Mom is a blogger

Hello! Hmm... my mind just went blank. Let me think. (That's what Mom was saying when I asked her what to write, I included it as payback for all those journal entries when Mom and Dad wrote down everything we were saying.) We're having such a fun visit with Megan and Melissa and all the kids (almost). We really miss Ammon, Jesica, Miriam, and little Ammon. Hopefully I will be a frequent contributor to this blog... But don't hold your breath. :)

Michigan

There is a video of Ammon and the stuffed dogs that is SO cute, I'll have to show it to everyone when I come home for a visit.

I love Miriam's hat and she insisted on turning the rim up--so darling!

Ah, cute!! (that applies to both pictures)

Ammon was running to Jesica if I remember right, so she is the inspiration behind that smile.

Ammon and Jesica getting back to their German roots (or Ammon's at any rate).

Jesica took this picture in Frankenmuth--a very fun place!

Ammon and Jesica are considering new vehicles...

Here is a cute little boy. Megan took the picture for us.

The Taylors Visit Logan!

I had so much fun with Gary, Daneene, Jenzie, and Colin last weekend. We fed lots of ducks, went to the Willow Park Zoo, went to First Dam (for the ducks), shared meals with friends and family, and visited all the "favorites": Aggie Ice Cream and Gossner's Cheese Factory (or the "cheese house" as Jenzie called it). I'm so glad they came to see me! Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

I love this picture! They are so darling together!

Colin and I share an ice cream cone at Aggie ice cream. I appreciate all of you visiting me, which gives me a good excuse to enjoy Aggie ice cream. I never go unless y'all are here, so I'm expecting Dad and Alicia to visit soon. :)

Colin is drinking the salsa at Cafe Sabor--a boy after my own heart!

Feeding the ducks and geese at First Dam.

A few of my favorite things...

Hi everyone. Ammon & family--welcome back to the Internet. :) Do you have an email address? I tried to email you the other day and it failed. I'm sorry the talks expired, I don't know why it does that. I'm including the links to the BYU site, they shouldn't expire. I'm also including a link to a hilarious video--a comedy skit done by two Australians. SO funny! I hope you like it.  (I don't think the links are active, you'll have to copy and paste them into the address line.)

The Front Fell Off:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcU4t6zRAKg&feature=related

In the Strength of the Lord (Elder Bednar): 

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=251&tid=7

A Child of God (President Eyring):

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=747

However Long and Hard the Road (Elder Holland):

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=873

Hello From Michigan

Hi everyone,
We just got the internet working at our house, we got a better deal than it seemed like we were going to so we are happy. School was really quite fun. No assignments other than reading at this point. It was really fun, the professors seem most interested in getting us to be involved in the learning, not grades or other normal school things. I think it is going to be a lot of fun if i can just stay on top of the reading and writing. Megan I tried to download the talks and the website said that it was expired. Any idea why?
Thanks everyone, you are all so awesome. We are having a good time and it feels very good to be settling down a bit and getting into a routine. Love you all!
Ammon and family

Good luck everyone!

I'm hoping that someone other than me will post something soon--it's starting to look a little out of balance, too much Megan, too little everyone else. :)

I just wanted to send out a blanket 'good luck' to everyone that is starting school soon. I hope the year goes really well for you. 

And good luck to everyone else too--I'm sure we all need it to some degree. :)

And, here's my new cell phone number (our iPhones arrived today, it was just like Christmas): 435.881.5378. Of course I'll still have my other phone, but I won't have it with me during the day. So you may need this one too. Plus, I have super ringtones...so far it's set to play a King's Singers song when any of you call me--how much fun is that?!! So you'll need to call this number every once in a while so I can hear the song. :)

I love you all!!

