Photo Friday!

Yea, I'm so bad having not done this in several weeks but better late than never. Last night after desert and right before story time the boys posed themselves for this picture and requested that I take said picture, so I thought I would share it with you! Happy Friday to you all!

Free Cereal

I can't believe I forgot to blog this because it was hilarious!

Last Friday towards the end of our date we decided to head over to Hy-vee to buy supplies for treats--much more fun to make them at home than to go out to get them. We decided to get some fun cereal to make a treat out of and knew that the Malt-O-Meal bags were buy 2 get 1 free, so we thought that was a good deal and decided to do it. But it said that only with a coupon could you do that and that is was something like buy 2 at $2.79 get the third free. Yes, I'm a numbers friek, so I remember everything. But I couldn't find the coupon in the add, so went up to the register and asked her. She couldn't find it either but said she trusted me and would do it. But then the cereal rang up as 2.89 and 2.99 and I asked her about it. She didn't know what to do, so she called her manager. By this point James was thoroughly embarrassed, so I just told her it was find and to just leave it. But she wanted to do it right, so she called him anyway. He came over and she explained the situation. He pulled out his little key cleared the screen and told her to just continue checking us out. We just looked at each other--all three of us--and didn't know what to say. He casually walked away as if he had done nothing strange. The checker recovered and finished checking us out--2 more boxes of cereal for $.99 each. So, we got 2 boxes of cereal and three bags of Malt-O-Meal for exactly $2. Score for us!

Seminary - Book of Mormon

I prepared my first seminary lesson of the year today. Man, I love teaching seminary. Anyway, I feel that our focus this year needs to be on finding Christ in The Book of Mormon. Did you know that:
Christ is spoken of in every 1.7 verses of the Book of Mormon as compared to the New Testament where he is mentioned only every 2.4 verses?
There are over 100 different names for the Savior in the Book of Mormon?
The Book of Mormon has been translated into over 100 languages, like Bislama, Igbo, Neomelanesian, Kekchi, Sinhala (one of two official languages of Sri Lanka), Papiamento, Bikolano, Quiche, etc., etc.?
The deep emotions involving the Lord's attributes of love are recorded 211 times, while the judgmental passions of God are recorded 99 times. This illustrates that the Lord showed forth doubly (two to one) his passions of love?
Open the book to nearly any page and you should be able to know something additional about Jesus Christ?

I am so blessed to have this calling. If you come across any wonderful tidbits of inspiration as you study the Book of Mormon, please share with me!!!!!

The simple things in life

As I prepared a side dish for dinner tonight (really ended up being the main one), I was reminded of the simple things in life. This may sound silly, but it's true. I made a fruit salad. Now, when we make a fruit salad, we always add something; a dressing, a little cool whip, some yogurt, all of the above. I left it plain. Simple tonight was oh so good. I wonder what it would be like if we quit trying to make everything just a little bit more. O.k., I'm not very good at expressing the philosophical, but the salad was great!

Us

What are we up to? Nothing quite as fun as all of you, it seems :)

Last week was education week for me, and that was super fun. I signed up to be a volunteer, so I attended classes in the mornings and took my shift in the afternoons. By the time my shift ended at 6:15pm I was done, too exhausted to coerce myself into walking all over campus to any more classes. I got plenty of inquiries about my pregnancy as I stood at my assigned classroom. AND, I officially got my first unwanted belly rub! Haha. It's been something I've been worried about since before I got pregnant - that some random person would come up and grope my belly without asking. I was proud of myself for not freaking out.

Justin has been enjoying his two weeks of a "break." This is what a Justin-style break is: ONLY working full-time. In times like these he wonders what he would do with himself if he always had this much extra time. Who raised this guy?

We're working on completing our birthing class next week. Our teacher is a doula and we've been so grateful to hear so much about how to work through pain without relying on pain meds. If you haven't heard yet, I'm going to be trying a natural birth! Yeah, we'll see how that goes...

I'm getting super excited for my baby shower! We registered at Babies R Us yesterday. I can't believe it's all so soon. My baby shower is in less than a month and my due date is in less than two! Wow, not sure we're ready for this. We're going to be parents.

