Christmas with the sisters

This was my best Christmas ever! I got to spend Christmas with both of my sisters. I get to see Sharon every couple of months, but Kathy and I rarely see each other. Kathy spent a week here and I don't think either of us stopped talking the whole time. Kathy fell in love with our dogs and our dogs fell in love with her. Even Scout, who is afraid of all new people, came right up to her and never left her side when they were in the same room together. We had fun shopping, seeing movies, baking cookies, and playing games. Sharon and I had the adventure of helping Kathy to find the perfect purse. We traveled many, many miles, visiting each store 5 or 6 times so she could agonize over the choices....well, that's mostly true. Both sisters treated us to some fabulous dinners. Sharon showed us how to play Blokus. Kathy proved she shouldn't be driving in video games. Emerson managed to scare the dogs with his remote control jeep. Dexter's bear has been banished from the living room now that it's wearing a Cleveland Browns jersey. Dwayne is looking forward to using his new DVD player when he gets back to Job Corps. Sharon taught me how to put on makeup with some help from Tina. Today was the toughest day since I had to go back to work. All vacations must come to an end sometime...

Office Christmas Gifts

Every year, I agonize over what to give my coworkers. They are all great people and I would love to give them something significant. Unfortunately, by the time you buy two dozen of anything, it gets pretty expensive. This year, I decided to have a little fun rather than attempt a more serious gift. The picture on the left is what I gave my coworkers. In case you can't figure it out, the gift is a roll of toilet paper. I actually had some people who were overjoyed to get the tp since they had run out at home. My boss did a nicer gift, but with a touch of fun. His gift is in the photo on the right. Here's to having some fun with the craziness of the season!!

Elf Yourself!!

I found this cool new way to torture my family....

I transformed my brothers and sisters into dancing elves. Click here to see http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1380871184

Of course I had to try this out on my own little family too: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1282629920

Just for entertainment, I thought you might like to see your grouchy big sister as Scrooge: http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1381229002

Dexter gets married

At the beginning of the school year, Dexter auditioned for "Fiddler on the Roof" and got the part of Avram the bookseller and was understudy for Tevye. The boy playing Tevye failed to show up for rehearsals a couple of times and it looked like he might have a chance at the lead. Two weeks before the show opened, one of the other actors was ineligible due to grades and Dexter took over his role as Motel the tailor. Fortunately, Dex practically knows this show by heart after helping us with the same show out at Heritage. Everything worked out for the best and the show turned out great. Dexter had a solo and got to get married during the play. I thought everyone might enjoy seeing how different he looks as a young Jewish tailor.

I was on the staff for our annual Utah Valley State College Powwow this weekend. My job is to handle registration and tally the points for the dancers who are competing. One of my Navajo friends called me the calculator (you have to understand that sometimes he ends up using the wrong words). I really enjoy doing it, but it can be a little frustrating at times. Although the core group that does most of the planning and advising is organized, the student organization that actually does the powwow can be flaky. When I showed up yesterday, none of the paperwork had been printed and I had to run up to the computer lab and print everything while people were lining up. This year we were to honored to have two Navajo code talkers visit us. They are the guys in the red hats. The one in the brown jacket is one of the original group of 29 code talkers.

I've developed my own program for calculating the winners of the dance contests, determine ties, etc. and everything was working extremely well until the program went blank (#*&@ Microsoft!). Ten minutes before the winners were to be announced, I had lost everything. Panic set in and I had to quicky recreate all the data while the rest of the powwow committee set everything up for announcing the winners. It was awkward, but I managed to print out a list with the numbers of the winners and a list of all the contestants. Unfortunately, it caused a huge delay and the crowd was getting restless. I was embarassed not just for myself, but for the reputation of the powwow. I sure hope next year goes smoother. I'm going to have an extra backup copy of everything.

Phantom of the Tapahes

For Halloween, Dexter dressed as his all-time favorite character, Erik, the Phantom of the Opera. His face was properly mutilated by his drama teacher and he looked appropriately menacing. He was not heard to be singing as he went trick-or-treating.


Emerson and the boys carved several pumpkins. The Broncos logo one is pretty cool. Dwayne did the spiderman. Emerson did his traditional puking pumpkin. Dexter did a Phantom mask, but it deteriorated over the last couple of days and tonight we converted it to hold a cool skull tealight holder. It looked pretty ominous.

I spent most of the day scrambling to finish major projects and reports for school and some major projects at work. I'm writing this blog in an effort to avoid working on my take-home miderterm for Labor Law. My costume was my Oregon State University sweatshirt and a black and orange wig. Not too exciting, but it didn't interfere with my work.

