Details, details

It occurs to me that I didn't mention that Jerry will be managing this ranch--we don't own it (more's the pity). The owner wanted someone to live on site, so we're all moving to the trailer. Since there's a limit to my wifely generosity, we're only staying until school starts again in the fall. We're hoping an arrangement can be reached by then that allows Jerry to manage the ranch more... remotely. Since he's perfectly suited for this job, I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't bend over backward to keep him! :)

The Scoop on the Elk Ranch

Here's the scoop:

1) We're keeping our house in town because we only plan to be away for the summer and because we're still changing out all the windows and siding on it. And because we might sleep here every once in a while if we're here late working on it.

2) I'm keeping my job because, frankly, the elk ranch barely pays enough for a single guy to live on. We're indulging Jerry's hobby more than supporting his career, here, but there is the chance this will look good on a small business loan application someday.... :) I'll be commuting. Anyone know of any good books-on-tape?

3) We're living in a three-bedroom, 45-foot trailer that has been around since before I was born (I think). Here's a picture:

The "master" bedroom is behind the closest window (on the far right) and there are bunk beds in the pull-out and an identical pull-out on the other side. The bathroom is in the hallway (literally) between the boys' rooms and the kitchen. It's not much, but at least now it's clean. :)

4) And here's why we're doing it:





They raise phesants, kittens, and little girls there, too. :) Oh, and Jerry gets to shoot as many rock chucks as he can spot. :):)

We're changing wards, which is sad, but we plan to be back before school starts. Jerry, like Tom Sawyer, is willing to be very generous if anyone wants to come out for a chore tour.... :)

Oh, look! A new post!

Have I mentioned that whenever one of my teachers put the word “log” or “journal” in an assignment, it practically guaranteed that I would fail? It’s not that I mind people knowing my thoughts, feelings, etc, but, well, who knows what’s wrong with me? Darn it, Jim, I’m a lawyer, not a psychiatrist! I had some great blogging ideas over the last few months, too. Halloween, Hunting, Grandpa Sherm… well, you know how it is. So now you just get a short summary of the highlights. You probably prefer it that way, anyway.

4th of July Lumberjacking

First, the men (Jerry Sr. and Jerry Jr.) with the chain saws and orange pants cut down the trees. Then us grunts use measured sticks and pieces of red, um, crayon-like-substance to mark out even lengths for the logs. The measured sticks are also great for whacking extra branches off the trees (see Brennen demonstrate in the first picture, first row and Connor in the second picture, third row). Very satisfying. J Then the Jerrys-in-orange cut on the lines and we all load them up in the trucks. (You can see the trucks in the background of the second picture on the second row—that’s only about 2/3 of our haul.) The boys proved to be accomplished firewood hounds (first picture, third row) and were very helpful all around. Though we had a few injuries and Brennen scared mommy by wandering half a mile or so up the trial, by himself, to bring back a little bitty stick (see the fourth picture, third row), setting off a frantic (on my part) boy-hunt, at least we got to hike, roast marshmallows, and set off some sparklers.

Demolition Derby

When the family station wagon finally reached its last leg, Jerry and Yvette (Jerry’s parents) hosted a family reunion (her side) and we all painted our names on it. Then Uncle Corey, Yvette’s brother, piloted it in the Demolition Derby at the Caribou County Fair. He had a HUGE cheering section. Cor-EY! Cor-EY! Ah, sweet victory. I can’t recall exactly what he won, but it came with two massive trophies that, alas, I neglected to capture on film… er, pixels? I was pleased to notice that our own names on the front passenger door (first picture, first row) were unblemished after all the whacking was over (see first picture, third row). If only we’d thought to protect the hood as well!

Hunting

Brennen had only been in school for a week or so, but we still pulled him out so he could spend a couple weeks with Daddy. Most of these pictures were taken the one weekend I brought the other two boys up to join the fun. Jerry and his dad each shot a deer, so we’re doing okay for meat, at least. Carl (Jerry’s brother) was there, too, with a bunch of motorized toys. He and the boys had a lot of fun riding (oh—very safely and slowly) around in a snow-covered clearing at lunchtime. After Carl got it stuck in the snow, the boys got off and started throwing snow at Carl, who kept them entertained for quite a while trying to hide from the snowballs. The second picture in on the second row is proof of how very worn out they were after that! Yeah, that’s Brennen on the bottom, with a nice warm Connor blanket.

