Merry Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas from Sioux Falls, SD! Since Tyson had to work the holidays, we were able to spend part of Christmas Eve at the news station with him. We watched the news form the control room then had our Christmas Eve dinner in the newsroom - 3 kinds of fancy soups with plenty to share with the others who had to work.

Tyler helping Daddy produce the 6 o'clock news.

Visiting Tyson in the newsroom.

Chair races with Daddy in the newsroom on Christmas Eve.

*****

Christmas is so much more fun with a little guy! Tyler let us sleep in (enjoy it while it lasts, right?) and then walked out into the living room where he excalimed, "Whoa!" when he saw his new toys set out. We had a great Christmas morning eating omelets and opening presents. Though Tyson had to go into work, a family in our ward invited Tyler and Carrie over for an early Christmas dinner. People out here are so great!

An action shot of present opening.

New Thomas the Train pajamas. Choo choo! Thanks AZ Grandparents! He wears them every night and sometimes for naps too.

Reading Tyler's new train book with Mommy. Merry Christmas!

Merry Early Utah Christmas!

Tyler and I got to fly out and spend the second week of December in Layton with my family. Tyson stayed and lived the bachelor life in Sioux Falls (he had to work) while Tyler and I lived it up in Utah!

Tyler showed off his horse riding skills.

We went to the Festival of Trees where Uncle Justin gave him a bird's eye view.

He hung out with his favorite second cousins, Alex and Andrew, at their birthday party. These three are hilarious together. They have so much fun!

Uncle Justin and Aunt Michelle were also in town from St. Louis so we had a big Hillier family early Christmas party.

Tyler waited patiently for Uncle Matthew to hand over the toy.

Totally styling in his new Bomber jacket from Aunt Kristen and showing off Opa's pumpkins that were grown just for Tyler.

We had so much fun and already wish we could go back!

Thanks for Invites, Lights, and Anniversaries

Thanksgiving turned out better than we expected as Tyson had the whole day off work (unexpected and appreciated!). He played in a football Turkey Bowl with guys from the Church (and bemoaned sore muscles for the next few days). Then our family joined the Kavanaugh family and the missionaries at the formers home for a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner. It was so kind of them to invite us. Our ward is definitely looking out for us as several other families asked if we had dinner invites.


The next evening Tyler and I went downtown to see the Parade of Lights. Floats, vehicles, horses, and even marching bands with musical instruments were all draped with Christmas lights and paraded down the main street. Apparently this is a huge deal. It was so cold outside, but I heard that last year 60,000 people (that's 1/3 the population of the city) turned out. We were lucky to get box seats - inside the heated windowed lobby of Tyson's news station.

Tyson and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on December 4th. I am thankful for a loving, patient, kind husband who is always trying to put his family first, serve hard in the Church, and make me happy. I'm a lucky girl! We celebrated by spending the whole day together. We had a dinner and dancing date to which Tyler was invited because we were also celebrating his 18 month birthday. That's a big deal because he is now Nursery eligible (which he LOVES, by the way). Happy 4 years, Love, and happy 18 months, Snugglebug!

Plastow Barber Shop

Before

After

Winter Quarters Temple

On November 1st, the youth of our ward had a temple trip. They asked Tyson to come and help. Since we'd never been to Winter Quarters before, Tyler and I decided to come along to visit the cemetery and visitor center while Tyson was serving inside the temple. I have to admit, as excited as I was to do the touristy stuff, I was pretty disappointed to make the 5 hour (round trip) drive to Omaha and not even get to go in the temple. I thought only Tyson would get to enjoy feeling the Spirit that day. Boy was I wrong.

I had such a sweet, special experience in the Winter Quarters cemetery and then in the visitor center. Despite the tragic loss of pioneer life, this cemetery is the most peaceful one I've ever been in. It is filled with such sorrow as you walk around and visit the graves and read the monuments, but also such joy and peace as you read the plaques with messages reminding us of the eternal perspective of things and how happy those pioneers are now, having been reunited with their families after they gave their very lives for the gospel and Christ.

At the visitor center, I planned on just walking around and seeing the exhibits on my own with Tyler. But the missionaries were so excited to have a visitor (things slow down a lot in the Fall) that I let the Sister take me on a tour. It turned out Sister Rosa was from São Paulo so we jabbered in Portuguese for awhile and then went on the tour. She taught me things I hadn't known about the pioneers and her testifimony came so naturally throughout that I felt the Spirit there just as strongly as I would have in the temple. I am so, so grateful for the sacrifices of the early pioneers and that they banded together so strongly to give us what we now enjoy as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

If you ever get the chance to come to Winter Quarters and visit, you should! And take time to walk quietly around the cemetery. And let the missionaries take you on a tour of the visitor center across the street. It was a day very well spent.

