TC Prep Homecoming Pictures at Thornhills

A fun time was had by all last night.

Perpetual Roach Reunion

Perpetual Roach Reunion
Hello All, I just received this note from my boy David who is in Granada, Spain for a year: " Hey dad I did figure that out thanks. I just got back from one of the most enjoyable trips of my life, we went to Gibraltar, Seville, and Cordoba, and it was just fantastic. In Gibraltar I had a monkey sit on my head!!" On another note, my son Bart returns tomorrow from 3 months in Guatemala. He will interview 10/31 @ the dental school in Phoenix, then be in Pasco on All Souls Day. Wear your seatbelts. Don't leap from hight places. With love, JMR

Hello to my Family

Hello Everyone! I hope that everyone is alive and well. Let me start by telling allof you that I miss you very much. I should let all of you know that I am in Gardiner, Montana the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park and I am and have been working for Warren Johnson (the man who Luke, David and John all worked for) I have been here since June 20th and I'll probably return home November 29th. I've been working as hard as I can and have not had a day off since I got here. My experiences have gone from getting bucked off of multiple horses to riding over the top of the absaroka divide at 10:00 PM in a blizzard with 15 mule loads behind me alone to driving home from the yellowstone park hellroaring trailhead at 1:00 at night also alone and almost hitting a black bear and a wandering lone bison within ten minutes from one another on my way home. Suffice it to say I'm getting an education in toughness, both mental and physical, and common sense. Right now it is snowing and 20 degrees which means that the elsk should be here for the beginning of General season (Sunday). I just thought I should update all of you and tell you I love you. Hopefully you're all visiting Grandma as often as possible...I can't wait to see all of you!
Peace be with you all!
With love and prayers,
Wim

Email Notification of New Posts

Hey guys, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blog administrator, and I think that I've enabled a way to notify you, via email, when there is a new post to the Blog! Pretty cool, I hope.

My schedule for the next six weeks looks like this: Albany, OR > Roseburg, OR > Bend, OR > Pasco, WA > New York, NY > Salem, OR > Eugene, OR > Chicago, IL > Pasco, WA > Klamath Falls, OR > Medford, OR > Pasco, WA > SLEEP!!!!!!

Request for Information

Request for Information

Mike,

How about a report on how your hunting trip to BC went this year? You had a great group again and we really enjoyed seeing you, Xavier, Howard and Cal. We don't often get a return trip back through Bellingham and we are interested in all of your adventures. Got pictures??

Bill

Summary of my Year

Ok so I have been a bit slow about doing this. But I have been thinking about it since Uncle Tom posted that we, who have been away, should post what we did during that time period. So here is a very short summary of my year abroad in Florence.
The highlights include, but are not limited to: attending Oktoberfest in Munich (craziness!),visiting Dachu, sights from the Sound of Music in Salzburg, swam in the Mediterranean, slept on the beach on Elba (right below the house where Napoleon was exiled), explored each of the 5 cities of Cinque Terre in the pouring rain, swimming in one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the Blue Grotto, exploring Pompeii, celebrating the cannonization of 5 new Saints with thousands of people from all over the world and attending Pope Benedicts mass and receiving his blessing, gazing at the Sistine Chapel, seeing the Pieta up close, pilgrimaging to the top of Apperation Hill in Medjugore, seeing the (still) war torn city of Mostar in Bosnia, walking along the Charles bridge in Prague, seeing the Cliffs of Moher and the city of Galway, the vangogh museum in Amsterdam, attending Christmas mass in the 2nd largest catherdral in the world, seeing an authentic flamenco show in Sevilla, walking through the Alhambra, spending New Years Eve in Fez, Morocco, walking the streets of the market in Marrakesh, visiting Mozarts house in Vienna, Seeing the Mafia in Sicily, attending the Olympics in Turin, visiting Juilets house, going to carnivale in Venice, attending St. Patricks day in Dublin, Guiness in Ireland, Seeing the Guell park in Barcelona, seeing the French Riveria, attending a huge Easter celebration in Florence, having the David be my next door neighbor, walking to school and seeing the Duomo everyday, the ponte Vecchio, the paintings in the Uffizi, a six day safari in Kenya, working in an orphanage in Tanzania and being able to do it all!
So that is what I was busy doing all last year. I hope this is what you meant Uncle Tom!
Hope all of you are doing well! Cant wait to see you at Thanksgiving!
Love you all,
Lib

