Another day at the office

I think I've found a new calling in life. I want to be an excavator operator! A couple of weeks ago my management at work invited my work team to the John Deere proving grounds to test drive some construction equipment. Working in an office job on computers all the time, it's easy to lose sight of what the company is all about. So every now and then they like to take us out to play with some equipment so that we can feel "connected" to the product. This is the first time I've taken advantage of one of these opportunities. Following are a few pictures of my experience.

Of all the equipment I drove, this excavator was by far my favorite. This is one of the smaller excavators that Deere makes (they wouldn't trust us with anything bigger!) but it was still very powerful. I think it's a good stress reliever, so I'm asking for one for Christmas. When the going gets tough, I'll just say, "Honey, I'm going in the back yard to dig for a while."
All the motion is controlled by two joysticks. The joystick on the left swings the cab and arm left and right and moves the main arm up and down. The joystick on the right operates the bucket and the lower part of the arm. To dig, you basically just move the two joysticks around in circles and the thing will dig in one spot and dump in another.

This is I think what is called an "articulated front end loader" (okay, so maybe I better stick to computers until I learn the proper names for these things). This was the favorite of many out there that day, but for me it didn't measure up to the excavator.
Driving the front end loader was also very easy. You basically have a steering wheel, an accelerator, and a brake (like most vehicles). To operate the bucket, there was just one joystick (forward to raise it up, backward to lower it, left to scoop, right to dump). Since you're constantly going forward and backward, there's a small switch on the joystick - switch it one way and you go forward, switch it the other way and you go backward.
This bulldozer was kind of fun. Going over this little mountain was a bit of a kick. Bulldozers typically move forward (or backward) at a constant speed. You can tell in the picture if I go just a little bit further forward, my front is going to be heavier than my back and the whole thing is going to fall forward. Well, my first time over the hill that's exactly what happened and I almost crashed through the windshield. The trick, I learned, is to push the decelerator pedal when you get to the top, then you kind of ease over the hill gradually. I'll stick to the excavator.

Here I am on a little backhoe. This was the first machine I tried out. It was fun enough, but didn't pack near the punch of the excavator. It could dig holes well enough though.
Here's the biggest vehicle that we got to drive that day. By dump truck standards, it's medium sized but I still think it's the biggest vehicle I've ever driven. You'll notice it is articulated like the front end loader (meaning it bends in the middle). That's how it steers. When you turn the wheel, hydraulic cylinders bend the front end around the corner and the backend follows. It feels quite a bit different than steering a normal small vehicle (I almost hit a fence at one point).

The guy that was riding with me said it would go up to 35 miles per hour, but I got it up to 40 and I think it would go faster if you pushed it. At one point, he said to gun it (that's when I got it to 40). We were cruising down a dirt road and at the end there was a gated fence. He said "Don't let up, don't let up, don't let up". About 30 feet short of the fence he says, "Okay take your foot off the accelerator." I did (as soon as he said the word "Okay" - I was getting a little nervous)! The truck just stopped. It didn't throw you forward like slamming on brakes, but the thing went from 40-0 in about 20 feet - no brakes required! He said it's something built into the transmission that stops the vehicle any time you take your foot off the accelerator (no cruise control in this beast!). I don't suppose friction brakes would last long trying to stop 40 tons of momentum.

All-in-all, it was a very fun day. I was very impressed by all the equipment. The most impressive thing was how simple it was to drive everything. They just gave a two minute orientation to the first driver of each machine, then they expected you to pass on the information to the next driver. It was that easy. They've made driving those complex machines easier than driving a car. Most everything was run by joysticks, and the cabs were all very comfortable. Honestly, I think I would be more comfortable moving tons of dirt around all day than I typically am in my desk chair.

So, if you ever have a chance to dig a basement or a swimming pool for someone, I highly recommend it (only if it's with a Deere of course)!

Anna update

Anna got her cast off this week and her arm seems to be healing nicely. She was rather concerned about the saw chopping away at her cast, but that turned out to not be frightening for her at all. It helped that she had a good doctor that she felt comfortable enough with that she even talked to him.

She has been very protective of her arm since the cast came off though. She was worried enough about it that the kind doctor gave her a removable splint to wear to help her feel secure. The problem is, she won't remove the splint for anything. Getting her to take it off to bathe has been quite an ordeal - it really frightens her to have her arm exposed. Today, after much coaxing, I was able to give her a bath and convince her to leave the splint off for one hour after the bath. She just sat on the chair and held her arm for the whole hour; afraid to play or run or really even move. She did finally relax some and got up and moved around a little without the splint. Tonight, she agreed to take off the splint while she sleeps. So, little by little, I think she'll become more comfortable using her arm.