Love my new house

I just have to say that I LOVE my new house! Thank you so much Joe and Heather for coming and helping us finish it up! Things are starting to settle down now that the neighborhood is back in school. This has been a crazy work week for me but it should settle down now--yea! Thanks again mom for helping me with the ppt. If only everything were Mac friendly--geesh! The boys love their new neighborhood, though, Michael wishes there were more kids his age--well, who weren't girls, anyway. :) Other than that things are pretty normal. I'll have to think up some fun stories to share but now it is time to work again. Darn. Enjoy a few pics of our new house!

long overdue

Just thought I would post a few pictures of what we have been up to.

Starting school has been a real joy. The kids were so excited the first night they could hardly sleep. April wasn't feeling well last night and I told her she might not be able to do school today. She was very upset. Yeah!
My first attempt at homemade fruit rollups. Good. I made them a little too thick. Note to self for next time.
April making pizza crepes. Not too bad. I really preferred the chocolate crepes we had for breakfast the next morning.
Nothing new, just Collin being really cute.
New carpet in April's room. Lyle and Joe did this. It is really nice and April loves it.

Vicki and I slaved away (o.k., not really slaved) making three batches of jam. They are so yummy. Currant black raspberry and crabapple mullberry ( this is my favorite). I am seeing a definite theme to our recent activities. Me like food!

Now I want to hear about you!

AAAHHHHHHHH!

Thank you, I feel better now.

A Private Blog

What you ask is a "Private Blog"? Well, I will tell you. It is one that contains many wonderful heart filling experiences that can not be shared. How can it contain things that can not be shared you ask? Well let me explain.

I am a father of five, well I really consider it nine wonderful children (Actually eleven with Diana and Sasha). The grandfather of ten, soon to be twelve and the husband of an angel. Being thusly blessed brings a fountain of blessings that strengthen my sole (Michelle's spelling, really soul) and ones that are private to those I share them with.

What I want to share today is the overwhelming love I have for those I hold so dear and the appreciation I have for your willingness to share with your father/husband so many personal, tender and sacred experiences. As I mature I realize more each day many things I could have done or said over the years that would have helped each of those I love, even more. Notice, I do not say regret, for maturing is learning and I am hopeful that I will continue to learn. However, one thing I really do cherish is the ability or maybe willingness we have together to communicate and share our lives with each other. Sometimes the discussions have been painful and uncomfortable, but always joyful in the end, and I count myself as a father/husband very blessed to have been able to share the many discussions and experiences each of us has over the years, and this past two weeks those experiences have continued. Thank you. Love Dad

A day in the life of...

So, here is my uneventful day...(no complaining about boring blogs...cus at least I'm blogging). So this morning my husband woke me up with a kiss and we had prayer, it was a long prayer if I remember right (which I may not) and I stayed awake. Kudos to me. Needless to say I quickly drifted to a beautiful sleep that was not interrupted until a whole hour later by Julie. The house was silent except for her. I opened my eyes and she was staring at me, cute as ever. I must admit I was a little disconcerted. "Why was she out of bed? How was she out of bed? Has she been out of bed for a long time? She could have eaten something and died and I wouldn't have even known." These were my thoughts and so at that point I decided to get my tired self out of bed...it was hard but I persisted and eventually succeeded. I proceeded to clean up last nights dishes (we didn't have time because we had a soccer meeting for Ella), and we all had a lovely slightly unsatisfying but filling breakfast of cereal. If you want to know what a totally awesome and satisfying breakfast would be, biscuits and gravy with hash browns and a fresh bowl of fruit. Yeah, isn't your mouth just watering at the thought of it...mmm. Anyways we all picked up the house and when I say all I mostly just mean me. Of course after much persuasion and threatening of consequences Ella and Daniel did clean their rooms. By that time Julia was getting fussy (cause she had been up for a long time...not really sure how long) and so I put her in bed. Ella and Daniel put a movie on while I got ready to work out. When I woke up a half hour later I walked for two miles on the tread mill while reading my scriptures. I quite enjoyed my work out! Including my nap. Afterward I took a quick shower while the kids played with play dough. By this point I was famished and fixed myself a lovely BLT, which was followed by a not so secret snitch of Nutella on toast. I love food! I then made tuna sandwiches for Ella and Daniel. After lunch I made some quick phone calls for my calling, of course with screaming children in the background. (This phenomenon I will never understand...perfectly happy and quiet before your on the phone and crazy loud and tearful the second you begin talking) Anyway, I then did a little research on who was the cheapest place to take our car to. The research was unsuccessful and so I just took our car to the closest place and walked home with the kids. Of course they whined the whole way...whiners. Now, I'm writing to you and Julia is on her second nap. The day is nearing its end, no word on my car...can't be good, trying to plan a little weekend camping trip (don't think it's really going to happen), and trying to come up with something quick and tasty for dinner (Pizza is my favorite food and it's definitely quick and tasty...we'll see). Mom I finished that book about the Romanov's last night...very late...while everyone else was sleeping...hence my extreme tiredness this morning. Anyway interesting book. Thanks and I love you all.