Riverhaven Zone of Danger

It has officially become a zone of danger in these parts. Even Quarter Inch, Dickie Dont has been rallying over the course of the last week. Its a constant migration of Potters, Thornhills, Roaches, and Dickie Doo Dont's coming over on a regular basis. I have a bet going that Sinead will be living at our house through her junior high years... She is the best friend to Patricio! I couldnt have wished for a better arrangement over here. What a wonderful setup. And even with Dickie do-Barb-dont-Barb, its a blast! They are in the midst of designing a house, apparently, supposedly, on DickieDont's Claire Foley property, and are looking to sell Barb Cournyer's House immediately. Anybody want to move into the hood?

bpr

Riverhaven Roach Move-In

All: it is official. We closed our house today, and will be taking possession on Saturday, Sept. 30th, 2006. Whiicchhhh-- means that we will be MOVING on that day too... Our homeowners (ACTUALLY, WE ARE NOW THE HOMEOWNERS) are promising to be out by 2 pm on saturday. We, in turn, will be commencing operations at that point. (great timing for the ND game...). IF ANY OF YOU WOULD LIKE TO JOIN IN THE FUN AND BEER THAT WILL BE INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT, PLEASE STOP BY!! WE WILL BE BEARING MOST OF THE RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS, BUT IT WILL BE A FUN TIME! CALL ME OR BLOGG AND LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN STOP BY TO SEE THE DIGS...

SUNDAY WILL BE FUN FILLED AS WELL. THANKS! BPR

Sullivan Reunion - Summer '07

I've sent an email to the (non Roach) extended Sullivan family members to find out the level of interest in getting together next summer and to determine everyone's preferred dates.

If I'd included all the Roaches, the volume of emails would have worn everyone out. From our discussion about the family campout, it's clear that most weekends will work for everyone.

I'll let everyone know the responses when I've received them and we can do our planning from there.

Dan

Family Campout '07

On the trip to Alaska we had a discussion about the best possible weekends to have a family campout next summer and concluded that we ought to shoot for the weekend of July 7-8. There seemed to be no conflicts with that date. Assuming that most of us will want to start the weekend on about Thursday, you should mark out July 5-8 on your calendar.

We talked about venues and came up with two possibilities that I and my able assistant are going to pursue.

The first would be a return to one of the group campsites at Mt. Ranier National Park. Last time we went there, I made the reservations. Back then reservations couldn't be made until 8 a.m. on January 2. Several of us got on a conference call at about 7:40 a.m. on January 2 that year and had the phone ringing until it was answered and we got our reservations. At that time three of the campgrounds in the park had group sites that could be reserved. Individual sites could not be reserved. I will check into the current rules but doubt that they have changed.

The second plan would involve renting a bunch of houses in close proximity to each other at Cannon Beach. That could be cost prohibitive but I got marching orders to look into that possibility as well and will be doing that in the near future.

If neither of those venues work (and we may not know about Mt. Ranier until January), then we can reconnoiter sometime later and kick around other ideas.

In the meantime, mark your calendars and tell all your friends and in-laws that they need to plan their weddings and reunions around our July 7-8 get-together.

The other thing that we ought to be doing at this time is conferring with the extended Sullivan family about whether or not there's going to be a Sullivan family reunion this summer. If there is going to be a reunion, then we ought to establish the date for that very, very soon for the sake of all who may want to be involved.

Who is the acting chairman on that committee?

4021 W. Riverhaven-- Update to old post

Just a little update from our old post: Sofia and I have been approved for, and just signed our committment letter with the Bank today, and will be signing closing documents on Tuesday for 4021 W. Riverhaven (it has such a regal tone to it, the street name. such nostalgia...). Anyhow, we will be taking over occupancy, bills in our name, etc., next Sunday. We will try to move as much in as possible on Sunday, but will probably be in the drag of the process through the 1st week of October. Which means on the 2nd weekend of October, we should have a little informal house party while its still nice outside. Tere and Katie already told us they would buy all the beer for any party we have for a one year break in period, then we're on our own. I think they included wine in that offer too.