Blog Silence

Hopefully you've noticed that we've been rather silent bloggers lately. Our computer is ill and doesn't seem to be recovering, so we haven't been online a whole lot lately. We're not exactly sure what's wrong, it has been just freezing up every now and then, but the freeze-ups were becoming more frequent and happening more quickly. Now we can rarely, if ever, get through a full bootup before the freeze happens. A little internet research suggests that it's a hardware problem. So, we're kind of out of a home computer for the time being.

Beautiful Anna with her bright pink cast. One down, three to go. 

Family Home Evening at our house

Monday night comes around but once a week (just in case you didn't know that), and it is a time that our kids genuinely look forward to. They love having Family Home Evening (even if Greg and I don't always love it). Some go better than others. We just had a whopper doosey this past Monday. It started off fine enough. Adam was in charge and he led us through the song, prayer, and a very nice lesson. Then it was time for the activity and treat.

The kids were getting restless, as Adam had taken a little more time on his lesson than perhaps was necessary. The kids and I headed in to the kitchen to get started on making some cookies. The girls were standing on a chair (the same chair) near the sink so they could wash their hands. They couldn't reach however, so I scooted the chair a little closer, as I often do.

Well, that was the end of Family Home Evening. Anna, fell off the chair and landed hard on her right arm on the floor. Anna was not only in tears, but screaming. I looked at her arm, and right away I thought there might be something wrong. We put an ice pack on it, and held her for a while. Greg and I took turns holding Anna, and rushing the other kids into bed. After a little while, Anna stopped crying. Greg had her do some movements with her wrist and fingers and sort of poked around on her arm. It was still swollen, but it seemed like she had good movement and wasn't in excruiating pain. We elected to wait until the morning and see how things looked.

She slept fine that night. In the morning, she seemed very careful of that hand and there were certain things that seemed to hurt it. To me it also looked crooked, but she wasn't complaining about a lot of pain. After Greg went to work, I decided it would be best to bring her in. They did x-rays and a little exam and sure enough it was broken. Apparently this is a VERY common injury in children. Also, FYI young children's bones don't usually break clear through. They usually just buckle, or bend. So really they are just broken on one side. In Anna's case it was her radius bone in her right arm. Unfortunately they wouldn't cast her arm there, at our pediatrician's office. They had to set us up with an orthopedic later in the afternoon. That was a short little visit, and then they put Anna in a very bright pink cast. She will only have to wear it for 2-3 weeks.

All in all she has been amazing. She was awesome for the exams and x-rays, and even getting on her cast (and man did we have a creepy guy doing that job). Moral of the story: actually there are two. One: breaking your arm cuts family home evening short. Two: Anna is an awesome kid. Okay, okay there are three. Don't move a chair when your child is standing on it.

Update on the Finch Family

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd just give a quick update on what's been going on around the Finch home. We've unfortunately had a lot of sickness in the house over the past two weeks. Adam woke up two weeks ago with a fever and had to miss almost a full week of school before it went away. As soon as Adam got rid of it, Anna and Lizzy both picked it up. They were running fevers off and on until mid-week of this past week. That's when Ben managed to get it. He, being so little, seemed to have it worst of all. He developed a pretty bad cough and congestion. For a while it was pretty hard for him to breathe and that would get him frustrated and so he would try to cry, but crying hurt too much so he would mostly just whimper. It was a sad time while he was sick. Now the kids are mostly over it (still some minor coughs) but Tammy woke up this morning with the fever, sore throat, etc so on we go. I'm the only one so far that's been able to avoid the illness - I'm sure my turn is coming. Hopefully, we're all activating our immune systems so that we'll have an illness free winter!

During all those days of sickness, we did enjoy a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ebbert. They were here from Thursday to Wednesday of this past week. With all the sickness we weren't able to get out much, but did enjoy time visiting. We also very much appreciate all the work they did around our house. Tammy kept Grandpa busy with lots of house projects that I've been neglecting since we've moved here. He even helped hang some pictures - something we've been meaning to do for weeks. Thank you Grandpa!

