Florida and Arizona

It has been an interesting week for the Lintons in FL. I flew out of Pensacola last Saturday and came to Arizona. I am here for a week long school seminar. Brooke stayed behind to keep the troops in line. They went to the beach today and it was beautiful. It was 85-90 degrees and slight breeze. The kids had to be dragged home for naps. Brooke is going to girls camp next week because none of the YW leaders could go so they asked Brooke. We are looking forward to a visit from G & G Linton next week. We too are looking forward to General Conference. It looks like Virginia will be the place we will call home very shortly. I am in the final phases of the HR red-tape process to get transfered to a new job. We will know everything by the middle of October or Nov 1st. Please keep us updated on how life is going for all of you. Love the Floridians.

The Hills are Alive with Color

We went to Strawberry this weekend to get it ready to be the Honeymoon Suite for Scott Goddard and Sadie. It is beautiful up there -- NO BUGS -- my favorite. I attended my fire meeting.
Steve Patton(service tech at Valcom) and his family spent Labor Day at the cabin. As clean as it was I'm not sure they played much that weekend. On the way up to Strawberry I stopped off at the Relief Society Retreat. It was at Bill and Cindy Adams "cabin" in Park City. I only had an hour, but had a very short fly fishing lesson. I now know that I need lessons from Don so I can actually fish on the river.
The leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. The mountains seem to be alive with color and glow. They are beautiful every year -- but this year seems extraordinary. I reflected how I used to love to take the kids up the canyon on Conference weekend to see the beautiful leaves while Richard was at guard.
I am looking forward to my Florida trip.
I would like to report that I am in Alma and am enjoying reading the Book of Mormon "on the fast track" program.
Love to all - Mama Bear

Hello again

Just watned to give you all an update on the family. Alisa has started to do pictures again and is really busy. I told her she needed to start pulling her own weight around here and so she has stepped up. j/k Anyway, the boys are getting bigger and luke weighs like 23 lbs, but sleeps like a champ. Infact he sleeps better than sam. Last night he went to bed at 10:30 and didn't wake up until 6:50 this morning.
Today in church they were seeing a song in Primary and when they were finished the singing leader said she felt the spirit during the song and asked if any of the kids had felt it, James, in his normal shy manner, pipes up and says, "I didn't feel anything". At least he is honest.
I am getting excited for General Conference this week and for those that might be at Priesthood session you might know someone that will be speaking.

Anyway have a great week and we love you all.

Heaton Update

Hi everyone! I am just trying this thing out.
Jonathan and I are still in Rexburg :)
Jonathan took the DAT on September 2nd and got a 20. We are almost finished with his application so we're hoping that he gets accepted somewhere for next fall. His first choice would be to do the ISU - Creighton program where he would do his first year in Pocatello and the last three years in Nebraska. It is a sort of scholarship program so he would pay less than in-state tuition. He is also applying to the University of Minnesota, UNLV, Ohio State, and some school in Washington.
I will be doing my student teaching starting in January and then we will both be done in April and that's about all that is happening in the Windy City.

A school asignment

Dear Family
In one of my school classes I have been asked to explain my operative paradigm for conducting research. The catch is that you all need to understand what I am doing. The following should explain.
I am pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Organization and Management. I have studied many different topics in the last year helping me gain a better understanding of the theoretical and practical sides of business. Most recently I have been enrolled in a management theory creation course. As part of this course I have been challenged with doing research, discovering new knowledge, and then explaining in basic terms what the research means so that anyone who reads the information will understand.
As a first step in that process I wanted to let all of you know what specific topic I am studying and how I will research and present the findings. First, the big picture topic is a multigenerational workforce. In other words, Daija and Mike are Generation Y, Josh and I are in between Generation X and Y depending on which dates are chosen, Mom and Dad are the Baby Boomer generation and Grandpa Lattin is part of the Forgotten/Greatest generation.
All of us remember being harassed by Grandpa Lattin in Nevada working on the farm. He thought we were all lazy. The same paradigm is/was held by Dad and Mom on many occasions. We view ourselves as hard working with different priorities. Part of my research will focus on these different paradigms of work inherent in each generation. Most of the paradigm information will be gathered from historical data and other research. Also, raw data will be gathered via live surveys and census reports. All of this data will be compiled and reported using various statistical techniques like comparative analysis.
The second part of my research will focus on leadership. Different events in history have influenced each generation and how they lead and how they are led. I plan to contribute to the business organization and management field the knowledge that: for a leader to lead effectively in an organization they must use generation specific leadership techniques. This presents a major challenge based on our current societal demographic mix. Take Valcom for example: you have all three generations represented and you had four until Rich G left. One of my beliefs is that failure to recognize and specifically lead based on the generation category disenfranchises young and old workers and will make a predicted shortage in human capital a reality in the near future.
I hope to prove or disprove this theory through research and analysis. I hope this makes sense. Please post questions here on the blog and I will answer/clarify as needed. Thanks

I am practicing my blogging -- can't figure out what that really means. But here is a picture of the Goldy girls being followed by frosty lobster during the river run at girls camp. Love you all Mama Bear

Pics from MS part 1

Draper Linton Fam

Here are the Pics from MS. The first is the parking lot of the Stk Center in Pascagoula MS its on Martin ST if you want to Google the location. We had sacrament in the parking lot and then started cleaning. The next are pictures of the stuff we pulled out and the debris piled in front. Next ar the members homes. The picture with the boat and the downed power line is about 1000 yards from the water. It was a humbling experience. This is post one of two because of the picture limit, also I may get more pics next weekend. Keep Checking back.

Give it a try

I'm not sure I understand what is going on -- but I will try to be part of this new stuff.

I'm in

Hey Fam,

I'm signed up and ready to Blog you guys. Works great, I like my bosses and I like most of my colleagues. Anyway I'll let you all know when something interesting in my life happens. Keep it real. Thanks.

Mike

Katrina Update from Mississippi

All,

I just got back from Pascagoula MS over the Labor Day Weekend and wanted to update all of you on the conditions. Almost the entire coastline of MS sustained water damage. If you look on a map anything south of I-10 had approximatly 4+ feet of water. This included all the members in the Pascagoula Stake and the church building. We removed 3-4 inches of mud from the church building and then went around to different member homes as well as non-member homes and helped remove water logged mattresses, carpet, clothes, bookshelves, piano's and dressers. Mold was growing on everything that was touched by water. I picked up a computer and water just drained out like it was a strainer.

The people were very grateful for our help and the Church always has people and supplies on the ground quickly. All the members in the area appeared in good spirits considering. We held sacrament meeting in the parking lot of the stake center in 100 degree temperature and then proceeded to gut the building and move all the contents to the curb for pick up in a month or two.

I will attach pictures of some of the damage when I get a chance in the next few days.

Ashkii Linton and Family in Pensacola FL

Our newest edition

Just thought I would show you all a picture of Luke. He has been sleeping well and is really a great baby. WE blessed him today and it was really great to have the whole family there. Thanks to all of you.

Linton Family

This is a place where we can post our thought and also where we can share pictures as well.

Please enjoy