California

We’ve been planning to visit Amy’s brother, Aaron and his wife Sarah for months now and last week we finally did it. They live in Vallejo California, in the bay area. Although I went to the coast when I was five, I don’t remember it and since then I’ve only seen the ocean a couple times from a distance. So, we figured we’d make the most of this trip, and we did! We left Nampa at 1a.m. on Tuesday morning and I drove until about 7 a.m. when the kids and Amy woke up. Amy drove the rest of the way while I took a short nap, read to her, and entertained the kids. The drive took us through Southern Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and California. The scenery was extremely diverse going from desert sand dunes to forested mountains. We stopped at a rest stop just outside of Reno NV and had breakfast, then passed into California and decided to take a detour to Lake Tahoe. It reminded me of McCall, only bigger, and we enjoyed wading in the water and observing crawfish. Grant loved the water and was not happy about having to get back in the car when we finally decided to get back on the road. A few hours later we were looking for a place to have lunch and happened to stumble across an LDS chapel. It was gated, but someone happened to be there and so we parked in the shade and ate our lunch on the church steps. It was nice to have a familiar setting and feel welcome even though we didn’t get to go inside the building. A few more hours later, we arrived in Vallejo.







Tuesday evening we went to the bay waterfront which comes into downtown Vallejo. The bay was once one of the most productive shipping areas in California, but other bays have become more dominant in recent years. Aaron brought kites and the kids really enjoyed running around on the grass trying to get the kites to stay up. We saw a team of rowers come by in a large (probably 8 men) row boat. While it didn’t really feel like the ocean, it still was a fun experience and I was glad to see the cousins enjoying each other so much.

Wednesday morning Aaron had to work, so the rest of us traveled north and went on a tour of the Jelly Belly factory. It was so fun, and really quite interesting to learn about how they make jelly beans and how the company grew. Everybody got a free bag of Jelly Belly beans at the end of the tour and Amy even bought me some sugar free jelly beans. When Aaron came home that afternoon, we all drove down to the coast where we could see Alcatraz and the golden gate bridge in the far distance shrouded by fog. We walked along the coast and let the kids play at a community playground. After leaving the playground, we went out on a really long pier and watched people fish with small nets. Next, we drove to Burkley and enjoyed a picnic dinner at a park that had huge boulders with a couple staircases carved into the granite leading to the top. The kids really enjoyed this and climbed the largest boulder several times. Next we drove to Oakland and visited the temple visitors’ center and walked around the temple. A sister missionary took us through several exhibits about families and it was such a peaceful and wonderful experience. The temple has the most amazing view of the entire valley and I watched the sun set through the fog in the distance. We came home that evening tired, but Amy and I stayed up a while longer talking with Aaron and Sarah. What a great day!











Thursday we packed another adventure into the day. We all drove about an hour and a half to a Redwood forest. We ate lunch outside the visitor’s at the entrance to the park. Instead of paying to drive into the park we took a footpath in and enjoyed informational and interpretive signs throughout the walk. The forest was incredible!!!! The redwoods stretch high into the sky and the ground is covered with a clover-like plant and soil specific to redwood forests called duff. It felt so surreal walking through those beautiful trees and enjoying the sounds of birds. We even watched as a doe with a young faun came hopping through the trees just a short distance away. One tree we came to was 318 feet high with a 14 foot diameter; I was awestruck as I leaned back to see the tree’s highest branches swaying in a breeze occurring only at that amazing height, while I stood at it’s solid base. I learned that Redwoods have a relatively shallow root system (about 12 ft), but they gain stability by interweaving their long roots with other trees. Redwoods also survive by shooting up new trunks from an initial root system when the primary middle trunk is damaged by floods, fires, or winds. The visit was perfect! Next we drove to a nearby beach. We paid entrance fees and learned that this beach was one of the most dangerous beaches in the US with 126 people drowning in the past 50 years. Yikes! But we enjoyed the tide and the sand even if we couldn’t swim. The waves were incredible, sometimes hardly approaching our pit we dug and other times rushing past my knees. Needless to say, we all got pretty wet. One feeling I came away with was that the ocean is so powerful. Those waves weren’t playful waves like at a water park wave pool, they were dangerous, powerful, and beautiful. After playing on the beach for a few hours we traveled down Highway 1 and were disappointed to see beach after beach with people swimming and no fee required. Maybe the fee was to warn people about the danger of that specific beach. Still, we enjoyed the drive and enjoyed watching surfers ride the waves into the shore. We stopped in a little coastal town for ice-cream and then drove home tired and ready for bed. Another wonderful day.