Given all the natural disasters of the past few weeks, we decided we needed to take a more serious look at our own preparedness, so we had declared today to be our preparedness day. We spent the day teaching the kids about different kinds of disasters that could get us here and what to do for each. We also refilled all of our water storage containers (which have been empty since we moved) and started to think about getting 72-hour kits together. We still have a long way to go in the preparedness category, but having a little something done feels pretty good. The kids were all very interested in what we were doing and each worked hard to help out. It was a fun day together (except that mom wasn't feeling real well!).

One last note - this is some news I learned yesterday that was pretty exciting for me. Several years ago during my last couple of years at BYU, I worked for a non-profit organization called the Waterford Institute. The goal of the Waterford Institute is to create educational software to help young children learn basic skills such as reading, writing, and math. We were basically making computer games that helped kids to learn these skills. The project I worked on the whole time I was there was the first grade reading program - I did the programming work for maybe 1/5 or so of the product. We had just finished the product when I left Waterford to move out here.

I've always kind of wished that my kids could benefit from the Waterford programs, but never really expected that. They're designed for school classrooms and are only sold to schools, so we couldn't exactly buy them for home. Given the large amount of educational software on the market these days, I never thought that it would actually end up in my kids schools.

Well, we just found out yesterday that Pleasant View Elementary has recently purchased the Waterford Early Reading Program. Beginning in a week or so, Adam will be using the first grade reading program (the one that I worked on) for 20 minutes or so each day. I was so excited when I learned that! It's really neat for me to know that he'll be using something that I had spent so much time on long before he was even born. While I don't expect him to gain a whole lot from it (his reading skills are well above anything we taught in that program), I still hope he will enjoy some of the games. I expect the program will still be around when Anna arrives at first grade and I do expect that it will be a benefit to her - I think she'll be at a more normal first grade level and I think they are the kinds of activities she will absolutely love.

Ben's First Birthday

Well, one very long year has passed since our sweet little Ben was born. His birthday was yesterday, September 18. We are thankful for his good health and cheery smile. It is an exciting time when a baby turns one. Ben has been such a great blessing to our home. He is very laid back and cheerful. He knows how to make us all smile. He is crawling around like crazy now, but still resistive to standing alone. He is really in no hurry to walk. He has five teeth and another that is trying to come through. He still will not eat baby food, and now is even becoming more picky about what people food he eats. If he doesn't like something, or he is done, he just throws it on the floor. Banana is not very fun to clean up off the floor, or any place else for that matter. He is still a mama's boy. He has even started screaming and pulling on anyone who is on HIS mom's lap. Lizzy gets the brunt of that I'm afraid, and it is not uncommon for him to make her cry. I am still nursing him, but we have left him with a babysitter a few times, and it has gone fine. When he is happy he is just a joy to be around. It seems like even though this has been an incredibly hard year for our family, it has gone by so quickly. I can hardly believe my baby is 1! I didn't cry like I did when Adam turned one. This time I think I am relieved that he is 1 and that our other children are growing up too. My grandma and grandpa were here to share in the fun of Ben's birthday. If my dad were here, we would have ages spanning four generations. How cool is that. We love our Benner boy. We hope he had a great Birthday.

Here is cute little Ben on his first birthday. He is even cute with food all over his face! 

Happy Birthday Tammy!

Today is Tammy's 30th Birthday. Yes, she's officially not a youngster anymore. She and I have been married for almost eight years now (can you believe it?) so I think I'm just about qualified to talk about how wonderful she is. (She's thinking - well, after eight years, it's about time!)

Let me just start by talking about how good she is to me. As we've mentioned, this has been a very busy summer for me - especially at work. I've never really had to work a lot of overtime in my career, but the last month or so has seen a lot of it. I know that it's taken a toll on our family and on Tammy, but she never complains about it. On those really long nights, she would always greet me with a smile when I finally made it home.

Tammy is an outstanding mother (a quick look at our kids is proof of that)! Having four little ones six and under is no small chore, but she excels at it. On top of her "normal" duties as a mother (is being a mother ever really "normal" - I don't think so, but hopefully you know what I mean), she is going the extra mile by teaching Adam piano lessons, teaching Anna reading lessons, and spending many hours teaching in lots of other ways to all the kids. I recognize how obedient and thoughtful and intelligent and talented our little ones are and I attribute most of that to Tammy's outstanding skills as a mother.

I know it is a husband's duty to be spiritual leader in a home, but in this home, mom leads the way in that category (and in most other categories). Tammy has a deep and true testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it shows in every aspect of her life. She is regularly showing me the example when it comes to living the gospel and when she's not leading, she's gently prodding me in the right directions. I look back on many spiritual decisions that we have made in our life together and see how they have blessed our lives and I recognize that the ideas for those decisions nearly always originate with Tammy.

