The Ormes Go Online

Orme Family Newsletter *** January 1, 2008

Happy Birthday this Quarter to:

Rachel Orme: January 1st
David Warnick: February 7th
Alyssa Wertner: January 10th A
lexis Warnick: February 12th
Katie Knopf: January 18th
Austin Metcalf: February 12th
Elizabeth Price: January 20th
Jennifer Anderson: January 30th
Jackson Balkman: January 31st
Donna Orme: February 18th
Stan Orme: February 27th
Harrison Balkman: March 10th
Lana Orme: March 18th
Jed Jenson: March 18th
Amy Balkman: March 21st
Jennifer Orme: March 22nd
Adeline Balkman: March 23rd
Janica Shell: March 23rd
Cory Metcalf: March 29th
Eliza Knopf: March 30th
Carter Price: March 30th

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Greetings from Mississippi, Dr. & Mrs. Kirby Orme
We work all day everyday, all night, most nights, THE END
Sad, but too true for now, hopefully change is in the air!

Kirby and I are here in MS, he is working a variety of medical jobs.
JOB #1:
Lakeview Family Medical Clinic http://www.lfmc.familydoctors.net/
– our “solo practice”, the life span of which is still to be decided J
Kirby - Physician
Jennifer - Office Manager, Receptionist, Insurance and Billing Department, Accounting, etc, etc, etc, …!!!!!!!
We are afraid the traditional family doctor’s office will soon cease to exist, the only primary care available will be Super Clinics where you never see the same doctor twice, and supermarket clinics where you get to shop for cough medicine, potato chips and dog food while you wait, not bad, but there may be a slight decrease in long term management and true preventive care. As it is today, the overhead and expenses of the practice far outweigh the income and insurance reimbursements we are receiving. Although it is very satisfying to provide a service that so many families truly appreciate, it is a daily struggle to simply get paid for the services. Kirby has gained many loyal patients, and we have grown as much as can be expected for the area, but it’s simply not enough to even hire the help we need to keep our sanity. We are exploring new options and arrangements with his other jobs, and as stated earlier, the future is still TBA.
JOB #2:
Select Specialty Hospital – Kirby is the overnight physician on call, he stays there 7:00pm – 7:00am about 8-10 nights a month. This is similar to an ICU, with patients in critical care, he runs codes, and keeps them all alive to see another day.
JOB #3:
Central MS Medical Center (Hospital) Wound Care, Hyperbaric Medicine, and Cardiac Rehab. He gets to do some good and messy wound care, his favorite, and send people into the hyperbaric chamber to increase the oxygen to wounds to promote the healing process. If you are familiar with scuba diving, it’s similar to the hyperbaric chamber used to equalize pressure after someone surfaces from a dive too fast. Wound care and Hyperbaric medicine is a very interesting field. It is proving to be a good niche for him. He also supervises the rehab of Cardiac patients in the hospital.

Yes it’s a bit of a variety show, but don’t doubt that we are thankful for the employment. It is a blessing to have a job to work, or as we southerners say, “At least you got a row to hoe” (imagine a garden, you certainly can’t grow anything without a row) Kirby still loves being a doctor and we both have a new appreciation for small business owners everywhere.
We are happy working together and helping others as best we can. Kirby is the Elder’s Quorum President; I am a counselor in Young Women’s. We enjoy living by my parents and brothers, and that’s pretty much it for now.

We hope everyone else is doing well, living happily and healthy. Kirby keeps telling me to ask when we will have a reunion, maybe this summer we could make it! (He is at Select hospital tonight so he is helping to write this by phone.} J We would love to see everyone. We both had a great time seeing Katie and family is Seattle. She is a wonderful tour guide, and I loved all the flowers in the Seattle market. Kirby and I also went on the underground tour – pretty cool!
If anyone wants to see the South…(Sarah, bring your family on an old mission tour!)…come on down, we have plenty of room! It’s a little slow, but we are close to lots of civil war history, a first class safari park, yes, complete with camels, zebras and ostriches Also, the lake is currently drained so we have our own 4 wheeler mud track and ramps, if we weren’t red necks down here already, we surely are now… Anyhow, ya’ll are invited anytime, we love visitors!