BYU Speeches

Ammon and I were talking a few days ago about a talk by Elder Bednar and he was wondering if I could email him a copy of the talk. I've uploaded a few of my favorites to a website called 'File Factory,' so you can click on the links below to download the talks (they are MP3 files). I hope you enjoy them. :)

This is a BYU devotional from 2001; Elder Bednar, "In the Strength of the Lord"--it's similar to his General Conference talk of the same title, but is longer and has some additional examples from the scriptures and his own life:

Bednar_David_2001.mp3

This is a BYU devotional from 1997 (if I remember right); President Eyring: 'A Child of God"--I used part of this in an EFY talk--it's a very good talk about how to achieve excellence (primarily as a learner) and humility:

Eyring97.mp3

And the last (for now, I have LOTS of favorites, so I'll probably post more later) is a BYU devotional by Elder Holland (when he was the President of BYU) and Sister Holland: "However Long and Hard the Road"--I've listened to this repeatedly. I love his description of the building of the Salt Lake temple:

Holland_Jeffrey_N_Patricia_ROAD.mp3

Rexburg 6

As some of you know, I was really nervous about EFY this year. Part of that was just because my session last year was so good, I was afraid that this year wouldn't be able to live up to my experience last year. I was really blessed though, the youth at this session at BYU-I were phenomenal. All of my classes worked out so well, so much better than I expected. Some of my talks involved some fairly abstract ideas, the type that most teenagers are not eager to discuss. So I usually plan a lot of activities and only plan on spending a few minutes in discussion. But these participants were eager to discuss the scriptures and the doctrines of the gospel. We sometimes discussed the topics for 15-20 minutes and they were perfectly willing to wrap their minds around the concepts and discuss them in a very mature and insightful way. 

Also (and I've never had this happen before), there were many participants who approached me after classes ended wanting to learn more about the topic--they asked me where I found certain quotations or what else I would suggest they study. That made me really happy. Also, they took copious notes--mostly of scripture references and other things they could study later, which also made me happy. 

And, they were among the most appreciative youth I've ever met. So many stayed after each class to thank me for the lesson. Their prayers nearly always included expressions of gratitude. One girl gave me a really kind letter, thanking me for my preparation and for helping her feel closer to Heavenly Father and the Savior during our classes. While at the dance on Tuesday night, I had probably 30 or so participants come up to tell me how much they had enjoyed my classes. 

Several participants came into my room at the end of all the classes to thank me--they hadn't been in my last class, so they went out of their way to come into my room and thank me (and I'm sure they did the same for the other teachers). I also had several that stayed well after the classes ended so they could copy down the quotes I used in my lessons. Basically, it was just a really blessed experience. I'm so grateful for the Lord's help and the dedication of the youth. 

I really, really wish I had had a camera with me so I could have taken pictures of the "Fear Factor" activity--this will sound really odd and gross out of the context of the activity, but I wish I had pictures of the three guys who chose to lick the toe of another participant. And of course, of the guy who sang (in a very earnest manner, while down on one knee and holding the girl's hand) 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree'--beautiful! :)

After the classes ended yesterday I went to watch the variety show tryouts. I love watching the kids demonstrating their talents. And they are so talented--some of their talents are rather useless and completely silly, but still... I'm always very impressed that so many of them are brave enough to share their talents. I think it's great.

On the way home I had a rather interesting gas station experience. I stopped for gas in Shelley, Idaho. As I was pumping gas, a man pulled up on the other side of the pump and started washing his windshield. He saw me and I smiled. He looked at me for a second and said, 'Aren't you a little dressed up for a Wednesday night?' (I was still wearing my skirt from teaching.) I laughed and said, 'Yes, maybe I am.' I explained that I just finished teaching at a youth conference at BYU-Idaho. He asked me what kind of conference it was, so I gave him more information about what EFY was. He still seemed a bit confused and he asked me about the topics of my presentations. I told him that I spoke on a variety of religious topics. He looked at me again, and asked, 'Are you a nun?' I laughed again and said, 'No.' He looked at me again in a pointed way and said, 'You are wearing black and white.' And I laughed again... he had me there, I must be a nun since I was wearing black and white. :) 

I found out while I was there that Brother Wahlquist is now teaching at BYU-I. One of the counselors logged onto his student account so I could use the Internet to look up Brother Wahlquist's number. I called him and we talked for about 20 minutes. It was fun to hear how they are doing. They have adopted two more girls. He invited me to stay with them if I'm ever in Rexburg again and told me that it is only an hour and a half from his house to Yellowstone. So my roommates and I may make a weekend trip to Rexburg to go to the temple (it was closed for cleaning while I was there this week, which made me sad) and up to Yellowstone. 

