Joc,

Welcome to EUROPE! At least I figure it´s a europe thing because our scedule is the same as yours. We have Gen. Conf. then 2 weeks after Stk. Conf.!!

love you all,
cindi

Hi Jocy,

Our Stake Conf is the
second week in January and the second week in June.
Ward conf are usually in the spring Feb and March
and May if they must. Our Stake tries to do 2 or 3 a week sp they can get them finished before General Conf. Only one ward Conf per year.
Hope this helps.

Love Ed

PS love your pictures and post about Vienna Cindi

I have a question for everyone... what time of year are your ward and stake conferences? Ours are always right around general conference and it drives me crazy to have almost 3 weeks in a row of conferences. I chock it up to poor french planning but Patrice seems to think it's the general rule. Can you let me know if I have a right to be annoyed. We really lose people in the fall because after being on vacation 1-2 months in the summer, there's only 2 weeks and then we have general conference (school starts 15 sept), another week, stake conference, etc. Most members don't go to Nancy to stake conference, and most don't come to the chapel to watch general conference. So the less actives go inactive! How does it work in your wards?

I'm getting excited to see the Nortons!

Jocelyn

Me again. No that´s not a big red snake around my neck! That´s my nice long warm scarf! It saved me from getting cold, but the most important thing is that is saved my EARS from getting cold! There was a girl leaving the hotel where I was staying and by her papers etc. I could tell she was going to the same meetings as I was, so we walked together. She was nice enough to take this picture. She´s from Slovakia, and as you can tell (from the clear picture) she´s used to the cold!!

This is where I work in Barcelona.

Me, on a street, in the morning. Can you see the snow falling?

Statue of Gutenburg in the middle of Gutenberg Plaza.
GUTENBERG, up close and blurry.

Streets in the center of Vienna.

Sorry the pictures are so bad. Between the wind blowing and my whole body trembling from the cold, all the pictures came out blurry. Oh well, use your imagination!!

St. Stephan´s Cathedral in the middle of Vienna.

A hot dog and bratwurst stand on the street! I thought it was cute!

An old beautiful building you can´t see because I didn´t have my flash on or whatever. I was so cold I just shot at whatever and didn´t care much for how it turned out!

Hotel Pics from trip to Vienna...

The cozy little living room.

The bathtub/shower and towel racks that heat the towels...the BEST part about hotels!

This is what I first saw as I walked into my hotel room!! Yup they call me by my mothers name (Mrs. Ginn).

WOW! Thanks for all those name suggestions. We may be in trouble if we end up with something boring since all these name suggestions have been pretty snazzy. If we were really out there we could go with some current popular Philly names. It seems that there is a certain group of people that are really attached to drug names right now. Propecia, Viagra, etc. you get the point. That may be pushing it. If we go for something like Nick, Vinny, or Sal I am afraid you wouldn't be able to distinguish the child from every other boy in the class with that name (this is New Jersey). So we will just have to wait and see. So I am afraid I cannot announce a winner of the trip to Paris. Really looking forward to seeing if we can connect with Jocelyn and Cindi. It is fun to think that we can go half way around the world and still find family. Have a great day everyone.

oops here are some more I forgot:
Judy
Ryan
Christopher
Cassidy
Connor

Later Ed

Jeff got on my case for not listing some names so I said I would give you
the first names of all my parients today. so here goes:
Bian female
Shanhrukh male
Josh
Carrie I actually like this one
David
Kaitlyn there are several spelling variations
Elizabeth
Jessica
Dylan
Monty
Sarah
Courtney male or female
Brianna several spelling variations
Kevin
Tesla female
Nicholas

It was a busy day/ Love yall Nortons--even the Bishiop
Ed Ginn

Marion,

So I can´t promise anything (I have to consult with my HUSBAND first) but I was looking at flights to Paris and for about 110 - 150€ I can get a roundtrip flight. It would be just for the weekend of the 23,24 and 25, but hey I haven´t seen you all for SOOO long, so it would be worth it. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I´m trying!! Love you all. cindi

So I thought I´d get in on the fun. You´d think I´d send you SPANISH names, but no...the names in CATALAN are much more fun!!!

Abelard
Aleix
Empar
Assumpció
Blai
Dídac
Llura
Neus
Pau
Pere
Guerau
Gonçal
Sanç
Sibil.la (yes the dot is supposed to be there)
Vincenç

I was going to write out how to pronounce each of them, but I think you all trying to pronounce them in your own way will be much more fun!

Here are some names that I actually DO like in Catalan:

Andreu (an-dray-u) Andrew in english
Mireia(Me-ray-ah)
Jaume (Ja-ou-mah) Jamie in english - don´t like it in english AT ALL
Xavier or Xavi for short (ch{very soft}-a-vee-air)
Josep(jew-sep) Joseph in english

Alicia (a-lee-th-e-ah) - this is how it´s pronounced in spanish NOT catalan, I like it better.

