My Hazardous Morning

If all this talk of moving has got you down here's a little levity. This morning I got up to go to the bathroom. I opened the bathroom door, and before I had a chance to turn on the light I was literally sliding across the bathroom floor. Somehow, mainly by the grace of God and manic flailing of my arms, I managed to defy gravity's cruel grasp and stay on my feet. About this time my heart seriously considered giving out, but luckily for me he's a trooper and he kept on ticking. When I finally turned the light on I discovered that our 3 gallon jug of Tide liquid detergent had fallen off the counter in the night *angry glance at Liz* and now our bathroom floor was a bright blue death trap. The detergent covered about half the floor about a 1/4 inch thick. I wish I would've had the presence of mind to take a picture, but at the time this event was far less humorous then I now find it. I still had about an hour left before I had to get up so I turned on the bathtub washed off my feet and went back to bed. Later, Liz and I spent about 20 minutes wiping up detergent and washing the floor. Then I spent 2 hours waiting in line outside of the Supreme Court to see an oral argument. That part doesn't really fall under the heading of a hazardous morning, but my toes did get mighty cold!

We're not dead yet

Despite the weeping, wailing and rending of clothing, we are not dead yet.

No one is more adverse to change than I (ask your mother). But sometimes it can not be helped.

Let me review some things for each of you. Most of you are too young to remember, or were not even born yet, when we moved from Bay Village. Your mother and I did not want to move, we had gone home to the place where we grew up and intended to stay there forever. Sadly it was not to be and we moved to St. Louis.

St. Louis proved to be a great place for us and our family and we intended to stay there for the remainder of our lives. That was not to be either and although we resisted for over a year and it was very hard to leave many, many good friends behind, we moved again.

Rockton turned out to be a better place than we could have imagined. Great opportunities for church service and great job opportunities for your mother and I, and an even better place to raise our children. We have watched each of you grow here, some leave home, get married, etc. etc. etc. As for our house and backyard, thanks to slave labor, it is a bit of heaven and no one will miss the trees and all more than I will. We all have good friends here as well.

Having said all this, it seems it is time to move again. Your dear old dad is getting on in years and jobwise is in the latter years of employment. That does not mean I expect to be able to retire any time soon, however at 57, one’s opportunities begin to be limited. I have an offer of a significant promotion (first Sales Mgr then VP Sales) with WesTech. However that opportunity only exists if I am working out of the Salt Lake office.

In addition, I hope that your mother and I will be able to serve a mission in the next 3 – 4 years. (You will ALL be asked to help support this effort). I will have to return to work after that mission since we will not have enough money to retire full time. The chances of me returning to a meaningful, well paid job at WesTech are excellent, IF I am working out of the Salt Lake office. They are considerably less to non-existant if I am still working out of Rockton.

Your mother is less than thrilled with the idea of moving. You all well know her feelings towards Utah. However she has always seen the right road forward and been willing to make whatever sacrifice was required to move along it. This was true when we joined the church, it was true as we prayerfully considered how many children to have, and in every move we have made since then. I have no doubt that if she had been in Nauvoo at the time of the early Saints, she would have been in one of the lead wagons.

Now regarding children and grandchildren. Yes we will be sad to be seeing less of some, we will be happy to be seeing more of others. We will do everything possible to see as much of everyone as we can. We will also miss the Sunday dinners. It is the highlight of the week and we wish we could have even more contact with Noah and Jackson (and their parents can come too). But that does not seem to be the way of the world. We hope to make up for some of this by having them come to stay with us in Utah (summers, vacations, etc.) and by coming to see them as often as we can.

Regarding children, I confess to being a little surprised at the depth of emotion everyone has for Rockton. But if you are really motivated, you will find ways to make it back here from time to time.

I would note here that it will probably be at least another 6 – 8 months before we move. There is time to build stronger relationships between grandparents and grandchildren, time to say goodbye to a place that will always hold fond memories, etc. Time to make and keep your “Bucket List” of things to do prior to leaving Rockton.

Looking forward: It is our plan to make the trip to Cleveland at the 4th of July our annual family reunion. At present that seems to still be a central location for our family.

We intend to take full advantage of all of the natural resources of the inner-mountain West, national and state parks, Lake Powell, skiing, etc. and hope that everyone will come visit us at least once or twice per year for an extended stay. We also will come visit everyone and in the same way that I now visit those Utah several times each year, I will still be traveling and visiting those who are not in Utah.

