or close to it) scoop. Agata is meeting with a seamstress. How did that go? She kindly sent me some pictures of wedding dresses with her trying some of them on. Good luck, Agata! All our advice is just us trying to share in the plans. Jenni, when do piano lessons end? Do they go on all summer? Travis, could you tell us again about suit rental for the wedding? Jak, what are you reading? Are you playing soccer this spring? Ollie, have you heard about kindergarten yet? Milo, what's one plus one? I have a great pie recipe you make with Trader Joe bottled pie cherries. A friend brought a great dinner last night. It was mashed potatoes with kielbasa slices on top, heated, then served with applesauce. Delicious. Doesn't it sound kind of Polish? Thanks for all your phone calls, visits and emails. We appreciate it. We had a "Raising Hope" marathon the other night. Some of us think it is extremely funny. If you start watching it, start with the first episode. Love, Mom

New Baby on the Way

April 12, 2012

Tyler and Dawn (well, Dawn), had a diagnostic ultrasound today. Apparently over the counter gender tests are a waste of money. It looks like three little girls will shortly be running around their house and digging in the backyard. Little Ivy appeared to be developing wonderfully. We gladly await her arrival in September. It was all good news.

What we like to do in our backyard

We made this quickly this afternoon and thought we would share.
Don't look to closely at our backyard. I promise we give our kids real toys. They just prefer to scavenge up old wood and bricks to play with despite our best efforts.
Jenni

Happy Easter!

Hello fam,

Happy Easter! Hope you had a Bunny of a time. We successfully had our basket blessed at the cathedral and had a big breakfast with lots of meats and eggs and stuff at Agata's Aunt's house. They are greatly looking forward to having you all here for the wedding. We have some good leads on lodging for y'all. I think I know everyone's arrival dates, but I would love to know more about departure plans -- mainly how long does everyone have for touring Poland? When do you need to get to your next destination (and where is that)?


In other news, I've been busy doing things aside from what I should be :) I got a huge translation for a museum that takes up most of my time. In the remainder I've been learning some web technologies and having a ton of fun. My latest project has been a little script to do something useful with notes you take on the Kindle. Check out my full description here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2034911#post2034911 and let me know if it works for y'all and what your dream features for sth would be. My original motivation was to come up some way to transfer Kindle highlights to the kind of Great Thoughts journals people used to keep by hand of favorite quotes they would come across while reading. I think thats what I'll work on next, a nice way to extract those highlights and format them a la 19th century handwritten diary.

Much Love, and a Very Wet Śmigus-Dyngus Day,
TC

PS I added some books to our Dropbox shared folder. check them out, I'll comment on them later.

The News As Mom Knows It

I keep waiting to know exactly what's going on before I blog news. I'm sure Agata and Travis would rather know something than nothing, and the news is morphing all the time. So here goes:

Easter is this Sunday. Everyone seems to be trying to lose weight (except Rilee and Brynna). So do I buy Peeps or not? I'm thinking yes.

As of last Sunday Brynna and Alex were struggling with funding changes in their trip to Thailand. It was close to being a disaster. Some tax problems were examined and facilitator funding was being denied. This is kind of difficult when you have worked all year towards a goal and have purchased plane tickets. During the week the funding was all repaired and, according to Alex, he and Brynna are good to go.

Rilee is still planning on journeying to Jordan the first week in May. She will stay until July, fly to Thailand and spend time with Alex and Brynna (who, fortunately, will be there), then go back to Jordan and fly to Poland.

Tommy is looking for a new creative partner. His writer left for a job in Detroit. I hope she is happy. No, I really do. But Detroit doesn't sound like any fun. I'm sure it is. But isn't it kind of dangerous? I think housing costs are really low there. Supply and demand. White flight. who knows. Tommy's company is also moving to City Creek in a few weeks.

Dennis is enjoying his work. He likes learning things he didn't have time to learn before. It's a great time of life to be doing what he is doing now. The drama never ends in his company, but isn't that the nature of business now? He is looking for a new project to make out of wood. I wonder if he shouldn't make a shaker table out of pagoda wood now that he has perfected his skills. I have two pine tables he has made. They are sweet.

Travis and Agata have finally realized that their wedding is four months away. They have found a DJ (there will be music and dancing). It was so good to skype with them last Sunday. They looked great. Travis is busy getting his visa in order in spite of the bureaucratic hassle. Agata will find a wonderful wedding dress (or have it made). She has collected a lot of pictures. Her Grandpa recently had surgery. We need to have an update on how he is doing. I hope it went well.

Danny and Jenni are busy busy. They are travelling to Moscow to visit their close friends who live there. (Moscow Idaho. There has to be a story there. why moscow? did russians move to western Idaho?) We will see them over Memorial Day, I hope. Danny is very busy with his work. Jenni is teaching piano, taking care of boys, and supervising the children in her ward in their Primary classes.

I just realized that Travis and Agata are probably very busy with Easter celebrations and plans this weekend. I talked to a woman who works at the boutique where I get my hair done. She is Polish! She was telling me about all the things happening this weekend in her Catholic community. She's from Michigan and said that the entire city shuts down tomorrow for the Saturday before Easter. (I forgot what you call that day.) It sounded very lovely to have that kind of respect for the life and death and resurrection of the Savior. It is truly a very sacred time.

I'm doing fine, enjoying life, trying to read all the books for two bookclubs (I'm almost done). I look forward to reading my own books now. But I did read some interesting stuff. It's a good experience to have others choose a book. Remember when we were reading "Born to Run" ? We might have to try a book club again. I'm walking now. It took a lot of work. I sure took my tendons for granted my whole life. I am so grateful to wake up each morning and to have too much to do, but to have the ability to do it. I love working and walking.