Well, there you have it. Unfortunately I don´t see myself winning a trip to Paris because you like one of the names I´m sending!! Love you all. cindi

What about Ant'ny (that's how NJ pronounces Anthony).

Can't wait to see you all. Will look on the calendar and find when we can come to Paris. All I can say is pack warm because it may still be really cold. I'll look up where you're staying too. The hotels around Disney (at least we are very familiar with the Holiday Inn) are very child friendly (probably the only in France!!). If you want to make it as far as Luxembourg, I think there's a direct train (will ask Patrice) and it only takes about 3-4 hours. You are always welcome but I understand this is a Paris trip so don't worry we can come to you. We'll plan on it!
Jocelyn

I really must congratulate Bryan. All those long Bishop type meetings on Sunday and a couple of nights a week and on top of that an 80 to 90 hour work weeks as a corporate lawyer. And on top of that you are almost 40! When did you find the time?

I believe the Nortons have given us all a task.

I think we all need to be thinking about names for kids and post them. Let John know that Puff Daddy is no longer cool and that now it is P. Diddy that is "in". I think living in Jersey you should give the child a name like Vinny or Sal...thats when i will know you have been in Jersey too long :)

So some boy names (obviously from me they are going to be somewhat untraditional):
Champlain
Striker
Van---had a friend with that name...loved it
Beckham---I actually heard a kid with that first name...didnt think i would care for it much, but i did
Rock

or I like the idea of just calling a boy by one letter...so like...

"Hey, M come to dinner." Or "hey K time to come inside."

so you have 26 options...name your kid a letter. works for boys or girls.


Girls Names:
Ashton
Riley
Shannon
Izzy
Chloe (pronounced Clo E)
Charisma (you could nick name her car or char)
Always thought Ryan would be a god girls name, even though its a boys


Hope everyone will jump on board. Submit the names...maybe if the Nortons pick your name they will take you to Euro Disney with them ...he he!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NORTONS!!!!!!!!!!!

BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS!

So the Nortons have some big news to announce. We have been waiting just to make sure everything is ok, but we think the time has finally come. We are happy to announce that we are going to welcome child number four to our home around the 10th of August. We are excited and the kids are excited as well. John has already offered up name suggestions, Puff Daddy for a boy and Passion for a girl. Trust me we are as worried as you are. I think we may have been living in New Jersey a little too long.

Our other big news is that we are going on vacation. We decided that before the baby comes we would pull out all the stops for an adventure. So where are we going you ask? Well, Paris and Euro Disney. We will leave Philadelphia on March 16 and return March 28. Minus the travel time thats ten full days of fun. We will be staying at a Marriott Vacation Club right next to Euro Disney. We plan on spending some time at Disney and the rest in Paris and the surrounding areas. There is a train right near our hotel that will take us right into Paris which will make traveling pretty easy. I guess its time for Bryan and I to brush up on our French. Abby asked me yesterday if they make a book called French for Dummies. They are a little afraid they are going to be totally lost, but they are so excited all the same. Flying international with John ought to be an adventure, but for us flying to Paris isn't any longer than flying to California. We would sure like to know how far Euro Disney is from those European relatives out there. It would be great to see some of you if we are going to be all the way over there. Well, we just wanted to share our big news. Love to all of you.

Cool Bobby!

Well, tomorrow I head off to Austria (Vienna) for some more training!! I´ll have to change the chip in my head on the way there since everything will be in English! Of course I´m going the coldest week we´ve had all winter. I looked up on the internet and in Vienna tomorrow and Thursday it´s supposed to be about -5º C...if you don´t know what that is in F, look it up!(basically it´s REALLY cold!!!!) I get to Vienna at 6:30pm, so I hope to be able to walk around a little bit that night because I won´t have any free time the next day to go see things. I´ll try to remember my camera and take some pictures!!

David is also traveling the next two days. It´s his turn to go to Madrid for some training for his new job. So we´ll get to the airport about the same time on Thursday and drive home together.

That´s pretty much all that´s new and not so exciting here in Spain. Hope all is well with everyone else!
keep smiling

As you may now, i coach a U14 girls team. Well I trained them earlier this evening and one of them was going to have her first date later that evening. Her dad shared with me the rules he is going to hand this young man prior to allowing him to take his daughter ona date. At least he is nice enough to let him know the rules of dating his daughter. I thought you would all get a kick out of it jus as I did.

The Ten Rules to Date My Daughter
Rule One
If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three
I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, In order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four
I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate: when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five
In order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early."

