Our very first date!
Our wedding day
During our recent Family picturesThursday, December 23, 2010
Four Years and Counting
On this date four years ago, T and I got married. Happy Anniversary!
Our very first date!
Our wedding day
During our recent Family pictures
Our very first date!Our wedding dayDuring our recent Family pictures
Monday, December 20, 2010
Merry Christmas
From J, T and Camo. We hope this holiday season finds you happy and well and we wish you a wonderful 2011.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Whew!
Camo can now crawl. We were worried he was all looks and no brains because he's taken a little longer to learn to crawl. Check out this cute video, he has a little jump when his legs get behind.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
10 Months
I can't believe I missed Camo's 9 month post. I was doing so well blogging each month of his life. That's okay. This will be an update on Camo over the last couple months.- Camo is not yet crawling. He will rock back and forth on his hands and knees, but has not been able to move forward.
- He does love to stand so maybe he will walk before he crawls.
- Camo loves the remote, cell phones, car keys(which I only allow him to have in emergencies because he usually ends up sucking on them which is disgusting).
- Loves to read books. His eyes light up whenever we read to him.
- Camo likes any types of buttons. It makes it hard to wear a shirt or dress with buttons on it. J and I are thinking for Christmas we should sew on a couple of buttons to a piece of fabric. He would love it.
- He loves Marissa, a girl that works in the kids club at the gym. She even gets him to take naps in his car seat. She will even feed him baby food. I am so lucky to have her take care of Camo while I work.
- He really does love his mommy. I think it's because he knows where he gets his food.
- Camo sleeps through the night, but will sometimes wake up for a 6a.m. feeding which I have learned to love. He is so sweet and cuddly at that time.
- He likes his vitamins.
- Loves snack time which usually consists of cheerios and cheese.
- Camo loves other kids and anybody that will give him attention.
- Loves to clap and wave.
- Likes his burp cloth and binky. He will hold his burp cloth up to his nose which is super cute,
- Loves destroying old magazines.
- He doesn't like taking naps. We are lucky if we can get him to sleep for more than 2 hours.
- Doesn't like when mommy or daddy isn't paying attention to him.
- Camo doesn't like when you wipe his face or clean his nose.
- Honestly, I can't think of anything else he doesn't like. He is our easy going, mellow baby. We just love him.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Addendum to the Previous Post
Last night T was watching the news while I was in our bedroom studying. It was quiet and all of a sudden she screamed out "J! Oh my gosh! You have to come see this." She had been waiting up to watch a specific story on the news about used car scams. In light of what had happened to us it was fitting that she was so interested. You'll never guess who the story was about.
Remember the guy who rudely dropped the F-bomb on us because he claimed we had wasted his time. Well guess who just got busted on the news?
Check out this video. Sorry about the commercial at the beginning.
It looks as if Doug was wasting a lot of other peoples time. What nerve to be so disrespectful towards us when all along he knew he was trying to scam us. I'm utterly shocked at such behavior.
It also looks like we dealt with possibly two scammers in our attempt to buy a car.
Just an aside: Sometimes I wonder if people believe my elaborate stories. Well here's proof for at least one of them.
Remember the guy who rudely dropped the F-bomb on us because he claimed we had wasted his time. Well guess who just got busted on the news?
Check out this video. Sorry about the commercial at the beginning.
It looks as if Doug was wasting a lot of other peoples time. What nerve to be so disrespectful towards us when all along he knew he was trying to scam us. I'm utterly shocked at such behavior.
It also looks like we dealt with possibly two scammers in our attempt to buy a car.
Just an aside: Sometimes I wonder if people believe my elaborate stories. Well here's proof for at least one of them.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Out With The Stolen...
...In With The New.
As many of our readers know, our car was stolen over three months ago and T and I have been roughing it with one car since. We've had difficulty balancing the use of one car with T's work schedule and my school schedule but we were determined to learn to sacrifice and suck it up. We lasted for awhile but eventually it was getting unmanageable and asking for rides from people was getting old.
T and I talked and we decided to use our hard earned savings on a car. That's why we've kept a savings in the first place, to pay for car troubles. We never realized we'd have to buy a new car because ours would get stolen. We figured we spend our savings on fixing our current pieces of crap.
First off, buying a car has to be the most annoying task I have ever endured. It started with meaningless searching on autotrader.com, cars.com, and craigslist. Then it turned into an obsession, I was checking craigslist about 40 times a day to make sure I was the first to call on a new posting. When we finally decided we needed a car we were out of the gates fast, seeing a different car almost daily.
The first car we went to look at was a 1999 Volvo S70 from a very nice, honest couple who had just had a new baby boy, their first. We hit it off with them and felt extremely comfortable with them. They seemed to like us too. T and I really wanted their car but they had it listed considerably higher then it was worth. And while looking at the car we discovered the locking mechanism wasn't working with the remote keyless entry button or the button in the car. Normally I could care less about such a thing. We've always had to open our door locks manually. Volvo, however, made it difficult to open the doors manually because the lock on the rear doors were not located next to the hinge of the door (like most vehicles) or near the inside handle. The locks are located at the most rear aspect of the door so it is almost impossible for me to reach them after unlocking the drivers door and truly impossible for T to reach them. This would make getting into the back seat a real hassle. It wasn't a deal breaker, however, and we made an offer. We gave them two different offers, one lower price for the car as it was, with the locks not working and a higher price if they got the locks fixed. They told us our offer was fair but declined saying they wanted even more money and didn't want to fix the locks. T and I were both sad because we thought we had found our car from people who we trusted (a hard thing to do when dealing with craigslist as you will soon see).
