the latest chapter in the book of "Adam"

I am the Primary President in our ward. Yesterday my music leader brought over several pieces of music for me to look at for the Primary kids to sing in Sacrament Meeting on Father's Day. I gave them a brief look before I set them down on a chair in the living room, thinking, "I'll get to those as soon as I'm done cleaning the bathroom." About 15 minutes later, I was still cleaning while I was talking to my brother on the phone, when suddenly I heard the PAPER SHREDDER being used in the next room. I dashed in and found Adam shredding the last piece of music! The other sheets of music were already neatly dumped into billions of little peices in the bottom of the shredder. (Sorry Layne , I hope my 168-decibel scream in your ear didn't do any long-term damage to your hearing.)

I don't know......I'm thinking if I try really hard, and spend an hour (maybe two), then I could maybe put it all back together. Anyone got any tape?

happy birthday....

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, I'm so DEPRESSED that David Archuleta didn't win, happy birthday to you."

boo hoo, sniffle, sniffle :(

Yip, that was pretty much what we were singing last night at Raegan and Haylie's birthday/American Idol finale party last night. I'm still in denial. When Ryan Secrest said that the winner is "David.......COOK", I couldn't figure out what was happening. I thought, "David WHO? Who is Cook? Where did this 'Cook' name come from?!" I just couldn't wrap my brain around what he had just said. I cried. (Okay, I cried only on the inside - there were way, WAY too many people in the room for me to make a fool of myself by crying out loud. Come on! I'm a forty-year-old woman for goodness sake. Get a grip lady!)

The Davids, moments before the......(sigh)....announcement.

This was as Ryan Secrest was saying "David......." Look at the faces on these kids. The suspense was truly intense. They were all about to pass out, if I didn't pass out first.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting...

The winner is announced. Pure and utter devastation!

Okay FINE! The night was not a total loss. We still had the birthday party portion to look forward to. It's a good thing we had the birthday to get our minds off of the previous "Archu-let-down".

Raegan and Haylie are so lucky! They share the same birthday, May 21st (actually lucky for mom - ONE cake, ONE party - yee haw!).

Haylie cutting the luscious homemade lemon-buttermilk cake!

Raegan and her new Anthropologie top. I think when Raegan blew out her birthday candles she wished for a million dollars so that she could go on a shopping spree at Anthroplogie - she's a bit obsessed with that place! (There's nothing wrong with dreaming, honey!)

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY RAEGAN!!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY HAYLIE!!

(It just hit me - I have 3, THREE, teenagers now! Help?)

the battle of the Davids

Okay, I have NEVER watched American Idol before this season, and I must say that now I am completely addicted! It has been soooo much fun to watch our "local boy" David Archuleta. We are HUGE fans of his now!

Last Friday, I took Haylie and Brooke to see David at Murray High School. We were so lucky to get in - the place was packed. It was a huge day here. They named it "David Archuleta Day".

This is the stage where he performed. We had great seats, until the wind blew that dang balloon rainbow until it was almost horizontal, which completely blocked us from seeing his face (his shoes looked great though!). We all chanted "Move the balloons, move the balloons". They finally caved in to us and cut them and let them fly away.

The CROWDS!

This is the hospital across the street from the high school.

Workers had come out on the roof to watch the action!

Ya, you'll probably have to click on this photo to see its glory.

The limo that David arrived in - it was some honkin' huge beast.

You can only see about half of it here. He was surrounded by police and sirens as he drove in to the parking lot.

This is the mayor of Murray presenting David with....stuff.

I sure hope this guy's "handlebar mustache" doesn't cost David any votes! That was a bit wierd. I wanted to yell out, "Watch out David, that thing might poke you in the eye!" Yikes.

And I thought David sounded good on t.v. He's even better in person!

What a beautiful voice.

(The bald guy behind him is his personal bodyguard.)

I love this picture because of the story behind it. Haylie and I had walked to the side of the stage. The camera guy was filming David and he was talking to the camera. Then we yelled out, "Hey David!", and he turned and looked at us with this shy "are-you-talking-to-me?" look. Then he smiled and laughed at us. Fun times!

GO DAVID A.!!

"as long as it functions..."

I had to leave for church early this morning before everyone else to get some things ready for Primary. Adam was asleep when I left so his dad got him ready. I believe these photos sum up John's life motto of...."It doesn't matter what it looks like, just as long as it functions." Imagine the look on my face as Adam entered the Primary room. Yes, that's MY boy!

A shirt that Adam used to wear back in winter of 2006-07.

Lace-less shoes.

And I suppose rolling up the pant legs is to try to hide the fact that the pants are floods. Yes, what a brilliant idea! That camouflages it perfectly. Who would ever know?!

I think that, somehow, dressing Adam this way today has caused some slight neurological damage, as is evident in these photos.

Poor kid.

my dad

Here is my dad, Sam, many years ago at the microphone of his radio station KBUH.