i forgot

In all of my beautiful delightful blogging I forgot to tell you I gave blood Monday. That's all. It was good. the guy that asked me my questions and took my iron was hilarious. then i had him again to take my blood. funny guy. my iron was high enough. 13. something. Which made me SOO happy cuz it was too low last time. It was still okay, but not good enough for them. poo. But too bad. all's well. just thought i'd let y'all know. :D

a blog

Mom said someone should blog, so i'm blogging. don't know about what. but i will.

let's me see....

When i get off the computer, I will go and finish my AP Lit book: How to read Literature Like a Professor. so much fun! Then i'll start on Hardball for AP Gov. yay me! i hate procrastination!

My summer was super fun! EFY was amazing. It's sad to think I can't really go next year. :( But after that, hopefully I can be a counselor, and that would just be fantastic! so here is a picture of my counselor and me:oh! and my roommate was from Scotland. Cool.

ummmmm JJ's Graduation was fun. You already heard about it from them, but here's a couple pictures from that too:
the Y all lit upElla's shoes. adorable if i must say. and i must.and, of course, Justin and Jodi. :)We got Diana. yep. already knew that. Well, here's a picture at the Chicago airport of us anyways.and, I dyed my hair. But you can't really tell a difference. I haven't downloaded pictures yet. I guess I could do that. hm. be right back. okay. here's some. i didn't take a picture of diana's yet. her's doesn't look much different either. but a little darker. I don't really like these, but they are of my hair. ish. ness. Leah helped us.okay. i'm done. and a winner. cuz today is friday! :P love you!

This one is for you Joe

I just thought you would find this amusing.

Summer Time

This has been an amazing and busy summer for us. Never home for more than a week and a half at a time. It is now creating havoc for Marquie and all the summer AP Class assignments she has. We've been involved in girl's camp in West Virginia, youth conference in New York, family reunion in Illinois, softball tournament in Utah, new exchange student from Russia and graduation at BYU. The traveling has been amazing and what a blessing to be able to get on all the flights we had to (not wanted to, but had to.)

We are now in the mad rush to get things going for school and seminary. Marquie is having struggles with her schedule. She's trying to fit in three AP classes that she hasn't done all the reading for so may have to switch to honors classes. Diana is just trying to figure out what classes she wants to take. Mostly she wants to do sports and came without a sports physical--you know how schools are with those.

We have loved the vacation and really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with all of you. We are still looking forward to a Labor Day trip to Kirtland, Ohio to see grandpa and grandma Workman.

Good luck to all of you as you begin your new school year. Thanks for the memories!



Diana, our exchange student from Ufa, Russia.










The graduates

Just wondering

Something is sticking in my mind that someone or someones graduated this weekend. Now, I think I would remember something like that accurately. However, I cannot imagine anyone having something of such importance happen without blogging it for the rest of us. In case you forgot, most of us couldn't attend. A little help here.

Last summer fling

We thought we would take advantage of one of the few warm days this summer. Since school starts on Monday, it worked out well. We had a wonderful time. We spent about 5 hours at the beach in Rock Cut State Park. It was only 30 minutes away and our whole family got in for $14. I think all of the kids are suffering from heat exhaustion. All of them have also been asleep for over an hour already. Collin and April have been throwing up, while Ethan has stomach cramps. Chloe just smiled and went to sleep. What a good day. Good night.


I finally figured out how to keep his super blonde head from frying. Yep, it's a swim cap. Surprisingly, he left it on.
Yep, he was done.
Little snacky snack of string cheese to keep 'em going.
Where there is a beach, there is an attempt at a sand castle. I'm pretty sure this is as far as it got.

Here's to you!