Take care and Happy New Year!
Love, Jennifer and Kirby


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December 31, 2007

Dear Family,

I am at Tricia’s and Don’s home where I am having the best time! Yesterday it was snowing when we woke up and it snowed all day! Big feathery flakes. So beautiful. I am napping, eating, reading and having a wonderful time.

I spent Christmas with Stephanie and Cameron and Scott and Matthew. It was great! I had the best time! Then I went to work in Salt Lake for two days then came to Woodland Hills. Now I will work three days this week and three more weeks and my Mission will be finished.
I want to live in Santa Barbara but I don’t want to live in my condo. I must look for something else to buy and little old houses in Santa Barbara are over a million dollars.

Stephanie and Cameron hope to move into their new house in February.
Everybody in the family is so busy doing exciting things.

Tonight we are going to dinner at Robert Redford’s Sundance. Tomorrow the Rose Parade and Game and then back to work.
18 months is a long time. I’m happy to be finishing up.
Love you each one,
Sister Orme (the once and future Marilyn)
(Marilyn and Sarah at Sundance on New Year’s Eve)


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Jan, 2008 Dearest Family:

I wonder who all will write the family newsletter this month. I hope everyone. I was thinking of all the stuff that couldn’t fit in my Christmas letter. At the end of a year I always look through my calendar, wow! Amazing all the things we did. Kids coming to visit, us going on trips, babysitting, dinners, movies, fun with our kids and fun with new friends, byu games and musicals and dance. And in case you think we do nothing but play, we are nursery leaders in our ward and take advantage of all the temples.

I can’t remember what I wrote in the last newsleteter, but I was remembering the Idaho trip we took this summer. Marilyn, Stan, Tricia and Don and Steve and Donna and all their fam, Laurie and Stephanie. Did I forget anyone, hope not! Doug and Lana didn’t come. It was most fun! We went to Sugar City and visited all the cousins. We stayed the first night in St Anthony and walked all over the park and saw the river that Mom swam in, so cool to be there where she spent so much time. Her house is gone tho. We drove out to Squirel and saw Aunt Ellen’s house, we couldn’t go in, but looked through the windows and went through the barns and garage. Another really memorable site for all of us. The Tetons off in the distance. We spent the next night in Rexburg, going to church with Ruth and then that afternoon she put on a cousin’s reunion at her house and we got to see everyone. The night before we went out with ruth and bob and Sharon to dinner. We also spent some time at bob and sharon’s where Sharon gave us all some geneology and history that we hadn’t had. We drove all over looking at the spot of old houses, pointing at the ground, reminiscing and telling our stories. We stood by the canal we all swam in and the sugar factory.

This year we visited with each of our families spread all over the nation. We went to Seattle twice, once in aug and once for Thanksgiving (so much fun with Katie and fam) and saw our old house and friends. Always fun to go see your old house – ha. We had fun when we went to Spokane this summer. We stayed with Steve and Donna and drove all over the place. I love Spokane and seeing all the places that I spent so much of my growing up with. We’ve been to OK at least 3 times, VA about twice, CA several times. For Christmas I gave each of the girls, thanks to Jennifer’s printing, a booklet of writings when we had all our chillums, just so they could read for themselves that Don and I have been through it!

Little Sarah’s wedding was such a highlight for us because of more family, being together. Utah is a good place to live, people seem to come this way – now if we could just get Doug and Lana to venture out! The Bridal shower earlier here in Spanish Fork! Steve and Donna & Rachel stayed with us for that.

Marilyn will be going home Jan 25th. It’s been fun having her so close, we’ve done so many things with her and Laurie and sometimes Stephanie. Seeing the lights at Temple Sq, going to all the concerts up there together. I love Temple Square. The BYU Las Vegas Bowl party here. Always something to draw everyone together at our house or up there. Our kids came and visited us so many times this year, it was such a blessing to us, fun being together again, we miss that soooo much! This house will truly be our home because of those memories.