One of her virtues and one of the first things I noticed about her when we were dating was her absolute honesty in everything. I have never, ever know Tammy to tell a lie of any sort. At first that was a little hard to take ("So, how do I look today?"), but I have grown to appreciate that characteristic so much. I've never had the slightest reason to ever distrust her in any way and that is such a comfort to me in our marriage.

Tammy is a hard worker when there is work to be done (and there always is at home) but also loves to have fun. She's not afraid to join the kids on the swings or slides at the park or scream at the top of her lungs going down a waterslide (I was a little embarrassed to be seen with her after that one).

Tammy is a caregiver not only to our family but to many others in our community. She is so kind and thoughtful, particularly to those who may otherwise be easily overlooked. She has blessed many people in many small but very signficant ways.

To those of you who are her family - THANK YOU. Thank you for raising your daughter/granddaughter/sister/niece/other to be the wonderful person that she is. She blesses my life every day and I love her with all of my heart.

Okay, now for the greedy part. I want to set a new record on this blog and I want it to be a record that will stand for as long as this blog is around. I want this entry to get a record number of comments (lets shoot for at least 30). I want everyone that reads this entry to post a comment (or two) and let us know what you think of Tammy (if you don't have nice things to say, at least wait until it's not her birthday to make your remarks!). If you don't know how to post a comment, all you have to do is click on the word "comments" below (beside where it says "posted by greg"). Then scroll to the bottom, type what you think. Where it says "Choose and identity" click "Other" and type in your name. Then click "Publish Your Comment". That's all there is to it! If you're a random visitor and don't happen to know Tammy, take my word for it and post something nice about her anyway. Oh, and get all your friends and neighbors to comment as well!

So, with that, I hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tammy!

Missouri

Over labor day weekend, our family was invited to accompany our friends, the Staffords, on a camping excursion to Northern Missouri. They are preparing to move west and had never yet visited some of our church's historical sites in that area. Our lives have been so busy this summer (especially the last few weeks) that we decided that a short vacation was exactly what we needed despite the soaring costs of gasoline. So we paid our three dollars per gallon, loaded up the van (kudos to Tammy - she did all the packing and preparing - I was still working too many hours every night last week) and headed to Missouri.

We arrived late Friday evening just after sunset. There was just enough light to get the tent set up and everyone settled in. We awoke Saturday to distant thunder. We had just enough time to get the kids breakfast before the thunderstorm struck. There was enough lightening and thunder to scare the kids so that they all abandoned the tent and hid out in the van. Fortunatly, the rain didn't last long and the rest of the weekend was rather pleasant weather-wise.

After our soggy breakfast, we headed out to Liberty to visit the historic Liberty Jail. Tammy and I took turns tending screaming Ben, so didn't really get to enjoy that a whole lot. Adam seemed rather impressed by the whole experience though, he talked quite a bit about the things he learned and saw there. From Liberty, we all decided we needed to drive a while so the kids could sleep so we headed north to Adam-ondi-ahman. It was a perfect day to visit there - I could not imagine a more peaceful and beautiful place than Adam-ondi-ahman was that day. In previous visits, that's not been my favorite stop, but this time was much different - I really felt that I was standing in a sacred place. It made me want to learn more about what has and will yet occur in that beautiful valley. After Adam-ondi-ahman, we made brief visits to the site of the Haun's Mill massacre and to the Far West temple site before returning to camp.

On Sunday, we got up and got cleaned up for church - that's no small task with four little ones on a camping trip. We chose a ward in Liberty that didn't start until 11 a.m. so we had plenty of time to get there. We had the unusual experience of running into another family from our home (Bettendorf) ward who happened to be visiting the same ward we attended. After church and lunch, Tammy and I decided (well, at least I did) that we were tired of touring, so we decided to just enjoy a Sunday afternoon drive while our friends toured the sites in Independence. We headed back in the general direction of our campground and ended up at Watkin's Mill State Park. The park itself is beautifully wooded with rolling hills, hiking trails and a small lake. In the back of the park are several old buildings, including the mill for which the park was named, a one-room schoolhouse and an old church. We spent some time wandering around those sites and taking pictures of the kids - it was really an enjoyable time on a pleasant Sunday afternoon.

Monday we spent a little time at the lake where we were camping, taking the kids to the beach to swim a while before heading home.

