A Safe Haven

Sunday May 27th 2012

 Two days ahead of schedule, little Haven May Kearl arrived safely to her new family that had been anxiously awaiting a chance to see her bright and not so smiling face. Heather won the baby race with her sister when Haven was born at LDS Hospital.

 Only minutes old and this little girl is wide awake, pink and healthy. Janene and Jane and Joseph were all there to welcome her into the world.

 A few minutes later, after she had received her shots, had the silver nitrate ointment placed in her eyes, and after she had a good cry, she was ready to be presented to the rest of the family.

 Haven's middle name was suggested by Chelane, who also has a month for a middle name. It may be that Heather and Joseph had been thinking about it all along. The two youngest boys were excited to get a peek at their new sister. Heather came through the whole experience with flying colors.

 Elsie is particularly proud of her new little girl sibling. Grandpa arrived later after making an unplanned visit to the emergency room downstairs, but that is a story for another day.

Two Baby Bellies

 How cool is this? Two daughters each expecting babies at the same time. We found out about their pregnancies at much different times, but it turns out the babies could actually come on the same day.

 Heather is expecting a girl and Brooke is expecting a boy. Brooke's doctor is wanting to schedule her baby boy to be delivered on the same day that is Heather's due date. Both mom's are happy that the end is in sight, even though neither one of them can actually see the end.

We could almost say that our twin daughters are expecting twin babies. How exciting it will be to have these two cousins so close together. Happy is the Grandpa ( and the Grandma) who has a quiver full of these little ones.

Happy Birthday, Little One

Chelane has blown out the candles 28 times in her life. The last time was at Goblin Valley on Saturday. We put the candles in a dutch oven cobbler. They melted from the bottom up.

She was thoughtful on her 12th birthday as she tried to figure out exactly how to blow out that many candles.  She didn't even get to try this Saturday because high winds kept blowing them out for her. We often get to celebrate her birthday while we are out on our Easter vacation with the Gerbers that has been a family tradition for years. This year she drove all the way from Boise to Goblin Valley and then turned right around and went back

 

 The grandkids all love Chelane. Almost as much as Mindy. It isn't really fair to Chelane, because Mindy spoils them so and bribes them with treats. They always run to see her, especially now that she has a dog. Nobody else in the family has a dog that they bring to visit.

Chelane has always loved some kind of animal. She went through a hedgehog phase. I always wondered how she could love something so ugly. She has had cats and loved our dog Ashley. One of the saddest days was when we had to let Kiera (the cat) go back to her father in heaven. I probably spelled the name wrong. I am sure Chelane will correct me.

Outside of our trip to Hawaii this year, Chelane has never really been much into the princess thing. Even when she was acting like a princess, she had to have a critter to hold and care for.

 All little girls grow up and Chelane has grown into a beautiful woman with a happy smile (most of the time) and sparkling green eyes. She lights up a room when she enters.

 She has been one of the hardest workers I know, devoting untold amounts of time to study and training. She is able to understand complex chemical and biological relationships that boggle my mind. I was never good at the biological sciences. I had too hard of a time understanding things that changed all the time. One thing about studying rocks - they didn't do any changing once they got to where they were.

 Chelane is the last of our family to graduate from college, and she has done it in a big way. She has fulfilled her dream of being a Pharmacist when she often just wanted to give up. She has the ability to to anything she sets her mind to. If she doesn't know how to do something, she keeps at it until she figures it out.

Even though she has grown up and has her own ideas about how she wants to live her life, she will always be our little one. She was the one that we waited for and hoped for when we didn't know how we would ever handle a sixth child. She was the one that God told us was waiting to come to our family.

My life has been blessed by this little girl ( now grown). And always will be. Happy Birthday, little one.

Keeping a Promise

OK - Here it is March 1st. On January 1st, I set a goal for this year. The goal was that every night before I went home from work, I would clean up my office. This is what it looks like every morning when I get to work. It looks almost that good when I leave at night. I found out that if I clean up my blueprints, reference books and specifications every night, the cleaning staff will come in and wash down the desktop, clean off the file cabinets and dust off the shelves. I have worked here for 16 years and I never knew they would do that until now.

Because of the clean office, I now only get out two or three projects at a time. I have found out that I really can't concentrate on much more than that anyway. Besides, as you can see, I designed my office with lots of cubbyholes and storage for projects that I will work on, but haven't gotten around to yet. It helps to have two computers too. With two computers, I can be working on two projects at the same time - or work on one project while I am downloading the plans for another one.

A few of my favorite things are in this room. One is the desktop pen set made for me by Larry Gerber.There is the large vase that Janene made, some of my favorite photos - including one of Chelane and Mindy in a bed of flowers and one of Max and me. Both of us are about the same age (3) and we both have on our coyboy hats and pistols. We could be twin brothers.

We will see how long I can keep this up. It's two month now - ten more to go. After that it should be a habit.

