Fun in Grace

To unwind after what happened in Utah, we visited Jerry's parents in Grace, Idaho so that Jerry could attend the funeral of a close friend of his grandfather's (relaxing, yes?). Jerry had spent countless hours playing gopher for the two men in their dutch oven business years ago, so he simply had to attend the funeral. Then, just for old times' sake, that night his grandpa was cooincidentally having a dutch oven party at his house... so Jerry was recruited to help out again.
While Jerry went to the funeral, though, the rest of us hung out at the local reservoir with Jerry's dad's canoe.

First, Jerry's dad, Jerry Sr. (hereinafter "grandpa") and Jerry's mom, Yvette ("grandma") took David and Connor out for a short ride. They had some troubles when both boys would lunge to the same side of the boat at the same time, but made it back in safely enough.



Then grandpa and I went out with Brennen, who had lots of fun dragging his hand in the water (that particular picture is quite unflattering for mommy and got cencored) and looking at the ducks. Grandpa had a migraine wearing at him, but was still strong and valiant, making up for my inexperience and general wimpiness.


After lunch, David and Connor wanted to learn to paddle the canoe, so grandpa went out again with David first, taking Brennen as a ride-a-long.



Brennen sat still for awhile, but then, just as David was leaning out to paddle on the left, Brennen decided to change sides of the boat and practically dove to the left to plant his hands in the water. The result is predictable:



Grandma and I had been walking along behind the canoe with Connor and, after a moment of shock, we ran toward the boat until we were stopped by a barbed wire fence surrounding a farmer's field. Since I had nothing helpful to do, I took pictures.



Grandpa (hereinafter Super Grandpa) was a true hero. Though he couldn't stop the canoe from capsizing, he had both boys back in the swamped metal tub before mommy and grandma could panic too much on the bank (though not before the two drowned rats could get the fright of their lives). He even saved all the paddles, hats, and glasses. Super Grandpa pulled his knee swimming the canoe to shore, but still got both scared and wet boys to the bank safely. Grandma, Connor, and I climbed past the barbed wire to meet him and collect the tiny swimmers, then Connor actually decided to help Super Grandpa paddle the canoe back to the dock while grandma and I walked his traumatized and shivering brothers back by land.


Alas, I took no pictures of Connor's uneventful journey, being finally able to do something helpful: drag two small soaked boys across the field, through the fence, and into the truck, where we could get them into something dry.
David has declared that he will never, never, never get into a canoe again, but daddy and Super Grandpa have told him that he most certainly will, too! When queried, Brennen responded in the negative about his own prospects of ever canoeing again--but we think he'll forget all this ever happened. (He won't be able to read this blog post for years.)


Oh, and we have a new rule: when canoeing, a 50/50 adult/child ratio (or better) is an absolute requirement!

Problems in Provo, Satisfied in SLC

Many of you know about Jerry's knee injury of 6 years ago? Well the trial was June 24-26 in Provo, Utah, and it didn't go well (to say the least). We got 1/10 of what we asked for. The jury decided that Jerry should have been able to get a job even while his knee was hurting (so the defendant didn't have to pay for wages he was "voluntarily" foregoing) and that his knee had been bumped so many times during the year we waited for surgery that they weren't convinced that the surgery wasn't needed to fix a secondary injury. The fact that there was no pain -> accident -> pain -> surgery -> (then, miraculously) no pain was utterly lost on them. We ended up at the Timpanogus Temple the night after the verdict came in (when you can't think something nice...) and we're working to forgive and move on. Our attorney is going to contact the medical providers (whose combined bills are quite a bit more than the verdict amount) to see if they'll reduce the bills to match the recovery. Otherwise, we'll be paying them off the slow way, like we're already doing with all the student loans we had to take out to live.

The day before the verdict, though, we took the boys and went with Jerry's mom on Trax to see temple square. We toured the conference center and finally got to see the roof! As most of you know, the roof of the conference center is like a garden--it even has a 4-acre meadow with 2 acres of wildflowers!
Then there are waterfalls, trees, a sandblasted marble picture of church members from all different times all grouped together, benches, paths, etc.

