Dan in 1988

A rare occasion...

All the kids together at once, Merry Christmas from our family.

Merry Christmas

Love,

Josh, Catie, & Benjamin

News Flash

Andy just received an email notice that he was accepted to BYU! Yeah! He is happy and relieved. I cried of course.

Congratulations on a job well done

good luck on the rest of your eagle.

Andy's Eagle project

As Andy's 18th birthday is rapidly approaching, I thought I'd share a few pictures from his recent Eagle project. We had planned to help him at Thanksgiving but he experienced a few delays. The project was to clear out a cluttered storeroom at Melody's middle school, build shelves and then reorganize everything back into the room.

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Now three more merit badges and he's done!
Good luck Andy.

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone! They don't have that as a light display at our Winter Lights though. = ) Hope all is well and happy.

Thanksgiving

Mom and dad are visiting us in Pacifica.

So I'm showing him how to upload photos to the blog.

The first is Andy meeting cousins when he was at BYU Music camp this year.
The second is Dad's new car, Chevy Cobalt.



Now he can add more posts with pictures.

To all our family - Happy Thanksgiving,

love

Linda, Dave and Sam

Apology for slacking in the birthday patrol

Ok there may have been less confusion on who needs to hear the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL" If I had not slacked off in my birthday police duties and included pictures. SO sorry about that Rachel but this is the first night since Monday that I've even turned on the computer. Hope it was a great day!
And considering the fact that next week looks just as busy I am sending out "HAPPY THANKSGIVING" wishes to you all!!!!
Love you tons!
P.S. Adam, Betsy, Josh, Catie, Are you guys still planning on coming down in Dec? Let me know soon as we are trying to sort out plans.
Patti

Jerusalem update

I got my schedule for the Jerusalem Center in the mail on Saturday. I cannot even describe how excited I am starting to become. I was reading through the schedule and almost started crying from joy! I can't believe I'm really going! How did I get to be so lucky, so blessed? It is a miracle, I assure you. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, an opportunity that I have dreamed of for so long that it is weird it is finally coming true. But then again, I should be used to this, right? I dreamed of serving a mission in Russia, and I did! How many people are able to say that? Now that I think of this a little more, opening that envelope and reading my schedule brought many of the same feelings that were present when I opened my mission call letter and read the words "You have been called to serve in Samara, Russia." The joy almost burst out of my chest! There are no words to describe it!
So, to give you a little idea of what I am going to be doing for the first 4 months of 2008, I've found some maps and circled the areas that I will be visiting/touring.
Basically, we have one full week in Egypt, 4 days in Jordan, and a little over a week in Galilee, besides smaller day trips inside of Israel. I will see the Giza Sphinx, the Pyramids, Funerary Temple of Ramses III, Memphis, Luxor Temple, Old Cairo, Mount Sinai (and even spend the night on Mount Sinai), the Red Sea, Jericho, Nazareth, Caesarea, Mount Herzl, City of David, Hezekiah's Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, Jordan River Baptismal Site, Bethlehem, Shepherds Field, Nimrod's Castle, boat across the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Mount Tabor, Tiberias, Qumran, Tel-Aviv, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Bethany, Bethphage, Bethesda, Gethsemane, Garden Tomb, the Mediterranean Sea, swim in the Dead Sea, and much more. I will be studying Arabic, Ancient Near East Studies, Modern Near East Culture and History, Old Testament, and New Testament.
In addition, I just found out that I have received a scholarship to help pay for the Jerusalem Center. So, with that money, I have 34% paid, (leaving 66% left to pay). Then, when I subtract the money I got from my loan, I only have to figure out how to pay an additional 35% of the total . . . by November 26. The other half of my loan will cover most of that amount, but I won't get it until January. So we will see what happens. But, I am not worried about it. I am very excited and can hardly wait for this semester to be over because that means I will be going to Jerusalem!!!!!

Rachel McGee

Happy Birthday Rachel. Hope you have a great day
and get to do all the things that you desire.