The next car we looked at was a 1999 Nissan Altima. T contacted the seller and he told her it was in great condition. It was his grandpa's car who had recently passed away and he was in charge of selling it. T told him our budget but explained we would have a look at the car and give him an offer according to what we felt it was worth. He agree. We met him in a grocery store parking lot because it was dark and it was the best lit area around. We looked it over, drove it, and felt it was worth $1000 dollars lower that the budgeted amount T had discussed with him. He reminded us off our original budget and we re-explained to him that we didn't feel the car was worth that much and again made our offer, with a after thought that if we decided we could pay more we would give him a call. He was obviously annoyed as he quickly ended the conversation and drove away. T and I thought it strange but got in our car and started for home, not too upset to miss out on his car.
On our way out of the parking lot we noticed the man returning in his car and flagging us down. We stopped thinking he had had time to think it over and was going to accept our offer. On the contrary, he told us not to call him because he felt, and I quote, "You wasted my f@&#ing time!" Since T was in the driver seat I felt he was saying it to her and I flipped. For anyone that knows me, I rarely let people push me around and I wasn't about to let some jerk swear at my wife. So I proceeded to yell at him telling him he had no rite so swear at us and who was he to think it was okay to act so rudely. Let's just say a friendly visit to view his car turned ugly. On our way home T was rattled, she's not the type to engage in such hostility. I, on the other hand, was fired up and ready to knock someone out if I had to (I routinely engage in such hostility).
We looked at many other cars and couldn't seem to find the right one. We narrowed what we wanted down to a Volvo or a Subaru, though. We also decided our next car had to be newer then our 1999 Ford Contour and less miles then the Contour which was 140,000.
Then we finally found the one. A 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited Edition. This baby was sweet. All wheel drive, leather, and only 109,00 miles. It was perfect. Again it was dark when we went to see the car so this time we met at a McDonald parking lot. I looked it over carefully, drove it, and was overall very pleased. We gave the guy, who had a thick Russian accent, our offer and we negotiated a very enticing price. I agreed and asked the guy if he would accept a check, he said he'd only take cash. This was a Sunday night so there was no way I was getting that kind of cash then. I told him I'd call him the next day when the banks opened up.
We spoke briefly the next morning and I told him I was working on getting the money together, he said to call him back when I was ready to purchase. When I tried to call him back, though, his phone would not ring. I'd get a recording explaining the line I was calling didn't currently have a mailbox set up so I couldn't leave a message. I called and called and called to no avail. A day or so went buy and again we were bummed that we were going to miss out on another opportunity to get a car we liked. Then I saw his post on craigslist get re-posted and again I called him. Now this was getting fishy. He answered and I asked him where he had been and he explained he had been out of town for business. Business? When I was test driving his car he told me him and his supposed wife had lost there jobs so that's why they were selling the car. What business did he have? Something wasn't smelling right anymore and I started to become suspicious. But the price was too good to pass up so I told him I'd still buy it. He agree and we set a time to meet. As soon as I hung up the phone I got all these horrible thoughts about the decision. I called T and told her that I had agreed the buy the Subaru but was having a lot of bad feelings about it. After further discussion she told me to trust my feelings and call it off. So I did and boy am I glad.
Later that day T read a post on craigslist titled exactly the same as the Subaru but with the addition of, "WARNING." The post was all about a Russian guy who was scamming people with fake car titles and rolled back mileage. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost, he really saved my butt this time.
Then we got discouraged. We stopped searching the web as often and I made the decision to start looking at dealerships instead of private sellers. I had originally stayed clear of dealers because I didn't want to deal with a bunch of salesman bull, but eventually I gave in.
I found a guy selling a 2000 Volvo S80 (a model I had really liked and really wanted) so I called him and went to have a look. He was a dealer but it was his wife's car. They were only the second owners of the car and the previous owner had it for 10 years and practically babied it. All the maintenance was done on time at a Volvo dealership and every part on it was Volvo, not some cheap generic parts. I was stricken; I was in love. But he wanted more then T and I could afford. I gave him my offer and he countered with his offer. I explained it was out of our budget but I'd talk to my wife about it. I left thinking our next car slipped out of my hands again. A few hours later he called me back and left a message that said his wife had told him to give us the car for the price we offered. I was ecstatic and agreed to buy the car. T and I went to pick it up later that night. Here she is:
She's got all the bells and whistle. Leather heated seats, sun roof, duel climate control, CD player, remote keyless entry, power windows, power locks (that actually work), power seats, huge trunk, fold down rear seats, and tons of other features (some a little weird, but that's what makes a Volvo a Volvo). And it's the safest car on the road. It's perfect and after all of our troubles T and I feel we deserved to have her.
I also decided finding the right car is like finding the right person you're going to marry. When you find the right one everything just falls into place. It happens relatively easily and you don't have to stress over it. That how it happened when I found T and that's how it happened when we finally found this car.
Sorry for the really long blog.
As many of our readers know, our car was stolen over three months ago and T and I have been roughing it with one car since. We've had difficulty balancing the use of one car with T's work schedule and my school schedule but we were determined to learn to sacrifice and suck it up. We lasted for awhile but eventually it was getting unmanageable and asking for rides from people was getting old.
T and I talked and we decided to use our hard earned savings on a car. That's why we've kept a savings in the first place, to pay for car troubles. We never realized we'd have to buy a new car because ours would get stolen. We figured we spend our savings on fixing our current pieces of crap.
First off, buying a car has to be the most annoying task I have ever endured. It started with meaningless searching on autotrader.com, cars.com, and craigslist. Then it turned into an obsession, I was checking craigslist about 40 times a day to make sure I was the first to call on a new posting. When we finally decided we needed a car we were out of the gates fast, seeing a different car almost daily.