In short there will still be many, many memories to be made. They will be different in nature, but will still be loving and strong.

We all resist change, we resent it, we fear it, we just don’t want it. However it is one of the constants in the universe. We still have the opportunity to be a Forever Family and if we live in such a way as to attain this goal, we will never be separated again.

Your mother and I love each of you. We pray for each one of you. We want what’s best for each one of you. We try to do what we think will be best for all of us in the long run.

I have a testimony of the gospel, I have a testimony of the eternal nature of families, and I have a testimony that it is by following the example of Christ that we can attain these things.

Love, Dad

The M word!

All I have to say is I'm happy the grils will all get to have their parents close but here comes the BUT, Brian is having a hard time. Noah and Jack will miss out on having Grandma and Grandpa. I know that this isn't an easy thing for anyone especially for Grandma and Grandpa. I just hope that everything works out. Obviously Heavenly Father is placing good people where he needs them most. I will ball like a little girl, that house is where so many good things happened for me. I remember hoping to one day be apart of what was in that house, a giant family. I loved spending summer nights walking around the block and staying up until 4am in the kitchen laughing with Jess and Bizz. I feel like we don't see all you girls enough and here comes another obstacle. I didn't realize how much I loved the memories I have with you all and with that house. I think the house should just be retired. No one should live there, its where Pops makes big plans for the Orchard and Carlote tries to tame his ideas. We will miss Sunday dinners but are happy others will gain them. We are sad that our kids won't have Grandma and Grandpa but are happy...oh wait Jess, Katie, Bizzie, and Lauren (she's excused until the return of Nate) you guys better get busy finding some companions! Szilagyi's are baby makers! My boys need cousins and your mom needs grand babies galore! Again B is very sad and will miss his mama's food, I told him I would attept to make one of her dishes every Sunday so maybe she could be with us in spirit. Well I stopped crying now...so I better say something really gushy to start again...I just have to say I'll miss you guys helping me with my boys. Secretly I planned on finding you all guys around here. I thought that Noah and Jack would have all their aunts...I guess that isn't the way its going to work. I feel like we'll miss out on sooooo much stuff. You all will get to see Lauren have a flip out her first day of school, we'll miss when Bizzie gets her mission call, and when Jess lands Brother Dane. All I can say is I'll miss you all so much. All I can think to say to myself is Be Grateful that I am still apart of the family I dreamed for so long ago even though they all seem to be moving in different directions. I will be taking applications for 09'summer nannies if any wish to apply. Take care of yourselves and Be Smart. I love you all dearly even the ones that don't like Mitt Romney! (He was my guy!) Peace and Much Love...Jamie

OH THE HUMANITY

OK, I know that we are all sad that mom and dad are moving to Utah. We all love our rockton and the home that we know and love there. I just want to say that I will miss it and I probably will cry when we leave that house, but I am happy that mom and dad are moving to Utah. And I know that they would not have made this decision without carful concideration and prayer. I just think that we should all be supportive of their decision. Change can be scary and sad, but we are a family and we will make it through whatever life has to offer. I love you all and I hope that all of those affected negatively by the news will have a change of heart (one day). XoOxxO.

Panoramic Picture of London

I stumbled upon this on my wanderings around the internet and thought I'd share it with you all. Is it weird that I didn't know that London had skyscrapers? I know you're all laughing but I swear I thought that Big Ben was the tallest building in London. Well, besides that ferris wheel thing. Sad, isn't it?

Panoramic Shot of London

Hilarious McCain Video!

If you need more reasons not to vote for McCain this November look no further. It's better to watch the O'bama video (the bottom one), made by Will i am of the Black Eyed Peas, first because the McCain video is a parody.

Bill honors LDS President Hinckley

A House resolution that would officially honor the life and work of Gordon B. Hinckley passed unanimously through a committee hearing Tuesday. Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, is sponsoring the concurrent resolution of the Legislature and the Governor that “honors Gordon Bitner Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for his life of service and dedication.”

Morley noted President Hinckley’s many accomplishments, work ethic and position as a world religious figure and said “whether or not we belong to his faith, we should honor his life of service.”

The House Government Operations standing committee passed the bill back to the House floor for further action.

Deseret Morning News