School is Out!

Christian, Ethan, and Julia had their last days of school this week. Christian's last day was on Tuesday and Julia and Ethan's last day was on Wednesday. It sounds like they all had a fun last day. Christian had a party and brought home lots of treats. He really liked his teacher a lot, but I think he was glad to be done with school. He had a couple friends that he said he would miss too, but he will actually see them at church throughout the summer since they are in our ward. In fact, I guess he will see his teacher at church too throughout the summer since she is the ward that meets right before we do. Ethan also had some party activities, but they mainly watched a movie - Ralph S. Mouse. I got to go to school with Julia for her last day. It was an exhausting day! We started off just in the classroom for the first 45 minutes while the teacher just let the kids go wild. She was opening up gifts that kids had given her while all of the students were running around the class. After that we got on the bus to go on Julia's field trip. We started at the skating rink which was a lot of fun. Julia has roller blades, but she hasn't used them all that much so she was taking it nice and slow. She could get around and only had a couple falls, but she was definitely very cautious. She still had a blast though and said she wants to go a lot more. I had a fun time too and I thought owning a rollerskating rink would be a pretty fun family business. It seems like the expenses would be the building and then upkeep of the equipment, but then you wouldn't really need many employees and there is no product that you have to keep in stock and try to sell before it gets old. Then you can also make a lot of money off the concessions. There was a Papa Murphy's next door and the pizza place bought their pizzas from there, heated them up, and sold them for over twice as much. After three hours of roller skating we found a park to eat lunch. Then it was off to bowling. Julia and I were on a lane with two other girls that she new, but then we got a boy to join us who couldn't find another group. He did not want to stay in his seat at all. Every time it was his turn I had to search around the whole bowling alley to find him. We were able to get through one game and barely start a second game. I think all the other lanes got through 3 games. Julia said she didn't like bowling very much up until she finally got a strike. Then she was all smiles. The bowling alley participates in free summer games for kids which we may take advantage of if we can figure out what we would like to do for shoes. I remember going bowling during the summers a lot when I was going up and I think my mom found some bowling shoes at the thrift store so we wouldn't have to rent shoes always. We will have to keep our eyes out for some cheap shoes as well. On the bus ride home both Julia and I fell asleep even though it was just 15 minutes to get back to her school. I am glad that I got to participate in that fun last day.

To celebrate school being out we decided that we would go on a long family hike the next day. We are thinking of making this a new family tradition for the day after school. We have our usual hike that we do that takes about an hour or two for the round trip. From the top of our usual hike we can see some radio towers off on a distant peak so we decided to hike to them. It was a long trip. There were a few ups and downs so it was somewhat difficult both ways. Agnes got carried the entire time, but everyone else did great. We left at 9 am and did our first break at 11 when we were about 2/3 of the way there. The last third was pretty steep and there was no real trail for us to follow, but we made it. At the top we took a break and had a picnic lunch. Then on the way back Agnes slept the entire way. She was super heavy while she was sleeping and I just can't imagine what it would be like to sleep while someone was carrying you. I wonder if you would have dreams about flying or floating or something like that. We finally got back at 3 o'clock and we were all exhausted.













On Friday we celebrated us all being off by doing a family temple trip up to Rexburg. We got up early so the kids could sleep in the car on the way there. I went first while Rebecca did breakfast with the kids once they woke up. Then, when Rebecca was in the temple I took the kids to BYU-Idaho again. This time I figured out how to turn the air hockey table on and the kids were super excited about that. After playing for about an hour we just walked around the campus. We walked through the library having a contest to see who could be the quietest, but a father walking around with 5 small kids on a college campus still got a few looks. As we were leaving the library we ran into one of the sister missionaries that served in our ward in Alaska. She had been home from her mission for exactly one year and she thought it was really cool to run into us on her year mark. When we got back to Pocatello we went to the Pizza Pie Cafe. Julia, Ethan, and Christian all got free buffet coupons from school for them and a sibling. So Rebecca and I were the only ones that had to pay and we still have some free coupons left over. It had been a long time since I had been to an all you could eat pizza place and it brought back some memories. It wasn't the best quality pizza, but it was fun to let everyone get whatever types they wanted. Rebecca and I ended up tying at 9 pieces each, which isn't all that much, but we were both stuffed. If it was a little better quality I think I could have gotten a few more pieces in, but when I was starting to feel full I just didn't have much motivation to keep going. The kids have been getting a lot of free coupons this year for their reading - in addition to Pizza Pie Cafe , we have also gotten a few for Texas Roadhouse, Burger King, Little Caesars, an frozen yogurt place, and a couple more.

