Cool Ride for a Nerdy Kid

Ok, so there's always that car that you dream of owning. The car that says "This is me". My '67 Mustang was that car for me. I'm still trying to figure out how I could own a two year old car when I was 17. I remember that my Dad co-signed for me, and I'm pretty sure that he was named on the title, but how cool would this be to own a car like this when you were my age? The car had a huge motor - not the wimpy 289 most Mustangs had and it had a three speed tranny. That meant there was a lot of torque in first gear - an important feature for a teenage kid with rubber to burn. The first thing I did when I got it was to paint the recessed part of the hood black and add a psychedelic painting with the wording "Peace" on the rear deck. It was really just a poster that I got laminated and stuck on the back. There wasn't another car like it in the valley.

We had lots of fun with that car. Janene and I went to drive-ins with it. It was safer for that than the old cars because it had bucket seats. I took all the guys from work fishing in it up to Blacksmith Fork, and most evenings in summer it could be found up at Mueller Park where we went to "shoot the tube". It cost a ton to drive; it got about 8 miles to the gallon. Even with gas at 30 cents a gallon it was a major drain on the pocketbook when I only made two bucks an hour.

This was also the car where Janene learned to drive a stick and the one we took on our honeymoon. We decided to go to Zion National Park for our honeymoon and were going to camp out in the Sears pup tent that I bought when I was twelve years old with my money mowing lawns (25 cents for the front lawn and 50 cents for the back). Luckily, my dad took me aside and convinced me that while it would be a honeymoon to remember, Janene would really prefer that we get a hotel room. I didn't really have the money to do that, and my dad pitched in and gave me his Phillips 66 credit card to use for the trip. After getting married in Cedar City, we drove to Zions, and spent the first night at the Bumbleberry Inn. We found a cheaper place for the next two nights.

After that, it was off to our new life together. We wanted desperately to be independent, so there were lots of times we should have asked our parents for help and we didn't. Thank goodness for working at Robintino's. We always had the soup that was left over at the end of the night, and if there was a dinner made by mistake, it went into the cooler for me to bring home at night. We got so we would only put $1.50 of gas in the Mustang's tank at a time because we couldn't bear the thought of having that much money in the tank when we had run out before payday. When the water pump went out, we thought it was the end of the world. Finally with the Arab Oil Embargo, and Shon's diapers (Imperial Diaper Service), we could no longer afford the cool ride, and we traded it in on a new set of wheels, a Mercury Capri, made in Germany, that got much better gas mileage. My brother has a Mustang in his garage that he has kept for years. I always thought it would be fun to restore one of these with one of my boys, but they grew up way too fast and I never had the time, and I don't think the boys really wanted to do it. Oh, well!

Adventures with Captain America

One of the joys of youth is that you get get to to do totally crazy things. Captain America was one of those things in my life. I chose to take an auto shop class in high school. It meant that I had to take one less class from Orlin Ford. During one year, I took three different classes from the same teacher, Calculus, Physics and Statistical Analysis. Taking auto shop from Ed Schilowsky was a welcome break from the theoretical world and inspired me to create "Captain America" with my friends. We had found an old 1947 Ford pickup truck on a farm. A friend at school said he could sell it to us cheap, and we soon had towed it down the hill to Bountiful High's auto shop. We worked on it there during class time and soon had the truck running well enough to take it home where we removed the body and truck bed. Then it was back to the shop where we cut the frame out and welded it back together with a much shorter wheelbase. In the process, we had to create a new place for the seat, shorten the driveline and add a beer keg for a gas tank. We welded two steel rims together for each rear wheel to create dual wheels.

We named it Captain America after something from the film "Easy Rider" - for the life of me, I cannot remember what. We painted different parts of the motor red, white and blue. The thing could pop wheelies if you dropped the clutch in granny gear. One time when I did that, the weld that held the mounting plate for the clutch and brake pedals broke off and dropped to the ground, leaving me no way to stop the vehicle as I headed down 1500 South in Bountiful. I finally stopped it by sideswiping someones wooden fence with the rear dually. I never was very good at welding.

I drove it up to Janene's house once. Maybe more than once. We didn't have an exhaust system, so that meant no muffler and flames would shoot out the sides where the exhaust manifold should have been. Janene was so embarrassed to have me there. She said she could hear it coming for five minutes and her dad was disgusted with me and not happy that all the neighbors saw this noisy thing park in front of his house.

