Congratulations Mom G!

We have renamed our blog. It is now The P Funks: Paige and Peter's Pics and Prose. Thanks to Mom Gillespie for the idea! We love you!


Thanks to everyone else who participated in our contest. Your ideas were all great. Love you all!

Next Stop...KANSAS!

Day 1:
JoLee took us to the Deanna Rose Farm our first full day in town. I had been there before on my last trip to Kansas, but it has grown since my last trip and so have the animals. This buffalo and cow were babies on my last trip.

The best thing about the farm is feeding the goats. As you can see, they’re eager to be fed. The big one with black on his face was particularly pushy.

The best story from the farm came while we were looking at the chickens. A little boy, probably about four years old, came running up saying that he found more animals (the chickens). His grandma asked what he had found. He replied, “I found…eagles!” He said it with such awe. It was great!

After the farm we Red Boxed some movies and relaxed in the apartment. This is Zephyr, JoLee and Nate’s awesome cat, snubbing Peter. Don’t worry, she can’t resist that toy for long and was soon playing along.
That night I went to JoLee’s humanities class. She teaches at the Johnson County Community College and I had fun going with her. I even did the homework. Of course, I’d read the play Trifles before and really liked it, so I didn’t need much convincing.

Day 2:
We spent this day in Kansas City. We started the day at the National World War One Museum. I was particularly excited about this because I am teaching WWI this fall to my sixth graders. We started by looking out over Kansas City.

The exhibits contained two videos that talk about the causes and when the United States got involved in the War. They had model trenches set up so you could see what the soldiers lived in. There were also interactive stations where you could learn about the planes and weapons and even create your own war memorial. This is my memorial, and Peter’s is underneath.

The museum has a tower that stands as a memorial to the war. We didn’t go inside but we did take this picture in front of it.

Next we went to the Kauffman Gardens. We got a little artsy in our pictures here. JoLee liked the cat and the orchids and the gate and I loved the fountain.

We picked up Nate from work and went to dinner and then to the art museum. Before going inside, we walked through the sculpture gardens. They had an amazing collection of Henry Moore sculptures. This is JoLee inside one.

This sculpture is made of wood. It looks like stone. We were all very surprised.

This museum has four sculptures of shuttlecocks. This is Peter and I in front of one before JoLee and I played a smashing game of badminton.

The next day, we took off for St. Louis.

Adventures in Colorado

Peter and I recently had the opportunity to take a ten day vacation. It travelled through three different states and included my entire family. We started in Colorado.

Day 1: Come in, eat lunch with Dad, pull out all his family history records, put lots of dates and names into my computer, eat pizza, watch The Point, and sleep.

Day 2: Peter's 28th birthday! We celebrated his birthday by seeing Iron Man (which I enjoyed, surprisingly). Afterwards, I took him to Zio’s, a little Italian restaurant, so he could eat pasta for dinner. We went to Barnes and Noble to talk to my dad and buy some books. Happy birthday, Peter!






Day 3: Zelda’s 1st birthday! Zelda is my best friend, Jenn’s, daughter. She is cute and we had great fun celebrating and talking with Jenn and Nathan. Unfortunately, our camera was broken so we have no pictures of this event (or anything in Colorado for that matter), so I'll substitute with this picture of Jenn, me, and OP (left to right) at my wedding.


Day 4: Little Johnny Rodgers and Emili came over for a barbeque, Mom came back from Chorale tour, we picked her up, chatted, and played Nutsy.

Day 5: Mom took us to lunch at Cracker Barrel and to the airport so we could get on our plane bound for Kansas City.

Unfortunately, we were unable to spend as much time with Mom and Dad as we would have liked. I guess that means we’ll have to go back soon.

Our time in Kansas to follow.

On a related note...

I wanted to post a picture from Peter's graduation. He graduated just before we got married and all of our parents were there. It was great. This is my favorite picture of the event. I think Peter looks really good and I love pictures of people laughing! Enjoy.

Graduation (finally)

So, I graduated on April 25th. It was a really fun day. Mom, Dad and Taggart came from Colorado. Momma Funk and Jennie came down with Nathan and Adam, but I wasn't able to see them. This picture is the proof that they were there.

We were blessed to have Elder L. Tom Perry attend our convocation. He spoke to us at the end of the ceremony and shook our hands as we crossed the stage. This is me shaking his hand. You can see him really well. Me, on the other hand...

Here are some pictures of great friends I made in the Elementary Education program.

Holly

Andrea

Emily

Danielle

Kaylene

Thanks to everyone for your support as I finished school. It was a great ride and I feel very proud of myself and know I couldn't have done it without you. Family and friends are the BEST!

The House

Here are a few images of the new house (as promised). We have a lot of pictures (Peter did his best to capture each room from every angle) but we won't subject you to that. Hopefully, the images we post will give a good idea of what it looks like.

The Front Door: The tiled area is the kitchen and dining area and the carpet is the living room.

This is the view from the front door. You can see the stairs leading up and down and the "hole" (one of Paige's favorite features).

This is the view down onto the kitchen from the "hole." Note the bay window and bar.

Stairs leading from kitchen to family room. Note French doors leading to the backyard.

The family room.

The green bedroom and the room friends and family will stay in when they choose to visit us.

The red room a.k.a. Library, Study, Office, etc.

The bathroom that will be all yours if you come to visit us.

And the master.

So, there you go. That, in a nutshell, is our first house. We're very excited about the move and look forward to the post-Wymount experience. We know we'll enjoy it as much as we enjoyed this one. Don't forget our subtitle contest; we're still waiting for your ideas.

What's Next?