The first car we went to look at was a 1999 Volvo S70 from a very nice, honest couple who had just had a new baby boy, their first. We hit it off with them and felt extremely comfortable with them. They seemed to like us too. T and I really wanted their car but they had it listed considerably higher then it was worth. And while looking at the car we discovered the locking mechanism wasn't working with the remote keyless entry button or the button in the car. Normally I could care less about such a thing. We've always had to open our door locks manually. Volvo, however, made it difficult to open the doors manually because the lock on the rear doors were not located next to the hinge of the door (like most vehicles) or near the inside handle. The locks are located at the most rear aspect of the door so it is almost impossible for me to reach them after unlocking the drivers door and truly impossible for T to reach them. This would make getting into the back seat a real hassle. It wasn't a deal breaker, however, and we made an offer. We gave them two different offers, one lower price for the car as it was, with the locks not working and a higher price if they got the locks fixed. They told us our offer was fair but declined saying they wanted even more money and didn't want to fix the locks. T and I were both sad because we thought we had found our car from people who we trusted (a hard thing to do when dealing with craigslist as you will soon see).
The next car we looked at was a 1999 Nissan Altima. T contacted the seller and he told her it was in great condition. It was his grandpa's car who had recently passed away and he was in charge of selling it. T told him our budget but explained we would have a look at the car and give him an offer according to what we felt it was worth. He agree. We met him in a grocery store parking lot because it was dark and it was the best lit area around. We looked it over, drove it, and felt it was worth $1000 dollars lower that the budgeted amount T had discussed with him. He reminded us off our original budget and we re-explained to him that we didn't feel the car was worth that much and again made our offer, with a after thought that if we decided we could pay more we would give him a call. He was obviously annoyed as he quickly ended the conversation and drove away. T and I thought it strange but got in our car and started for home, not too upset to miss out on his car.
On our way out of the parking lot we noticed the man returning in his car and flagging us down. We stopped thinking he had had time to think it over and was going to accept our offer. On the contrary, he told us not to call him because he felt, and I quote, "You wasted my f@&#ing time!" Since T was in the driver seat I felt he was saying it to her and I flipped. For anyone that knows me, I rarely let people push me around and I wasn't about to let some jerk swear at my wife. So I proceeded to yell at him telling him he had no rite so swear at us and who was he to think it was okay to act so rudely. Let's just say a friendly visit to view his car turned ugly. On our way home T was rattled, she's not the type to engage in such hostility. I, on the other hand, was fired up and ready to knock someone out if I had to (I routinely engage in such hostility).
We looked at many other cars and couldn't seem to find the right one. We narrowed what we wanted down to a Volvo or a Subaru, though. We also decided our next car had to be newer then our 1999 Ford Contour and less miles then the Contour which was 140,000.
Then we finally found the one. A 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited Edition. This baby was sweet. All wheel drive, leather, and only 109,00 miles. It was perfect. Again it was dark when we went to see the car so this time we met at a McDonald parking lot. I looked it over carefully, drove it, and was overall very pleased. We gave the guy, who had a thick Russian accent, our offer and we negotiated a very enticing price. I agreed and asked the guy if he would accept a check, he said he'd only take cash. This was a Sunday night so there was no way I was getting that kind of cash then. I told him I'd call him the next day when the banks opened up.
We spoke briefly the next morning and I told him I was working on getting the money together, he said to call him back when I was ready to purchase. When I tried to call him back, though, his phone would not ring. I'd get a recording explaining the line I was calling didn't currently have a mailbox set up so I couldn't leave a message. I called and called and called to no avail. A day or so went buy and again we were bummed that we were going to miss out on another opportunity to get a car we liked. Then I saw his post on craigslist get re-posted and again I called him. Now this was getting fishy. He answered and I asked him where he had been and he explained he had been out of town for business. Business? When I was test driving his car he told me him and his supposed wife had lost there jobs so that's why they were selling the car. What business did he have? Something wasn't smelling right anymore and I started to become suspicious. But the price was too good to pass up so I told him I'd still buy it. He agree and we set a time to meet. As soon as I hung up the phone I got all these horrible thoughts about the decision. I called T and told her that I had agreed the buy the Subaru but was having a lot of bad feelings about it. After further discussion she told me to trust my feelings and call it off. So I did and boy am I glad.
Later that day T read a post on craigslist titled exactly the same as the Subaru but with the addition of, "WARNING." The post was all about a Russian guy who was scamming people with fake car titles and rolled back mileage. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost, he really saved my butt this time.
Then we got discouraged. We stopped searching the web as often and I made the decision to start looking at dealerships instead of private sellers. I had originally stayed clear of dealers because I didn't want to deal with a bunch of salesman bull, but eventually I gave in.
I found a guy selling a 2000 Volvo S80 (a model I had really liked and really wanted) so I called him and went to have a look. He was a dealer but it was his wife's car. They were only the second owners of the car and the previous owner had it for 10 years and practically babied it. All the maintenance was done on time at a Volvo dealership and every part on it was Volvo, not some cheap generic parts. I was stricken; I was in love. But he wanted more then T and I could afford. I gave him my offer and he countered with his offer. I explained it was out of our budget but I'd talk to my wife about it. I left thinking our next car slipped out of my hands again. A few hours later he called me back and left a message that said his wife had told him to give us the car for the price we offered. I was ecstatic and agreed to buy the car. T and I went to pick it up later that night. Here she is:
She's got all the bells and whistle. Leather heated seats, sun roof, duel climate control, CD player, remote keyless entry, power windows, power locks (that actually work), power seats, huge trunk, fold down rear seats, and tons of other features (some a little weird, but that's what makes a Volvo a Volvo). And it's the safest car on the road. It's perfect and after all of our troubles T and I feel we deserved to have her.
