Family News

The joys and sacrifices of service.

I was called by our bishop in our new ward to be the Road Show specialist for a road show our stake is putting on this year. Road shows used to be done every year, but they have since been discouraged by church leaders since they take so much time and often put burdens on families. This is the first one our stake has done in several years. The theme for this show is Disney Do-overs. Each ward gets to pick a Disney movie and then retell it in 10 minutes. Our youth picked Lion King. After much thought, our script ended up being a combo of Lion King and Kung Fu Panda with a few references to Star Wars and The Princess Bride.

It has been fun, yet stressful for me in several ways. Little did I know the rewards of doing this would only be as great as the challenges….Without telling you all the stories and complaining too much, I will just tell you that I accidentally sacrificed my washing machine to the road show cause. To make Lion manes for our main characters, we decided mop heads would be cheap and fairly simple to dye and turn into the desired product. Let me just say that the mop heads from ALL A DOLLAR are not great quality, difficult to dye, and when they go through the wash as part of the dying process, they clog your machine and leave you with a non-usable washer. Not very helpful for me when I need clean underwear for pretty much everyone in the family and I have no way to wash laundry at home!

So this morning when I could have been working on other stuff, I took four huge bins full of laundry- one of them soaking wet because the washer won’t drain at the moment- to the nearest laundromat. The hard thing about that is it is rather awkward to get all of my clothes down the stairs in this house and into my van while pregnant. The good thing is that I did get it all done in less than two hours. Getting it done quicker is my consolation prize for the washer trouble of today.

So don’t come visit me today because not many of us are wearing clean clothes and we are not too pleased about the washer situation. I keep trying to see the bright side, but I am having a hard time. If you drop by, I may complain about life or the road show or something. Spare yourself the agony of having to listen to me whine!

Posted by Ily on March 8, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Pacific NW versus Utah continued

I have conducted a highly scientific study to determine that there are exactly 3 Toyota Prius in Utah. And all three I have seen may be the same car even.

The Prius was the most popular car in the NW according to my same highly scientific methods.

I am sure this will go down in a world renowned science journal any day now.

Posted by Ily on March 6, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 2 comments

Brighton, 2010

The kids didn’t have school Friday so I took the day off and took Isaac and Micah skiing at Brighton again. Ily took Reece to the childrens museum and they didn’t have to put up with any complaints of, “this is boring,” from older brothers. A good time was had by all.

Being a Friday, we basically had the place to ourselves. The one time we had to wait more than 30 seconds in a lift line was when we got caught behind the ski school. We quickly moved to the other beginner lift to avoid that again. It was amazing, especially considering how long lift lines were the previous two times (Saturdays) that we’ve gone skiing there.

The story for the day was the halfpipe. The bigger beginner lift, Majestic, goes right over the terrain park and right next to the half pipe. It’s fun to watch everyone doing their tricks while you ride up. Something about the halfpipe intrigued Micah, and as we dangled our legs over the run next to it he stated matter of factly, “I want to ski on the half pipe.”

“Really?” I asked.

Very calmly again, “Yes.”

When he’s that calm about something, you know he’s serous. I talked him into just doing the green runs a few more times, and then maybe after lunch we’d give it a try (or he’d forget about it, I thought). You have to take a steeper blue run just to get to the half pipe, and he and Isaac had never skied one of those before. As we rode Majestic for the first time after lunch he started talking about the half pipe again. Isaac thought it over a bit and said, “I don’t think we should ride the half pipe, it’s pretty steep just to get it.”

“I want to ski on it.”

“Micah, I really don’t think we should.”

“Let’s do it.”

“Um, I just dropped my poles.”

“What!?” I interrupted.

“I just dropped both my poles. They slipped out of my hands” replied Isaac, far too calmly.

I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, there were Isaac’s poles on the ground below us, right next to the half pipe. While he was concentrating on his argument against the half pipe, his hands had betrayed him. There was no way we were going to just leave them and pay the rental shop for them later. To the terrain park we would go.

They did fine on the way down to the park entrance. It was steep, but really wide open, and again, nobody else there. We took big wide turns back and forth down the hill and they did fine. Micah stopped at the top of the half pipe and Isaac and I went down just past that to get his poles. He skied on down beside the half pipe and I sidestepped back up to Micah. I had a blast skiing up to the rim on each side a few times as I went down (I cautiously avoided catching any air, as a, um, responsible father I didn’t want to chance hurting myself) and when I got to the bottom I looked back and Micah was actually making turns and heading up each side a tiny bit as he went down. After a few turns he skied down the middle, a satisfied little shredder. My initial frustration with Isaac dropping his poles was gone. When we caught up to Isaac and told him how awesome the half pipe was, he fully gave in, “I want to try it!”

