Otterstrom's

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T10:24:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas! It's been my traditional many months since the last blog. And a lot has happened. Perhaps a player by player update would work.

Victoria is now in 7th Grade and in Junior High. She is loving it! She is playing the violin in her strings class still. She is learning more of her fingerings and getting better and better every day. She enjoys playing her violin, as anyone who follows her facebook will see. She is in Young Women's and is currently her class secretary. She enjoys being on the computer, playing games, helping the family out, and generally is just a happy, wonderful daughter!

Amanda has had many changes. She graduated from Snake River High School this year. She has one semester of college taken care of at Dixie State College in St. George. She is currently home for the Holidays! She has no idea how much we miss her. She is enjoying the college activities, dating, and the Dixie sun! She is working at TempleView R.V. Park and taking care of Grandpa Pete. She is studying Dental Hygiene. So far it's the general ed classes. She's really working hard and playing hard, too!

Susan is adjusting to a college daughter. She loves the cell phone, texts, picture messages and skype! Susan had a hysterectomy a few weeks ago, so she is staying down (well, she is supposed to be staying down). She is feeling a lot better and her constant pain of 5 years is now a thing of the past. She is still the popular "Mrs. O" at Moreland Library.

Rick is still enjoying work with the Sheriff's Office. I'm becoming familiar with I-15 between Blackfoot and St. George (except for my mission and very young years, I've never lived more than a few miles from I-15!).

We have had some fun vacations and trips this year. Susan, Rick, Victoria and Susan's sister, Cathy, spent a week in Grand Teton National Park. Sight seeing, rafting, animals, Jackson Hole, and kidney stones made for a really fun vacation (except for the kidney stones). We have been to St. George for family events, moving Amanda (a couple of times), homecoming and football, and bringing Amanda home for the holidays. I'm really enjoying reconnecting with my Aunt and Uncle, Grandpa, and cousins, although it doesn't seem like there is enough time when we go down.

As Christmas approaches, we realize how blessed we are. Family is so important. And the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ strengthen that family bond now that we aren't always together. We also appreciate all of our family. It's hard to stay in touch with so many as everyone's lives go different directions, but you are all in our thoughts and prayers. May each of you enjoy a holiday season of peace and may 2012 bring many blessings and opportunities your way!

St. George, and Again!

2011-06-11T18:40:00.000-06:00

100 degrees outside! Loving that, acutally... since it's been bloody miserable in Idaho lately, weather-wise. But, we are in St. George right now. Or, more correctly, Victoria and I are... Susan and Amanda are about 1 hour away from St. George, but coming.

Amanda and I came down to St. George last week for Grandma Pete's (Grandma Stone) funeral. She passed away on the 2nd of June from cancer. It was a sad reason to get the family together, but it was wonderful to see so many of my cousins and other family members, as well as meet in person some Facebook family friends. We were down for 3 days and then back to Blackfoot for 2 days.

Yesterday, back to St. George! Rented a car and loaded it to the gills with Amanda's stuff and Victoria and I left bright and early and drove down. We had to meet with the manager at her apartment and get set up to move her in today. Today, Susan, Amanda and Beau came down... er... are coming down. It's taken them hours and hours to travel hours. Tonight we move Amanda into her apartment. Next week, we (not a full "we" but a 75% we) go back to Blackfoot; without Amanda. I-15 will become the trail of tears, I'm afraid. She will start at Dixie State this fall.

We are also staying with Grandpa Pete and taking care of him for a few days, as well as getting in some swimming at my cousin Ira's place. Also wondering why we don't live here ourselves!

Well, I'm going to get ready to take Amanda to meet Aubrey, Ashley, and Allisa, her roommates. Yes, the A Team! And unload the cars and hope there is room in her apartment for it all!

We are still alive

2011-02-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since my last post. With facebook and all, most of you know what's going on to some extent, anyway.

Amanda is a mighty senior at Snake River High School. She graduates on May 25. She is planning on going to Dixie State College in St. George. We've started the application process. Now we start trying like crazy for scholarships!

Victoria is in 6th grade. Doing well and enjoying her violin. She's starting to play what we recognize as songs and music! Finally! :)

Susan's going crazy getting things ready for the next Jr. Miss program. Since Mandi is the Jr Miss, she is heavily involved in it. Plus work and being mom.

I'm enjoying "the street" still. Except for the fact that my rotation for 2 months of graveyard shift is back, and I have the added joy of starting it a week early. Oh, well. I still get to go to work!

Amanda had state Jr Miss in Coeur d'Alene in October. She didn't win, but she had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends.Susan and I went up, as well as Grandma Brower and Susan's sister, Cathy. It was really pretty up there. Spent a day in Spokane, Washington. Endured the 12 hour drive up and 12 hour drive back (back in snow and rain the whole way).

Anyway, that's a brief recap of the past 9 or so months since I posted anything here. Call if you have questions or want more!

Victoria

2011-02-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

Victoria turned 12 several months ago. She is now in the Young Women's program at church. They had their New Beginnings, where they introduced the girls. I was asked to tell about Victoria, and this is what I came up with. Thought I'd post it on here so family that doesn't know her well can learn about her a little. The theme was Pearls of Great Price, btw.