Visitors

This last week we had a few visitors and we loved all of the company! Last Sunday Doranda and her family came by for a couple nights after her husband's brother's wedding in Salt Lake. It was nice to be able to catch up with them. We did a walk on Sunday and played a few games. Then on Monday we did a hike while Julia and Ethan were in school. It was the same hike that we have done a few times before just behind our house. When Julia and Ethan came home the kids all played for a little while and then we had a major family home evening. It was all of the regular things, but we also had a couple left over pinatas from Ethan's party that we never got to, a game of soccer in the basement, and a game of Ammon (one person has a sword and a sheep in the corner and everyone else tries to touch the sheep without getting whacked by the sword; if they get whacked, they have to start over at the back of the room; if someone gets to the sheep, then a new person gets to be Ammon). That night after the kids went to bed Doranda, Bob, Rebecca, and I played 13 skadoo (I just tried to look up how to spell that online, but I couldn't find any reference to the game, so I must be way off), and Doranda wiped us all out. They left early the next morning before anyone else was up. Julia had left a note for them on the door though.

Talitha and David (and Lucy) stopped by on Wednesday on their way to camping at Lava Hot Springs. They were in the area from Wednesday until this morning. I feel really bad for them because it was rainy the entire time they were here. And then today, right after they left, the weather was great. On Wednesday they just stopped by to say hi. We were going to go to their campsite on Thursday night, but it was just too rainy and wet. On Friday afternoon Nathanael and his family came and we got to do a few games with them and the kids watched a movie at night. And then on Saturday Talitha and David came back over to our house and Caleb came down from Rexburg (he forgot to bring Amery with him though). We had originally planned for all of us to go to the campsite on Saturday, but again it was just too rainy. So we played a few games (the boys won at Trivial Pursuit, but I think it took us 2 hours to get through it) at our house, roasted some hotdogs over David's portable grill, and then took advantage of a break in the rain in the afternoon to go to the park. We loved having everyone over and hope that they had a fun time. 

Just a couple weeks ago I was telling Rebecca that I think we have done more trips and had more visitors in the 5 months we have been in Pocatello than in our entire 5 years in Alaska. Now, with this most recent week that is definitely true.

  

Christian's Graduation

Christian had his kindergarten graduation this last week. He still has a couple days left of school, but this was their big ceremony. They sang some songs and had a few parts that they spoke. Christian seemed pretty excited, he even wore his suit all day long for it. It has been a good year. We were a little skeptical about the full day and every other day schedule when he first started back in December, but it turned out great. He also had a great teacher. I am not sure how much he really learned this year (he already had a lot down), but perhaps more important, he had a good experience and was always happy to go.

Christian is the graduating dog on the right.

Cherry Springs Park

Just south of town there are a lot of nature walk trails that wind around the base of the mountains. Last Saturday, right after the boys and I got back from the father and son campout, we met up with Rebecca's brother Ryan and his friend and had lunch over a fire. When we first got there we were hoping to find a set of picnic tables or something, but instead we found a perfect spot off the main trail a little. It had one of the largest trees I had ever seen that was perfect for climbing. It wasn't tall like the really big evergreens that I saw growing up in Washington, but super wide and it looked like it was probably really old. The children were able to climb on it while we started the fire. We cooked up some hotdogs and had some other yummy snacks. We then played in the river a little - just throwing stuff in, not actually going in ourselves. It was a great way to spend a sunny afternoon. We have been having an unusual amount of rain this year, so I am glad that we were able to get some nice weather in while Ryan was here.

Father & Son Campout

Last weekend our church ward had a father & son campout. It was a lot of fun. A member of the bishopric has some family property just south of Pocatello in Inkom. The property has a small pond, a river that runs through it, and lots of open spots for camping. Ethan, Christian, Elliott and I packed up after Ethan got home from school and then we headed out. We were the second ones there so we got our pick of tent sites. While the boys were playing in the pond, I found a nice flat spot a little way down a trail and across the river. I had to scare off a skunk, but it was a perfect spot. Everyone else in the ward ended up setting up there tents right close to the pond so it was nice to have a little space just to ourselves.

After setting up our tent, the boys and I went for a short hike and played on a rope swing some. We then had dinner. I just purchased some cheap hot dogs on the way to the site, thinking that would be enough. We each had two, but the boys were still pretty hungry. Many of the other dads had brought steak skewers and fancy things like that, so I was getting pretty hungry too once our hotdogs were gone. Luckily, the bishop brought a whole smoked turkey and two huge dutch ovens full of a potato dish and a green bean dish that he said he brought for the whole camp. The boys and I filled up on that and it was pretty yummy. After dinner we played catch with the football and then we shot off bottle rockets. That went until about 8:30 or so and the bishop was supposed to have a cobbler and fireside prepared to start then, but the cobblers were not done until 10:30. They boys were super tired by that point, so we went back to our tent instead of staying up for the fireside.

