Birthdays:
September 18 Abigail Landes

This month in Landes History: Mama Mae recovered from debilitating back pain on her mission in Santiago, Chile in September 1997. From my journal (age 15) “Mama Mae has been flat in bed with a bedpan down in Santiago on her mission with Papa Kay. We were all praying that she would recover from her back pain (which is medically unlikely). But a week later she was up and around. I testify that this is an answer to many fervent prayers.”

Dad: The big news for him in August was that his company moved to a new location. NetDocuments has been in Orem for 12 years. For Dad, that is the longest office sojourn by far. He has gone from missing paychecks and getting pay cuts (and wondering if he made the right decision) to now getting bonuses and a nice office space at Thanksgiving Point. Way to hang in there, Dad! Now his commute is just shy of the point of the mountain. As he says, ”Going over the point of the mountain is a psychological barrier.” He will miss Orem because he could go shopping at COSTCO and there were good places to meet friends for lunch. Overall though, it sounds like a great time for the company.
Did they do anything special for their anniversary? Not really. Mom had surgery that week so they will celebrate in September. NetDocs awarded Dad a free night at Anniversary Inn and dinner at The Roof restaurant.

Mom: She has a big licensure exam coming up in December or January that is going to be tough. She had surgery the day before her anniversary so she spent August 22 resting and getting meals delivered. As one of the living reasons for Mom’s surgery, let me say, thanks for sacrificing the bod!
One of Mom’s legacies to her family is her talent for coming up with new business ideas. Her latest and greatest is this: The Walmart of therapy! You could do an online therapy-type program that is adjustable based on a person’s answers to a multiple choice questionnaire. It would be skill-based counseling. The spiel would be: You don’t need therapy, you need skills! You don’t need meds, you need skills! There would be a different program for each age group (young parents, teens, elementary kids, adults). Each module would have multiple choice questions, assignments, and other things you could work on. The client would move through different modules in which they learn new habits and skills. You could even do all your role-playing in a private room in Second Life. Avatar group therapy, people! It would be about 30 bucks a month and you can do as many modules as you want. The target market would be people who are dealing with depression, ADHD, anger, anxiety. Since I cycle through each one of these on a daily basis, I am ready to sign up!

Sterling and Adrienne: We learned a good lesson this month about paying attention to details. We almost didn’t get little Juliet on our insurance plan because the cutoff period to notify Pacific Life is 31 days after birth or adoption. Thank goodness he sent out some emails to his boss when she was born and the legal department was able to count that as “notification.” Whew! Prayer will change the night to day.
Our family has been enjoying the neighborhood pool and tooling around in our new van. Our kids call it the black bus and Sterling calls it the Mann BatVan. Now if we need food we don’t have to wait until Sterling gets home. We can go grocery shopping during the DAY. And go to the library without walking a mile each way in the Cambodian tropics. And visit friends without having to get a ride and put in all the kid seats. And go visiting teaching without having to get a ride with someone who can drop my kids off at a babysitter.
We got portraits done of the kids.

Robert: He is trying out for a spot in the Utah Symphony on September 10. There are 4 spots open and he thinks about 40 people trying out. We are all praying for your success, Robert! At the moment he is here in Houston being the “uncle who brings pizza” as Charlotte said.
Matt and Mimi:
Allison:
Russell:
Ryan:
Abigail:

Start of NY City Trip

I am considering doing a blog for our upcoming NYC trip.

Today Joan and I went to Manti to look at land

Woo Hoo

Wow I can't wait.

So Sterling and I and a couple of friends played a really cool new train board game. I wonder if you've heard of it, it's called Ticket to Ride. The version we played was set in Europe and it's kind of like Rail baron meets Aquire. Anyway, I think I'm getting it for my birthday and we can play it when Dad comes down. I actually beat Sterling the one time we played it. That rarely happens.

This is a photo of Allie and Meme having fun in Venice. As I remember, the master traveler that I am, we got on a boat at the train station excited to float the main canal. The boat ended up going the other way. We were stuck in the ocean for 30 minutes. It was a bit cold.

Hi Everybody- that is family members of course. If you have a minute let's start a family blog.