I'm dreaming of a manageable Christmas

Last year, the George family tried drawing names for Christmas gifts in an effort to keep the holidays happy. Each family has been randomly assigned another family to get Christmas gifts for. Sharon prefers to handle her gifts differently, so she will not be part of the drawing. There are no real limits on gifts, just do what you can for the family or for the individuals in the family. I'm going to list the assignments here. Let me know if there are any problems/concerns. I liked how it worked out last year.

Bill's family will be sending gifts to Karen's family
Rick's family will be sending gifts to Bill's family

Karen's family will be sending gifts to Kathy's family
Kathy's family will be sending gifts to Rick's family

I'm ILLEGAL!

My employer requires annual background checks where we have to fill out a form and provide a copy of our driver's licences. In making a copy of my driver's license, I realized mine expired on my birthday in 2006. Thinking I had just forgotten to put the renewal sticker on my license, I checked with the DMV and found out I truly had expired. Scary! I even had a fender bender a month ago and the officer didn't notice. I could have been in HUGE trouble! Not satisfied with my illegal/expired status, I took the rest of the day off and camped out at the DMV. Since it had been more than six months, I had to take the stupid test. Luckily, it was an open book test and I passed it. I'm sure everyone is relieved that I'm now a legal driver. I'm just happy to have my driver's license before I turn 40 (in 2 days).

School Project

I'm taking an Advertising and Promotion class this semester. We have to do a group project where we act as Advertising/Marketing Consultants for a real business. I'm in a group of 6 people (I'm the only female) and we're developing a promotional plan for a business called Tomasso's Italian Ice.
It's located in the Shops at Riverwoods and offers Italian ice and two other desserts that are a combination of Italian ice and soft serve ice cream. They're delicious, but the limited offerings don't generate much business. We hope to refine his store's image and come up with some ideas for an integrated marketing campaign. It's kind of fun, but it's a huge endeavor. I also have two other classes with big group projects, plus a class without group stuff, and my internship.
For those of you who don't hear from me much, it's because of the senior year class load and my ever-growing full time work schedule. Have patience...

Dwayne's New Adventure

Dwayne has moved into his new home at Weber Basin Job Corps in Ogden. We dropped him off on Tuesday after taking a tour of the place. It's pretty nice and fairly small. He will be able to not only finish his high school diploma, but also get trained in culinary arts. He's pretty excited about donning his culinary uniform and becoming a great chef. You can take a look at the place here: http://www.weberbasinjobcorps.org/centerlife.html . His mailing address is:
Weber Basin Job Corps
Dwayne Tapahe
Bridger Dorm
7400 S. Cornia Dr.
Ogden, UT 84405

I also have a phone number and visiting information. Call me if you need those. We're still trying to figure out what his schedule is going to be. He's busy during the day but has free time at night. It's kind of hard to let your kids move away, but this is going to be a really great opportunity for Dwayne.

Beagle Mania

Our puppy, Scout, was very sad when our neighbors moved and she didn't have their dog to play with anymore. Emerson was still longing for a boy dog. We have now solved both problems by getting another beagle, Slash. He's two months younger than Scout and is much more outgoing than she is. Scout is scared of most people and we hope Slash will bring her out of her shell. They're adorable dogs with great personalities. I'm just happy that someone is glad to see me when I come home from work now!

Dexter's Summer Job

Dexter is working at Scofield Boy Scout Camp this summer. Since he's only 15 years old, finding a great job can be difficult and he really needed to earn the money for his choir expenses for the upcoming school year (around $1,000). The ultimate performer, Dex absolutely loves this job. He takes care of the 11-13 year old boys who come to camp, entertains them, and trains them on a few different merit badges. On Wednesday nights, they put on a special campfire program where the camp staff teach about patriotism. Part of that program includes having some the boys recreate the flag raising at Iwo Jima during WWII (pictured). Dexter is in the position of the Native American who was originally involved in that historic event. I'm sure you'll all recognize the famous pose, but you may not realize that this was actually the second flag raising. They decided to put up a bigger flag and remembered to take pictures (different sets of soldiers in the two events, the last died a few weeks ago). For all of Dexter's hard work, he gets paid $90 a week and his paychecks show that he works over 80 hours for $1.03 per hour. Despite the substandard wages, he loves his work and everyone there loves him. Feel free to send him mail at:

Dexter Tapahe, staff

Scofield Scout Camp

HC 35 Box 212

Helper, UT 84526

Who's Charlotte?