We tried to make it street legal, but in order to do that, we had to have a title. Being young dumb kids, we didn't know about that part. When we pressed our friend for the title, we got the run around and finally we became aware that our friend probably didn't own the vehicle and had stolen it. By then, we had destroyed a perfectly good truck that belonged to some farmer and figured we would be charged with stealing the truck if we went to the police. There was no choice but to dismantle the vehicle piece by piece and send the parts out with the family trash over a period of time. We dug a hole on the side of our house with the help of my little brother and buried the cab and body. The engine was dropped off the side of a hill on the dirt road going up to Calder's property and the wild ride of Captain America was over, much to the relief of my parents, Janene's dad and all of the neighbors

Things I learned from my Mother

This Mother's Day I have thought a little bit about the things I have learned from my mother. I thought I would share them here.

1. CARE FOR OTHERS.

My mom has all her life had a desire to serve others. This has taken her to a lot of places she would not have ordinarily gone in her life. The first real service I remember was when the Westerman family lived next door to us. This family was a real piece of work with a father who had his paycheck drunk before he got home from work. When the family got sick, my mom went to care for them even though that meant that she would get hepatitis and be sick for years. Later that would be translated into efforts to see that people who didn't look like us enjoyed the same rights we do. She became an advocate for people affected by the nuclear testing of the 50's and 60's. She now can often be found at the food bank helping those who have lost their jobs be able to provide for their families.

2. IT'S OK TO LAUGH ... EVEN IF YOU'RE THE MOM

When I was 11 or 12, I was getting ready for church and polishing my shoes on the white painted stairs. As I pulled the dauber out of the bottle ( shoe polish then was liquid, like paint), about a fourth of the bottle came flying out, and down the stairs. My mother was not very happy with me - and she let me know it. After cleaning up the mess, she sat down with me, took the bottle of shoe polish, and said " Here is how you do it!". As she pulled the dauber out, shoe polish went flying out and all over the stairs. I was horrified. Did this mean I was going to be in even more trouble now that the same thing had happened to her? I looked to her, she looked at me, and she started laughing. We sat there on the stairs, laughing till we cried. That's when I knew I had a pretty cool mom.

3. JOY WITH FAMILY

Things for my Mom haven't been easy. Living life for her has often been one battle after another ( or should I say, one hospital after another). She still has to have regular visits to the doctor where she is given another opportunity to stay on this earth, yet I never hear her complain about how hard it is. All my life I have known that being with her family was a conscious choice. Knowing that my Mom chose to be here with us has affected every part of my life and taught me to appreciate my own children and grandchildren.

4. THERE IS BEAUTY ALL AROUND

Maybe this came from her father, who used to chase sunsets to get the perfect picture . My mother can find beauty in every place or thing. She taught us to enjoy the world that God created and to appreciate it for the beauty it contains. We could go to the desert or the mountains and we didn't have to exploit the landscape to enjoy it. I am sure the idea of taking a dirtbike up a hillside , or speeding around on a four-wheeler never occured to her. She did get caught a few times trying to bring the desert home to her yard. In my garden, I like to grow vegetables. They are so ... useful. I have to have a corner for my wildflowers, though; and that comes from her.

All of these things I have learned from my Mother. There are many more, but those will have to wait for another time. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you.

Don't Laugh - It's Paid For

With the old Impala consigned to the auto graveyard, the search was on for a new car. I was getting tired of walking to work and the lack of a vehicle was causing some problems. I got off work at 2:30 AM or so and then walked home. The Bountiful Police Department took a dim view of long-haired hippies walking the public streets at that hour of the night. Sometimes I could catch a ride with one of the the other guys at work, but when I couldn't, I had to deal with Officer Burningham. I had to be at school at 7:30 for my first class. I usually slept through that one. My English teacher, June Carnes, was frustrated that I could sleep through her class and still get straight A's. I had done all my homework during the summer and was always able to turn it in on time (including the assignments that were extra credit). Janene and I saw an ad in the paper for a clean one-owner with low miles. I took the money from the insurance settlement (which was not near enough to pay off the loan and used $450 to buy this sharp 1958 Ford Fairlane. It had a 312 motor and a shifter on the column. It turned out that Janene and I thought the car was haunted. It had windshield wipers that ran off the engine vacuum and they would quit whenever you really needed them. I found little tiny switches installed under the seat that were connected to the radio such that if you leaned forward on the seat, the radio would turn off. Boy, I wish I still owned this car. It would be pretty cool to take my grandkids for a ride in a real car. Oh, and yes, those are my hippie peace pants.

