Short article from the New Mexican

Lady Horsemen rout Valencia When Martin Romero said the Lady Horsemen of St. Michael's High School were "effective with everything" Monday night, he need only bring up the final score. St. Michael's 58, Valencia 18. It was 40-4 at halftime of the nondistrict girls basketball game in Los Lunas. "We gave up a three-point play and one free throw," Romero said of the first quarter, which ended 23-4. "Other than that, they hardly took a shot." Sarah Hattis finished with 16 points and Mariah Gonzales added 10 for the Lady Horsemen (6-2). The blowout was not benefits. "You work on execution," Romero said. "We've been trying to run. The last two games we've gotten quite a few easy points off the fastbreak." Romero praised Capital. "Those coaches are getting the girls to play hard for them and I see the program moving in the right direction," he said.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone a merry belated Christmas and an early happy new year! We love you guys and miss you already. We had a wonderful Christmas and were blessed again this year with a visit from Santa. We even had a white Christmas with snow falling sporadically throughout the day. I had to sit back among the mess of wrapping paper and toys and just enjoy the happiness in my children. It truly was a blessed day. I hope that all of you had an equally great day! Can't wait to get together again. Love you all, Carly

Thanksgiving 2008

We gathered at the Sachs' home in Gilbert, AZ, with all of the family members present. 16 grandchildren altogether!! Can you just imagine what it was like at the photo session??? One of the employees was actually throwing balls in the air and making funny faces trying to get the little ones to smile and be a part of the photo. Most just continued to look at the one child that was throwing a tantrum!! It was really funny!!!

This is the first year in a long time that all of the Sachs' children were together and all of the grandchildren. We miss Lula and know she is waiting for us to return!

Tables and chairs were borrowed. A spare refrigerator was purchased from craigslist!! Sleeping bags were unrolled!! A tent was deployed!! Food was everywhere!!!! WOW!!! I can't believe we even survived!! We actually enjoyed one anothers' company playing cards, watching DVD's, and just sitting around reliving, remembering, and rehashing past events and family situations!! It was all done in love!!!!

We pray for the world's leaders, our nation's new leaders, and the people of the earth to find ways to accept our differences and live in peace and harmony, using the earth's resources wisely and sparingly!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family. We hope this greeting finds you surrounded by family and friends. May you have sufficient prosperity to provide the necessities of life and the health to enjoy them!!!

Happy Halloween

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween. We got to do Halloween two nights in a row, so my children are hyped up on candy. GREAT! We had our Church Trunk or Treat Thursday night. Here is a picture of the kids costumes this year. I had a lot of fun making them, and I can't believe I only spent $3.00 on them, and then Caleb had to have a light saber for $7.50. I think this was the cheapest Halloween costumes I have ever made....The candy cost me more than the costumes. Something is wrong with that. For those of you who might not know who they are Parker is Darth Maul, Caleb is Anikan, Kailei is Queen Amadala, Payton is Princess Leia and Presley is R2D2. We miss you all and can't wait for THANKSGIVING!!!!

Slave Labor

I finally went and bought some green chile before it was all gone for the year. I bought 3 bags with the intention of trying to can them. I had all of the big people helping peel and rinse chile. It was a lot of work and I am glad that it only happens once a year!! The last pic is of the finished product. Now all I want is to hear the cans go "ping" so that I know they sealed. We finished peeling all of the chile at 11pm and I will do some more canning of the chiles tomorrow. Manuel said, "now you better not give any of this to your mom!" The nerve. This was the first time that Manuel helped out with the chile, so you can imagine how much more he will appreciate it now, because it really is a lot of work.

Car

16 Candles

Can you believe that MY baby is 16?? Yes, Mariah had her 16th birthday on Tuesday, September 23rd. Manuel and I took her out to dinner to a nice restaurant and then came home and sang happy birthday to her and she opened presents. Mom got her lots of stuff that she needed and keeps taking from me, so hopefully she will not be in my stuff for awhile since she has her own now, and then she got money! I know, what a lame present, but....what do you get a child that already has everything!!