It was a nice weekend altogether. Camping seems to get more challenging every time we go - we must be getting old or something. But overall it was very good to get away for the weekend, especially after such a crazy time we've had the past several weeks.

The kids on the steps of the old schoolhouse at Watkin's Mill State Park. 

Princess Anna curtsies to all her subjects. 

It seems we can't get through one vacation without at least one picture like this! 

This picture of the girls was taken at Watkin's Mill State Park in Northwest Missouri. In the background is an old one room schoolhouse. The setting was beautiful! Tammy said it reminded her of Williamsburg, Virginia. 

Behind Adam is an old church we ran across in our travels. 

Smiley Ben! 

Fit for Life

So, I've been reading this nutrition book lately. It has some different ideas in it. Some might classify it as an "alternative health" book. It is called "Fit for Life". Apparently it was a huge seller in the 1980s. I just thought I would throw out some ideas that it talks about and see what everyone thinks. I would be particularly interested in any medical backup or disproving of these ideas. I have really liked some of the ideas, and I feel like all in all it is very similar to the Word of Wisdom, which is the best measure for a way of eating. Also, it just makes me believe that I can be healthier, which is encouraging. I can do it!! type attitude. (Is that PMA Todd?)

One of the main premises of the book is that there are not four food groups. There are only two. High water content food, which are fruits and veggies, and concentrated foods which are everything else, grains, dairy, protein, etc. They believe that because our bodies are 70% water that we need to eat a diet that is 70% high water content food. In other words eat lots of fruits and veggies. Hey that sounds like a good idea.

Of course it is not quite this simple. They also say there is a specific way to combine food so that it will digest better and free up more energy in your body for you to use, instead of your digestive system to use. This will also free your body from the buildup of toxins from eating food improperly. For example you are only supposed to eat one concentrated food at a time, only to be combined with vegetables. So that means only bread, or only meat, or only cheese. You couldn't have the full sandwich. Since they are different types of concentrated food it is very difficult on your body. The proteins require an acid type digestive juice to be digested and the starch require an alkaline type juice to be digested (or is it the other way around), so when you eat these things together it neutralizes the stomach juices, and then your body just keeps pumping out more and more juices and nothing is getting fully digested, and the food usually ends up leaving the stomach putrified or fermented because it has had to sit in the stomach so long. But wait ... there's more!

Apparently we have all been eating fruit the wrong way. They say fruit is the very most beneficial food to eat for your body. But, it must be consumed properly. You should only eat fruit on an empty stomach. If you don't, it ferments in your stomach while it's waiting to digest with the other food, becoming very acidic and toxic. If you eat it on an empty stomach, it gets through the stomach in about a half hour - shorter than any other food! Then it brings all it's life giving water through the intestines (isn't this entertaining?).

Well, there's much more to this program, but I'm afraid I've bored you already. I just want to know what you people think. I think there's a lot of good in this program, but it would definitely take some getting used to and you'd have to give up some of your favorite foods. Some folks think the Diamonds (the authors of this book) are quacks, but those who've tried the program (as testified to on Amazon.com!) have felt their health significantly improve and have lost weight as well. One other little tidbit if you want to look into it some more; this way of living is part of a movement called Natural Hygiene. So, let me know what you think, or if you know of something that has worked for you!

Handcarts and Dancers

I'm sure you everyone is probably tired of hearing us talk about Nauvoo. It seems we've spent more than our share of time there this summer, but we have one last summer Nauvoo event to tell you about. One of my responsibilities at church is to oversee the youth programs and our youth council has been working for months to organize a big “Youth Nauvoo Day”. It was yesterday and turned out to be a great success - we had nearly 40 youth and leaders participating.

In the morning we split into two groups - one went to the temple, the other to the Carthage Jail. I ended up with the temple group and had a great experience. It was the first visit to the temple for a couple of the youth and all had a good time. From all reports, the Carthage group had a great experience as well.

In the afternoon, we headed out on the Nauvoo handcart trek. The trek followed a three mile course through the hills north of Nauvoo. They had told us going in to expect to spend 3 hours to do the full course. I had thought, “three hours? It’s only 3 miles – how could it possibly take three hours?” I never expected it to be as challenging as it turned out to be. About a third of the way through (only a mile in) we started questioning whether we wanted to do the whole trip or if we should take the shortcut back. We had spent almost an hour going up and muddy hills, crossing creek beds, and climbing steep ravine walls. It definitely wasn’t easy going.

