Happy Birthday, Maurika!

April 1st is Rika's birthday. We're not counting the years, but they've been 38 good ones. I have so many memories of Maurika, but one of may favorites is carrying the month-old infant around the Austrian woods and explaining the names of things in German. I thought it would give her a good start on learning the language later in life. I don't remember how well she did in high-school German class. Hmm. Love you, Mo! I'll always be your April Fool.

Hey everyone! The big news from Chicago is that Desiree has left the firm where we met and has started her own business. It's called Greenhorn Legal, LLC and Des will be training law students and recent law school graduates how to be successful lawyers once they enter private practice. You can check out her very sharp website here. She has been hard at work and the results so far have been fantastic. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday, Connie!

Well another one has rolled around for Connie!  We celebrated Sunday with Connie, Bill, Mary, Jim, Madison, Sam, Mom, Marc and me with dinner at Borries.  That was really a fun time!  Then yesterday, Mom, Mary, Connie and I went to lunch at Fudruckers so again, a mini celebration.  Tonight she and Bill are going to Cattlemans out in Vaughn which is a nice place.  She will certainly have celebrated plenty for being 64!  There are LOTS of memories of CJ, but one of my favorites is on her 21st bday we were in a bar in Missoula (I used her ID to get in), I said to her in the bathroom - "Wow, 21, you are really getting old!" and she promptly slapped me across the face.  Oh to see that age now - right CJ?  Anyway, happy birthday sis and hope you have an awesome day!  By the by, Connie has dropped a considerable amount of weight with Game On and looks fantastic!

Life Update

First things first, I want to see Molly's DVD. Everyone's raving and I want to see this show. Secondly, I just wanted to let everyone know that I was just offered the Administrative Manager position in New York Life's Billings, MT office and I accepted it. I will be moving back to Billings in April and will start my job on April 18th. I'm insanely excited about coming home. Being around all of the family we have in Montana and all of my friends will be awesome. I just wanted to let you all know and for anyone in Montana, I will probably be seeing you soon.

The Many Faces Of Miss Molly!

We are so proud of this production that we are busting out!  Molly wrote, self directed, created costumes and props, and performed a one woman show - Movers and Shakers!  It was something else!  She pretty much "wowed" people!!  I am posting a few of the pictures of the various people portrayed.  The theatre director at HHS is burning a DVD of the play and we will "check them out" to anyone who might want to see it.  Way to go kiddo!!!

Happy 30th Anniversary

Today marks the 30th Anniversary for two amazing people. All the way back in 1981 these two tied the knot and I'm pretty happy they chose to do that. Shannon and I are extremely blessed to have these two as our parents. So much of where we are at today is due to them. They will be celebrating this milestone with a trip to Chicago in May. Shannon and I are going to fly in to enjoy the weekend celebration with them. So, Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad. Here's to 30 more!

Life Update

Hello my awesome family. Yesterday was kind of a big day for MB and me. We found out where we will be doing our residencies and spending the next 4 years. And the answer is.....

AUSTIN, TX

We will be heading there in early June and will be starting work on June 25. We are both really excited for the move and think this will be a great thing for us.

We will also be traveling with an extra passenger on our way down. We got a new puppy this week. He is an 8 week old pit bull named Rocco. He is pretty darn cute.

Hope everyone is doing awesome. Love ya'all.

Happy 1st Birthday, Charlie Girl!

I am early with this but gosh, I don't know how early I would have to get up to put this on before work!  Charlie is one on March 15th and I want to be the first to say happy birthday to the sweetest little girl ever!  She definitely has a mind of her own - she is her mother's daughter and I am loving it!!  We wish you the best, Charlotte Ann Marie!

Tripster

Hello, great family. I just got back from some travels and I thought I'd drop everyone a line and let you know what I was up to. Last Thursday, I went to St. Louis for the 3rd Annual Mardi Gras Extravaganza with Ben, Jake, and MB. It was a blast and it's also most likely our last as Jake and MB will be relocating soon. Everyone had a great time and we came out of it relatively unscathed.