Happy Belated Birthday!

I didn't forget, just never got around to saying Happy Birthday! So, Happy Birthday Ryan!! We love you and hope that you will continue to progress and live a happy and fulfilled life. It is going to be GREAT to be together again for Thanksgiving. Can't wait....Love you, Car

High Priest Group Leader

Dad was called last week to be the new High Priest Group Leader. He was sustained today in Priesthood meeting by the High Priest group as the new High Priest Group Leader with David Lichlyter as his first assistant. Joe Holmes will be called and also sustained as the second assistant. Kirk Jones is the outgoing group leader. He and his wife, Karen, moved to another ward boundary. We wish them well in their new surroundings.

Dad will try to put new, energetic life into the High Priest group. Traditionally, most people think of the High Priest group as the retirement community of the church. Is there such a place? I think not!!! We'll see how successful Dad is in this new endeavor!!

Isaiah's Surgery

The morning before we headed off to surgery. You can see he had a large "angel kiss" birth mark on his tummy. I remember when he was born, that was one of the first things that I noticed about him.

Waiting for the doctor to arrive. He was, of course half an hour late! Isaiah did good though, he didn't even flinch when the nurse put the IV in his hand. He did admit that he was nervous though. What a good guy!

After surgery pic. So sad, no more angel kisses on his belly. Now all he has is a seam. He will have a nice scar though that I am sure will make for some good made up stories when he gets older.

New Mexico skies

Just thought I would share one of our most recent beautiful sunsets! We sure wish you all lived closer and we could enjoy it together.

For those of you who haven't seen Mariah's new car.....Yes, she will be driving soon. She has already taken driver ed, and will get her license in November. We bought this car about 2 months ago for her to use. It is a VW Passat Wagon fully loaded and we got a really good deal on it! And gas mileage is much better in this than in the van or the suburban. So whenever we need to run a quick errand or go pick up a couple of kids we take this car into town instead.

Oldies but Goldies

See and hear music when it was music!!!

Let's hear it!!!

The talk that needs to be made!!

Young family

Here is a picture of the Sachs family a long time ago!!! Even dad still has some hair!! ha!!

For those that were interested, apparently, the Athletic Director position for the Santa Fe Public School District was offered to an assistant principal in the district. I wish them success in the coming years. I appreciated the opportunity to interview and learn what kinds of things an athletic director needs to know.

School has started here in Gilbert. We are finishing up the first few days this Friday. I am administering a test to my computer class students about basic computers. We have implemented Thinking Maps on our campus. I have provided instruction using the Defining (circle) and Sequencing (flow) maps and will determine my success at instructing using those maps by the level of achievement of my students tomorrow. I think they will be ready and achieve high scores for the test over the material.

Hope all are well. Hope the fires in CA are receding. The watershed in the Rockies apparently has improved. Lake Powell is actually increasing in water capacity. The lake is higher than it has been and is still increasing!! That is good news. Maybe John can quit taking submarine showers!

Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca

The races at Laguna Seca were great this year because the weather was the best. Day time temps were very nice, but it did get mighty cold at night. Down as low as 49 degrees!!! Yikes!! Enjoy the photos taken by following this link.

Devin's visit to AZ

We certainly enjoyed having Devin in our home and with us as we traveled to visit his cousins in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM. He enjoyed getting to know his cousins. He was quite the traveler, as his pictorial adventure is posted here. We look forward to having him again in the future for another adventure!! He is leaving today to return home to see Naomi and his parents. Be sure to ask him about opposites!!

Submarine Shower

When I was very small, dad taught me the art of the "submarine shower". For those that never got the pleasure of experiencing one of these showers, the way you do it is to turn on the water, jump in get wet, turn off the water, soap up, turn on the water rinse off and get out. Little did I know that knowledge would come in handy more than 30 years later.
Our water provider, EBMUD has started mandatory rationing for us due to a drought. We need to come in 19% under our baseline water usage. I am doing several things to try to meet this goal, but one of them is the submarine shower. It's amazing how much water is basically wasted during a shower. You really see that when you take a submarine shower.
So thanks, dad. It's a small thing, but it's one more valuable lesson you taught me. It just took longer than normal for me to appreciate it.