A quiet moment with father and son on the temple grounds.

A Few Cute Pics

Sioux Falls has a Sculpture Walk on the main street in downtown. Every year different sculptures are placed there and people can walk up and down the street to view them and then vote on their favorite. This was our favorite.

Wearing Daddy's safety goggles. And crabby pajamas.

Practicing for Halloween with the hood of his bear costume. Though I think he resembles a character out of Narnia here...

What? I like ketchup! 

Happy Halloween 2008!

Halloween got way more exciting once Tyler joined our lives! He got the hang of Trick or Treating really fast: Knock on a door, someone answers and exclaims over how cute you are, then reach in their candy bowl and grab the shiniest piece. The weather was perfect and Tyson even got to come with us for a bit during his break. Tyler's favorite treat was actually a toothbrush - he held on to it for half of the night, refusing to put it in his pumpkin. We had so much fun!

Practicing for the big day.

Trick or Treating with Daddy.

Okay, Mommy, you can carry me now...but let's keep going!

Where do I start?

Our Washer & Dryer

Yes, it deserves its very own post. Because you see, when you have a washer and dryer for years, and then you suddenly don't - and when you have a cute, but messy baby, spend $60 at a laundromat in 5 weeks, not to mention half the night there, you realize what a wonderful blessing it is to have a washer and dryer. That's why when you get an early Christmas gift set from your parents, well, it gets it's own blog post.

THANK YOU! WE LOVE THEM!

Opa's Visit

We LOVE having a sister that works for an airline! Thanks to that, Lisa and Carrie's Dad were able to come and visit for a couple of days. Tyler was so happy to see his aunt again and his Opa.We found this really cool kids art studio in the Visual Arts Museum.
We visited the Falls.

And spent lots of good, quality time at home. We're so glad you could come and visit!

Lessons Learned: What in the world does a news producer do?

"What exactly do you do?" 

I get asked that a lot. The simple answer that I give all the time is "I run the ten o'clock news." (Quick aside: If you ever want to actually see the product just go to http://www.keloland.com/netcast/ and click on ye olde ten PM news aka KELO-land news at ten).

Melee Meeting
The complicated answer: I meander into the newsroom sometime before 1PM, then meet with all of the other producers (noon, 5pm, and 6pm shows), the managing editor, assignment editor, and news director and we go over what all of the reporters are doing for that day. We then, in a mass melee, divide up the reporters and their stories to the various shows. The noon producer doesn't get any because, well, it's 1 PM remember and even though you may think 12 PM SHOULD go 11 hours after 1 PM it doesn't and in case you are wondering, yes, I am still confused as to the logic behind that one. Oh, and it really isn't a melee, we all take turns choosing packages (explained below).

Script Approval
So after the reporters are all divided up, scripts start coming in. Reporters will write a long version (about a minute and a half long) and a short version ('bout 20-35 seconds long) of their stories. Depending on who won the previously mentioned melee determines most of the content in the show. When I say scripts start coming in, I mean that the reporters will write their long (called packages) and short versions (called cutdowns) into your show where you have placed a space for it and then I, as the show producer, tell the reporter to shorten it, lengthen it, keep it more focused, remove the bias and editorial comments, write in active voice etc etc etc. Or I just say, "looks great" and the script is then voiced and the video edited to fit the script. Someone once asked me if it was intimidating having to approve someone's script who has A LOT more experience than I have. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime.

Content
Not all of the content is provided by the reporters, disafortunadamente. So I will select and write AP, CNN, and CBS wire and feed stories. I usually enjoy what is called a kicker story (fun light-hearted story at the end of the news cast) and find one to use. I'll also grab whatever pertinent local news I can find that we didn't cover. Pertinent is defined as audience relevence (and I'm pretty sure I spelled THAT word wrong). If there are enough people in the broadcast area that would care about it, then it's news. The more people there are that care about it and the more impactful it is, the higher (earlier) in the show it goes. Consequently, just because it bleeds doesn't mean it leads. Or rather, just because it screams crime and craziness doesn't mean that it needs to be the top story.

Teases
You know those "coming up" statements right before commercials, well there's an art, philosophy, and books on how to write them, and I write those.

Stacking
Ordering the stories into "blocks" (segments of the show in between commercials, your first block or start of the show is the A-block, then after the first commercial comes the B-Block, etc.) and ordering the stories within the blocks. Not only do you have to make sure the more newsy news goes first, but you have to make sure your newscast flows from one story to the other so it doesn't tell a rather spastic story over all.

Timing
With the aid of software I time the show down to the second. Each story gets a certain amount of time, if it goes over that time, it takes away from other stories, limits the amount of content I can have in a newscast and I get angry, oh so very angry. Not really, but I am really strict on my time for the show.