We are part of a fun fun group of empty nesters for FHE (not all members). Tricia joined a Quilt Guild and also hosted the “first” ornament exchange on the mountain. Everyone brought such beautiful ornaments, she doesn’t know what she will do to stay in the group (maybe keep hosting the party J). Don has really gotten into golf this year. Of course, most of all, we love being so close to Sarah and David and kids and Elizabeth and Jed and kids. They are sooo much fun. Sometimes Don and I wish we were back living in Sarah’s basement, those were good days with David making popcorn at night for TV watching, zipping over to Lizzy’s, walking every morning in the neighborhood. In many ways it was a simple time, we had just what we needed, no more. But we still miss Katie and kids. We’ve been in our new house now for a little over a year and we love it.

Tricia is joining a tap dance class that meets twice a week. (it’s ok if you’re chuckling) She took tap when she was 7 years old for a year – so we shall see! She went with them before Christmas and played piano at nursing homes and they tapped. One lady clearly in her 80’s who was sitting on the front row and immensely enjoying the show called out “I hope when I’m 50 I can dance as good as them!”

Christmas was so much fun. Everyone came up for Christmas Eve and we had Christmas dinner at Sarah’s. Tricia got a long arm quilt machine and Don got a GPS and new golf club. We have deep deep snow and have had beautiful snowstorms. Just to let you know how much snow we have, Sterling AND David jumped off our back deck into the snow! Wahoo!


We’re hoping at this writing that Stephanie’s house is coming along and almost finished. That Jake is still loving his mission. That Rauna’s knee will do better. That Marilyn will find a home. That Jared and Justin in MO. will have employment or school. That we will see Doug and Lana this year. That Steve and Donna will drive past Boise and come visit us – ha. That our girls and families will come visit us once a month this year – I think that would be a great new year’s resolution!
Love Don and Tricia

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Dear Family,

This has been a fast moving year for the Missouri Ormes. In fact, it moved so fast I can't remember most of it. Stan is in very good health in spite of a few obnoxious blips along the way. When the doctor finished the blood work and other tests he he said "What ever your doing keep doing it. These results are great." The new eyes are wonderful. I don"t have 20/20 but the 20/25 i do have is blessing enough. I am still teaching at the University a couple of nights a week and substituting at the highschool. The next 6 weeks I am the full time "In school suspension officer".

Rauna's new knee is strong and working well. It dosn't have full flexibility but it is getting close. It still bothers her during the cold weather. Her work at the temple is going well. The temple will close for three weeks this January. The upstairs restroom overflowed and ran for two days. Security is not supposed to go through the buillding when it is closed so it wasn't discovered until Tuesday morning. They have to replace the carpets, the base boards and lots of furniture.

Dirk's titanium hips are functioning well but still give him pain when the weather changes. Now, he needs a knee and something done to his back. He has a part time job at a bowling alley. He keeps the equipment behind the lanes working. Jakob is growing like a weed. He spends most of his time on the computer and electrnic games. He does play table games with us for family home evening.

We had a relaxed Christmas and New Years day. We spent Christmas evening with Brandon and family. They are all well. We spent New Years Eve. with friends. The choice of home was decided by who had the biggest T. V screen. We wanted to watch "RM". It was the funniest thing I have seen for a long time. If you have not seen it you will be in for a treat.

Justin and Abby spent Christmas in Las Vegas with her sisters. They got sick and had to come home early. Nothing serious.

Aimie, Jared's wife, got a job in the "Family Video" store. In her first month she won an employee award. She gets free dvds and games until Jan. 5th. Jared, dirk and Justin have been having a movie marathon since Christmas.

Well, I'll write more next year. Love ya all.