So we did it again and all three of us took turns doing our Winter Olympics inspired runs. It was great. After a one more run down the normal runs their legs were tired out and we headed back home. Good times. Here are some cell-phone pictures (I never remember to bring my camera skiing, it’s an old tradition that the cell phone is saving me from).

The kids didn't have school Friday, so I took the day off and took Isaac and Micah skiing (Ily took Reece to the childrens museum).  For the first few runs we literally had the mountain to ourselves.  We were skiing down the hill and right onto the lift.  A few more people showed up as the day went on, but never had to wait more than 30 seconds to get on a chair.

One beginner lift goes right next to the halfpipe, and Micah decided we needed to try it.  We did, and the boys had fun snow plowing down it.
... See my Tabblo>

Posted by Bryan on February 28, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 3 comments

Super Sweet!

Today Micah got a package in the mail from his former kindergarten class at Fisher’s Landing Elementary in Vancouver, WA. All of Micah’s sweet little classmates had given him Valentines too even though he was no longer there! His old teacher Mrs. Bates even gave him one. She is really into bean bags and she made them into valentines and he has spent quite a bit of time throwing his new bean bag all over the house. The whole package was super sweet! Micah felt so cool and was so excited to have double the valentines this year too. I love that old school! Oh how I wish we could go back!

Posted by Ily on February 17, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 2 comments

The Design Company

Today I went shopping ins search of drapery hooks. I decided to be smart about it and call places before I went to them to verify whether they had them or not. I called a few places and I was able to find that a place called the Design Company http://www.designslc.com/ at 2200 South and 500 East in Salt Lake had some for inexpensive. I went there after Reece and I picked up Micah from morning Kindergarten.

I found it in a less than desirable neighborhood and it had lots of old windows that were cracked and broken. I thought “Oh dear, our van will get robbed while we are inside and the building will collapse on us too-great.” We decided to go in anyhow and boy was it magical inside. Totally like something out of Harry Potter! Dilapidated and small outside, enormous and beautiful inside! This place has all sorts of decorator fabrics and denims and trims and tassels and window treatment hard ware… and even better were their examples! It was truly beautiful inside! It was like a maker’s heaven! I loved looking at all of their window treatments that they had everywhere and I wished I could just fork out money for them to make my dream drapes. I can make curtains, but they can make DRAPES. Like works of art those window treatments were.

Ok. So that was an exciting place to find here in Utah. Next time I will drive Bryan’s car though. Save myself worrying and about my treasured family van getting stolen.

Posted by Ily on February 17, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

FYI

We bought a new camera charger so we can take pictures once again. We were certain we would find the first charger just after the new one came in the mail (via Murphy’s law) but it does still remain missing.

Anyhow, the pictures from the Monster truck jam would not have been possible without the new camera charger. So hurray for the internet!

Now you may say, well why aren’t there more pictures of the house and the family other than just at the monster jam? Well, I guess it boils down to me being too lazy to clean up my house enough to take pictures. You see, I am ok if you stop by and see the bit of mess that is here, but to document it on the Internet for the whole world to see forever after is too much for me. Not gonna do it. Nope.

And some rather anticipated news to add to this blog post… As a baby, 6 teeth came in rapid succession and tortured us with tears and discomfort. As a 5 year old, 6 teeth fell out in rapid succession also and have provided a different source or agony- an embarassing lack of certain mastication skills. Micah has been a toothless wonder for 6 months or more. It has gotten to the point where he gets mad if I give him an apple because he can’t eat it without front teeth. I have to cut everything for him now. How does he even do pizza? It is a miracle that he can bite into anything at all! He is an example of superb adaptation. So the excitement is that his front two teeth on top have finally started to pop out- wahoo! We keep marveling at the new teeth and are so glad he will soon be able to eat apples once again. I’ll post a picture soon! His cute toothless grin is about to be a thing of the past!

Posted by Ily on February 14, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Monster Jam

Our old friends, the Whaley family, invited us to attend Monster Jam with them yesterday. Since we both have all boys, it seemed like a safe bet that the kids would like it. They’ve actually been to a monster truck show or two before.

I remember monster trucks from when I was a kid. Bigfoot appears to have disappeared, but Grave Digger is still around, along with a bunch of others like Monster Mutt and one sponsored by the Air Force named, Afterburner. There was even a local truck from West Jordan that did pretty well too. We had a fun time walking around the pits before the show, watching the big trucks do their jumping, racing, and freestyle contests, and seeing the motor-cross jumpers defy death on their 60 foot jump.