I've been pondering a lot today on families, immediate and extended. When my immediate family is not around I have been well loved and taken care of by the Workmans. They have taught me a great deal about how families should be. I've always been close with my immediate family but it has not come so easily with extended. Let me just tell you, blood really does run thick, as they have canned food with me, shared meals with me, and involved me in enjoyable family gatherings. I hope when I am older my nieces and nephews can feel that love and safety with me and my family.
ON the immediate family side, we have had such great opportunities to be with the whole family this summer and I have loved it. I love being in your homes, seeing how you live, how you raise your children, how you teach them and love them. I love eating your food and sharing mine with you. I love building our houses together and going to the park. I love laughing with you and crying with you. I love playing games with you, doing your nails, shopping, fixing cars...whatever! I love it! If I didn't have such a great family as all of you, who would I turn to, who would I share joy with and sorrow. So...Here's to you...a great family, in all of our imperfections I think we're pretty neat!

Day after

So, I have had lots of time to think now. I thought I would let you in on it. We have decided the outcome doesn't matter anymore. If everything is great and David is born happy and healthy, we will be very grateful. If he is not, we will be prepared. These last few weeks have taught us a great many things. As our bishop put it last night; has this brought you closer to the Lord? Yes. Has this brought you closer to each other? Yes. Has this brought you closer as a family? Yes. Then what is the problem? I agree. What is the problem? The Lord chooses many ways to reach us and teach us. We have all, you included, had great experiences from this. We are going to remeber those and continue to live life. I have learned life is too precious to get caught up in anything. We have so much to bring us joy everyday and don't want to miss it. So what are we going to do now? Be happy! Let whatever comes come and not fill our lives with worry. Thank you again and I love you tons!

doctor

We just got back from the doctor. The ultrasound was completely normal. I would like to tell you it was a huge relief, but that wouldn't be the truth. We can't tell you now what is going on, only how we feel. We feel the same as we did before. We don't know what is wrong now, but we do still believe something is. Now it is just a waiting game. Take the news any way you'd like. I love you all and thank you for your support.

Flashback

I was at IKEA the other and decided to go check on this place to make sure it was still holding up. I thought the family might be glad to know that it's still there, although the current residents put in a new pool. Despite the recreational upgrade, however, it appears that the sewer line is still having problems as evidenced by the bare strip in front. It was eerie to go there and feel just familiar enough to identify the houses, but completely foreign otherwise. It was the first time I've been to Woodridge since we left there in 1986, but still I wondered about the secret sidewalk, the devoted Salvation Army enlistees next door (they also had stickers—LOTS of stickers) and a strange little red head named Nicole who could fold up in our closet without us even knowing . . .

Evidences of the Endowment

Michelle and I just got back from a fireside where a Prof. Porter spoke. He is heavily involved with egyption history and team taught and studied with Hugh Nibley. He was asked by the first presidency to recover the true story of the papyrus found with the mummies that Joseph Smith Jr. bought. The story is a bit dull with sprinkles of 'wows' here and there.
The neatest part was when he translated the papyrus for us, gave us views of writings and papyrus from pharos dating back to Pharo the son of Ham the son of Noah and that got interesting! I knew that the temple ceremonies were involved in so much of our culture such as education ceremonies and such, but with each government body in almost every country... I had no idea! Infact, the understanding of kingship ceremonies and their ties to the endowment gave greater understanding to the atonement and the reason the Jews crucified Christ. Long before Christ was born, the kings of all lands had a ceremony founded by the two sons of Ham, Pharo and Nimrod. The heir to the throne would have to fight for the throne and die, be buried in some sacred building (a temple) for three days during which time the priests of the burrial would slap and spit on the king's body, on the third day, they would wash him with oils, dress him in a new garment with new shoes, give him a new name, and he would then arise from the temple basement and have to greet his people giving riches and spoils away. This was done every year. The problem with this ceremony was the whole death/ressurrrection part so they would send a kings messenger to die (yes they actually were killed) in place of the king. The time Christ was crucified was this time of kingship ceremony for Ceasar and Christ was selected as the king's messenger.
He also taught of the embraces found through the papyrus. There are three types, the ritual, the sacred, and the mutual embraces. They are found throughout Egyption holy places (the highest most places of their sacred buildings) and in the Book of Mormon! Nephi, Mosiah, Alma, and others knew of these embraces through their culture and found their true meaning as they learned the endowment of God. The ritual embrace is seen with God's hand on Pharo's shoulder and Pharo's hand on God's shoulder, their feet together, and the words written: "I give to you to be like God with endurance through posterity, health, foods/beer, power of the priesthood of eternal life." The sacred embrace is spoken of by the prophets as the embrace of God, his wraping you in his garment (that is the literal translation of the word Atonement in many mid-eastern languages). The mutual embrace is the embrace of God to grant you his best gift, eternal life, or God's life.
This depicts a better view of the atonement. Salvation is brought about by obeying the will of God and exaltation is brought about when your will is God's will.
This really made me feel so far away from the Lord and my Father but it made me so excited to know that even Abraham (being taught the ceremonies many times by the egyptions and was once the one to be sacraficed as the 'king's messenger') saw truth in the demonic practices and sought to better himself until he found each embrace and became like God is! (read the first chapter of Abraham it is so inspiring!)
Anyway, I know this is way too long, but it is only a skeleton of the real message we gained. Love you all!