It was a really clear night, so we slept with the rainfly off and the stars were amazing. For some reasons the stars didn't show up very well in Alaska and that is one thing that I like a lot about Idaho. It was a little cold, but the boys just burrowed in their sleeping bags and slept through the whole night. The next morning we packed up and had a breakfast prepared by the High Priest - pancakes, bacon, and orange juice. The boys loved it and ate a ton. Then we went back home.

I think we all had a fun time. On the drive home the boys told me that they wanted to a lot of camping this summer. I am not a big camper, but it is a nice way to get a break from the usual routine. Plus, with it being a father and son campout we were able to give the girls a break back at home - they painted finger nails and watched the Little Princess.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day everyone. I am so lucky to be surrounded by amazing mothers and women in my life. Of course there is my mom. I am so grateful for all the sacrifices she made in raising me and for all of the lessons that she taught me throughout my life. She is serving a mission in the Philippines right now and is setting a great example for me and Rebecca as well as our children. We all got to talk to her on skype today. Then of course there is Rebecca. She is amazing. I am just so impressed with who she is (how she thinks, talks, and acts) and I can't imagine anyone better for our children. In addition, there are my sisters, my mother-in-law, my grandmothers, Rebecca's grandmothers, and Julia and Agnes, who have all had such a positive influence on my life and the lives of everyone else around them.

There is a poem that I like about motherhood that I have heard quoted a few times here and there. It is "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world". You can read the full thing here (http://www.potw.org/archive/potw391.html). In the world right now it seems like so many forces are working against mothers and belittling the important role that they fulfill. I am so grateful for Rebecca, and all of the other mothers out there, for the work that they do. I know that I am a better person because of the influences of these women and I am so grateful for that.

We started off the day by letting Rebecca sleep in a little - 8 am is sleeping in in our house. Then we had breakfast. Rebecca requested an omelet and we just happened to stubble on some free donuts yesterday. Church was wonderful, especially the children's mother's day song during sacrament meeting. Christian gave a talk in primary and did a great job and Elliott said a prayer. For lunch we just had leftovers. Then for dinner Rebecca requested french dip sandwiches. I also took a stab at making her famous strawberry pie. It was pretty simple (I did have her help though) if anyone wants the recipe. Rebecca got several cards from the kids throughout the day and her big present actually came on Friday - she got a piano. That was no surprise though since she bought it on our trip down to Salt Lake the weekend before. It is a 5 ft 2 inch Young Chang baby grand in a slight gloss black. She has been loving the piano ever since it arrived and we are both excited to get the kids back into their lesson routine. Plus, with the piano in the front room, we now officially have furniture in every room of the house. We still need lots of additional pieces of furniture throughout the house, but at least there is something in every room.

Ethan's 8th Birthday

Ethan turned 8 on Saturday! He had really been looking forward to this one. He was excited for his baptism of course, which is coming up in July, but sometime years ago when he had asked for a pocketknife, we had said something like maybe when you turn 8. So he was certain he was going to get one for this birthday.

We started the celebrations off on Thursday night with a trip to Texas Roadhouse. It was really to celebrate Christian's surgery, my being done with work for the school year, and his birthday. He had a free kids meal birthday coupon, and Rebecca had a free appetizer coupon, so we only ended up ordering a full rack of ribs, and a hamburger, besides those two things and split it among all 7 of us. I usually fill up on rolls (I had 10 this time), so we still went home with lots of leftovers. And the best part of it all was it was free because we still had money on a gift card that my brother gave us.


On the saddle at Texas Roadhouse with his ice-cream while the workers sang to him.


On Friday we had a friend birthday party. Besides our kids, there were 11 of his friends that showed up. He really wanted to do a zombie theme for his party. So we set it up like there was a zombie outbreak and the kids had to find supplies to weather it through the storm. They paired up and each got a list that included water, granola bar, rope, a bag, and a ball. There were lots of these items hidden all over and some were marked as contaminated and others were clean - they could only grab the clean versions. We had planned to have them search through the ravine for these materials, but it was rainy so we had to do it all inside. Some of the kids got a little scared and tears were even shed out of fear, so I had to reassure them that there were no real zombies. Anyway, once they got all of their supplies, we played games that corresponded to each item. With the water we had a race to see which pair could finish off their water bottle the fastest. One of the girls kept on saying she was going to throw up. (I am sure Ethan is now going to have the reputation at school of having the dad you makes kids cry and throw up at birthday parties). Then, we the granola bars I had them race to see who could eat them the fastest without hands. For the balls, I pretended I was a zombie and they got to throw their balls at me. I think that was their favorite one. This particular game might have been better suited for a group of 5 year olds, because some of them could throw pretty hard and there were a few that were specifically aiming at my head. Last was a three legged race with the rope. I tied each game into a skill that they might need in a real zombie attack and overall I think it went well. Rebecca then fed them some cupcakes, they opened presents, and then just went crazy for 30 minutes or so until their parents arrived.