We eventually finished the full three miles and made it back to the outfitting shed, but we were all exhausted. I had a chance to speak to the group after it was all over. I told them that we had just finished a three mile trek. I said, “now go and do that 4 more times today and every day from now on for the next several months. In all, you will do our little three mile walk 400 more times and then you will almost be to the Salt Lake Valley. Don’t forget to add several hundred pounds of cargo to your handcarts (ours were empty) and most of your carts won’t have steel axles or sturdy frames (like ours did). Tack on freezing temperatures, 2 feet of snow, blizzards, malnutrition, lack of modern clothing or shoes, and death of nearly a quarter of your company.” These were the conditions that some of the handcart companies traveled under in their journey west. After the experience yesterday – the suffering they experienced is something that I cannot even begin to imagine. I think all of us gained a much greater appreciation for the sacrifices of those early saints through this experience.

After we recovered from the handcart trek, we gathered for dinner and games. In the evening, we headed up to the temple and had a short fireside on the hill across from the temple. Then we went to see the BYU International Folk Dance and Music Ensemble. The performance was incredible and very entertaining. Some of our young men were quite stricken by some of the female performers. They hung around after the show to talk to the prettiest one and ended up each winning a hug from her. Talking to them later that turned out to be the highlight of the whole day for them. It was rather amusing.

Following the folk dance show, we went to one other show and finally headed home. Everyone was exhausted, but all had a great time. Working with the youth has been by far the most rewarding and enjoyable part of my calling.

The Bettendorf Ward handcart company. 

"Onward, pressing onward" 

Crossing the creek - again! 

A couple 'a crazy weeks

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. Greg informed me that it was my turn, so here I am. It has been a crazy couple of weeks for us. If you can't tell from my lack of blogging, I am struggling to keep my head above water right now. It seems to take about all of my energy just to take care of the kids each day, then when you add on extra things, whoa.

Some of these extra things have included, among others, Greg's mom's visit to our home, Greg working very late every night this week and then being gone all day yesterday, and Adam starting school.

We had a great visit with Greg's mom last weekend. The kids were in heaven as their grandma played with them almost every moment that they were awake. She even squished herself into the back of our van between Lizzy's carseat and Adam and rode to Nauvoo and back, entertaining the kids all the way (or was it they who were entertaining her?). Adam didn't even fall asleep on the way home, despite the late hour, because he was enjoying talking his grandma's ear off way too much. The kids were very sad to see her go, and so were Greg and I. We hope to see her again sooner than later.

Greg is at the end of a big project and has been putting in tons of extra hours to clean up the mess of others and try to get things in order before some collaborating has to be done this coming week. I don't think he came home before 9:30 any night this week, except Friday (and that was only because I had something previously planned at our house and needed help with the kids). Then he was gone before 7 am Saturday and didn't get home until midnight for this huge youth Nauvoo day for our ward. Needless to say we are both exhausted. He assures me that his hours will not be so late this week. I know my brother has been spending tons of time at the hospital. My heart goes out to him and his wonderful wife. It is really hard not seeing your spouse much, and then when you do see them your both so tired you can hardly speak without slurring your words (which is what I am doing right now, if typing could talk). I am glad we don't have weeks like this very often. Usually Greg keeps great hours and I will look forward to those hours (and no others) this week.

The other thing that has sort of flipped things around this week, is that Adam has started back to school. I think it was harder to see him off this year than last. The summer went so much better than I thought it would, having him home all day. We really enjoyed having him around and have missed him already. He was also way nervous about starting at a new school. I felt like such a terrible mom having to put him through this. But things have gone really well. He seems to feel comfortable with the school and the routine of it all. He loves schedules and routines. It has been hard for me to get back into dropping him off and picking him up routine everyday, though. It seems I am always having to wake the baby so we can go to the school. It is also discouraging that his teacher is on maternity leave until the middle/end of September, so he has a sub until then. Then of course there is the whole ordeal of making sure the school is meeting his needs which seemed like such a challenge for me last year. I am not looking forward to that. There are more programs and teachers available to Adam at this school, because it is much bigger than our last one, but it is a matter of getting him in those programs. Already the "work" he has brought home is sooo easy for him. Sometimes, we think, now why is it we are sending him to school, he reads so much more and is so much more involved in things he is interested in at home. I guess if I had to pick a challenge for a kid though, this would be a good one to pick. He loves learning (so far) and is interested in such a variety of things. Just having to be on "school time" again changes the flow of things around here.

Anyway, enough. If you have even finished reading this posting you must have a little more time on your hands than I do! I probably wouldn't have even written this much but once you get me going it's hard to stop me. Cleanse and purge and all that.