I make Drugs

Here is a news article that mentions a drug I worked on at Tularik. Now called INT131.

They won't let us publish on it but every so often they do release some news like the description in this article.

November Birthdays

So Whitney just had her 9'th month Birthday but Today is her Dad's . Happy 31, Jesse. Wish you many more.

Here is a photo from a few years back .




And here is Whitney's photo from Halloween 2007 .

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful day

Love,

Josh, Catie,

&

Benjamin

Happy Halloween. We hope that all the young kids, and adults young at heart, in our family have a happy and safe Halloween.

love, Linda, Dave and Sam

BYU

Andy's application to BYU is due by Dec 1. The housing options start on the 10th. Any advice about housing and meal plans? Choices are Helaman Halls, Wyview Park, and Heritage Halls. There are lots of different meal plans. Also, what about Freshman Academy?

A better picture

Don't forget a Happy Birthday to Larry too!

And Another Birthday

Dad's Mom, Elsie Gifford McGee was born on 29 Oct 1895.

Grandpa(Ross) McGee's first wife died in 1920 at age 32. Elsie married at age 26 when he was nearly 40 and had 5 kids under age 13. Fortunately for us, they raised another family as well with 6 kids including Dad.

Does anyone have . . . .

I am looking for a full, complete list of the birthdays for our family. (It's for a Christmas project.) Does anyone have that and could I get a copy?

Optical Illusion

This is pretty weird. Do you see the figure spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise? Which leg is she standing on? If you look away, then back using your peripheral vision, it may change.

I was pretty convinced this was a hoax at first, and that it was designed to switch directions at random intervals. Then Jesse came home and we saw it differently.... He was getting really mad because I kept saying I saw her on her right foot and he couldn't understand why I couldn't see that she was on her left! So I guess it really is an illusion. Pretty cool, possibly the only "moving" illusion I've seen. How do you see it? Can you make it switch at will? BTW, I highly doubt this is a valid "right-brain/left-brain" test, but it is fun.

Andy's Homework

This is me, playing piano and singing... I'm no professional, this is just for fun. And I know, I sound all nasily*spelling?* and other tonal stuff... but as i've said, it's for fun.



Lyrics:

I'm looking out passed my window sill
I see a girl standing still
Starin' up at the deep blue sky
As if watching the clouds pass by.
I yell out, "What do you see?"
She replies, "The leaves are green, again."

It's a nice day outside
I should go out and not hide.
The little girl is beckoning,
with a smile, she says to me,
"Sir, have you seen
That the leaves are green, again?"

So I go out and look up
It truly is quite the shock.
"You are right in what you say,
it's a beautiful day.
And now I can share what I've seen.
And tell them all that the leaves are green, again."

-Andy Chow

JERUSALEM

Hi everyone! You may have already guessed from my title here, but I have been officially accepted to the Jerusalem Center!!!! I'm really excited, though I'm still not sure where the money is going to come from. I am still accepting freewill donations of every kind. Thanks to those who have contributed, no matter how small the amount, and thanks to those who have expressed desire to help even if they don't have the means to do so.
Anyway, I am working on a student loan, so I don't want anyone to fill bad if they can't help. I think I will be alright. My scholarship covers the cost of tuition, so with that help and the donations I have received, I only have 76.5% of the money left to pay.
That probably sounds like a lot, but it is way better than having 100% to pay, and I have until the end of November to make the final payment.
Anyway, I'm really excited! Here are some pictures of Jerusalem so you can see what I'm getting in to:

And another Birthday

Here are a few more old photos to help celebrate the day. Happy Birthday,
Bobby, Cameron, Bob or Robert

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad.
Hope you enjoy the day and this look back.

Another Birthday

Happy Birthday Michele,

We've only just begun.
Thanks for sharing your life with me.

Love

Larry

Happy Birthday!