Everyone has heros. For many of us, it is our parents. For others, an athlete, or an entertainer. For some it is a fictional character. One of my heros is my daughter, Victoria.

Victoria came to our family when she was 17 months old. She had been exposed to drugs and alcohol before she was born and had been neglected as a baby. It was a rough way to start out in life, but Victoria has a strong spirit and she is a hard worker.

Victoria started riding a school-bus to school before she was 3 years old. She has been in school almost her whole life. She loves learning. If something interests her, she will look for books on that subject. She looks it up on the internet. Then she writes down everything she finds about that subject in a notebook. She started out tracing over the letters in the books. Then she started writing it out. She has developed very nice penmanship by doing this. She has several notebooks full of things she has learned about.

Victoria also writes stories about what has happened to her. She keeps them together like a journal. She likes to share them with her family.

Victoria works very hard in school. She has to put in much more effort than other students to learn. But Victoria does it. She works very hard. Victoria has taken up the violin. She has been at it a year less than most of the other students in her strings class. She is working hard to learn the notes and fingerings on her violin. But she is doing it. She practices every day because she loves playing the violin.

You might think that with all the struggles Victoria has it would get her down. Like all of us, she gets discouraged. But Victoria has a special gift from her Heavenly Father. She has so much happiness. Victoria is the happiest person I know. Even though sometimes it is hard for her to make friends, she works hard at being kind to everyone. She has a lot of empathy for those around her.

When I think of the qualities of a pearl, several come to mind. First, they are beautiful. Second, they are strong. Third, I consider the process that makes them. And last, I consider how they are valued. Like a pearl, Victoria is a beautiful person. Inside as well as outside. She shares that beauty with all around her. Like a pearl, Victoria is strong. She keeps going and going and going, even when it takes more work than it would take others. Like a pearl, she has grown layer by layer, effort by effort. Starting out small in difficult circumstances, she has grown slowly and has been turned into a fine gem. And finally, like a pearl, Victoria is of great worth. She is of infinite worth.

We are very proud of all that Victoria does. We are excited to see her come into Young Women’s. She is very excited to continue to grow in the gospel with the friendship of her other Beehives. And she is looking forward to girls camp!

When I think of a person who exemplifies a heroic life, I definitely think of Victoria.

And we are now in the rear-view mirror of yesterday...

2010-05-26T20:52:00.000-06:00

Boy, time is flying! School got out today, my job has changed, it was spring yesterday (today is back to winter), and life goes on. Since my last post, we've been to several dance competitions (Amanda's dance studio has kicked bootie... won each competition they've been to in all events and overall), spent a fortune at the vet (Chloe's face really swelled up, both sides of her nose and face, very puffy and almost blocked her eyes... after several antibiotics and steroids and everything, she is almost back to normal, but with much more energy and spunk than the past few weeks), got the car back from the shop (looks brand new... everything is fixed! Just an annoying rattle it goes in tomorrow to get taken care of), and got through the school year.

Our district passed a levy last year and construction is underway big-time in several of the schools. Susan's school is being hammered on like crazy. She's had walls torn down around her, the roof being slammed to bits above her (lots of NOISE!@!) and dust and noise and fumes and all. She's got everything boxed and out of her library now so they can renovate that part of the school. Anyway, it's been a tough month or so for her. Lots of noise, dust, and smells, in case I didn't mention the noise and dust. :)

With budget cuts in our district, the district cut one of the School Resource Officer positions. The sheriff decided I was going, so I'm going back to patrol full-time now. I am going to miss being at the school. Yesterday was the last day with the kids, and it was a tough day, saying good-bye and all. I will miss the association with the kids and the staff of the school.

Victoria has started the vioilin. She's been at us for over a year to let her try. We figured it would be a passing phase (which, with Vic, can last seconds or minutes or occasionally days). But she's kept at it, and evidently with the strings teacher at the school, because she invited Victoria to give it a try. So Victoria is learning violin.

Amanda finished her junior year with pretty good grades. She's now a mighty senior! Gearing up for the SAT's, applications, and everything else that goes with this time of life. She's still working at the chiropractor (electrocution and radiation, anyone?), hopefully getting some more hours for the summer.

Today I was informed that my patrol car is being decommissioned. I was told by the captain to empty my stuff from it and bring it to the office so it could be driven to SLC tomorrow to be stripped and the stuff put in my new car. So, I'm thinking, "He said 'my' new car..." Which is a first for me... as SRO, it's always been hand-me-downs, which is as it should be. Anyway, I took the car to the house and unloaded it, leaving it idling while I took the stuff out and put it in the garage. When I drove out of the driveway, I saw that the car had overheated. Never done that before. After a minute of driving the temp dropped back to normal. The captain said to drive it a bit and see if it was o.k. to go to SLC, since the officer taking it down has to make the airport on time. I drove it around and it did fine. Until I went on a call, parked it for a while, and came back. It was hot again. It cooled down, but then the transmission started acting up. Anyway, it's now dead on the back lot and another car is going to SLC to be stripped, but I was told that the first Charger is mine! Woo Hoo! Next week, hopefully.

