August 24 - 30, 2009

Fortie Family Flyer
August 24 – 30, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,
It’s been a bit quiet around the house. Michelle and Jennifer went up to Seattle to visit Nathan and Paige for a few days before school starts (in fact they missed the first day of school). Brian is busy starting school so we see him now and then.
I rode the scooter to deliver pictures to Repartee Gallery then kept going to BYU to take an inventory before school starts. It’s a nice ride and takes me about an hour and a half (going on farm roads through Lehi and then down Geneva Road to Provo). I took my camera because the scenery is great but I didn’t dare stop on my way there (had to get there before the places closed) then I spent so much time at the BYU bookstore doing inventory and organizing pictures that by the time I got back to the scenic stuff it was too dark. Oh well, maybe next time.
The yard has needed work after our week in Montana so I got my little push mower that used to be my grandpa Fortie’s, and mowed a section every day for exercise (Some parts were too long and I had to use my power push mower). It took me the whole week a little at a time but it was good for me. As I was mowing along I thought how much life, or at least any new stage in life, is a lot like mowing a lawn. When you first start out around the outside, it is fairly difficult with all the unusual shapes and edges to go around. As you move more and more toward the middle, with careful planning, you straighten out the lines so you are able to go fairly quickly along straight rows as each time around gets faster and faster and shorter and shorter until you finish. Now the very end is a bit like old age. You go around in small circles until you are dizzy and can’t stand up anymore but that’s another topic.
I read one of Elder David Mounteer’s old letters this week (missed it when it first came our way) and he said he was impressed at how people on his mission where willing to give up life long activities to join the church. He specifically mentioned people having pictures of virgins and saints on the wall that they had been praying to all their lives and suddenly they are all gone and their life is changed. I also had someone (I think on Facebook) challenge everyone to do a 40 day fast from the things of the world. I think that would be interesting as a family to try, and then maybe record the results. Perhaps everyone needs to give up some things they have been doing all their life to move to the next level.
Well anyway, no grand activities beyond picking the girls up from the airport and hearing of their grand activities. They had fun and now it’s time to go to school. I’ll try to get them to tell about it.
Oh, we went as a family to see the movie “Up” on Saturday. I had heard it was good but we were laughing out loud through most of it and the audience clapped at the end. Great show and I recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet; it’s a keeper.
Sunday was rather busy with church, home teaching, Trek fireside and squeezing dinner in between with grandpa, grandma, Chad, Alicia and Spencer. They had prepared dinner for us but then we realized the trek fireside was at 6:00 pm and we couldn’t get everything done, go to their house, then get back to the fireside. They were kind enough to pack dinner up and bring it over. It was a great dinner that Alicia had prepared and though we had to eat fairly quickly we had fun. Spencer rarely comes here so he had to explore our house for a while which caused everyone to go around childproofing the place as he went. It was great to see him; he sure is growing up fast. He even folded his arms during the prayer. WOW!!
The Trek fireside was great. They showed the movie of the trek and it was done very well. Michelle was on there a few times and afterwards they said they always like to interview her because she has something good to say beyond the typical one word answer they get from most kids.
While home teaching the Bishop said that he was at girls camp when they did their skits. He said Michelle played a boy in the skit and was so funny that everyone was laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. She is such a ham sometimes but then that’s what it is like with all our kids everyday. The girls say their friends think our family is crazy (I think they mean that in a good way).
Well, that’s it for this week.
Hope your trek is a good one,
Ken and clan




From Brian:

