Florida Pictures

Hey I just thought I'd show everyone a little bit of what it's like down here.




Birds in the backyard.


Beach on the weekends.


This is a sunset from the front yard.

That was from Amie--not Stewart!!

Just realized that it shows sbanks--the novel was from Amie in case it wasn't obvious, not Stewart!!! I'll have to get my own sign on at work, that's where I spend most of my computer time. Love you all!!

Guess i'll join in....

Well, it looks like you're only a "true" Banks if you blog!!! So, if you haven't --Stan--you better get busy!!!Just kidding-maybe I missed something from you, but Bethany and Lana you're awesome to get this going. We tried in my family, and it kind of flopped--I think, maybe it's still going-see I don't even know. Well, Stewart has kept our family up to date with about all that's going on except our house is kind of different with a couple of kids gone and moving on with their life in the big city (Ogden), ha! It's been hard letting them go and not know what and where they are all the time. Mind you, it's good too, but the "mom" in me has to have limits of when I can call and how much I can worry, and I try to stick to them.

It's fun to read about all everyone is doing, and maybe we'll keep up on everyone's life better now, even the one's that are still right here. Stan and Lana, you're crazy!! All that running, i'll save a bed at the hospital for both of you for your knee replacements!! People aren't made to run 26 miles at one time, even the pioneers had wagons and just walked slowly!!Just kidding that's cool, and Bethany and Jake good job on starting the running--I have been an exercise slacker using the wedding as an excuse--now it's over what will I do??

That's how our life feels, is it is getting back to normal with just Aaron and Amanda to deal with day to day, and work. They are doing great in school, and it's great to have no one in middle school, only two schools to deal with this year. Aaron is liking high school, and realized the other day that he has only 3 years more and he'll be doing real life like Nicholas--I think it freaked him out a little, and me too!! Amanda has only this year in elementary and then we start the "teenage" thing with her, and I don't know how to do girl stuff--she's different than I ever was. I guess we'll figure it out. We miss having Josie to call to play, but it sounds like her and Cody are settling in well. We're kind of jealous of your new adventure, but we're too chicken!!!

Well, we talked about Thanksgiving the other day with Jeremy, and I guess it will be us and his little family for the Banks side--that's sad, but you better have that tablecloth out to read, and we'll sit down and put messages on this instead!! Well now that i've written a novel, and probably a silly one at that, everyone stay well and keep messaging--it's cool!!!

christmas

I know it is very early to talk about christmas but any ideas as far as gifts go? wasn't sure what we were doing who is coming to town.......besides santa ha ha ha. We were just trying to start shopping so if anyone has thoughts as far as that let us know. Short and sweet this time since I was on last anyway. thanks -Lynnette-

This is Great

This is so much fun! I know more than I ever did when everyone lived close. That's sad but true. Nicholas it's great to hear that things are well with you and your new bride(I know you've been married for awhile but she will be a new bride for the first year). You guys just sound crazy busy! I agree with everything that has been said about being part of this family and the get togethers! All my kids look forward to anything with the banks family. Lana don't get too excited yet about us running we are far from it, but we are in the beginnings I'm thinking that we would like to do top of the mountain next year (hopefully). So anyway as far as Zach goes he is always qualifying to the main but it is definitely a challenge. Because he moved to intermediate which he got first once and second once but then had a birthday which put him into another class which was a rude awakening! He had a clinic with the guy that holds the record for most wins and is in the hall of fame but I forget his name(that's not good). But he learned alot and has already improved by two seconds! That's alot in bmx!!! Kelsea still does her thing with work and school.....she LOVES high school she's having alot of fun. Not a whole lot more to tell you but I'm sure something will come up. Love ya'll!!!!!
-Lynnette-

Man, I love this family!

Hurray for Charlotte for not waiting for me to call her! It's like she sensed it could be F-O-R-E-V-E-R! We would have seen you here before it ever happened...and we BETTER freaking see you here...because we can find you, you know...maybe...plus we want to go to Clearwater with you....

And go, go, go, Lynnette and Brady...and I'm sure I have all sorts of misinformation I can share...gladly (haha!). Have you picked one to start with? We just did a 16-mile long run on Sunday, and we were SOAKING wet, i'm not kidding. This humidity is crazy. But I'm so excited for you; it's always great to have someone with whom to share your pain. How has Zach been doing with his racing thing? How's the "training" with Ryan going? I think that's a great idea for you.

Nicholas, how great to hear from you. I couldn't be more pleased for you both! What an adventure ahead and grats on the grants; it's a great way to get some help. You made me all weepy with the family stuff...thanks for that...and how fortunate for the little old people to have someone like you around...though, don't lie, sometimes things can be a little gross there, right? I'm sure you have some stories I KNOW I don't want to hear (haha) so just keep up the inspirational ones...love you two like crazy...love this whole Banks family like crazy. I'm more blessed than most in that I was lucky into to stumble into it!

