I NEED YOUR HELP!

Dear Family: 

I have a special request. I'm facing some cynical teenagers (ha!) in my classroom where "nothing we do here will matter" so I'm challenging them to find one path in life where they won't use critical thinking and problem solving skills. To help win the argument, I need proof. That's where you all come in!  

If you could please take 2-3 minutes to answer one or all three of the following questions then message it to me or post it in comments or email me that would be AWESOME! (I'm wanting to focus more on the academics, but interpersonal stuff works, too.) Good? Good. Here you go:

- What is one thing you wish you had done differently in high school?

- What is one thing you are SO GLAD you did in high school?

- Where is one area of your life you use your English skills (reading, writing, comprehension, understanding difficult texts, etc)?

If you can include your current occupation, that would help as well. I'm looking for all walks of life - white collar, blue collar, no collar.

12 Years and Counting!

(From the family picnic in 2005)

As I was checking the blog the other day, I thought to myself, "What was the first post on here?" So I scrolled through the archives and found that this blog officially launched on October 4, 2005. We've been keeping this thing going for 12 YEARS! What started out as a place to post Christmas lists has turned into a beautiful archive of our family for the past 12 years. Who knew? I have thoroughly enjoyed going through old posts and seeing how much this family has grown, changed, and matured. Yet through it all, we've continued to be the same loving, supportive group. It just makes me feel eternally blessed.

A few things I enjoyed seeing - Abe's posts about Chicago since now I know what he was talking about! John asking for books in the Game of Thrones series years before it became the huge phenomenon it is now. Jen giving out the first birthday shout-out to Mike, on his 28th birthday (he'll be 40 in a few weeks). The first birth announcement - Will Buyske. Grandma's quote about giving Christmas gifts, ""I think there's a little kid in each of us that likes to open presents. I do." And Grandma's first post on the blog: John is trying to educate me - tough job - so now we're trying it out!

I haven't gotten that far through the archives, and while I know you're not supposed to live in the past, it sure is nice sometimes to briefly revisit it. I hope you are all healthy and happy. Thank you for sharing your lives.

Love you!

Molly

Flashback Photo

It has been pretty quiet on this blog, so I'll post this.  All the Buck Moore and John Moore kids, plus Mom.  The occasion was Buck's memorial in April 2013.

Sad news ...

When Abe was in Law School at Notre Dame, he lived in a house with two other law students – Andy Mayle from Ohio and Tony Mendoza from Texas.  The intern firm of "Mayle Mendoza & Moore" engaged in a lot of shenanigans and had a good time.  Tony also stood as a groomsman at Abe & Desirée's wedding.

I learned from Abe today that Tony Mendoza suddenly passed away yesterday in his office in Texas.  It's a sad loss for his law school partners – and close friends.

Abe says Tony visited him in Chicago just last weekend, along with Jody, Abe's high-school friend and former resident of our home.  Jody and Tony had something in common – just the right kind of crazy to make them a lot of fun.

Ann and I extend our sympathies to Abe, to Tony's family, and to Andy.  RIP Doza.

Somerville Update!

Hello my wonderful family! I hope everyone's summer went well and that you are ready for fall. Bozeman has already had snow! A little too early for me, but with all the fires and smoke, I can't really complain. Apparently I didn't do a good job of updating the family on our move, as a few people at Jen's wedding asked if we were still in Chicago, so here's a quick recap of the last 6 months or so.

In mid-December, Shane and I (along with the generous help of Shane's Dad and my mom) packed up a moving truck and our car, in the freezing cold, and drove back to Montana. We spent the first 4 months out at Shane's sister's house. They had an apartment above their garage that we were able to stay in while we figured out what our next step was. I finished up work with my Chicago job at the end of February and jumped right in to working at MSU in the athletics department. I work on travel reports for all the teams (except football) and try to keep the basketball and volleyball coaches in line. I am currently working on moving into an office manager position.