Dawn and Tyler are busy with work and kids. Their house is spotless and their daughters are so cute. Dawn is coping well with the pregnancy. We're are planning on seeing them this weekend. They are trying to get their backyard in shape. It's a little shady and the grass needs some help to grow. Ty might have to put some sod down.

Our daffodils are up and it snowed last night. Welcome to spring. How we loved it when it was warm. Who really cares any more? After no snow all winter, I think we just lost all the blossoms on our asian pear tree. You can't care too much in Utah. That's what "high mountain desert" means.

I truly made the best hot chocolate the other night for book club. Here is the recipe:

FRENCH HOT CHOCOLATE

2 1/2 ounces baking chocolate (don't use candy bar. use baking chocolate.)
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream whipped
6 cups hot milk

Directions:

1. Combine water and chocolate
2. Cook until chocolate is melted
3. Add sugar and cook until thick
4. Cool. (don't refrigerate. it gets too stiff to fold into cream.)
5 Fold whipping cream into chocolate mixture gently
6. To serve put 2 heaping tablespoons in a cup and add hot milk. (you can also squirt of spoon whipped cream on top and sprinkle some cocoa powder on it.)


Trust me. This is good.

I'm looking forward to your corrections on this newsletter. Have a sweet Easter.

Love, Mom

Some City Creek Photos

Some pics of City Creek I took with my phone. It was pretty impressive. I am very excited for my company to move into the heart of it, actually. The whole downtown has a new, good vibe with all the people coming in for City Creek. Conference weekend should be even more nuts...

News from Home continued

I meant to write that Papa Herb's birthday is March 29. This might be a good year to give him a phone call or send a card. We look forward to seeing them maybe over Memorial Day.

City Creek is amazing and I will always be thrilled that Danny was a part of it. It has been fun to be somewhat in on the development from the beginning. Downtown Salt Lake is more of a destination that it ever was. We agreed that the rebuilding of the commercial area around City Creek will probably be surprising, too. One must remember that this giant commercial area was built with private money and it is private property. Some of the rules disturb the liberal in the liberal community. And seem odd. I like the "no dogs" thing. Utahns aren't the best dog owners. They are into off-leash black labs from the pound. (use next door as a reference.) City Creek is an extension of the Church plaza and is a gift to Salt Lake City. What's wrong with behaving in public places? The right to not behave is no right I recognize at all. And I'm not even close to being as crazy as half the people at the caucus meetings. I am quite the liberal compared to most around here.

I just want enough money to go into Tiffany's and have them bring jewelry from the vault for me to try on.

My goal is to wander City Creek with each of you and sit at a table on the plaza and watch the world go by. (then eat Tibetan food in the Avenues.)

News from Home

March 26, 2012

Hope you all survived St. Patrick's Day wherever you are. We have general conference here this weekend and then Easter the next weekend. After that Alex and Brynna drive to Colorado and spend a few days with her folks in Fort Collins. Then they are off to Thailand for the summer. They just bought tickets to Istanbul, Turkey, then to Berlin for the wedding. Somehow they will get to Lodz. We will miss them. They are very excited to go back to Thailand. Rilee and Brynna are busy buying warm weather clothes. Rilee has to wear long skirts and long-sleeve shirts in Jordan. I think she will wear a scarf on her head some of the time. How to look colorful and stylish under the circumstances??? I recommended thrift shop skirts that she could throw away after, but that might be too depressing. This could end up feeling like a three-month pioneer threk. Fortunately Tommy has his two sugar-gliders. They sound like imaginary pets who float around the room and love him lots and climb all over him. They love their cage and sleep a lot during the day.

We have spring fever, how about you? I have been cleaning out everything, getting read to move outside and start yard working. We did some on Friday and Saturday and had to quit after a couple of hours. The fresh air is exhausting. It is very good to get outdoors even after our sputtering winter.

Tyler and Dawn think they might be having a boy. Dawn tried an over-the-counter gender test this weekend. Looks like a boy. They are doing well. The girls are happy and fun.

Travis and Agata are busy busy busy. Time will fly by and soon they will have lots of us there for the wedding (and to see Poland and Eastern Europe.) I'm so excited. I still feel that we found tickets at a good price. I feel very good about them.

Danny and Jenni are busy with three cute boys. Jenni just finished a weeklong visit from a guest artist who taught workshops to her students. They also visited a Steinway rebuilder who let them see the insides of the great pianos. Jenni has her eye on a baby grand piano she would like to buy. Danny's City Creek project opened this weekend. We visited the second day. It was a fun destination. We didn't buy a thing and had a great time.

More later

Love, Mom

Anyone heard of Tabata training?

I friend told me about it.   Here is a synopsis

 

The original Tabata Protocol requires the following:

• 5 minutes of warm-up
• 8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
• 2 minutes cool-down

 

Supposedly it really works.  I have been doing it for a couple of weeks and can't really say if I think it works.  However, I can say that, even though it is quite short, it really is demanding.   Look it up and let me know what you think.

News from home

Hello everyone! It's a windy, cold spring day in Sandy. Seems appropriate for the date. I think summer will come soon and warmly.

Please note: if Travis chats with his brothers on line this is not the same as calling or texting his mother.

Where is Travis? He went to the mountains to a spa and apparently never came back. I know he was getting sick of doing research. I can understand fleeing to a mountain resort with mineral springs. Totally. But send your mom a note.

Rilee and Alex are off to New Orleans on Wednesday. They will be back on Sunday. Brynna and Tommy look forward to time flying by. I hope we can go downtown to see the new City Creek Center this weekend. The weather is supposed to be good.

Dennis is enjoying his job and especially enjoying his Hobby. He loves studying about traditional woodworking. Maybe we will attend a workshop sometime in an intersting place where he will learn more from others who seem to trade tools regularly on E-Bay. Some people don't want the big machines and the noise.

