November update

Sydney Mouse
unprecedented awesomeness!
OMG!
just clownin around for Halloween this year
let's pump you up

We have had a fun October. Around the first part we got to have a good time during conference. We went to Keresa's family and made French toast. It was good. We also took a break during conference half-time and drew out a picture of the back yard on graph paper (my idea) so we could plan what we want to do back there. Some foreshadowing includes a much larger garden, getting rid of the palm tree, and some ground tiles or maybe even cement?...
Then we went to Spanish Fork to have a good old time with Atwoods. MK got some tooth opinions, and now we wait for Andy to learn some more about bones in December. On the way home, we got to ride with Uncle Vern (or did he ride with us?) as he counseled us in his regular way.
Then we had our big ward bash for Halloween. Mk got to dress up as a muscleman and Keresa and Sydney dressed up as clowns. We had a fun night of eating and passing out candy, and we got to judge the desserts.
Then Elder L Tom Perry came over to set apart Keresa's dad in the stake presidency, so we had a pretty spiritual weekend.
Finally we went to Disneyland, and ran into Chris and Summer numerous times, as well as most of the town of Logandale... Someone commented they must have rented a few buses and piled the entire town onto them for a Disneyland trip. Highlights of Disneyland included a show called Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. He did a mousetrap thing, then commented how his boss, Mickey, didn't like that act. We saw a historical movie about 50 years of Disneyland too.
I also got a postcard from Elder Winnie a few weeks ago. He has such nice handwriting you know. And I got a text message from him on my phone.
See everyone later.
Mk Kgw Srw
Editor's note: this family's email address has changed. mckay@tingeylawfirm.com

October update

fam in Toronto, at Uncle Eddie's and Aunt Nazha's
Nazha and Syd
Is she teething?

So this month we had issues in the bank account. When we got back from Canada we found that there was an automatic withdrawal set up on our account for some prepaid debit card. Upon interrogating Keresa, I was frustrated that she could have spent $150 on a prepaid debit card and not even remember it. Well, she assured me it must be fraud. Turns out it was. We assumed someone must have taken one of our checks from the mailbox, or someone who enters the checks at the power company or water company just copied our account info off of a check, including routing number etc. Then at the end of the week there was another automatic withdrawal set up for another prepaid debit card with a different company, this time for $170! Luckily our credit union is really good about helping us fight these and they have refunded these speedily. Our account has an 01 for savings, then 02 for checking. The manager at our branch advised us to open an 03 checking and move all our stuff into there to keep the fraud user from taking more. Sadly, we received this counsel just after we paid the monthly bills, so we have to wait for all those checks to clear before we can move the funds. Since then only one more auto transaction has been set up. We found that our mail also contained a bill from our cell phone provider advising us we had better pay last month's bill or our phones would be shut off. AHA! The missing check! So either someone stole our mail on the day we paid that bill, or a mailman did, or the person who enters the payments at Cingular did. I suppose I would advise everyone to either drop your checks in a locked mail box, drop box, or other secure mailing box. Or pay your bills online or over the phone. I asked my boss what he does to protect himself and he said he just pays every bill with his credit card, then if there is a fraud on his credit card, he is not out the money until the bank can refund his money, the credit card company is. Just be careful everyone!

September update

We have had a blast in August, with the reunion of course, also we got 2 weeks of break time from school. This led to a lot of time with renting movies from the library, swimming in the backyard, and doing fun things like rollerblading in the park, walking around in the mall, and cooking delicious treats. We were preparing for the fall semester in which mk is gone from early morning to midnight, well, almost. School will be taking its toll on quality time this semester, so we have asked the other counselors in YM to be in charge of mutual activities for a while.
Last weekend we went to Spanish Fork for a surprise visit to Andy and Mel. We were the ones who received the surprise, they were out of town! So we drove around Provo, met up with some of Keresa's cousins, went to the mall, etc. We had a blast looking at the million square foot homes priced right around $80k. We figured we might as well sell our shack here in Las Vegas and with the winnings, move to Spanish fork and live like royalty! Ok maybe its not that different of prices. The Atwoods finally got home Saturday afternoon and watched a movie with the Whitneys. Then mk and Andy took a trip down to the dental office to check things out in mk's wacky mouth. Melanie treated us to delicious crepes Sunday morning before the departure, then it was goodbye and down the road. We called mom and dad and of course, on Sunday, you have to leave a message with their answering service ;). So we told them we would be passing by on our way home around 4:00 or 4:30 and if we didn't hear from them we would just drive along by. As soon as we climbed the hill out of Moapa, guess who called? Mom! We missed by moments being able to get another free meal out of our trip (of course we could have turned around, but Keresa was asleep and Sydney was getting tired of being in the car, so mk decided to carry on).
Sydney is growing fast and learning new tricks, like crawling backwards (will she ever crawl forward?). Keresa is keeping busy with work at home, and making instant meals for her 2 babies: mashed carrots, green beans, apples, or sweet potatoes for Sydney, and frozen spaghetti, mashed potatoes, or stir fry for mk. With our busy schedule, it seems like she spends all weekend cooking and storing food so Sydney and mk can spend all week eating meals on the go-- Thanks Supermom!
Love, mk, kgw, srw

August update

super crew
ta da!

Family reunion in Woody Mountain RV park, near Flagstaff, AZ

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