Ok. I am resigned to being the birthday police and will fulfill my responsibility to the best of my ability and should I be unable to remember everyone's I defer to whoever the 1st runner up is :-)
Happy Birthday Monty!
Not sure if he will see it or not so bombard his email pickrellh223@yahoo.com!!!!

Future Reunions

The McGee Family reunion is scheduled for the July 4th Weekend 2008 in Pacifica CA. We're looking forward to having most of the family visit. Here are a few pictures to get you prepared for what is possible around here.

Michele saw this whale on the beach on Monday, but when she took Katie there after school, it had washed back out to sea.


The middle view is from the top of the bluff looking down to the beach.



The last view is from a restaurant in the hotel that Michele stayed at the first time she came to visit me in Pacifica. (She didn't take these pictures, but they show what is possible to see around here.)

So get your plans arranged. Let us know that you are coming and how many so we can calculate the layout of sleeping bags and airmattresses.

Larry and Michele

For Sara's BD

Hope this reminds you of Happier Times. Congratulations on your 18th!.

WHAT? Am I the birthday police?

I am so surprised that no one has sent Happy Birthday greetings to SARA! I thought for sure someone would make it to the computer before my long day would allow me to.
I'm sorry Sara but I don't have a good picture of just you :-)
Hope it was a good day! Celebrate good!
love
Patti

Karen

Thanks for all your love, prayers, support, and flowers through Karen's illness and her passing. I could not have married into a finer family. I am truely thankful that families are forever.

This is Elizabeth Atwood and I am currently working on a life history for my brother, Clarence (shown here). I need to collect as many memories of him as I can get so, if anyone has any of him, please send them to my e-mail account. I'd really appreciate it. The more memories I collect, the better and more complete it will end up being. Also, if there are any pictures of him in them concerning any memories you may have it would be appreciated greatly to better improve this project.

News From Brigham

We're sad to report that Jerry Hilton who was the favorite math teacher of some of you children passed away yesterday of injuries sustained on a bicycle ride down the canyon above Brigham City when he was struck by a women driving through a red light. He suffered severe injuries and had undergone surgery but they removed the life support yesterday and he evidently passed away shortly after.
We will miss his cheery disposition and friendly smile and offer condolences to his family
G&G

The three terrors of charleston

We took Kleigh to see Bart Simpson yesterday at the mall. Here is a picture of him and me. Sorry for those of you that have never gotten to see any pictures of him. Jenn says that he looks like me and nothing like her. He recently started school and he loves going. He is 4 years old even though some people keeping on trying to say that he is only 3.

Kleigh and Jenn

Hidden Blog

I was just talking with Dad and Mom. He asked if I had seen his post. It turns out when he entered a new comment on the blog, he actually created a new blog so to read that post, you need to look here.

Enjoy.

Belated Birthday dinner

We were happy to have Dan over for a home cooked meal, birthday cake and a few rounds of phase 10. He's enjoying his new job. Much more challenging. As he described it: 9 hours at work seems like 4. That is a sign you are in the right field.

Thanks for coming Dan.

Love Dad

Slightly better news

Hi, once again. My dad has been a little better about keeping me informed these last couple days, so here I am posting again. My mom has gone through her first chemotherapy treatment today and will be returning to Bismarck with my dad tomorrow morning (around 10am I think). There, she will continue to have chemotherapy treatments for a while, I don't know how long, probably until they begin to see results. Once the cancer has shrunk enough for the surgery, they will drive back to Minneapolis for that.
Oh, when she gets to Bismarck, she will probably be in the hospital for the first couple of days, but will be able to return home between treatments. She will also have to go in to the hospital regularly to have fluid drained from the area until treatment begins to work.
Once again thank you for all your prayers! We still have a long way to go, but with so many people praying for her and for our entire family, I know that we will be blessed!

