The things my grandkids tell me!

While Rachel was visiting me last Wednesday, she wanted me to get down on the floor with her. I said, "I don't know, Rachel, I am getting kind of old." 

She then said: "I don't want to get old. I don't want to grow up. I want to stay little and live with my mom and dad forever." 

I know the feeling. I didn't want to get old either. But it is better than the alternative, don't you think? Faced with dying young or living to be old, I will take the latter.

Piano Recital in Ohio

We just got back from the piano recital for the kids. Rather than take the time to upload the video to all the sites, you will need to check it out on our family site http://amyandtoddtrauntvein.blogspot.com/

Hope you all have a fabulous week.

Happy Birthday, Kirsten

To the girl who is always fun!

Happy Birthday!

RE: How did it go?

I dislike change. I see that as both a strength and weakness. I understand what you mean. Julie, the girls and I all knelt down and prayed that all would go well for you. Julie said the prayer and reminded Heavenly Father that you were a good man with many strengths. She asked that our Father bless you so that the best thing would happen for you and for your family. I concur and am still praying that the best will happen. Love, M

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From: STrauntvein@sa.utah.edu
To: mandlht@msn.com; trauntvein@relia.net
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:56:15 -0700
Subject: RE: How did it go?

Well, the manager that is hiring for the position said they had three good candidates, each of which has different strengths, and that those created different exciting possibilities. He said they would make a decision in a couple of days. The more technical person on the interview committee, was asked by the manager if he had any more questions, and he said "no". I then asked if he had a question about any of my answers to his questions, and he said that as far as he was concerned I had "hit them all out of the park".

I hate change, though, when I am not the one in control. This position would not have any management aspect, and I worry about whether I need to keep working on my management skills in case some future employment change is needed. I also worry about having to buy a new home, and about real estate being higher priced in the Provo area. I am 46, we only have ten-to-twelve years to finish paying off our house, even with the second mortgage. I cannot get into a new 30 year mortgage, or I will be 77 before I finish paying it off.  I was hoping Kimberly and I could go on a mission by then, although I don't have much of a retirement account anymore, and when I looked at mission prices a couple of months ago (for different places around the world) I was not sure how I would be able to afford them.

I am kind of tired though. I have only been getting four-to-five hours of sleep a night (although last night I got six). I have so many things going on, and I seem to wake up early in the morning worrying. I also may need surgery on my hemorrhoids, and do not want to carry a pre-existing condition into my next employment. I have youth that I feel I need to work with, and I worry about leaving before I finish what I felt I should have been doing. Kimberly's Grandma Nonie was also diagnosed with breast cancer, and she has an upcoming surgery. There is so much going on.

How Did It Go?

That story should have impressed them. It impressed me. Love, M

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From: STrauntvein@sa.utah.edu
To: mandlht@msn.com; trauntvein@relia.net
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:55:41 -0700
Subject: RE: How did it go?

By the way, I told a "hunting" from when I was twelve during my interview. They asked if I was big picture oriented, or detail oriented. I told them that I leaned towards the big picture side. They asked me why, I said "it is because you can get bogged down in details if you only deal with details, and can come out completely wrong." I continued by telling the following experience (although I did not say I was hunting pheasants, or that we were out by the bogs):

"When I was young I was hiking with my father, and he told me to cross through a big area of willows, and come out on the other side. I started through the willows and would keep having to decide which way was best to go to get around a clump of willows, I would go around the one, get to the next and go around it, and all the time I thought I was still going the right direction, but in the end I ended up coming out on the wrong side. Because I had no external 'big picture' reference, I got lost in the details."

From: L H TRAUNTVEIN [mailto:mandlht@msn.com] 
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:25 AM
To: Shawn and Kimberly Trauntvein; Shawn Trauntvein
Subject: How did it go?

Dad and I went home teaching last night. I wondered if you knew how you had done on the interview or if you felt good about it. Love, M

Happy Birthday, Mel!

Happy Birthday to a gal who still doesn't look a day over 29!  We love you!  Thanks for always being the best oldest sister anyone could have--sorry you had to miss out on having an older sister, Shawn =\ 

Hope next year is a little less catastrophic (who are we kidding?!!!)

Mom has a question

David is moving. Julie is moving. I am wondering why Julie and David have decided to do everything they do in pairs. Their youngest babies were both born in June and now they are both moving in November. Is this a trend? Of course, both of the trends have been something to celebrate. So I think that congratulations are in order.

It will be nice to have David closer. He will be about two hours away from Kirsten and about the same amount of time away from his father-in-law. He will be six hours away from us. That is a much better traveling distance from the Old Folks at Home and I am still doing the happy dance over it. The DRT family is also happy that they will be back in the mountains. However, I think they picked some mountains where it really snows. Most people really love snow and that is why there is skiing in Gunnison. There are also lots of places to go fishing.

As for Julie, she is getting out of her cramped apartment into a house. It is a manufactured house that belongs to the Osmonds. This Osmond is the son of Merrill. Yes, he does sing. He is part of the group, the Second Generation. He and his wife bought the house as an investment and they asked Jim if he and Julie would like to rent it. Of course they said they would. It is really close to the bee barn. In fact, it is about a block away. Jim can actually walk home for lunch. They will not be able to start building their house until next summer.

Warning Signs for Moms

So, when we took Whitney to her volleyball practice/game (have to blog about that another time), I saw this sign hanging in the gym.  Being a mom, instantly I thought of the countless hours spent pregnant and miserable and the countless hours afterwards spent, well.... AWAKE! Jared's sister is pregnant with her fourth, so I snapped a picture and voila; i thought you'd all enjoy and get a kick out of this, as well!  While it was meant for students to realize their assignments are due and to not procrastinate, I can't help but think of the great warning this would also be for all wanting to be parents!  LOL!!!

• Re: Braden's Eagle Court of Honor‏

To: Melanie Bolton

L H and Myrna Trauntvein (mandlht@msn.com)

11/04/08

On Nov 1, 2008, at 11:11 AM, Melanie wrote:

Yes! Yeah!

We have finally scheduled the Eagle Court of Honor. Plans are under way for it to be held January 3, 2009, with two of his closest friends.

We will send out formal invites in December.

Melanie

Melanie, Dear, I am doing a happy dance!!!! Congratulations. We will be glad to hear more. Love, M 

Updated contact info.

So I'm making my personal blog private...so any (and ALL) of you are welcome to have an invite just send me your email at my email.

Speaking of which add notlobs@gmail.com to your address books as my contact email. That's the only one I really check anymore (and if you have gmail--you can gchat me!!). :)