From St. Louis, I flew down to St. Pete Beach, Florida on Sunday. I spent 5 days in an amazing resort called the Don Cesar that was literally right on St. Pete Beach and the Gulf of Mexico. I was lucky enough to have a view from my room of the beach. I was there for a meeting with New York Life managers and it was an awesome experience. The coolest thing that happened to me was meeting two former Montana office managers (who are now Assistant VP and Corporate VP respectively) that worked with Grandpa John. Both of them RAVED about how much they loved working with him and they both remembered Grandma as well. It made me super proud. We had some great conversation and both loved that I had joined the Company.

I hope this post finds everyone well. I hope to see you all very soon. Attached are two pictures: one of some Mardi Gras revelry and one of the resort I stayed in. Love you all.

Family Picnic

I know it's a little early to be thinking about the family picnic but plans need to be finalized in order to reserve the Bracket Inn. For those that may not have heard, the picnic is planned for August 12, 13, and 14th. The Bracket Inn is 25 miles north of Bozeman in Bridger canyon. The facility is perfect for our needs and the surroundings are beautiful. Click on the link to find out more. They need to have you call in and make your reservation. Right now they are only reserving half of their facility, which accomodates 30 people, unless they receive more response. So please call to confirm if you are able to attend, which I hope everyone is.

http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p340299#section-avail

When you call refer to the Moore Family Picnic

Island Life

Hafa Adai!! Hello to my wonderful family! I hope that this email finds everyone doing well and (for those in MT) staying warm! I definitely don't have that snow issue to deal with, so I am not going to complain :) I figured I would wait until life settled down a bit here before giving everyone an update.

It has been a crazy couple of months (hard to believe it has been that long already) here on island. I arrived on January 4th. The first two weeks were spent looking for an apartment and trying to find a car, of course, it was a little rushed as I was going underway on the 18th of January with the USS FRANK CABLE and would be gone for over 3 weeks. I found a two-bedroom, furnished apartment with an ocean view and only about a 15 minute walk to the beach, so I was happy with that. I also purchased a 2008 Nissan Titan, 4-doors, and I was happy with that. So those things were taken care of before I went out with my first ship.

I was gone for over 3 weeks, and we went to Malaysia. We were there for about 6 days. While there I participated in Habitat for Humanity, which was very interesting see as how every house around here is made out of cement due to typhoons, so it was a different building experience than other times I have helped, but it was still awesome. I also hiked Mount Kinabalu. That is the picture of me on the summit about 4.5 hours after I started the hike. Definitely not easy, but so much fun! I would do it again in a heart beat, and I am looking forward to hiking Mount Fuji. Maybe I will wait until Mike gets over here and we can do it together! :)

As far as office life, it is going well. I love my job, which is a good thing, and I love the people I work with. The best thing about being a legal assistance/defense attorney is that you never know what is going to walk through the door. I have seen a ton of different issues in a very short time span, and have already personally represented 2 individuals in an administrative separation board (basically determines whether to kick someone out of the Navy). I was able to keep one guy in, and the other one will be determined in a week, so we will see.

There is a lot to do to keep busy here on the island, especially if you like the outdoors. Next week I will get my scuba diving certification. I also hope to try to pick up windsurfing. There are plenty of hikes around the island to different waterfalls, or caves or other jungle areas, and there are always races of some sort going on, whether it is a triathlon, or cycling or running, so I am excited to try to keep busy that way as well. I definitely miss the great state of MT, though, and all my family. I won't be making the family picnic this year, which I am disappointed in because it sounds like it is going to be awesome!

I hope that those of you suffering through cold and snow don't have to suffer much longer. Meanwhile, I will just kick back and enjoy my sunny, 80 degree weather! Miss and love you all!