Friday we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of crossing over it, we went to a hillside overlooking the bridge. This hillside was the site of an old battlement that had been used about 150 years ago to about WWII times to protect the harbor. There were old barracks and remnants of where the big guns had been. They originally had a hidden underground road which accessed the battlements. The hill also gave a great view of the bridge. It was cold and windy and we were glad to get back in our cars and cross the bridge into San Francisco. In San Francisco we went to the park and had a picnic and walked along the paths in the huge park. Next we drove down to fishermen’s wharf and joined the throngs of people viewing the shops, street performers, sea lions, and boats. We even bought some sour dough bread from the famous sour dough bakery at the wharf. It was fun to visit San Francisco, but I felt a little overwhelmed with the crowds and the compactness of the city. Sometimes I think of Nampa as a city, but its nothing compared to San Francisco with it blanket of concrete and dense layout of buildings. On the way home we took a different bay bridge which took us back through Oakland, this bridge was an engineering phenomenon. It was a two tiered bridge with the top tier going one way and the bottom going the other, each having about 6 or 7 lanes of traffic. The bridge stretched for miles across the bay and I was shocked by its size. Amy took several pictures while we drove, while commenting “this is us still on the bridge.” We came home that night and watched a movie with the kids before we put them to bed. The adults stayed awake for several more hours talking. Well, maybe not all the adults – I fell asleep on the couch shortly after we started talking. At 2:00 a.m. I woke up and got the car loaded and then carted the kids out to the car and we headed for home. Unfortunately, the directional signs in Sacramento are not very clear and we got on the wrong freeway. About 20 miles down the road, I realized and had to ask a highway patrolman how to get back on I 80. We took a scenic drive through some mountain towns and eventually found our way back to the interstate. Around 8:00 a.m. the family began to wake up and when Amy took over driving, I took a 20 minute nap. Needless to say, I slept really deep the next couple nights. I think it’s going to take me a few more good night’s rests to get completely caught up. As a whole, the trip was incredible. I enjoyed spending time with Aaron and Sarah and seeing so many amazing sights. What a great vacation!

Catch Up - Birthdays, Barkley, Baby, and Job

So much has happened since I last wrote. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the memory to recall most of it, but I’ll try to give a few highlights. Lily turned three and we have come a long way with getting her to be potty trained. She still doesn’t make it through the night, but during the day she is pretty good. However, often she will get stuck in the middle of the room with her legs crossed and call out to me that she can’t move since she has to go to the bathroom so bad. I have to admit, I get a really good laugh out of it every time it happens. Lily is still extremely “girly.” She loves everything to do with fairies, princesses, and dressing up. We got her a sparkly purple leotard so she can dance around with style. Lily is also a very touchy/feely girl and loves to be held. She is one cute kid. Elizabeth also had her birthday and is now five. We got her a new flashlight and sleeping bag in preparation for the upcoming camping (or backyard) season. She is still the life of the party, and we our always laughing at the funny things she says and does. It’s sometimes difficult for Beth to get focused on one thing at a time, but when she does, she does the project completely and with intensity.

We recently got a dog named Barkley from a co-worker. Barkley is a St. Bernard / Border Collie mix and is a great dog. Only issue is, he’s really big. But from the moment Barkley came into our home, Beth took control of him and began giving orders. I have to keep her from giving commands sometimes because she confuses him with a barrage of orders. She is definitely a leader. Lily, on the other hand, lived on our dining table for the first week. The morning after we got him she came out in the morning rubbing her eyes and promptly returned to her room as soon as she saw the big dog. We’ve had him for over a month and now Barkley and Lily are the best of friends. We caught her one day out on the lawn sitting next to him with her arm over his back. What a cutie. I’ve really enjoyed Barkley and he has helped me to get regular exercise. I’ve been off of sugar since January and I am feeling pretty good, Amy keeps saying that I look thinner and I’m beginning to believe her.

Ammon and Liz have had their baby. They named her Olivia. She spent quite a while in the hospital because of complications and then a pretty bad sickness, but is doing well now. I still haven’t seen her, but plan to go down for the baby blessing. Amy has been down several times and makes me jealous of being able to be with them. Dawn and Ray recently spent a couple of days up here and we enjoyed having them. Unfortunately, as is common, Lily was extremely sick, and vomited throughout their stay. I hope her immune system is building up strength for later on in her life.

One extremely difficult thing I’ve faced this year was the potential of losing my job. We’ve had so many people we know in the ward and neighbors lose their jobs in this terrible economic crisis. I came extremely close to losing my job, but have kept it for now. Unfortunately two of my co-workers (other planners) were laid off. Shellie Lopez, a good friend of mine, was laid off and has taken it really hard. She is honest and hard working and I was really disappointed to see her go. It seems like people place undeserved stigmas on people who lose their jobs and I hope it doesn’t prevent her from getting something else soon. Each day seems to bring more bad news about the economy or about others losing jobs. It has been difficult to watch as so many people are struggling right now.

So much more has happened, but I’ve been really busy with work, my calling, and responsibilities of being a father. I will try a little harder to post updates more frequently.