I'd wanted to go up there since it was built, but it was always closed when I tried. Then, since 9-11, safety concerns dictate that no one gets to wander the conference center without a guide.
The elevator even has a special pad to detect the special badge our guide was wearing before it would take us to the roof. So sad. The roof was beautiful, though, and we had a great time both there and riding trax there and back.

Brennen is Three!

Okay, so it was on June 22, but I've been busy. I'm actually trying to do a few blog entries today....

Funny story about the new bike: we went out of town for a week the next day, so he only got to ride it inside for a bit, then it went in the garage until we got home. Last night, he came and grabbed me off the couch and dragged me into the garage, where he pointed at the bike and said "maa baak?" (Yeah, still not talking so well.) So we went outside, got the bike out, and put him on it, whereupon he said "puu mee?" so I nudged him forward with my toe, he coasted all of three feet, hit the fence, got off the bike and begged, cried, and pleaded until I got out his old, pedal-free, scoot around on four wheels bike. Wouldn't even try the new one again. Gave me permission to take it back to the store. Silly baby. His brothers enjoyed it, at least!

Jerry Loves Me

Our eighth anniversary was on April 28, 2008. Jerry planned to get me flowers. I planned to get him a PS2 Game for the system he just bought on eBay. I was ready to leave work and head out for some secret shopping, but I knew that he was prone to buy me flowers for special ocassions, so I got nervous. What if he dropped by the office while I was out? So since it was around 11:00 am, I called him to see where he was and whether he'd be open to me coming home for lunch (with the game, which he could then spend the afternoon playing). He was putting kids in the truck and headed out. Okay, would he like to meet me somewhere in an hour (after I dropped by the store)? No, he's headed out to Walmart, which is in the next town over--but he'd be glad to meet me for lunch before he headed out of town. We decided I'd choose a restaurant and he'd call me back. When he called, he was five minutes from the office, on his way to get me... to save gas and all. So, no game until after work (I did manage to purchase MX vs ATV on the way home).

After Jerry helped me into the truck and while he was walking around to the driver's side, Connor piped up from the backseat "Mommy, we're going to get you flowers!" Jerry heard the last part of that, chided Connor for telling secrets, and decided not to buy me flowers, after all. Instead he got me some stuff for the computer (hey--I like the game, too).

It's no Gift of the Magi tale, but I thought it was funny.

These are my Mother's Day flowers, which Jerry and the boys brought home from the store after they went shooting this morning. They're really pretty, but they don't have such a fun story to tell. :)

It's David's 7th Birthday!

It's official: we have a seven-year-old. David spent the day hunting rock chucks with his daddy (I think they found a few rocks to shoot at, anyway) and watching movies with his brothers. He got money, toys, and dum-da-da-DUM! a new bike. (Funny how David seems to always get the new bikes while his brothers content themselves with hand-me-downs.) Then, for bedtime, he conned me out of a book (Cat in the Hat), a story (Jaberwocky) and a song (Wheels on the Bus). Good thing birthdays only come once a year!

The Boys

Okay, so Jerry and I aren't that interesting, so I thought I'd start with the boys.

David is turning 7 tomorrow (shoot--I'm getting old!) and is in 1st Grade. He's learning how to read and loves recess best! He wants everyone to know that he likes school.

Connor will turn 5 this summer and will start kindergarten in the fall. He wants everyone to know that he loves football. Connor and David have both memorized all 13 Articles of Faith.

Brennen will turn 3 this summer and still doesn't like to talk. He gets by with grunting, pointing, and that ultra-expressive face of his! He can say partial words (Mommy: I love you! Brennen: Oooo!) but can't be bothered with most of the English language.

Together, they're three little terrors, but we love them!

Under Construction

Okay, so the family blog is a new concept for us and we're not sure how it's going to work or who's going to have the time to contribute to it, but we'll see how it goes! Feel free to leave suggestions for things you'd like to hear about or see here... or suggestions for stuff you found essential for your own blog.