Here's for you Brother & Sister Rogers

You asked for it. Here is the body Janene fell for. She took this picture when we first met in 1968 at Upper Emerald Pool in Zions National Park. We met during a summer science class on this field trip. Later on this night, we would hold hands for the first time as I helped her over a fence after dark at Duck Creek Campground. I had never done that with a girl before. I think we were both a little twitterpated (to quote Thumper). While we were at Zion National Park during the day, it rained buckets at Duck Creek and all of our tents were absolutely drenched. We all ended up sleeping on the bus - boys on one side and girls on the other. Janene and I stayed up all night and talked - touching toes across the aisle. By morning I knew that this was the girl I would marry. Too bad we had to wait until I graduated from high school three and a half years later.

Wanna piece of this?

You too can have one of these newwest fashion accessories.

Be the first on your block to have one.

When Janene went to get this prescription filled,

they told her this was the last they would get for a long long time.

Now here's the real question -

Do you have your food storage?

Have you got some money out of the bank?

Have you got some water stored?

Do you have a full gas tank?

Just imagine what would happen

if a lot of people got sick - or just called in sick

What would happen?

Ode to a Chevy - (and other cars owned by us)

As I was loading up some old photos, I noticed that there were pictures of some of our old cars we have owned. The very first car wasn't my car at all. It was Blaine B. Pulley's Impala station wagon. When I first started dating Janene, I wasn't old enough to drive. That meant that if we went on a date, she had to drive her dad's car. It's a lot cooler than you would think. Just remember I'm a 15 year old junior high kid dating a high school girl! So our date to the Gold and Green Ball... that was in her car. Antelope Island with all my guy friends ... that was in her car too. It had this cool red quilted naugahyde (just where do they hunt all those naugas to get their hides anyway?) interior. Blaine always took great care of it.

Here's Janene, the driver of this fine vehicle, posing in one of her homemade bikini's. And she was with me, not all these other guys hanging around. By this time I had been dating her for over a year and was almost ready to drive myself. Janene let me drive the car home since I had my learner's permit ( and she was an experienced adult driver).

When I finally got my license, this is what I got to drive. It was our old family car - 1960 Ford Fairlane Wagon. The very wagon that had almost hit a cow north of Moab. You know the cow - the one that put my head at the bottom of a Tupperware tub full of Mom's potato salad and sent my father chasing after it screaming unrepeatable epithets. This was the car we had driven down the Brianhead road with no brakes. It had an automatic transmission that would not shift down to the lower gear once you had gotten going fast enough to pass it's shifting speed. All of us kids remember Mom making us put our heads down with pillows around us ( that was in case we crash landed) as Dad negotiated the hairpin curves with the tires squealing. Full disclosure - this is not the actual car, it's a stock photo. It is the same color. One night driving this car home from Robintino's at 2:30 AM, the car's engine seized up and became part of history. It went to Bountiful Auto Wrecking after we discovered that the crankshaft had crystallized and broken in half. For a long time afterward, everybody just called me Crankshaft. Dad, honest, I wasn't even pushing it very hard. I had already found out that there was no way to get it to lay rubber on the road in previous tries.

As a result, I had to get a new car. I picked out this Maroon Chevy Impala and my Dad co-signed on a loan for me. It was pretty gnarly with a 283 cu. in. V-8 and a stick shift and was equipped with an awesome new-fangled 4-track tape player and a bench seat. I could could cruise down Orchard Drive with the windows open, Janene by my side, with Jimi Hendrix wailing "All along the Watchtower". I was a 16 year old kid in heaven. On one of our dates, we went out to the Little Sahara sand dunes and got a flat tire. I taught Janene how to change a flat tire on that trip ( kind of Tom Sawyerish, don't you think). She has been doing all the hard work since. On our way back, we were driving at 70 miles an hour and had forgotten to fully latch the hood after putting the jack back in it's place. The hood flew open just as I was passing a semi. Suddenly I couldn't see a thing. I've always wondered what that truck driver thought as a couple of kids went screaming by with the hood fully open, only to immediately pull over to the side. Later, when I was going to school one morning, I was waiting to turn left at the intersection of 15th South and Orchard behind my best friend Bob Sedgley. Bob had this cool red '59 T-Bird that was a real chick magnet. I watched in horror as he pulled out to turn left (laying down rubber as he went) at the same time that Paul Wetzel pulled out from the opposite side of the intersection - going straight! He t-boned Paul's dad's car, which in turn spun completely around and plowed into the side of my new car, Paul helpless to control it. I never did get it straight what Bob was thinking at the time, but that was the end of cruisin' in that car. It was the end of Bob's T-Bird and Pauls dad's car too. And I still owed money on the car.