Different type of news

Just wanted to let everyone (in one central information location) know . . . Ross and I are having a baby. I'm six weeks pregnant and I go to the doctor's office tomorrow for confirmation. We won't have a due date or any of that information until my appointment next Tuesday. I will keep everyone posted as we go along. = )

More news

Hi, once again, here I am bringing bad news. My dad called me this morning to give me an update. He called from my mom's cell phone, so if you are trying to reach him, you can try that number or his cell.
Anyway, now he says she has uterine cancer. I don't know why that keeps changing because first it was cervical, than it was ovarian, now it is uterine. Anyway, I guess that is where the cancer first started. After testing, they discovered that the cancer is too extensive to remove with surgery. It has spread to her bowels. So, she has to go through chemotherapy to see if that will shrink the cancer before they can do surgery. We are still waiting to find out if she and my dad can return to Bismarck for chemotherapy before the surgery.
Thanks to everyone for your prayers. We need all the divine help we can get.
Love you all!

We (almost) forgot to send out Happy Birthday greetings to Dan! His first "29th" birthday today! Don't forget Dan, we are celebrating the big "0"s next year!

Family News

I realize that some of you know about this already and maybe some of you have heard little bits, so I've been asked to post more inform- ation on here so that everyone can be involved. My mom (see far left in the picture) Karen, was just diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I don't know a whole lot more than that except it is bad enough that she has been hospitalized. They can't do anything for her in Bismarck, so she has been transfered to a hospital in Minneapolis. I don't know the name of the hospital.
So, please keep her in your prayers! Now that she is in Minneapolis (they flew her and my dad there today) she will have to have surgery and then go through chemotherapy.
I guess that's about it. There's not much else to be said, yet, but I will try to keep you informed as soon as I get more information. We love you all and appreciate your support, prayers and love during this time.

Some unanswered questions

I previously posted with some helps for those who are just joining the blog. It is still accessible, you just have to go to the blog archive on the right hand side of the page, make the month of August visible and select the post titled "For those of you just joining us." This will bring up a page with that post and you can go through the numbers if you need help. If you need more help than this, please feel free to email me. Everyone should have my email address by now since I have sent out mass emails to everyone.

Having said that, I had a few questions that have since gone unanswered. I would like everyone's opinion about these things, so please comment on this post - that is probably the best option so you can try your hand at commenting ;) - or you can email me with your response.

"Once everyone has joined, I am wondering if people would want this blog left public, or made private. Private would allow only members of the blog to view the blog (I have chosen not to do this yet because I want all family members to see the blog even if they haven't signed up yet)."
So, what do you think? Would you like this blog to become private once everyone has joined? This would protect privacy if anyone posted something personal, no one outside of the family would be able to read it, or see pictures posted.
Well, we actually have three options. We could make it so only registered blogger users could see the site (I don't really see the point in this but basically it will not allow people to find this blog unless they have a google account and are registered with blogger). Or, we can leave it public where everyone can find the blog and read it if they so desire.
Please let me know which option you would like. Everyone's opinion counts and I will probably go with majority rules here, so tell me what you think! If you don't mind any of the options, please tell me that as well.

"I started a list of links on the right hand side of the page. I thought we might like to have a list of individual blogs and/or myspaces where people can see what you have there. I already added mine, but I didn't want to start listing everyones without approval, so if you would like your blog or whatever listed there, go ahead and add it (you should be able to do that) or let me know and I will add it. Make sure to send me the link if you want me to add it, that way I don't have to track it down."
Please let me know if there is an interest for this, or not. We don't have to have it, but I thought it might be an easy and handy way to find more detailed information about members of our family. If you want this information private, then answer the above question and we can wait until the rest have joined before we complete this link.

By the way, now that you have a google/blogger account, feel free to make a personal blog! You can check out mine to see what kinds of things I did on my personal blog, or just make it up as you go along. There is no limit to the number of blogs you are a member of, so go ahead!

Ok, this is a long post, so keep sight of the major things: comment to let me know whether you think this blog should go private and tell me if there is interest in having a list of individual family members' blogs, myspaces, and/or websites.

Happy Birthday Mom

So Today is Mom's Birthday. Still young at 76.

Thanks for everything.

Love You