More cute pictures!

Jason and Jen-jen looking good!
These kids are growing up way too fast!

Justin, Rachael, Mandy, Ariel, Matthew, and Sariah
Amber and Anne looking fine.
Victory USC

More pictures! Thanks Lahapa!

We were happy to throw a party to celebrate Nate & Sarah's completed goal of dental school!
Friends help you make it when times are tough.
Congratulations Dr. Thompson and Dr. Horspool

Tutu Jan & Aunty Haunani

Future Dr. Linwood with big brother, Nate.
Rocky proved a tough extraction. Look at the size of that tooth!

Karen & Don

Some of the super heroes who worked super hard to make the party happen. Special thanks to the Aunties, Uncles, cousins and friends who made the magic happen.
Too cute! Karen, Kristen & ShaunaMike and Eva
Trevor, Carlie, Ellena, Sarah, & Nate
Shelley, Kent, Brooke, Hyrum, Sarah, and Nate
Jayci, Joey & Natalie, Lilly, Ethan, Emma
Uncle Paul & Aunty Shannon with Matt, Ian, and Raine
Isaiah, Uncle Greg, Sariah, and Aunty Hapa
Thanks Justin, Rachael, Ariel and Mandy for being so helpful!
Aunty Hapa, Carter, Nate, and Me
Kathy, Jacqueline, Kyle, Nate, Kameron, and Aunty Tina
Shauna, Laura, and Nate
Hang in there Ryan and Angela!

Ryan completes the dental program next year.

Graduation Day at USC Dental School!

Nathan and Sarah have earned this day! They have worked so hard to love and support each other during a very tough time. Daddy and I am soooo proud of them. Nathan, congratulations on setting a difficult goal and working hard to achieve it. Sarah, thank you for giving our son the love and support needed to make this day possible.

Daddy's special day is also celebrated by Paige, Carter, and Makayle! We hope they will remember their time in CA with Papa and Tutu. We will miss them all so much!

Shauna is so proud of her big brother. We are so grateful for two beautiful older children who set a wonderful example for their little brother and sisters. Shauna's got just 1 more yr at BYU!

Ariel is in 5th grade. What a great experience that will help Ariel set BIG goals for her future!

Miranda and Tutu Jan sit under the tent with Nathan. Mandy is attending Bellflower Middle School and will begin the GPA game next year in high school.

All the proud parents - Don & Karen Carter, Lin & Malia Thompson, and the little camera bugs - Carter, Makayle, Paige, and Lin. Sorry I didn't get a picture with Kent, Shelley, and Sarah.

Nathan and the people who made this day possible...mom & dad.

Can't believe our sweet little boy is really 30 this year!

I've really enjoyed the 23 years of being Nate's second mom and 8 years of being Sarah's.

Congratulations Nate & Sarah!

Happy Mother's Day

Mom and I on Mother's Day with beautiful leis from Ruth Kelsall. We had breakfast the day before with Haunani, Hapa, Parker, and Shannon. Lin spoke at our Mother's Day services. My favorite part were his memories of Nana hanging clothes on the clothesline and stopping to play basketball with her grandsons. I'm glad Lin has those wonderful memories of his grandmother. I'm glad he and I were blessed with such excellent mothers.

Welcome Deaglan O'hare

We had a lovely time visiting our newest 'ohana Deaglan (pronounced "Deck-lan" - an old Irish Saint) Punahele Lee O'Hare. His mommy, Laura and I have been friends for a very long time. Here's a picture of Shauna, little Laura, and Aunty Laura. He is beautiful and I'm sure Noelani is a very good big sister.

Is is summer already?

Is it summer already? After a week of Star Testing and Senior fun activities, we know that summer is just around the corner. We had a week of warm weather and bought this super new slider. Too bad it got cold again so soon. Come on summer, we need you!

Playing with Mama's Camera

Elle Visits

Elle, Claire, and Sonny Bray

My sweet children are hysterical and I have to remember very young. Sarah was getting her eyes done the same weekend my niece, Elle, was visiting Disneyland with her dance troop. Elle couldn't come to Buena Park but they allowed her to go to lunch with her OC 'ohana. I sent Ariel and Mandy to represent our family and to take pictures. I got a great picture of their dessert but only a group picture of Elle. I was so disappointed! Luckily, Elle brought their school pictures for us so you'll get to see great shots of Elle, Claire, and Sonny. Yeah! I was happy the girls got a great picture of Uncle PB! They had a great time surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins. I love my family!