Dear family,
How is everyone’s end of summer. Fall is creeping up and showing its signs.
This week on Monday for singles ward family home evening we all went on a hike. If you can call it a hike, it was more like a stroll or a jaunt that took about 10 minutes. We walked a little ways up a trail up yellow fork canyon and stopped and talked and threw the Frisbee around.
On Tuesday I woke up early thinking I had classes at school. I got there thinking I was about 10 minutes late for my Politics class and it turned out classes started on the 26th a Wednesday so all Tuesday and Thursday classes begin on Thursday. That was a relief. So I ended up talking to financial aid about my grant, seeing a councilor about my classes and what to do about a future transfer program. She recommended getting a letter of completion for general studies and then transferring down to UVU or up to USU in a year for Pre-Med.
After that I went across the street to the Hospital on 9000 south to talk to my doctor about medication and insurance and stuff. I also checked to see if the hospital had any jobs I could get into. That would work out nice to work across the street from where I go to school.
On Wednesday I did some studying on my own and then had an Institute class at night. It is New Testament and I love the teacher. She uses the scriptures too, but it is also more of a History class, about the time period, what the culture was like, and Old Testament Jewish culture leading up to Roman rule. She has a bunch of artifacts from that era and brought a suit of armor from a Roman soldier to show us. I tried it on. It is a cool class! I have learned a lot. You get the context of what some scriptures are talking about because that is how their life was back then.
On Thursday I had my first college classes in the morning. I went on Bangerter Highway and it was a parking lot from 104 South to 90th south. Some guy at 4 in the morning in a jeep had ran a red light, got hit by a semi and died. The road was closed off and I and everyone else was about 10 minutes late (including the professor) for my Politics and Government class.
I loved the class; he is a really cool guy, lectures well, is interesting and keeps your attention. He pronounced my name right and I said “wow I’m impressed you said it right, no one ever does.” He said “well do you know a Max Fortie?” I said yes that I had met him once. He played trumpet with him in band. He also knew Eldon from high school, said he was an excellent basketball player. I was confused for a second; I’d never heard anyone bring up basketball referring to Eldon.
He was passing out pencils; he said he got them from a quick trip to the golf course. He said to get it you have to clap and bark like a seal. So I did, no one else had, so I went “Arrhh Arrrrhhhh!” and he laughed and said, “you are a marked man Mr. Fortie, you better watch it now.” We had a good talk after about Max, Eldon and also the health care bill, which I asked about (kind of a priority for me.)
I had my speech class after and really loved that class too. It was mostly introducing and he let us out early, but very informative instructor and kept your attention well. He had us get up in the front and tell about ourselves. Which I was surprised terrified some people just to do that. I had taken the class because I love speaking and thought it would be fun. Some you can tell were perhaps strongly encouraged by parents to take it because they had no communication skills at all.. Some, who appeared to not get out much, were white as a ghost and scarred to death in front of people. I think we are all going to learn a lot from the Principles of Public Speaking class.
At night I had my English 1010 class. It was ok, just English, not a fan. But it’s got to be done so I’ll make it through it. The teacher was just all right, kind of strict and less interesting. I loved my English 1010 class in high school. I should not have to take it again at all; it’s a repeated class. But my grade in the concurrent enrollment course was not as good as medical school wants. So here I am again in it. She gave a huge chapter to read over the weekend.
On Friday we did some cleaning and then I drove down on my scooter to Provo to go see Greg and Daniel. I got lost for about 40 minutes, which was lame. I wish Utah valley would do like Salt lake and all go off the same address system. See in Salt Lake City, Riverton does not have it’s own address; neither does Sandy or Draper or West Jordan. They all go off downtown Salt Lake, off the temple. But Utah valley no, good luck. You have Lehi, American Fork, Orem and Layton (which Layton is not even big enough to deserve it’s own address system), all different from each other. So if someone says come to 800 South and 400 West, is that the 800 south in Orem, Spanish Fork or Provo? Going down there I think I passed at least 4 separate 800 south’s. They just need to drop their pride and all go off of one city like the Provo temple.
Ok off my soapbox there.
We hung out at their apartment, made food and just talked. We went down to the pool and hot tub and met some people down there. Daniel and I talked a lot about missions and experiences, while Greg found himself a female to talk to. He told me a lot about Japan and culture there. We shared cool conversion stories and our favorite baptisms. We all had fun. We listened to some excerpts from conference and I showed them pictures from our Montana trip. We got to bed at almost 1 in the morning. Then I had to get up at a little after 6 to head back for school.
Saturday I have classes in the morning. So I left Provo very early, luckily not getting lost on the way back, as much. When I was coming back into Salt Lake I was stopped at a light. This girl in a big old Ford in front of me (who I recognized and am pretty sure is in my ward.) put on the gas when the light turned green shot forward and I heard a slam and the truck halted. I thought “oh my gosh there was a smaller car in front of her and she just rear ended him.” This very angry looking guy got out like “what are you thinking!?” we all drove around her stopped on Bangerter and kept going. But I thought “this is the beginning of a very bad day for her, it’s not even 7:30 quite yet and she just got in an accident.” I went to my anatomy class and it was really good. It is way long, 3 hours, but I like it. The teacher is good. I studied some when I got home and then at night as a family we went to see UP. I almost died laughing. I kept thinking, “I have got to be bothering the people next to me.” That is the loudest and most frequent I have ever laughed in a movie. I almost fell out of my chair or busted a gut. That is my favorite Pixar now it was hilarious. There are not as many funny liners like other movies, but instead just bizarre or awkward situations that drag on forever and make you laugh cause it’s so dumb.
On Sunday I had correlation with the missionaries early in the morning and we talked about how we have sort of lost our investigators. They fell off the face of the earth. One of them when one sister got transferred just would not return the sister’s calls or mine. He wanted to get baptized too. Which is not a good sign at all, makes you wonder if he liked the sister. Another one I can’t seem to get a hold of even though he’s way serious. So I got to speak in sacrament meeting. The missionaries spoke first then I did.
It went pretty well, I talked about some experiences on my mission where members stepped in and did what they are supposed to do. I had some really neat quotes I found from President Kimball, Elder Holland and Elder Ballard on member work. The spirit taught me a lot as I spoke. Something that meant a lot to me is that Cody Hurbison who is my hero in the ward, he is one of the most Christ like people I have ever known, he came up to me after and said “that is the most excellent talk I have ever heard on missionary work, and I’ve heard a lot of talks. Very moving and motivating.” It made me feel like at least someone listened and it sunk in, the fire is lit in one heart at least. Actually several people commented on it, but I worry that it was just an “enjoyed talk” where I want it to be an “I’m changed” talk.
I had felt prompted to challenge them at the end to pray that the Lord would open their eyes as they went about their day, to notice missionary opportunities. Because they are all so busy with college and work and dating, if we don’t look for them we can miss them completely so I told them “ask the Lord to show them to you.”
At night grandpa, grandma, Chad, Alicia and Spencer came over for dinner. It was kind of rushed because the girls had a fireside at night. I went over after church to the Elders Quorum Presidents house and helped him and some others make calls to people who had been neglected for the past few months and not been home taught. We just checked up on them at least on the phone, to see how they were and that someone was thinking about them.
Then after dinner Dad, Mom and the girls and I all went to the stake center to watch the Trek video that Michelle was on. It was much longer than the one I was a part of years back. Quite the big deal that someone took a lot of time on. IT was very moving and cool to see the parts Michelle was in.
Well best get this off it was a great week. Love you all and I’ll talk your ear off later.

