Katie's First Blog!

Hi everyone!!

Sorry I have been such a slacker with this blog! I have been checking in and reading up on all of the "Trapnell Happenings,"but keep forgetting to update you all on my life as well. It's so exciting to hear about all the baby updates and the tidbits everyone has been sharing, this was really a great idea!

With skating winding down at the end of March and school now officially over, I can finally take a second to breathe! As I write this my parents and Aunt Carol are on their way to Kalamazoo to watch me walk in graduation tomorrow. I am very excited, especially because Aunt Carol made the trip to visit me!

It has been a busy last couple of months. My team (and of course my Mom and Dad) travelled to Providence, Rhode Island for Nationals in March. It was a fun trip, but also very emotional because it was my 10th and last skate at Nationals! Also, I have been involved with a national case study competition for my last advertising course. Our task was to create a college recruiting campaign for civilian jobs at the Department of Defense. We submitted our case materials about a month ago, and just received the news that my group made it to the second round of judging! The second round includes the top 5 groups and is being judged to choose the top 3. The top 3 groups will travel to the Pentagon at the beginning of May to present their campaign to the DoD marketing executives! We are very excited to have made it to the top 5 and are hoping we make it to the next round.

I'm not quite sure yet what I am going to do after graduation, but have been applying to jobs in Media Planning in Chicago. I have been talking to a few recruiters who have expressed interest in hiring me around June or July so I am planning (I hope!) on moving to Chicago sometime this summer. In the meantime I am enjoying a break from being busy. Next week I am heading down to Louisville to finally go to Derby!! It should be a good time.

Well, there's a little update about what's going on with me, I'm so happy to hear everyone is doing so well and keeping busy as always. I think we need to get working on our next family reunion!

Love and miss you all,
Katie

Update on Nancy's Surgery

Yesterday's surgery went well!!! The doctors even had her walking around today. She said the apprehension of putting weight on her hip was worse than the actual act of putting weight on it. She sounds great. She is scheduled be released from the hospital on Saturday. Everything seems to be going as planned. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

I finally watched it!

Well, I finally watched Juno last night with my mom and Aunt Carol. I loved it! Even aside from the story line, I loved the way it was made. I told them during one song, "That will be the next most popular wedding song!" Not really but I thought it was cool. It was the song that says, All I want is you, you to be my bride; then the singer refers to himself and his bride as all kinds of things like, if you were the floor, I'd be a rug, or maybe the other way but I thought, ahhh!!!! how romantic. Anyways, definately a great movie.
I have been doing almost nothing besides studying so it was a good break.
Saturday I am going to a silent siege down at the capitol (of Arizona) building. It should be really cool! We are silently praying for the end of abortion and we put red duct tape on our mouths that says life across it, to symbolize the little ones, and probably the mom's who get caught up in it. I like these things so much especially because I feel they are done with God's heart in mind. We are not shouting at people, or arguing with those who disagree, we are just taking a stand for what we believe is right, and silently praying that things change.
And....to my eldest sister and her tummy. my little, little nephew, I can't wait to squeeze your little cheeks and kiss your head (well, I guess its not for my sis, but for the baby). But I'll kiss your head if you want. :)

Picture of tiger in Lindsay's article

Let's see how observant you are. Who noticed in the picture of the tiger that she only has 3 legs? If you noticed, you're more observant than me. :-) Yay Cheryl, we need more boys in the extended family as we are outnumbered by all of you girls. Glad to hear all is well. Congrats to Lindsay for the "distinguished artist" award & the grant...I've always thought you were a distinguished artist even before you got the award!
Hey Ray, I feel like having a Dominos pizza...what would the delivery charge be from one of your stores? I can hear the delivery guy...Road Trip!
Carol, looking forward to your visit & our trip to the Derby w/ Brian & Amanda...hope Diane & George are ready for the onslaught of visitors. Brian & Amanda: remind me to tell you my joke about the field trip to the racetrack.
Red Wings are thru the 1st round hopefully on their way to another Stanley Cup. Go Pistons & Go Wings.
Just rented Waiting for Guffman (Amanda & Lindsay had recommended it), very funny! For those of you who haven't seen it or Best in Show, rent one or both as they are hilarious! It has been in the 70's for several days in a row...pretty good for MI.
Till later, Patrick

Matt Made It onto YouTube

Matthew was part of Lip Sync show at his high school. He is a big wrestling fan and proved it here. He is the "really strong one" according to his 4 year old sister. She was so impressed with his talent. He did really great, but check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAf92o9w07M

It's A Boy!!!