Halloween 2008

With hunting over early this year, we actually got to celebrate Halloween as a family! We went to our ward’s Harvest Festival (the week before—complete with haunted house, which the boys didn’t seem to appreciate!) and had a blast. Paula, Carl’s wife, bought us both witch hats and stockings (one size does not fit all, by the way) and we had fun being the Weeks Witches. This was Carl and Paula’s first ward activity as members of our ward (though I don’t think they had quite moved in, yet). Their daughter, Kya, went as Fancy Nancy, which is one of those juvenile books I have no knowledge of, being somewhat lacking in daughters! We borrowed the boy’s costumes from a good friend in the ward, who has a whole closet-full of costumes. David and Connor were there for the selection and, of course, if David was going to be a knight, Connor had to be a knight, too! Good think Brennen was still traveling home from hunting! He seemed to like his clown costume, though—the hair stayed on almost the whole time. Jerry and Brennen got home from hunting just in time to leave for the festival, so he just went as a hunter. :) You’ll be proud to know that the jack-o-lantern is an original design. :):)

Grandpa Sherm

We got the call a few weeks ago that Jerry’s paternal step-grandfather, Grandpa Sherm, was soon going to be moving on to the next life. We rushed out to see him and enjoyed the visit immensely. He was a wonderful man, with a colorful history as a cowboy and a huge heart. All of his wife Gloria’s kids and grandkids and great-grandkids think of him as ours. (Especially since he’s been in the family longer than I have!) He passed away in his home the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we laid him to rest the first week of December. Jerry’s gonna make me get him a coffin just like Sherm’s! The boys seemed to handle the viewing and funeral okay, but during the last song in the funeral (O Divine Redeemer), Brennen started (quietly) crying for no discernable reason. Tears streaming down his face, resistant to all the usual tricks to calm him down. Jerry gathered him on his lap and asked him what was wrong and our little three year old said “Mi ga-pa.” “You miss grandpa?” Jerry asked. Brennen nodded and cuddled into daddy for a while. Earlier, during the viewing, Connor went out of his way to tell daddy that we’d see grandpa again. David was also very good and we talked a lot about death and what comes after. All three boys have declared that they have no wish to die. Good! We’ll miss you, Grandpa Sherm!

Whew! Now we’re all caught up and ready to blog about Christmas. Sometime in February. :)

Poor, Neglected Connor

Connor turned 5 on July 22. Did I blog about it? Noooo! A few weeks later, we even had his cake. Did I blog then? Noo! Bad mommy? Probably. Aw, keep reading. After you see the beautiful pictures of my beautiful boy, you'll read what he did today on his first day of kindergarten. Then you can judge me.

Connor saw the principal today. First day of kindergarten and he's already a truant.

Jerry took the boys to breakfast at 8:00 am and a little after 8:30 he was walking away from the school with Brennen when Connor comes pealing out of the kindergarten classroom, wanting to give them more hugs. Well, Jerry gave him the natural lecture about not leaving class until his teacher said he could, Connor went back to class, and Jerry and Brennen walked home. Do keep in mind that it is an estimated .65 miles from our house to the school. (Thank you, MapQuest.)

Jerry was getting a movie set up for Brennen when the door flew open and... Connor ran in. Close on his heels was a blond lady, a parent of another child from the school (who had abandoned her pre-school aged child with, it is hoped, a grandparent, back at the school), who was breathing rather heavily and said she had taken up the chase after his teacher gave up a few houses away from the school--totally understandable, as she had a whole classroom full of first-day kindergarteners to care for!

We now know that 1) Connor should be in track--he was fast!, 2) he doesn't talk to strangers--even those running after him, calling out his name, 3) he looks both ways before he crosses the street, and 4) he can find his way home all by himself. All very good things to know. Truly.