Danny is working hard to finish a project of a building in Hawaii. He will have to travel there to oversee some things. I would like to go.

I wish we were going to Poland next week. I've got the ticket and I'm ready.

Dawn and Tyler are preparing for the new baby. We went to Ikea on Saturday and bought new bedding for the girls. Baby stuff is just for babies now. This baby would like some cousins.

My ankles are doing better. I have survived the winter. I'm looking at my now skinny husband and can see the benefits in losing some extra weight. Eating still has a great hold on me. Dennis loves being leaner. He says he feels a lot better.

We all love Downton Abbey. I guess I'll have to watch season 2 all over again. I also love The Office. I think I might be the only one. I hope they make another season. It's very dark and funny this year.

Hello Travis and Agata wherever you are! We miss you all.

Love, Mom

Wow, thanks for those pictures, Mom. We were so tan once! It took me a while to figure out where we were sitting in the one -- our twin apartments with D and J in the U district seem like an eternity ago! Good times, in all.

Excited to hear that people are getting tickets! It will be great to see you all!

For Agata's birthday / international women's day (march 8th) we are going away for the weekend to a resort spa in a town outside of Warsaw. They were having a 'romantic weekend' special -- massages and all that. Should be interesting, although rather weird.

Miss you all bunches. I've been quite busy lately but it's hard to say exactly with what; working a little, screwing around a lot, but on hobbies so I haven't been watching or reading anything. Kind of a shame, really. But I must confess I don't understand how people find the time to read large numbers of novels. Maybe it's my attention span, but I realized the other day that I can count the number of novels I've read cover to cover, not for school, since the age of 16, on my fingers and toes... and maybe with one sock still on. It's such a time commitment! I remember five or so years ago I read Middlemarch -- that took pretty much all my free time for several months.

Man, suddenly I feel very uncultured for a doctoral student. Better get cracking.

Happy Birthday Agata!

 

 

 

 

 Doesn't it seem like Travis and Agata are far away?  Happy Birthday, Agata!  I'm pretty sure her birthday is on Friday.  I really miss you!  Hopefuly you're excited about the wedding.  I wish we were there to pretend we were helping you plan it.  Have a wonderful day and don't work too hard!

Love, Dennis and Jo

Scholarship

Congratulations to Alex who just received a scholarship for next year to study Vietnamese. I picture that as being a very useful language in busines and government work. He has tuition paid for the next year. What a blessing! He and Brynna are very excited.

I wonder if the government would pay for me to learn Polish? We haven't bought our tickets yet. I've decided to buy the best flight I can. I found one with Lufthansa, but in small print it said that it was operated by Lot. Travis told me to avoid an overseas flight with Lot. There are so many countries, so many choices. I'm sure all airports look pretty much the same, though. I'm reading a book about Germany and I realize how many German words I recognize. I would like to end up in Germany.

Hope all is well. I know your lives are full of challenges and decisions. Keep in touch. We like to know where you're headed.

Love, Mom

Checkin' In

Well we bought our plane tickets for this summer Friday night! We will be leaving here for Thailand April 23 and flying home from Berlin on August 21 (all the stuff in between those dates is yet to be determined). We couldn't be more excited for it. Except that we have to survive this semester first before we can really begin to even think about it.

I have to echo Travis' earlier post about computer nerdiness: I find myself with endless amounts of homework to get done, but instead spend my time playing around with statistical software and running the stats for my research. It's by far the most enjoyable part of my job right now. Sounds like enjoying tinkering with computers runs in the genes or something.

I might be flying to New Orleans to present a paper on March 21. Not sure yet if it will actually happen (I procrastinated buying my plane tickets and now they are skyrocketing in price). For those of you who have been before, if I do end up going what is a must see or must do?

Brynna is busy getting stuff ready for Thailand. Being facilitator for that program always ends up being way more time consuming that it seems like it should.

Anywho, I'm glad Travis' call for blog revival seems to have worked. It's good to hear from all of you more often.

Igloo Building

Last weekend I went with the young men to snow camp at Mt Rainier. This is one of those campouts that is very bittersweet. Sweet because it generates awesome memories, and bitter in every other way. A friend tipped me off to a device that is supposed to make igloo-building much easier, called the Icebox Igloo Maker. This is essentially a plastic form to make the igloo blocks in place. This sounded like a great, scientific way to build an igloo, and I wanted to give it a try, but without spending the $200. So, I grabbed some scrap wood from my basement and made my own.

I put hinges on the sides so that we could open the form up and release it from the snow blocks. Then we could slide it to the next location and make the next block. The telescoping pole in the middle helped keep the radius constant and support the form.

The form was a lifesaver for the upper layers of blocks. These have always been the hardest to place. The pole held the weight of the form and the snow until the blocks hardened in place, and then we released it and held our breath. It was amazing how the snow held in place.

You can see our entrance we cut underneath the wall. We expanded this, added benches and put a tarp over the entry to use it as a cooking space. Unfortunately the tarp collapsed during the night under the weight of new snow.

We woke up the next morning to a huge snowstorm and high-tailed it to the cars. The snow had collapsed a couple of the shelters and caused the wall of my igloo to bow in a little. The wind was blowing and it was miserable.

   

We had to wait in the bathroom shelters once we got back to the parking lot because all the cars were covered with snow. After about 5 hours they got us dug out and escorted us off the mountain. It was one of those campouts the boys will never forget.

Winter arrives in Utah.

I thought we were going to get by without a bad storm.  Today proved me wrong.  It took me about 20 minutes to shovel the driveway.  The drive to work was interesting but we made it safe and sound.  Next week, I have training all week.   The training is provided by a Canadian company and you do it totally over the internet.  They sent me a set of headphones with built in microphone to attach to my computer during the training.  I could probably do it from home except that I need to be available for emergencies.  Other than that, life has been good.  Jo and I are relaxing and enjoying life.