Writing
I know I already mentioned this, but because it is such a huge part of what I do each and every day, it is worth mentioning again. I am the writer and editor of the show. If the content is incorrect, or unprofessional in any way then I am culpable.

Layout
I decide what graphics to use, where everyone will be on the set, and in general what the show will look like as well.

Boothing
During the show I sit in the control room, or booth, have a headset on and a computer, and run the show. Now there's a director who does all of the technical stuff and plays with a big board of switches and buttons that looks like Spock used it to beam up Captain Kirk and the rest of the Enterprise, but I run the show. Still watching time, I may have to add in a story if we end up with extra time, or take away stories if we have too little time. I make sure the anchors and reporters know what's going on so they don't look foolish on TV. If news happens in the middle of a show, I plug it in and write it. I often only have seconds to do this.

***

All in all I absolutely LOVE my job. When breaking news happens it's an adrenaline rush to get it done. I haven't been working at KELO for a month yet and still there have been numerous stressful, last minute/second nights.

I'll share more "Lessons Learned" from time to time, but for now I think I better publish this novelita and go to bed. 

--Tyson

More Musings by Tyson

Every now and then I still think "Sioux Falls? Yeah right, like I'd ever end up there." Yet somehow here we are.

Do you ever get the impression in General Conference that, "That talk was just for me"? I had that impression a lot, especially during the priesthood session. During Presidents Uchtdorf, Eyring and Monson's talks I really felt that way. It was like they were telling me that I had been planted out here in South Dakota, in the position at work that I am in, and in the ward I am in so that I can lift where I stand. We won't be here forever, just as long as we are needed and then we'll pack up and move and opportunities will present themselves and we'll move to the next spot where the Lord wants us to grow.

The Sunday before General Conference I went out into the hall after Tyler told me, very loudly, that the priesthood lesson was boring. (I didn't think so, but he didn't want to debate it - Oh he really didn't say that, but it would have been at least a little cool and very embarrassing had he really). I met a member of the Stake Presidency who simply introduced himself as "brother" rather than "president." Then he talked with me about my background and introduced me to the rest of the Stake Presidency. They then told me that we (Carrie and I) were an answer to their prayers. They had just split the ward and had been praying for worthy priesthood holders. Saturday, as I sat in the priesthood session, I received the impression that we were indeed here in part because the ward had prayed us here so I felt the renewed desire to get to work, wherever it was, and lift where I stand. I am told that hometeaching here is a difficult task, that I will probably have 8 families and that if I get in to 3 of them it will be great. I'm kind of stubborn though, I'm going to home teach all of them and get to know all of them (as soon as I get an assignment that is). Anyway, before this post gets any longer...

To live in a day where we can hear live, over the internet, cable, satellite, or in person the voice of the prophet of God, to hear His living mouth piece makes me feel like singing all day long. What a marvelous blessing to know that His Church is ever living, growing and that as long as we have a testimony of the Savior that we too are, in a sense, prophets and can receive personal revelation. Just like Moses desired anciently, we can be a nation of prophets for no man has revealed this to us save it be the Spirit of God.

--Tyson

Avacado Baby

Tyler was sitting in his high chair one afternoon when he noticed an avacado sitting near the window getting ripe. He twisted and gestured and vocalized very loudly asking for the "baw!" (ball) until I handed it to him. Upon receipt, he showed the avacado how much he loved it by hugging it close...and then he promptly sank his teeth into it (don't tell the missionaries as it ended up in their salad the next day).

First Impressions of Sioux Falls

Our family on top of an overlook tower at Falls Park.

This is why the city is named Sioux Falls. The pink quartz is really beautiful too. They use it in their concrete so many of their roads appear pink. Tyson is really happy with his job. His coworkers are so nice and their news philosophy is, "Just because it bleeds does not mean it leads." They do get the news out, but it's not all death and destruction like so many other news stations. In fact, his station is the #1 watched news in South Dakota and parts of surrounding states. It's great experience and he loves it!
We make sure to get some family time in on the weekends. This is a hayride in a huge apple orchard during the Apple Festival.
Carrie's sister, Lisa, came out for a few days to visit. We were SO happy to have her here! Lisa and Tyler standing on the prairie.
Tyler was worn out after a long, fun day exploring the city with Carrie and Aunt Lisa. This was in the Butterfly House.
Our church. Everyone has been so very nice and welcoming. There are 2 wards in the city and we've already had the missionaries over for dinner. And it's nice that Tyson can sit by me in church now so he can help with our little rambunctious one!
The river walk path right by our house (the Big Sioux River is to the left in this picture).One of the many playgrounds along the river walk.