Christmas list?

I can't find my email of the Christmas list, which I thought would be helpful to have on here... although I do know who we're supposed to give to! If anyone still has the list, please post it for all to see.

As far as ideas - I always like useful things that I need but wouldn't bother to buy for myself because I can make do with what I already have... like nice new wooden kitchen spoons, or new bedsheets, or new handtowels for the guest bathroom... I'm boring, I know!

Christmas Ideas

After a 5 month hiatus from posting, let's get it started again. As far as ideas for Ismael and I, I'm kind of at a loss. I know he would love some really good knives for the kitchen, but i don't know what brand or kind. Jazz cds are always good for him. Me? I'm going to be getting back into interpreting, hopefully soon, so some nice plain dark colored shirts and sweaters are a good idea. nothing flashy or bright, it makes it hard to see my hands. Or the new Nicholas Sparks book. I guess that's all I can think of for now.

love
melanie

115 in the desert!!!

We had a great time.  At least I know I did and I think my sisters did, too.

We shopped, ate, laughed, swam, played games, played with hair and make-up, walked, did manicures and pedicures and shed a few tears.

When we try to tell you something funny that happened, just nod your head and laugh a little like it is funny.  Some of these funny things are only funny to us and just don't come across as funny when we try to describe it to someone else.

I want to thank all of you for allowing your moms and wives to come together and spend some special sister time.  I appreciated the time and I appreciate my family for being so wonderful.

Blessings to all,

julie/Aunt Julie, Mom and Mema

I will send out a notice on July 1st about the reunion.  

Dates for the Reunion?

So it looks like June 20-27 has been brought up as a possibility for the date of the 2009 reunion. Thoughts? Conflicts? Ideas? Post your comments on here!

More Reunion 2009 ideas...

Here are the links that Julie and Neal just emailed out, for some possible locations...

"black pearl"
http://www.brindleybeach.com/book/house.html?PMSID=WL802&Stay=&Avail=
"oceans 10"
http://www.corollaclassicvacations.com/rentals/house.html?ID=125&Avail=&Stay=
"casa del mar"
http://www.corollaclassicvacations.com/rentals/house.html?ID=38&Avail=&Stay=
"beached whale"
http://www.corollaclassicvacations.com/rentals/house.html?ID=204&Avail=&Stay=
"fat cat"
http://www.cyberrentals.com/rental/p160730


How about you post your thoughts and preferences as comments to this blog post...

Neal and Julie

Here is an abbreviated version of what is going on in our lives.

Spring is on its way in Illinois, but taking its sweet time getting here.  Cold and rainy today and maybe snow showers by the weekend.  Ugh!!  We did get a motorcycle ride in the other day and it was good to be on the bike again.

Melanie and Ismael are coming home on Thursday and can't wait to see them.  It is going to take a long time to catch up on all their stories and go through their pictures.  Pray for them as they begin the search for jobs when they get home.

We kept Avery and Eden for a couple of days last week, but it was cut short when I got sick and Neal shipped them off to the other grandparents, who were getting over being sick.  Allyson was at a photography workshop in sunny Orlando and seemed to enjoy it and is anxious to get started using what she learned.

Neal is off counseling at a church about 45 min from here.  He has begun going there once a week.  He continues to counsel at our church two nights a week.  He says retirement is too busy.  Seems he always has something going on.  Wonder how he found time to work.  But he is getting in more walks and hopefully the bicycle, soon.

I will be going to KY  for a few days with some friends to a quilting convention.  Looking forward to going but then Neal and I will go for about 10 days the beginning of May.  That will be a fun time and a time to get some yard work done there.  We really enjoy it there, just not sure if we are going to eventually move there full time or what.  We have to see what God has planned for us.

I look forward to seeing all my sisters in June and the rest of you when we can.

I will restart looking at reunion places soon.  Want to firm down some ones that we are interested in so I can put our names in as soon as possible.

This is probably too long for a blog, but I'm old, so it's OK.

julie/mom/Mema/julia day

Oh, I have another thought on crafts.  LANYARDS!!!!  With the plastic laces!

Brand New Baby!!!

No, not our baby... sorry. Check out my sweet pea blog for the cool story, and watch NBC news tomorrow night (5:30 CST) for more!

http://sweet-pea-photography.blogspot.com/2008/03/all-fresh-and-new.html

easter

my family was totally not prepared for easter this year!!! So we just went to church and hung out with Hailey

Happy Easter

I love you all and pray that you will have a wonderful Easter and take a moment to think about what it is all about.