Chelane is 25!!!

Come help us celebrate Chelane's 25th birthday on Easter Sunday at our house at 5:30 PM. ( All except those of you who will be sitting in snow-covered tents ... after they blew down in the night... after you found out they leaked in the rain... after you cleaned up all the tree branches that broke off and crashed through your car window during the thunderstorm preventing you from driving home until everything dries out, and ... after you realized that you didn't bring anywhere near enough diapers.) Janene is going to make eggs goldenrod. The rest is going to be pot luck brought by YOU. Looking forward to seeing you here.

The Healing Power of the Atonement

As we approach the season of Easter, our thoughts naturally turn to the resurrection and the atonement. When we think of the atonement, we often think of the cleansing power of the atonement. The power to cleanse our lives of sin allows us to present ourselves clean before the Father as we do things in this life, like participate in the blessings of the temple, but it ultimately allows us the return to that same Father and live with him. “For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;” (D&C 19: 16-17).

There is another side of the atonement we often forget – the healing power of the atonement. When Alma went to preach to the people of Gideon, he taught “ And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people.” (Alma 7:11) “ …that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” ( Alma 7:12).

This healing power is demonstrated by His ability to provide comfort to us in our sicknesses, our grief, and at times of despair in our lives. Those two words – suffer and succor, are at the heart of this cleansing power. He suffereth all things according to the flesh so that he might be able to succor us, His people. Whenever we suffer, for any reason, be it because of the consequences of sin, because of illness, grief, or the hurtful decisions of others in our lives, we can know that through the atonement of Christ, we can be succored by Him because he has already experienced the very same feelings in the course of His sufferings in Gethsemane. How could that be? How could that happen?

We have been told by prophets of God that even they do not understand how this works. Somehow, the atonement makes this possible. We don’t know how; we just know that it works. I have felt that healing power exercised in my own life. I have forgotten all hope at times of sorrow and loss. I have felt the feelings of despair as I thought things in my life would never get better. But I, like the father of the handicapped son whom the apostles were not able to heal, have asked my Father to “help thou my unbelief” and found that through the atonement of Christ, this healing power can be of effect in my life.

This power can have effect in your lives too. We all have challenges we face. We all need this comfort, this succor for the sufferings that we experience. The principle of agency requires that we ask for His help. But once we ask for that help, He cannot withhold it. He can succor us. He can heal us. He has the power. He is mighty to save. I testify to this in the name of our Savior, even Christ the Risen Lord.

Easter Vacation Again

For almost thirty years, we have been going on Easter Vacation with the Gerber Family. We have loved having this time to spend with our friends and our families have stayed close through all these years. We have been four-wheeling in Canyonlands, camping at Wind Whistle, trekking through Arches, exploring the San Rafael Swell, enjoying the sunshine in Snow Canyon, and even experienced a juniper pollen explosion at Kodachrome Basin. We have almost frozen at Natural Bridges (lots of card games in the camper on that trip), hiked to the top of Angel's Landing (several times - including twice on one trip), and we have been literally buried in a sandstorm in Capitol Reef. We have hiked the Narrows, played hide and go seek in the Salt Creek Wash, played with the water toys at Lake Powell, listened to coyotes at evening in Little Wild Horse Canyon and played night games under a full moon at Goblin Valley to name just a few. The Easter Bunny has hidden eggs for our kids and our grandkids in campgrounds all over Utah, and we have enjoyed some of the best dutch oven meals ever eaten. Eggs goldenrod for breakfast and pork roasts for dinner, with quiche and cobblers in between. Through it all we have grown in our love for each other and have formed relationships that will last beyond this life. Every year, it seems, we add some new family members to our little entourage and we love every minute of it. We look forward to seeing everyone at Capitol Reef this year. Yee haw!

Can spring be far behind?

Our first signs that the long dreary winter may be nearing an end appeared in a couple of warm patches in our yard.

Even though we have a bunch of snow left, there are a few green things making their way through. Happy Day!

Watch the Birdie!

Being in St. George has its advantages. While we were there for Katie's farewell, Laura became the badminton (is that really how you spell that?) queen. She talked everyone into playing with her. Mindy played with her for hours.

She got pretty good at it and was able to keep volleys going for a long time. Her specialty was getting the shuttlecock caught in the net - then she would whack it through. Kind of a vertical Whack-a-Mole.

