I have a [root]beer mug!

Now, I know my sister will recognize the title of this post...will my Mom? Don't know. But it comes from a commercial from years ago. The thing is, I don't know that I ever heard the commercial with my own ears...I think it was just my mom telling Deni and me about it. And we loved it.

person: I have a beer mug!
crowd: Yea!
person: But it's empty.
crowd: Boo!
person: But I'm going to fill it up!
crowd: Yea!
person: But only half-way.
crowd: Boo!
person: Because it has such a nice, creamy head!
crowd: Yea!

Deni and I loved to give that back and forth (using rootbeer instead of beer...at least some of the time). Sometimes I feel life is like that...yeas and boos for the same thing.

So our week:

There's a track meet in Fallon!
Yea!
But the weather is a bit cold and windy.
Boo!
But at least it won't rain on us!
Yea!
But Glen can't come because he's home sick with a cold.
Boo!
But Hannah will be there!
Yea!
But she won't be participating because Friday night she was supposed to run [100 m] and throw [shotput and discus] elsewhere, but it was canceled due to weather and it was too late to add the Freshman and Sophomore to Saturday's meet.
Boo!
But I got to help with the shotput!
Yea!
But I felt I would ruin students lives when I made a mistake [sorry Emily for scratching that one throw when I shouldn't have]. [Emily is from Fallon, but I didn't really ruin her life because she wouldn't have made it to the finals even if we had measured her throw, but I feel terrible, and I hope I measured the other throws accurately].
Boo!
But I got to learn a lot about shotput...well, everything that I now know since I didn't know anything about it before...which is one of my daughter's events.
Yea!

Ryan has a swim meet!
Yea!
But I can't go. [it was in Reno while I was at the track meet here]
Boo!
But he had a great time!
Yea!
But there was a bit of trouble with the 500 meter free-style [the other 2 guys who were supposed to be in the same heat with Ryan weren't going to swim and so what do you do when only one boy wants to swim a long race and the other boys' heat is full?]
Boo!
But they let Ryan swim at the same time as the girls [which the coach said he had never seen happen before]
Yea!
All but one girl beat Ryan [there were only 3 total girls, by the way].
Boo!
But his time was good enough to get him into Regionals which will be in May...by one second! [he swam it in 7 minutes and 19.25 seconds...7 minutes and 20.69 is what was needed to make it to Regionals]
Yea!
But he couldn't reach me to pick him up when they got back into Fallon.
Boo!
But the kind, nice, wonderful coach drove him home [Glen was still passed out in bed and Hannah and I were watching at the Young Women's Broadcast from Salt Lake at Kara's house and my cellphone was turned off]!
Yea!
So now I feel guilty.
Boo!
So I've made cookies for Coach Davis to thank him for his kindness!
Yea! [hope he likes peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies]

So, Glen is sick in bed, but I'm still hoping that after sleeping for 2 days he'll be ready to go to school tomorrow. I brought Alex home from Sacrament meeting today as he wasn't feeling well either...he's not as bad off as Glen, so hopefully he'll be up to going to school tomorrow as he's aiming for a perfect attendance record this year.

Oh! I thought of a new one:
It's March Madness time.
Yea!
But I don't really follow sports.
Boo!
But Alan invited us to join his ESPN Tournament Challenge Drink More Milk group anyway!
Yea!
But all my final four teams are out of the running [Ohio St, Notre Dame, Duke, BYU] and I'm ranked 32nd in the Drink More Milk group.
Boo!
But now I get to root for the underdogs!
Yea!
[too bad Butler and UVC are playing each other next as I would have like to have rooted for them both...I will root for Butler--though I'd be perfectly happy if UVC won--and Kentucky over UConn...and then Butler to win it all]


And, since you might have missed Mindy's comment to my post about Andrew bumping into her in Nauvoo last week, here is Mindy's comment:

It was great to see him! We love it! My dad said that he would be in Nauvoo the same weekend as us, and so when I saw two Elder's walking down the street, I was sure hoping it was him and his companion! So fun!!
P.S. In Andrew's defense about Emily, we were all in the car and I just stepped out to say hi and shake hands! So, I don't even think he saw HER! Also, I think the last time we saw Andrew it was in our stake building in Iowa City and we were cleaning the church on a Friday night or something. Emily was only about 4 months old and when he saw me he said, ... Hey... wait, when did this happen (pointing to Emily- I was carrying her in her front carrier backpack). It was pretty funny. Needless to say, I don't think he has seen her enough to know!

Andrew's email...too funny

The main purpose of this blog is to keep my parents and my sister updated on what's happening here with my family. They will read Andrew's email and so will already know this, but it was just too dang funny not to share. We just got Andrew's weekly email and and was telling us about visiting Nauvoo on Saturday with an investigator. This is part of what he said:

Then we walked down to Parley's Street, and who should we see?  None other than Mindy Scott, and Jon and their two sons, and Jon's parents.  We chatted for a bit and I said hi to everybody.  It was kind of weird, but I always love running into Mindy on my mission.  Makes me smile.

