Mel: Hello! Sure appreciate your prayers (everyone who's reading this who's prayed for us). I think we're close to a miracle... Should know in a couple weeks... We hope. The bank says I better!

We've started a program in our ward where we choose 1 family and serve them throughout the year. We've chosen two families. One is a part member family that isn't active. The husband (not a member is a great guy). We home teach them but we're not supposed to teach about the church so this week we shoveled manure. Wayne and Shad were thrilled. They were actually pretty good workers. We took a little while getting warmed up but then it was flying everywhere. We inhaled a lot of manure dust and coughed a bit the rest of the day. Allergies were flowing like honey. We got a slurpee treat after!

We had our ward barbeque party this week and the turnout was about 260 people. Good food and good times. I met a great non-member who is an aerospace navigation consultant. I hope we can use him on this upcoming miracle. He would be a great person to help us make things safe.

I had my monthly photoclub meeting on Wednesday. I didn't win the best photo, but I didn't deserve it as there was an incredible picture that beat me. I posted the water fall from the "water theme".

Keep up the great work out there! We love you tons!

Temple Birthday! 125 Years Old

Wayne:Well I kinda forget what has happened over this long period of time... I hope I do not repeat what I have already said. I went to Lagoon (A theme park just a bit farther south from Logan) for my Schools "Physics Day". My friend Dylan won an award for calculating the G-force of a ride with his home-made accelerometer. He got first place! I won a free day pass there because I filled out a long worksheet that covered physics topics about the rides there. I barely rode any rides as I was doing this worksheet all day. I think it was worth it because I won a free pass to go there again! Anyway this week has been going well... I went rock climbing with my friends up Logan Canyon! My friend dropped me about 4 feet and caught me with the rope. after that I smacked against the cliff face and got a slight scrape. I was really scared. This week was the Logan Temples Birthday so we learned some interesting facts about the temple. In church all the young men are preparing a song to sing in sacrament meeting next week. I am experiencing a small cold so I hope it is gone by the time we have to sing. Shad was singing really well today in the practice! He is doing great at fulfilling his priesthood duties. I might start guitar soon. I am also trying to convince my mom to get us playing the piano again.(since we moved we stopped lessons and stopped playing very much) I still play once in a while in seminary, but that is only when the person who is really good at piano is late or gone. I only have 3 and a half days of school left! I can't wait! I will miss some of my friends though. Anyway I am writing too much so see you later! Kveena: hay! how are you guys? today it was rainy. when we were going up the road it didn't look like my dad could really see where he was going. we went to a movie yesterday it was the second one of the series it was pretty good but i don't know which one i liked best.shad will talk about it to. i went to the scout camp i'm working at in the summer it looks like it's going to be great fun. i've always wondered what it would be like to be a scout cause they seemed to always be doing something funner than me and the activity days girls were doing but it was probely because wayne is so good at making things sound funner then they were so i'd be jelouse he still does that sometimes well by talk back i'd love to here from you guys!

Shad:Hi! Haven't righten in a while... So here it goes... Thursday of last week me, Adam, Andrew and dad went to Yellowstone, Wayne couldn't come because he had a three-hundred point lab... It was a theme park!!! He was so lucky, but we saw Ryan and Tonya's family,so we had way more fun. On Saturday we went with them on a hike in the mountains. But there was snow and we were walking by a rock on snow and Adam fell in a eight feet deep hole he was really scared other than that we had a fun Saturday... And we saw three wolf take an elk out, it was cool. On Sunday we went to church and after Sunday school I felt sick, so I told dad he gave me the keys to the car and I went into the car. Then I felt sick I was going to throw-up. So I ran to the grass out side and I threw up! We figured out that I got sick by bad sandwich meat at lunch Saturday... Then yesterday we went to Night Of The Museum it was a great movie so that's all bye!!

