Tour de Cure

I know this is early but I want to give everyone interested in joining our team to have enough time to prepare. Brooks and I, along with anyone else that may be interested, plan on riding (again) in the "Tour de Cure". This is the bike ride that we rode in last June in Brigham City. This year we are forming a team and we are riding again June 11, 2011. We would LOVE for anyone (family, friends, etc) to join our team "Fun Riders". You can do a one mile family fun ride, a 25, 60 or 100 mile ride. It is very relaxed and meant to raise money for diabetes research and hopefully a cure someday. Thirty seven years ago I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I have seen many changes and huge improvements with treatments over the years and I truly believe that a cure is possible! I will be sending emails to those of you that I have email addresses to. For anyone else, you can click on this link and join our team or donate if you'd like. Last year they raised $500,000.00! Check out the site or leave me a message here on the blog if you have any questions.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/UtahArea?team_id=496564&pg=team&fr_id=7612

Denver Trip

In the locker room!

Jaxon watching the game. He got really ticked at us all for trying to take pictures of him.

Kade, Phil, Jaxon and I traveled to Denver this past weekend to go to the Bronco game. We had a really good time except when the Broncos lost.

We got up and left early Saturday morning for the airport. We arrived in Denver at about 11:00 AM, picked up our rental car and headed out to find a place to eat. From the highway we saw this great looking outdoor mall with several restaurants surrounding it so we decided to exit and stop there for food. The only problem was that after we took the exit, we couldn't get to the mall. We drove all over for about 30 minutes and then finally found it. Unfortunately none of the places to eat were really great and so we ended up eating lunch at TGI-Fridays. (it did fill us up) After lunch, we stopped at Target to find some screaming deals on Bronco gear. We were sure it was going to be a little cold with possible rain for the game so we needed some good stuff for that and we also wanted to bring some things home for the family. Target didn't have as much as we had hoped so we decided that we would find a Walmart later.

After the shopping we drove to our hotel and checked in. Kade and Phil were in one room and Jax and I in the other. I think Kade, Phil and I all would have been happy to take a quick nap but Jaxon wasn't having it, so after a short time we left again to try to find ESPN sports zone in down town Denver. After arriving down town, walking around a little and then asking some people we found out that the ESPN sports zone had closed at least a year earlier. It was starting to get late and so we decided to go to P F Changs for dinner. We all love to eat at this place. We arrived, put our names on the list and proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait even longer. One hour later, Kade asked how much longer, he was told just a few more minutes! (I'm pretty sure they had messed up.) About 15 minutes later they finally took us to our table. Jax was really good during this time. They gave us a great table, gave us two free appetizers and our service was perfect! It was almost worth the wait. After dinner we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory for takeout and then walked back to our car.

On our way back to our car, Kade, Jax and Phil found some really great Halloween masks that they purchased. Who knew I was with some big time die hard shoppers? We then drove to a Walmart and found some other Bronco gear. By now it was about 10:00 PM and Jaxon was really tired. We went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. I took a quick shower and when I got out, Jax was already sleeping.

Jaxon promised to sleep in late that morning but no such luck, he was up at 7:00 AM! Thank goodness I took my I-Pod with me with some games that he loves to play. This entertained him for a while and then we just decided to get ready and get going. We had a late breakfast and then headed to the stadium for the game. We all took warm clothes because we just knew it was going to be cold. By the time the game started we were dying of heat! Light short sleeve shirts was all we needed and we were still hot. We picked a great day and except for the loss it would have been perfect!

Everything else was pretty uneventful except when Kade got mad at me for not doing a good job at driving and then taking over at the wheel. (he knows the area much better than me) Phil said that he slept great but Kade has some good stories to tell about his two nights of slumber. I really enjoyed myself and the guys were great but another female might be nice for the next time.

Kids say the darndest things! (so do old people)

Brooks and I are getting old. I know this because of the conversations we have been having lately. The other day Brooks called me at home from his cell phone. I don't remember why he called me, I only remember the end of our conversation. It went something like this:

Brooks: "Where did I put my phone? I can't find it anywhere!" (I can here him looking for it)

Me while laughing really hard: "You're talking on it right now." He then laughs with me.

Just today we had this conversation. (in person, not on a cell phone)

Me: "I'm going to Kelsey's house after lunch to get a hair cut."

Brooks: "Kelsey wants a hair cut?" (I think that he thinks that I might try and cut it for her)

These exchanges happen between us every day. I can't remember a lot of them because my memory is getting so bad. Don't tell me I need to go on hormones. I already am taking them and they have helped somewhat but not totally. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's frustrating and other times it's really scary! I even wonder if I've had a stroke or something but then Brooks must have had one as well.