Thanks for all the support during this process. It has been fun. Well, not really fun, fun, but it will be fun to live there...

E-mail notification of new comments on Blog

All,

Inside your Blogger preferences, there is an option you can check that will notify you if a new COMMENT has been posted to the blog. Note that it will not notify you when a new POST is added.

Just FYI, but it sure comes in handy for me.

4021 W. Riverhaven

All: Sofia and I are about 2 weeks from being the next and new riverhaven roaches. We just recieved the banks final appraisal on the house we have contracted to buy, and the appraisal came back right on target. After the bank approves us in the next week, we will be new neighbors to Katie and Tere to the west (2 doors from Potters, and 3 doors from Dickie Do, and about 3 doors from Dickie Dont-- I mean Barbs). The house is 4400 square feet and has 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, an inground pool, a hot tub, and 1 acre of land including a mature weeping willow tree (salix babylonica-- my favorite!), which the thornhills will continue to love cleaning up after. the wind usually blows east over there, apparently. We will be more than excited to host any upcoming parties, as this is a very nice house for us to bring guests into. And unlike the current situ over here at 1555, there are no known pit bulls-- besides Steve Potter-- in the neighborhood. Pretty exciting!

Perpetual Roach Reunion

All,

To start off, I'm not the biggest fan of God music. That being said, I want you to know that Aunt Nancy put on a SPECTACULAR hosting job for tonight's John Michael Talbot show. She single-handily organized the show, which turned out to be a near capacity audience. The proceeds all going toward the Luke Roach Scholarship foundation.

JMT rocked the church! He ranged from bluegrass to Stevie Ray Vaughan. He really is a great musician. He had two backup guitarists, a bassist, and another on percussions. He played the guitar, electric guitar, and the banjo. Although I’m not hitting the road as a groupie, I did appreciate seeing a bit of talent come through the Tri-Cities, and Aunt Nancy made it happen!

For those of you that were able to make it, Tri-City Prep current and future students thank you. If you weren’t able to make it, you can still send your $25 admission (or whatever you feel) to:

Luke Roach Scholarship

521 N. Rd 40

Pasco, Washington

99301

This wasn’t intended to be a solicitation, but the contribution can never hurt! It was a very emotional show for me because I think Luke would have been a big fan. He really appreciated good music, and would have been very humble to see how many people contributed to his cause. I think it was an inspiration to all. We should remember how blessed we are to have him as a part of our lives, as well as all those among us that are still able to contribute to this “Perpetual Roach Reunion”!

Let’s all take a minute to think of our cousin/brother/nephew/son, and smile because although life can bring us hardships, it is also a daily blessing that we all need to remember.

-LR

With love,

Joseph Roach

The 20 Week Ultrasound!

Hey Everyone,

We just got the 20 week ultrasound and learned that we're having yet another little BOY! We're all very excited! He looks very healthy and active. Enjoy the photos!

Love,

John, RoseAnne, Isaac, Jack and Baby Boy #3

David in Granada

Hey all, I am counting on Dad forwarding this email to everybody, so it is addressed to all.

Things here in Spain are going wonderfully. Right now I am in an intensive language course at El Centro de Lenguas Modernas, or the center for modern languages, which is the language school for the University of Granada. There are a couple hundred people that are in school at the center right now but most are American and the others are Europeans from various countries that are learning spanish. The main university doesnt start until october, so right now I am not speaking as much spanish as I would like with the students. Many of the kids speak no spanish, so I cant practice with them, but in our classes we speak constantly. Also, we live alone right now, so until our roommates arrive in a couple of weeks I cant speak spanish around the house because my roommate doesnt know any at all. So in order to practice my spanish, I need to go to the bars at night. This actually works really well, because all of the spanish guys want to hook up with the American girls and so they talk to us and hang out with us a lot. I am pleasantly surprised to find out that I can converse pretty well with the spaniards, but Im not comfortable enough yet to try and swerve any spanish chicks. That will have to wait. We are all excited for the main school to start because 60,000 people go to school there so 30,000 spanish women will flood the city. Almost every girl here is good looking and there are many, many super hot chicks. Nobody here is overweight and they are all really stylish, so I am sure this combination has a lot to do with it. Life here is really different, everybody is laid back and relaxed about everything. The Spanish are really social, so there are always people sitting in the plazas talking, drinking coffee or wine, and enjoying the day. The city itself is beautiful, the architecture is wonderful, there are orange, lemon, lime, and date palm trees all over the place, and a plaza with a fountain and a statue every couple of blocks. Once I get a bit of a collection of pictures I will email them, so you can all see what I am talking about. I suppose that is about all for now, once we start traveling around I am sure that I will have a lot more to say.