On Saturday we celebrated Ethan's birthday as a family. Unfortunately I had graduation ceremonies that day, so I was gone from 9:30 to 1:00. For breakfast Ethan ordered bacon, coco puffs, fried eggs, hashbrowns, and apple juice. For lunch he had nutella sandwiches, and for dinner he had grilled cheese sandwiches and a fruit and veggie platter. For his cake he asked for one called oreo freak out - which was a mint ice-cream cake with crushed oreos sprinkled all around it. Other than that we just played games as a family and watched a movie in the evening.





Ethan said he had a great time throughout the day. He is an awesome kid and we are really lucky to get to be his parents.

Christian's Surgery

Christian has had a really hard time hearing for about the past three months. We were thinking that maybe he had allergies and the congestion just kept his ears pretty plugged up. So, we all just tried to talk really laud and tried to be patient with his continuous "whats". I know we shouldn't have waited so long, but we finally decided to take him in for a doctor's appointment. The doctor checked out his ear and did find that it was blocked up with something. He tried to get it out then, but wasn't able to at all, so he referred us to an audiologist. Rebecca took him in for that appointment the next day and they said it was a rock. They tried to get it out too, but didn't have any luck. So they scheduled him for surgery a couple days later. The surgery went great. They went ahead and put tubes in his ears since they were doing the surgery anyway. Christian had a really quick recovery and now has a small rock (about half the size of a dime) as a souvenir. Rebecca and I feel really bad as parents for making him live for 3 months with a rock in his ear (sounds like some sort of medieval torture technique). We couldn't believe though how laid back and accepting Christian was of it all. He said "what" a lot, but he never complained about any pain in his ear over those three months and never said anything about it being hard to hear people. And post surgery he threw up once, but just kept saying that he felt great. He got some new pajamas, a donut, and movie time out of it all, and now his hearing is great!

Utah/California Trip

Last weekend I had a conference in Long Beach, CA to attend. I needed to fly out of Salt Lake City so Rebecca and I decided to make a whole family trip out of it. We picked the kids up right after school on Thursday and started our drive down. We wanted to make it down as quickly as possible so we could stop by a few stores in the Salt Lake area before they closed. After doing some shopping, we drove to Rebecca's brother's house for the night. We got there just in time for me and Rebecca to attend the temple (they only live about 5 minutes) away. It has been so long since we have been to the temple together (we usually have to do shifts), so that was really nice. Then, Rebecca and I woke up at 4 am and she took me to the airport for a 6 am flight.

Everything went smoothly with the flights. In fact, since I have MVP status with Alaska Airlines they upgraded me to first class there and back. When I got to LAX, I caught the metro straight down to Long Beach. There is a lot of poverty there and seeing it all really reminded me how blessed we are and the difficulties that some people have to face every day of their life. I had just booked the cheapest hotel I could find and so it was in a pretty sketchy part of Long Beach. The hotel itself was fine and it had free wifi so that was good, but it was a little scary walking the 2 miles to and from the conference hotel every day. The conference was fine, but not one I usually attend so I didn't end up going to much of it or networking with other people. I did get to go touch the ocean on one of the days, so that was pretty exciting.