Meet Our Girls

I told you we were proud of Laura and Isabel. Both of them are much smarter that their grandparents. They go to school together, they are even in the same class together. On Valentines Day, they had a dance at school.

The two girls were in their poodle skirts having a great time. I heard tell that they had a great time dancing with boys. Oh, no, it has started already!

Another Revolution - Books?

A couple of nights ago, we visited Shon and Melinda at their home to take Valentines over. Isabel knew a secret and she was holding out on us. It took talking to Laura this morning to find out she wasn't the only one who put together a website for History Fair. Isabel's was about how the printing press changed the world. It taught me just how revolutionary the ability to read what I want really is.

Two of our granddaughters in the same class, each working on their own website, and both doing such a great job. We couldn't be prouder. (is that a word?) Maybe this blog is revolutionary..... HMMM!

Here is the link to Isabel's website
Another Revolution - Books?

A Revolution in the Skies

 Our granddaughter Laura has entered the History Fair, following in her mother's footsteps, with a treatise on Nikolaus Copernicus and his heliocentric model of the solar system. Instead of doing this the old way with posterboards and charts, or in a presentation, she has created a website. She amazes us with her abilities and grown-up understanding of complex topics. She has taught herself how to set up this website.

To see what she has done, click on the link below. You will be as impressed as we are, but you won't be half as proud as we are. Congratulations Laura!

The Copernican Model: A Revolution in the Skies

Maui Princess Chelane

Surveying the realm of her underwater kingdom, Maui Princess Chelane poses for the camera with her tiara still in place under the sea. On her first dive in Maui, Chelane was invited to go on a ladies only princess dive. We dropped her off in the dark at the dive boat where she was given a royal princess greeting and from there on, she was waited on hands and feet (literally). One of the dive masters painted her toenails with the red and white dive insignia. She did not need to do any work with this dive and she ate food fit for a queen (sort of). Who would have ever thought Chelane would enjoy a princess party, much less wear a tiara! You've come a long way, baby since the last princess party when you were nine at Mara Winegar's. And, Oh! what sea green eyes you have!

Chelane made friends with two other local girls from the dive and went out again later for a shore dive at an old collapsed pier. After a visit from old street bum who wanted to watch them get ready, they headed off into the ocean to explore some more. We had taken Chelane a couple of places to watch turtles, but with minimal success. After this shore dive, she said we needn't bother with that anymore. She made friends with one of her subjects while touring her underwater kingdom.

Are You My Mommy?

 From time to time I see my Mom in the strangest places. I was watching TV once in London. That's a hoot!, but that's another story. I was surprised to see my own mother being interviewed on a news documentary that was made in the US, but was being aired in London. Well, she has done it again. Yesterday's SL Tribune had an article written by MY MOM! Here it is reprinted without permission. She is my Mom, I think it's OK

DOING RIGHT BY DOWNWINDERS

by Darlene Phillips

I am a survivor of the Cold War. While many of the major monuments of that war are gone, the results of our country’s engagement in the tense conflict can still be found in the form of thyroid cancer, lymphoma, and other illnesses resulting from the radioactive fallout that accompanied our nation’s nuclear weapons testing program.

While working at Bryce Canyon National Park in the 1950s, I watched as the bombs exploded over the horizon. I had no idea that some of the more than 12 billion curies of radioactivity that were being released into the atmosphere would find their way from the Nevada Test Site into my home. I would never have guessed that the radioactive iodine would make its way into the milk I ingested, and that the accompanying iodine 131, cesium-137 and strontium-90 would invade not only my garden vegetables, but also my body’s soft tissue, my teeth, my bones.

Watching those nuclear bombs light up a southern Utah dawn, I never imagined that the tests, meant to deter the Soviet Union, would instead eradicate my immune system.

Last month, the U.S. Senate decided to honor downwinders by declaring Jan. 27 a national day of remembrance for victims of nuclear weapons testing. In 1990, the U.S. Congress, led by Utah’s Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Wayne Owens, voted to pass the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. RECA, as it came to be called, drew a strict boundary around southern Utah counties, declaring that compensation would be available only to downwinders within those politically fashioned boundaries.

According to RECA’s map, someone living in Davis or Salt Lake counties, which received the 25th and 27th highest exposure to fallout among all counties in the nation, would not be eligible for compensation to help cover the devastating expenses of medical treatment for fallout-related illnesses.

At the same time, a downwinder suffering in Wayne County (which ranked 81st for exposure) would receive full compensation for medical expenses for the same diseases.

While fallout quite naturally didn’t adhere to existing political boundaries, compensation has adhered strictly to political boundaries. A 2005 congressional report from the Committee on Government Reform found that “radiation-associated cancer is actually more common in counties where residents are excluded from compensation than in those counties where residents are included under RECA law.”

For decades, downwinders have been fighting for adequate compensation to cover health costs resulting from fallout exposure. Finally, a group of bipartisan Western senators, recognizing this injustice, introduced legislation to expand RECA to all counties in Western states where significant amounts of fallout were detected.