I guess that's about all the highlights of our existence. At least that come to mind right now. Enjoy!

{{{Somehow this blog got tied to my Facebook, so I guess my facebook friends will get to read this, too. If you read this far, it must be a boring day for you!! :) But thanks!}}}

Junior Miss!

2010-04-04T09:45:00.001-06:00

Last night was Snake River High School's Junior Miss contest. Amanda has been getting ready for this for months, including practices, shopping, interviews, shopping, dancing, shopping (did I mention shopping?). I spent Thursday with Susan in Idaho Falls going to every store that sells neck ties trying to find one to match her dress. Finally found one at Kohls.

Late Friday night I started throwing up and spent the whole night sick. Friday about noon things started to shift. Got a blessing and started feeling better. By the evening I felt about 95%, thank heavens! I was able to go to Junior Miss with Amanda.

She did so well!!! Her poise throughout was spot-on. Her talent (she danced) was incredible! She hit from the first beat and stayed on beautifully and gave it her usual 200% effort. Her fitness routine was great! She made it look like there was nothing to it (not like she isn't 100% muscle). She really did well. I sat there and tried to figure out when my little girl turned into this beautiful, dynamic, young lady that was up on the stage. I can't describe the pride I felt! I got to escort her out and do a brief dance with her. She made us look good in spite of me!

At the end they were doing the awards. They awarded a few scholarships, none to Amanda. I'm thinking, "She has to get something!" Then they get to self-expression. This is the one Amanda said she thought she'd blown. She got a scholarship for it! Then they announced talent... She got a scholarship there, too! Next was fitness. I was certain she'd get a scholarship here, and she did! Then they got to 2nd runner-up. I thought, "Amanda!" Then I thought, "No, she's getting Junior Miss." She didn't get 2nd or 1st runner-up. After they announced first runner up, I thought, "Oh, my gosh! Then it's Amanda, Sage, or Kyra." They announced, "Amanda Otterstrom!" Amanda's mouth dropped and she stood dead still for about 5 seconds! What an evening!

I can't describe my excitement or pride in Amanda. She is such an incredible young lady. I don't know what this journey will hold for her, but I'm sure she will excel and it will be a tremendous opportunity for her!

After we got home and Susan made a late-night run to WalMart, we found that Victoria was in the newspaper for student of the month! Victoria was such a trooper at Junior Miss and did such a great job sitting still and all and was so excited for her sister, it was really neat for her to see herself in the paper! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! Every once in a while, our Heavenly Father creates perfection with all the extra touches.

March Madness... what are the odds???

2010-03-19T19:55:00.000-06:00

Thought you'd enjoy a chuckle. The principal at the Jr. High, Mr. Erickson, decided that since a lot of our math classes will be doing statistics and probabilities soon, he'd use the basketball tournament to help them learn about probability. So, he made the students an offer. The students would fill out the flow chart of the winners of the tournament, predicting who they thought would win the games. If one student got all 63 games correct, then for the rest of the year all of the students would get a one hour lunch break as well as open campus... they could leave and go to the store or go with a high-school friend to lunch. He supplied the charts for the kids for the standard copying cost of 10c, but they could copy their own or copy ours. Each kid could enter as many times as they wanted.

Yesterday morning (day one of the tournament) we had over 250 entries. After the first two games finished, there were 5 left. When the bell rang at the end of school, there was 1 left... a girl who knew nothing about basketball, according to her. She was out before the faculty left at the end of the day.

Evidently, the odds of getting all 63 games correct is 9.1 quintillion. His offer of a long lunch and open campus was a very safe bet! :)

The saga of Enterprise and Cascade and Special Olympics

2010-03-15T15:48:00.000-06:00

Idaho had it's Special Olympics meet this past weekend. It was at McCall, which is 1,000 hours north of Boise (at least it seemed that far). Victoria went with some of the other athletes and coaches Friday morning and Susan and I followed that afternoon. So here's the saga.

We decided to rent a car to travel in since Amanda was staying home and needed to go to Rexburg in the car. The van is not as reliable as it once was, so we arranged for Enterprise to get us a car (not to pick us up, though). I set it up a week or so back and set up for a 3:00 pick up time (don't ask me why; at the time it seemed like a good idea). We decided to move it up, since Susan had taken a half day off work (I beat her with a full day off work for me), so I called and was told no problem. They told us we could park the van in the overflow lot. It was going to be $27.99 a day. skip some boring crap We went down Friday about 1:00, all packed in the van and ready to get the car. Got there. Signed papers and all. Charged the debit card. All good to go. skipping some irrelevent or boring stuff Hyundai Sonata. Since when is a Hyundai a mid-size car? Go to load the trunk, a big spare tire is taking up half the trunk. In the wheel well where it goes (under the crudwood floor of the trunk) is a space with a wheel rim in it. Ask the maintenance guy and he says that the last renter destroyed a tire and rim then destroyed the spare tire. "But," he told us, "It's better to have a full-size spare." I was thinking a full-size trunk was nicer, since I didn't plan to use the spare. Found the "overflow lot"... park on the side of the road. Not happy. Hoped van would be safe. Realized we'd been charged $89.42 for rental car. Went back to see wuddup wid dat. They charged me two hours at 14.99 for getting it early. Asked, "What if it's back before 1:00 on Sunday?" They said no one's there to check it in so they wouldn't know, but I could call the number on the slip and leave a message and they'd come check and return the two hours charges. Not happy, but time was passing and we were getting later.

