Ralph and Mildred celebrate 50 years together!

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Ralph and Midge Horton 50th Anniversary (Neil Diamond audio) from dyejo on Vimeo.

Ralph and Midge Horton (50th Anniversary) video from dyejo on Vimeo.

If the above video does not play or has an error, click this link: http://youtu.be/mLKiZCsK7q0

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New York—Day 3

Woke up at the Marriot Marquis on Times Square and ran 10 miles in Central Park. It was beautiful—great weather! Ran around the Jackie Onassis reservoir and had a great view of the Manhattan Skyline.




{Note: Click image to see a larger panoramic shot of the reservoir}

Got back and lifted a few weights in the fitness center at the motel.

Took a shower and planned to meet Carl at the Museum of Natural History but jumped on the wrong subway and it took me over 1 hour to meet him. We had about 1 hour by the time I got there because we had to go back and meet Cindi for lunch. Carl and I went to see the mineral exhibit and then the African peoples/animals exhibit.

We jumped on the subway and met Cindi at the motel. Checked out there and then walked to “John’s Shanghai” for some Chinese food.

From there, Carl took us to the Hudson Hotel to drop our bags and then dropped us at Brittany’s hotel (Skyline). We waited for a bit, but then walked back to Times Square to go to TKTS and try and get tickets a show. No luck there—we were trying to get Hairspray or Mama Mia. I could’ve got Spamalot or Young Frankenstein, but the girls did not want to go.

By this time, we were close to the 5:30 performance so we had to jump the subway and get to her performance. We got there—it was a retirement home and about 20 old folks showed up. There was not a lot of area for the kids to perform, but they did pretty well all things considered.

We then went back via cab to Times Square and went to the Hard Rock restaurant there. The music was loud and pretty obnoxious. It would have been nice if the colume was down a bit. Maybe I am just getting old!

Brit and Cindi continued to shop but headed back to the Hudson Hotel due to the early morning schedule. I had a 7 a.m. departure from JFK the following morning.

New York—Day 2

Got up and did some work from Carl and Jess’ home in CT.

We headed into town a little after noon with Carl in his car. His Cadillac’s auto navigation system was not working that well, so we were all over and finally made it to the South Seaport to go to TKTS. We got Phantom tickets ($62/ticket). Orchestra level about 20 rows back.



We then went shopping in that area—Abercrombie, Gap, etc. I bought two pairs of khaki pants for work at a great price! Also wanted to see Bodies (the show), but did not have enough time to see it. We had to leave and meet Carl.

We went and checked in to the Marriot Marquis at Times Square and met Blaine, Dasha, Jess, and Barbara (Jess’ mom) at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone restaurant. We gave Dasha and Barbara our Little Mermaid tickets because we wanted to go see Phantom.

It was raining, but we walked to Phantom. We really enjoyed it! It was a great show! Very well done! This is its 12th year on Broadway!

We then went to Planet Hollywood and shared and appetite and dessert and then back to the Marriot Marquis.

New York!

Got up at 4:45 to get ready for the train from Westport, CT (where Cindi's brother and his family live) leaving to the City at 6:15.

Got in around an hour later and had to go on two Metro routes to get to Brit's motel (Skyline).

Got there and then we went and had breakfast. Did the NBC tour, Radio City Music Hall tour (took a picture with a Rockette), saw St. Patrick's cathedral, FAO Schwartz, Times Square, Toys R Us @ Times Square, Garret's Popcorn, Jekyll and Hyde's for a late lunch, and saw the Mary Poppins Show in the New Amsterdam Theater.

It was fun!

Summer is finally here!

The kids' last day of school was last Friday, so now they are officially out for the summer (although Andrew will attend some summer classes to help him keep somewhat of a steady schedule and ensure some consistency throughout the next few months).


Brittany--LaCrosse April 2008 from dyejo on Vimeo.

Brittany has been staying busy with Lacrosse the last 6 weeks. She has two games every Saturday; many of them are back-to-back, but some are not. Her team is doing pretty well; they are about a .700 team. She seems to enjoy it. I wish I understood the rules more. It seems like if you do not grow up playing the game a lot, you have to pick up the rules later in life., and if you don't take the time you just see a log of people running around with sticks in their hands trying to throw a ball into a net.

