Merry Christmas Time

Hello, All!

I was just reminded that I haven't updated the WHITESELL blog lately.  I seem to spend quite a bit of time on David's blog, but have neglected ours.  I feel like there are not enough hours in the day, you know!

T.V TIME.  Maybe I should cut out the hours of television I watch each night...oh, wait, I don't do that.  Hmmm.

CULINARY ARTS TIME.  Maybe I should stop spending hours and hours cooking each night...oh wait, I don't do that either!  Ha.  (One of the requirements for a new recipe I try out for dinner is "can I do this in 30 minutes or less?"  If the answer is yes, then I'll try it.)

So I don't have the answer -- sometimes I think the photos make the blog, so I do spend a little too much time with photos... my problem is, I get sucked in because I love pictures so much!  I start looking at them on the computer, and get distracted and look at others...then I edit a few that I'll put in a scrapbook page "someday," then remember another event I wanted to scrapbook.  Then 30 minutes are gone, and I still haven't posted any to the blog!?  Sigh.

I digress.  My point of this post is to say "Merry Christmas!" and let you know we are all doing swimmingly.  (Teresa and Frank have been coughing for weeks, though...the cough seems to hang on the longest.)

Update of recent events:
KARA. Kara would like to play high school tennis in the spring.  She took a camp last summer, and some lessons.  She may get into a clinic this winter, to get better.  She needs more practice playing "doubles," since that's what she would be doing on the team in the spring.

 She has been working hard in her classes, trying to keep up with the increased homework that comes with "being in high school."

TERESA. was sad that volleyball ended.  She'd like to play all day, every day.  We did watch the BYU Women's volleyball team make it to the NCAA FINALS last week!  Ok, so we lost the championship game.  But to even make it that far was AMAZING.

Teresa is in "waiting mode."  She applied to 4 universities and has been accepted to 3 (still waiting on her 1st choice, BYU Provo).  She got accepted to Utah State (Logan), Colorado State (Fort Collins) and University of New Haven (Connecticut) -- yea, Teresa!  But she now says that she doesn't want to go to New Haven.  We will find out about BYU at the very end of February.

Meanwhile, AP Biology and Calculus keep her hopping.  They cover a LOT of material in those classes, as you may know, from either taking the class or having a child take it.

Frank continues to work hard all day, every day to keep the fam afloat!  He's driving in to the office 4 of 5 days now.  The 11-year old scouts learn from him weekly, as well as the both of us teaching the "scripture mastery" day of seminary each week.  This year, he's also been on the Regional Executive Board of the Boy Scouts in this area.

I am still tutoring ELL students 2 days a week.  Seminary is at our house once a week, and they also just asked me to be the Mia Maid advisor.  That's Kara's class...I think she's okay with it?!?  I am also trying to phase myself out of Cub Scouts, but I have been helping the new people since they've never been in it before.  (14 Bears...Bears are in 3rd grade.  Yes. It's a big, somewhat rowdy group...)

FLORIDA. We're going to Florida for the Christmas break, or at least a week of it!  Frank's parents live just off of Lake Okeechobee.  If you look at a map of Florida, there's a BIIIIIG lake right in the southern center. That's Lake Okeechobee, and that's where we'll be!

I think we have family scattered all over the U.S. -- wish we could "teleport" and see everybody this week.

The kids at school get a kick out of saying "See you next year!"  It's kind of weird that 2014 is almost behind us.

Happy Christmas Day on Thursday :)

Kari

Fall Colors, Books, HP

Hola!

Here's a quick update for the week.  I'm currently listening to the BYU women's volleyball game against San Diego.  BYU is #9, nationally, right now--pretty good! (well bummer the match went to 5 games and we lost...sigh I stayed up so late for that, blah...)

HS SPORTS. Teresa has been playing high school volleyball this season, and Kara has been playing soccer.  It fills their days, to be sure, and they have to practice some time management skills!  But we do enjoy watching them play.

CONFERENCES. We just finished with General Conference, 2 weeks ago, followed by our Stake Conference.  Good speakers, as usual :)

Otherwise, I feel like I think a lot during the week about Cub Scouts, and Seminary.  There is always more to do and plan!  Like a lot of other jobs, I suppose.

BOOKS. I'm also trying to read some, and keep up with a Book Club I've been going to.  Last month we read The Pearl by John Steinbeck.  It's a good, short one to start the year with! Ha. Just 90 pages.  Often Steinbeck is pretty depressing (think "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men"), and this one certainly had low points too!  But it was thought-provoking, kind of a study in human behavior.

FALL PHOTOS. October is so beautiful in New England!  Oranges, reds, browns.  (I am in denial, right now, for what comes after that.)  Here are some photos I took last week:

I just drove around a little, in some areas unfamiliar to me.  Then all of a sudden I came over a hill and saw this tiny little cemetery, very peaceful in the morning light.  I took a few photos of the cemetery, too.

HP CHANGE. The big change announcement for Frank's company last week was that they will be splitting over the next year or so, into two companies.  One, "HP Inc.," will be computers and printers and sales of the home equipment.  The other, "HP Enterprise," will be technical support and data storage for big companies that have huge amounts of data.  Frank's position will be with HP Enterprise.