Blessings,

julie

Movie

We just watched 'Dan in real life' with Steve Carrell (sp).  Not an award winning movie, but cute.  But I loved their family place on the beach.  And they all come together for a family reunion and they play charades and have a race between the girls and the boys to get the crossword done in the paper first and have a talent show and the meals together.  It just made me love our family all the more.  We could be in a movie!!!!

Love you all and can hardly wait until we do it again.

Blessings,

julie

Salsa, Activities & Crafts

Hi guys! First off, I have to ask a very random question that I am guessing nobody will remember the answer to. Does anyone remember the salsa we had at the reunion? I know we had several different kinds but there was one that didn't seem like a huge brand name and was amazing. Everytime I go to the grocery store I want to find it but none of the salsas they have there ring a bell. Was it something like Jake's or something? I really don't know and just asking around to see if anybody remembers.

Paul, I love your movie idea. I think that would be a blast to do!

Also, since we are big on the theme idea, what about a game show theme. Going along with the Family Feud idea, having other nights like Harvey Idol or Harvey's Got Talent, Deal or no Deal, Price is Right, 1 vs. 100, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and other games like that and just creating them before we get there. I know there are games like that that you can buy but it would also be kind of fun to make them up ourselves and have our own hosts. Yes Sean, you can be Vanna White... Sorry Fred, I am trying to be much nicer to him. I will remove him from under the bus and will take responsibility for the crafts.

Another game idea is we could maybe take a long stick with a head on the end and a small circular ball, whack it around in a rhythmic fashion about 70-120 times around the land. We could pretend that the goal is to put it in certain divots (or a cup if you will)....we could do it maybe like 18 times or so. I know what you are thinking about this crazy game I just invented....that Ty is so creative.

One more idea before I leave you guys alone. It is a game called Bigger or Better and is something we could do if there is a neighborhood around. We start with a paper clip. We split into a couple teams, and go to a house. We give them a paper clip and ask if they have anything they are willing to trade us that is bigger or better. We take whatever that is and go to the next house. When I did this with a youth group, groups came back with a huge wooden cactus, a refrigerator, and a couch. As I am typing this, I can see several women in the family wondering what we would do with such an item in case we receive something of that magnitude. If it really is worth something, we could donate it or if does not have any value, we could just toss it.

I keep thinking of ideas...sorry. Maybe a family Olmpics. Also, since we have so many able bodies that week, we could go to a soup kitchen or do something in the community to help out. Fred, maybe you have a connection with the Red Cross or something? I know, it is vacation but we seem to be the kind of family that gets more enjoyment out of giving than receiving. At least, that is the impression you guys have given me in a short period of time which is a compliment in itself.

Alright, those are my thoughts, let me know what you think!

Activities

So yesterday Hayley was giggling reading something that Sky had written. I don't see it anywhere so I don't think I am doing this right. Here is my dilemma. I was at work til 7pm trying to figure out computer things that just wouldn't go my way. I accidentally hit 7 instead of 9 when taking messages at work so I deleted one. I hope it wasn't important. The printer jammed so I had to address an envelope by hand(gasp!) My boss was also going to show me how to print a cover page for faxing but had to leave so, gasp again, I wrote it by hand. My scanner grabbed a handful of papers so I cancelled it but could not start again cuz it said I already had something in the way. I called American Family tech support but, because it wasn't their machine she was stumped. I called HP, whose machine it was and he didn't know what to do either but it all of a sudden started working and neither of us knew why but I called it good. I have to get up at 6am tomorrow so I tried to set my new alarm clock. That took 15 minutes. Now I am sitting at my computer at home and flashing in my eyes is the new phone we have that says there is a voice mail on it but when I push the button to listen it says there isn't one. I have three other boxes with flashing lights on them sitting on this desk and I have no idea what they do or what they are called. When did this all happen? It feels like drowning sometimes. It is also very lonely to feel like no one else feels like this. I am glad that there are such things and gadgets when they work to help me stay in touch with all of you. My next post I will not complain at all, I promise. Today was just frustrating. I love you all. xoxjonni

wow

Ok this is really cofusing. If I go on my aol acount it wont let me go on this site. If I go on internet explorer there is no place to sign in on this site. But magicly on my mom's aol acount it works. I just don't get it. But i'm finally here. YAY!!!!!!!!

Ps. i went to see the Smothers Brothers live today and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Location, Location, Location!