Anyway, that's my EFY story. I hope you're all doing well. I love you!

WE SURVIVED LAGOON!!!

Our trip to Lagoon started with a very slow morning. We were hoping to get there by 11 am when they opened, but it was closer to 12:30 when we arrived. We wasted no time and began visiting rides, but we quickly learned that our little shorty Bryn was about 1 inch too short to ride a lot of the rides. We tried to get her to stretch, but it was no use- next year we'll wear taller shoes. Jess, constantly said, "I'm not riding that". By the end of the day, Jess and I rode on WICKED, CLIFFHANGER, the old white roller coaster and many more! I had to promise Jess a treat to go on WICKED, we waited in line at least an hour to get on the ride, 20 minutes of it the ride was broken, and we wondered if we we're even going to be able to ride it. Once we got on, I was nervous Jess was going to hate it and be scared (because it was a little scary)! She said during the ride "your going to have to get me a BIG treat"! Grandma took Bryn and Amanda on a lot of younger kid rides. I'll post some pics once we get to a place with wireless internet. -Jared

Dad's inaugural blog

Well, I guess this is one way to get my share of the communicating with family going. Hopefully now that three of my kids are doing this blog thing, if I start it will be a way to keep in touch with you three. I am home alone tonight so I have enough time to do something for fun. We heard from Ammon this morning and they are safely in the Lansing area and looking for an apartment. They found one that sounded really good to me provided that something happens with their home in Cedar. Louise is with Jared and his girls on vacation. I think they would have asked me, but there was absolutely no room in the car, and I have to get ready for school to start. I'm watching an old BYU game on T.V. but may turn it off and watch an Alfred Hitchcock Thriller. Sounds perfect for a night home alone, don't your think? Dad

Truffle

Hello,

I am very happy to announce that I have (finally!) completed the duvet cover (aka quilt). Jen (my roommate) always names her quilts, which I think is a fun idea. However, I need to ponder a bit and spend more quality time with mine (to truly understand its personality) before I know what it should be called. For now, since a few people have mentioned that they crave chocolate when they see it, I am calling it "Truffle." It's in the washing machine now and I'm excited to see what it looks like when it is properly frayed. You can't really tell from the picture that it has four separate squares of material sewn on top of each other--so 'in person' the quilt has more depth than what appears in the picture.

When I tell people I'm making a quilt they always ask me if I'm giving it to someone... Having to say, "No, actually it's for me" has made me feel rather selfish. So, when I've recovered fully from this experience (in say, four or five years...) I will be happy to make a quilt for someone else. If any of you would like to get on the list of potential recipients, let me know. ;-)

Fun-Filled Family Weekend

So I think since Mom & Dad got home we've been together just about every day (except the 24th). I did see Ammon & Jesica and their family and Gary and Daneene and their family at the parade on the 24th. We spent most of the day in St. George - everybody except mom spent some time at the temple. Mom and I watched the kids while everyone else either did sealings or an endowment session. We went and saw Christy and her new little baby Erin. (Isn't she cute). I got to hold her for a few minutes - she is so tiny - we got her a bunch of clothes and blankets from the family.

After that the family and grandma went to Cafe Rio for lunch and then to Costco ( I spent too much money!). Anyway, I'm here working on my lesson for Sunday and then planning to go to the broadcast in an hour for the 24th! I'm sure it will be wonderful! Have a great weekend - I hope to get Mom, Dad, Alicia, and Gary/Daneene on here soon! - Jared

Hi

Hello everyone
I'm just trying this out.
Ammon

My uneventful July 24th

Hello Megan (yes- I think it is just you and me for the moment). Your dinner sounds very eventful. My day was quite dull. After the parade (with the Thunderbird Club) I went to the office. Ispent more than an hour on the phone trying to fix my flexible spending account(It didn't work- it is still all messed up). I came home around two for lunch. Jess called and wanted to know when I was coming down to St. George. Needless to say, I went to St. George. Grandma made us dinner and we played "Mexican Train" dominos. We all had a lot of fun! I got home and started watching Harry Potter five with Alicia, who is spending the night. (It's the third time in two days that I've watched it). We texted Cha Cha and found that movie six comes out November 21! We can't want!