I also decided finding the right car is like finding the right person you're going to marry. When you find the right one everything just falls into place. It happens relatively easily and you don't have to stress over it. That how it happened when I found T and that's how it happened when we finally found this car.
Sorry for the really long blog.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Halloween 2010
Since this was Camo's first Halloween, we felt it was really important to dress him up. He was the cutest giraffe ever. I am not sure who was more excited about Halloween and getting candy, Camo or I. I will be honest I was for sure. Why not use your baby to score some candy. Anyway we went to our church's Halloween carnival on Saturday night, then headed to my sister-in-law's house to go trick or treating on Sunday. Here are some pictures from the events. Camo does not look overly excited in any of these pictures because he was so tired. J wants to put him back in his costume and get some cute ones when he is in a good mood. These will have to do for now.
Crater Lake
Back in September we went to Crater Lake. Crater Lake is 5 miles wide and 1,943 feet deep. It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and one of the deepest in the world. The lake rests in the shattered remnants of a volcano called Mount Mazama which erupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago.
J had a two week break from school the end of September so I decided to take a couple days off of work so that we could take a trip to Crater Lake. It was absolutely beautiful and I recommend making the trip if you live anywhere in the Portland area. It was definitely worth the 4 hour drive. We spent all day there, then stayed at a hotel in Medford and headed back the next morning. We did a few hikes while at Crater Lake. One of the hikes took us to the shoreline. It was a relatively hard hike. If you notice in most of the pictures I am holding Camo in the backpack. Don't worry, it wasn't because J was being a wimp. I really wanted to get a great workout in that day so I told him I would carry Camo on all the hikes. J didn't argue with me on that one. It was quite funny all the stares we were getting from people thinking to themselves why is he making her carry the baby. Camo was so comfortable that he even fell asleep. You will notice that in one of the pictures I post. When we got to the shoreline we noticed people jumping off some of the rocks into the water. I was shocked at how clear the water was and how far deep you could see into the water. The water was really cold, but it was so hot outside that I bet it felt nice for those jumping in. Here are a few pictures from the day.
J had a two week break from school the end of September so I decided to take a couple days off of work so that we could take a trip to Crater Lake. It was absolutely beautiful and I recommend making the trip if you live anywhere in the Portland area. It was definitely worth the 4 hour drive. We spent all day there, then stayed at a hotel in Medford and headed back the next morning. We did a few hikes while at Crater Lake. One of the hikes took us to the shoreline. It was a relatively hard hike. If you notice in most of the pictures I am holding Camo in the backpack. Don't worry, it wasn't because J was being a wimp. I really wanted to get a great workout in that day so I told him I would carry Camo on all the hikes. J didn't argue with me on that one. It was quite funny all the stares we were getting from people thinking to themselves why is he making her carry the baby. Camo was so comfortable that he even fell asleep. You will notice that in one of the pictures I post. When we got to the shoreline we noticed people jumping off some of the rocks into the water. I was shocked at how clear the water was and how far deep you could see into the water. The water was really cold, but it was so hot outside that I bet it felt nice for those jumping in. Here are a few pictures from the day.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
8 months
I am a little late on this post. Camo is now almost nine months. My goal is to write a blog of him each month until he is a year old. He is such a happy little guy. He now has four teeth. Two on the bottom and two on the top. It seems that he is teething again because he has not been eating much in the last week and is drooling way too much. We tried to start giving him a sippy cup, but I am not sure he gets it yet. Camo now weighs a little over 19 lbs. I am proud to say he now say's mamama. He still isn't crawling yet, but moves around everywhere by rolling. He sleeps 12 hours at night which is fantastic, but is still a short napper. I would rather him sleep nights anyway. It means I get to play with him more during the day.
I have to share this cute story about Camo. My calling right now is a nursery leader. I stepped out on Sunday to get water for snack time and the other nursery leader started singing "I am a Child of God. " She told me that as soon as they started singing, Camo looked over at her and his eyes lit up. I sing that to him every night before bed so he is very familiar with that song. I think that is so cute. Then the other day I was changing his diaper and I started to sing "I am a Child of God" to him. He started to cry because he thought he was going to bed. It is so cute that he is starting to understand things more. I love my mister Camo.
Here are some recent pictures. In the picture of him in the maroon shirt he has really rosy cheeks. I think he gets those red cheeks from his mom. Also stay tuned for an update on our recent visit to Crater Lake. It was absolutely amazing.
I have to share this cute story about Camo. My calling right now is a nursery leader. I stepped out on Sunday to get water for snack time and the other nursery leader started singing "I am a Child of God. " She told me that as soon as they started singing, Camo looked over at her and his eyes lit up. I sing that to him every night before bed so he is very familiar with that song. I think that is so cute. Then the other day I was changing his diaper and I started to sing "I am a Child of God" to him. He started to cry because he thought he was going to bed. It is so cute that he is starting to understand things more. I love my mister Camo.
Here are some recent pictures. In the picture of him in the maroon shirt he has really rosy cheeks. I think he gets those red cheeks from his mom. Also stay tuned for an update on our recent visit to Crater Lake. It was absolutely amazing.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Special Day
Today she was a Mother, a Grandmother, a Great-grandmother, a Mother-in-law, and a Grandmother-in-law. Today she was the kind, gentle person I have always remembered her to be even though her body and mind are failing her beautiful spirit.