Well... we went for the big 20 week ultra sound today and it's a boy! This will be 2 of each for Larry. He and Matthew are very excited because they will no longer be outnumbered. We have not yet thought of a boy name but are working our brain cells. Luckily we have a few months to come up with this. I had a girl name, Sophie Kay, but it is impossible to make masculine. I am due September 8th. The baby is about 8 inches long and everything looks good. It was really great to see him moving around. I look forward to feeling it. Overall my health has been good. My mom's hip replacement is this Wednesday, so please pray that all goes well. She is really important to a whole lot of people.

Good news!

This morning I found out that I got a grant from the Nebraska Arts Council. I received the "Distinguished Artist Award" and will be receiving $5,000. That was a great way to start a Monday morning. I wish that happened every week!

It's not officially announced yet, but they said they will putting out a press release I think sometime this week. I can't remember the exact details, as I was still in shock from the news. I'll post with any new updates, but I wanted to share the good news.

I think I am going to put a portion of the money towards a short film that I want to make here in Omaha this summer. Now I just have to finish writing it and start planning!

The Jackson Browne Concert

I wanted to let you all know what a great time I had at the concert. It was even better than I anticipated! I was very pleased that Fred and Angela seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. Hey, Fred even got a round of applause when he carried in the two bags of can goods to the food drive for a local soup kitchen which were from the three of us! When I read a review after, it said that he only did a handful of hit songs but concentrated more on a variety of songs which showcased his songwriting career. I thought wow I guess he did just do only a few big ones but being familiar with his other songs I enjoyed them just as much! He also included some great anecdotes in between the songs! He will definitely continue to be my favorite!

Hello from Chicagoland

Hi to All,
Well the weather is finally turning as well as the grass to green and trees to blooms, the smell of spring is great in the midwest. I just wanted to say hi and remind everyone that I am hosting a baby shower for Cheryl here in IL on June 14th. I was excited to hear the the Phoenix group plan on coming and that Barb and Katie may also come. Diane and George will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary that weekend. That was about the time I met the Trapnell family, hard to believe it has been that long. My mom is doing well, she will be 89 in May. Still busy all the time and working 2 days a week for Ray. My sister Carol is making jewelry, beautiful stuff. Check it out on http://beadinforkichs.etsy.com. Hope to hear more from you all on the blog.

Love you guys,
Nancy

Article

I had an article published in this week's Omaha Reader, on the Omaha Zoo's conservation efforts. You can read it here.

Edit/Addition: I scanned the pages below (the first page is unreadable, as it was too big for the scanner, but you can read it here).

Family Reunions

I like Nancy's idea of family reunions every other year. Look at how much fun we had at Bian & Amanda's and Ashley & Will's weddings & unless there is a wedding in the next couple of years, we may not all get together. We could have alternating "reunion chairmen" to set up the logistics and we could have them in several different parts of the country. Something to think about! Let's start in the summer of '10, what does everyone think?
Patrick

Music video

Here is a music video I recently directed (and shot and produced) for a band called Thunder Power!!! from Omaha. Some of you have seen it, some haven't...but this blog is a great way to share stuff like this with the whole family. It was made on no budget, but it was a lot of fun and I like the band a lot. We shot it over 2 half days in Omaha. The day we shot outside was freezing!


"Why Don't You Go Take a Hike" Thunder Power!!! from Lindsay Trapnell on Vimeo.

Blog Name

One more thing...re: the name "Sarasota Grapevine", we wanted something in memory of Mom & Dad so Linds & I came up with that. So, if you have any issues with the name, you can take it up with her. Gotcha back Linds. :-)

Hello from "Detroitland"

I thought I'd better contribute from us Michiganders & I do think this is a great idea! I'm not computer illiterate but far from an expert so when I signed up, some of you may have noticed, not only did I sign up, I unintentionally created my own blog. :-) I'm sure it would have been extremely interesting (NOT) but Lindsay helped me delete it. Since I don't have a lot to add right now, I thought I would let you know that I am pregnant as well...hey, it can happen, anyone see that transgender guy on Oprah & in People. On second thought, maybe I'm just getting a potbelly...more sit-ups are on my agenda. It has been in the 60's the last few days so take that you Arizonians & Californians. Cheryl: Lindsay & I were also upset when UCLA lost as we both had them winning it all. The "Family Brackets" were a lot of fun & pretty cool that Jamie Poljanac won as that was the 1st time she has filled out the brackets. The final game was one of the best ever, what a comeback by Kansas! The Tigers, who are supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball (Sports Illus picked them to win the World Series) are starting off great...0-7. Oh well, fortunately it's a long season. Hope everyone gets involved with this blog & hope you all are doing well.
Pat