Hope you had a good week!

Kari

Scuba Diving Honduras Bay Islands

Hola!  (note: fun video highlight at the end -- if you don't have time to read this whole thing, at least go to the end :) )

Frank and I just got back from a really cool week of scuba diving.  It was good weather and warm water.  Well mostly it was good weather.  We did get rained on some, but it was mostly at night or first thing in the morning.  The last night, we had SUCH a lightning and thunderstorm night--it shook the bungalo and there was NO time between the lightning and thunder.  I usually count, to see how many seconds/miles away the lightning is.  It was SOOOO loud!

I haven't put pictures on this blog for a long time.  I'll see if I can put a video here.  It's a flounder on the sandy bottom.

I'm going through all the photos and it kind of takes awhile.  I love it, but it does take time.  Here are some more...

lionfish

trumpetfish

bcds and tanks

butterfly fish

It's hard to smile with a regulator in your mouth...?

reaching up for the bottom of the boat!

parrot fish

We had a small group, which made it even better: instead of the 40 they can hold during the prime season, there were just 13 of us.  It is fun to get to know people, and see the many, varied backgrounds people have, when we all have one common interest: scuba diving.

butterfly fish

It was a "package deal," specifically for scuba diving.  7 nights, housing in a bungalo w/a dock out into the water.  3 meals plus snacks in the afternoon, in their dining hall. 2 dives in the morning, 1 dive in the afternoon each day, plus 2 of the nights they did a night dive for those interested.

So I think my sister Kim can hold on to that title of "the only one in the family who has been to Honduras!"  Because we really spent our entire time on Utila, one of the Bay Islands, off of the mainland of Honduras.

I am posting some of the fish and other creatures close-up.  Our "underwater camera" worked well for the first few days, then it died!  Sad, sad.  We haven't had the best luck finding a camera that is actually water-tight, like it advertises.

it must be a Caribbean thing:
a towel/blanket elephant!

we saw a school of 7 squid!

flamingo tongue

One true highlight was to be able to snorkel with a real, live Whale Shark, as he was feeding.  They only eat little tiny fish, and you can see, from the surface, when they are creating a whirlpool down below to get the fish all together to eat them.  Because the birds up on top, follow the whale shark around, and dive down to eat the bigger fish who eat those little fish the whale shark is gathering.  We heard from some other boats, that they had sighted a whale shark.  So we headed that direction.

one of my favorites, the photo doesn't do it justice: spotted drum

You cannot scuba dive (legally--they are protected, I guess) around a whale shark.  But you can put on a snorkel and mask, and get in the water close to them.  We sighted some crowds of birds, diving down and feeding on bigger fish, so we slowly drove the boat closeby.  Then the divemaster said, "It's right by the side of the boat--get in! GO! GO!"  So we jumped in, hoping to catch a glimpse of the whale shark as it swam away.  That's usually the best you can hope for, we had heard.

OK--HERE's the AMAZING part.  We jumped in...and he was RIGHT THERE.  I mean we almost jumped on TOP of him!  A TWENTY to TWENTY-FIVE FOOT whale shark, simply trying to eat his little fish dinner, and there we were, bothering him.  Of course, by that time our camera was no longer with us.  But others on the trip had their cameras, so we were able to download a few shots from their cameras.  He hung out at the top with us for almost a minute, I would guess.  Then he went all the way down, far out of our sight.  But then he came back up, doing the same thing, TWO more times.  It was very surreal.  Like in the movies or something, but he was really right in front of us.

with Tony, another friend on our boat

Frank is on the right, blue rash guard and blue swim trunks

If this video works: Frank is on the left at about :28 seconds.  I show up on the right about :43 seconds (pink shorts, light blue rashguard).

Here are some photos.  3 people had GoPros in our group.

(It's been a week now, so my ears are back to normal.)

Have a great week!  Kari

Summer Starts

Ciao, la mia famglia!

This month has been a whirlwind, and it's time to post a few things, before it becomes July!  I'll just include some highlights, as they come into my brain.  There will be no guarantees on "smooth flow."

DAVID'S MISSION HAS BEGUN. This is probably the freshest thing on my mind, as we just took him to the airport 2 days ago.  Mission prep included many, many things, but here's a picture of the "final haircut" the night before.  I've been cutting his hair for 18 years! Hope he knows this cut won't last the full 2 years.

GRANDPARENTS.  Also to celebrate David's mission, and to be here for some really neat family events, we had 3 grandparents here with us.  So glad they could be here!  Mom came over from Tucson, and was happy to be in non-100-degree weather for a bit.  Grammie D & Poppa Dave came from Florida.  David spoke in church two Sundays ago, and so did I, actually.  My topic was service, and his topic was the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  (His was a little heavier: volumes have been written on his topic, and he only had 12-15 minutes! Ha.)

We went to dinner while all the grandparents were here, and mini golfing.  The rest of the meals were prepared by David's Grammie D, which was much appreciated by all.  I was happy to have a few minutes to do OTHER things, besides cook!