It's been too long since I have made the effort to see my Grandma Hazel. In fact since she has been in her assisted living center I have not see her and that may be going on a year now. Since I have been living in Oregon I can only recall seeing her two or three times. It's pathetic, I know. She has been such a wonderful grandma and a shining example to me and yet I can't muster the time to visit her.
Well things are going to change. But let me explain my hesitancy to visit.
Grandma Hazel now has dementia. It's not the worst case you've ever seen but with her failing hearing she rarely communicates and sometime I wonder if she even knows what's going on. For example, a few years ago we decided to put on a Thanksgiving dinner for her in her own house (this was before she was placed in the assisted living center) because it was tradition to go to her house growing up and eat the most fabulous Thanksgiving dinner my taste buds had ever had the opportunity to taste (she was a phenomenal cook). While we were sitting around the dinner table enjoying our feast the phone rang. It was my uncle, calling to wish his mother a happy Thanksgiving. My Grandma had no idea what was going on and couldn't hear who was on the phone while she held it to her ear though everyone around the table could hear, plain as day, my uncle yelling on the other end of the line. It was sad, but we all laughed at it to ease the pain.
Since that time it has slowly gotten worse and it saddens me to see her in that condition. My memories or her consist of getting dropped off for a night or two while my parents went off to Sun River with close friends. The days were spent playing card games and her favorite game called Ten thousand around the dinning room table. At night I remember her moving the table out of that way so us kids could sleep in our sleeping bags on the floor (she only had a small two bedroom house so the dinning room is where we slept). In the morning we could always count on a breakfast of comfort food only grandma's know how to cook up. My favorite was waffles with butter and syrup and OJ. Still to this day I think her waffles are the best I've ever had.
She was a simple women. She lived in a simple house with simple furnishings and had a simple wardrobe and drove a simple car. But nothing about how she treated us grand kids ever felt simple. She always made me feel like I was the most important person around.
I mentioned how amazing of a cook she was. Here's a little anecdote of how much my sister and I loved her cooking. The middle sister in my family was home visiting from BYU and knew she should stop by Grandma's and visit with her before she returned to school. While she was determining when to swing by we got the idea to go by during dinner time so we could score some of Grandma's fine cooking. We did so and upon arrival we scoped out what looked like fried chicken breast with some type of pasta and marinara. We had a quick glance at one another and both our faces indicated we had hit the jackpot. After seeing us, Grandma promptly got us some table settings and invited us to have dinner. My mouth and stomach were already having a party at the thought of have a meal at grandma's. However, the party soon ended when the thought fried chicken was actually fried egg plant. I hate egg plant! For someone else it probably would have been the best egg plant ever knowing my Grandma had made it but for me, I can't stand it. It's actually one of the few things I wont eat. So getting good food at Grandma's backfired. Serves us right for trying to take advantage of her cooking, I guess.
I feel horrible that after being treated so kindly and blessed by her my whole life I have been so selfish and not been to visit her very much. Today during our visit we went with my parents and we brought Camo along to meet his Great grandma. Normally she just sits there and doesn't talk much but as soon as she saw Camo it was like a switch got turned on. She smiled and reached out her hands to hold him. It was like she had known it was her great grandson even without previously meeting him. She held him and audibly spoke to him. In fact she said, "Wow, he's a chunk, isn't he?" It was adorable and heart warming to see her light up so much versus sitting there staring into space. It was a moment I wont forget. It was the moment I needed to see that she is the same Grandma Hazel as she has always been over these many year. I now know that I need to pay her visits more often as to not let her last days go by without sharing my love to her.
I love you Grandmas, I hope you know that.
The first thing she did when she got a hold of Camo was kiss him
It's been too long since I have made the effort to see my Grandma Hazel. In fact since she has been in her assisted living center I have not see her and that may be going on a year now. Since I have been living in Oregon I can only recall seeing her two or three times. It's pathetic, I know. She has been such a wonderful grandma and a shining example to me and yet I can't muster the time to visit her.
Well things are going to change. But let me explain my hesitancy to visit.
Grandma Hazel now has dementia. It's not the worst case you've ever seen but with her failing hearing she rarely communicates and sometime I wonder if she even knows what's going on. For example, a few years ago we decided to put on a Thanksgiving dinner for her in her own house (this was before she was placed in the assisted living center) because it was tradition to go to her house growing up and eat the most fabulous Thanksgiving dinner my taste buds had ever had the opportunity to taste (she was a phenomenal cook). While we were sitting around the dinner table enjoying our feast the phone rang. It was my uncle, calling to wish his mother a happy Thanksgiving. My Grandma had no idea what was going on and couldn't hear who was on the phone while she held it to her ear though everyone around the table could hear, plain as day, my uncle yelling on the other end of the line. It was sad, but we all laughed at it to ease the pain.
Since that time it has slowly gotten worse and it saddens me to see her in that condition. My memories or her consist of getting dropped off for a night or two while my parents went off to Sun River with close friends. The days were spent playing card games and her favorite game called Ten thousand around the dinning room table. At night I remember her moving the table out of that way so us kids could sleep in our sleeping bags on the floor (she only had a small two bedroom house so the dinning room is where we slept). In the morning we could always count on a breakfast of comfort food only grandma's know how to cook up. My favorite was waffles with butter and syrup and OJ. Still to this day I think her waffles are the best I've ever had.
She was a simple women. She lived in a simple house with simple furnishings and had a simple wardrobe and drove a simple car. But nothing about how she treated us grand kids ever felt simple. She always made me feel like I was the most important person around.