Went to skip ate at gas station, etc. Cascade, which is 30 miles south of McCall and where we were to stay and where opening ceremonies were. When we got to the school, we were given a red and grey scarf (Go Dons!!!!). Boring ceremonies. They had a "slide show" of pictures. Two pictures. Someone talks. 2 pictures. Someone talks. repeat ad infinitum. or is that ad nauseum?

Went to the hotel where the athletes were staying. Dang, it was nice! Very pretty, fancy, etc. Then went to ours. Susan made me search for the Bates kid before she'd go in. I figured it was nice enough for what we needed (a place to sleep and poop), but Susan wasn't impressed much. No shampoo, either. Subway for dinner (and we barely got in the door before it closed at 9:00 p.m.). Susan lost her anniversary ring. Again.

It snowed that night. Went out early to get shampoo. Gas station only thing open, so $3.00 for Suave. Hit the icy roads and went to McCall. Took over an hour to go 30 miles. Ate breakfast at Maverik (and burped Maverik for the rest of the day). Victoria ran in 3 races. 4th and 3rd place. We built a snowman at the end of the track and I used it to "tripod" the camcorder. Victoria had a fun day, but got grumbly a few times. Oh, great... another teen-ager coming up. After she finished her last race, we left. Went back to her hotel. Took 30 minutes to go 30 miles. Got Victoria's stuff. Found Susan's ring in Victoria's suitcase. Headed to Boise for dinner. Used a gift card and ate at Texas Roadkill. Chicken fried steak (or whatever meat it really was).

Then off to Aunt Sheila's. I should point out that this was the first trip with our GPS and it worked really well! Got us turn-by-turn to everywhere we needed to go. Until Aunt Sheila's. Dropped us about 2 miles away, but a phone call and a bit of driving later, we arrived. Had a really nice visit and stayed over night in Jerome at Susan's mom's sister's place. Woke the next day, had waffles, and hit the road. Parked the car in the Enterprise lot at 10:50. Called the number, no voice mail, they lied. Scum! Took pictures of the undamaged (by us) car in case they blamed something on us and left. Got home about noon.

Sent a nastygram e-mail to Enterprise. Got a phone call today from Jace with Enterprise in Utah. He wanted to know what was up and I told him the story. He wasn't happy about the extra two hours (he says that is never charged) (the girls were new). He asked what I wanted and I told him I didn't want to pay the two hours. He said that was fine. He was also not happy about the loss of trunk space (which I agreed with, but felt it was better than no spare). At the end of it all, he said he'd only charge us $26.00. I told him that wasn't fair to them and he said Enterprise didn't need the $30.00. He gave me his cell phone number and said to call him directly when I need to rent again and he'd give me a great deal. So, anyway, there's a long story to suffer through. And we got our rental car for $13.00 a day unlimited miles. Sweet!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Another magical holiday season has come and is heading out quickly. It really is a wonderful time of year, especially with the kids. Victoria still lives in awe of Santa, even though she is wondering how he manages to do all of his important deeds (like, eating the cookies!). Amanda had a good Christmas, except for a few missing brand-labels and touch screens. We actually slept until 7:38 Christmas morning (a monumental, record-setting event in our house... Susan usually has us up by 2:30 a.m.). We spent the holidays at home this year. A lot of relaxing and doing things as a family (as much as possible with a teenager who likes to sleep most of the day and play at night with her friends). It makes it tougher to get family pictures, but we managed a few Christmas morning.

On the 31st we had lunch at Texas Roadkill. Steak and Shrimp... yumm! New Years Eve Amanda went dancing and then watched a movie in the basement with a bunch of friends... who all fell asleep until I woke them up at 5:30! Some pretty shocked kids. Susan, Victoria and I stayed home. New Years Day Amanda recovered by sleeping. Susan, Victoria and I went to the junior high and went sledding for a while. Victoria had a blast! Now I'm sitting listening to the DVD menu music for Coraline. I guess that means Victoria is working on a project in some other part of the house!

2009 was o.k. I wouldn't give it too many stars. Here's looking forward to a great new year! Now I'm going to call and arrange to get our driveway plowed... it's been snowing pretty steady for 2 days and we are having trouble getting out of the drive!

Have a Happy New Year! We hope to see many of you this year! Lots of love!