Rule Six
I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven
As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight
The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which feature chainsaws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine
Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a middle-aged, dim-witt has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten
Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy outside of Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

Summary:
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living,
I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream
of meeting your hearts longing

NBC CEO JEFF ZUCKER and Family Yesterday and today.

Today is the start of the Sundance Film Festival. This will be my second year to drive celebs around. I do it mostely for fun and to "mix life up a bit". Today I will be driving around Dennis Hopper and his family. We will see how it goes. Kind of fun to think that this guy was a buddy of James Dean. Let's hope I can find my way around Park City!!!!!!!!!

Happy
Martin Luther King Day
everyone!!!!

keep on postimg
Love Ed

I just thought I´d bring you all up to date...

I´ve done a whole bunch of tests and will go to the Dr. at the end of the month to see what they can give me so I can have some spanish grandchildren for my parents!!

I´ve started my new job and so far it´s a little slow but lots of information and things to learn. Once it picks up a little I´m sure I will enjoy it a lot. I bought myself an MP3 player so I can learn my Primary songs on the train to and from work each day...I also have some other music to listen to. There´s only so much Primary music in spanish (south american spanish, which is way different) I can handle!! But it´s nice, I listen to my music and write in my Journal or read the Book of Mormon. David thinks I´m crazy for reading the Book of Mormon on the train, but if I know that I´m not going to have/make time to read it when I get home than hey, on the train is good for me. Besides I read it in English, so the people that look at it notice that it´s a weird book, but they can´t read it!!

David starts his new job today so he´s a little nervous. Last week he didn´t have to work so he worked on his final project (a whole bunch) and hopes to(WILL) have it finished by June.

Yesterday I went to a ward conference (I´m in the YW stake presidency now) and it was nice to see a ward (one of the FEW) that is pretty much organized and doing things well in the YW. They split the ward during the conference and the wives of the two Bishops are the YW Pres. in each of the wards, so at least I know that they´re active members, which is always a PLUS!!

In my own ward we (the primary presidency) are making lots of changes too and since I was at a different ward yesterday my poor Primary Pres. was all alone (the other counselor didn´t show up) and things were crazy, but what´s new?!! I talked to mom yesterday and she assured me that it doesn´t matter where you live, California, New Jersey, Spain or even Utah, things are never as organized as you want them to be and there are always problems to overcome. That made me feel better!!

Anyway, enough blah blah blahing... I hope everyone is well. I love you all lots and lots. Thanks for the pictures you all send, it makes me feel a little bit closer to home. Hugs and kisses for everyone.
Keep smiling,
cindi

The party was a "screaming success!"
That's what you get when you get twelve toddlers in the same room with balloons, bubbles, and cake and ice cream! Shawnna loved her cake and ate it too! The kids played balloon races, a "cranium" game, and tied each other up like mummies! That left over toilet paper will come in handy after Ninha drinks all of her Ensure. More pictures to come...

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY!!

SHAWNNA AMBER NORMAND

Wish I was there to give you a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUG AND KISS!!

Love, Grandma TaTa

Happy Birthday Shawnna Amber Normand!!!! 6 Years Old!!!
Shawnna woke up this morning to a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday from her Mom and Dad. She was very lucky to have Ninha and Drew make her a delicious chocolate chip pancake. She devoured the pancake and rushed off to school with a smile on her face. During the day at school she had her Dad drop off cupcaked and juice for her class to sing Happy Birthday to her. Pictures were taken and a good time was had by all. Of course the number of students in the class is always fluctuating and the number of juice boxes was miscalcualted, leaving two kids without juice. Of course this caused a horrible problem with some kids having and other kids wanting. Always a problem! The day is only half over and there are more festivities to come on this special day. Andy is busy decorating the yearly special birthday cake. This is done each year with a new cake decoration. This year it is going to be the Barbie Princess. The are about 16 kids that will be coming over around 3 pm to celebrate a quick birthday program. After that the Normands will be going bowling to have Shawnna bowl a strike on her Birthday! More to come as time goes by....

“Still single, huh?”
By Michele Bender

WELL AT LEAST THIS CHICK HAS GOT MY BACK...LITTLE NON MORMONY, BUT HEY, IT WORKS...


If you’re still unhitched, you’ve probably got a few relatives (or a family tree full) who can’t stop poking into your love life—or lack thereof. There’s always a message from mom waiting for you after a date. Grandma Ann doesn’t waste a second before telling you how much she wishes you’d settle down. And Uncle Joe always asks, in front of a crowd, why you’re going solo to yet another family function. Their intentions are probably good—they just want you to find someone because they think pairing up is the only route to happiness. Of course, you know better, but here are a few comebacks (some serious, some silly) to stop them in their tracks.