I mentioned how amazing of a cook she was. Here's a little anecdote of how much my sister and I loved her cooking. The middle sister in my family was home visiting from BYU and knew she should stop by Grandma's and visit with her before she returned to school. While she was determining when to swing by we got the idea to go by during dinner time so we could score some of Grandma's fine cooking. We did so and upon arrival we scoped out what looked like fried chicken breast with some type of pasta and marinara. We had a quick glance at one another and both our faces indicated we had hit the jackpot. After seeing us, Grandma promptly got us some table settings and invited us to have dinner. My mouth and stomach were already having a party at the thought of have a meal at grandma's. However, the party soon ended when the thought fried chicken was actually fried egg plant. I hate egg plant! For someone else it probably would have been the best egg plant ever knowing my Grandma had made it but for me, I can't stand it. It's actually one of the few things I wont eat. So getting good food at Grandma's backfired. Serves us right for trying to take advantage of her cooking, I guess.
I feel horrible that after being treated so kindly and blessed by her my whole life I have been so selfish and not been to visit her very much. Today during our visit we went with my parents and we brought Camo along to meet his Great grandma. Normally she just sits there and doesn't talk much but as soon as she saw Camo it was like a switch got turned on. She smiled and reached out her hands to hold him. It was like she had known it was her great grandson even without previously meeting him. She held him and audibly spoke to him. In fact she said, "Wow, he's a chunk, isn't he?" It was adorable and heart warming to see her light up so much versus sitting there staring into space. It was a moment I wont forget. It was the moment I needed to see that she is the same Grandma Hazel as she has always been over these many year. I now know that I need to pay her visits more often as to not let her last days go by without sharing my love to her.
I love you Grandmas, I hope you know that.
The first thing she did when she got a hold of Camo was kiss him
Four generations
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Temple
We recently went to the Portland temple to do a tour. We walked around the outside of the temple and learned some of the history and symbolism of it. They have been doing it for the last month for anybody that wanted to come, member or non-member. While we were there we took some pictures that I wanted to post. There may be some of the kids heads in the pictures because they were all running around.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
7 months
I'm writing Camo's 7 month blog even though he's going to be 8 months in a couple weeks. I am slacking a little bit on the blog lately. I want to write some of his stats as well as what he has been up to lately. He is 27 1/2 inches long and weighs 18 pounds now. He will now open his mouth to all baby fruits, vegetables, and meats except he really doesn't care for mango's or carrots. He is finally rolling over. He still doesn't roll over very often, but if he wants to he will. We woke up one morning and it was 8:30 a.m and we couldn't figure out why Camo hadn't been up to eat yet. We walked in his room to see him sleeping soundly on his tummy. That was the first night we didn't swaddle him. We still swaddle him occasionally because he goes to sleep better if he is wrapped up tight. He laughs all the time and loves to talk. His favorite word is dadadada. He now grabs at everything in sight and is a very curious boy. Lately he has not been napping very well in the day. He will maybe take an 1 1/2 nap if we are lucky. He must get all the sleep he needs at night. He is still in a great mood even though he doesn't get a long nap. We just love our little Camo.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
6 months
I should have written this blog a couple weeks ago. I cringe every time I look at our blog and see our last post. I don't want to see a stripped car every time I look at our post but instead a cute little face. I am not talking about J by the way. Anyway I can't believe our little Camo is 6 months old. He is really starting to show his little personality now. He loves to babble. His first word is dadadada. I think that's super cute and I am not jealous one bit. He still won't roll over. He must have that chill personality and doesn't care to go anywhere. He does sit now without support. He doesn't really care too much for solids. I have tried and tried to feed him baby food. Some days he will eat it and other days he won't. If he is really hungry he won't eat any solids until he nurses. He still does pretty good at sleeping through the night except lately because of teeth coming in. Yes, that's right our little Camo has two teeth popping through. The first one he got a couple weeks ago and the second one I just noticed today. Another reason he hasn't been sleeping well is he is sick for the first time ever. He woke up about every hour one night with a fever. Then he was coughing and sneezing a lot. Also a stuffed up nose. Our little Camo has developed his first cold. I would say that is pretty good considering he is six months old. He must have a strong little immune system. Anyway we love him a lot and he is learning so many new things. More pictures to come.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Are You Serious?
Before I go too in depth into what this post is about, I first need to explain the lesson my first counselor gave in Young Men's on Sunday. I have often taught the Young Men and listened to lessons taught to them and put forth much effort to make sure the boys learned something. Never have I thought that a Young Men's lesson could be for me.
Let me start by quoting a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10
Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
Forgiveness was the topic for the lesson this last Sunday in Young Men's. No one in the little chapel classroom needed to hear that lesson more than me. In that lesson we discussed a quote from Spencer W. Kimball in which he said (paraphrasing) through forgiving others we can gain freedom. That's an interesting thought since harboring hard feelings towards others actually binds you up inside.
Since Thursday morning I have had the worst feeling towards someone. I don't know who that someone is but the terrible, horrible feelings I have for them are there. All weekend I have been thinking about what happened to me and how I could get revenge. I have been depressed. I have been sad. Anger has shown its face a number of time since Thursday morning. Basically, I have wasted a lot of time and energy being bound by my unwillingness to forgive and forget what this person or group of people did to me. Sundays lesson was so powerful to me but a gut check as well. I am commanded to forgive this person or the greater sin is on me.
Are you kidding me? I am in more of the wrong for what happened to me then the person that wronged me if I can't find it in me to forgive.
The simple answer--yes.
***
Let me start by quoting a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10
Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.
Forgiveness was the topic for the lesson this last Sunday in Young Men's. No one in the little chapel classroom needed to hear that lesson more than me. In that lesson we discussed a quote from Spencer W. Kimball in which he said (paraphrasing) through forgiving others we can gain freedom. That's an interesting thought since harboring hard feelings towards others actually binds you up inside.