Stan and Rauna


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Dear Orme Family,
January 2, 2008

There has been a lot going on since I last wrote the newsletter. I’ll tell you this story about our anniversary. On August 7th David and I had our 9th wedding anniversary. He took me up to dinner at the Tree Room at Sundance, which is one of my very favorite restaurants. They laid the napkin on my lap, a special waiter poured my Perrier with lime and then David reached his hand across the table and held my hand. Then he said, “Sarah, I want to be a spine surgeon.” My jaw literally dropped open I was so surprised. But then this feeling just washed over me, within half a second, that it was the most perfect absolute right thing for him to do! I was very surprised by that too. So ever since that happened, it’s been all we can think, talk about, and do. David studied for three weeks till the last offering of the MCAT. He did pretty good too (for not having had a science course in about 7 years). He filled out the very time consuming AMCAS application that goes to all the medical schools you want to send it to (then at each school’s request you do secondary applications). David has been working on secondary applications and has one interview scheduled so far…at U of Oklahoma (thanks to Thad’s persuasiveness). Wouldn’t it be fun if we lived next to Amy and Thad! He got a volunteer shift at the emergency room of the hospital in Provo. And he starts prerequisite classes at BYU on Monday. If all goes well and we get in somewhere, we will probably sell our home this summer, quit David’s job, pack up and move to wherever he gets in. We are going to start the poor student life again….but this time with four kids. It’s probably going to be really hard. But I am always returning to that feeling of complete peace that this was the right decision. If he doesn’t get in somewhere….then I may have to wonder about that! Maybe this is all just an exercise in supporting your spouse! Ha Anyway…. That is pretty much what EVERYTHING has been about since summer.

In other news…Weston is walking. It is so cute to see him toddling around here and there. He gets going too far to the left or right and then falls down, but he’s a good sport. He turned one the day after Thanksgiving. The kids are back in school after the Christmas holiday. They had so much fun staying up late, eating treats, skiing, and doing fun things. I thought they wouldn’t want to go back! Now we’re back to school, ballet, violin, scouts, etc…

As for me, I’m so busy with Primary. So many meetings, activities, Sunday stuff. It’s been unreal. But I’m glad to be helping out so much, Primary is so important. I had my esophagus stretched out in December (like Mom) with the balloons and put on some medicine. For the first time in my life I am swallowing food like a normal person. It’s great! I’m probably going to gain 10 pounds now! And I’ve been having so much fun being close to Mom and Dad and Lizzy. I love driving up to Woodland Hills and hang out with the folks! Lizzy’s Will and my Rylie go to preschool together and we carpool. And we have a running game of Trivial Pursuit with Lizzy and Jed. First one to win ten games takes the other couple out for dinner. We also still enjoy living close to David’s brother and their family of six kids. It’s cousin heaven here in Utah!

Hope you guys have a great New Year!
Love, Sarah and family


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There has been so much going on, I loved it! Christmas came and went way too fast. But we had a great time here at home, just our little family. The first Christmas by ourselves since JC and I have been married. But with 4 kids there was never a dull moment. The hardest part was making Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner all by myself. When you are together with family you get to chose one thing to make. But I really wanted everything to be special, just like it would have been if we were with more family.
We just took our tree down last night, the 5th, and only because we needed the room for Mikaala’s birthday party. She invited 11 friends, and boy was it a party! Everyone had so much fun, and we played game after game. We opened up our two front rooms by moving some furniture out so there was one big room (if you can call it “big”) It rained or I should say poured all day today, we even had thunder and lightning! So the party had to stay inside.
Mikaala was baptized on the 29th, it was a wonderful experience, kind of surreal that I have a daughter who is old enough to be baptized. I’m 29 but feel like I’m 21, until I look in the mirror and realize that yes I am 29.
JC just got his new bike, we are on number 3 for him now. And I forced him to buy the U lock. He still can’t stand the thought that he paid $60 for this lock. But I said it’s better than paying another $550 for another bike. We were lucky to find it that cheap, JC’s brother who is in the army got it for $150 cheaper than what JC could find here. He can’t ride a normal bike due to the BART, so he must have a folding bike.
Carter ( 21 mo.) is too cute for words! He walks around the house jabbering to himself and to others in his own language. I am constantly grabbing the camera to capture his sweet words. It’s nice having all the kids together in one room. I sleep much better knowing that Carter is downstairs with all of us. The kids don’t have any problem with him even though he is still waking up at 5:30 am and sometimes in the middle of the night too.
Lizzy walks around popping every joint out of place, asking people if they want to hear it. So gross! As she gets older she has found more joints that are double jointed. I am constantly telling her to stop.
Calvin is such a boy, full of energy and loves to play with his siblings. He plays equally well with them all.
School starts on Monday, which I have mixed feelings about. I have enjoyed the freedom of no schedule, no jumping out of bed each morning to get kids ready and drive them to school or to the bus stop. I miss the good old days when Mikaala caught the bus right outside our townhouse in PA. But doing errands will be easier with only 2 kids.
I hope you all had a great Christmas, and got to share it with family.
Love you all!
Jessica


