McKanda MailWe've been enjoying a very soggy spring. Do you capitalize spring? I guess not when it's been super rainy. So a few weeks ago Amanda and I went to Disneyland for a few days. Amanda's sister Leanne came in from Maui with 2-year old son Isaac who is super adorable and has the energy of an olympic athlete. He was like the energizer bunny– just going and going and going. We decided that 2 years old may be a bit young for Disneyland as Isaac was as interested in the trash cans as he was the rides. We had tons of fun. So much in fact, that half way through the week, I got sick. But it was still fun. Ryan's family was there the Friday before we were, so we decided to test the Penny myth.
The Penny myth states that Disneyland is so well-maintained and thoroughly cleaned each night that if you hide a penny anywhere in the park, it will not be there the next day. So the Friday before Amanda and I got to the park, Ryan hid a small plastic fireman by Thunder Mountain Railroad. And guess what– when we got there 3 days later, it was still there! Myth busted. Well, for the most part– not sure if a plastic fireman counts as a penny. The best part about this story is that I re-hid the fireman. So the next people to go to Disneyland needs to let us know, so we can tell you where to find the penny– er, fireman.
Our house is moving along great with the exception of the builder installing the wrong color cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. We were already right against the tax deadline with our closing date projected to be on 6/23– and this error may push us to 6/28, which really makes us nervous. We'll keep our fingers crossed. It is the builders fault, and they know it. We're just hoping it doesn't turn into a battle in the end for the $8K we could have gotten from the government. Other than that major setback, the house is going just fine– and we'd love to have everyone out sometime in the Summer or Fall to see our new digs! Dad is coming the weekend after July 4th to help with some honey-dos that are stacking up. Stuff like hanging the garage door opener, and doing the kitchen hardware etc. I'll be glad for the guidance as I've never been a home-owner before and could use plenty of instruction.
As far as work, Amanda has about 6 more weeks of being Maria Eitel's personal assistant. Maria Eitel is the President of the Nike Foundation, and she's extremely busy– and, consequently, Amanda is too. She (Amanda) will be glad when this assignment is over; having been working 50+ hour weeks and getting emails and text messages in the middle of the night. Ever seen The Devil Wears Prada? Something like that in terms of workload– not so much in terms of attitude. After that, Amanda plans to whip our new house into shape, work on some Photography, and perhaps take a few classes at PSU.
I'm busy at Clink– we got a new domain (clink.com) which is great. No more explaining "theclink.tv" to people. We're just finishing up some Soccer stuff for the world cup that was supposed to be projected onto the side of a building in Seoul Korea, but that may not happen anymore. We'll be starting another Nike gig in a week (of course), and I'm going after the Nike Foundation with a fun idea. I'll be making custom flip–books with both Clink's, and Nike Foundation's branding on it. I'm hoping to start a new relationship with them. Plus the flip-book idea will be a fun marketing tool for some other potential clients as well. I'll let you all know how it goes, and if it would be worth ordering some for your companies :) .
That's all for now!
The Garzette
Javier has been busy with his 2 (or is it 3?) jobs. He’s enjoying doing programming for the Oregon Child Development Coalition (the agency that runs the Headstart pre-school program). It’s a little stressful at times because he’s still trying to figure things out. He’s taking a class at PCC which is helping. He’s also still doing real estate. He just got called to be the assistant ward clerk.
Austin is getting ready for middle school. He’s going to be a big 6th grader! He informed me the other day that math, reading, and science are boring because they’re too easy. He had his first court of honor as an 11 year old scout and earned his tenderfoot. He also broke out in hives for the first time after having a bad cough and being given Cherutussin. He ran in the school’s jog-a-thon and went 2.5 miles!
Marissa is ready for school to be out – counting down the days before she can sleep in. She’s taking a sewing class from a lady in McKay’s ward and has made a pillowcase, a pillow, and a quilt. She does a very good job! She ran 1.75 miles in the jog-a-thon. She’s also busy with girl scouts, activity days, a cartoon drawing class and she performed a piano duet with me in the school variety show.
Elise is a very busy 3 year old. She wants me to play with her all the time. We play tea party, monsters, and any other games that she comes up with. She loves music and likes to listen to the same thing over and over whenever we’re in the car (her current favorite is “The 12 Dogs of Christmas” – just as fun as it sounds!).
I also ran in the jog-a-thon. I ran with Marissa and then with Austin for a total of 3.5 miles (I couldn’t keep up with Austin). I just taught the last art lit class of the year – I volunteer in each of my kids’ classes doing this. I teach the Mia Maids and have 6 piano students. I’m also helping Javier with his real estate business, inputting listings and running errands.
We spent Memorial weekend in Lincoln City at the coast. The weather was nice so we spent one day at the beach then went swimming in the hotel pool. 
The next day we went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville. It would have been really fun and interesting, but the kids were very tired from not sleeping in the hotel the night before so we played at the playground and rode the little airplane ride 3 times and got a few pictures of all the really neat airplanes before Elise finally crashed from exhaustion. Then we went home. 
Oh, the fun family memories!