Micah insisted on taking all the pictures. I sorted through and found the best, and cropped them in close. He did pretty well:

We got the pit pass and got to go down on the floor before the show and see the trucks up close.  This is Monster Mutt, complete with floppy ears and tail ... See my Tabblo>

Don’t worry, Ily and I went on a date (without the boys) for Valentine’s Day afterwards.

Posted by Bryan on February 14, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 3 comments

House Updates without pictures

A sad side effect of moving is that you lose stuff. The missing item of importance this month is the camera charger. We have a dead battery on the camera and no way to charge unless we search the house again from top to bottom, or buy a new charger. We know we have used it since we have been in the house, but that does not change the fact that we have no clue where it is at this point.

The reason I mention this is that we have made some nice changes to our home and there is no way to show you all. We have finally gotten the floor in the kitchen put in! Yes, the vinyl we chose was so popular that the company that produces it was back ordered and we waited more than a month for the stuff. And we really like it!

The other awesome house news is that our windows have arrived. They are not installed yet, but they are very energy efficient leaning against the wall in our garage- or something like that. Tomorrow is the big day that they start installing these nifty windows. My guess is that it will snow and be really cold so the installers will be cursing our names.

Other random stuff up this week is that I went to a podiatrist this week because my feet have been hurting for months. Long story made short I have Plantar fasciitis. Not fun, but fixable.

So on to the exciting part of appointment story…. Here is one more thing you should be afraid of…I left the boys with a friend who has 8 kids and they had fun. Just as I got there though disaster struck. I walk in the house to Darla, my friend, dealing rather calmly with a screaming child who is panicking because he has just put a zip tie on his finger so tight that he can’t get it off and she can’t get it off and his finger is turning all shades of purple and swelling. (Shudder!) They run off to insta-care with the crazy swelling finger to get the zip tie tourniquet off. We run home and all talk about how we should never put a zip tie anywhere on our bodies unless we really do need a tourniquet and pray for the little boy that he won’t suffer some really bad side effects. In the end Darla’s son did not lose a finger like we worried he would. Though when she got home from that drama a different son tripped over a shoe and broke his arm which required surgery and pins installed in his elbow. So moral of the story: Who knew a zip tie could be the start of such a crazy dramatic night? Hide them from your children and you just might have a much calmer life.

Posted by Ily on January 31, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment

Washingtonians in Utah

I have a couple memories of moving from Utah to Washington when I was in 1st grade. One is that what was called “butting” in line in Utah was called “cutting” in Washington (and you can imagine the looks I got in Washington when I first pointed out that someone “butt” in line). Also, saying bad words in Utah was “swearing,” and in Washington it was “cussing.” I also had to learn a new way to write the letter “a” in my new Washington school.

After a few weeks here in Utah those memories came back to me, and I asked my school age kids about them. They write the letter “a” the same way as in Washington now, but they had definitely noticed, and laughed at in their elementary-school-aged-boy way, the use of “butt” here. They also confirmed that nobody talks about cussing, it’s swearing. Some things never change I guess.

Driving behavior is another big difference between these states. I remember thinking how slow everyone drove in Portland when we first moved there from Utah, and how strange it was that when you signaled to change lanes the car next to you would slow down and make room for you. In Utah, driving fast on the highway is the norm. If you bother to signal before changing lanes the person behind you in the next lane generally speeds up and makes sure you don’t have room to merge. We were so spoiled in Portland. I will point out, though, that the the highways are so narrow and confusing through Portland that driving fast isn’t really an option. No two interchanges are the same in Portland, so you always have to be watching. Is it a right exit, or a left exit? Will there be an exit-only lane? Can you get back on the highway at the same place you got off? You never can be sure. In Utah the highways are nice and wide, the on and off ramps all work the same.

Getting directions from someone to someplace is different in both areas. In the Portland area it’s all about the names. Not just the names on the map either, there are semi-secret insider names to a lot of roads, bridges, and landmarks. I’m sure I still don’t know them all, but I was pretty grateful when someone sat me down and explained, the I-205 bridge is the Glenn Jackson Bridge, and I-84 between 205 and I-5 is The Banfield Expressway. Just knowing those two explained a lot of what I was hearing on radio traffic reports. You still have to know what The Sunset is, where the T-curves are (and that T stand for Terwilliger), and then the bridges: Marquam, Morris, Burnside, and Broadway, just to name a few. Ily had it down way better than me by the time we left.

In Utah, it’s simple, as long as you know your cardinal directions. Right and Left are words that are rarely spoken. Everything is North, South, East, or West. People tell you things like: Drive east and turn south. It’ll be on the west side of the street. That’s north of the highway. Park on the southwest side of the building. You always have to be aware of your directions. Highways and streets all have consistent numbers, and every street you pass adds or subtracts 100 from the address depending which direction you are driving. It’s really easy.