Look what appeared on my front lawn!! A birthday greeting from a neighborhood friend!!! Actually, this friend's birthday is the day before mine, so she is one day older than me!! ha! Something always seems to show up on my front door, garage, or front lawn from this older friend of mine!

Funny, as one approaches the other end of the tunnel of life, getting older doesn't seem like it!! I certainly don't feel like I am 40. . . .er, 50. . . .oh, 60!!!! Yikes!!! I remember the 60's as though it was yesterday!! Too bad those 60's are now distant memories!! The new 60's are on the horizon!

I am celebrating today with a ride to Camp Shadow Pines, up by Heber, AZ. The AZBeemer riding club is hosting their annual rally this weekend. Starting with lunch for free at Joe's BBQ, then a coaches banquet at a local Applebee's, then on the road to Heber. I will be returning to play in a golf tournament on Saturday as a school year-ending golf tournament and then headed back up to Heber. I sit on the board of directors for AZBeemers and have rally responsibilities. Plus, with triple-digit temps approaching, the cool pines of Heber will only be in the mid-60's!! There's that number again!!! Happy Birthday to me!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  Tina's working on Mother's Day, but before she left, The kids and I gave her a gift which was two framed collages of the kids faces.  You can see the pictures I used in the collages here.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Sports/prep-softball-St--Michael-s-splits-doubleheader-with-Lady-Tiger

Here is one article of many on Mariah and softball. She is doing really good! Just a side note from the article, she got ejected from a previous game because the ump doesn't know what he is doing! He said she maliciously

Malia is almost done with track, she has also done really well. She participated in most of the relays, but her race really would have been the 400m open if her coach would have given her a chance ( and if he knew what he was doing!) She really enjoyed it and plans to do it again next year. It has been fun watching her run and watching Mariah play softball, but boy, I sure can't wait until school is over!!

So on another note, I may have to postpone my trip to Haiti. Looks like we will be heading out to Arizona to take Tahi to the doctor. I have been playing phone tag with the doctor, so not sure when exactly, but planning on the end of May or beginning of June.

New Temple for Gilbert

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Thomas S. Monson has announced two new temples to be built in Arizona. One will be right here in our little town of Gilbert!! The other to be built close to the Thatcher-Safford areas. This is an artist's rendering of the Gilbert Temple. I suspect that we will be assigned to the Gilbert Temple. We will end up living between the Mesa Temple and the new Gilbert Temple.

The kids for Easter

The girls for Easter. I actually had Kailei and Payton wear hats. They were only $1.00 at Target. Presley didn't care to much for a hat so I just curled her hair. We are all ready for it to get warm and stay warm.

What happened on your birthday?

See this link http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/onthisday.aspx for news of who was born on your birthday and other events of the time!! Have fun!!

A Different Kind of Drug Problem

The following is a statement of answers to many of the ills of modern times. This was published in newspapers around the country.
The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a Methamphetamine lab had been found in an old farmhouse in the adjoining county and he asked me a rhetorical question, "Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up?"
I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning. I was drug to church for weddings and funerals. I was drug to family reunions and community socials no matter the weather. I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.
I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth washed out with soap if I uttered a profanity. I was drug out to pull weeds in mom's garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad's fields. I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood, and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug me back to the woodshed.
Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior in every­thing I do, say, or think. They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin: and, if today's children had this kind of drug problem. America would be a better place.
God bless the parents who drugged us.

Aloha

This is the first entry for this blog spot. Welcome to all members of the John and Barbara Sachs family, direct descendants and those by marriage as well. We feel blessed to be in such a great family circle. May this site act as a vehicle for open communication and contact for all family events and activities.
We love you all and pray for only the best in health and prosperity for all.