Well, our Wymount experience is coming to a close. At the end of the month we will be moving into this house. This means, among other things, that we need a new subtitle for our blog. This is where you come in. We have decided to hold a contest among our readers to find a new subtitle. (You may offer more than one suggestion.) The winner will receive a fantastic prize! So, get your thinking caps on and we look forward to hearing your ideas!

Jackson Pollock

So, a while back my students created a piece of art based on the style of Jackson Pollock. The very large painting is currently hanging in the hall outside our classroom. We created it using tempra paint. Some was distilled with water and shot out of squirt bottles while the rest was wiped and flung from the end of paint brushes. We only had a few minor problems with paint ending up on shoes and in faces but it was a fun time. Here is the final masterpiece:

We naturally did this outside on the grass. It made for something interesting for people to see during recess.

We've been tagged

Paige:

A - Attached or single: Attached

B - Best Friends: Peter, JoLee

C - Cake or Pie: Pie, like pumpkin and apple and cherry, and mincemeat!

D - Day of choice: It used to be Friday, but I am so tired by the time Friday night rolls around that I think it might be Saturday now

E - Essential item(s): scriptures and books

G - Gummy bears or worms: worms have a preferable texture

H - Hometown: Colorado Springs, CO

I - Indulgences: American Idol (lately), reading all day, musical night with the girls

J - January or July: July

K - Kids: not yet

L - Life is not complete without: Peter, family, happiness

M - Marriage Date: June 15, 2006

N - Number of Siblings: 2

O - Oranges or apples: oranges if they're clementines, other than that, apples all the way

P - Phobias or fears: snakes

Q - Quotes: "When good men and good women face challenges with optimism, things will always work out." President Gordon B. Hinckley

R - Reason to smile: funny third graders, family, inside jokes

S - Season: fall, for the colors, spring for the weather

T - Tag two friends: JoLee, Nate

U - Unknown fact about me: I would love to be a contestant on "Don't Forget the Lyrics." I also have a scar over my lip because I was stubborn even back when I was in a high chair.

V - Very favorite store: Kohl's

W - Worst habit: procrastinating, this is what Sarah put for hers, but I think it is also true for me

X - X-ray or Ultrasound: I've only ever had x-rays on my teeth

Y - Your favorite food: Chinese, Mexican, Taco dip

Z - Zodiac: Scorpio

Peter:

A - Attached or single: Attached

B - Best Friends: Andrew, Brian

C - Cake or Pie: Cake as long as it's not chocolate

D - Day of choice: Saturday?

E - Essential item(s): arms and eyes

G - Gummy bears or worms: yes please

H - Hometown: Warren

I - Indulgences: nostalgia and enigmas

J - January or July: June? It's my birthday!

K - Kids: not yet

L - Life is not complete without: family and heat

M - Marriage Date: June 15, 2006

N - Number of Siblings: 6

O - Oranges or apples: oranges if they're pre-peeled

P - Phobias or fears: telephones, crowds, public speaking, being the center of attention

Q - Quotes: "Some people call me a genius, I call them idiots." Me

R - Reason to smile: happiness

S - Season: pepper

T - Tag two friends: They're it!

U - Unknown fact about me: I sometimes cry during sad movies

V - Very favorite store: Best Buy

W - Worst habit: Slothfulness

X - X-ray or Ultrasound: I've only had an x-ray

Y - Your favorite food: pizza

Z - Zodiac: Gemini

Best Present Ever

I felt the need to send a shout out to JoLee and Nathan for the present that is bringing Peter hours of entertainment. My sister and her husband gave us a pack of Geomags with shapes! Peter has been making everything he can think of, and just yesterday, he found more Geomags at Walmart. His shapes just keep getting bigger! These are pictures of the shape of the week. Peter and Brandon made it yesterday; it was their attempt at perpetual motion and they got pretty close. Thanks for the great present JoLee and Nate! And keep looking for more shapes of the week.

Year in Review

So, it recently occurred to us that it’s been almost a year since our last post and we have decided it is time to fill you in on the last year of our Wymount Experience. Our last post was on November 10, Paige’s birthday. It included a cake from Peter, a cake and balloon from Mom and delivered by my friend Steph.

Next we had a short visit from Nate. The three of us went to Café Rio and Divine Comedy. Here is the only picture we have to commemorate his visit.

We spent Thanksgiving in the Lehi area with Peter’s family. We stayed in Funk’s empty house (which is now inhabited by two couples, two teenagers, and two cats). We ate dinner and spent most of our time at Jennie’s (as the other house was completely devoid of furniture). This fact, however, made it the perfect place for freeze tag. It was the highlight of the holiday.

Naturally, our next big adventures were Christmas in Colorado and New Year’s in Oregon. We almost didn’t make it to Colorado before Christmas due to the blizzards in Colorado and the closure of the Denver airport. Fortunately, we hitched a ride with Brett and Lydia and made it home the day we had planned. Christmas included music (of course), Crayola clay (compliments of Nate and JoLee), a new and improved Dad, and lots of laughter. Oh, and let’s not forget: new pajamas!

After a stressful four hour drive to Denver through a nasty blizzard, JoLee, Taggart, Mom, Peter, and Paige spent the night before departing ways at Aunt Patti’s house. Thankfully, all flights left on time and JoLee made it safely to California and Peter and Paige to Oregon. Paige would like to note that this New Year’s was much less stressful than the previous one and included less throwing up. The entire Funk family was present minus Mark (still a missionary) and Tim and Sarah (still captive in Canada). The highlight of New Year’s was Dave B.’s new Nintendo Wii. Everyone found time to experiment with the new toy.

And that brings us to the end of 2006. 2007 to follow.