And so it goes

2009-11-15T19:35:00.002-07:00

Wow, several weeks since I posted. Halloween came and went. We went to the ward Trunk or Treat, which is where all the members of both Groveland wards (or whoever wants to play, which isn't everyone) comes to the church, parks, and the kids go around the lot getting candy from everyone there. Works nicely when you live in the country and it can be 1/4 mile between houses (good for a night of exercise and minimal candy with normal trick-or-treat). Mandi, who is evidently too old for this stuff, went with her friends for the evening (for, we suspect, trick-or-treating). Victoria went to Trunk or Treat as a cat. After we trunkertreated, we went to a few homes around the area for some extra candy. We also went to a carnival at the school where Victoria got more money and Mandi got to be in the spook alley (or was it a kissing booth??).

Since then Susan has had her book fair. Which is when Scholastic sends her about 30 cases of books that they choose and Susan sells them to people to make some money to use in her library. She has a whole week of parent-teacher conferences and other things to sell books. She gets pretty good support, too, so it's a good deal for her. But a lot of extra work for us... we spent the Saturday before it setting up tables and books and everything. Then a couple of extra nights. Then the Saturday (yesterday) after the books fair is spent packing up all the books that didn't sell (what made them think that the 7 different books on obama and his family would sell in Blackfoot, Idaho?). We are going over tonight to finish tearing down the tables so the library will be back to normal for school tomorrow. But all in all, it's fun. Susan has a downs syndrome boy at her school that came up to her and said, "Mrs O, got some money?" She said, "Why do you ask?" He said, "I need some money." "What do you need some money for?" He pointed to a math game that was for sale and said, "Gotta get a game." She told him he'd have to ask his mom and dad for money and he said, "Oh." and walked off. It was kind of funny, since she doesn't usually get a lot of conversation from this kid.

We had snow yesterday morning. It was fun to see. But it has since overstayed its welcome. I'm ready for the 80's (temperatures, not decade) again. Dang, do I sound old?????

Creatures of the Moon

2009-10-23T20:24:00.007-06:00

Today Victoria and I went on a 5th Grade field trip to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We packed up all the grub we could fit in the ice chest (most of which came home in the same state it went in!) and headed to school. Due to an overabundance of parents and an underabundance of busses, the parents were told we "could" drive, but the kids would all go on the busses. My co-worker, Luis, and I headed for his truck, but before we could escape the kids and noise, they stopped us and told us that they had decided to let the kids ride with parents in cars. So we had his son and Victoria in the truck, which definitely made the trip more fun!

We headed out across the "desert" (yes, we live in a "desert" area, although it is more like tundra or something than a "sand and camels" desert), past Atomic City and through Arco (which proudly proclaims itself the first city powered by nuclear energy) (and also the city with the most 3-headed kids) (j/k) and finally to Craters of the Moon.

Evidently, back in the 40's or 50's, someone decided that is what the moon looked like. Maybe before that. Boy, were they wrong! But, it's a cool place. Lots of A'a (pronounced ah-ah) and Pahoehoe (pa-ho-ho), which are lava formations, if you ever encounter that question on Jeopardy! Also the largest open volcano crater (see the picture of Victoria and the pano at the top) on the North American Continent (isn't it amazing how every national park finds something to be the "mostest") and plenty of lava tubes, aka caves. So we hiked up and down hills to look at filled-in craters, lava formations, and then across a large lava flow to climb through the caves. It was actually quite fun! Victoria had a blast.

It must have been a lot of hiking, because the kids slept all the way home on the backseat of the truck. We stopped a couple of times on the way back for "stretch and soda" breaks to keep awake. So, if anyone ever comes to Idaho to visit, that is always something we can put on the agenda. It's only about 90 minutes from us!

Harvest Vacation

2009-09-27T08:47:00.005-06:00

Yes, in our school district, we get two weeks off for Spud Harvest. So this year, having enough vacation time and enough bills to pay, I decided to drive spud truck for two weeks. Monday through Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to whenever we get done (usually about 9:00 p.m.), I am out in the dusty spud fields driving truck. It's a semi truck with a spud bed on it, which is a huge bin with a belt at the bottom. It holds about 30,000 pounds of potatoes. I drive up alongside the combine, which digs up 12 rows of potatoes, gets rid of dirt, clumps, and the vines, and then dumps them into the back of the truck. Takes about 2 minutes to load up 30,000 pounds of spuds. Then I take them either to a cellar or a transfer site, where the truck is emptied. Then back at it again.

The girls are enjoying the break as well. Playing and doing whatever. Susan is a trooper and gets up when I do to get my lunch and dinner packed for the day.

A couple of weeks ago the Eastern Idaho State Fair came to Blackfoot, again. I've been here for 19 fairs, and I personally am way past sick of them. I guess it's because I have to work extra for them. It's fun to go to the fair with Susan and the girls, but it sure is expensive! This year we went with Victoria for a day (Amanda has this neat thing called "dating" so the boys take her all the time, but we don't get any pictures of her with us). Victoria went on loads of rides and had a blast with some friends. She also went and saw the animals. Susan and I looked at a lot of the "boring" stuff. All in all, it was a fun day.

Train Wreck

2009-09-03T20:19:00.006-06:00

All right, it's been a long time. Oh, well. Last month (August 7), Union Pacific, Operation Life Saver, the Sheriff's Office and Idaho State Police did the Trooper on a Train thing. This is where a train goes up and down the tracks with a cop in the train and several other cops along the roads the train is going by. The cop on the train alerts the chase cars to anyone who runs the tracks in front of the train, then they are pulled over and cited.