MULCH.  With the arrival of summer, we had a big pile of mulch dumped in the driveway!  It's not gone yet, but the yard looks much nicer.

TURKEYS.  A wild turkey and her seven little "poults" were walking around the neighborhood for a few days.  Frank took some pictures.  At one point, the neighbor's dog started barking a little ways away, and all the little poults flew up into nearby tree branches!  Yes, little turkeys can fly.

END of SCHOOL.  Teresa and Kara are happy to finally have school wrapped up for the year! Teresa is officially a "high school senior" and Kara has finished her days at the Middle School.  They'll both be at the high school this fall!  Young Women's Camp is coming up now, and multiple summer activities.  So far they've each had a couple of beach days and pool days.

DAVID MISSION BLOG.  I have started a blog for David while he is on his mission.  I posted once, and the rest will come from him (I HOPE!!).  The Stake President reminded him to write to us, even though he doesn't usually talk much, and we sent him with a camera, even though he is not a picture-taker.  I have no idea what kind of communication, if any, we will get from him!?!?!?

At any rate, the blog address is elderwhitesell.blogspot.com   You can "subscribe" to it in the left column, and I hope I can add things as he writes.

Have a great week!  Kari

Memorial Day weekend already!

Hello, and Happy Long Weekend!

LAST MAY WEEKEND.  Wow, I can't really believe it, but it's Memorial Day weekend.  That's the official start of summer!  Kara has been playing soccer, in a tournament on the Cape.  She played Saturday, then we came back so three of us could teach lessons in church for different classes.  But her team played 2 games and won them both!  So tomorrow they play 2 more games.  We'll drive in the morning so Kara can play those last 2 games.

 It has been trying really hard, to be spring!  We've had rain, and slightly warmer temps.  We still feel like the weather is about a month late with everything.

OK, maybe not quite David's style

I think the men wear pants on their missions

CLOTHES SHOPPING.  We have been shopping for mission clothes, trying to get David set up for his departure the end of June.  He needs 2 suits and a couple of extra pairs of pants, too.  Socks, ties, white shirts.  The mission travel lady called and gave us the date of the appointment she set up for David to go in to the Boston Consolate in a couple of weeks.

GOOD READ.  I'm reading a great book about Abraham Lincoln and the correlation between his presidency, the Civil War, and prophecies in the Book of Mormon.  It is really interesting.

SOLDIERS WHO SACRIFICED.  Hopefully you had a chance to think some about those we honor on Memorial Day.  The Middle School has a relationship with a family whose son died in service to our country, and they are coming to speak this Friday to the 8th graders.  I think I will go to it.  They set up a foundation after their son died, and I read his story.  It really makes you think, these are real people with real families who loved them so much.

His name is Matthew Pucino.  Here's the link, I loved reading "about Uncle Matt."  Knowing about their lives and families makes the soldiers become so real.

SUMMER GUEST.  Angela finished school and has a couple of jobs for the summer, too.  Her parents have moved back to Taiwan and she's living with her sister Peggy in Natick, the next town over.  In 5 weeks, Peggy is moving closer to Boston, and her work, in July. That would make Angela's commute quite a bit longer.  So, since David will vacate his room when he goes into the MTC the end of June, we'll have Angela stay in his room after he leaves, for July and August, the rest of the summer.

I need to go to bed!  I'll let you know how Kara does in the final games of this tournament.

Happy Memorial Day!  Kari

May has arrived!

Hola!

Well the accomplishment of the week is that WE MADE IT TO MAY! :) :) Happy times all around.  While spring has a lot of rain here in New England, I must say that May and October are my very favorite months in Massachusetts.

My neighbor has a great magnolia tree, with blossoms that are out right now. The forsythia bushes in so many yards are bright with hundreds of yellow flowers.  And our trees out front have new leaves coming out. Things are fresh, green, and colorful. It's a beautiful season.

 

We have had a busy 2 weeks, so I have been delinquent on the blog.  Here are some highlights:

DAVID COMES HOME. Yippee! And there was much rejoicing.  He finished finals at BYU, and now we have him home for 8 weeks, until he leaves for the Mission Training Center in Provo.  He flew to Boston on the super reeeeeeddddd eeeeeyyyyyyeeeee flight, leaving at something like 2a.m. our time, layover from 6-7:30, and getting in about 11:30a.m. Brutal.

It was so fun to see him, and since the girls were still on April Break, they were home from school, too.

They jumped on the trampoline and played games. Of course I had to take pictures.

MORMON PROM.  They have regular school prom in a couple of weeks. But last weekend they had what they call "Mormon Prom," where the kids can dress up in formalwear for a regional dance.  There were five "stakes" involved, which means people were coming from New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Luckily for us, it was in our building so the driving was not too painful.

Teresa had a friend who wanted to do her hair and makeup, and she went with Ben. It was a fun night! And of course I had to take pictures.

Now my allotted time for updating the blog is up!  But it is still spring, or should I say it is FINALLY spring?!  It has been a long time coming!

Have a great weekend :)

Kari