22 July 2018

 Hi everybody!

   Dad and I got to talk with Stephen this afternoon; we hadn't caught up with him on his birthday, yesterday. He said they had his birthday celebration when he got home from work, last night. He works Tuesday's through Saturday's. He mentioned that he had a friend over for his birthday, that they had cake, he opened presents and then they all watched Apollo 13. That's one of my favorite's too. Happy Birthday, Stephen! If you have time, Steve, please fill us in on your job and whatever else is happening in your life.

   Weavers got here Thursday and stayed until this morning and were able to go to the Pioneer Day parade; it was wonderful to have them here. Most of us watched the parade at Jocie's and Janie's. Luke and Shelby threw candy while riding with Grandpa at the front of the parade, and then all three of them joined us for lunch in J6's and J8's front yard. 

   Heidi, Kevin, and Lucas headed home this morning, because Lucas needs to be ready to leave for scout camp first thing tomorrow. Shelby will be staying with us for a while! :)  Tonight we're eating popcorn and watching White Fang, on Netflix. 

   I hope you all are doing well. We'd love to hear what's going on with you all. We've enjoyed the pictures from your recent travels. 

   Love you, each one! 

Mom/Johanna/Nana

Hi to all of you!

I haven't written to you in so long! I'm sorry!!

Mom, thanks for writing to us. I really appreciate that you take the time each week.

Summer is going fast, as always. Noah is in Montana with James' parents for a bit. Annie, Ellen, and Naomi all went to Girl's Camp this last week and had a wonderful time. Naomi even got to tell all about it in Sacrament meeting today. On Wednesday, James is going on High Adventure with the scouts. He's a little sad that Stephen isn't going this year, but he's happy that Stephen has a good job. The two of them went white water rafting just before school got out, so they did have an adventure together already. 

Last Saturday, we got to have 3 Japanese students and their chaperone come over for dinner. They are all from Okinawa! Their chaperone, Marques, is actually Japanese American. His mom is Japanese and his dad is Hawaiian and he was born and raised in Hawaii, but after college he took a job teaching English in Okinawa. The kids' names (and ages) were Moena (17), Urara (13), and Takayuki (15). Two girls and a boy. They are part of a group of students who are participating in a program at WSU. It was really neat to have them come over. We ate dinner, hamburgers and homemade fries, taught them how to play Spoons, which they really enjoyed, had ice cream, and ate some mulberries from our tree. They even brought us some gifts from Okinawa! Tonight we got to go to a BBQ with them at Kamiak Butte, and this coming Saturday they are having a special going away dinner that we are invited to as well. It has been really neat getting to know them! I'll include a group picture. From L-R Marques, Urara, Takayuki, Spencer, Ellen, Moena, Annie, Naomi, and Stephen. We are trying to think of the perfect gifts to give to them, and the girls are going to give them their email addresses as well. We've learned some fun things about Japan too! They have elementary, jr. high, and high school like we do, but the grade numbers start over at each school. So Naomi would be starting 1st grade at a Japanese Jr. High School, Ellen would be starting 3rd grade in Jr. High, and Annie would be starting 2nd grade in High School. Noah would still be a 5th grader though. Oh, and one of their favorite foods is Taco Rice. Rice with taco stuff (hamburger, lettuce, tomato, cheese) on top. They said it's an Okinawan thing. 

I'll ask Stephen to tell you all more about his job, but I'll tell you a little bit. He's had two actual fires so far, and now that he is 18 he gets to use a chainsaw and drive the truck. Fun fact that I didn't know before, but it totally makes sense: a sawyer is a person who works with saws. How did I not know that? Super cool! Stephen has worked a lot! Today was his first day off in 17 days, because most of the other people at the station had been called away to fight big fires in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon. Most of them are back now though. And Stephen is officially on the list now so he could be called to fight a fire somewhere if needed. If they are called away though, they can only be there for 14 days. So it wouldn't be a long term thing. Spencer still thinks it is the greatest thing ever that his big brother is a fire fighter!

Stephen met with the Bishop this afternoon. All his mission application stuff is done, he just has to meet with the Stake President now, after the Bishop passes his paper on to President Cook. I'll let you know when his papers are officially submitted! I'm thinking it will be in the next week or two. I'll keep you posted. Oh! We have a world map up on our wall where people have been writing their guess as to where Stephen will be called. Some of you have been able to sign the map in person, but if the rest of you want to take a guess, we will put your name up there for you! Stephen's cousin Andrew, who is just a month and a half older than him, got his mission call a couple weeks ago and he is going to Milwaukee, Wisconsin which is the mission James' sister Hannah lives in. She was way excited and Andrew is too! He didn't want to learn a foreign language, so he is very happy with his call. 

Well, my email is long so I'll end here. I'll attach a few pictures though! Stephen the fire fighter on his way to institute after work, getting firewood, and some graduation pictures.

Love you all!

Aimee

Hello everyone,

my jobs pretty good. I got to go on my first fire a couple weeks ago. some farmer baled his hay too early so one of his bales exploded and his field caught on fire. we showed up just in time to stop the fire from starting the house on fire. we started working on the left flank of the fire working towards the head of the fire (the part of the fire that is traveling at the greatest speed away from the point of the fire and usually has the greatest fire activity). we were using a method called a mobile attack. basically we have a fire truck with 500 gallons of water on the back and we have a pump and hose that we use to put out the fire. a mobile attack has 3 important people. the nozzle: this person holds the hose and sprays water on the fire while directing the moving fire truck along the edge of the fire. The driver: he drives. and the pump/back check: they run the pump and make sure that the nozzle man doesn't miss anything. I was the nozzle man for this particular fire. I have never breathed so much smoke in my entire life. I was about 15 ft. away from our engine most of the time and there were many times that I couldn't see it when I looked back. my eyes were just pouring the whole time and I kept coughing until I realized that it didn't help anything, so I stopped. but we managed to catch the fire and put it out. it was very exciting. is was sooo cool to actually fight fires! it was one of the coolest things EVER. also, before that I got to do some helicopter training which was also super cool. I got to ride in an 11 man chopper and do some cleanup on landing sites in the middle of the woods. on the way back while in the chopper, the pilot pulled this stunt where he somehow just dropped the chopper about 40-50 feet in the snap of a finger. but it was super awesome. 

also some new that I just got my self about 10 minuets ago. tomorrow (Tuesday) I will be heading down to the Rattlesnake Creek Fire near Riggins Idaho for about two weeks. so that's exciting. anyway, there you go :)

Stephen