Andrew's ASAP program (one-on-one mentoring and care program) is moving. They used to be about 20 minutes from our house, and are moving to a location that is about 7-10 minutes away. That will be a lot better for us. He seems to be doing well in the program. Last week at church he had some Disney books and Brittany and I would point to the words and he could read them. We knew he had some reading ability, but I was surprised at the level at which he could understand and read the words!




Jensen is excited for summer, but is not happy about leaving his teacher of two years (Mrs. Horne). She was so good with him! She taught him in 3rd, and then did a 3rd/4th split this year so we requested her again. He is excited for 5th grade, though, and is in the same class as his best friend Josh, so that will help ease the transition.


Easter egg hunt at the Hortons--2008 from dyejo on Vimeo.


We finished out basement about 6 weeks ago, so are really enjoying spending time down there (especially since the hot weather is on its way!). We joke with Brittany that it will be a major sacrifice to leave the house and go to college in 4 years because she has a basement suite all to herself!


Brittany--Guyz 'n Dollz Recital from dyejo on Vimeo.

We are excited for our trip to New York in a couple of weeks. Brittany's dance group is going back, and Cindi and I will go with them. We will visit Cindi's brother (Carl) and his family, and get to see some sites and attractions in the city. I will miss my 20th year class reunion as the dates overlap, however. It is hard to believe it has been 20 years already; you just blink and it seems half your life has passed!

Wishing you all a fun summer!

What a difference a day makes!

Jensen got his haircut today. He has had the "bowl acorn cut" (see pictures below--1 taken for school pics last Fall and 1 taken on Easter [8 days ago]) now for most of his 9 years (he turns 10 in May). It is amazing how much older he looks!

At first, he did not want to get his hair cut. A year or so ago he told us his hair was like "Luke Skywalker's hair," and he did not want to cut it differently. It has become a lot thicker lately, so we were able to convince him to change things up style-wise. Now he is the biggest proponent of the change!

After he got it cut, he asked if I had gel to style it in the morning! The kid is growing up, and it is bittersweet!

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Will Spring ever come?

We are well into 2008 and I figured it would be good to get a short update produced on the latest happenings here in Murray.

We have had a very heavy snow season; I cannot remember one this heavy in the 12+ years I have been here! You just get your driveway cleared and wake up the next morning to another few inches (or so it seems). Jensen created a short poem last year that is very appropriate at this time when we all crave short sleeves, sunshine, and sand:





Brittany is staying very busy with her activities. She participates in lacrosse (she has conditioning twice a week with the high school team), piano (she starts again in March with her cousin Zach; he was married in December, so they took a couple of months off), voice lessons, and a co-ed dancing and performing group. The performing group she is in is going to New York in June, and Cindi and I will accompany Brittany and the group out and visit Cindi's brother (Carl) and his family in Connecticut when we are back there.


Andrew has been making some good strides recently. Although he is not extremely verbal, when we approach our neighborhood he will say "house" quite distinctly and point in the direction of our home. He seems to be much more settled and calm (we do give him 0.5 Risperdal every morning and evening, and that may help some as well). He makes relatively good eye contact and seems to enjoy more interaction with other than I can remember. This all changes when he has sensory overload and a lot if happening around him, but overall we know where he can go and what he can do, and that helps a lot.


Jensen is doing well in school, and has been gaining ground in spelling and reading. It is still a struggle, and we try to work with him as often as we can to see improvement in those areas. His math is almost at grade level, and we are proud of him for his efforts in those areas.

Cindi is enjoying working at Heart to Heart Adoption agency (she is the medical coordinator). The job allows flexibility in time (she can work from home if needed) and she constantly gets praised by her superiors for her work ethic and overall skills she brings to the position.

I am still at Fluid and enjoying that position. March will be my 10th anniversary working there. Our largest client, Orbit, cut back their marketing budget for Fluid by over $400,000, so we are trying to find ways to ameliorate that loss of revenue. If anything, it is causing us to become more lean and be much more aggressive in our sales efforts.

We have also started finishing our basement. With the housing market in a decline, we were able to subcontract out much of the work to the same subcontractors used when our house was originally built 5 years ago at a cost that was very appealing. I did all the insulation and we will also do the painting (basically areas that it is hard to mess up and does not require a lot of knowledge to complete).