As part of this, Union Pacific brings in some passenger cars and people can get tickets to ride on it. I got tickets and so Susan and Victoria took Vicki's friend, Hazel, and her brother, Trevor, on the first run. We got there and got ready, but there was no train. Then, a train appeared... from the wrong direction. This stupid train spent the next hour and a half blocking the tracks, roads, and everything else while it coupled and uncoupled cars. Talk about Union Pacific being highly organized! The train rides were supposed to go for about an hour, starting at 10:00, then 11:00, then 12:00. Susan and the girls finally got on the train at close to 11:00, then they sat on the train for about 45 minutes before the ride began. Susan said it was like being trapped in a horror movie. Babies screaming, kids wiping their goobery hands on you, people screaming for freedom, and a guy in a hockey mask slashing someone up every few minutes (well, maybe not the slasher).

Finally the train gets going and we get to start having fun! Susan even got a picture out the window of me with a truck pulled over (he got a ticket). You can see how Susan's sanity was pushed to the limits as well! The dude in the picture with me is ISP Trooper Caldera.

Operation Life Saver (the Union Pacific thing around here that tells people not to camp out on train tracks or run the flashy track lights and stuff) are going to try to do it again in October. Susan has made me promise to try my hardest not to get train ride tickets this time! :)

Where is my "flashy thing"?

2009-07-12T17:53:00.004-06:00

Remember in the movie, Men in Black, when the older MIB (Tommy Lee Jones?) had the new MIB flashy-thing him, telling him all the horrid stuff he wanted to forget?

Yes, I've been enjoying my job some more. The other day I had a car pulled over across the street from the Bingham Co-op (a gas station and farm store). A guy came running across the highway to me and said his car had just been stolen from the Co-op. I let my speeder go (lucky him) and went over to the Co-op. The guy had parked his 86 Mercury Marquis in the lot, left the keys in it, and he and his 3 buddies had gone in for drinks. They came out and the car was gone. The cameras at the Co-op didn't show anything of what happened. I started filling out paperwork and they said, "I think it was the guy in the Caddy that stole our car." A rusty older Cadillac was parked by the pumps. It had been there since I got there. I ran the plates and had dispatch call the owner, who was quite the jerk on the phone but told them it had been taken yesterday and he didn't care if he never saw it again. I checked the cameras in the store and the guy put gas in it and left. The clerk said he paid with a check. The check was in the name of the car owner. I called the number on the check and talked to the grumpy old guy. He was really out of it, but I got out of him that he had been to the Co-op for gas. I asked how he got there and he said he drove his Cadillac. I asked how he got home and he said he drove his Cadillac. Ding! Big old car, Big old car.

I drove out to the guy's house. There was the Mercury sitting in his driveway. There was the grumpy old guy from the gas station video sitting on his front step, naked as a jay-bird and drinking the last drops out of a bottle of vodka. Now do you get the flashy thing reference?

He was drunk. He started to yell at me, so I called for another unit (so I got 3 running code to me!). I asked where his caddy was and he said "In the driveway" (that's the G-rated version of his answer, as will the rest of his words be). After I had him look, he realized it wasn't. I told him what had happened (he got gas, was drunk, got in the wrong car, drove home). He became the morose drunk and started to moan about what had he done, etc. Then he re-became the sphincter drunk and started yelling again. I called the owner of the car to come get it. The other officers arrived, we got naked drunk guy in the house and had an ambulance come check him out. Anyway, he was a very interesting conversationalist (let that last line drip with heavy sarcasm). We left him sitting naked in his house and I went and had his caddy towed (that'll cost him several hundred dollars).

In the words of Steve Martin, "I get paid for doing this!" Mind you, he gets paid a heckuva lot more than me, though.

Anyway, just thought you may enjoy a laugh! I think that's the fastest I've ever cleared a car theft (actually, joy-riding).

4th of July Travelling

2009-07-07T16:55:00.002-06:00

What a trip! We went to Utah for the 4th. We decided to take the van, which we haven't taken on a long trip since last year. We were going to earlier this year, but a few hours before we were going to leave, the temp gauge went really high and we decided not to take it. It's been fine since, so we decided to take it. Loaded 5 people up (we took Mandi's friend, Elliott). The van has been so neat... comfy, pleasant to drive and ride in, and roomy. Definitely the way to travel. Anyway, we got new tires on the front and we were off!

Loaded up and went to Lindon Friday when I got off work and stayed with Susan's sister. and then to Wales Saturday morning to see Susan's family. Went to the fireworks in Moroni... or did we?!!? Susan's dad was in charge of the entertainment. We were doing face painting and balloon animals. It went pretty good. I spent a lot of time blowing up long, skinny balloons. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and we got wind, lightning, rain, and thunder. They cancelled the fire works. 45 minutes later, the weather was just fine. But it was fun to spend time with cousins and everyone.