Much love to all,

David

The Roach Family Crest

This is a pretty neat description of the origin of the Roach family name I just found....

Did you know Roach means "Rock"? So many perfect applications for that definition....

Don't let the long first paragraph scare you!



Origin: Irish

Non-Gaelic elements made their first appearance in Irish nomenclature after the Strongbow settlers began to arrive on Irish shores. Although the Irish already had an established a system of hereditary surnames, the Anglo-Normans also brought their own traditions with them when they arrived. The two systems were not extremely conflicting, and eventually drew upon one another. Although local surnames, such as Roach, were not entirely unknown to the Irish, this form of surname was much more popular with the Strongbownians. Local names were taken from the names of a place or a geographical feature where the person lived, held land, or was born. Originally, these place names were prefixed by de, which means from in French. This type of prefix was eventually either made a part of the surname, if the place name began with a vowel, or was eliminated entirely. The local names of these Anglo-Norman invaders first referred to places in Normandy, or more typically England, but eventually for those Strongbownians or their descendents that remained in Ireland, the local names really did begin to refer to local places or geographical features of the island. The Roach family appears to have originally lived in a rocky area or near some notable rock. The surname Roach is derived from the Old French word roche, which means rock. The surname Roach belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. The Gaelic form of the surname Roach is de Róiste.

Spelling variations include: Roche, Roach, Roache, LaRoche, LaRoach, DeLaRoach, Roack, Roch, Roiche, St.Roche, Rocheland, Rochellan and many more.

First found in county Limerick where they were granted lands by Strongbow whom they accompanied into Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1172.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: William Roach settled in Virginia in 1707; Edmund, Frederick, James, John, Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Richard, Thomas and William Roach all arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1870.
Motto Translated: My God is my rock.

PARTAAYYY IN SD 2007!!!!! 21 and OLDER!!!!

Projected Date: Either March 9-11 or March 16-18 (majority rules, so whichever date is voted for most!)
Restrictions: Must obtain valid 21+ id. (whether or not the picture and name are you, use your discretion)
Target Population: Roach cousins, spouses, S.O.'s or potential S.O.'s.
Plan: Party like Rock Stars with Caitlin and Colleen in their new ruled city, with lots of beach lounging time.
Where: San Diego, of course. We are your new SoCal cousins!!!!
Exceptions: Some aunts and uncles may think this sounds like a brilliant idea, and would like to join in on the fun. We vote.........................................most likely noooot gonna happen, but you may test the vote if you're feeling lucky :0)
Accommodations: Bomb-diggity, resort-style apartamentos in La Jolla. (courtesy of Colleen and Caitlin)
RSVP: BLOG

Official Date will be posted when we have sufficient responses by fellow blogging cousins or word of mouth to those cousins who aren't cool enough to blog.
-Colleen/Caitlin/Miguel-honorary non-cousin

Perpetual Roach Reunion

Hi All,
I just had an excellent phone call from Bart via some sort of computer hook-up. The connection was perfect! He sounded great, happy and has had excellent experiences, has many plans and a very busy agenda. He was getting ready to fix dinner with a group of friends! He had just gotten pick-pocketed in a busy crowded touristy congested bottle-neck by a 8yo girl who passed his wallet off to her father. He lost his wallet, bank card, driver license, ~$30US. His wallet was in his front pocket and he was even thinking it would be a spot for such a caper!!!! These felons are very good. In his youth hostel later he learned others had had the same experience in the exact same location!!! Nancy, does this remind you of the same modus operendi in Rome @ the Vatican?

Anyway, he is happy, healthy and having a good experience.

As ever,
daddio or big mike

--
John Michael G Roach, MD
GASTROENTEROLOGY
"The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory...but progress." --Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Happy Birthday Tommy!!!!