Love Brian




From Elder Fortie:
Well outside world, life is good, I love serving as a missionary, things aren't necessarily going the way I want them to, but that seems to be the case with most of life all your life. We give the best we have to what we have. Mission life is no exception. But make no mistake I am loving it. The bishop of this ward is the best bishop I've seen in my mission, he is amazing and we love working with him. Also I have been working so hard to get the members back on the ball with many things from missionary work to temple attendance and getting church programs going that many of the members have grown very close to us and trust us very much. They call us asking us if we will bring an investigator to their house for a family home evening, and I don't even live in their area. The members in other area's trust and like my companion and me better then the missionaries in their area so they want us to come over, it's sad to have to tell them sometimes they need to support their missionaries and not us, though I do appreciate their kindness. On Saturday we took a group of people to the Oakland visitor’s center to see that, and it went really well. The Joseph Smith movie never ceases to impact me no matter how many languages I see it in or times. Sorry to be so short, but I have to go pick up a few elders from the shop, they had to take their car in to get worked on, and a couple other elders are stuck in the city... so guess who is the clean up guy? Sigh... it's okay, I was called to serve! I just didn't think I was gonna end up spending all my time serving missionaries haha! Take care everyone, keep a smile on, sorry to be brief. Who's cast out one of their "marbles" yet? GET ON IT!!! I cast one of mine out and I already feel the change!Love Elder Fortie




From Michelle:

Hi again!
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written. It seems that my life has been pretty crazy since I last wrote! I’ve had girls camp, Montana, and Seattle all in a row there! We really had no time to rest, it’s been go go go!
Girls camp was so much fun! We have some great girls in our ward and luckily they all get along very well! So we had lots of fun playing volleyball, hiking, making cute little crafts, playing games, and tug of war… all sorts of stuff! One thing that we had the opportunity to do was a challenge course. It had a large zip line that we got to go on, and all sorts of other activities that taught us to rely on each other and have faith and trust. It was a really neat experience and I was really impressed with all of the girls as we all pulled together and found solutions to each puzzle together, never fighting, and always positive! Another fun thing we did while the bishopric was there for the bishop’s night. We put on skits! Now being the theatrical person that I am, I always have a lot of fun with them! Our skit was about “Modest is Hottest” and I had WAY too much fun being the guy that got to hit on all the girls! :] I was wearing guy’s clothes, and we used charcoal to give me sideburns and a goatee. I used all my best pick-up lines, like “did you have Lucky Charms for breakfast? Cause you’re looking magically delicious!” and “If you were part of a volcano… you’d be the lava… cause you’re hot.” It was a lot of fun, and I had the bishop in tears he was laughing so hard. I had a lot of people there tell me that I make a good guy, and that I really look exactly like me brother (Jason) or my dad. I didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not… seeing as I’m not sure the fact that I play a good guy is exactly what I should be aiming for! And second, because my dad is more than 50 years old, and I don’t really want to look that old quite yet! So that was girls camp!
Then the day I got home from girl’s camp, I left with Grandma and Grandpa to Montana to visit the Rauckhorst family! We played on the boat all week and had LOTS of fun with their Seadoos on the water! On land, I also had some fun on their four wheelers! Man I love those things!! It was just a lot of fun to be with cousins and laugh! We also spent some time at nights around the campfire, and laying out looking at stars, which I love!! So that was super great for me!
Then Saturday, once we were back in Utah, we went to Spencer’s 1st birthday party! Alicia did a really good job with it, and it was super cute!! It was fun to see Spencer enjoying his first cake and his first ice cream! He’s now a true Fortie with an ice cream addiction to go along with the name! He played in the sprinklers and just entertained us all!
Sunday morning, Jennifer and I flew into Seattle to go visit Nathan and Paige! We went to church with them, and then had a lovely evening of walking along the shore with Paige, Nathan, and their little dog, Avery. The next day, us girls spent the day shopping while Nathan was at work. (Literally, we were gone ALL day shopping!) I guess that’s just what us girls do best!
The next day, we went to Nathan’s army base to see where he works and to get the grand tour of the place! It was immense! It was really kinda cool to see where he spends all his time! Then us girls went and saw the movie Julie and Julia. It was pretty good, although we all agreed that it seemed like they could have done more with it. Then that night, we went to see the Space Needle! The view from up there is spectacular and I had a hard time leaving it behind! It was such an incredible thing to see all the city lights and all the boats and everything! Wednesday, both Paige and Nathan had to work, so Jennifer and I just got to relax, kick back, and spend a little time in the pool! It was a nice way to relieve stress right before school starts. That night, Nathan got off early, so we ate dinner, and then all sat down and played a game of chicken foot... or at least I think that’s what it’s called… :] We had a really fun time there and were glad they let us come up!
I got home and had one day of school on Friday… and it wasn’t too bad. So maybe I’ll survive this year after all! Haha.
But for now, I’ve got to get to bed! I have school in the morning and unfortunately it’s pretty late!! So I love you all and hope things are well with you! Remember, success is no more than this… to rise each time you fall. Have a great week! Best of luck!
Love,
~Michelle Fortie



From Jennifer:
Hey everyone!
I know it seems like FOREVER since I wrote, probably because it has been! But I have excuses! We had girls camp which was so spiritual for all of us, we had so much fun and the priesthood all laughed there heads off watching us sing our girls camp songs and doing the dances with them! Testimony meeting had us all balling and there were things in there that touched us all in our own ways. It was such a great time and all of us young women grew closer.
We went to Montana to visit our cousins, the Rauckhorsts, and go to their cabin, it was so much fun! We rode the Sea-do all over and I got to drive it a lot! Then we got to take the boat around and did lots of water sports! I tried wake boarding, on the first time… I couldn’t get up, then the second time I started to… but fell back down and finally the third time I again started to but fell back down… my only mistake was still holding on to the rope I pulled about four muscles in both arms the rest of that day and the next I couldn’t grip or hold on to anything. It was tragic! But I still got to do the rope swing and enough fishing for three years, in my opinion. (=
Next Michelle and I headed out to Seattle all by ourselves like big girls. We then met up with Nathan and Paige and had an amazing week! We got to know Paige really well although Nathan had to work bunches and if he wasn’t working he was sleeping, but we did get to see him a couple times and he made us laugh a bunch. While there, we went shopping, went to Pikes Market (the famous one were they throw fish) and to the space needle, took a walk along the beach with Nathan and Paige and caught up on the chick flicks we were deprived of as children with four older brothers! We had an amazing time and were sad to leave Nathan and Paige and that beautiful city!
Well bed is calling! Good luck to you all! Jason I love Sarah! I will tell you why next week!

If the world didn’t suck, we would all fall off!
-Jennifer Fortie