Hi All,
I believe Aunt Sal is ordering tickets for the demo derby for the friday before Toby's party. If you're interested... let her know ASAP! Tickets are $6 and they are assigned seats. Derby starts at 7pm.

Hello everyone!

I have some news updates that I thought I would share with my new family...

The new job opportunity that I have been patiently, yet anxiously, fighting for has finally come to be. I called in at my previous job Friday morning so that I could take a load opportunity that would offer me some more seat time under a full load and in the truck in general. My new boss (Don Tweedie) and I left early in the morning at 2:30 for Long Island, NY. We arrived at our destination at 5:45 AM in Hempstead, NY. We had to wait four hours before we even started to get loaded and then it took an hour just to get loaded. So by the time we were able to leave there, we would not be able to make the dump in Seneca Falls, NY in time before they closed for the day. So Don and I decided to proceed back to Walton for the night. Saturday morning we left at 5:30 for Seneca Falls, dumped the load and then cam back home to Walton. After I helped Donnie fix a couple problems on the truck and trailer, I finished filling out my logs and took my paperwork and logs up to Donnies house. While Donnies wife Lynn was taking care of my paperwork, Lynn asked me if I knew anything more about if I have the job or not... I told her that I didn't but it would be nice to know so that I could start making the necessary preparations. Thats when Donnie came up and asked me when I wanted to start the job... and with a short discussion, it was decided that I will start my new trucking job on Monday, August 2nd. I am very happy and relieved about the news and Molly, Jen and Jim are excited as well. I do want to thank everyone who offered prayers and support for me and this opportunity.

Ok now... enough with that... Jen and I will be joining Gram and Molly this Saturday for the Gavett family reunion... I do apologize that Jen and I missed the Thompson reunion a couple weeks ago because we had to help my dad and mom with moving stuff into storage... due to my dads health problems, he and my mom could not have done it themselves.

As a little side note... we took Molly up to the little animal farm on upper East Brook today to see the 3 week old baby kittens... while we were there I was talking to the lady who owns the place and found out that they offer horse rides along with horse riding lessons if necessary. I told the lady that I have never been on a horse in my life and that it has been my life long dream to do. Well thats when she made me get on the horse and gave me a quick ride (while Molly and Jen were watching)... so I did have an amazing time and was like a little kid on Christmas morning... I am definitely going to take some lessons now!!! hahaha...

Well so long for now!

It was a nice few days with Deanna and kids, Sonja, Sally and Mom at the pond. We had a good time in spite of the weather - though a little sunshine might have turned good into great. The kids had fun on Sally's new "beach" and Dylan is a definite fan of the golf cart. Isabel came home with grandma while the boys spent the night with their Mom and Dad in a hotel with Binghamton. She is very proud of her first sleepover experience!

Hola.

Exciting news from the land out east...I harvested about a pound of spinach from my garden today! It was so exciting. I also picked one cucumber and a green pepper (well, i touched it and accidently broke it off - its a lil' guy). And theres a baby eggplant on its way. After not checking on it for three weeks I thought for sure I was done with this whole gardening thing, but nope, the tarp for the weeds and the community watering schedule is keeping it alive :)

Hope the summer is treating everyone well..
How are all your gardens doing? Trace...?

I'm having a good time, swimming two or three times a day (or night). The moon in waxing, the water sublime!
Vicki and I were swimming the other night when we had a delightful surprise. I heard Canadian geese flying towards the pond. The eight birds were directly over my head when three decided to lower their landing gears. They could see the glow of the moon on Vicki's silver hair and hear my stealthy. Up they lifted to complete the others' V. Vicki was worried about possible aerial bombardments. They circled three times, waiting for the populace to vacate their abode. All 8 finally lit on the side of the pond and silently passed into the night. Animal sightings on the hill so far:
One red fox, one yearling deer, a black duck with five little ones, 8 Canada geese and 5 young partridges.
Tally Ho -
Sonja

So here is the update... please spread the word to all who are not on the blog!
The wedding will be held on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 12PM at Niagara Falls. Everyone is invited to that, though it is short notice and a long distance. If you're close or don't mind to travel, we'd love to see you there! We will be having a reception on Saturday, October 23rd, 2010 at 12PM at the Rainbow Lodge in Walton, which I expect a few more of you to be able to make it to... :) There are some very pretty invitations that will be coming out shortly! Ask if you have any questions, or for more details about Niagara Falls! Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! :)

Well, after giving Gram her due time to spread the news via the olden-days of phone gossip, I am now ready to post... that Luke and I got engaged on my birthday! Probably most of you have already heard, but I thought Gram was feeling left out of this new-fangled gossip loop :) But that is all, quite exciting....! Luke and I are both extremely happy... Have a great day!