Dexter turned 15 on April 26. Because of all the graduation hoopla, his grandma and auntie were here from Arizona to help celebrate. Dexter was hoping his grandma got him a CD by the band Good Charlotte. Instead, he opened his present to find a DVD of Charlotte's Web. We all thought it was hilarious...but Dexter gave us that teenager look....

He did it!!!

Emerson is now has his bachelor's degree from Utah Valley State College. He should receive his teaching license some time this summer. The ceremony was wonderful and it was exciting to see Emerson and three of his friends as the first P.E. Teacher Education majors to graduate from UVSC. His mom and sister joined us in proudly watching our favorite graduate walk up to the stand.

In addition to the usual cap and gown, Emerson wore his medallion for graduating cum laude (with honors) and a beaded wolverine (UVSC's mascot). He also wore an eagle feather on his cap. We're all very proud and threw him a backyard barbecue party to celebrate. Our sister-in-law, Sharon Tapahe, received her master's degree from BYU on the same day, so we had a cake made in voth schools' colors that said "Congratulations graduates BYUVSC"

Meet our new baby

We have a new addition to our family. Her name is Scout and she's my gift to Emerson for his upcoming graduation. Scout is a beagle and she's now 12 weeks old. Like any puppy, she's chewing on anything in sight and is very playful.

Emerson and the boys spent this weekend building a dog house for Scout. The house part is done. Now they're building a deck/porch for it. Men!

Pour, oh pour the Pirate sherry...

Dexter did a great job in Pirates of Penzance. They decided to add some obvious physical humor to the show to help get laughs out of an audience too uneducated to get old British humor. Another twist was that they opened with someone impersonating Captain Jack Sparrow and then the Pirate King telling them that it was a different pirate show. Captain Jack was a running gag throughout the show. With the help of the high school's orchestra, the music sounded great. Several of the stars in the cast were impressive singers. Dexter has now retired his pirate duds. I think if we let him, he would wear them all the time. He's focusing on his grades now, so no new plays for awhile.

We've had a long stretch of below freezing weather lately. Nights were dropping below zero. Our pipes froze two weeks ago and we spent Martin Luther King Day trying to figure out where the pipes were leaking. Easier said than done since our 107 year old house has virtually no access to anything. Dexter spent most of the day wriggling under the house and taking pictures so we could see what was going on. The only access we found for the leak was cutting a hole through the vanity , the floor and the wall of the bathroom. The frozen pipes burst the soldering back there. A friend tried to help us solder the pipes and caught the insulation on fire. Eventually, the pipes were back in working order, but we could still hear water running. That's when we discovered the stream running along our foundation. The main water line from the water meter into our house had broken. Even worse, our water pipe runs under part of the neighbor's property.


We've spent the last two weeks turning the water down at the meter (so it doesn't freeze again) and then running outside in the freezing cold to turn it up and then back down so we can take showers and do laundry. Our home teachers rounded up some people to help us fix the pipes yesterday.

The neighbors (elderly) let us know how unhappy they were with us messing up their lawn as we dug a nice big hole to find the leak.

It was quite an adventure and we discovered our sewer line in the process. Our water pipe ended up running under the sewer line.

The leak was due to errors made by whoever put the plumbing in originally. When they tightened the pipe with a wrench, it scraped off the galvanizing.

We're probably lucky the pipe lasted this long before rotting through.

With help from our friends in the ward, we fixed the pipe. We also know that these old pipes won't last much longer. Our summer project will be to put in a new water line -- hopefully in a better location.

A Wii Christmas

Thanks to the generosity of someone very dear to us, we were able to purchas Nintendo's Wii video game system. This was the big Christmas gift for our family. The boys had no idea we were getting this, so it was a great surprise. Emo, Sharon, and I set up the system and then wrapped a box to go over it. The funny thing is they didn't discover it until near the end of the present-opening. When Dexter went to pick up the box, he got a little worried and thought something had gone wrong since the box was

so light.

In case you aren't familiar with the Wii, let me tell you a little about it. It's an ideal system for those who don't normally play video games. The controllers are wireless and many of your movements in the game are done by just moving the remotes around. The game that comes with the system, Wii Sports, lets you play baseball, golf, tennis, and do some boxing and bowling. You box by punching the air with the controllers. (Sharon and Dexter are pictured boxing each other here) You swing the controller to swing the bat, golf club, or tennis racket. I love it because non-gamers like me can play as well as videogame addicts like Dwayne. We've had a blast boxing each other and having virtual family bowling nights. We're all very grateful that our special someone was willing to give up possible profit on ebay to help us have a wonderful Christmas.