The most exciting part of my trip though was on the last day when I tried to go to church before heading to the airport. I planned on taking the metro into Los Angeles in the morning, walking along the Hollywood walk of fame and then making my way to a chapel that was just a few blocks away from that. Unfortunately, they had part of the metro that was closed for repairs and so I had to hope on the bus for a couple stops. They had it all planned out so the bus took us to the station where we could get on the metro again, but it had to do a lot of stops along the way. With those stops and the traffic, what should have only taken 5 minutes on the metro ended up taking an hour. The bus was packed and I had to stand for the whole thing. It was an interesting ride though. It was right through the Compton area of LA, so kind of a scary area. There was one part where the bus had to stop for a guy who was crossing the street. When he made it to the other side, he just dropped his pants there and started peeing right in the open, exposing himself to everyone on the bus. By the time we got to the metro station I realized there was no way I would be able to make it to church, so instead, I just got on the first bus going back to the metro station that I just came from. Luckily I was one of the first ones on so I got a seat this time. However, as the bus become more crowded there was an older lady standing, so I got up and climbed into the isle to give her my seat. When I did that I guess my backpack bumped into a guy and that set him off. So I had to go an hour bus ride with this guy yelling and swearing at me, telling me how he was going to punch me in the face, and telling me how stupid White people are. Luckily, by the end of the bus ride his anger turned toward the bus driver (the bus driver and I were the only White guys on the bus), so I was able to make it off without incident. I really enjoyed my first class flight home after the uncomfortable and frightening trip to the airport. I arrived in Salt Lake and 9 pm, Rebecca and the kids met me at the airport, and we drove back to Pocatello that night.

Based on Rebecca's report, it sounds like they had a much funner (and safer) time in Salt Lake. They got to spend some time with her brother of course, but they also got to visit her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and cousins, and my brother's family. Rebecca said that the kids loved playing with their cousins and she had a great time catching up with everyone.

Unfortunately we were having battery problems so the only picture we got from that trip was one my brother took of Agnes on his new motorcycle. Looks pretty fun. Maybe I will have to try to talk him into letting me take it out - the last and only time I rode a motorcycle was about 12 years ago when I crashed his first bike into our neighbor's house.

Spring Carnival

ISU had their Spring Carnival on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They were charging $10 per family or a canned food item per person. Originally it was planned for outside, but because of some rain earlier in the day, they held it in the student union. There were two main rooms. In the first room they had the inflatables. The kids got to do a giant obstacle course/slide several times. I took Agnes through it once, but she didn't enjoy it all that much. After that was a bounce house. Agnes really liked that one and kept going back to it as her siblings did other things. There was also a potato sack race. The kids were all pretty good at it because they have shorter strides. Instead of having to hope, for the most part they could just run while holding the bag up. Then Julia and Ethan tried to do Sumo wrestling, but the costumes were a little large and heavy for them and they had a hard time standing up. Rebecca and I did it instead and it didn't take her long before she pinned me. They also had jousting and all of the kids gave that a try. The jousting poles were a little heavy for them, so they kind of just swung them around until someone lost their balance and fell off the pedestal. Rebecca and I gave that a try as well. The battery was drained on our camera at that point, so we didn't get pictures of the rest.





















The last thing that they had in that room was a kiddie pool with sand and arrow heads that the kids got to look for. They loved that they got to bring them home. They made necklaces out of them and have been wearing them all day. There was also this stick and arrow throwing thing that Rebecca picked up much quicker than I did. She even killed a mastodon for us.


In the second room we started off with the food. They had corndogs, hamburgers, french fries, pop, popcorn, cotton candy, and churros. The food was super good quality, but it was still fun. After eating, the second room had tons of games to play - things like the ring toss, softball tic-tac-toe, and floating rubber ducks. The kids all earned tickets from these games which they spent on stuffed snakes and bouncy balls. Then we got in line for face painting. We were probably just five or six people back, but it was one lady and she took her time for each person so we were in line for over an hour. That was okay, because the kids just kept playing the games while we waited. She was definitely worth the wait. It was bar far the best face painting that I have ever seen. It is too bad the kids had to wash it all off at the end of the night.





While we were waiting in line we also got to see a corndog eating contest. There were five contestants to begin with an the first to eat 15 corndogs got a small TV. Rebecca thought I should enter (not because she wanted the TV), but because she thought it would be entertaining to watch me do it. When they unveiled the plates with the corndogs on them, 15 seemed like a huge number. Three of the contestants dropped out somewhere between 5-8 in. There were two left and one of them was way ahead of the other. He just shoved them in quickly until he only had 2 left. The other guy still had like 6 to go. But then the guy with 2 left just stopped and stood up. He was pacing back and forth for about 15 minutes and the other guys was very slowly catching up. Finally, the guy who was in the lead threw it all up and so he was disqualified. It was pretty gross, but luckily I don't think anyone in our family was watching at that moment.

It ended with them giving away an x-box 360 with 6 games. There were about 70 people there, so with 7 in our family I thought we had a pretty good chance. Not that we would have wanted it - we would have just taken it back to the store - but drawings an raffles are always exciting. We didn't win it though. At the end of the carnival they just said that people could grab whatever they wanted off the prize table, so we got a bunch of party favors for Ethan's birthday party coming up and 50 or so poppers.

The kids had a great time. I am so glad that we live in a college town now where they have a lot of fun events like that for students, but also for people from the community.