Since Thursday morning I have had the worst feeling towards someone. I don't know who that someone is but the terrible, horrible feelings I have for them are there. All weekend I have been thinking about what happened to me and how I could get revenge. I have been depressed. I have been sad. Anger has shown its face a number of time since Thursday morning. Basically, I have wasted a lot of time and energy being bound by my unwillingness to forgive and forget what this person or group of people did to me. Sundays lesson was so powerful to me but a gut check as well. I am commanded to forgive this person or the greater sin is on me.
Are you kidding me? I am in more of the wrong for what happened to me then the person that wronged me if I can't find it in me to forgive.
The simple answer--yes.
***
Now, here's what happened (many already know but now you can get the actual account)
I woke up in the morning at my regular time. I ate my breakfast, showered, got ready for the day and read my scripture all in time for my regular departure for school at 7 am. I walked out across the parking lot and around another building of apartments to my parking spot. I was looking at my keys in my hand as to have the car key ready to put in the door to unlock the car so I didn't realize until I looked up that my car was not there. I immediately thought to myself, "Oh, I must have parked on the other side of the lot." I started to turn away when I realized that I remember parking right where my car was missing. I was stunned. My mind began to race. "Was this a joke?" "Did someone move my car?" "Did someone really steal my car?" "Holy crap! My golf clubs are in the trunk!"
I ran inside and very sternly said to T as she was still asleep, "Some took my car, it's gone." She sat straight up as if she was part of a huge pop-up book I had just opened on the bed. "Are you serious?" was all she could reply.
After a few minute of gathering our thoughts we decided we had to call the police ASAP. We gave our report to them and as soon as they left we sat there wondering how this possibly could have happened. And I especially sulked knowing my golf clubs were long gone. The golf clubs T graciously let me buy as a graduation gift even though I haven't graduated yet. The golf clubs we got for a killer deal because we thankfully had a brother-in-law who, at the time, was working for Nike so we had access to employee pricing. The golf clubs I used to play my new favorite game even though I'm still not very good. The golf clubs I used to participate in the only outlet I have from school. Being on a golf course is the one spot where I can free my mind from everything. And finally, the clubs I used with my team to win 2 University of Western States Spring Classic Golf tournaments back-to-back. Now, with the car, that was all gone.
T and I spent most of the next few days wondering if our car would ever be recovered and if so how long would it take. We talked with many people who have also had their cars stolen and most of them got there cars back in anywhere from 3 day to 6 months and most of the time there cars were in okay condition. We had hope.
On Friday night we got a call late in the evening from the police department. Our car had been found and towed. It was described in the report as stripped in the inside and undrivable. My excitement on having our car found was quickly dashed to despair as I realized our car was a mess. During one phone conversation to the towing company I could hear a man in the background saying, "Oh yeah, they did a number on that one." Speaking of my trusty '93 Honda Accord with faded paint on the outside but a peach of an engine under the hood. I tried to ask about the trunk, whether or not anyone had gotten in and took my golf clubs. I could never get a straight answer...nobody seemed to know enough about the exact condition of the car. I was forced to sit on pins and needles still thinking there was a chance the clubs would still be safely stowed in the locked trunk.
We couldn't get into the tow yard until today (Monday) otherwise we would have to pay more fees on top of what we were already going to have to pay to have the car towed and stored at the lot.
Today was a difficult day. On my way to the tow yard I had a sour pit in my stomach. I was all twisted inside knowing we were going to see how some else manhandled a car we took such great car of. When we got there I walked in the run down, nasty office and told the guy I was looking for the stolen Honda Accord they had picked up on Friday. The guy looked at me and started laughing and joking with me about how the crooks had taken just about everything inside the car but they were thoughtful enough to leave me a bucket to sit on at a front seat. I just stared back at him with the most pissed off, serious look I could muster. And with out saying a word he quickly realized I was not in the mood for joking about my stolen and now trashed car with no golf clubs in the trunk, mind you, since he also specifically mentioned the back seat was missing.
Here is what we found:
What a depressing sight! It almost brings a tear to my eye seeing this mess and knowing someone violated T and I, and our car. As you can see they took just about everything. Besides the steering wheel and the dashboard everything else inside the car was stripped out. And a few things were swapped out as well. In the pictures you may notice some paint doesn't match. That's because the front and back door on the driver's side are not mine. The trunk lid is not mine. The front bumper and the front right and left fenders are not mine as well. Oh, and the bucket for a front seat...not mine either. So, they wanted some parts of mine and decided to give me some parts of theirs that they didn't want. Luckily they were nice enough to reattach my license plates to the new front bumper and the new trunk lid. At least I know those aren't on another stolen vehicle.
In the end, my insurance wasn't going to cover any of the loss on the car since I only had liability rather than full comprehensive car insurance. So the car is a wash. My renters insurance should cover the loss of my golf clubs but there is no way I am going to get enough money to replace them. That's the most devastating part. I found a salvage yard that wanted the Honda and they gave me a big whopping 125 bucks. Not enough to subdue the salt in the wound but better than nothing I suppose.
Hopefully, after paying the towing fees I should get a $100 reimbursement from my insurance for the towing. That means after all is said and done we might bank $35 on the Honda. Wow, what a rip off. How is that even right? I get my car and my clubs stolen, my car gets trashed to the point that I can't drive it anymore and then I have to pay all the fees and basically get nothing for the car. Something is screwed up with that system. Maybe I should get into the car lifting business...sounds like a pretty sweet gig.
