July update

Sydney Speaks
Well my parents have sure been busy. Mom is always doing stuff for me, like changing my diaper, helping me take a bath, etc. Probably the funnest thing we did this month was to make a fathers day card for dad. Mom helped me cut out silhouettes of my hand and put them around a circle like flower petals, then in the middle of the circle was a picture of me, then down the stem of the flower there were cut out silhouettes of my feet for the leaves. Dad really liked it. I am growing everyday and learning more and more tricks. Now I can laugh, make faces, spit, all kinds of stuff. I even sit up on my own for 30 seconds! Halfway through the month Aunt Becca came to visit me and mom while dad was taking the youth to the Manti Pageant. It was fun. My cousin Stellie had a pancake eating contest with me, she won. Mom still does legal work at home so she can play with me, dad still goes to school all the time. I miss him because he is always gone with school or work or church stuff, but when he comes home he sometimes sneaks in my room and looks at me while he thinks I am sleeping. Mom talked about getting a little swimming pool for our house that would be 18 feet circle and 4 feet deep, but it turned out to be triple the price she thought, so we didn't get it. Instead I got a pet beta fish! His name is snorkel. Dad's garden is nice. He even picked some squash this week. I would like it better if he could grow yummy things instead of squash. He said some of the plants out there are cantaloupe and I will really like them, but they haven't grown anything besides just leaves yet.
See you all later,
Sydney Rae Whitney

June update

pillow talk
aloha
leis taste good

not much, just tillin'
bocci ball at Gma's in Logandale
Suh-Wheat hair Mom!
phone tag
touch your toes girl

Dear fam May was a good month. It started out that we went to Tucson for a visit. It was a lot of fun. Nick and Becca taught us about those deli rotisserie chickens that you can buy in the grocery store. Now we really like those and always take those out on picnics.
When we got home from Tucson, the bishop called in Keresa and I and asked me to be the Young Men's president. So I still get to hang out in the priest's quorum, just more meetings.
We got rid of Keresa's car and picked up a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix. Keresa is glad to have this one. It's got the best feature a person could ask for in this town-- AC.
We planted our garden one weekend in May. We put bell pepper, anaheim peppers, crookneck squash, spaghetti squash, and cantaloupe in the ground. Hopefully they survive this brutal heatwave long enough to produce some fruit.

We took a trip to Logandale to see Leslie and Bronson for their birthdays, and Mom treated us to a rousing game of Bocci ball. Then Chris took us out for a bit of jet ski fun at the reservoir.
MK has enjoyed a nice break from school for most of the month of May. But now is envious as he hears the youngsters say they are in their final days of high school because he is going back to summer session on June 6.
Keresa is all the way set up at home now, so she works for 2 different law offices from the home set up we have while MK works full time for one of those law offices.
For Memorial Day weekend we went to the lake and swam, got some sun, and ate watermelon. It was a very enjoyable day for all, including Sydney, who sat in the playpen under the shade for most of the day. We introduced her to the water and she gave a couple little squaks before she got used to the cool water.
Sydney has learned to roll over, so now we have to watch her a lot more closely. So far the only roll over accident has been rolling off the couch at Keresa's parents' house with one of the kids baby sitting her. The main consequences of that roll accident were both the baby and the baby sitter getting a big scare.

May update

yo yo yo
calmed down a bit
bye!
fast hands

Easter



what are you thinking?

In case anyone hasn't been paying attention to their email over the last little while, here are some reunion plans:
On August 4 we can arrive at 12:00 noon, as everyone gets there, check in at the General Store so they can register your vehicle. Our party is called McKay, or Whitney, it's a little unclear... We are reserved for Aug4, aug5, and we have to be cleaned up and check out by Aug 6 at 11:00 am. I told her enough tent spots to cover each family having one tent, plus an extra 1 tent for the whole group incase some of your kids want to have a cousin-party tent or something. You would take exit 191 off I-40, then go up route 66 for a couple miles to get there. Here is their website www.woodymountaincampground.com I put their address from the website into mapquest.com and got a pretty good map.
So I am thinking that maybe Martha and Mel and figure out together how to set up the Birthday Bird or something like that for the reunion. I am too young to even remember what he did or why all the kids liked him so much, but maybe that can be a chore for mart and mel. For becca and Chris, I know you guys have Ice Cream machines and recipes, so maybe you guys can hook up and decide together to bring your homemade ice-cream stuff and either plug them in at the general store and make the goods, or if they are hand crankable, bring them with the necessary tools so we can make ice-cream sometime. Keresa and Grandma can get together on some kind of creativity activity like decorating shirts, cutting out paper, stringing pine cones, etc. By no means is anyone limited to these, feel free to break the boundaries set here and help each other with these assignments. If Summer thinks doing the ice cream is retarded and would rather be with grandma making shirts-- do it. If Martha used to be scared of the birthday bird, go to the ice cream committee. Just talk among each other to get your things figured out.
Some Changes For meals:
On your own Thursday lunch (probably some of you wont even get there until dinner time anyway.) Thursday Dinner: mk keresa Friday breakfast: Chris and Summer Friday lunch: Nick and Becca --maybe something that could be mobilized in case we want to do a hike and eat while we congregate right before the hike or right after the hike before we get back in the car or something? Friday Dinner: Grandma and Grandpa Friday Dessert: Andy and Melanie Saturday late Breakfast: Jeremy and Martha- I know its cliche to have Martha make breakfast, but its the only way I can ensure she doesn't make beans... You may remember we thought of Melanie doing a lunch Saturday, but incase people would rather just eat a late breakfast and go instead of sit around waiting because they feel obligated to eat mel's meal too, we feel like this is a better change. I don't think Martha will mind the pressure of a brunch instead of a breakfast-- that is her specialty outside of beans...
For supplies-- is it possible for everyone to send me an inventory of what you are planning to bring as far as shareable hardware so I can make a list and redistribute it to everyone? an example would be 12" dutch oven, or propane stove, etc. I think this will help us all plan our meals and keep from everyone bringing supplies when we could all bring a little less and still have everything we need. Remember-- for things like ice, eggs, etc, we have a general store right in our campsite. They will likely have things if we forget them.
P.S. Don't forget your swimsuits and fishing poles!
We also recently posted some new pictures of Sydney if anyone feels like they want to see her : coe.nevada.edu/mwhitney/SYDNET Love, whitneys