Shane started working part-time as a reference and programs librarian at the public library in January. Then he added another job and spent a few months working part-time organizing the archived records at BioScience. Just a couple weeks ago he accepted a full-time position as an admissions evaluator at MSU and is so excitged to be back on campus and accepting students into MSU. Plus, I love that he is just a short walk from me!

We plan on attending football and volleyball games this fall and hopefully meeting up with Tom and Jeanine and Shannon and Birch at the home games. We love being back in Montana and being so close to family. We really missed that in Chicago. Granted, there are a few things about the Windy City we miss, mainly Dunkin' Donuts, but it was a sacrifice worth making. :)

Hopefully the family Thanksgiving works out and we'll be able to see a lot of you then. We sure love you all!

Love,
Molly

He Will Be Missed

On August 17th and 18th the Morris and Moore clans got together to honor Bill.  The vigil was Friday night and many got up and spoke about Bill - his craziness, his good heart, his love of Connie, his love of golf, and many more attributes!  We all gathered at Connie's for a lasagna dinner which was a blast.  Those Morris people really know how to party.  They were serving up Dirty Girls like crazy!  Friday we gathered at the church for Mass and a final farewell.  Fr. Jim, a friend and golfing buddy of Connie and Bill's, gave the eulogy and it was special.  Connie bought two spots in the Columbarium at Holy Spirit out in the courtyard.  She joined the parish and is now part of a BIG family!  Fr. Dick Schlosser was the officiant of the service and it was great to have him be a part of it.  He is retired now after many years with the parish.  He officiated at Mom's funeral and it was nice to have him as part of Bill's.  Later that afternoon we all gathered at Mary and Jim's for dinner with some of the same and some different folks from the Morris family.  They generously bought dinner and of course we bought the booze!!  A good time was had by all.  Saturday morning those of us still around (13 in all) met for breakfast and had a great time.  We love you, Billy, and we will miss you!!

Total Eclipse

Ann and I went to Dubois ID for the eclipse.  We had a great time!  Met some nice folks from Bozeman (formerly Conrad) who were our camping neighbors in the city park.  Here's Ann trying on a viewer for size, courtesy of our neighbor (a shop teacher).  The eclipse was a marvelous spectacle, a once-in-a-lifetime event.

The Big Weekend

Seems mighty quiet on the blog after last weekend – rehearsal dinner and party, wedding and reception, family picnic.  Good golly, you'd think y'all didn't have any fun.  Well, I did.  And I hope you did, too.  Here are some randomly chosen photos ...

More treehouse trivia

After I left San Diego, Abe built support for the rope ladder. (It was hard to climb, as it swung under the deck.)  Then he enlisted help (I hope) to apply stain / sealant to most surfaces.  The result looks good.  He also installed a roof cap, which you can't see in this photo.

Backyard Project

Tom stopped by while driving from California to Montana and helped with a backyard project.  Not quite as impressive as John and Abe's tree house but it will at least get my garbage cans out of my garage.

The TreeHouse

Abe and I worked from Jun 28 – July 3 to build a treehouse in Desiree's folks' yard near San Diego.  Here are some photos of the daily progress ...

End of Day 1 -- supplies

End of Day 2 -- some framing and part of deck


End of Day 3 -- more framing and start of rafters


 End of Day 4 -- rafters done and start of siding

End of Day 5 -- siding and railing completed

 Day 6 -- toasting the completed project

The Two Newest

I've been in San Diego nearly a week.  The day I got here (at Desirée's folks), Michael and Melissa came to visit.  Here's a photo of Jude (left) and Bo – cousins born about 7 weeks apart.  Later on I'll post some photos of the treehouse Abe and I are building in the Furmans' yard.

