Mikaela has some proud news to share.....

And Finally Mikaela is a true Indiana girl :)

mom, finally

Hi everyone,
Sorry it took me so long. I really enjoy reading what everyone writes, and I know my life isn't that boring, but I really can't think of anything to write.....
We're quite busy working on the house, making decisions, and stuff, but half of you really don't want to hear about it so I guess one day you'll be surprised to find that we have moved.
It's been a wonderful summer, and as always, it has gone way too fast. Tomorrow I start into a week of faculty meetings and then school starts the next week (with Swiss Days in between)
I pulled up my rolls and I have 9 guys (of 25 students) in my 140 class and 4 guys of 25 in my 240 class! I've never seen so many guys in a modern class. Josh tells me that I have a "hot chile pepper" on my "rate my professor.com" listing. So I'm wondering if when they come the first day and see that I am actually the oldest grandma in the whole department they'll drop out!
I had a nice little miracle. The 326 class that I was scheduled to teach didn't fill up so they have cancelled it! It couldn't have happened during a better semester! The other classes I teach are easy to get a substitute for, but this one really gets messed up with a substitute. So now we can plan a trip back East to see Amelia, Ben and families!!

Zach received the Mechezedic Priesthood today!! It was really a special time. We wish Ben and Tyler could have stood in on the ordination, but we were grateful to have Ryan and Josh there. Also, our bishop came. Zach is a great kid and we are so proud of him.

Josh brought a bunch of his school buddies up for dinner too and along with Ryan and Abby here it was a wonderful Sunday!!

We love you all, and we are so proud of all of you. Good luck to all of you as (we) start a new school year!
love,
mom

RyaN and AbbY

We are back in Utah after a fabulous trip to Minnesota. Ben and Bonnie - there's a chance we'll be in Minnesota for Shanksgiving too, we'll see what the Doc says. It was HOME and we felt like kids again: boating, canoeing, hanging out, fishing (Ry), and doing whatever. We visited with the Kachers while Amelia was still there. The highlight of that night was probably when Uncle Mark set his lawn on fire. We'll upload pictures next time.

Ryan's studying his brains out for the GMAT, which he takes this Friday. After he takes it we're celebrating by going on a campout with three other couples in the ward to Lava Hot Springs that night. Ryan is working at the MTC still, doing various workshops for missionaries in the LRC, teaching couples still, and waiting for his next Serb group to come in.

Abby's sort of a BYU grad...she has finished all her classes, is not student teaching, and has applyed to graduate without her lisensure - but she has to take care of an 'e' on her transcript because she STILL owes a professor a paper from a year and a half ago. Abby will start substitute teaching for the Provo school district this week, and continue working her OIT job 20 hours a week this Fall.

Baby boy Poppy is excited about being 22 today - he's looking for a girlfriend so that he can be like Uncle Josh. He's not sure what he wants to be named yet, but he has become more athletic in the past week. Ryan has been able to feel him move, too which is fun.

Life is GRAND. We love you all!

me

It's kind of late, so I'll write quick. Things are good. It looks like I'll be publishing 2 papers for research in the near future, and get ready for a conference in Pittsburg next summer. Rugby practice started yesterday, so i plan on playing for as long as my knee holds up. I climbed kings peak last weekend. It was neat. I highly recommend it. I'll put some pictures up as soon as I get them.

The Joshua Tree

Since Josh hasn't contributed yet, I thought I'd contribute for him. Here's a picture of Josh.

i went to california for a week to live the life and i did. it was most excellent surfed with gordon shared the park with a few other bums skated la jolla san diego and mission bay and got kicked out of about everywhere we went. it was a most uplifting experience and finally drove thru the most excellent city of san dimas california i feel like im pretty ready now to move out of the house and live off of about 40 bucks a week and do whatever i want if anyone wants to join me... feel free!

NellaBelle

Hey everybody!! This last week I went to EFY in Provo, and it was pretty much amazing!! But I also had soccer try-outs that Monday and Tuesday, so a bit rough too. But it all worked out!!!
At EFY Lauren and I roomed together, and the room to our right there were two girls from my soccer team, and in the room to the left were three girls from my school, so that was pretty fun. My counselor's name was Kirsten, and she was awesome!! She pretty much let us do just about anything we wanted, and really didn't care if we stayed up late talking, as long as our lights were out and her head counselor thing didn't notice. There were a lot of cute boys in my company :D, so that was definitely good, and for the most part pretty talkative. The dances were probably my favorite part (other than the testimony meeting), and I've decided that when i take over the world all dances are going to be like the ones at BYU.
My company's testimony meeting was the coolest one I've ever been to. There were two friends in our company, Jeff and Sam, and we didn't know it, but Jeff wasn't LDS. So at the testimony meeting when Sam bore his testimony, he started crying, and then when Jeff bore his testimony he talked about how he wasn't a member yet, but he wanted to be one, and at that point Sam just started sobbing. Everybody was crying, but then it was weird because it seemed like everybody was so happy, that we all started to laugh! It was really cool because it wasn't like a drive-away-the-spirit laugh, but just like a sort of so-incredibly-happy-that-you-can't-hold-it-in laugh. It was really cool.
My other favorite part was the classes. There was one teacher in particular who everybody LOVED. His name was Brother Bowman, and he wrote these children's books called 'Who's Your Hero?'. You probably don't recognize the name, but if you saw one you would recognize it. They were about the Book of Mormon heroes. I couldn't say exactly what it was, but he was an awesome teacher.
But I think that one of the coolest moments was at the fireside Friday night when we all sang the EFY Medley together, and the girls finished their part, and all the guys started singing. I don't know what it was, it was just really really cool.
And I guess that's it... Hope to see you all soon!!
Lalu!!
NellaBelle :D