Mel: The boys and I had a fun trip to Yellowstone. We committed to meet the canadian photo club on this third weekend before we realized it was the 15th (wedding anniversary) so Raeghn was good to take a rain check for a big get away. We got to meet Ryan and Tonya and their kids and had a nice but short visit. We got to swim Friday night and then we went rock climbing with them in the morning. We almost lost Adam. He fell through the snow into a cavern about 8 feet deep. We grabbed him in time and luckily no snow fell on top of him. We were a little more careful after that! He was a good sport about it all. Everyone else enjoyed the adventure. Unlike our usual visits, we only saw a few bears and they were a long ways away but we saw lots of wolves really close. As you see from the picture it was the most incredible display of nature that I've seen and will probably ever see. Wow. I'm going to try and write it up with more pictures. After the wolves experience we headed home. We thought we'd go by the church to see when it started the next morning. There was no sign, but there was another guy who just drove into the parking lot too. So we asked him (young guy about 20) and he said he was looking to find out the same thing. We saw lights in the video rental store in town (knowing the branch president owned it) so we headed back to ask there. We got the branch president's niece to open the door and she told us 10. So we hauled back to find this guy. He took the wrong way back (to town instead of up the hill) but then turned around to head back to his camp location (or else we'd never have caught him) . We sped right past the "radar speed control" sign and overtook him, forcing him off the road and told him the start time.

Getting to church early we didn't see him and a friend until about 10 after. The meeting was nice and typical for a tiny branch. Afterwards I went and introduced myself to these two young men. Turns out they were on a short trip from the east for a summer vacation. Mike had just graduated from a Christian college to join the ministry in counseling and had a job in his old home town of 800 people and Nathan had two years left in the same school and was majoring in urban youth counseling. He had his bible and pulled it out for class. Well we didn't hear much of class because we started discussing our beliefs and it was exhilarating. I bore testimony and tried to clarify most of his typical anti-mormon education. He was getting really frustrated to the point of shaking, but there was no contention. He got so agitated that his friend started to pat/rub his back to comfort him. I was definitely curious what was going on in his mind. I was bearing witness of the atonement and how it lifted the burdens of suffering and he finally couldn’t take it any longer and said "Don’t take this wrong, but yes, I believe all those things regarding the Spirit and the Savior, but you can't have those things in your life because you don't know the Savior, you don't have the truth, God can’t answer your prayers because you aren’t praying to him. Just like He doesn’t answer the Buddhists prayers." I continued to witness that the Holy Ghost bears witness of truth and that they could know if Joseph Smith was lifted and guided by the Lord or if it was Satan as they had been taught. That they could kneel and know for themselves tonight, that the Lord has one church and that He does talk through prophets just as he has throughout time. It was great to learn things from His perspective too. How his college has taught him to mis-understand certain scriptures in the bible which are foundational to our beliefs. Boy was it exhilarating. The Lord was putting words in my mouth and answering some of their questions in ways I had never before thought of. One example was when he quoted Joseph Smith's "As God once was..." I responded that Jesus told us to become like Him and that through Him we can. He was silent. I would usually go on and on about some explaination but the Lord likes simplicity. Blew me away.

It was a surprising answer to my prayers in request for help in being led to the open hearted. I was thinking of the Petersboro people but heh, I’ll take anyone interested. Well, we talked through Sunday School and Priesthood meeting and kept going after that until Adam came into the chapel and said that Shad had just thrown up outside and wanted some assistance. So I left the young men my email address and off I ran. I could have talked late into the night with them, but apparently the Lord figured it was sufficient. So, I pray they will email me and that the Spirit will work upon their hearts.

The picture of the family with cupcakes is us celebrating the Logan Temple's 125 Year Birthday. You'll have to enlarge the rock pictures to see the kids. The pictures in the car are from the night we slept in the old Lland Cruiser (250,000 miles on it) in Yellowstone park. The bird is an Osprey. The lake/mountains are Jackson Lake in front of the Tetons.