She even got Grandpa to play for a while. I was reminded of a time when I was about Laura's age living in Rose Park. We had a badminton set and it was one of the things I remember doing with my Mom after she got sick. Most of the time, we we did indoor things with her on her bed - word games, and listening to educational things on the radio, reading and doing homework. Of course,my Mom always did gardening when she felt up to it and we were recruited to help, but the fun stuff was playing a mean game of badminton.

I don't know if I ever would have bothered to tell anyone about that memory, except that Laura had so much fun with her Grandpa recovering from surgery and that made me remember how much fun I had with my Mom when she was recovering. Until this week, I don't think I have played badminton since that time. What a shame!

Flea Bag Hotel

This weekend, we got to have one of those experiences that you can laugh about later, but is not so fun at the time. We travelled to St. George to visit my sister, Vikki, who just got out of the hospital and to hear Katie speak before going to her mission in Dallas, Texas. With so many people staying with Gordon and Mary Lynn, we decided to stay at a motel. The room was really small, but who cares? We were going to spending most of our time elsewhere anyway. How bad could it be? We remembered to ask for a non-smoking room, but we forgot to ask for a quiet room ... or a room where the sink wasn't falling off the wall... or a room where the shower was large enough that the slimy, hair encrusted curtain didn't cling to your backside... or a room that had a real thermostat so you had some control of the temperature.. or even a room with some padding on the bed.

In the end, we got none of those things - and a lot more! Halfway through the night, Janene had had enough. The bed she was sleeping in was FULL OF FLEAS!!! When I went to complain at the front desk, MarDell ( now, there is a great Southern Utah name) said she was shocked - shocked, I tell you!. No one had ever complained about that! ( sort of implying that everyone had complained about all the other things I have listed above). As it was, MarDell did refund our money and Janene later got a well deserved nap. Right now she is doing an extra batch of laundry to get rid of the critters and Laura is getting an extra special scrubbing at home. All I can say is that it could have been worse ( don't ask me how). At least they did leave the light on for us. (hint - hint)

Heather - Such a serious child

I decided to share some photos of Heather I have just found. Why Heather? I don't know - it just seemed like a good time to spotlight her here. The top one is Heather at a dance recital. We have another one that is pretty dang cute with her holding a little doll, but I didn't think anyone had seen this one in a while. She was a darling girl and you could always catch her in a serious pose.

Even selling lemonade at her stand in front of our house, she could be caught in a contemplative moment. That is not to say that she doesn't have her wild and goofy side. She has done some crazy things (filming a short video with David and Crystal under the viaduct on Highway 89 comes to mind) and can laugh with the best of them, but Heather has always been a deep thinker. I have learned some of my best spiritual lessons from her, as she has shared her understanding of Christ and what his atoning sacrifice means for us. Her faith in our Savior has allowed her to do miraculous things.

Heather and Joseph have created a beautiful family with a peaceful, loving feeling amid the chaos of rambunctious boys in a home under construction. They can be found every evening singing with their children at home before nightly prayers. We were blessed two weeks ago to hear their family sing a song in church on Sunday in the very building where I heard Janene first sing a solo in church. It wasn't hard to see the similarities between my daughter and my bride in that setting. (Elsie and Joseph did a great job too!) Heather has become a thoughtful, caring mother who can goof off with her kids one minute and point out the meaning of life's deepest questions the next. We could not ask for more as parents, and enjoy being able to walk to her home on occasion.

RP + JP VALENTINE

R & J
ROBIN AND JANENE
ALSO ROMEO AND JULIET,
ALWAYS THERE THROUGH
JOY AND SORROW.
HELPING HANDS SO LINKED TOGETHER
THEY OFTEN MOVE AS ONE;
A SHINING LESSON
OF WHAT'S POSSIBLE
WHEN LOVE IS FOCUSED
AND YET HAS A WIDE ANGLE LENS.

My mother wrote this poem for us for Valentines Day. I think she wrote one for every one of us in the family. It reminded me of something I did on our third anniversary of knowing each other. We were having one of our difficult times, and I went for a hike by myself and carved our initials into this tree just below Grandview Peak in a lovesick moment. I knew then that I wanted to be with Janene for my whole life. I wasn't thinking about the rules about not carving your initials in a tree. It was only a few month later that we were married and we have lived happily ever after. It hasn't always been easy; we have had to work hard at it. I do lots of stupid things, but Janene always finds a way to forgive me and over the years we have become a good team. We have a goal to be together forever. I heard Elder Holland say that he could not imagine heaven without his family. The thought reminded me of our hope of being united together as a complete family for the rest of time. We have that wide view and it governs most of our decisions in this life (except when I forget and do something stupid or selfish). I do love this girl and want to be with her forever. Happy Valentine's Day, babe.