La Famille PEARCE

Hey Everyone,
So I hope by now everyone has at least glanced at our new family blog, if this is your first time, make sure you keep scrolling all the way down the page so that you can see what everyone has posted. It may even require clicking on older posts to see Ben and Bonnie's. I'm sure you'll all get the hang of it. Also, another thing to remember- we can leave comments for eachother's posts. I have left a few, so make sure you click on the comments button at the end of a post to read these comments.
WE still need to hear updates from Ryan and Abby, Josh, Zach, Nellie and MOM!!! So, fill us in on the happenings of your lives.

As for us, we are loving it here, I have been amazed at the number of people who have so quickly reached out to us. We feel like we have wonderful friends that we have known all of our lives, already! One couple who have two kids, just like us, and who is also starting an Emergency Medicine residency, live just a mile away from us. So, we have switched babysitting which meant me and Tyler got to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum' last night at the movie theatre! I don't think we've ever once gone to a movie, just the two of us. Now, that's an exciting movie.

Mikaela is truly a little princess here in Indiana, she is growing up right before my eyes. And that is totally true, she will be starting preschool in a couple weeks just with a bunch of moms that will switch off teaching it. She continuously talks about the baby sister that is in my tummy. I guess she really is growing up to be just like me!

And our little man Kacher loves to climb the stairs, eats just like his dad eats- meaning he hunches over his highchair tray and stuffs everything he can see into his mouth at one time without hesitating to breathe, talk, nothing---- His cheeks puff out like a little chipmunk they get so full. He is as handsome as can be. He has formed a bad habit of picking the cotton stuffing out of his carseat and eating it anytime we put him in the car! And, unfortunately, I have no way of stopping him while I am driving. What a guy. He officially crawls now as of a month ago, rather than does his army scoot. And as you will see in the pictures later on, he can climb all the way to the top of our slide.

Tyler is not around much, he is on call every 4th night, which means he stays at the hospital for about 30 hours straight. Which means me, Mikaela, and Kacher get lots and lots of bonding time. RIght now he is in the newborn baby unit, checking on the newborn babies and moms all day. He finished a month in the emergency room and has some great stories to add to his list of crazy experiences. Some of them, you'll have to just ask him to tell you, I don't think I should post them on here. He is tired, but very happy with his choice to do both ER and pediatrics. He is a real doctor now, with his own patients, making his own decisions. He hasn't killed anyone yet, so he must be doing something right!

I am somehow staying extremely busy, it seems like every day we are off somewhere- to the library, a friends house, running, to the park, or watering our garden. I have found a great group to run with and we are training for the Indianapolis half marathon in October. I'm actually training for a specific time, meaning we're doing sprint workouts, hills, distance runs-all of it- I'm not sure what that time is yet though. I'll let you know!

Tyler's brothers are coming out this weekend to see us, and his parents are coming in October. SO, we're going to need some Kachers to come see us to represent our side of the family!!!

Love you all
Amelia

kacher on the slide

Here's Kacher actually climbing to the top of our slide, completely on his own! He was totally elated when he made it to the top. What a climber!

Mikaela got to follow in my footsteps and be a flower girl at her aunt Tamra's wedding.

We spend a lot of time at this park- Eagle Creek park, miles and miles of trails and paths for running, biking, hiking, through forests and ponds and a big lake. We love living next to it.

Families

I was reading a book about temples this morning by President Packer. I am preparing to give a talk tomorrow on the same subject. In this book, President Packer identified some of our responsibilities that we each have regarding family history. I thought i would share them with the family:

1- We are to each write our own personal history. He suggests we divide it into 3 areas- childhood, youth and adulthood. He said that we should collect our personal records and as a starting point, outline key components of our lives and write them up. Writing as we go will make it easier.

2- Make a Book of Remembrance. This can be as simple as taking our records we gathered and putting them in a special book along with photographs, etc. Doing this for children as they grow up makes it much easier.