Waiting...

I'm waiting for a file to upload so that I can post it to another blog (one that we use to share files with our clients... definitely boring, you wouldn't want to read it) and it's taking a while (it's a big file), so I thought I would stop in and say hello (to Jared anyway, is anyone else reading the blog yet?). 

I went to dinner tonight with some friends. We went to one of my favorite restaurants in Logan: The Indian Oven. It was a fun, but uneventful dinner until after we had finished eating and were waiting for Brittany, who was in the bathroom. In the midst of our conversation, my eyes started burning. At first this didn't seem odd because of the infection I have (Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis, a rather painful eye infection that I've had for several weeks). But then they got significantly worse. I'm guessing that I had some hot sauce on my fingers (which is another funny story, it took a lot of effort to convince our waitress that I REALLY like spicy food, they still wouldn't make my food very hot, but they did bring me some extra hot sauce on the side). I couldn't open my eyes at all because they hurt so badly. I had tears (and of course, mascara) streaming down my face. It was so bad that a few people stopped at our table to ask me if I was alright or if I needed anything. What I needed was to wash my eyes out, but the bathroom was occupied. When I explained that to the two very concerned women at the next table, they suggested I use the men's bathroom... then they got into a rather comical discussion of whether not I was that desperate. Anyway, by the time Brittany came out of the bathroom I had cried most of it out of my eyes and was feeling quite a bit better--she missed the whole thing. 

Well, my file is done, so I'll post both blogs and the go to bed (YEAH!). :)

I love you!

Coincidence

I'm glad you figured that out. I knew we were related somehow; but, like you, I never knew exactly what the connection was. For anyone interested, I just read the book Mormon Scientist, and it talks about the Romneys in Colonial Juarez. There was a saying back then that if a Romney drowned, you should look for him upriver (apparently a fairly determined lot). :)

And here's the coincidence: I had a dream two nights ago that I was helping run Romney's campaign. In my dream he was still running for president. Maybe I should contact him... ;) 

A long lost relative

So last night, as I was cleaning my office (o.k. I really didn't clean at all, I was too busy playing with blogs) I stumbled into a website with a story about Mitt Romney and his ancestor who was a deserter. It just so happens that his great, great grandfather is Charles Henry Wilcken. I haven't been able to figure out what our relation is to Mitt, but I'm guessing it is some kind of cousin- I'll keep working on that. There is a great article about C.H.W. On the Jared Pratt Family Association webpage. I don't have the address because I'm on my phone- I'll try to add it later. I saw Mitt on the Today show Friday and they were asking about him running as a vice-presidental candidate with McCain. Who knows we might up with a cousin running for VP of the US.

-Jared

Here is a picture with Grandma Grimshaw on one of our recent visits! - Jared

This is a recent outing to see Grandma and Grandpa Wilcken. We just had to get a picture with grandparents and grandchildren. - Jared

Scout Camp

It's been more than 20 years since I attended Thunder Ridge Boy Scout Camp. I spent last night at Thunder Ridge with our troop. I'm actually the 11 year old scout leader, but they needed me to go up for the last night. The scouts were out-of-control! It didn't take me long to decide our 11 year old scouts will be camping on their own - I don't want them to learn any bad habits from the older scouts.

I spent the night in an 8 man tent- by myself! It was cold! Then I listened to the scouts complain about my music the entire way home. I told them, I didn't have any music where you couldn't understand the words - I think they were disappointed. We stopped at the Maverik in Parowan for drinks. I waited in the Fails (neighbors) Durango while everyone when inside. When they came out, one of the scouts said, "Dude, you have a flat tire". Sure enough the front driver's side tire was completely flat. So after changing the tire, we headed back home. The one really bright spot was when I found the perfect stick for my patrol's flag (now we just need a flag)!

I forgot my camera so no pictures - Sorry - Jared

My first blog!

Hey family!