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Katie Arrowsmith Knopf Family
January 2008
Hi Orme Family! This big photo spread is all the Arrowsmith cousins that visited grandma’s house together this summer. Jessica came the week before so we need to add them to this spread.
This fall we had a Kirby-Jen sighting. It was so weird, but I got this crazy phone call from a guy claiming to be Kirby saying he was in town for a medical conference. After some investigation, a ferry ride, Ivars for lunch and a nice dinner we decided that it was indeed them. They looked fantastic and we had such a fun but WAY too short visit. COME BACK!
We're doing great in the new year. John's church schedule hasn't hit yet, so we continue to enjoy hours of time with him. We actually like having him as the bishop. It's not too hard and we feel like we spend a lot of time with him. Our stake president said John is an excellent organizer, which will make the job much easier. At the end of tithing settlement he called on some people who hadn't come in to meet with him. One of the phone calls with a dear grandma went like this. "Hello, this is John Knopf, the bishop of the Woodinville 1st ward." "Who?" "John Knopf, the bishop of the Woodinville 1st ward." "Who is this?" "Hi, I'm Bishop Knopf from church." "Oh, I don't want any of that, don't call again.”
We are sending back Josie Guinn’s “Flat Stanley.” It is a flat version of Josie who has been vacationing at our house for a few months. We have taken several pictures and will send her back to Josie’s school to share with her classmates.
I'm still trying to keep running. It's windy and rainy. I have a new rain coat and shoes, but it's not inspiring me. My friend across the street and I are good for each other, encouraging the other when necessary. Anne does a lot of babysitting! She has three jobs this weekend. Abbie is learning how to sleep in, just in time for next year’s Jr. High. Isabelle is getting her temper under control as of late. She has many friends in the neighborhood, but likes to spend time alone. Joshua loves camo clothes and playing the Wii. The favorite activity on the Wii is making Mii's. Eliza uses big words and wears the same thing night and day.We enjoyed our new year celebration with 20 kids and their parents over for games, movies and Wii. We've taken a few ski trips already. Josh went for his 2nd time and had a blast. He went over some jumps and by the end of the day he could cruise down the beginner hills in perfect form. Isabelle is a speed demon, I can’t keep up. Anne and Abbie head off by themselves and keep in touch via walkie talkies. John and I are looking forward to some date nights up on the slopes.We love you and think about you and hope all is well for 2008! Love Katie Knopf

I just want to wish everyone in the family a Happy New Year! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Now -- Back to the routine!


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Our January is starting out COLD! I just went outside for my morning walk with my friends but nobody else showed up so I high-tailed it back to the house!

We had such a wonderful holiday with Whitney and Cory coming home. It was weird without Jake here. I slipped his Christmas pillow case over the back of his chair at the kitchen table though. And we talked to him on Christmas day. He had only been in the field for four days when we spoke. Of course, the language seemed totally foreign, even after the training in the MTC. He has a native Brazilian companion and it's difficult for them to communicate. But he talked positively in spite of the language barrier and the culture shock he was in :)

The break from teaching early morning seminary has been wuuunderful! But that starts again in two days! The big news is mom's release from her mission is this month! I think she is ready. I think that's a understatement! Steph and I are going to "help" her get home. Actually, we're going to "help" ourselves to a nice dose of Santa Barbara :) I haven't been there in a long time and am excited to go! Oh rats...that means I'll have to get a sub for seminary. (this letter is dripping with sarcasm but you can't hear it.)

We're all great! Austin gets his drivers license in a month. Cory will start his missionary papers in a couple of weeks. So our lives continue to move forward.

Have a great day...I'm going to check and see if Jake's letter has arrived yet! I get so excited to hear from him!

We love you all,
Laurie and Joel and family