Matisyahu - "One Day"

Mmmmmmm. If you have 8 minutos to spare....
This is a live version - so you can expect long instrumental interlude - but it's so nice. Hopefully this is a harbinger of coolness for the rest of the album (upcoming this year). This is why he's my fave- and why the family vehicle carries just one window sticker.

Memorial Day

It was THIS great.

.... later.

This is going to be cool.

Less than a week to go before the big Temple Celebration at the Conference Center. The kids had their final "small" rehersal (only 3 stakes?) this past week. They made an appearence up the road at the grounds of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple for a photo shoot and then performed a few of the numbers right there with the temple in the sunset as a backdrop. It was pretty... peaceful. I brought my own kids up to see and hear.

Poor Mitch-Darling

On hold with the doctor's office...

I'm trying to get Mike in to see yet another Gastroenterologist about his lethal GERD. Last night/this morning Mike suffered his worst episode ever. Almost 11 hours uninterrupted. That was rough. I really felt for him.
Years ago we went and had some extensive testing done - which only resulted in a diagnosis - and very little in the way of treatment (a lifetime of Nexium pills - which haven't helped). Granted, Mike has some unusual symptoms. One good thing came of it though - amidst all the tests Mike may have accidentally received a colonoscopy instead of an endoscopy (to this day no one really knows ) and Mike has gotten SO much mileage out of that story.
I'm hoping this doctor will be more helpful... I mean he did save my dad's life last year when he had that nasty bleeding ulcer- and he is my parents' neighbor. Maybe that will earn us bonus points.

Noble.

Those of you who know our family well will understand - he is one of the great challenges and joys of my life. ONE OF A KIND. When he was born, along with the bond I felt, I had a strong impression about his purpose in this life. I've often wondered about that, and tried to reconcile it with the aggravation I so often feel at his choices. Sometimes I think that the reason I had those impressions was because I would need to fall back on that assurance in moments when I just feel hopeless with him. Frequently.
If you don't know him - let me explain. He's very clever (case in point: he named the Space Donkey) which can be a delight when he uses his powers for good (see photo - One of his many Noble-isms. We liked this one so much we put it on a t-shirt)He has a good heart - though I think he leaves his "heart" out on most of the decision making. He always seems to be at the center of trouble around here (and wherever he goes) - so that whenever something is amiss we instinctively yell out, "NOBLE!!!!". I sometimes feel guilty that he gets profiled like this - but then again, 99% of the time the assumption is accurate... like the other night. After a LONG day (don't ask) we were FINALLY eating dinner at like 8:00 and I walked upstairs to see the tub filled almost to the brim. The big frog bath-toy holder had been disassembled and used (along with the bathroom stool and about 50 Star Wars guys) to construct a water city. I think I turned purple yelling for Noble.
You'd think after so many years with him I'd be patient. The hardest thing is when I get in trouble because of him. (grrrrr.) A month or so ago I had a talking to by one of our neighbors (the latest in a series of complaints) about something(s) Noble had done or instigated (because he's ALWAYS leading others down the dark path - right?). I tried to smooth things over - and had another talk with Noble. Then half an hour later I look out the window and he's built a GIANT catapult on our front lawn with the hammock and he's explaining to a crowd of neighbor kids about fulcrums and levers and hurling rocks and other stuff across the front yard. One kid is actually straddling the catapult arm as Noble explains about what will happen to the rock when he lets go. And I'm thinking - "He's going to injure someone and then my neighbor will never talk to me again." At the time I was too frazzled and discouraged to see the genius in it. I should have taken a picture - because, as usual with Noble, it was SO cool.
I keep hope alive that he'll one day learn to live up to his potential. Until then I really need to work on my sense of humor.

A couple of updates and one big Bombshell

No updates for a while - because we've been a little preoccupied. BUT - I had to post a few pictures.
Sully started climbing the stairs a few weeks ago without warning.

Sully also received his first real haircut last week. That was traumatic. But I managed not to injure him - even if he did pretty much come away with white-walls.
Here we have the before and after. (Please ignore the disgusting breakfast bib in the first - I figured as long as he needed a bath I could sneak in a haircut.)