Two 15-Year Olds for a Week!

Just so you know, we have 2, count 'em, 2, Fifteen year olds for this week in our household!!!!

G-Ma's Fresh Coat

Last weekend, a crew of us led by Kevin and Brian Roach put in a total of approximately 100 man (and woman) hours, giving Grandma a freshie. Uncle Pat deserves extra props for being the only Oldie who was with us for the duration.

A good time was had by all, and Grandma LOVES her new paint job!

Observe:

John Michael Talbot Concert

All,

As you probably know, the Luke Roach Scholarship Fund is putting on a concert featuring John Michael Talbot, monk and guitaris extraordinaire. This concert will be a little different from his last one here, as he will be performing songs from his newest album "Monk Rock", which should be a little "friendlier" to my generation.

We would love all of your help in promoting this. We haven't sold as many tickets as we'd like yet, and we really need to get on the ball.

Here is a PDF that contains all the pertinent information. If you have any questions, please direct them to My Mother Nancy.

Thanks, and with your help we can make this a big success for Prep and for Luke's legacy.

Big Month for the Thornhills

Big Month for the Thornhills

I was checking out one of those calendars that have important dates for each month of the year and August just screamed Thornhills.

Looking at 3 birthdays (Ailis, Fiona and Sinead) and the 18th wedding anniversary for Tere and Katie made me think how lucky we are to have you all in our lives. What at loss it would have been had you two never met and deprived the community of your love, committment and those beautiful daughters...thank the Lord for Irish Bars!

Enjoy a great August,

Love,
Bill

Let's Plan Another Family Campout (a/k/a "Herding Cats!!")

My calendar this week reminded me once again that this first weekend of August is the one we set aside several years ago to stage an annual family campout. If there's some interest in getting something going for next summer, please offer your input.

I think we've gone to Mt. Ranier twice and to the Leavenworth area once. Last time we discussed it (three summers ago) we kicked around the idea of going to a campground at the Gorge near Bonneville Dam. Then Liz's family and mine headed to the East Coast instead. Without us being present, naturally no one else wanted to get together. We enjoyed lobster w/the Sullivans in Maine w/o you guys!!

The Winthrop area is gorgeous, as is the Olympic Penninsula. (Remember camping at Klalock when we were kids?) Vancouver Island has a lot to offer, as does the rest of B.C. Jacquie and I and our kids go two or three times a year to Cannon Beach where we stay in a house on the beach that belongs to friends. The setting where we stay is pretty remote (from the crowd) and is a bit of paradise and there are a number of houses closeby that could be rented although they are pretty spendy.

I suggest that we set aside a time that works for the greatest number of interested family members and then decide on a place. My gang doesn't think traveling 6-7 hours to a good spot is any big deal, provided we're going to stay for at least 3 nights!

Let's first nail down the weekends that won't work for a family campout. The things that I can think of that are on the calendar for next summer are the proposed Sullivan family reunion and the boat races.

Any weddings in the works? (If so, no need to divulge the secrets yet - we'll plan around you Joe, Colleen, Dom, Caitlin, whoever!)

Your thoughts?

Droesch's New Presidential Vehicle

Droesches, please post a jpg of your new bling bling that you bought.

Boatraces

You all better get ready for some fun. Joe is already out in the boat at the newly improved "honey hole" (where all the 40 year old divorcee's tie their boats together and drink wine coolers or mixed drinks and goggle over other divorced, not-so-in shape bikini wearers (or speedo wearers), where all have way too dark, weathered and leathered skin), with his boys from work. I am waiting for my boys from seattle and portland, and then the real fun will begin. check on you all later...

bpr

God watches over all of us. Apparently, especially our grandma.

bpr

The Thornhill Girls and their Partners in the Meadow Springs Junior Golf Child - Parent Tourney

The Thornhill girls are playing Junior Golf for the 2nd year at Meadow Springs and recently played in the Child-Parent Tournament. Fiona & Tere were partners, Ailis and Nick Cameron, Ciara and Bart, Moira and Margo, and Sinead and Bill Meyer! Here are a few photos from the event.

Happy Birthday Dominic!!!!

