EIGHT IS GREAT!

Eight years old is a pretty great age. Why? Because it's the age you get baptized. In July, Mr. Kaden turned 8, and on August 8th he was baptized. Kaden was already such a sweet boy--and now he's even sweeter!

The newest member of our family

No, we didn't have a baby (although Kristen would really like one). And no, we didn't get a new pet either (although everyone but dad would really like one). We actually became the proud parents of a beautiful teenage girl.

Karin van der Velde, 17 years old, from the Netherlands, is our new foreign exchange student. She will be staying with us for 10 months, while she completes her senior year at Lone Peak High School. The kids are very excited to have a new"big sister", and all of us are excited to have her as a member of our family.

A small lesson in female anatomy

Tonight while putting the boys to bed they were telling us about their new teachers at school. Kaden mentioned one of his teachers that he really likes, Mrs. Overy (with the accent over the "e"). The conversation then went something like this:

"Mrs. Ovary", I said.

"No," Kaden said, "Mrs. O-vEry!".

"Good thing it wasn't ovary" (trying to be funny, while Kristen grinned at me).

"What's so funny about that?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Come on, tell us please."

"Really, it's nothing."

"Pleeeeeeeease."

"OK. It has to do with female parts."

(chuckle chuckle) "Oh no!" (giggle giggle)

"See. Now you don't want to know, do you?"

"Well, OK. Tell us anyway."

"Ok. The ovary is part of a woman's body, on the inside, that has little eggs that can become babies."

"What! Mom has eggs in her?"

"Yes, all women do."

"Oh no, mom's not a mammal!"



The sweetness of innocent boys.

Fishy Irony

Many years ago Caleb and Kaden each got a gold fish. They were warned at the time of purchase that gold fish don't live very long (at least in our family they never have), and so they needed to be prepared for when they died. Well wouldn't you know it, those blasted things just wouldn't die. I tried to convince Kristen to just stop feeding them, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. And when the boys heard me say that, they weren't too happy about it. So, like good owners, we kept feeding them.
Well, about a month ago, one of them finally died. The boys tried to accuse me of killing him because I didn't clean the fish bowl soon enough. I promise--I'm an innocent man! It was just his time to go. And if it was because of the dirty water, then why didn't they both die? "Good point", you say. And, unlike the movies, where they just flush the fish down the toilet, we had to have an official burial. After the ceremony was over, and we were walking back to the house, Katelyn asked me if he would have happy family members waiting for him on the other side. I assured her he would.
So, now my thinking was maybe the other fish will die soon also. It was only wishful thinking, however, because I definitely wasn't going to do anything about it. I'd already been accused of murder once.
Well, last week, while I was in Alaska, and Kristen and the kids were in California, we left the fish at the neighbor's house to be watched until we returned. And as fate would have it, the other fish died. But no, the story doesn't end there. Our neighbors, feeling horribly guilty for having killed our last gold fish, went and bought us another one to replace it. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!
Fortunately, Kristen was able to convince them that we weren't upset, and that they could keep the new goldfish for themselves. And I'm sure there were more happy family members on the other side (because I know there were some on this side)!

SUPER MOM

My wife is a super mom!

Usually when I come home from a trip to Alaska I like to talk about how crazy and adventurous my trip was. However, this time I decided to summarize how crazy things were back home. Remember, this all happened in only 12 days, and while Kristen was being a single parent.



--Katelyn gymnastics 3 times a week (and since she got picked to be on a new team, a couple of those days were twice a day practices).

--Katelyn dance lessons twice a week

--Kaden started tryouts for a soccer club (every day, Monday thru Friday, the entire 2 weeks)

--Piano lessons for the boys (2 times each)

--Babysit a few different times for a friend of ours that just had a baby

--Young women weekly activity night (twice)

--Caleb's talent show at school

--Run a half marathon race in Ogden (not to mention all the training that is involved)

--Work at Tres Jolie as much as possible to fill in while I'm gone (4 different days)

--Get Katelyn to school (twice a week)

--Katelyn's dance recital

--Play futsall at stake center with other women in the stake

--Visit teach

--Babysit and clean a couple times for a different neighbor who is packing up to move

--Coming home to find the police at our house (since one of our children and a friend were sure they saw someone in the house, and called 911) and not be able to get in until it was OK'd by the police.