Grandma's Belly Ache

Yesterday morning, Anna decided that Grandma deserved a belated birthday cake, so she set out constructing one. Pretty soon Adam and Lizzy had joined in the fun and constructed an 8 foot tall "cake". Poor Grandma had to eat it all! She had quite the bellyache by the end. (Click the picture to get a better look at it!)

Benjamin! 

Elizabeth! 

Grandma Cherrie (Greg's mom) has come to visit this weekend. We decided to go out on a riverboat cruise this afternoon. The kids had earned free kids passes for finishing their summer reading programs, so we all headed out to enjoy some time on the river. Here's the crew crossing the gang plank to get on board. 

Benner is ready for the trip! 

Heading out from the dock, here's Adam, Lizzy, and Anna enjoying the breeze. 

It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's ... 

By the end of the trip, the kids were ready to head home! 

About Adam

Tammy has been writing occasionally about each of the kids, so I've decided to take a turn and write about Adam.

This week Adam passed level 1 swimming lessons. It was his third try at level 1 (can you tell we don't swim a whole lot?) but this time passed with flying colors. One of the requirements was to hold your breath underwater for at least 5 seconds. His big goal for the session was to set a new "record" of breath holding. He ended up holding it for 40 seconds - far outdistancing his previous record and the others in his class (I think the next longest was 22 seconds). If you can't tell he likes to push himself a lot.

Another big challenge he's taken on is to read the whole Book of Mormon by the end of the year. President Hinckley issued a challenge to all church members to read the whole Book of Mormon before the end of the year (about 1.5 chapters per day). That's no small task for a grown-up, let alone a six year old, but it's something he didn't even think twice about when I mentioned it to him. It's also been very good for me though - he's come in every morning this week at 6 am to drag me down to read. We each read a couple of chapters silently and then spend a few minutes talking about it. I'm always amazed at the level of comprehension that he has of this difficult scriptural language. When he was little, Tammy used to spend a lot of time with him teaching him scripture stories. I expect that helps him to better put in context what he is reading.

Adam loves to read and he's very good at it. He's spent much of his time reading this summer - he's read more than 50 chapter books since school let out in June. The library is running out of youth chapter books for him to read. He's also taken to math quite a bit this summer and astonishes me from time to time with his mental calculating. The other day we were talking about the Bix race and I told him that I was running the 7 miles at about a 10 minute per mile pace. Without a blink of an eye or a second thought, he says, "Oh, so you finished in an hour and ten minutes."

Adam is also beginning to develop a love of sports. I guess with his competitive spirit it is only natural that he would learn to love sports. He especially likes basketball (a trait he inherited from his father I think). Since we've moved to the new house, he and I have gone to the park across the street most Saturday mornings to play ball for a little while. He's not quite strong enough to get the ball up to a 10 foot hoop, but that doesn't discourage him from trying. This past Saturday, he did actually make 4 shots - three of them heaving the ball backwards over his head. The other was a frontwards shot and he was very excited when it went in. We usually play "horse" - he just has to hit the rim, I have to actually make the shot. He won every game on Saturday. Another sports related comment - a few months ago, Tammy and Adam had gone out shopping and I had stayed home with the other kids. After putting them to bed, I turned on game 7 of the NBA championship series. When Adam arrived home I told him what I was watching and mentioned that whoever won that game that night would be the world champions. His mouth literally dropped open, his face flushed, he put his hand on his heart and exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" He was truly impressed. Tammy and I both cracked up at his expression and of course we let him stay up and watch the end of the game.

All-in-all, Adam is a pretty remarkable kid. He works hard to do well at most things he tries, especially when it involves a competition of some sort. Although he's competitive, he's usually a pretty good loser when he doesn't come out on top. He's also very considerate of his younger siblings. He encourages each of them in whatever they're doing. Lately, he's enjoyed dragging little Ben around to whereever he needs to go. He does have some "normal kid" features that can be frustrating - he doesn't like to do chores, doesn't always care much for what mom and dad have to say, will provoke his sister's to get them screaming, and so forth - but overall we're very happy to have Adam!

Release

Well, after 2 and 1/2 years in the relief society presidency, I was (finally) released today. I served as both the Enrichment and the Education counselors (they moved me to Education after Ben was born). Enrichment was a lot of hard work and it seemed like there was always something going on, but it was fulfilling when I finally felt like we got the program running as it should be. It was nice to feel like the activities and classes we provided might actually benefit somebody. Education counselor required so much less of me because we have reliable teachers and music people. I was just starting to take a look at literacy a bit closer when I was released. The relief society president that I have been serving under has been in for 4 years and she was ready to be released. I think she rubbed off on me and I was more than ready as well.