Hope you have a great day and celebrate well.
Love
Your Godmother

oops, joe: meant to discuss 'slewing hoist' rather than 'slewing post'. my mistake. slewing hoist is even cooler. what is it?

Joe, something about the name 'slewing post' just sounded MEAN to me. I envisoned, like, a gallows where people just get streamline massacared or something. Please explain slewing post to us. Neat neat word. Sounds cool when you say it out loud.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED!!!

How old are you today????
Have loads of fun.
Katie

Don't Forget about Grandma!

All, (or Johnny-Boo specifically)

We should have a printed version of the blog brought to Grandma once a month. At least the important updates about her 9 kids, their spouses, and her 44 grandchildren. I'm not sure how difficult that is with printing the comments and all, but I'm sure she would be delighted to be a part of this.

Now onto me! I'm finally done flying back and forth to Minnesota testing this crane that I've been working on for 5 years. It is completely done and will be disassembled next Monday. Unfortunately I returned to management thinking something wasn't done right and the test "failed" as opposed to applause and cheers. Typical with this job, but the personal satisfaction of completing this ~$7 mill crane works for me.

Here's a picture of the team with the completed crane. The robotic arm can bee seen under neath the slewing hoist to the right of the folks.

Enjoy, and nice update Caitlin, can't wait to se you down there!

JDR

Several comments: Caitlin, I love you. You're one of my favorite cousins, hands down. And to think that Bart and Luke used to call you funny names...

Second: I am all for the 600 word essay idea. Tom capitulated it perfectly. Please all young people (I am included), dont let us down!

Third: Uncle Mike. Good idea. Never even thought about it. Now I will have a telephone, Colt 45, AND car alarm key fob accessible. That combo is sure to dissuade. Of course, I could get a pit bull too, like all my neighbors in the ghetto that I presently reside in. That's actually WHY I bought the Colt 45, to protect against the pit bulls. (one actually attacked my mail lady on my front porch. tore her hand to shreds while patricio was in an open-doored car in our driveway. scary...) We got it all around these parts...

Mariners Fan Livin' in San Diego

Hello All,
I have been reading the blogs describing everyone's interesting lives and the other postings from Aunts and Uncles (and my MOM!) begging the grandchildren to write. I'm ashamed to say that, unlike my cousins, writing poetry and essays with huge words i don't understand has never been my fortay. However, I am going to attempt write a short, 600 or so word blog about what I have been up to these past few months....
I graduated on May 7th from the University of Portland School of Nursing. This may surprise many of you, only because a few weeks ago I was reminded by my cousin Brian, who seemed shocked that I have already graduated from college and am almost as grown up and successful as he is, that it is hard to believe I am not the [crybaby] 12 year old I once was. I AM mostly grown up, but in Brian's defense, I do wish sometimes that I was 12 - life seemed a little bit easier back then with much less responsibility. :) Anyway, after graduation, the Johnstons headed southeast to Hong Kong for a week. Very fun and very interesting. Unlike anything I have ever seen before. I am actually surprised that no one in my family posted a blog about our trip (Kevin should you maybe get on that??) After the asian adventures I returned to Portland for a few weeks and stayed with the Schultes (Chambers family) while saying my last good-byes to my housemates. I bought a coche, with the help of my dad obviously, and on June 10 I headed down to San Diego. I was greeted by Colleen who very graciously let me stay with her for the first two weeks of my relocation. I started work as a critical care nurse at UCSD Medical Center just a few weeks ago and am loving it. I am working on the IMU which is an abbreviation for intermediate care unit. We get the patients whose conditions are not critical enough to be in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit, for all those non medical professionals), so we have lots of patients who were in car wrecks; hit by cars and other heavy metal objects; the medically unstable, such as those with a serious exacerbation of their diabetes, pulmonary disease, and heart attacks. We are the only Trauma I center in the Region, so we get all the bloody, serious stuff. It's very very fun and VERY high stress. I feel like I can't think straight or see straight when I'm working because there is so much to manage with these critically ill people. I am hopeful that feeling with minimize with time, organization, and familiarity with the unit.
I just moved into my own place a few weeks ago and am enjoyin' days at the beach, paychecks bigger than I could have ever imagined, shopping, and bein' close to the Mexicanos. I have not yet been to TJ, but that will come soon enough....Anyone please want to join me??
Colleen and I are having fun spending time together and spending time with BJ Mac and his wife Kate. And just so you all know...............we LOVE having family visitors!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's about it from the bottom half of the west coast. Love reading the updates, safety checks, and random websites posted on this bloggy blog. Keep in touch fam! Love you all!
~Kitty Cat Caitlin
PS: Miguel says hi to all of you, and he says he absolutely LOVES the Roach-Johnston-Chambers-Thorny-Cedergreen Family! (haha, I added in the last part, in case you didn't know...I crack myself up sometimes!)