Jerry packed Brennen and Connor into the truck and they had a conference with the principal and his teacher... who is, coincidentally, the assistant principal when she's not teaching morning kindergarten. As Jerry tells it, the principal didn't say much and mainly tried not to laugh since daddy had that lecture well in hand. Jerry's first words to me when I finally called as I left the courthouse? "Your son almost died today." (At parental hands, lest there be any confusion.)

The point of this truant 4-block dash? Connor wanted to tell Daddy that he loved him. Again. Also good to know.

He probably just needed validation of parental love after the way we've been neglecting blogging about him. Poor guy.

Fun in Grace

To unwind after what happened in Utah, we visited Jerry's parents in Grace, Idaho so that Jerry could attend the funeral of a close friend of his grandfather's (relaxing, yes?). Jerry had spent countless hours playing gopher for the two men in their dutch oven business years ago, so he simply had to attend the funeral. Then, just for old times' sake, that night his grandpa was cooincidentally having a dutch oven party at his house... so Jerry was recruited to help out again.
While Jerry went to the funeral, though, the rest of us hung out at the local reservoir with Jerry's dad's canoe.

First, Jerry's dad, Jerry Sr. (hereinafter "grandpa") and Jerry's mom, Yvette ("grandma") took David and Connor out for a short ride. They had some troubles when both boys would lunge to the same side of the boat at the same time, but made it back in safely enough.



Then grandpa and I went out with Brennen, who had lots of fun dragging his hand in the water (that particular picture is quite unflattering for mommy and got cencored) and looking at the ducks. Grandpa had a migraine wearing at him, but was still strong and valiant, making up for my inexperience and general wimpiness.


After lunch, David and Connor wanted to learn to paddle the canoe, so grandpa went out again with David first, taking Brennen as a ride-a-long.



Brennen sat still for awhile, but then, just as David was leaning out to paddle on the left, Brennen decided to change sides of the boat and practically dove to the left to plant his hands in the water. The result is predictable:



Grandma and I had been walking along behind the canoe with Connor and, after a moment of shock, we ran toward the boat until we were stopped by a barbed wire fence surrounding a farmer's field. Since I had nothing helpful to do, I took pictures.



Grandpa (hereinafter Super Grandpa) was a true hero. Though he couldn't stop the canoe from capsizing, he had both boys back in the swamped metal tub before mommy and grandma could panic too much on the bank (though not before the two drowned rats could get the fright of their lives). He even saved all the paddles, hats, and glasses. Super Grandpa pulled his knee swimming the canoe to shore, but still got both scared and wet boys to the bank safely. Grandma, Connor, and I climbed past the barbed wire to meet him and collect the tiny swimmers, then Connor actually decided to help Super Grandpa paddle the canoe back to the dock while grandma and I walked his traumatized and shivering brothers back by land.


Alas, I took no pictures of Connor's uneventful journey, being finally able to do something helpful: drag two small soaked boys across the field, through the fence, and into the truck, where we could get them into something dry.
David has declared that he will never, never, never get into a canoe again, but daddy and Super Grandpa have told him that he most certainly will, too! When queried, Brennen responded in the negative about his own prospects of ever canoeing again--but we think he'll forget all this ever happened. (He won't be able to read this blog post for years.)


Oh, and we have a new rule: when canoeing, a 50/50 adult/child ratio (or better) is an absolute requirement!

Problems in Provo, Satisfied in SLC

Many of you know about Jerry's knee injury of 6 years ago? Well the trial was June 24-26 in Provo, Utah, and it didn't go well (to say the least). We got 1/10 of what we asked for. The jury decided that Jerry should have been able to get a job even while his knee was hurting (so the defendant didn't have to pay for wages he was "voluntarily" foregoing) and that his knee had been bumped so many times during the year we waited for surgery that they weren't convinced that the surgery wasn't needed to fix a secondary injury. The fact that there was no pain -> accident -> pain -> surgery -> (then, miraculously) no pain was utterly lost on them. We ended up at the Timpanogus Temple the night after the verdict came in (when you can't think something nice...) and we're working to forgive and move on. Our attorney is going to contact the medical providers (whose combined bills are quite a bit more than the verdict amount) to see if they'll reduce the bills to match the recovery. Otherwise, we'll be paying them off the slow way, like we're already doing with all the student loans we had to take out to live.