FYI

America’s Next Top Mormon
As reality shows dominate television, they're finding contestants in an unlikely place: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sally Atkinson
Newsweek Web Exclusive
Updated: 3:33 PM ET May 6, 2008

When brothers Ryan and Craig Simmons auditioned for the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race" in 2003, they hoped the novelty of their religion would give them an edge. Their audition tape showed them outside the Mormon temple in Provo, Utah, while the narration played off those classic Mormon ads ("Family: Isn't it about time?") with a question for the casting directors: "Mormons: Isn't it about time?" It certainly is now. Since then Mormons have colonized reality TV as if they'd been assigned there by Brigham Young himself. They've won "The Biggest Loser," "The Rebel Billionaire" and "Survivor" (along with two second-place finishes on "Survivor"). These days you can't turn on "So You Think You Can Dance" or "Dancing With the Stars" without seeing at least one, and often several, members of the church. And they're closing in on the biggest reality TV prize of all: cherub-faced Mormon David Archuleta is one of four finalists left on "American Idol," and his chances just soared following the elimination last week of Brooke White. White is Mormon too, and now that she's off the show, the two of them won't have to split the faithful's vote anymore.
Wholesome, likable Mormon competitors are now so plentiful that some viewers have taken to playing Spot the Mormon. Former "Idol" contestant Carmen Rasmusen, herself a Mormon, says one of this season's early episodes set off her Mormon radar when she heard White tell the judges she'd never seen an R-rated movie. "My husband and I just looked at each other and said, 'She's totally Mormon.' I mean, who else would say something like that?" With all its conniving, back-stabbing and sexuality, reality TV may seem like a strange place for Mormons to congregate. That cultural disconnect is obviously part of the attraction for viewers and casting directors alike. Take the strange spectacle last month of a beautiful young Mormon woman— the "Idaho virgin," as she came to be known—sucking the toes of the eligible bachelor on MTV's racy "That's Amore." Or the contestant on this year's "America's Next Top Model" who said maybe her elimination was for the best, as she would have been uncomfortable doing a nude shoot. But for Mormon contestants themselves the motivation is more complex, whether it's testing the limits of their religion, showing America that Mormons aren't the insular community they're often perceived to be, or the one that crosses all denominations: the hunger for fame.
In reality TV terms, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in a sweet spot demographically: still small enough that members get excited to see one of their own in the spotlight, but large enough that when they watch together and vote they can affect results and ratings. Mormons reserve Monday nights for Family Home Evening, and when Marie Osmond competed on the family-friendly "Dancing With the Stars" last year, she benefited from having the voting fall on a Monday each week. In fact, all three Mormon contestants made it to the final four that season.
While "Idol"'s voting night is Tuesday, some Mormons around the country still get together for viewing parties and pour in the votes after each show. "Idol"'s producers won't disclose voting numbers, but Rasmusen says producer Ken Warwick once stopped her before a results show and told her she usually did pretty well in the East Coast voting but that her "numbers just soared" when the mountain states kicked in. "I was so happy to hear that people were voting like crazy and supporting me," she says. "Utah does a great job rallying around its people." Lauren Faber, an eighth-grader in Provo, votes for Archuleta as many times as she can each week for at least 20 minutes, "no matter what—even when he messed up that once." That will undoubtedly be music to Archuleta's ears, although last week Osmond spoke out in the church-owned Deseret News, saying that White and Archuleta should be judged based on their talent, not their religion. "I mean, you don't hear other people saying, 'One of the finalists is a Catholic' or 'One of them is a Presbyterian' or 'One of them is Jewish'."
But Mormons don't do well only on shows where the audience votes. "There must be something about the Mormon community that makes these people so self-confident and so open," says Lynne Spillman, a casting director for "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." She thinks that coming from a large family probably helps in a game like "Survivor," with its complicated group dynamics mirroring sibling rivalries. "They also have these incredible experiences through their missions," she says, "and can relate to being dropped off in the middle of somewhere they've never been and having to make it."
Reality TV success sometimes comes at a price. The first Mormon reality contestant—and still one of the most memorable—was Julie Stoffer, plucked from Brigham Young University in 1999 by "Real World" casting directors on a mission to find a faithful Mormon for the show. Before filming began, Stoffer even received a blessing from her bishop that she would be "an example to the world." For her troubles she was suspended by the church-owned university for living with housemates of the opposite sex on the show, a violation of the school's honor code. "I wasn't wearing the Osmond smile all the time. I said things that were wrong sometimes. I was human," Stoffer says. "I don't think I did anything against the church's teachings." She says that for years afterward she felt as if she was still wearing a "scarlet M," thanks to her suspension. And Todd Herzog didn't exactly receive the approval of the Mormon community either. When he was cast on "Survivor" last year, the Salt Lake Tribune's headline read, "'Survivor' trots out its latest 'gay Mormon'," sparking a debate on the paper's Web site over whether someone could even be gay and still be a good Mormon. Herzog went on to win the million-dollar prize and says that while he hopes he opened people's eyes about the church, he also hopes he opened some Mormons' eyes about the real world.
Some tension may still exist between the Mormon community and mainstream America. But considering that not too long ago Mormons were a small, persecuted band, it's remarkable that America may be poised to crown a Mormon as its new Idol.


URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/135758