Alright, here it is, for all those who have been long awaiting my first post..

The Meredith Moody - Toby Alvarez destination wedding is off to a spectacular start. I started the day meeting the boys and Mere's brother in law for a trip on a speedboat for the bachelor party. We went wakeboarding - which was soooo much fun - any guesses who got up the quickest?? yup, you got it, your's truly; and my brothers weren't even going to let me try because they said it was too hard and I wouldn't be able to do it. Bad decision making letting Alex drive the boat - i was on the tube and he decided to pull a hard and fast u-turn while I was on the tube - tossing me in the air off the tube - mildly scary, but fun. We arrived at the Mountain Top Inn and Resort to find that we were upgraded from a rustic 2 bedroom cabin to a luxury cabin with 7 beds, jacuzzi tubs, and steam showers! Crazy - Alex and I were running around like small children when we first got here. Gram says, "the house is beautiful and I have my own bedroom, living room, bath, and kitchen, but i'm being spoiled too much, I miss home." Merediths family is staying across the dirt road in what looks like a multimillion dollar mansion - its pretty insane. Last night, we had a lobster/clam bake over at their place outside overlooking the lake and mountains. We played ladder ball, which they insisted on calling "lawn golf." -what is that?!
We played some washer toss, and had a fire with smores. Everyone was fascinated by the idea of making smores - it was pretty funny. I think they ordered the, "s'mores package" - it was probably $500 - and leave it up to my father to use the wooden s'mores stick to try to get the fire started - Mere's mom was freakin out, hah. It was a nice little evening - everyone looked fabulous in our "nantucket-esque" outfits. Ooooh, and there was a surprise slideshow that was awesome - Molly even made an appearance dancing w/Toby at Bills wedding - super cute.

Today's the big day. The boys are out playing golf this morning. We're hosting a barbeque for lunch and then we're off to wedding. More details to come...

Haven't heard to the contrary so I assume Sonja made it "home" and is with Nancy today. Welcome back Sonja, ENJOY - the pond is warm and the blueberries are ready to eat.

Happy Birthday to Sahara today!!

I enjoy visiting with my uncles for the stories they tell - and last Saturday was interesting as usual. I just wish I could tell them the way they do. Dug finally got a visit from the building inspector and had to confess he didn't have a building permit for the new house he built. After much discussion he offered to bulldoze and level the whole thing, but reminded the inspector what a tax loss that would be. After the inspector decided to "work with him" on it, he did apply and decided to get a permit for a garage at the same time, when they offered a deal price for both. The required architectural drawings were only in Dug's head so they had to "work with him" on that also. Of course, what they don't know is that neither building will be finished to the point of being taxable anytime in the near future, but I guess they didn't ask for a projected finish date.

Mike had a story from a telephone call to their stove pellet plant that morning. They have been selling pellets for animal bedding. A geezer called and said that his horses weren't eating the pellets. Mike was a bit confused so just said "That's good." The man said, "You don't understand, they really won't eat them at all. Mike finally got it and said, "They are not supposed to eat them, they are supposed to piss on them. The pellets are bedding." "Oh" - end of call.

Rural humor

Just hear about an interesting program for the quilting members of the family. It is a program called quilt for kids sponsored by Downy which supplies quilts for hospitalized kids. Go to www.quiltsforkids.org/volunteer and click on order a kit. You get the squares and backing to create a quilt (you need to supply batting) and send the quilt back to them - they request the quilt be finished within 6 weeks. If you have a quilting group you can order multiple kits.

Hi Family,
I'm catching up on anything I can do from my bed in front of the AC.
1-Invites to a super celebration.
2-Paul's party pics (such a great party!)