 

As far as Netflix goes (I can’t access the blog from work), we have really enjoyed a few things over the years.  There were a number of TV shows that we liked watching.  Not sure if you would like them but here goes:

 

Veronica Mars

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Freaks and Geeks

Joan of Arcadia

Doc Martin

Island at War (turned kind of raunchy so we quit watching it but was OK up till then)

Switched at Birth

Frazier

 

We like watching TV shows because we usually don’t have time watch a complete movie.

Netflix

I honestly can't figure out how to work the netlix recommend list. I thought the first episode of Raising Hope was hilarious. I hope to watch more. Dennis and I also like Frasier. It's about two high-maintenance brothers living in Seattle. We watch Switched at Birth and Once Upon a Time on Hulu. I also watched a version of Heidi (not with Shirley Temple) that I really enjoyed. Dad liked it, too.

It has snowed the last two days and is supposed to be quite warm this weekend. Our Spring cleanup is in two and a half weeks. I think it's a little early for that.

Dawn is feeling a lot better. She and Tyler are very focused on preparing for this new baby. It's going to be a busy September and October from now on!

We are officially missing everyone. I have discovered new ways in healing this winter. I couldn't walk and now I can. I've been having A.R.T. treatments all month and laser treatments and Kenzio taping. Wearing a cast only caused scarring and physical therapy was fun and comforting, but didn't get me walking. It's been interesting. I think sports medicine is pushing the limits of healing as athletes ( like trail runners) insist on healing and moving. A lot of the real healing techniques haven't sifted down to medical doctors or insurance companies. I think they will someday, mainly because they work. Don't take healing for granted. Keep looking (if you want to walk.)

Dad is pretty happy with his job right now. The pressure is off and he is letting go and enjoying things. This is a much better way to prepare for retirement. I don't handle changes that well. Retirement is one big life change all at once. Unfortunately, a lot of people are forced into it because of medical issues. We hope to walk happily into it on our own two feet (and travel a lot.)

We look forward to Travis and Agata's wedding this summer and our trip to Europe. I found the perfect shoes at the mall to walk around Europe in. So I'm ready to go. Except for an outfit for the wedding day...

I've read some interesting books this winter: Killing Lincoln which was poorly written, but is popular, The Unbroken, which is very popular, life changing and grueling, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, a book that developed nicely and kind of ditched me at the end. Probably the best book I've read is The Graveyard Book. I'm currently reading Rick Steve's book on travel (I think it is Travel as a Political Act) that Brynna is using in her class. It would be fun to discuss with people. Lots of ideas to talk about. I'm also trying to learn fifty useful words in Polish. I can't ever look at the printed Polish. I have to just listen to the cd. Someday I hope to be able to recognize the sounds in writing. I also finished doing my Personal Progress in Young Womens at church. I'm glad about that. It's a lovely program and I enjoy the 12-13 yr. old girls so much. Did I tell you that pixie sticks poured into red vine licorice tastes just like strawberry rhubarb pie? We have a lot of fun.

Hope you are surviving the last of winter and looking forward to spring.

Love, Mom

I kind of zoned out for the last week or so. It started with this idea to try to write a simple program to generate Polish flashcards for me and I got hooked, found myself spending hours perfecting it, turning it into a website, learning the technologies, etc. The downside was that it took a bunch of time away from my main research, eating, sleeping, etc, but the upside was that it was really fun, and I proved to myself that I am indeed capable of concentrating and working hard on something. Doing my research is a constant battle to stay focused for more than an hour at a time; something else always seems more interesting. Maybe I'm in the wrong field; when I'm problem solving with computers I can go for days without blinking. Or maybe it's just I'm able to stay focused on anything that qualifies as a distraction....

We've been watching How I Met Your Mother lately. I remember when Tommy showed me one episode, I thought it was totally lame. Now I'm hooked. That's been the story with most of my favorite shows -- Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Flight of the Conchords; I hated the first episode I saw, then slowly grew to love them.

Those are the two random things I felt like saying; yet as I write them I feel like they are connected somehow... yet contradictory... puzzling...

Lava Hotsprings

Jo and I spent Thursday night thru Saturday morning at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho.  We had a lot of fun just relaxing and soaking in the hot  pools.  The resort is small but clean with nice dressing rooms.  We were able to heat up in the hot tubs then lay out in the sun till we cooled off.  Actually got a bit of a tan in February!  The hotel has a winter special that is quite affordable.  The restaurants in Lava Hot Springs leave a little to be desired but it was a lot of fun overall.  May do it again before winter is over.   Jo and I watched all but one episode of Downton Abbey, season 2 while we were at Lava.   Travis hooked me up so we can watch BBC streaming but I must have goofed it up because I can’t get it to work anymore.   Too bad because I liked the documentaries that we saw on the BBC while he was here.

Briefly

Hi from Mom. We saw "the Artist" last night with Tommy and Rilee. What a good show. It was very lovingly done and thorough in it's ability to parody and praise silent film. I would recommend watching old Buster Keaton movies after seeing it, and Fred Astaire movies.

Brynna is in California. We all envy her. She is visiting her grandparents. I'm glad she could go before she goes to Thailand.

According to the news, Europe is experiencing their second winter of deep freeze. The unusual cold stretches all the way to China. We could use an update from Agata and Travis. We have a sputtering winter. It stays cool to cold with half-hearted storms. If you believe the news, the Seattle area is getting a lot of rain this winter. (Is that unusual?)

I'm kind of stalled out on winter. We have sort of a hibernating mentality going on. I can't even imagine a spring life. I think I need to go see some Seattle spring.

Tyler and Dawn are very excited about their new baby that is coming. Dawn feels like this one might be a boy. The due date is September 30. Of course, they really expect it will be a girl. That would be fine with me.