The weather, of course, is a big difference between the Pacific Northwest and Utah. We immediately had to start using chapstick and lotion on a daily basis when we moved here. A few times a day actually. I’m hoping we adapt eventually and don’t need it, or we might have to finally join Costco so we can buy lotion in bulk. We also noticed that there is this bright yellow ball in the sky here, and it makes us feel unexplainably happy. Except on “bad air days.” I wasn’t aware of how bad those get in Utah. I think we had them in Portland sometimes, but usually it was just normal clouds that dominated the skies there in the winter. And rain, of course. Stuff still falls from the sky in Utah occasionally, but it’s this white fluffy stuff that makes it hard to walk and drive. It’s pretty fun for sledding and skiing, but we never had to shovel rain off of our driveway and sidewalks in Vancouver.

Lastly, advertising. Both places have your typical billboards and radio ads for common things like auto repair, banks, dentists, cell phone service, and other local businesses. In each place there are also billboards and radio ads that are particularly weird, offensive, or just seem out of place. In Portland for a while there was the 10 story tall bikini girl ad on the side of a building along the Banfield, or the radio ads for “professional” body piercing and tattooing. In Utah it’s the seemingly disproportionate number of ads for liposuction and laser hair removal. I even heard an ad on the radio for a hair removal club that you could join for $10 a month, like a fitness club or something. I guess each place has its own kind of vanity.

Posted by Bryan on January 27, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 5 comments

There is one good thing about getting a new fridge in the winter in Utah

When we first moved into our new house it had a really old fridge. We thought we would live with it for a bit because it did work and we were hoping to spend money elsewhere. After using it a bit though, we realized that the fridge was pretty much a junker. It was held together with duct tape in many places and though it would have worked for the widowed woman who lived in the house alone, it was not able to hold the groceries for a family of 5. Just the 3 gallons of milk we normally have in there used up the only usable shelves and left room for nothing else.

I started fridge shopping with two little boys in tow and it was a long day of looking at fridge options. By the second store, I knew what I wanted and what I thought was a good deal. I had measured my space and knew the maximum size I could put in the space. So we got a fridge that was pretty big, but not super huge. It has some good instant rebates on it and some incentives from the county PUD so I decided to go for it before my kids started going crazy in the store.

I forgot to measure the route in which they would have to bring in the fridge though. It turns out my fridge BARELY fit through the spaces we had to get it through. They ended up having to bring it up the steep (and icy) stairs from the backyard- I definitely had fear of the stairs giving out or an installer slipping on ice causing some horrible damage to them and the fridge, then into the house through our back door (which they had to remove), through the dining room, and then into the kitchen. They were barely able to fit it through the space between our counters and cabinetry. It was such a close fit before they put the handles on the fridge even. I was worried they would not be able to get the new fridge in even though it would fit our designated space for it. They almost had to lift it over the counter. That sounds risky and unpleasant to me for the delivery guys!

We had some food in the old fridge that we needed to keep cold so I was happy to be able to just stick our food outside in the snow for a few hours to keep it fresh until the new fridge was able to be used. That was the only good thing about getting a new fridge in the winter in Utah.

Amidst all of our updating to our home, one of the things we had to do was get the fridge out of the kitchen so they could put the new kitchen floor in. I dreaded this moment. I knew it would be very difficult to get that fridge back out now that it had handles on even. I was hoping they could maybe leave it in the room somehow. They couldn’t. So out into the snow went all of our food yet once again and long story short, those two Mexican floor installers figured out how to get it out and back in without breaking the dumb thing, nor ruining my new paint job on the cabinets…. and the floor looks awesome. Seriously, I almost took a table saw to the counter to make it not stick out so far just to protect my new paint job and my fridge! Once Dustin and Justin-the installers-were done installing the floor Dustin said ” The floor look good, the only thing I don’t like is the counter no match. You need Hranite (granite in his spanish accent).” Yep we are so aware of that pink counter looking rather awful. Just you come back in 6 months Dustin and see if we have something better in it’s place!

In case you are wondering, we got our flooring through our old friend from Washington named Sid Gayton. He and his family have moved to Utah from Washington and he runs Sunrise Contractors Network, a flooring company that mostly puts flooring in rentals and apartments both here and in Portland. He has some access to some really good stuff too at great prices, not just apartment grade stuff. So if you are thinking of putting in new flooring in the Salt Lake area or Portland, OR area, give him a call. He can hook you up!

Posted by Ily on January 27, 2010 | Filed under: Family News | 1 comment