So, you say, what is your new calling? Well, I am the new Valiant 12 teacher in primary. I am so excited. The youth in that class are awesome. I visited their class today. In fact, one of them has been sitting with me in sacrament meeting since Lizzy was born, to help me out. Almost every Sunday I have to leave her with some of the kids while I deal with Ben, and sometimes Lizzy in the hall (deal with them sounds kind of harsh, but you know what I mean, take care of them, help them be quiet, keep them away from other people so they won't disturb anyone). It has the added bonus of being able to go to Relief Society once they all turn 12 because they go to YW and YM instead of primary sharing time. Yeah!! That rocks. If you can't tell, I am excited. I'll let you know in a few weeks if I am still excited, or if they have put me in my place.

Now, Greg says, "When is it my turn?" He's had his calling 4 years (and 2 months), but who's counting. Greg has just informed me that that is 5o months. I think he's ready. Should I send a link to our blog to the bishop?

Bix

This is Bix weekend in the QuadCities. Bix Beiderbeck (sp?) was a famous jazz musician years ago. Davenport has hosted a jazz festival every year for a long time in honor of him. Back in the 70's a road race called the Bix7 was added to the festivities. Our family has participated in the Bix most years since we've lived here. On Friday evening was the "Jr. Bix" consisting of a bunch of shorter races for kids. Adam and the 6 year olds ran a half mile race. Anna and Lizzy each ran a 70 yard dash. (See pictures below for more details about each of their races). After the race there's a big party where they serve free hotdogs, drinks, ice cream, and other healthy stuff. There's also a carnival for the kids. I think there are somewhere around 5000 kids and their parents that participate every year. Adam and Lizzy even made it on TV during their races! We all had a very fun time!

On Saturday morning, I ran the Bix7 road race. It's a seven mile race up and down the hills of Davenport. It's a huge race and this year drew over 20,000 runners including some of the best in the world - I think there were a few Olympic medalists running this year. This is the fourth time I've run the race and I ended up with my 3rd best time. I wasn't quite in the shape I should have been in to be running seven miles, but I had a good time anyway. The first mile you practically have to walk - there are just too many people to really be able to move much. I finally got through the first mile in about 12 minutes. The second mile is usually my best one - the crowd is thinning out enough to run some and it's mostly downhill. I finished that one in a little under 8 minutes. The third mile continues downhill for about the first 3/4 mile - then comes the killer hill - it's only a 1/4 mile, but very steep. That hill always wipes me out completely. At about that point, I started sputtering along just trying to keep going. At the half way point (3.5 miles) I was at 32 minutes total (by the way - that's about exactly the time the winner was crossing the finish line). Miles 4 and 5 I was hurting so bad and moving so slowly that I might as well have been walking. They're both almost all uphill and not very fun at all. Mile six levels off for the most part and I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel so I picked up the pace a little. Mile seven is the funnest one - not only is it the end of the race, but it's a steep downhill for most of it. I was able to finish the last mile fairly strong and even remained concious when it was all over (barely). I think I came in about 5500th place.

The rest of yesterday I was kind of numb - headache, sore muscles, exhaustion, but I'm feeling quite a bit better this morning. Below are some pictures of our fun time this weekend.

Ready to race! 

Here's a shot of Adam after his race. He was actually looking much worse a few minutes before. This was the first long distance race Adam has ever run. The six year olds run a half mile. In case you've forgotten how far a half mile is, it's two full trips around a standard track - quite a trek for little legs. There were about 200 or 300 six year olds running this year and Adam came in around 15th or so place. He crashed around the turn around point, but picked himself up and kept going. We are pretty proud of him! 

Here's Anna lining up with the other four year olds before her race. The four year old race was 70 yards. Anna dashed out of the blocks and ran fast about half way. Then she realized she was getting uncomfortably far ahead of me and slowed down so I could catch up. (The parents run with the little ones!) 

Mom with her three gold medal winners. 

After cheering on his big bro and sisters, Ben relaxes to enjoy his first popcicle. 

Here's Lizzy enjoying a hot dog after her grueling 70 yard dash. When the starter said go, she kind of looked around confused (as did most of the two year olds). I finally grabbed her hand and helped her race to the finish line!