FarleyFamily.Net

New Photos Posted: Kalani 2008

Photo System — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:24:32 -0500

Kalani's monster face (08/20/2008)

Kalani trying to make the same face her uncle Jon makes (08/20/2008)

Kalani's favorite silly face (08/20/2008)

Kalani's face she makes as she says, "Are you sure?" (08/20/2008)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree... (08/16/2008)

View more: Kalani 2008

New Photos Posted: Hansen's

Photo System — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:48:02 -0500

San Antonio Trip (08/16/2008)

View more: Hansen's

YouthMaster.Org v2.0 Goes Live!

matt@farleyfamily.net — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:11:49 -0500

During the second half of 2007 I was called to be the Young Men's Secretary in the Tomball Ward (of the LDS Church) in the Cypress Stake near Houston, Texas. Given the large number of young men we had at the time, record keeping was a bit of a hassle. Various leaders had disparate versions of excel spreadsheetings containing rosters, Duty to God, etc.

Having a background in web applications development, I immediately saw an opportunity to leverage a web-based system to better manage our records. Over the course of the 2007 Christmas break YouthMaster.org was born. Its original scope only consisted of Young Men / Duty to God (no Young Women, no Scouting, etc) for the Tomball Ward. Since then I have gone back and refactored the system to easily support multiple wards and incorporate Scouting and Young Women as optional modules.

YouthMaster.org is free for all, and I hope to keep it that way. I have no plans to move to a yearly/monthly fee as some similar sites have done.

You must click here to upgrade your Flash player to see this video.

if the video above fails to play, try downloading it here (33mb .wmv): Download Demo Video

Find out more at www.YouthMaster.org

New Photos Posted: Farley's (Matt & Tia - Scotland)

Photo System — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:47:28 -0500

Buckie Harbor (08/17/2008)

Matt and Kalani on the Galaxy Explorer, searching for Dolphins (08/17/2008)

A view from the tour boat (Dolphin Watching) (08/17/2008)

View more: Farley's (Matt & Tia - Scotland)

New Photos Posted: Limary's (Clif & Becca)

Photo System — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:57:56 -0500

More pictures of Chicago on Becca's 24 hour trip (08/12/2008)

View of Chicago on Becca's 24 hour trip to the city (08/12/2008)

View more: Limary's (Clif & Becca)

Midges

tia@farleyfamily.net — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:35:53 -0500

People in Scotland would mention MIDGES, but we didn't really know what they were talking about until this past weekend. These small little buggers are annoying and they bite. At least they don't itch (edit: they *do* itch, it just takes a day or two for the skin reaction), but you can't hear them like mosquitoes, so you don't know they are around until you see them. Poor Matt got bit the most since he would go outside to take photos while Kalani and I stayed in the car with the windows up!

Road Trip

tia@farleyfamily.net — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:17:09 -0500

We had an AMAZING road trip this past weekend. Matt had a Friday off work so we left Thursday night and didn't get home until Sunday evening. The map shows the route that we took to view beautiful Scotland. Matt did all of the driving...860 miles of driving in 3 days. We stayed at 3 different Bed & Breakfast (B&B) places...One in Fort William, one on the Isle of Skye and one in Wick. We LOVED the B&B's and would recommend staying at the ones that we stayed in or try a new one...it is great to meet new people and to also have someone else cook you a hot breakfast. Since we booked Family Suites we had plenty of room. I would also recommend booking your room before the day you are to leave...although I did find us places to stay after calling MANY B&B's.

Highlights of our trip:

Cliffs, Waterfalls, Ocean views
Sheep & stray cattle in the road
Changing weather (raining, sunny, cloudy, etc)
Church in a Museum
One lane roads where you pull over when a car is approaching
Friendliness of the B&B owners
GPS in my phone so we never got lost
Family Time

The photos don't really capture the beauty that we saw, but that is the best that we could do. We may go on a similar road trip to see the areas that we missed.

Extra Time

tia@farleyfamily.net — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:57:08 -0500

I read about a "Fairytale Fantasy" class for 3-5 year olds at the Aberdeen Arts Center and signed Kalani up for 2 classes. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I figured Kalani would have fun. I took her to the center thinking that I would be able to sit and watch the activity. Instead, all of the moms dropped off their kids in their class and left and then the workers shut the door behind us. I felt like a fish out of water. All of the sudden I realized that I had 2 hours all to myself. Since we have been in Scotland I have been with Kalani every minute of the day. The only exception was for 1 hour when I did a behind the wheel training and then 2 hours on Sundays when she is in her church classes and I attend mine. I wasn't sure what I should do or where I should go. So, I did what most other women would have done...I headed to the mall and went into stores that Kalani doesn't really like. It was great! The next day I decided to sign her up for another 3 classes.

On the first day of her Fairytale class we walked all the way to the center...well I walked the 2 miles and Kalani rode in a stroller. The second day I didn't want to walk, I thought that we could drive to a library come home for lunch and then drive to the center. Well, I was busy trying to get everything we needed and headed downstairs to our car. I shut the door and then went to pull out the car keys, but they weren't with me. Yep, I left them in the house. So, I didn't have a stroller or a car. I tried not to sound upset and made an adventure out of the situation. Kalani did really well walking most of the way. It was good that we had 2 hours before her class started so it gave us plenty of time to arrive. Her treat was a bag of skittles and then a fun time in her class. We also had to walk the 2 miles home. To help make that an adventure we stopped at a few different stores and just looked around. In a cooking store they had a small kids corner with a pretend kitchen to play with. At the end of the day my feet were very sore, but at least we had a good time on our spontaneous adventure!

Castles, Castles, Castles

tia@farleyfamily.net — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:54:42 -0500

We had a fun Saturday filled with castles. We first drove to Fyvie Castle where they were getting ready for a wedding to take place. Still we were able to view all of the rooms of the castle and then see the bagpipe player for the wedding. And Kalani loved seeing all of the women dressed up. We then had a picnic on the castle grounds...Kalani said that was, "A Perfect Idea!"

Our next stop was to Haddo House. What a gorgeous house it is...plus another wedding was taking place. (Yes, many people get married in castles here in Scotland.) Haddo House is a guided tour and our guide was very friendly older man. He even let Kalani sit on a small children's chair. It just amazes me how beautiful these old buildings are and how talented people are with painting, sewing, and other talents that are on display in these castles and houses.

Last stop was at Tolquhon Castle. This is a ruined castle that Kalani and Matt loved. Kalani loved to explore every inch of the castle...she thought it was made just for her. Matt said it reminded him of Ultima Online.

We became members of The National Trust of Scotland and Historic Scotland. So, we plan on using our membership every chance we get!

BYU Synthesis

tia@farleyfamily.net — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:20:30 -0500

For three weeks the Brigham Young University "Synthesis" jazz band has been touring the UK. We were able to attend their concert this past week and the band was really great. There were 19 musicians and one singer that played a wide array of music. Kalani really liked the music...she jumped out of her seat and started dancing. I listened to the music, but watched her dance...two performances in one! After the performance 4 of the band members came to our house to sleep for the night. We had 2 trumpet players, a tuba player and the drummer. Kalani was so excited to show them our home.

What was a special treat was that one of the trumpet players that stayed at our house recently received his mission call. He is headed to...El Salvador San Salvador East Mission. Yep, my mission. It was wonderful to remember my time as a missionary in El Salvador and to try to prepare him as best I could for the next 2 years of his life. Oh El Salvador! Maybe I'll go back there one day...like when they have the open house for the temple that will be constructed.