I liked Jill's idea about organizing this in some fashion... so here's a starter post about location for the reunion! Two ways to keep this organized I think - either just post your ideas as comments after this post, or if you do a brand-new post, use the "labels" box at the bottom (down by where you click "save now" to label your post - "location". For other topics, just put in an appropriate label ("crafts" or "golf" for example) so then you can search all the posts by using the labels!

Family Photos during the Reunion

Wherever we end up having the reunion, I'm going to look into hiring a photographer to do family pictures for our family while we're there, since it will be in a pretty location on a beach (probably) and I can't take a good picture of our family and be in front of the camera too! So I was thinking, perhaps others of you might be interested in this as well. I thought I'd throw out the idea, as well as links to several photographers in the Outer Banks area that I found (if that's where the current destination might be?) so you can see what I'm thinking. Since I do this all the time, I'm pretty particular about what I want in a photographer! But these three places are possibilities - not perfect, but possible. Anyway, feel free to post your thoughts or other ideas as comments to this post - just to keep things organized.

Here are the websites, in order of my preference:
Mary Basnight Photography
Phreckles Photography
Trotman Photography

reunion

OK, here is one titled reunion.
Marcia, Dad said that you are going to Yellowstone this summer and not to DC next summer. Is that right?
If so, do we still want to look at the outer banks area for the reunion?
Let me know your thoughts.
julie

Harvey Train of Thoughts

Okay...now we need to come up with some sort of system so that new discussions have a new Title so that we can keep current without going through all of the other subjects to read everyone else's comments. Kind of like we did with the emails...one about crafts...one about locations...one about dieting...etc...

I'm here!

Okay, I'm on here now. I agree this is much better than the multiple emails-forwards-etc. Have a good day!

hello from argentina

hello all
i love this! our family is great. and this will be so much easier than all the emails. although do we get an email saying there are new things or do we need to just check it? we´re headed out into the wild for a few days, so keep up all the fun while we´re gone. love you all!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

Okay everyone...I finally can post instead of commenting! I didn't know how to do it, but I finally got an email that let me into it -- it was in my junk mail! Anyway...I'm so excited that we did this. Thanks Trevor! This is a perfect way to do this. Less clutter in the inbox. Good luck everyone!

Florida in the House!

Hot dog (or should it be 'hot dawg'?!)-I'm in! Even though I work on a computer for 8 hours a day, there is still so much I don't know how to do, am afraid to try or don't know why I would need the new skill. But this I get!
Trevor, thanks for being pro-active and doing it. No talking, surveying, asking...just doing! Love that! and you!
meri

I have no idea what I'm doing on this BLOG thing....However IF this first effort by me is successful then I'm good to go. Neal how was the first week of retirement? Everyone else in the Harvey family PLEASE keep working so Neal and I can get our Social Security check when we sign up....I love you all....

another try

Oh, there she is!!!  I did it.

julie

Picture Test

What a difference a step makes. After 26.2 miles I couldn't take another...
Notice that Ashley seems to be completely comfortable. (I really just wanted to see how to post pictures here but I thought I'd toot my own horn too.)

Testing

Howdy!

This is Neal trying it out.  We couldn't see a plus sign anywhere, but there is a "New Post" button in the upper right corner that I used.

Love everyone,

Neal

This is a New Post

Hi, Family!

I just wanted to figure out the answer to Julie's question about writing new "articles." I went back to the page with the original post and there was a place to click at the top of the screen for "New Post." So, I did it but I don't have anything to say. This is so embarassing!

I guess I won't sign this, so you won't know if it's Dave, Marcia, Paul or Michael…

Oops, now I don't know how to actually post this post. Oh, I see at the bottom of the screen there are shortcuts. It says press Ctrl with P for Publish. I'm going to give it a try. Well, nothing happened. Now what? I guess I'll try clicking on the tab that says "Create" at the top right. If you don't hear any more from me, that means it worked.

Guidelines for crafts

While crafts may seem fun and entertaining for all beware of the trap that is know as Craft Time. It's fundamental design is to provide a setting where all of as can come together as a family to try to create something as perfect as Allyson's beer cozy, backpack, drinking cup, etc. At the same time it often occurs to me that craft time is like any other time where we get together. There's a lot of laughing, a little teasing, fond memories and usual some Rotel to keep me happy. So enough whining Ty, I'm sure we'll sneak off to get a round in (what dear old lady could turn down our impish grins on a rainy day) and lets start working on those Supermodel puzzles.