Starting to cool down...a little...the thunderstorms have been amazing. The tornadoes from the one last week missed us by 30 miles. Things could get pretty wild and we've started talking maybe we should pay more attention. There's only two places to hide without windows or exterior walls: the pantry and the 1/2 bath! Told bethany and jake they'll have to hide in the bath...but we'll probably all pile in together if it gets to that; don't know if we'll want to be separated at a time like that...also don't know if we all want to be standing for however long...either way, we need to make plans...maybe run a drill or something...except our Josie girl may get all freaky and obsess if we do that....hmmm....may have to wing it.

And as I'm apparently just blabbing to hear myself blab, I'll quit while I'm almost ahead. Can't wait to read the future blogs! I love you all and miss you like crazy....

Lana

Guess we'll start too

howdie yall,
Dad finally showed me the blog and I couldn't wait to get a sec to write, and read all the posts. Now that I'm up to date I guess its time to start writin. Me and Amy are doing well, both workin hard and schooling too. I'm lovin' my job, the old people are so cute. Its sad how lonely they get but totally rewarding when I just get a few minutes to sit and talk with them, they are so greatful. Amy likes her jobs, shes back with Things Remembered as well as Hollywood. The schedualing for her has been bit of a pain but its starting to fall together. Anyway, the grants came back and both of us have our whole first year of college paid for, excluding books, oh well. Anyway its great to be able to at least read whats going on, I miss the old Banks Parties, I think all of us kids could never wait when one was coming Its sad to see them go, hopefully not for long. Well I gotta go get the laundry going, Amy's at work so I'll try to stay up to date and keep postin'.
Love ya all so much!
Nicholas & Amy

P.S. I think it was Lana that said its sad we take family for granted when they are so close, I get emotional even just reading the posts and realizing the great family, as well as good friends, we are as Banks. I could ask for no more and will never feel lost as long as I have such a loving, gracious family that would do anything for eachother.
Thank you all, love you much,
Nicholas

Readings

Hey all,
Thanks Bethany for setting this up! It was fun to read the blogs and catch up! I actually heard about Aaron's bull ride from my best friend Julie (in Utah) her husband was judging at the rodeo. And we were so excited for him. Jeremy your trip sounded crazy!! And Bethany i don't think i could water ski in Florida's lakes just knowing there are alligators in them, CRAZY! I am excited to here your family is settling in well and enjoying Florida. We will give you a call before we head down in Oct.. O.K. so how many marathons do you have to run between now and then because that makes me tired just reading it, in fact i had to take a brake and get myself a snack!
Thanks and hello to everyone, charlotte

FInally

Hey I was finally able to get this to work! It is so much fun finding out what everyone is doing. We are all doing well nothing exciting yet. I am still trying to adjust to being home, Ryan is trying to teach me more to help him and keep me busy (we'll see how that works out). So cody and soccer awesome! He was incredible to watch before I bet it's amazing now. Josie, I can totally picture her as a dancer you will have to send pics of her playing softball I bet that's fun. I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well, that water stuff is scary, i'd be too chicken to get in! This is great thanks Bethany for getting it together!!!!!
Aaron way to go!!! I didn't know you stayed on the whole time, we are excited to see you ride. Jer, where did you go with the horses? It sounds painful!
Lana I think you guys are inspiring to run marathons at all let alone as many as you have!! Brady really wants to run one and I said I would train with him so we are starting to get our cardio up at the gym and soon will be running ok more like jogging but it's a start. I'm sure I will have alot of ?'s for you so be prepared.
Cool I'm glad I was able to get on and will be on alot I'm sure! I love and miss you guys!!!! -Lynnette-

Woot, Jeremy!

Now we have to get Stan on it! Yeah, we definitely aren't 20 anymore, right? And thank god for it! It does make the recovery more difficult, though. All is well in the South. The temp got down to 87 today and felt fabulous. They have the best thunderstorms EVER here. Sometimes I feel they should scare me more...but they don't (a case of ignorance is bliss, I think). Now we're getting rolling, Banks fam! My goal is to call Charlotte this week and get her e-mail. I know she gave it to me at the wedding and can't, for the life of me, find it (boo!). If any of you know it, please post it so we can get an invite to her...

Lana

hey all

this is pretty cool!! just got back from pushin cows of the Henry Mnts. the weather was perfect. we rode for two days about seven hours each day(ouch). we learned that we are only boys cuz cowboys would have cows.......we only found a third of the herd. i cought somthin the night we got up there and fevered all weekend. To add to that i was ridin a green horse that spooked once when i went to get on him and ended up testing the compaction of the ground with my face, it passed. just another mornin i remember i aint twenty. one thing we did that the ol' cowboys never have been able to do was bring a bull off the mountain alone, take that hoss.
be good
Jer

Darn it!