Here we sit like flies on a toilet seat!

I tried to write this one from my iTouch, but it wouldn't let me. We were waiting to have the surgery on my shoulder. The good news is that everything went well. The doctor scraped some garbage out of the socket and cut out some bone spurs. The only problem is that it is almost midnight and the pain medication is keeping me wide awake. I guess that is better than the pain. Thank you all for your prayers. They are working.

"Bartender! I'll have one more... Swordplant?"

Isabel made us all proud with her winning Science Fair project last month. Her hypothesis was that plants should grow just the same if you feed them water or alcohol. So what was her super plant nutrient? How about VODKA! She watered swordplants with water, beer and vodka. Needless to say, by the time the test period was over, some of her plants were a little tipsy - not to mention, a bit rubbery and (dare we say it?) a might on the pickled side. What surprised me was that they weren't dead. Hmmm - I wonder what a Diet Coke diet would do? Isabel, you better head back to the lab. Your work is not done. I told her about her dad's project that got him all the way to the district level. She turned to her dad and said "I thought you said they kicked you out and wouldn't let you enter your project?" Shon! It looks like you've got some s'plaining to do. You go, girl!

Best Friends

As I have been reviewing the slides that Janene has been scanning (YES - I did say Janene. I'm so proud of her), I have been struck by how lucky our girls are to have had such good friends. Our boys have too, I could only find these pictures of the girls on the top of the pile. So don't get mad at me because I didn't include you (Marie and Mindy and Christina and Jennifer and Emily and others) or because I didn't include your current best friend.

They have always had someone to goof around with, someone to listen to their stupid jokes and their problems.

Some of their friends have changed over the years as friends have moved away, and others have been lifelong relationships.

But they have always had someone to lean on and someone to help them with life's challenges. And that is a great blessing.

Granddaddy Hike

Wow! One of the slides we found is of the trip we took to Granddaddy, Betsy, Mohawk and Fish Hatchery. Mom and Dad have a copy of this on their wall, but I haven't seen it for a really long time. Time has caused me to forget how happy Julia and David were back then. I wish I could see Julia smile like that now. Dad has the cheshire cat grin that comes from knowing that he caught the mother of all brookies on this trip at Fish Hatchery. It weighed in at over 5 pounds. Boy, was that ever fun to watch Dad play that one. We hiked all over the basin, even going to Lodgepole, Pine Island and Farney. We always camp out on the point at Betsy, even though it is usually a little far from drinking water. David cooked us up some great meals over the fire and Shon really learned how to cast far on this trip. We fished on Mohawk until after dark and then walked back to camp not knowing where the trail was. Grandma Phillips would have been horrified. (once, she gave me a bunch of little ribbons to tie on the trees so I would be able to find my way home). And look, everybody has hiking boots on except me. I've got my steel-toed cowboy boots. What was I thinking? Oh well, they did make me two inches taller.

Super Sunday at our house

Usually, every Sunday, one of our kids will come over to our house. These are not often quiet affairs with thoughtful conversation by the fire. One or two of the grandkids will head up to the loft to play or drop bombs on their unsuspecting parents below. Another will head to the toy room or the costume closet. Angie and David brought their little (not so little anymore) family tonight. Nathan was his usual inquisitive self and pretty much wore his mother out.

More likely than not, you will find Laura up on the loft reading a book, but this time she spent a lot of her time helping Mom and Dad take care of the other kids. She can talk to you about complicated issues and is the only girl I know who begged her mother to create a chore chart so she could fill it up with things she wants to do around the house.

Sam is looking awful grown-up with his shirt and tie. Somehow, he lost his coat by the time it was time to go home, so he must have been up to something. He can run around the circle in the living room and kitchen so fast that I could never catch up to him and he loves to push his little brother on the jumping jack.

Little Ben was the star of the show as he got to swing in the jumper and jump up and down on people's laps. He always has a smile on his face, even when you can see he is a little nervous about where his big brother is pushing him. He can almost sit up by himself and can now roll over. It was only yesterday that he came to our family, but already we don't know what we ever did without him. We still don't know whether Angie & David will get the Bountiful house, but we are hoping they can be a lot closer soon. We look forward to some Sunday parties at their house. Who needs football games when we have such a good time just playing with our little ones.