FHE Ward Party

I need to start this post out by just saying that Brooks and I are really tired!

Now with that statement out of the way I want to say that we also had a great time last night here at home with our Ward Family Home Evening. We had an amazing turnout! The Bishopric kids told Brooks that we would probably only get around 30 kids here for the party. Well, we had right about 68! We had about one dozen hot dog buns left over, three pieces of cake and two bags with a few chips left in them. Thank goodness we bought extra food! We definitely had a little voice telling us to buy more when we were shopping for the groceries. It was kind of comical, we just kept finding extra stuff that we thought would be good and so we kept putting it all in our cart.

We started with about 60 hamburger patties , around 40 chicken breasts, several pounds of cheese, 4 large bags of chips, 8 dozen hamburger buns, two packages of hot dogs, I'm not sure how many hot dog buns, 80 pieces of cake, and 84 turtle treats that I also made. By the time the last of the kids had left there was absolutely no meat left. I managed to get a piece of chicken without a bun and Brooks didn't get anything! We loved it. I think it was a success.

It was really quite a family affair. We had all of our 4 wheelers and our two rangers for the kids to ride around the farm. Phil came and helped the kids shoot clay pigeons. Kade and Jessica did all of the grilling (my chicken was cooked to perfection). Jaxon even showed some of the couples how to start the ranger and Brynly played with all of the toddlers that came. Molly pointed out all of the babies to me. A couple of kids rode Landon's horses. My mom even made one of the cakes for me. We would have involved Kelsey and Brady but they have been swamped building their house so we decided not to bother them. (next time)

Yes, we are looking forward to and talking about the next one!

One Month

It has been one month and a few days since Brooks started his second go round as Bishop. I told him that he was doing this again because he must have not done a very good job the first time and so he was getting a second chance. I was joking.

I think Brooks is really enjoying it so far. His counselors and clerks are the young guys in our ward and they are all great! In some ways it is harder for me but in other ways it is easier than being in a traditional ward. Some weeks I feel like we have moved to another country. The worst part is trying to remember all of the kids names and if I have met them before or not. Brooks can remember them all. It's frustrating to me. I'm recognizing them better but I'm afraid the names will never come quickly to me. When I served in the primary presidency years ago, I never could recall all of the primary kids names with any ease. Every Sunday I take my ward list with me and try to get the names and faces straight. The ward couples are really nice and for the most part they are quite enthusiastic about anything we do. There isn't much inactivity which is nice and different. The Relief Society activities are fun also. This coming Monday, we are having FHE at our house. I'll have to post how it goes. For the next several weeks or as long as it takes, Brooks and I are trying to visit each couple in our ward. With my work schedule we usually only get to about four per week. We are finding that we really have to plan ahead. Most of the kids don't answer their phones. The only way they will respond is through text. Most of the couples both hold jobs and are attending school so it is harder to find them both at home during the times we can come. We are enjoying it and find that it is helpful to get into their homes and visit for a few minutes.

Everyone that has been a Bishop of student wards has told us what fun it is and how much we will enjoy this. I believe them, but first I need to get past my own insecurities to really start having fun.

Pictures

I think I have the cutest grandchildren!! Of course they all want to hold Baine. Not so much Jaxon as the girls. Bryn and Molly still don't quite understand that Baine is a real baby and not a doll. Maybe Bryn does but she still thinks that she can just pick him up anytime and carry him around. Kara will have to watch her like crazy when their baby is born. The kids are good to mind and they are really careful. I love having them all here at the house even when it gets really loud and chaotic! Don't you all think they are the cutest?

Fall

The days are getting shorter, it is cooling down quite a bit and school has started. I love this time of year but not for the reasons you might think. I love fall because football has started and I love to watch football. Fall also signals the end of summer farm work and all that goes with it. Things like sprinkler pipe, racing to get the hay up before it rains, grain and third crop hay coming at the same time along with more water to get going. Summer on the farm requires a huge increase of water, electricity, gas and diesel with no increase in money to pay for it. It's an unbelievable juggling act and it makes for some not so happy farmers. Right now we are trying to put a new pivot in along with the corn harvest and hopefully some fourth crop hay. All of this goes hand in hand with milking and feeding cows etc., etc. I guess I should be happy that we still have work and some sort of an income. Right? Sure! I do also love the fall colors and not having to mow my lawn anymore, but I'm not looking forward to the cold. I guess I can't have it all!