Safety Suggestion

Next time you come home for the night and you go to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Start keeping your car keys next to your bed on the night stand when you go to bed at night. If you think someone is trying to get into your house, or if you hear a noise outside your house, just press the panic alarm on your car key chain. Test it as It will go off from most everywhere Inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break in your house, odds are the burglar or rapist won't stick around.....after a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that. ! Try it to make sure it works before you rely on it. Just know that you must press the alarm button again to turn it off. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there..... This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or prevent a sexual abuse crime

revelation = update

Hello all. I was just hanging out with johnny boo talking about how much I had liked the blog when I was at school and he mentioned that there were more people posting than ever these days. I have had a lot happening of late, and much to look forward to of future. Thus, I stole myself away from John and Joe Dirt (no, that is not joe[bo]'s new nickname, 'tis a movie) to update you all per the happenings.

On May 12 I graduated from Carroll College with a degree in biology, or I hoped I had. I walked none-the-less, banking on personality or pity getting me the C in physics that would gaurantee me matriculation. I'll have you know that I lost sleep wondering, after I had told my dad there were going to be "no surprises."

I started studying right when I got home for the DAT, which I studied for like a job through may. Midway through, I recieved my first C in college and I was elated! I am planning now to attend dental school in the fall of 2007. I took the DAT at the end of May and got a 21 for all you interested and know what that means. Basically, I dont have to worry about that part of the test, but we'll see about the rest. I have since applied to Creighton, Marquette, UW, Case Western in Cinncinati, Boston U, Arizona, and Pacific U in San Fran.

August first I leave for guatemala for three months to work for the Spokane Diocese. I dont know exactly what Ill be doing, but I do know where, so check it out on the web; Ixtuacan, a small town of about 20K people at 9,000 feet in the Guat cordillera. When I return I hope for three things: 1. aquisition of spanish, 2. a second degree in Spanish, 3. enlightenment. Not sure about the order -- we'll have to discuss that on an individual basis, or maybe a blog debate?? As an aside, the mission requested some computer equipment (blank CDs, a printer and jumpdrives) and as I am already taxing my parents for this trip, i wanted to let you know that if any of you wanted to send a ten spot or so to my folks house, I will ensure that it gets directly to the clinic I will be volunteering at. thanks.

When I return I hope to see you all in my travels for dental school interviews (inshallah). I hope this epistle hasn't taken too much from your day. I love you all,

bartamaeus

Long awaited surgery finally takes place........more to come!

So, according to the pictures, and their specific chronology, Ed and Jimmy had their brokeback breakthrough (just review the pic post-- it's hillarious!). That is wonderful. Thanks for 'breaking' it to us slowly, through a series of still images that, to the 'naked' eye would seem harmless, but in harmony tell a very very different story of two cowboys just trying to make it in a world where nobody understands their needs. The movie (which tia sofia netflixed and I watched for a total of 16 minutes)-- and the recently posted pics-- of Fast Eddy and Cream-ation Jimmy (how great the names are!), have really opened my Broadway-Seattle mind to the fact that all love-cowboys dont have blue hair, 20 piercings, and a lisp. I am enlightened, as always, from my wonderful extended set of -outlaws.

bpr

New Taste Treat Discovery for All Who Love Hot Tamales

I wanted to let you all in on this great new discovery. If you love Hot Tamales (the candy) you will really want to go to your nearest Albertsons grocery store and look in the frozen popsicle section for frozen Hot Tamales. They are a popsicle with a sherbet center and they are Alberstons brand. You won't be disappointed!!! Let me know what you think!
The Thornhills