Relative rant #1
“Am I ever going to get a grandchild?”
Quiet-them comeback
“Hmmm, better talk to my sister.”
—Matt Iseman, a comedian who appears on E! and Comedy Central

“You have a grandchild. You know Rover is yours to share.”
—Gilda Carle, Ph.D., relationship expert and author of Don’t Bet on the Prince! and How to Have the Man You Want by Betting on Yourself

Relative rant #2
“Such an attractive young person, but still no one special?”
Quiet-them comeback
“No one special, but a bunch of regulars!”
—Tammy Pescatelli, comedian from Last Comic Standing

“I figure it’d be selfish to limit myself to just one person.”
—Matt Iseman

Relative rant #3
“Well, your brother/sister didn’t get married till he/she was 37, so there’s still hope for you.”
Quiet-them comeback
“Well, you know how it is in our family, we always play ‘Can You Top This?’”
—Gilda Carle, Ph.D.

Relative rant #4
“I was married with two kids by your age.”
Quiet-them comeback
“Well according to the stats, everyone’s waiting a lot longer to get married. We want to make sure our marriages are fulfilling and really last.”
—Gilda Carle, Ph.D.

Relative rant #5
“I’m concerned that you’re still single. I just want to see you happy before I die.”
Quiet-them comeback
“Then, after my hot date last night, I guess this is goodbye.”
—Tammy Pescatelli

Relative rant #6
“Dear, is there something you want to tell me? Are you just not attracted to the opposite sex?”
Quiet-them comeback
“Oh, no. I am attracted to the opposite sex for sex, just not for marriage.”
—Tammy Pescatelli

Relative rant #7
“Why don’t you just settle down?”

Quiet-them comeback
“I don’t like to settle for anything.”
—Gilda Carle, Ph.D.

“And miss out on all the fun? I don’t think so.”
—Matt Iseman

Michele Bender, who also writes for Health, Redbook and Cosmopolitan, has a family tree full of nosy relatives.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Marie and I will be going to
Colorado Thursday night the 1st of Feb and returning Mon night the 5th of Feb..
Alexa will be baptized on Saturday the 3rd.
We are fine just old and tiered.

WOW ABBY you look great all dressed up for your cotillion!
Thanks for sharing that moment with us Marion. We love the
pictures.
Ed

I should have posted these a while ago since they were taken shortly before Christmas, but everything has just kind of gotten away from me. Abby had a cotillion at her school a couple of days before Christmas and these are a couple of pictures of her before she headed off for the big event.
Our best to everyone. Have a great day.

Great pictures Bob.

Ok, so I was just going through the bloggs and enlarging the pictures to get a better look at the kids and stuff. When I clicked on the picture of Abby smiling with her beautiful braces. As I was just about to minimize the pictures I happened to look behind Abby at all the presents Santa had left. What I found truely amazing is that for the Norton family Santa has time to print out LABELS for each gift! Way to go Santa!!! I wish that Santa came to my house too!!

Love you all. I´m at my new job. I´m the only one here so things haven´t really started yet. Next week I will fly to Madrid so they can teach me how to do some things. I was going to try to go to the temple while I was there, but I go on Monday and leave on Tuesday. Monday it´s closed of course and I won´t have time on Tuesday...too bad. David will start his new job in about two weeks, he´s getting nervous too.

Saturday is el día de los REYES (kings day) which over here (before all the commercialized Santa stuff got over here) was, and still is, the day you get the gifts from the "kings" just like Jesus. We got all our gifts from Santa, but we are going to have friends over and have a traditional MEXICAN Kings day feast. (joke about the traditional part, only in my house is Mexican food tradition). It should be fun. Before the fiesta at our house, our ward (the male part anyway, and me of course) are going to play futbol!! What a great Saturday....futbol and mexican food...doesn´t get any better than that!!

Well, since I´m writting a bunch of nothing I guess I´ll say I LOVE YOU ALL and wish you all a SUPER FABULOUS SPIRITUAL and of course HAPPY New Year. hugs and kisses for all.

A wild gtoup over at the Ginn's to bring in the New Year 2007
Ed Ginn, Shan Holst, Ron Holst, Ken Vurgin, Kathy Virgin, and Cassandra Ginn
Whoooopeee!!!!!!!

Christmas wit the Sisters 2006

Happy New Year from Las Vegas!

Me and the boys have been hoping around Vegas the last two days...I am glad that I do not gamble...it has been a blast watching all of my friends lose money. Just wanted to say hello and let everyone know I am having fun and that the estimated amount of people on the strip at new years was over a million. It was fun, a little cold, but fun.

Love you all!

Thanks for the first post of 2007 Bobby. The pictures are great!
Dad

Stacia, Landon and Milena Ginn





New Scooters





Dress up clothes and paints






HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!! (see the time and date of this blog)


Thanks and LOVE TO ALL