Hello everyone! I think this is exciting. It will be like calling Grandma, and the Sarasota name is very appropriate. Well... over here in Phoenix, my mom is still recovering from her surgery and heart attack. If she doesn't go hiking soon I'm sure she is going to go mad. I am doing almost nothing besides school, study, more study and taking care of Allie; however, I just watched the movie August Rush and I loved it. Not so sure if the movie is plausible in the real world, but the underlying message was, I believe, true to a tee.
I applied to a couple hospitals to work as a nurse extern, so pray that I get a position, there are very few extern positions available.
Ashley is pregnant, I'm sure you all know, but I am so excited, within a month I will have two new editions, either nieces or nephews. Allie wants one of both so they can get married but Cheryl said no son of her's will marry into this family! I thought it was funny. sorry Allie.

Greetings from Anthem, Arizona!

Hi everyone! I hope that this finds all of you doing well! I think that this blog is going to be a great opportunity to keep up with everyone's "Happenings". Thank you Lindsay for setting it up for us. I enjoyed remembering the "Super Bowl Half Time" experience about a week ago when I made a few scrapbook pages with an assortment of items I had. And, I'm looking forward to some fun activities in the next few weeks. Next Monday Fred, Angela and I are going to a Jackson Browne concert. I'm sure that all of you probably know that he has been my favorite for about 30 years. And then, later in the month I'll be headed to Michigan for Katie's graduation. And then, on to Kentucky with the group for "Derby Weekend". I'm so glad that quite a few have already signed on for the blog and I hope that the number continues to grow. I'm sending my love to all of you!

Carol

Greetings from California

Like mother like daughter... I have never blogged before either. But... I have blabbed and I figure they are similar. So here goes....
We are all recovering from UCLA not making it to the finals (OK well... Larry is really bummed but I am being supportive for him.) I am very grateful we did not come in dead last on the brackets. We were in last place for most of it.
My pregnancy officially entered it's fifth month today. Everything seems to be going really great!I should know if it's a boy or a girl in the next 3 weeks. We are looking forward to going to Chicago in June.
Work has been a little concerning because many of the teachers in our district were issued pink slips due to budget cuts. I have enough seniority to have a job but have been unsure of the security of my grade level position. I did receive confirmation today that I will be able to keep my second grade position at the same site. I am really excited!!!
Great Blogging with ya all

Hello from Chicagoland

Hello to All,
I have never "blogged" before so I hope I am doing this right and it lands in the right place. I won't share anything tooo personal until I know what I am doing. This is a great idea, so many people in so many places. It is also a great way to let everyone know whats going on. You all know that Cheryl is pregnant and due Sept. 9th. I am having a shower for her in Chicago on June 14, everyone is welcome. Let me know if you can come. I believe both Michigan and Phoenix will be represented. I should be recovered from my hip surgery by then and the pool will be open, so all will be good. I would love to hear how everyone is doing, work, family etc. Ray and I are "same ole same ole" he does pizza, I go to work. Life is good. We are blessed. I miss you all. I don't know when we will see everyone again. Should probably think about setting up family reunions every other year or so. Love you all, Nancy

Welcome!

Hello family and friends! I thought this would be a good way for everyone to keep in touch with each other and see what everyone is up to, especially now that we're spread out around the country.

So feel free to post and comment openly and as often as you would like. You can write about what you did today, the good book you just read, how upset you were that (insert any Michigan team here) lost, upcoming vacation plans, a new job, how much you miss your fellow family...you get the idea. You can also post photos and videos here too. It's pretty easy. Let me know if I should post a how-to tutorial post.

Please let me know if you have any problems getting onto the blog or using it, or if you want me to send an invitation to a different e-mail address (since the address where you get the invitation is also your login). I will do my best to get everyone up and running.

So I suppose that's it for now. I really look forward to visiting here and seeing what you all are up to, and I will follow one of my own suggestions and say that I miss you all!

Oh, and I hope you like the name of the blog, my dad and I came up with it. If you have any issues with it, you can take it up with him.