3- DO our family research. I have done some over the years. I am hoping that other family members will in time catch the Spirit of Elijah to help move this work forward. One of my favorite memories in doing this work was when I went to the former Czechoslovakia. I went to a little town, which was the county seat in the area where they kept records. I was able to see a man responsible for those records. he was kind enough to sit down with me, pull out his old books of county records and identify about 4 generations of Kacher's. It was inspiring and a testimony to me that the Lord is in charge of this work.

4- Attend the temple as regularly as we can. This is easier for some of us than others and we commend you for your efforts.

5- Start/ continue a family organization. We can all see the great blessing that the Miller family reunions have been in our lives. Any suggestions for our Kacher family reunions would be welcomed. We know how busy you all are. We are so grateful for you and love to be with you as much as we can.

I also wanted to mention something about President Faust. As you know, he passed away this week. In addition to being a wonderful man and Church leader, Mom and I have the special experience of being called by him to serve as mission president. I will never forget the day we got home from doing something and finding a message on the phone from "Margaret", secretary to President Faust. She wanted to know if we would have time that afternoon to talk to him. We returned the call and set up a phone appointment.

When the time came he called us and was very casual. He said something like, "How are you folks doing". He conducted a fairly informal interview and then all of a sudden go very serious. He said something like, "In a meeting of the Council of the 12 and the First Presidency, the name of Larry S. Kacher was presented and approved to serve as mission president." He then extended a formal calling to Mom and me to preside over a French speaking mission. It was one of the most special moments of our lives to have that opportunity to be called by President Faust. He will always hold a spec ail place in our hearts.

Hope you are all well- Love, Dad

Mom and Dad

The summer is going by too fast. I just talked to Zach yesterday. He was skate boarding down the streets of LaJoha, Ca with his 5 buddies where he is spending a week on the beach and plans to go surfing. That boy is ready to get out of the house. He is the first Kacher boy to graduate from high school in the traditional sense.

Nellie is at EFY with Lauren Smith this week. She will be on the freshman soccer team and has been asked to be on the BYU dance team (children's program) and is excited about that. She will be princess of the Kacher household being the only one home this fall.

Mom is getting ready to teach 3 classes this fall. She is out on a 6-mile run this morning and is getting ready to run in the Swiss Days 10k.

The new house is coming along. We will have to send pictures soon. The framing should be done by the end of August. The project looks good. The market is slower, but things will move forward in time. Lot's going on and lot's to be grateful for.

We love you, Dad

Ben & Bonnie...

Hey all, hope you're all reading this, kudos to Amelia for setting this up! I hope we all use this to keep in touch. So we're doing great in NY, no complaints here in the Empire State (does that sound cool or what? Kinda reminds me of Star Wars or something). For anyone who is interested, this is our update:
Ben:
- is working full time at the Social Security Administration, writing decisions for the judges and reviewing files of SS applicants to see if they are disabled or not. He is also contemplating using his newfound knowledge of disability law to get disability benefits for himself so that he can fulfill his longtime dream of sitting around and reading random books all day.
-is also working part time at Student Legal Services and doing research for a professor
- is trying to figure out what to do for work next summer
- is handsome
-enjoys bossing the missionaries around as the ward mission leader
-just finished reading the last Harry Potter book
- enjoys talking in the third person
Bonnie:
-is beautiful and smart and funny and perfect in every way possible
-is the best wife in the world.
-is getting ready to teach seminary in the fall to the handful of kids in Syracuse
-is getting ready for classes to start again for her MPA program
Both of us:
-Caught a bat in the apartment, it was cool
-Got set apart as temple workers in the Palmyra Temple, we will work two Friday nights a month
-are NOT having a baby (yet)
-are thinking tha we will go to Seattle for Christmas and then to Utah in the Spring, so Ryan and Abby and Amelia and Tyler should all be there too
-may not have the cutest kids, but they will be the toughest
-want to go to MN for Thanksgiving, we will see...
-miss and love all of you and want to hear what's going on with you!!!!

Ben&Bonnie

DEAR FAMILY....

Here's yet another attempt to help keep the rapidly expanding Kacher family to stay in touch. I couldn't keep the ninja network going, and people couldn't seem to figure out Ben's yahoo group, so let's cross our fingers that the solution we are looking for is a family blog, or a family website as dad has been hoping to create.

Here's some ideas for our blog---- anyone can post pictures on it that you'd like the family to see, we can share crazy dates, funny stories, inspiring thoughts, embarassing moments, good news, bad news, recipes, books, poems, songs, works of art, family reunion ideas, favorite vacation ideas, exciting movies, building a home ideas for mom and dad, and the list goes on...

Hopefully this will inspire each of you to Post something on here. If you've never used a blog before, let me explain how it works. When someone posts something- picture and/or text, the most current post will display at the top. You can then comment on the post (by clicking the comment button), or post your own post. If we don't hear from a certain member of the family, then I will become the blog police, and track you down...

Please remember, we want to know what's going on in your life!

Can't wait to hear from you

amelia