Now, to come full circle. I haven't gotten to the point of full forgiveness but I know I need to. I have wasted every minute of the day since Thursday bound by my hatred for who ever did this to us. But I will forgive because I am commanded to and I also want to be forgiven for my mistakes. I feel bad for the people who have to steal to make themselves feel better. There is a lot of worse things T and I could have lost. Cars and clubs can be replaced. We still have what's really important. And luckily will still have this which cheers us up every time we look at him.
I woke up in the morning at my regular time. I ate my breakfast, showered, got ready for the day and read my scripture all in time for my regular departure for school at 7 am. I walked out across the parking lot and around another building of apartments to my parking spot. I was looking at my keys in my hand as to have the car key ready to put in the door to unlock the car so I didn't realize until I looked up that my car was not there. I immediately thought to myself, "Oh, I must have parked on the other side of the lot." I started to turn away when I realized that I remember parking right where my car was missing. I was stunned. My mind began to race. "Was this a joke?" "Did someone move my car?" "Did someone really steal my car?" "Holy crap! My golf clubs are in the trunk!"
I ran inside and very sternly said to T as she was still asleep, "Some took my car, it's gone." She sat straight up as if she was part of a huge pop-up book I had just opened on the bed. "Are you serious?" was all she could reply.
After a few minute of gathering our thoughts we decided we had to call the police ASAP. We gave our report to them and as soon as they left we sat there wondering how this possibly could have happened. And I especially sulked knowing my golf clubs were long gone. The golf clubs T graciously let me buy as a graduation gift even though I haven't graduated yet. The golf clubs we got for a killer deal because we thankfully had a brother-in-law who, at the time, was working for Nike so we had access to employee pricing. The golf clubs I used to play my new favorite game even though I'm still not very good. The golf clubs I used to participate in the only outlet I have from school. Being on a golf course is the one spot where I can free my mind from everything. And finally, the clubs I used with my team to win 2 University of Western States Spring Classic Golf tournaments back-to-back. Now, with the car, that was all gone.
T and I spent most of the next few days wondering if our car would ever be recovered and if so how long would it take. We talked with many people who have also had their cars stolen and most of them got there cars back in anywhere from 3 day to 6 months and most of the time there cars were in okay condition. We had hope.
On Friday night we got a call late in the evening from the police department. Our car had been found and towed. It was described in the report as stripped in the inside and undrivable. My excitement on having our car found was quickly dashed to despair as I realized our car was a mess. During one phone conversation to the towing company I could hear a man in the background saying, "Oh yeah, they did a number on that one." Speaking of my trusty '93 Honda Accord with faded paint on the outside but a peach of an engine under the hood. I tried to ask about the trunk, whether or not anyone had gotten in and took my golf clubs. I could never get a straight answer...nobody seemed to know enough about the exact condition of the car. I was forced to sit on pins and needles still thinking there was a chance the clubs would still be safely stowed in the locked trunk.
We couldn't get into the tow yard until today (Monday) otherwise we would have to pay more fees on top of what we were already going to have to pay to have the car towed and stored at the lot.
Today was a difficult day. On my way to the tow yard I had a sour pit in my stomach. I was all twisted inside knowing we were going to see how some else manhandled a car we took such great car of. When we got there I walked in the run down, nasty office and told the guy I was looking for the stolen Honda Accord they had picked up on Friday. The guy looked at me and started laughing and joking with me about how the crooks had taken just about everything inside the car but they were thoughtful enough to leave me a bucket to sit on at a front seat. I just stared back at him with the most pissed off, serious look I could muster. And with out saying a word he quickly realized I was not in the mood for joking about my stolen and now trashed car with no golf clubs in the trunk, mind you, since he also specifically mentioned the back seat was missing.
Here is what we found:
What a depressing sight! It almost brings a tear to my eye seeing this mess and knowing someone violated T and I, and our car. As you can see they took just about everything. Besides the steering wheel and the dashboard everything else inside the car was stripped out. And a few things were swapped out as well. In the pictures you may notice some paint doesn't match. That's because the front and back door on the driver's side are not mine. The trunk lid is not mine. The front bumper and the front right and left fenders are not mine as well. Oh, and the bucket for a front seat...not mine either. So, they wanted some parts of mine and decided to give me some parts of theirs that they didn't want. Luckily they were nice enough to reattach my license plates to the new front bumper and the new trunk lid. At least I know those aren't on another stolen vehicle.
In the end, my insurance wasn't going to cover any of the loss on the car since I only had liability rather than full comprehensive car insurance. So the car is a wash. My renters insurance should cover the loss of my golf clubs but there is no way I am going to get enough money to replace them. That's the most devastating part. I found a salvage yard that wanted the Honda and they gave me a big whopping 125 bucks. Not enough to subdue the salt in the wound but better than nothing I suppose.
Hopefully, after paying the towing fees I should get a $100 reimbursement from my insurance for the towing. That means after all is said and done we might bank $35 on the Honda. Wow, what a rip off. How is that even right? I get my car and my clubs stolen, my car gets trashed to the point that I can't drive it anymore and then I have to pay all the fees and basically get nothing for the car. Something is screwed up with that system. Maybe I should get into the car lifting business...sounds like a pretty sweet gig.
***
Now, to come full circle. I haven't gotten to the point of full forgiveness but I know I need to. I have wasted every minute of the day since Thursday bound by my hatred for who ever did this to us. But I will forgive because I am commanded to and I also want to be forgiven for my mistakes. I feel bad for the people who have to steal to make themselves feel better. There is a lot of worse things T and I could have lost. Cars and clubs can be replaced. We still have what's really important. And luckily will still have this which cheers us up every time we look at him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