Thought I was going to sound so cool, thinking I knew how long they stayed on. Now you get my reference to pretending I know what I'm talking about, right? Ah well, I was never fooling anyone anyway! Drop a line and let us know how the rodeos go this weekend. And tell your wife she better freaking take care of herself...don't make me come back there and whip you, girl! That stuff sucks and it's not right you have to deal with it...we'll write again soon. Josie wants to write and Stan actually said something about it...I think it may actually happen...someday....

Yo diggity!

Hey all,

Tell Aaron that Jake and I think that it is awesome that he covered! Woot! Not a whole lot going on with Jake and I. We are still running and slowly starting to run more. I've been doing yoga as well. I've had a little more work and am very happy for it. There is quite the storm going on outside. Lots of thunder! Yay.
Oh, Jake and I joined a book club with mom and dad.
Jake is doing well at work and enjoying it as much as any other job. He has decided that he wants to get a master's degree in digital art, and is excited to start school as soon as we establish residency.
I'm glad that things are going well for everyone. Tell them all that I say hi and that I love them and miss them a lot.

8 Seconds

Lana, Its eight seconds I wont tell Aaron you said seven. Covering a bull does mean the eight seconds. We are going to cedar city rodeo Friday and delta on saturday. It sounds like you all are having a good time. Im glad. sounds like lots of friends are being made. (awsome) How are Bethany and Jake doing? Amanda just went back on track and has a new teacher from South Africa (pretty dang cool) there are only 20 kids in her class. It was her first day today and she loves it. Amy got a temp job at hollywood video. They just put in for some fed grants to get some help. They are doing great. Amie had some flare ups the last three weeks, but is doing much better I think. I do miss you all. We miss you all. I will try and keep putting my ramblings on the blog. I will try and get the kids and Amie to put some on too. Love you guys
Stewart

Woohoo! Aaron covered...

Okay, now you have to tell me what that means (ha ha!)...seriously. Does that mean he stayed on for the 7? If so, that's FABULOUS! Well, actually, it's fabulous he can get on those hulking beasts at all. I still don't know how you guys handle the cardiac...though it must make you so proud.

Cody is practicing hard with his soccer club. One of the coaches (yeah, there's like 3) actually played pro soccer and coached division 1 college soccer (at least I assume it's college; Stan just says division 1 so I'm pretending I know what he's talking about). He's making friends on the team, which is one of the perks of organized sports is, right? He's doing well at school...but working his butt off between school and practices.

Josie just started dance and, since we haven't been able to find a club soccer team for her yet, she's going to try softball with her friend, Megan. She did pretty well at the "skills evaluation" fielding the ball and batting, having never done it before. Watching her catch (er, not) the pop flies was very funny. Had not a clue what to do...kind of like her mom.

Bethany and I are keeping busy with work...kind of. Busy enough to suffice, I suppose, for now. Though it's nice to be able to play when we want. When we were out looking for some books, we drove by this lake and saw a 6-8 foot alligator just floating on the surface. It was pretty cool...but made us realize how small the one in our pond is...made us kind of grateful for his size, too! Of course, the tiniest thing is the scariest thing in the water around here. There's this amoeba that lives at the bottom of shallow, warm freshwater lakes, and when it gets kicked up by boats and kids wipe out and get water (with amoebas) get up their noses, they get in the brain and they cause this amoeba encephalitis...3 adolescent boys have died this summer from it, and there wasn't a thing they could do to save them. Ack!

So did Stan and I tell you we made this goal for 25 marathons by 50? Yeah, and since I have less time (though I'm two races ahead), we're going to get a jump on it by doing 3 in about 8 weeks! Should be very....hard! But we'll just plan on finishing...no personal records here until we adjust to training in the humidity.

I remember you saying that Nick was working...where did Amy find a job? She's in school, too, right? Also, what's that Amanda girl up to? Josie and I were playing catch just tonight with the softball that she had people sign, and there was a sweet note from Amanda to her and I teared up immediately.

We love you guys and miss you like crazy. It's so stupid how we take family for granted just because they are so close. Let us know how the fall Powell trip goes. When it was hot, hot, hot here, I was so jealous of you guys! Keep writing, Stewart. It truly makes my day!

Herriman Rodeo

Aaron road Last night in the Herriman Rodeo and covered a bull named F9. It was the first High School rodeo he has covered in. Yea

Homework Rocks!!!! (NOT)

I'm glad Jose got a teacher. Now she can get busy. I'm glad everyone is staying busy, That's a good sign. I think it would be great to have Vance's aboard . You guys are going to be regular Floridians that's great I think? We are suppose to have a huge weather change this week after tying a record high on labor day of 96. Its suppose to really cool off. We just went to the Vernal rodeo (not so good) we will leave it at that. Aaron has promised to spend allot more time practicing, since we bought a mighty Bucky machine. We are all staying busy as well. Seems like you never have enough time. Nick and Amy both have jobs know and have put in for some grants. We are planning another Trip to Powell the end of Sept. if everything goes right. Its good to hear from everyone. Love you all.
Stewart and family