Raeghn: Hi, this week has been good. I missed the boys when they went to Yellowstone. Especially Mel on our wedding anniversary. We've been married 17 years! Wow, time flies. He's a patient man to put up with me that long. He's going to be greatly rewarded in Heaven, I'm sure of it. Before they left town, we had our ultra sound. Kveena went with us, and after said, I think it's a boy, it's facial features look like a boy. We still didn't find out, and for some reason, this is the hardest one to not find out on. I'd really like to know if Kveena's getting a sister. But, we'll see in September. While Mel was gone, I taught his Gospel Principles class. It was on the restoration. I've always had a testimony of it, but as I prepared, my testimony of it increased so much more, it was a good experience for me. The next day I went to SLC and went to the Legacy theater and watched the church's film on the Legacy theater, which was great! Pregnancy is going pretty good. I've been feeling yucky each morning after I eat (about an hour) so I asked to have the glucose labs done, and sure enough, my levels were 60 over where they should be for a maximum. So, I've met with a dietition and am now on a stirct diet of 180 max of carbs per day, but in the morning, I can't seem to have any, even one peice of toast knocks me out (not really, but close - very weak, and yucky feeling)! It's the empty stomach I guess. The kids are all looking forward to summer.

Blog entry will be late this week but should be a good one. Stay tuned...!

Mother's Day Week!

Mel: Hi Mom! Happy Mother's Day! How blessed I am to have a lady like you as a mother. I'm sure I was way muscular in the pre-existence because I probably had to battle millions for a slot as one of your children (I hope I didn't trigger that war in heaven thingy over it?). How glad I am for your sacrifices and selflessness. Your example often reminds me of how much further I have to go.

We had a fine week. Still haven't had our miracle but I think we're close. Darkest before the dawn? I snuck out and took some geese pictures again this week on the way back from basketball. Adam and Andrew sung for Mothers day (click on the picture and see if you can pick them out!). They did a great job. The kids and I cooked dinner for Raeghn today. We did OK... Steak, Potatoes, Corn, Salad, Slushis, and banana splits for dessert. She was gracious and ate pretty good! We are blessed to have her in our home! Here's a picture of her holding her deep fryer! Doesn't she look thrilled!
Kveena:happy mother's day your the best grandma a girl could want thanks for always being there for me! I'm reading the "tennis shoes among the Nephites" books they awesome! love you guys so much good luck!!!

Wayne: Happy mother's day!! I hope you have been having a great day. Like my dad said we did the best we could for our mom. She really is amazing! This week I am praying and reading my scriptures trying to get an answer to which school I should go to. If I should stay at the small charter school that I go to now or if I should go to the public school. Tomorrow I am going to the public school to take a tour through the halls to see if the spirit is gone more or less than InTech (The school I go to now) I have been praying about it a lot. I thought I got an answer, but it didn't feel right yet so... I delayed the decision. I fasted about the answer last week, but still not a sure answer. I hope and pray I make the best decision for my future. Well Happy Mother's day again!!! Have a great week.
Shad: This week was great! I did a serves project. Dad took pictures of me with out me knowing. Our dog Pepper, broke her knee. She broke it by jumping out of a truck. Tomorrow she is going to have a surgery we are all sad :( . Well that is all I have to wright... bye.

Mayday Week!

Wayne: Hey, this week my dad was on a business trip most of the week. Today at church there was a baby blessing and the bishop asked me to hold the mic. for it. It was a very good blessing. I also was supposed to take the mic. out into the congregation if someone was unable to walk up to the pulpit. I sat on the stand the whole time and was able to see how the spirit effected the people. Many started crying on a particularly spiritual testimony. Shad is doing well with his duties as a deacon. Today he collected fast offerings around the ward, I think he is very proud to have the priesthood. On Friday I went to my friends birthday party. It was a movie party. I had loads of fun. On Saturday my mom made these really good Rice Crispy treats. She made them with extra marshmallows so they were extra sticky. This week went really well I think In seminary we are learning about Paul the Apostle and the apostasy. There are some very interesting things in the scriptures about Paul. Well I am doing my best to keep the name "Wayne" a good trustworthy name. Today I poured gravy on my bread and my dad said that was something Wayne Sr. would do, and it made me think of you. Hope you are doing well out there, still praying for you a lot.
Shad: This week, it was mayday but it was so rainy we didn't go. Today is fast Sunday it is a great experience, there were great testimonies. It was a great week.