--Meet 2 different times with a lady from International Student Exchange, and fill out all the paper work to try and get accepted as a host family

--Have car towed because tire is completely flat (and couldn't find anyone to help her fix it)

--Get emergency call from friend who needs Kristen to run to her house for something (while the tow truck is waiting in our driveway. She asked the man to wait. He was a nice man)

--Pinewood derby (not only go to the race, but help both boys make their cars also)

--Young women 3 hour presidency meeting

--Up all night one night with a sick child (Caleb got sick and threw-up over the side of his bed. Kaden, wanting to keep his brother company, was sleeping at the side of Caleb's bed. You can imagine how that ended)

--Katelyn's end of year program at preschool

--Parent/teacher conferences

etc., etc, etc.



Honestly, I can't imagine any more major events that could possibly happen in a 12 day time period--and they all happened to be while I was gone. Seriously, imagine fitting all of that into just 12 days. It's wearing me out just thinking about it. Now I know that all moms are busy, but this took things to the extreme. My wife is amazing. She definitely earns the award of "Super Mom of the Week". I don't know what I would ever do without her.

BACKWARDS DAY

Kaden's class at school was having a "backwards day" day. He couldn't miss the chance to participate.

Clothes and backpack on backwards.

Face painted on back of head.

Final product.

Silly kid!

Alaska Trip--April 09

This trip was as is every other trip--an adventure! It started with my being delayed by 3 days because of an active volcano just outside of Anchorage, that was spewing ash. Flights were not going into Anchorage. Fortunately, I was still in Salt lake when they started cancelling flights (and not in some other city), so I was able to go home and wait. Once I finally got there, it was business as usual. This trip took me to 5 villages (4 of which I have been to before). They were Togiak, Manakotak, New Stuyahok, Dillingham, and Naknek. Here are a few of the highlights:




My first flight from Anchorage to Togiak took us directly pass the volcano--Redoubt. We had to go around it the long way, so as to avoid the ash. Here's a shot from out my window. We were pretty close.









In New Stuyahok I had the opportunity to watch a village Elder skin an otter. He brought it into the local school so the students could watch him. He just flopped it on the ground on a piece of cardboard, and went to work.
I asked the teacher how they got the otter, and she said, "Oh, we chased it down this morning on our way in to work, and ran it over with the snow machine." Not quite what I had imagined the answer would be. But I guess they have road-kill here too!




In Manakotak, a patient said she was going ice fishing that afternoon, and that they would bring us some back if they were successful. Well, they were. They charged us $40.00 for 3 beautiful rainbow trout. Unfortunately, they weren't delivered cleaned and cooked, with a side of vegetables, and a loaf of home-made bread. It was all up to us to clean and cook them. On a funnier note, Sach and I were right in the middle of cleaning the fish (hands covered with blood and a bloody butcher knife in our hands), when a patient from earlier in the day came back to ask us something. They took a look at us and their eyes got as big as saucers. I guess we did look a little like crazed maniacs.




Here I am waiting at the "airport", standing on the side of the run-way, waiting for our plane to come and get us. Global warming is pretty obvious, isn't it?










Flying to one of the villages I noticed a herd of moose down below us. I tried to get my camera out to take some pictures before we passed them. The pilot noticed what I was doing (since I was sitting next to him in the co-pilot's seat) and asked if I wanted a better angle. So he circled the plane around and got a little lower to the ground, so I could get this picture. They're still pretty small, but there were at least 16 moose just laying down there in the snow. I also saw a bear about 5 minutes later along the river, but I didn't get my camera out soon enough, I didn't dare ask the pilot to turn around again.

Signs that Spring is in the air--the ice over the rivers is starting to crack. This trip was a little warmer than the last--upper 20s to low 30s. Beats 20 to 30 below zero from the last trip.