Just a note for Gavetts only about our party.
I NEED ALL THE HELP I CAN GET!
Jen, I will give you a call about dishes, etc.
Food, we are ordering chicken.
Vicki is bringing baby potatoes for salt, also is doing breakfast breads.
Nanc is making tortellini salad.
We need items that will hold up in hot weather.
Need volunteers for other things as well. (like manning the DJ set-up.)

8 days and they'll be hitched----yeah!!

It was great reading all the July 4th updates. We had a fun time here with some friends in from out of town and hosted a picnic. Of course Nancy's cabbage salad was the biggest hit. We are just starting a heat wave here. 100 degrees plus for the next week. This means it was a really bad time for our air conditioner AND water heater to break last night. Luckily a guy was able to come out today and fix everything and the temp in the house didn't get above 88 degrees. Now Dylan has a fever so good thing at least the house is cool. Other news, Dylan got all of his adorable curls cut off Friday and really looks like a big boy now. Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Gosh, I can't get on this blog every day like you mom! Yes, I was at Jess's for the 4th.... saw her newly painted and decorated room and was VERY impressed! AND THEN she took us to her garden plot in the community garden and was EVEN MORE IMPRESSED as she had the nicest plot in the whole garden despite being in the shade! "My mommy taught me well" was her explanation :)

We also made it to a Red Sox game Saturday night, and went to a concert of the famous "Boston Pops" with special guest Toby Keith for the 4th. Oh and the fireworks extravaganza certainly was something, even though we were on the wrong side of the trees...

Thanks for an awesome weekend Jess! I look forward to seeing everyone for the reunion next weekend! (Though I might be a little late since I have a race in Utica that morning... definitely looking forward to a swim in the pond also!)

A nice, relaxing Fourth here on the hill. The water is warming up after the cold spell we had, but the bottom layers are still refreshing. The gardens and lawn are very dry - wer're just trying to keep the veggies alive. I finally got the trail partially groomed today - I'll go out again maybe tomorrow. I'm not cutting wood this year so I am having a tough time getting in a groove - no focus. But maybe that is what vacation is supposed to be? That's it for me. Have a great week.

Hello everyone! I guess that now Jen and I are now married I am apart of this family... so I can share some news when available! Haha...

Well the Gavett/Spencer front down on North Street is going well... this past June 28th was 2 months at my current job and that is a blessing in itself! However that may be, I do have another strong opportunity flirting with me now. Don Tweedie located on upper East Brook, near the horse farm/across the Buffalo farm, is looking to hire me to drive tractor-trailer for him. Jen and Jim are really pushing me to follow my heart and go for what makes me happy. I have gone on 3 ride-alongs thus far, with 2 of them I did a considerate amount of driving. The plus side of this opportunity I will be making with 1 load a day for 5 days (Mon-Fri) close to the same amount of money that I would make in 2 weeks at my current job. A lot like my current job I will not be provided health insurance, but I will make enough money to pay the bills, put money away, and get insurance for Jen and myself. The only possible down side to the job will be possibly not making it home every night, however that may be, I will have every weekend off.

Jen, Molly, and Jim have been offering up many prayers along with constant support with the hopes of me landing this potential job opportunity. I would welcome any prayers from anyone who wishes to take the time to say one. I know I am praying for this opportunity to happen.

Well thats enough for my first blog! haha... I hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing 4th of July!!

For some reason the "new post" part of the blog wouldn't work, but I found a setting to use the "old editor". I am thinking maybe others were having the same problem as there haven't been any recent posts. I talked with Mom and she enjoyed reading the blog on Jim's computer. Molly liked knowing she was mentioned too - even if it was for a broken arm!

Mom tells me Sonja and Lindly are spending the holiday in Lake Tahoe (with dogs I am sure.)

Tracie is visiting Jesse for a Boston 4th and I am enjoying my new patio with a good book.

Sally is making plans for Toby's party and will be sending out invites for a head count soon. She is going to send me some pictures of Paul's special event for posting. Supposedly, she has proof that Skip was able to navigate a steep hillside and cross a stream on crutches three weeks after his back operation.

Mom says her blueberries are already ripening - can't wait so I plan to go raid Skip's bushes tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and wishing I was by the pond, though I will be in a week or so and it should be all warmed up for me by then.