Dad and I are going to Lava Hot Springs for a few days. Thursday and Friday. We probably need to get out of here. Who knows. Not being in pain when I walk is working for me. If any of you sprain your ankle, I have a little healing info to share. Don't get a cast.

I thought I wanted to see Madonna's new movie about Wallis Simpson. But it got one star in the paper. The review said it was absolutely empty and mostly a period piece fashion show. So much for that.

Alex seems to have weathered the week alone. He probably enjoyed studying and writing non-stop. It's hard to have too much to do.

Today is Jenni's piano lesson day. She and Danny are very busy. Jenni is doing some trail running, too. It's fun to hear about all of their friends and activities.

Keep in touch. We love you!

Dad checkin in.

Remeber the very first blog post? I remember Jenni reflecting on her decisions in life and accepting the fact that she would never be a "rock star", or something like that. I turned 62 this winter and am no longer a manager, just a "individual contributor". Retirement looks like a real possiblility (albeit a few years away), but, l am in the process or re-evaluating my life. Work has always been such a big part of who I am and what I thought about. While I never did anything really great, I took a lot of responsibility for and pride in my work. Now, I realize that I will walk away from it in a couple of years never have anything more to do with it. I seriously need something else in my life. Jo commented on the fact that I didn't have any hobbies and I am trying to remedy that with old wood working tools, hiking, running (not like Danny, but still running), etc. Also, at work, I am letting go, realizing that I don't have to make decisions, I can put them back on the current management. I don't have to solve the problems anymore. Overall, I am really enjoying these aspects and think it is possible that I can hold on for 4 more years. The one thing that I do miss is that I will not travel much if at all. Jolene and I had really enjoyed the business trips since she started coming with me.

We miss you all and really look forward to seeing you. Hope you are all doing well.

Movie Reviews- Rilee and Tommy's Ranks of Oscar Nominations

Rilee and I have had a goal to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture this year. We are still missing a few, but with the Oscars coming up we thought we would write a little review of the ones we have actually seen.

The Artist: We both loved this show. It was such a unique, incredible movie watching experience. Luckily we were able to see it on the big screen at the Broadway. I think that the perfect way to see this movie would be to go to an older theatre with lots of charm and get a thing of popcorn and sit back and enjoy. The Artist feels like a refreshing retelling of Singing in the Rain, with more subtleties and, because of the era we live in now, more between-the-lines commentary on the state of modern cinema that has become bogged down with 3D visual fluff and no story.

Prediction: This will win the Oscar for best picture, and Jean Dujardin has my vote for Best Actor.

Stars: Rilee gives it 5 and I give it 4.8

Rating: Suitable for the whole family. Nothing anywhere near offensive.

Midnight in Paris: Rilee and I both changed our minds at the last minute, and put this above The Descendants on our list of favorites. The writing of the historical figures put this movie over the top for me. So good. The Hemingway character was brilliantly written. Overall, this movie is very charming, well written, and well acted. It made me excited to go to Paris and Rilee even more excited than she already was. Don't let the fact that Woody Allen directed this movie effect your decision to see this show (whether you like him or hate him). Of all his movies that I have seen, this one was less about Allen and more about the story.

Prediction: Though we loved this movie, we both felt it was the least "Oscar-esque" of all the ones we saw.

Stars: Rilee gave it 4.5 and I gave it 4.7.

Rating: Nothing offensive in this one, though those not interested or acquainted with literature may find it boring.

The Descendants: The Descendants is an emotional journey of a father and his two daughters trying to make sense of their life in the midst of a family tragedy. Though that sounds heavy, it is able to balance itself with timely humor. I loved the issues brought up in the movie, how it portrays the real emotions of family members dealing with the unexpected exit of a flawed love one and their own failings, riding the waves of grief, hurt, love and even hatred, and eventually reinforcing the bonds with the people still in their lives. The back drop of Hawaii and localized issues is a great added bonus.

Prediction: This could win, but we think George Clooney has a better shot at winning Best Actor than the movie has to win Best Picture.

Stars: Rilee gave it 4.5 and I gave it 4.6

Rating: Strong Language. They use the "F" word some, if you can find it with the swears edited via Clearplay or something, its worth watching.

The Tree of Life: This movie was the hardest for us to rate. It defies categorical placement and is not at all easy to recommend to friends since everyone has such a different personal interpretation of it. If we were going purely on artistry and experience, it would have to be on top of the list. Personally, I enjoy plot driven movies better than experimental, and that is the only reason all the others are above it on this list. I walked away thinking about this movie more than any I have seen in a long time, and like a TS Eliot poem you get more meaning out of it the more time you spend with it. The comparisons to an Eliot poem are plentiful, actually. The Tree of Life is a blend of breath-taking imagery with dialogue and non-sequential storyline interspersed. You jump from a micro view of a family's past to the macro view of creation to the present day in a heartbeat, with the whole kaleidoscope of sounds, colors, images, storyline, and feeling coming together to create something beautiful yet unexplainable. I walked away from the movie feeling like I had just had a very spiritual experience, one that conventional movies can rarely deliver.

Prediction: After The Artist, this movie has the best shot of winning Best Picture.

Stars: Rilee-5, Tommy-4.75

Rating: Everyone

The Help: OK, there are a lot things good about The Help, and we really did overall enjoy it, but when it was all said and done, our reaction was just, "Meh." The biggest knock against it for us was that it tried too hard. You know they are trying to make you cry the whole time. You feel emotional, no doubt, but you feel the movie wanting you to feel emotional more, if that makes any sense. Another thing we had against the show was that it missed a lot of potentially powerful moments and character developments. You never really see Skeeter recognize her own prejudices and come to terms with her own upbringing, and the tension and struggle of her being accepted into the black community is downplayed. The acting is pretty great, though, and you really do love the characters you are supposed to love and hate the ones you should hate. If you haven't heard of Jessica Chastain, this is another one of her four standout performances this year.