But the BIG news is that we put our little house in the Shire up for sale this past week. We've been thinking it over since Sully arrived - and we're finally doing it. We have really loved living here - but I think it's time. The hardest part is facing the neighbors, some of whom I REALLY hate to leave. I don't know what to say. Some of our friends have had a little advanced warning thanks to our kids - but overall I think everyone has been pretty surprised. The next question is - "Where do we go?" Don't know the answer to that yet, but I'm hoping to stay in SoJo. We're looking for more land for our kids and the hyper donkey - and more square footage. And horse property would be a plus for Jessie (can't believe I'm entertaining this idea) just in case we can't just always mooch off my Dad for her 4H stuff.

So - we'll see how it goes.

Mission Accomplished

Whew! We did it!
So... it rained all night before the race and the rest of the day after the race... we had a 3 hour reprieve - thank goodness. We got there to set up at 7AM and I briefed the finish line volunteers on how it was all supposed to work. As far as I could see (and my scope was limited) the event was a great success! For the most part people actually showed up to run in the wet and cold (about 40 degrees). Roy-son, my brother-in-law and right-hand-man, kept time AND kept the timer dry with his ingenious plastic bag. Plus, my sisters came and ran the 5k - which was great - although I missed running with them. But the coolest part of the day was watching Noble WIN the mile. Everyone was standing around waiting for the first finishers to come in, thinking we might see some teenager or adult - when we see this little kid rounding the bend of the river. I think, "That really looks like Noble." It was indeed. So a second grader dominated the fun run - outran 100 people - and scored a pretty decent time too. I had to run to catch him in the chute because he didn't know he was supposed to stop. Me: "Did you run all the way to the pond?" (I was suspicious that he'd cut the course - because Mike wasn't with him) Noble: "Yes." Me: "Did you know you WON the race?" Noble: "No. There was a girl behind me and I didn't want her to pass me." Classic. (There was no danger of that since the girl in question was like 30-40 seconds back). Me: "Noble, did you hear all those people cheering for you?" Noble: "I thought that they were yelling at EACH OTHER. ?" Awesome. (The other coolest thing was the dream Mike had earlier in the week about HIS race - which ironically Noble lived instead. You'll have to ask Mike about THAT. I'm still laughing about it.)
Sadly, the camera's battery was dead when I tried to take pictures. I'm really bummed about that. So you'll just have to visualize.

Game Time

So - tomorrow's the big day. I met with Arb this past Wednesday and he set me straight on race organization. (Wow. I'm glad I talked to him.) Weather forcast is predicting rain off and on...I'm crossing my fingers (I gotta keep that clock dry). ANYWAY...I hope we've planned for just about every eventuality (rain, cheaters, injuries, last minute registrations, etc.) but we don't have a contingency for me just screwing up. It's turned into a much bigger event than anyone anticipated - we'll raise around $10,000 when it's all said and done. Who knows? Maybe we'll grow so big in coming years that we'll break into the prestigeous circle of Ironman qualifier races! :) Or at least the Wasatch 100 (Casey...). Go NPA Eagles!

Spinning plates.

Lately at church we've been involved in the big Temple Youth Celebration which includes every teenager within the temple districts of the new Draper Temple and Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It's a giant music, dance, cultural performance downtown at the Conference Center the end of May. The weekly rehersals have been a logistical challenge - to say the least (especially with our family's schedule). But it really is a cool opportunity for the kids to have some involvement in the process of building a new temple.

I wasn't busy enough SO... I volunteered to help out with our school's fundraising event - a 5k, thinking that they would have me handing out water bottles, pulling tabs in the chute, whatever. Turns out they were desperate for help - because they put me in charge of the finish line committee - and apparently I'm the only one who's ever been involved with racing before. To begin with I asked if we had a race clock lined up. We didn't...and the expectation was that I would locate one...for free. Someone had to do it. So I've been on that one for about a month. Long story short - I tracked down my old cross country coach from High School - Coach Arbogast, to ask for some direction. He graciously offered to let us borrow a clock. I'll be picking it up tomorrow morning from the school (that will be a blast from the past! -walking the halls of Bingham High again - I hope the kids think I'm cool!) Hopefully he'll be able to make it clear how to use it. I don't want to mess up with 220 runners counting on an accurate time. The race is this Saturday (at the same time as Jessie's first horse show - wouldn't you know.) I'll let you know how that goes.

Quote of the Month

Talking to Jessie about how it's her turn to change and wash the sheets - Tillman walks past and says conversationally, "Yeah, I think I peed the bed again." - as if this happened days ago - and he wants Jessie to get on that. ...and then he just walks away. ???