The day before the verdict, though, we took the boys and went with Jerry's mom on Trax to see temple square. We toured the conference center and finally got to see the roof! As most of you know, the roof of the conference center is like a garden--it even has a 4-acre meadow with 2 acres of wildflowers!
Then there are waterfalls, trees, a sandblasted marble picture of church members from all different times all grouped together, benches, paths, etc.

I'd wanted to go up there since it was built, but it was always closed when I tried. Then, since 9-11, safety concerns dictate that no one gets to wander the conference center without a guide.
The elevator even has a special pad to detect the special badge our guide was wearing before it would take us to the roof. So sad. The roof was beautiful, though, and we had a great time both there and riding trax there and back.

Brennen is Three!

Okay, so it was on June 22, but I've been busy. I'm actually trying to do a few blog entries today....

Funny story about the new bike: we went out of town for a week the next day, so he only got to ride it inside for a bit, then it went in the garage until we got home. Last night, he came and grabbed me off the couch and dragged me into the garage, where he pointed at the bike and said "maa baak?" (Yeah, still not talking so well.) So we went outside, got the bike out, and put him on it, whereupon he said "puu mee?" so I nudged him forward with my toe, he coasted all of three feet, hit the fence, got off the bike and begged, cried, and pleaded until I got out his old, pedal-free, scoot around on four wheels bike. Wouldn't even try the new one again. Gave me permission to take it back to the store. Silly baby. His brothers enjoyed it, at least!

Jerry Loves Me

Our eighth anniversary was on April 28, 2008. Jerry planned to get me flowers. I planned to get him a PS2 Game for the system he just bought on eBay. I was ready to leave work and head out for some secret shopping, but I knew that he was prone to buy me flowers for special ocassions, so I got nervous. What if he dropped by the office while I was out? So since it was around 11:00 am, I called him to see where he was and whether he'd be open to me coming home for lunch (with the game, which he could then spend the afternoon playing). He was putting kids in the truck and headed out. Okay, would he like to meet me somewhere in an hour (after I dropped by the store)? No, he's headed out to Walmart, which is in the next town over--but he'd be glad to meet me for lunch before he headed out of town. We decided I'd choose a restaurant and he'd call me back. When he called, he was five minutes from the office, on his way to get me... to save gas and all. So, no game until after work (I did manage to purchase MX vs ATV on the way home).

After Jerry helped me into the truck and while he was walking around to the driver's side, Connor piped up from the backseat "Mommy, we're going to get you flowers!" Jerry heard the last part of that, chided Connor for telling secrets, and decided not to buy me flowers, after all. Instead he got me some stuff for the computer (hey--I like the game, too).

It's no Gift of the Magi tale, but I thought it was funny.

These are my Mother's Day flowers, which Jerry and the boys brought home from the store after they went shooting this morning. They're really pretty, but they don't have such a fun story to tell. :)

It's David's 7th Birthday!

It's official: we have a seven-year-old. David spent the day hunting rock chucks with his daddy (I think they found a few rocks to shoot at, anyway) and watching movies with his brothers. He got money, toys, and dum-da-da-DUM! a new bike. (Funny how David seems to always get the new bikes while his brothers content themselves with hand-me-downs.) Then, for bedtime, he conned me out of a book (Cat in the Hat), a story (Jaberwocky) and a song (Wheels on the Bus). Good thing birthdays only come once a year!

The Boys

Okay, so Jerry and I aren't that interesting, so I thought I'd start with the boys.

David is turning 7 tomorrow (shoot--I'm getting old!) and is in 1st Grade. He's learning how to read and loves recess best! He wants everyone to know that he likes school.

Connor will turn 5 this summer and will start kindergarten in the fall. He wants everyone to know that he loves football. Connor and David have both memorized all 13 Articles of Faith.

Brennen will turn 3 this summer and still doesn't like to talk. He gets by with grunting, pointing, and that ultra-expressive face of his! He can say partial words (Mommy: I love you! Brennen: Oooo!) but can't be bothered with most of the English language.

Together, they're three little terrors, but we love them!