First of all, let me apologize for the randomness of my two blogs. I couldn’t get the pictures to work within the formatting options offered by the blog--probably just ‘user error.’ So I put the pictures together in a separate document and tried to post them into the blog--that didn’t work really well either. So you get two separate posts--one with the descriptions and one with the pictures (and with weird formatting still). I doubt I’ll be posting so many pictures all at once in the future, so my next posts won’t be quite so confusing. :)

I thought I'd take advantage of our new blog to post some pictures of recent trips. If you don't recognize the people in the pictures, you probably stumbled into the wrong blog...

In the background is the Oakland temple. It's a beautiful temple with a very unique exterior design. I really enjoyed walking through the gardens with Aunt Annette, Joan, Allison (Brian's wife), and mom. 

And I had to include this picture of mom and Joan on the cable car. We all loved riding the cable car around San Francisco, especially when we had a fun and friendly driver. I almost had my foot knocked off while passing a parked truck that was a bit large... it was a tight squeeze but our driver handled it beautifully and I still have all my appendages. :) 

Now for the Virgin Islands pictures. I wish I could include all of them because I've never seen such a beautiful place. To be honest I have never really been a fan of tropical islands... which sounds funny, but I just mean that tropical islands have never been very high on my list of places to visit. So I wasn't expecting to really love the Virgin Islands. I was pleasantly surprised and must now confess a new addiction: snorkeling! I find myself thinking, "Maybe I should go to Hawaii for a short vacation before the summer ends." Or, "I wonder if there are any good snorkeling locations in [fill in the blank--generally the locations of our clients and business interests]. Clint (my coworker) and I are now constantly on the lookout for new clients in tropical locations. :) We just got a notice regarding another meeting in the Virgin Islands for the grant we wrote and we're all jumping at the chance to go back. And this time, we'll skip all the other attractions and commit ourselves to full-time snorkeling (and a business meeting or two). ;)

Washington, D.C. was awesome, one of my best trips there (nothing can compare to our Spring Break trip!). I especially loved Gettysburg. If / when you get a chance to be in the area I think you should all visit it. I went to the DC temple on the same day as Gettysburg and both places were sacred. So I’m including one picture of Gettysburg and the picture that I had to climb fences to get--it was definitely worth the ‘risk.’ :)

I loved Chicago and Nauvoo! It was so much fun to be there with Lou! (and my roommate Megan, but that doesn’t rhyme with Nauvoo…) We had many grand adventures. If any of you haven’t heard of our encounter with the fine officers of the Chicago DUI cadre you’ll have to ask for the story--it’s great! We saw most of the major attractions of the city: Sears Tower, the giant ‘bean’, the river and Lake Michigan, a great pizza place (for the record, attempts in Utah to recreate the Chicago Deep-dish pizza pale in comparison to the real thing--WOW!), the Fire Dept., the Chicago Art Institute, etc. All of it was great. Seeing Wicked was definitely one of the best parts of our trip--despite the stress of getting there. :)

Of course, my favorite moments of the trip were in Nauvoo and Catharge. Seeing the temple there for the first time was overwhelming. I want to go back again (even more than I want to go snorkeling). :) I could go on and on about the beauty and peace of being there and the privilege of being able to honor the early saints for the sacrifices they made, but I can’t really find the words, and I’m sure you know what I mean.

Now I should start working on my talks for EFY. I’ll be in Rexburg in a couple weeks for my EFY session. I’m excited to be there and to go to the new temple. I am also VERY excited for my upcoming sleepover with Jess, Bryn, and Amanda (and the grown-ups). :) 

And, in a random bit of other news, we get two days off work next week for Pioneer Day and I’m taking half of Wednesday as well. I’m using my time off to make a quilt. I bought the material this week and I’m very excited. I’ll post pictures of it when it’s finished. Thanks Jared for creating this blog. I think it will be a lot of fun. I can’t wait for all the news and pictures from all of you!

Pictures of trips

The 1st Blog

The Wilcken family blog has officially been started. With Ammon and Jesica moving to Michigan in about a week, I thought it a good idea to start a blog so we can all keep up with what is going on with the family. I hope it works.