Predictions: Long shot to win Best Picture, though the subject matter and acting helps its chances. Chastain has an opportunity to win Best Supporting Actress.

Stars: Rille- 3, Tommy- 3.7

Rating: Probably not for young kids.

Haven't seen yet: Hugo, Moneyball, Warhorse, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Random Tidbits

Hello all.

What do you think of applying for this credit card as a way to pay for one leg of the flight to Europe?
http://www.creditnet.com/credit-cards/airline-miles-credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred-card.php

Also, for you iPhone users, there is an ITA Matrix app that has great flight search features such as a graph of price variations that adjusts as you drag your date range around. Bad news is that playing around on this has just confirmed how dang expensive it is.

In other news, I added a "Netflix Instant Picks" list to the sidebar of the blog. Jenni and I often find ourselves wanting to watch a good movie on Netflix but unable to find anything that looks worth our time. The other night I actually watched "Hulk". Not the newer one with Edward Norton, but the older one and it was terrible. So feel free to add recommendations to the list when you find something good and we will all benefit. To add to the list you will need to login to your google account in the right hand corner, then a little tool symbol should appear near the list. Click on that and away you go. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Hasta luego
Danny

da febs

Making it through this month will be a glorious accomplishment! Ongoing repairs in our building leave us with frequent internet and power outages - for example today, which is why im posting from my phone and agata had to run to a cafe to have her skype meetings for work. This waw especially inconvenient as we are both quite sick with a nasty cold. At least i get to stay in my pajamas....

But the cold front has mainly snapped, and weve been engaging in some fun cultural activities -- last night we went to a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, quite the, uh, experience. On Greeting Card Corporation Day we went out for pizza in a pizzeria that just opened up near us. Pretty good, but no massive pot of garlic sauce like you get in Lodz....

So there is a bright sad to this dreary, cold, annoying month. Plus it only has 28 days!

Ok, so we have been a little neglectful of the blog. So sorry. It used to email me when people posted, but it has stopped doing that and I just assumed people stopped posting. How wrong I was! I am going to post some random pictures from Christmas + New Years time, so bare with me.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to my family! I hope you relax and enjoy the chance to love and feel loved. At the mall today I saw a bunch of men at Hallmark Cards looking kind of lost and sick, and men walking out of the jewelry shop with packages early in the morning. i can imagine the pressure guys must feel. But buck up! We're not that high maintenance, and you should have been thinking about it earlier. (I guess there's no easy way out of this...)

Things not to buy:

appliances
something you like to eat
40 dozen wilted roses that need trimming and a bucket to fit in
something she probably will have to return


Things to buy:

something you have discussed earlier with your girl
a card with a handwritten gift certificate that you honor with your life
something pretty (good luck)
that thing she has been talking about hinting about for weeks
three to six beautiful roses or carnations

Anyway. I love you all.

Book review of "The Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. This book has really shaken me up. I like her writing. She doesn't editorilize or exaggerate, and packs so much info in that it's almost overwhelming, but very fast-paced. The book is about Louis Zamperini, a man from Torrance, California who ran in the Olympics in Germany in 1936. He may have been the fastest runner in modern track history. He later joined the Air Force in WWII (drafted, I think) and ended up a POW in Japan. The details about his personality, family and life are fascinating. But I'm traumatized by it. I have never read about such brutal experiences. He was lost at sea for 40 something days on an open raft. He and his friend set a record for surviving the most days at sea on an open raft. Then he lands on a Japanese-occupied Island in the Pacific. He survives some of the most brutal places and guards there ever were. He returns home and is completely (like most of the POW's) traumatized and angry and unable to function, and sick. After totally screwing up his life and marriage he attends a revival meeting led by Reverend Billy Graham and remembers that he promised God a few things on the raft, and he decides to learn to forgive like Christ did. He lives until he is in his nineties (I don't know that he is dead even now). He lives a wonderful fun life of service and celebration. The book is a shocker. I don't know how anyone did what he did. I don't think I ruined it for you by telling you the plot. Maybe if you know, you'll stick with the horrendous details. It is truly a study of surviving and overcoming challenges and of who can and why they can. (that question is never totally answered, just addressed.) If a lot of folks are reading this, there's going to be a lot of changed people. I don't think I can put it behind me without rethinking a lot of things. (Dawn's Dad said there is an airpot named after him (Zamperini) in Southern California and that he is a very popular man locally.)

I'm glad I read it, but I need to process it. I'm ready for some light reading.


LOve, Mom

I can't remember how to post by emai. Can someone remind me? Also, how easily bored are you? When I describe what I am doing, it bores even me. Hate to think what it would do to someonelse. Buty, hey, that is all I can write about!

I have been collecting old tools and just bought a new rabbet and filester plane. Took about 3 hours to sharpen it, get all the rust off, make sure everything was absolutely flat and square, etc, but it is a lot of fun. Doubt that anyone is interested but that is what I have been doing.

Homemade Ginger Ale

Nice to talk to Dad and Mom today. I mentioned my hobby of the last week or so - homemade ginger ale. I guess I got a big kick out of it because you think of pop as one of those things that is produced by magic and you can only get from the store. But actually it's ludicrously simple to make at home. The basic is just to put yeast in some sugar water, close the lid and keep it at room temperature for a while. Within a day (I actually find it really just takes a few hours), the bottle will be tight with pressure and full of fizziness. Presto!

So you can flavor the sugar water however you want - root beer, lemonade, or the Russian way -- with rye bread. But my favorite of course is ginger, especially because store bought ginger ale is never strong enough.