Birthdays, Valentines, Sick Again, and Ice

Two birthdays have come and gone in our family. Grant turned one year old on January 25th. I thought he’d be walking by now since he learned to crawl so early, but he’s pretty content just zipping around on all fours. Grant loves to help us empty the dishwasher when we’re emptying or filling it (any time he sees it open, he crawls to it as fast as he can and starts pulling things out). He also loves the vacuum and will follow it around or plop himself in front of it whenever we vacuum a room. Still, his favorite thing to do is to play catch with me. He especially likes to throw the ball back and forth to me under the couch. He is actually really good at throwing and catching a ball and we think he must be left handed. Grant is a very happy boy and usually gives us no problem going to sleep. He likes to be held much more than any of the girls and we can even rock him before he goes to sleep. Finally, Grant loves food – specifically oatmeal, yogurt, tomatoes, and fruit, but he’ll eat just about anything.






Just before Grant’s birthday, he, Lily, and I got pretty sick. This has been the worst year for sicknesses in our family. I had what I thought was a cold, but it went into my throat and I got very little sleep for almost 2 weeks because I couldn’t stop coughing all night. Lily had the same thing and had a fever to go along with it. She started to come out of the sickness just as Grant and I got into the worst of it. Grant had a fever of over a 103 for three days straight. Even Tylenol wouldn’t bring it down more than a couple degrees. When it would get over 103 he would moan and toss his body around the bed. When he’d eat, he’d throw it up. Those were some really rough nights. Finally, he and I both went to the doctor. I had an ear infection, a sinus infection, and bronchitis. Grant had RSV and Pneumonia. His temperature was 104.5 when the doctors checked it and they had us run to the hospital for X-rays and blood work. After medication we are much better than we were, but the virus part of this sickness has been going on and on. I’ve heard several people say they’ve had it for about 2 months. We are all going on about a month and a half of stuffy/runny noses, coughing, and being tired. I guess we need these difficult times to appreciate when we are feeling well.

The week before Amy’s birthday we went on a date and I took her to JC Penny where she spent an hour trying on pants and eventually getting some new jeans. We were trading off watching kids with the Young’s and we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves once we were done shopping. We got our car washed and then Amy wanted to pick up our kids. I relented and drove back to the Young’s at 8:00pm. Angie answered the door by opening it halfway and whispering “what are you doing here? I just started a movie for the kids!” After some prodding (we are new at this) she coaxed Amy to go see a movie. We rented one and returned to our quiet home to watch it. It was so nice to do something just a little spontaneous and not have to worry about the kids. I know we need to do more of that. With the challenges of scheduling and lack of money, we just haven’t done it enough.

My parents came up and stayed with us for a few days and celebrated Amy’s birthday with us. Since Amy’s birthday is on Valentines, I also planned to have a “Cold Box” done for her garden, but it’s taking me a lot longer than I thought. My dad and I spent some time working on it while he was here. We also were able to talk several nights after the kids were in bed, and watch a few movies. On Valentines/Amy’s birthday, we drove to McCall and enjoyed seeing all the ice sculptures. The official event was a week earlier and the sculptures were beginning to melt, but it was still really incredible and the kids enjoyed it. Since we all packed into our van for the long drive to McCall and back home, it was quite an adventure. We even had a picnic lunch in the van, while we parked at a grocery store. It was funny to see the looks we got from all the ritzy people with a single or no child living in McCall. It reminded me of being a kid and always getting looks like that when our entire family, all six kids, went out together. By the end of the drive, we were all tired and thankful to be home again.

We enjoyed dinner at Angie and Gary’s the next day and celebrated Amy’s birthday a little more. I told Amy I think she is the most loved person I know. For several days people called and brought gifts over. I think the attention she gets from others is an indication of how unselfish and caring she is. Everyone loves my Amy, including me!

Finally, I just want to write a quick note about how I am feeling during the worst economic condition this Country has faced since the Great Depression. For now, I am working and still getting paid, but the future is definitely uncertain and in fact doesn’t look good. This month I have been battling my fears regarding losing my job. I’ve read several inspiring talks by apostles and have pondered the words of scriptures. I’ve concluded that righteousness does not make one exempt from hard and difficult conditions (although sometimes the Lord may step in to help). I’ve determined that the main blessing from living the gospel during difficult times is that it helps us be happy despite the horrible situations we are in. One thing Pres. Faust said is that sometimes the greatest blessings come from the worst challenges. As an example he referred to the greatest blessing ever given coming from the worst suffering ever endured (the atonement). While I am unsure of the future, I hope I can have hope, faith, and an attitude that reflects I know God is in control. I’m sure we all needed these difficult times to test us and cause us to rededicate ourselves to the Lord. I know that a major part of my judgment will be how I responded to the challenges I faced here on earth. I hope I can endure it well.