On the way home on Sunday we stopped at the cemetery in Salem and then went to Salt Lake City to stop at my mom and dad's grave. We got into downtown and the van overheated. We stopped at some Asian market for a while and decided to go to Temple Square and let it cool down. We went to the visitors center on Temple Square and also to the Church History Museum. It was quite fun, until my cell phone rang. It was the stake executive secretary to let us know that the Stake President wanted to meet with Susan and I that evening. I told them we were in Salt Lake with car problems. After about 1 1/2 hours, we headed for Brigham City, where Susan's brother and his wife, James and Jenny, were kind enough to feed us a yummy dinner! We put more water in the van and headed home. We made it! Oh, yeah!

Anyway, that was our trip! It was a lot of fun, except for the overheating part. Until I can afford to have the van serviced big-time, I guess it won't be doing any more road trips. Darn.

Oh, and we haven't heard back from the stake president. Yet.

I Love My Job!

2009-07-07T16:44:00.004-06:00

During the summer, I've been put in Patrol. Which is fine, since it's why I got into law enforcement anyway. It's been an eventful few weeks. I went to an ambulance assist on a guy who wasn't breathing. I was first on scene, and I went in ready to do CPR. When I did a head tilt to establish an airway, he started breathing again. Which is fine, because I don't much care to do rescue breathing if I don't have to. Anyway, it seems that the guy had 3 fentinol patches on (serious pain meds, my Dad used to use them), which is I guess an overdose. I guess he'll live.

I also went to a suicide. One of our deputies was on scene when the guy pointed a gun at the deputy. He told him to drop the gun and ducked behind his truck and the guy blew his brains out. I got there shortly after that and had to photograph everything.

The other day I had a guy flag me over and tell me that there was a car on a farm access road along the freeway (I-15) that was acting weird. The guy had honked and banged on the windows of the car, but the man in the car wouldn't respond to him. He said that after he drove away, the car left. He gave me the license plate numberS for the car. I ran them. The car was stolen and so was the second plate. I thought I'd go out to where the car had been and see what I could find. When I got there, the car was there. When it saw me, it started backing up, but slid in the grass and dropped into the canal on it's side. I got on it pretty quick, so I knew no one had run anywhere. The driver was out of the car. I could see on the other side of the canal in the tall grass where it looked like he had dragged himself out. I called to him to stand up, but didn't see him. Finally I saw his bald head peek up to see where I was. I told him to show me his hands or I'd shoot him. He leapt to his feet and jumped the fence to the freeway and ran off. He crossed both lanes of the freeway and went into a housing area and was caught a minute later by other officers. Turns out he had a fugitive warrant, a stolen credit card (which makes another lovely felony to add to him), meth, and had stolen a purse in Pocatello, no driver license. I transported him to jail, where he'll be for a while.

I've also had about 30 animal (read 28 cow, 1 horse, 1 moose) calls... I am ready to start my own slaughter business! I'm so sick of stupid cattle. Some burglaries, crashes, and other assorted stuff. Anyway, It's been a fun summer. Wonder what this week will bring?

1 Year Later

2009-06-16T18:37:00.003-06:00

It's been one year since Mom passed away. It seems so recently that we were down visiting them in their condo, and yet it seems as though an eternity has passed since we were with them, too. So much has happened in the past year, especially Dad passing. too.

With the internet and limitless information available at our fingertips, we sometimes forget the knowledge that a person has. I can't count the times in the past year when I've needed, or wanted, to call Mom and ask her about something that can't be found anywhere else. Information that is now gone. Something about a recipe, or an event, or something about a person. What an emptiness that creates.

I don't know how anyone could survive the loss of a loved one without the knowledge that the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings. The absolute knowledge, attested to so many times by the Spirit, that this separation is only temporary; that we will be together again. How grateful I am for the love of my Heavenly Father and His compassion.

I discovered the "street view" part of Google Earth the other day, and so I looked at Mom and Dad's condo. Out front of the house were the two chairs we have been sitting in at the fire pit in our yard. In The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it is fictionally theorized that every person has in invisible umbilical cord that ties them to their home. The farther away one is from home, the more stress is placed on the stretched umbilical cord and the more out-of-sorts a person becomes. Since the earth was destroyed (in the book), the surviving human's umbilical cord has been cut loose and swings freely through space, causing much distress. It sometimes feels like that. Wherever Mom and Dad lived, that was home. Not that my own home with my own family isn't home, but there was just a tie to the past, I guess.

Okay, I'm rambling. Someone slap me across the face with an halibut.

The kids are out of school now and I'm on my summer schedule. I'm on day shift right now, which is okay, in that it isn't graves. But it is not as good as swing shift. At least I'm home in the evenings (most of the time). With 4-day weekends, it's been really nice! (we work five ten-hour shifts and are off for four days) It's been so rainy lately that it's taken the fun out of even writing tickets.

I need a vacation!!!!!!! At least today was nice and I was able to get a lot of work done. Mowing the lawn (finishing what Susan didn't have time to finish before it rained yesterday), fixing the trampoline, and I finally started mudding the sheet rock corners today! I think we're going to have a fire in the fire pit (if the wood isn't water-logged) tonight, so everyone's looking forward to that. It's nice not to have to bow to clean-air controls and other "city" problems!