Love
Jen

The Big Dig on Groundhog Day

Jake came up to Chicago on Groundhog Day to take his practical boards (where actors come in and complain about fake symptoms and Jake gives them a fake diagnosis). He was driving home to our place from the test in the suburbs during the worst of the Chicago Blizzard of 2011. Because pieces of Wrigley were flying off onto Addison, he had to drive up an unplowed side street, and he got his rental car stuck - in the middle of the street.Luckily a police officer in an SUV came up behind him to save the day. But the cop got stuck too.

I came out with two shovels shortly after midnight and Jake and I dug out the car enough so that he could drive off the road into a parking lot entrance. Jake was in his suit and dress shoes and it was a total whiteout with blinding snow. We also dug out the policeman. And a taxi driver down the street. It was crazy - cars stuck in the middle of the road all over the place.

The next day, we had to go dig Jake's car out. Here are some pics of our effort. Pretty fun adventure.

Eat Your Little Cousin Hearts Out!!

I know that you are all very jealous of my prize from Shape Up Montana.  You cousins may be good in the miles, but look who picks up the prizes - that's right the WinByMoores!!  Try not to be too jealous of my prize!!

New Guests

My guest room has some new tenants. I got a new dog from Sandy and there might have been a conversation that my new dog, Lark, may be pregnant but somewhat unlikely. Well I woke up Tuesday morning to a new addition and three more shortly after. I'll be driving them up to Great Falls in a couple weeks for Sandy to handle as she has a waiting list for Papillon puppies. Fun!

Something on the blog

It has been pretty quiet on this blog after the run of birthdays. Here's some news. I'm in beautiful downtown Havre. As you can see by the map, it's almost Canadian. That's about it for news. Once my living room project is done (maybe 2012), I'll post some photos of the outcome. I'll keep plugging at it.

Meanwhile, we need more news on this site. Post some photos. Bri and Peter, how was your Florida trip? Maurika, how was Rileigh's party? Hannah, are you recovering well? Jimmy, we haven't seen any views of your new house yet. Mary, folks might like a good view of your new hairstyle -- quite a change after umpteen years. Jan and Marc, how was the trip to Billings? Tom and Jeanine, how was your visit with Mom?

See -- there's plenty to post about. Break away from Facebook and give the fam some insights. Thanks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLD MAN RIVER!

Happy Birthday, Dad! We sure wish we could be there to help you celebrate. Will would probably have you out repeating the snowman (if there was enough snow) and definitely have you repeating movie night! But we hope whatever it is that you get to do on your birthday is loads of fun! Well...as much fun as a 60 year old man can have. :)

Love you!
Matt, Kelly, Will, Ben and Leo

Happy Birthday, Tom!

The celebrations just keep coming. Happy birthday to my dad who turns 52 today. Hope you have a great day in Billings and that you and mom go somewhere good for dinner tonight. Stay warm. You're an awesome dad/husband/uncle/brother/son. We love ya.

Happy Anniversary, Connie & Bill!

Well I made it under the wire!  Happy 36th anniversary to you both!  One of my favorite memories of you guys as a couple was the dinner at the Broker in Denver.  That was a blast!  Our celebration of our 30th anniversaries in Polson with the Wingerters.  We know how to have a good time!!!  Hope you enjoyed your day!

Happy Birthday, Rileigh!

Rileigh turns 16 today! That's a pretty momentous birthday. As a high-school sophomore, she is involved with cross country, choir, and other activities that she surely excels at. We hope you have a grand birthday, Rileigh.

Happy (gulp) 50th, Mary!

Gosh, turning 50 has made Mary VERY tired!!  Just kidding!  For all of you who

were not there, Mary cut her hair!  She looks very hip and with it and definitely

not 50.  Hope you had a special day, Mary!  We loved your party and sharing with

all of our friends!  Just wish we could have stayed and celebrated on the real day.

Sorry this is late!  Love you little sis!