Here's the recipe with pictures etc: http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/ginger_ale_ag0.htm

This website is also great for homemade cheeses! But that's for next month...


fair warning: be sure to read this note on alcohol content. Basically there is about 0.35 - 0.5 percent alcohol in yeast-fizzy drinks; the govt would classify this as non-alcoholic, and really you would need to drink 6 liters in under 2 hours to get the equivalent of one beer -- and if you do that, alcohol is the least of your problems considering you just downed thousands of calories of sugar. But it is there.

Agata's Name Day

 

 

 

 

 

Agata's Name Day passed me right by. I thought it was Friday. I would hope she had a wonderful day and party, except Travis said she is too busy to breathe. It's not too late to celebrate! Go have some fun now that the temperatures are a little warmer in Warsaw.

Travis had a point about the blog. We need to make an effort to keep in touch. We all seemed buried in the business of winter, school and work. I know how much I enjoy seeing everyone and hearing about your work and play. I really did enjoy those years with Agata and Travis in Seattle. I wish we were closer to help shop and plan for the wedding.

We are living in the gloom of a threatening snowstorm, which might not ever happen. I have been doing a little shopping. What is the electrical issues in Europe in using a blow dryer, flattener, etc. ? Do we bring an adapter? I want to travel as light as possible, which isn't going to be all that light.

Any suggestions for getting through the rest of winter (which might only be four more weeks) would be nice. It is fun to cook and try new recipes in the winter. And watch movies. And read. I'm one of many who is reading "The Unbroken" and wondering why I can't put it down. We were going to do a lot of painting. We still might get to some of that. Basically the best idea is to go south to a warm beach. Maybe we should just post jokes and funny movies. Any ideas? I am learning 50 useful words for the traveller in Polish, and enjoying it very much. What a relief it is to know how to ask for the Autobus and the bathroom.

Happy Name Day Agata! We miss you so much.

Happy Birthday Danny!

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we'll see if this works. Happy birthday, Danny! Congratulations on a great race on Orcas Island Saturday. We wish we could have been there.

Love, Mom and Dad

Orcas Island Pictures

Hey all, just posted some photos from my race Saturday on my blog. Check them out:

http://dancurrit.wordpress.com/


Danny

Monday Monday

Well we broke down and went to the store yesterday, braving the howling wind and sub-zero temperatures. Hauled back like 50 pounds of stuff so it better last for a few weeks. We bought some fish filets that Agata fried up with the Cajun spices I brought, a delicious end to our week-long diet of potatoes and cheese.

Started watching 'Days of Honor,' a Polish TV drama about Warsaw during WWII. It's really well done and engaging (especially for Agata, since it's full of hot men), but hard on the nerves. I mean, it's Warsaw. WWII. We know how it ends. Everyone is going to die.

On the bright side it has English subtitles!

Blog Revival

Allright, Travis, I'm on board with your plea to renew interest in the blog. Problem is I always think I'm too busy, but it's not that hard to send a post via email. And I do think that this blog is a good way to communicate, we just need to use it.

Also, to help I removed the creepy fish thing from the sidebar. I have a suspicion that was scaring people away.

Have to go to bed now, but stayed tuned for a long post about my race this weekend and our trip to Orcas Island...

Love

Danny

News from the Homefront

feb. 4, 2012

What's new at home? Mostly an appalling amount of annoying accidents and messes and a lot of peace and fun. Dad is busy repairing the bedroom in the basement that flooded. Must have been it's turn. People ask: how did it flood? We've had no weather. But less than two weeks ago we had a mighty rainstorm. And our down drain was clogged with debris, and the room got pretty soaked. I spent most of January limping in pain with my sprained ankles. Stepping on wet carpet added to the fun. But Dad attacked it like a whirlwind and has it more than half repaired. Crazy. On the ankle situation: physical therapy didn't really work. So I asked my chiropractor. Apparently he treated sprained ankles all the time at sporting events. He uses ART (Active release therapy, a highly trained way of inflicting healing pressure.) and kinesio tape. I go in Monday for my second hit. It has worked like a charm. Kinesio tape and ART are modern miracles. Ask me for more info if you are at all interested.

We have written a Safe Driving Manifesto for our family. Dennis and I wrote it. He was in a freaky accident the other day in our only real snowstorm. He's okay and the car is repaired, but it was scary. He didn't see a truck coming, drove into it with his camry at about 15 or less miles per hour. The truck rolled. The man driving was taken to the hospital and was walking around after the accident. He apparently really overcorrected. I know I have become a distracted driver. It's too scary and expensive to do this ever. So let's all commit to safe driving. No phones, no texts, no playing around with music, etc.

Other than that, we are alive and well. Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Alex and Brynna will be here. I would like to watch some country group rather than Madonna. Anyone but.

We watched a good movie yesterday: The Big Year with Steve Martin and Jack Black. Really low key and good. Tommy recommends The Artist.

What is up with Orbitz website? They have changed their format to one that gives you a general price until you open up the flight. Is that a new regulation?

Travis and Agata are living in their apartment on vegetables. They don't want to go to the butcher's because of the cold temperatures (zero degrees.) I'm glad their apartment is warm. It sounds so cold there.

Alex and Brynna are in the mountains on a drive, and Rilee and Tommy are snowshoeing with friends. Danny is running a race on Orcas Island. I can't get a hold of Tyler and Dawn today. Jenni and boys are on Orcas Island, too. Dennis is in the garage working on stuff.

It's sort of springlike here. I guess most of the country is having a warm, dry winter. Still I manage to have a little of the winter blues. I just wish it would snow regularly. We wait for something to happen, but nothing comes. So most of us are just going to pronounce winter over.

I miss you all. It's so good to talk to you and spend time with you. Take good care of yourselves.