Another Picture

This was the opening ceremonies. It was fun to be there. All the umpires were introduced individually and we ran onto the field one at a time. I am between first and second, eighth from the right.

babysitting fun

Joe and I are here babysitting while James and Liz drive, drive, shop at Ikea, drive, drive, and drive some more. After a nice nap on my part, we threw them outside to play in the sprinkler. I think we will leave them there until dinner. Good idea!

Wild West Town

A quick canoe ride to cool off.
Drinking sasparilla at the Saloon.
A quick ride on the carousel. Again and again and again.
Taking a break at the trading post.
Lasso that fake something or other.

After six hours the kids still didn't want to go home, but the parents were so done.

Family Blog

Can I just say, I LOVE THE FAMILY BLOG! Thanks to all of you for keeping up on the postings. It's so fun to share in your lives. These are pictures I thought you might enjoy. Uncle Larry gave them to Roger to give to us this past week. They are pretty fun. The top picture, at the airport, was when we moved to Illinois and Dad started with United. The second picture is when we visited Utah after Marquie came home from the hospital, I think in January. And the third was taken at Grandpa and Grandma's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. Hope you enjoy them!

Picture

A professional sports photographer was at the tournament taking picture of the girls and of course when you take pictures of the players you get the officials. I was able to get a couple and here is one of them. The emblem is not part of the picture but the "Tournament Patch". Mom put in there when she framed this for me this morning. It is on my office wall.

Thanks

I just wanted to thank everyone for your support today. We spent the evening at Joe's grandma's house and it reminded me how really wonderful all of you are. Thank you for just being understanding and supportive. I love you all.

Day Five

And we are done. This has been some of the toughest ten games I have ever done. The level of play, even for fourteen year olds, certainly has been a higher caliber. As I noted last night I was selected to help officiate the semi-final game (Three person mechanics. First base umpire) that ended up being two Utah teams. That was alright because I am from Virginia! :) The tournament was double elimination so the semi-final is the winner of the loosers and the loosers of the winners. Go figure that one out.

Michelle/Bryce and family, Justin/Jodi, Mom/Marquie, Roger and Laura came to support dad. Michelle said it brought back a great many memories. We missed the rest of the family, it would have made the experience complete.

So, dad is now a National Championship Umpire. Kind of like Bishop. Can't take it away. Thank you all for your support both personally and through your comments. It was an incredible experience. I do have some pictures that I will post when I can get them scanned. Love Dad.

Day Four

Well, we are now at the last day of the tournament (it is early in the morning on Saturday) and day four is over. As the number of teams dwindle, the opportunity to umpire also diminishes so I had only two games today. One in the plate and one in the field. Uncle Roger and his friend Janet came to watch the second and actually stayed and watched two more. Tooele County Thunder in all three, loosers bracket and they lost at 10:30 PM so they are going home.

We had our awards dinner this evening where they hand out certificates and gifts and say thank you. It is also the time when the final days assignments are given. Only seven games (including the "if" game and 24 umpires. So, do the math, three will not be assigned to work tomorrow and a good chance of the three assigned to the "if" game will also not work. I was very prepared for the outcome of not being assigned as this is my first national and had talked with mom about leaving tomorrow afternoon because flights are more open.

13:00 semi-final game, first base in a three man system. Guess we will not be leaving tomorrow. Love Dad