Bonnie's Memorial

Marc and I attended the Bonnie Moore Willis memorial at the ranch on Friday.  We drove down Thursday and had dinner with 16 other family members at the Graves Hotel.  We stayed at the motel on the highway coming in, parked our car and walked all around Harlo.  Marc had never walked down main street before.  After dinner, Tana, Ginger, Roy, Terry and Pack Tice, Marc and I gathered in the Bilile room for a drink and some visiting.  Saturday morning we all gathered at the old Wade's drive in for breakfast which was really good!!  We drove out the ranch and got into Roy's truck and drove up to the Shepherder's Memorial which was a favorite spot of Bonnie's.  The Cosgriffe girls arranged all of this and Colleen was the one who spoke.  Aunt Ellen told a few stories as did Jerry Gleason and a couple of others.  It was really nice.  At a later time, Tim, Bonnie's son, is going to go scatter her ashes up there but wanted to do it privately.  Some of us walked up to the memorial and the view was amazing.  I am posting some pictures.  The group of people were at the memorial and the pile of rocks is the memorial.  We all gathered at the TwoDot bar for lunch and drinks.  It was a great time and so good to see the last of the older generation on the Moore side.

Bo Buyske!!

Boaz (Bo) Arnold entered the world at 4:55 a.m. on June 19th.  Mom and baby are doing well and Michael is sliding right into the daddy role.  He is a cute little guy and we are so glad he is here!! (via Jan)

Birthday Girls!

Celebrating Jen and Molly!!  Thank you girls for including us in your birthday weekend!  We had a great time!!  Marc and I went to Bozeman on Saturday and hung out with the girls!  We shopped, walked the MSU campus (Marc was feeling a little woozy then), went to a fun little brewery tucked back - The Bunkhouse Brewery, sat outside and drank some of their great beers, and took them to dinner at the Copper Whiskey which was amazing!!  It was such a fun time with these fun girls and Shane, of course!

Belated Birthday Wish!

We also have Jen who celebrated her 32nd birthday yesterday!  She flew out on Thursday to surprise Molly for her 30th.  Meg and I drove down Friday and we girls had a great time celebrating the girls! Happy belated to this special, loving, giving daughter of ours!  We love you Jenny Pepper!!

Birthday Girl

We haven't seen too many birthday posts lately!  We are celebrating Molly's 30th today and wanted to wish her the VERY best as she goes on to a new decade of adventure!  We love you, little girl!  Happy Birthday!

Memorial Stadium Great Falls

First Notre Dame Stadium, now the Great Falls High Memorial Stadium ... the growth of artificial turf spreads!  I remember years ago, Uncle Buck was on the Great Falls School Board and took particular interest in the condition of the football field.  Aunt Bobbi, with her typical dry humor, referred to it as "Buck's lawn."  That was precious.

RSVP reminder

Hello all!!! I hope you are all doing well and starting to enjoy the summer months!! The heat has finally hit CT so we are trying to stay cool in 90 degree weather after enjoying some moderate spring temperatures the past week.

I am just putting up this post to remind everyone to please RSVP on our website for the wedding. I will include the link in this post so that everyone can use that. It is important to have numbers for purposes of the caterer, especially those of you who have young kids, since they get a discounted price on the meal.

Another update, the wedding site recently lost a battle to keep their RV sites. What this means is that they do not have the ability to have RVs on site and hooked up.  I know there were a few people who were planning on bringing RVs, and I apologize if this creates an inconvenience for anyone, this was a new development that happened and the lady called us very apologetic about it.  If anyone needs input on sites that are available for RVs, please let me know. The Bozeman Hot Springs Campground is only about 2 miles from the wedding site, and last I checked, they still had spots available for the weekend of the wedding.

We are definitely looking forward to seeing everyone in a couple of months! I hope that you all have a wonderful summer!

Here is the link: www.bit.ly/B-BWedding

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Love always,
Jen

Family Flashback

Rescanned, with a little better quality.  Here's a photo of the Buck and John Moore families.  This was taken in 2001 on the day of Bobbi's graveside service.