It's a difficult thing to see your parents age and the health problems that come along with that. This past Saturday morning, my dad had a stroke. He woke up unable to speak or use his right hand. Since we don't know exactly when the stroke occured, the doctors didn't feel good about giving him the drugs that are usually given to a stroke patient within a 3-hour time frame. Apparently, once that time frame has passed, it actually becomes quite dangerous to administer the drugs. So not knowing whether the stroke had occured 1 hour or 5 hours earlier, that option was not available. When I made it to the hospital by that afternoon, I was shocked to see how bad his speech really was. He was only able to muster out some slurred sounds, and I couldn't understand anything he was trying to say. And since he is right handed, he couldn't even write anything down. This left him completely unable to communicate.

My dad has the most beautiful voice! It is a very deep, crystal clear voice. He once ran his own radio station filling the airwaves with his beautiful sound. He has recorded many narrations over the years. He always said that he regrets not auditioning for the host/narrator of "Music and the Spoken Word". I agree, he would have been perfect for that.

When I spoke with him on the phone this morning, I was blown over when he answered the phone! He then proceeded to tell me that he couldn't find the phone as it was buried in my mom's purse. I understood every word he said. What a miracle! As I talked with him, he still struggled with some words, and others were slow and a bit slurred, but his voice is back. What a blessing. I am amazed at how quickly he is recovering. The stroke occured only 48 hours ago, and the progress so far is very promising. I hope that this first stroke is his last. My dad will be 80-years-old this July.

the mom who does "nothing"

Driving home from children's choir practice today, Haylie and her friends were talking to each other- they were asking each other questions from those "conversation cards".

Brinley: "And the next question is......If you could give your mom and dad anything in the world, what would you give them?
Let's see (still Brinley)......I would give my mom a craft store that's all purple because she loves crafts and she loves the color purple, and I would give my dad a football field because he loves football!"

Brianna: "I would give my mom and dad The White House - wouldn't that be so cool?!"

Haylie (my kind, sweet, appreciative daughter): I would give my dad the University of Utah football team because he loves them, and I would give my mom........I would give my mom.......hmmm, I would give my mom......I don't know what I'd give my mom because she........doesn't.......really.......do.......anything.

our marathon girl

(Brooke's picture was in the newspaper! She is getting her medal from Miss Utah Valley.)

Last Saturday was a big day for Brooke. She ran in her first marathon (26.2 miles) and took 2nd place in her age division of 19-24! Her running time was 4:14:37. The race started at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon and ended out by the Provo airport. She ran the entire way without walking once!

While she was training, she claimed that this would be her only marathon, that she just wanted to do ONE to prove to herself that she could do it. About ten minutes after she crossed the finish line, exhaused and sore, I said to her (sarcastically), "So Brooke, when are you going to run your next marathon?" She hesitated for a second, then said, "Probably not for a little while." Ha! I think she's been bitten by the "marathon bug"! She did fantastic and we are SO proud of her!

We met up with her at about mile 23. We would drive the car a bit ahead of her, then jump out to get some pictures. John joined her for a couple of miles near the end.

(Why is that all underlined?! It won't let me change it - HELP!)

Here is a 4 minute sample of our day...

(The first part is kind of dumb - just me talking as we are waiting for Brooke at the half way point. Apparently we missed her by 3 minutes. We realized this after sitting there on a bench coated with ice for 40 minutes. Luckily we finally caught up with her! I think the video will be worth your time :) You may even feel like you're watching the Olympics!

Well, actually, maybe not...)

a little hint...

This next blog entry is taking me forever (anyone know how to download a home movie onto my computer?!), so I thought I'd just give a little sample of what I am trying to blog about. Here's the hint:

will it ever end?

I took these photos in my front garden this morning, Monday, April 7th.

DOES ANYONE, BESIDES ME, SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THESE PICTURES?!?

the glass castle

My sister-in-law, Betsy, recently gave me this amazing book. It's been quite a while since I read a book that entranced me like The Glass Castle. I would think about it all day and I couldn't wait until evening when I could get the kids in bed so that I could dive into it again. When I got near the end I would read only 1-2 pages a night because I didn't want it to be over. I was addicted!

It is so well written. You feel almost like you are living with the Walls family. It is written by the daughter, Jeannette, and is the story of her upbringing along with her two siblings. I don't even know how to describe her parents: disfunctional, selfish, loving(?), and impoverish are words that come to my mind.

Their situation is ugly in so many ways, and yet you become so endeared to these children and so full of hope that their lives will improve. I truly was touched by their love and loyalty to each other, and all they did for each other to try to make life bearable. I also really admired how the author wrote with true love and affection for both the mom and the dad, even though they were both so abominable behaved. You could sense her love for them even in their worst behaved hours. To this day, Jeannette still loves and supports her parents, after all the nightmares they put her through. It's a fine example of unconditional love.

I thought it was an amazing book that I highly recommend (with a bit of warning: the language can get, well, colorful to say the least. However the story needs this. Without it, one would not get a full grasp of what kind of man her father really was).