Whatever compensation may eventually become available is already too late. Many downwinders are no longer with us.

While it’s commendable that this Friday, Jan. 27, be set aside as a day of remembrance for downwinders, remembering isn’t enough. We must do more. Sens. Hatch and Mike Lee of Utah should support the expansion of RECA to the entire state.

While remembering the victims of past nuclear weapons tests, we must also protect the health and safety of future generations by ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. It’s long past time for the dangerous practice of nuclear weapons testing, which poisoned so many, to be rendered obsolete, relegated to its place in history among such other Cold War relics as the Berlin Wall.

Darlene Phillips has spent 35 years of her life as a research patient for the National Institutes of Health in a program aimed at understanding the effects of radioactive fallout on the human immune system. She lives in Bountiful.

Pretty Cool!, Don't you think?

"They dwell and abide on the rock"

Imagine our surprise on Thanksgiving Day when our children chose this opportunity to honor their parents. This holiday came pretty close to our 40th wedding anniversary. The kids gathered up rocks and placed them in a basket. Each rock carried the name of someone we love - and each one wrote a card expressing why they were thankful for us. They chose a scripture from Job that was used to describe the dwelling place of eagles. What an honor to have our children rejoice in having been raised in a home based on the rock of our salvation, even Jesus Christ. We tried hard to make our home a "strong place", a house of learning , a house of prayer and a home of love.

The inscription at the doorway to our house, placed in the concrete when the porch was formed, says" This Home is built on a foundation of love - May the Good Lord bless all who enter". That foundation has ever been a strength to our family. The kids chose the rock theme also because Janene and I met while looking for fossils in the mountains east of Coalville. Who knew there would be so many rocks in our basket?

We had a semi-large group here for Thanksgiving dinner, but we missed those who weren't here. Some who could not come, came later for dessert (including Heather's banana cream pie).

Our home is often full of family and friends. What a blessing for us to have this great family!

And no, Stephen, even though there was lots of the bubbly stuff, I did not partake!

Blowin' In The Wind

 Do you remember this house?  This was the Extreme Makeover House that was built in one week. This week, our hurricane force winds toppled two trees onto it.

 Our neighbors, the Park and the Carbiener families had a whole forest come down on them. Park's lost about six big trees and Carbiener's lost about ten big trees. Several landed on their homes causing big damage.

 The Anderson's new car was buried by their blue spruce.

 Many of the trees fell on power lines, killing the power. Bountiful City said every home in Bountiful lost power. Some, like Shon lost power for four days when trees took out their power lines.

 You know the wind is strong when it blows stoplights off their poles. I wonder what you can see from that webcam.

 This used to be a stately pine tree at the Lemmon's. We gathered up the tree trunk and took it to Heather's house for firewood. Heather's car window was smashed by falling debris.

 One of our neighbors described his street as a war zone. That was before the Toland's roof blew off and seven other trees fell on his short street. The Schnebly family was out of town. Won't they be surprised when they find their shed in a different place.

 Our friends, the Gerbers, lost their pine trees in the front yard. Who knows what they lost in the back yard.

 Samuelson's were awakened by the crash of a big pine on their roof.

 So may trees came down here, that even after they were cleaned up, the road was mostly blocked.

 While I was helping the Stats family with their tree, we watched as the Groberg's tree came crashing down blocking all of 400 East.

 The saddest thing was what happened at the cemetery.

 Big trees that were a hundred years old or more were uprooted, smashing some grave markers and dislodging others.

 So sad!

 When I first moved to Bountiful, I walked past the cemetery every day on my way to South Davis Junior High. I had never seen wind blow like it did here, but I could always count on shelter behind the cemetery's big pines.

 The snow drifted everywhere - but behind the big trees. Now they are all gone

 Here is a Chopper 5 picture of a job I had bid on in Farmington. Now I am glad I didn't get that job. I wonder if the general contractor makes all the subcontractors pay for the damage themselves.

 On Sunday, they let us out of church early, even though it was Stake Conference and we had visiting general authorities, to go help our neighbors clean up. One of the places we hauled storm debris was to a temporary "dump" at Bountiful High School. Look closely. That is my truck at the bottom of the picture.

Private companies helped by providing heavy equipment to help. We had about 250 people helping from our ward. This was repeated all over Davis County. Our bishop said this was a week he would never forget. We had work crews out within an hour of the start of the damage cutting down trees, running temporary power to homes and fixing roofs. The storm came Thursday morning and by Sunday afternoon, the cleanup which Bountiful City estimated would cost the city 20 million dollars had largely been accomplished by ordinary citizens with pickup trucks, and home trailers. Oh, the lines to get to the dump!

We learned a lot of lessons from this experience that will help us in case this ever happens again. We were fortunate that we still had natural gas and phone service. I hate to think what things would be like if we had the big one and lost access to those utilities. It was kind of nice to have a nice hot (albeit, dark) shower after a long cold day cutting up trees and running power lines.