Love, Mom

so nobody else is into the whole media-recommendation-between family-thing? booooo! 

anywho I got this extension for my media center that automatically posts my ratings/shows watched on a blog.

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/thethingsibewatchin

check it out if you feel like it. maybe I'll post books I like there too.

oh, and you see the little 'follow by email' box on the Currit Family blog? put in your email and get updates when people post.

I feel like the blog is kind of dead; yet we are all more internet-connected than ever (I'm looking at you, iPhone owners!) I wonder if a new format would revive interest. Closed Facebook circle? Twitter ... uh .. something? Google+ circle? IM chat group?

 I know writing emails takes effort, and its hard to find time, especially with time zone diffs, to call, but I'd like to know a bit about what y'all are up to. Maybe something effortless and automatic would be enough. Upload your runs (danny's great at that, I actually do read Constant Stride from time to time), post what your eating, reading, thinking, bowel movements, weight loss, whatever... I'm kind of lonely here in the frozen East. 

The Blog could work for all that if it fits in your lifestyle. But maybe sth else would work better, be easier, more likely to be read and commented on. Let's discuss.

Ticket Prices

As many of you have noticed, tickets to Europe in August cost a small fortune, around 1500 dollars, at the moment. This is far higher than anything I've ever paid, and I've traveled in August twice before, so I've been hoping this is temporary. When we planned our wedding last August, all we had to rely on were current tickets (then around 1000 dollars, even for pretty much last minute flights), and the following chart of historic ticket prices, which showed that summer peak prices drop in mid-July, and August is about the same as the rest of the non-winter months (here,  http://www.hotwire.com/tripstarter/details.jsp?inputId=tripstarter-index&originAirportCode=&destinationAirportCode=&contextDomId=&origCity=Salt+Lake+City%2C+UT+-+%28SLC%29&destCity=Paris%2C+France+-+%28CDG%29 , they didn't have slc-warsaw so I did slc-paris as a proxy).

Unfortunately today I ran across a saddening article indicating that things might have changed for the worst since I last took a summer flight: here , or http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/europe-airfares-next-spring-and-summer-buy-or-wait.html?id=6194716. This was written in 2010, but predicted based on general trends / the Olympics that 2012 prices would be roughly where they are now.

Unfortunately the wedding date is fixed, and I couldn't do it any later anyways without running into visa problems, and any earlier I couldn't really take the time off (plus Rilee, Alex, and Brynna couldn't make it!), so fate has deemed it be August.

So what does this all mean? Well, the one positive takeaway from the first article is that these first published prices are the maximum; there might be sales sometime before May. I think for those of nerves of steel you have until 21 days out to watch for sales before tickets are guaranteed to get higher, and for those that want to have settled plans further ahead, June seems like a very reasonable time to make a final decision.

But most of all, I'd like to repeat that this wedding is totally optional. We would welcome with open arms anyone that wants to come visit during a cheaper time, or anyone who wants to celebrate with us next time we are both in the states.

Love,
Travis

January Update

Jan. 18, 2011

Hello Family!

Jenni and boys are back in Seattle. Danny ran to work today at noon. Driving is too dangerous. They are supposed to receive a record snowfall. We are a little disappointed here in our storm, but the mountains are getting a lot of snow. We all have a week of snow and rain ahead. Danny said the boys are loving it.

Dennis and I enjoyed our days with the boys very much. Ollie and Jak played computers games on a Kratt's Creatures website. We enjoyed going to MacDonalds. Milo happily played with everyone and everything. We ate a lot of sourdough waffles!

Travis left for Poland. We tried to load him up with gifts. We really missed Agata. She is probably in Berlin right now spending her tax return.

What a year this will be! Tyler and Dawn are expecting a baby in October! It's pretty early to announce, but that's the way it works now days. They are very excited. So are we. Travis and Agata are getting married in August, and some of us are going to Europe for the first time. Danny's City Creek project has it's grand opening in March. I think he will come for that. Rilee is going to Jordan and Alex and Brynna leave for Thailand in May, I think. I wonder what next Christmas will bring?

We enjoyed Christmas so much. The parties and meals were all so much fun. Thanks for all you shared with us. Thanks Travis for coming from so far to home for a while with us. Agata looked so great on skype in all of her Christmas finery. She had some new dressy white gloves on that Brynna sent to her.

I'm trying to get motivated to keep cleaning and painting. I'm sure I'll feel like it next week. Meantime I think downloading books onto my kindle is a lot of fun.

Drive carefully, stay warm, and keep in touch!

My Favorite Movies of 2011

(seen in 2011 by me, not necessarily made in 2011)

1. Submarine

2. Looking for Eric

3. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

4. The Phantom Carriage

5. Source Code

6. A Film Unfinished

7. Jane Eyre

8. Attenberg

9. Life is Sweet

10. Another Year

Travel Planning Websites

ITA Matrix - http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ = great for the early stages; you don't actually buy here, but this is a direct access to the same database used by orbitz, kayak, etc, but has more flexible search options, ie see a whole month at a time to find the cheapest travel dates

SkyScanner - http://www.skyscanner.com/ = for discount airlines within Europe; also very flexible, lets you search just by country (ie 'france' to 'poland') to see which cities are the cheapest to fly from.

studentuniverse.com = i've had good luck here getting one-way tickets for a fair price (ie 1/2 of round trip). they've changed a lot in the last few years so I don't know if this is still true.

Aer Lingus - they will sometimes have really cheap flights from the US to dublin -- and from there you can get cheap direct flights to Lodz.

Deutsche Bahn Trip planner - best spot to search for train trips between european countries - even ones nowhere near Germany. within the same country use the national sites (sncf for France, PKP for Poland, trenitalia for Italy, thats all i know)

polskibus.com - really cheap, comfortable buses between Poland and other cities in the region (Berlin, Prague)