Adam: I miss you and I hope you are doing good! We had rice crispy treats today for desert. I liked them a lot.
Andrew: I miss you. It is fasting Sunday. I fasted from sugar. I didn't go to class today because I had a cough.
Mel: Hi Mom and Dad! I bet you are doing an incredible job out there. My albino porcupine picture illustrates how work is going. Holding on! My faith is strengthened by knowing you are praying for us. If we can just get through June, things should start getting better. We have some good prospects in July time frame but a huge gap to fill before then. We have a french company coming out this week (their US rep) to discuss partnering. Could turn into something good.
I went on travel this week to a large motor company in Evansville, IN that works in the mining industry and then to the Kubota factory in Georgia. No miracles yet but it still possible. I added a picture I took along the road in Georgia.
I've included some pictures of us doing scripture study with the Preach My Gospel manual. Trying to get us all ready for missions. Also, Andrew and I went out to get pictures of baby Geese and ended up staying for sunset. He is wearing my coat b/c it got a little cold. We're still plugging our way through this Ward Missionary Calling. We don't know many people (less actives and non-members) but it is coming. I need more of that Wayne Torrie courage to just run house to house and get to know them. Prayers for us in this calling are welcome too... With all your kids, you must need an hour for prayer to cover all the topics! It means a lot to us. Thanks for being who you are. Love you tons!

Service Project

Mel: Shad and I went to a ward service project to clean a park yesterday. The flyer said to bring sun screen but it was snowing! I cleaned the grease out of the stoves and Shad raked up branches and old leaves. The hot chocolate was super.

We had a good visit with a potential partner called Remotec. They are another robotics company that might license our Mobius software. It will probably take six months to get rolling but could be a great thing in the long run. So, not an immediate miracle but could bless us later in the year.

I got my monthly night out at the Mendon Photo club. They asked me to come and talk about my pictures. It was fun to show some of my favorites. One of my fellow competitors said I had a gift which was nice. We have monthly competitions and I'm too competitive. I still want to crush him but I'll be nicer when I pick him up off the ground next time! :) Who did I inherit that from?! He beat me last month in the human portrait topics but I beat him handily the last three of four. Anyway, I look forward to it each month.

I also inserted a picture of my usual pose on a plane. Headphones playing something relaxing like John Schmidt and reading a good book. I was reading the autobiography of P.P. Pratt.

Raeghn is getting pretty big but is being a good trooper. She is much stronger than I am. Thankfully. Luckily I married well!

Have a great week!

Raeghn: It's true, I'm getting bigger, and now am starting to get a little bit of heart burn. I remember with Wayne when I was pregnant, the first time in my life I felt heart burn we were up at "fairmont" with you guys, mom and I were in the pool together and I told her I was having this bad pain in my chest, and she told me it was probably heart burn. Wow, what a smart woman!
This week was pretty normal, nothing big, or anything out of the ordinary. Tonight at dinner, I passed some food to Wayner and he quickly said, "Thanks mom". Mel said, "wow, who's wearing Wayne's shirt?" like he wasn't acting like himself, and Shad quickly responded, "I am!" Since he wears all of Waynes hand me downs. We all had a good laugh, Shad caught on a little later! Cute!
Hope all is going good your way. We pray for you and know that the people of Navoo are truly blessed for you being there! Thanks for your help with Laine and Alyssa. They seem to really enjoy you and what you've done for them. I heard that one day dad told Laine, "We're proud of you son"... and Laine was so touched by that... Laine called one day to tell me that you were going to do grounds work the next day... How did that go? Who's doing grounds work in your yard while your away? I love what you did to the circle. One day I hope to have beautiful flower beds. Time and money sparing! For now I'm just doing black plastic and rocks, and hope the weeds don't overtake the beds too much! We're going to try and plant some grass this next week, we'll see how the weather holds up!
Love you both so much. So greatful to have good parents like you, giving us and our children great examples to look up to and try harder to be like.