OK, how many times has Andrew run into his cousin (who grew up across the street from us and now lives in Iowa City)?  I'll have to ask...and I'll have to tell Andrew that Mindy doesn't have 2 sons, but a son and a daughter! Maybe little Emily was asleep under a blanket...

Anyway, it makes me smile, too.

Congratulations to our niece Sarah! and other family news

Yesterday was the state-wide Poetry Out Loud Contest in Reno. Andrew went his junior and senior years to represent Churchill county, but didn't place at state.

Sarah came in 2nd place state-wide! She lost to a girl who has won the last 3 years in a row. At last week's family dinner she was practicing one of her poems and I thought she was really good, so I'm not surprised.

Our nephew's daughter, Tessa, was blessed in Utah today. What a great occasion. Too bad we don't live closer so we could attend.

Ryan has had 2 swim meets and Hannah has had 2 track meets. They are having a great time and we're really happy that they can participate in these sports where you are racing against your old scores. Hannah is really in some pain from shin splints but manage to "PR" she told me...I needed a translation. PR stands for Personal Record...so she beat her times from last week in discus, shot-put, and 100 meter dash. Can I just say it's rainy and cold and miserable today. I'm so glad the track meet was yesterday when it was just windy. Ryan PRed in 100 freestyle (1 min 7 sec).

Eric is on spring break from the community college this week. Of course everyone else still has a month before we have our spring break, but that's OK.

I managed to find housing at BYU for Andrew that is super-close to 2 of his cousins, so we are excited about that. Alicia was kind enough to do some footwork for us and we sure appreciate her help. Now, we have 2 weeks for Andrew to figure out what classes he wants to take so I can get him signed up for them.

I may have finally entered the 21st century

A few weeks ago when I couldn't get my genealogy files to save on my "floppy" disc I went and bought a jump drive and used it once with the kids' help. The next time I tried to use it, the kids weren't around and I couldn't get it to work. Maybe I'll try again today.

This weekend we bought a router and now have wireless in our home. We did it so we can watch netflix instant views on our TV. Now when friends come over to "scrapbook" they can use their laptops to go online at my house.

We also got the wireless because we are about to cancel our satellite subscription. *gasp* Yep. Don't know how soon. We've been discussing it for months. We might wait until after General Conference at the beginning of April, but we'll see. 

Glen and I watch Castle, Psych, and an occasional episode of The Mentalist. Why are we paying $47/month to do that? Psych we can get online and when we update our antennae get a converter box, we can still get the others on our TV.

photos of Brookings Harbor after tsunami

Brookings Harbor March 11, 2011

Another photo

My parents are safe and well

I've had a few people ask about my parents' safety on the Oregon coast, so I thought I'd report. Although their home is about 1/4 of a mile from the ocean, there is a large cliff there. It would take a HUGE wave to affect their house, so they didn't evacuate and didn't need to.

My mom says they've had many phone calls today and they are fine. The swells are still occurring and no one is being let near the harbor. There was one death in the harbor this morning, but she doesn't know the details--she thinks it was boat-related. Some of the boats are being tossed about and are getting damaged and are damaging the docks. It's being reported that 85% of Crescent City is flooded.

But, the sun is shining and they are fine.

Adam's Homecoming

Saturday was a lot of fun. Glen, Eric, Ryan, and Hannah went to the temple while Alex and I shopped.

Then we all went to the airport with a lot of others from Glen's family to welcome Adam home from off his mission to the Lansing, Michigan area.

Grandma passing out some balloons

The waiting crowd

Adam greets his brother Daniel

Adam at a family gathering on Sunday

Pinewood Derby

Our ward held its annual Pinewood Derby for the cub scouts on Wednesday night. Besides the cub scouts racing their cars, everyone else also had the opportunity to participate in some races as well.

Besides age categories for racing, there was also an "anything goes" category-- with the original intent of having cars over the weight limit of 5 oz being in that category (Bishop wanted to make a metal car to race...and he did with the Young Men's help).

However, some of the cars entered into the race weren't necessarily over the weight limit...they just weren't regular pinewood derby cars.

Lena's car on the left and the teenage boys' car on the right.

Eric's banana car

Eric's banana car self-destructed on the track (and his wasn't the only one. Several cars had their wheels beat them to the finish line). Eric originally tried to attach the wheels just to the banana, but there wasn't any clearance underneath for it to actually race on the track, so he added it to his car.

With his banana car out of the running, Eric quickly whipped up another entry:

Eric's second entry

And here is Alex's entry. Besides cutting out the cavity where he put the batteries, he made it all by himself. (the pennies are for a little extra weight)

Alex's car

And what did the lucky winners receive? A certificate and another car:

Things were a little chaotic (I was in charge, so I can say that), but I hope everyone had a good time. And if we do it again next year, I've learned a few things from this year's activity that will help it to go more smoothly next time.

A big thanks to all who helped set up, take down, and MC and who brought treats! (Glen, Dad P, Aaron, Jason, Michael, Kelly, the young women, and everyone else)