Kveena: this week I went to a theme park (Lagoon). I did a lot of jobs to do it. I wanted Wayne and Shad to come but Wayne was grounded and shad thought it was too many jobs. i had to do them in one day because my school gave out discount tickets the day before they could only be used. I brought two fiends who paid for themselves but wanted a ride . one of them was a little more afraid of some of the big rides so we went on smaller rides then normal.

Wayner: This week was kinda boring... we just had a normal week. I did science labs yesterday, Saturday, while Shad and Dad were doing a service project. We had a great meal today. It was chicken and beef gravy and potatoes, and beans. I loved it. School is ending very soon. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by... next year I will be in grade 11!!! I am getting so old... We have like 4 weeks left I think... Me and my dad went home teaching today. It was a good lesson... but we got carried away and were late for our own home teachers. I made a website for the Torrie cousins I don't know if I already told you that... my brain is getting a bit weak in my old age... well Mom says it's time to go to bed now so...

Shad: This week was kinda fun... we just had a awesome week. I did the service project, it was way cold but I got tons of hot chocolate to warm me up.

Mitch kicks a home run!

Wayne: Hey, This week was pretty fun. I gave the lesson in Teachers quorum today. It was entitled "Honour Thy Father" I think I did a fairly good lesson. My dad gave me some pointers on how to teach good. On Saturday I went to a stake dance. I had Lots of fun. Also on Saturday we went to the park with Aunt Jen, Cally, and Uncle Mitch's family. That was lots of fun. In seminary we played a scripture mastery review game. My team won! I started a little website for Torrie Cousins. It is way fun. We can post topics and talk to each other on there. Its just starting but I think it will be a good thing for us because we don't really all get together that often.
Shad: This week was greet, Monday aunt Jen and Cali came to see us, Saturday we went to a park with Kylie and Tia, aunt Jen and Cali then we played kick ball. Sunday I passed the sacrament at a retirement home it was a good experience.
Mel: Had a pretty good week. Spent two days in Florida where I presented two papers and chaired a session. (posted a picture of my reflection in the ceiling of the Orlando Airport as I drag my baggage around. I got stranded in Denver for a couple of hours with the Snowstorm but eventually made it home by 3:00 am. We still haven't had our miracle at the company. Time is short but I'm faithful, especially knowing of all the family praying on our behalf! It seems like we've had plenty of opportunities to pull through and one by one they've been dropped cold. Apparently we have more to learn, needing to become more acquainted with the Lord. I hope we learn our lessons soon or there won't be anyone left at the company. Another company, this one from France, asked if we were interested in selling this week. Everyone has the price right? But, in our current lowly state, the company isn't worth much and has so much potential.

In other news. I was sad to miss Wayne and Shad's night of honor after winning awards in the Logan Canyon photo contest. Sounds like Raeghn represented me well.

The picture with me and the puppy was right below a sign that said no dogs allowed. We didn't see it until we were on our way home. He is our garden guarding dog. Not quite ferocious enough yet, but we hope he keeps our food safe from the hungry deer and robbits! We had a fun time at the park yesterday with the family. A rousing game of kickball and some fun at the park and zoo wore us out and left many sun burnt. I posted my favorite duck picture of the day too.

We think of you lots and hope our prayers are working on your behalf. I'm sure you are both doing great as memorizing monsters. You've always thrived in your callings and I'm sure you are doing incredible. Thanks for representing us to the world in such a great way!

Raeghn: Had a good week with Jenn and Kali. Kali sure is growing up. Cute girl. She talked a lot about you two. I'm starting to feel better, not sick to my stomach all day long, still having some headaches, but for the most part, I'm functioning better and keeping up with more house things. It snowed here, and we were all praying for sunshine. It finally came Friday, and we're enjoying the Spring we've all been longing for. Friday night we went to the Photo show of the winners of the contest that Wayne, Shad and Mel won. That was a lot of fun to look at all of the great photos of the canyon and know that 3 of them were from the men I love and call my own! I was a proud wife and mom! We're praying lots for you!