Take care, everyone! I've been enjoying your blogs, even if I haven't commented a lot.

Love, from Us!

Mother's Day Dirt

2009-05-24T10:23:00.006-06:00

For Mother's Day, Susan wanted dirt. She wanted me to get a truckload of dirt for her flowerbed out front of the house. So I went to the cemetery and got a load of dirt for her (for some reason, cemeteries generate dirt by digging holes and filling them in and not needing all the dirt to fill them in). And no, we haven't found any bones in the dirt. Anyway, we got the dirt into the flower bed and yesterday we had a work day. (and no, that's not all Susan got for Mother's Day!)

Mandi, Vicki and Susan worked yesterday to plant flowers in the flowerbed. It's looking lovely. We used to have a Bleeding Heart plant by the door, which would come back every year and get huge. Last fall, Susan ripped it out. Yesterday we both decided we miss it, so we'll probably plant another plant out there. And some roses. But the girls got a start on it.

I have been in a remodel project for, oh, about 6 months. Mandi wants the basement family room refinished and began spearheading it. Yesterday I sanded down the taping on the sheet rock. The whole room is white now. Everything. Floor. Tools. Shop Vac. Counter. Fan. Everything. Including, at the time, me. I wore one (actually, I went through two) of those masks that everyone is wearing now so they don't get Swine Flu. I still had white chunks in my nose. I used some shop glasses, but they were worthless pretty quick, since I couldn't see through them. But the walls are smooth (fairly) now. I now have to figure out how to do the corners, then I'm done with the sheetrocking and taping. Then it's time to texture... another DIY that I hope doesn't become a "shouldn't have"!

We have a lot of wildlife in our yard right now. We have a robin's nest in our pine tree with three baby birds. We also have a pheasant nest in our back yard. I am so hoping the animals leave it alone, as we've had dogs and cats after it so far. There are 10 eggs in the nest, so if they all hatch and survive, it could really be cool!

We cut down our two dead quakies. We had four (actually 4 trees, but growing two and two). We have one left. It seems to be healthy. I hope it lasts! Anyway, we'll have wood for the firepit for a while now! I have also been secretly planning to cut a limb off the apricot tree by the dog kennel. It has made it impossible to drive the lawn mower under the tree, so it's been a weed-whacker pain. In the midst of cutting the quakies down, I mentioned to Susan what I wanted to do and she said, "Let's do it." So I didn't wait for her to decide otherwise. We cut the limb off (major limb, about 8" across). Of course, it had loads of other limbs growing off of it. The thought of cutting it all up (we don't have a chainsaw... just a bow saw) doesn't appeal to me, especially all at once so we could get it off the "grass." So I dragged the whole thing with the truck back by the fire pit.

Mandi finished out her dance season last Saturday with a recital. She did awesomely! They took first place for each dance in all of the competitions they went to and their dance company took overall champions at each competition. She has bruises on her knees from dropping, but she loved it. If you haven't seen her dances, they are are You Tube. Search for "rickatredrock" and it will take you to my videos. You can watch Mandi's dances at one of the competitions.

I went on a fieldtrip with Victoria last week. We went to the California/Oregon Trail museum at Montpelier, Idaho. School bus traveling at its finest! I rode the "girls" bus, which I was afraid would be unbearably loud, but turned out to not be too bad. Sound-cancelling headphones probably helped! The museum was interesting, except for the county museum in the basement and the DUP part upstairs. Then we stopped in Soda Springs so the kids could taste the natural soda water (I tried it a few years ago... never again!). Then we went to the Soda Springs geyser. In my opinion, it's a rip-off. Since it was having a negative impact on Old Faithful (stealing some of it's steam), the gov't made them cap it and put it on a timer. So now it "geyses" out of a short pipe (so much for "natural") every hour on the hour (but it's electronically timed). Then we went to a DUP museum in Soda Springs (boring). The kids all thought so, too. But it was fun to spend the day with Victoria. We did have fun!

Dance Fever

2009-04-19T18:15:00.005-06:00

Friday night. Mandi gets off work at 6:00. We leave at 7:00 for Kaysville. We get to Chris and Bruces at 9:30, after one bathroom pit stop. Mandi, Victoria, Sage (Mandi's friend), Susan and Rick. We at least had time to visit for a while in Kaysville. Had a fun stay there and left Saturday morning at 7:30 for Bonneville High School in Ogden for Mandi's dance competition (the first of 3 on consecutive Saturdays).

We got front row seats, which was nice so I could video her dances. The competition was well-run in the morning... they stayed about 2 minutes ahead of the schedule. Mandi's first dance (the blue outfit) went really well. They have a part where a bunch of the girls go out with silver rings and then drop them over themselves. They are like dryer vent hoses... really cool effect. You can check out the dance on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBDvkRJKAPI.

After lunch they got behind schedule and some rude people arrived. We had some friends with us and they were coming in the door and some chump Utahrd momma and her 3 noisy little brats pushed their books and things on the floor and sat down in their seats. We told her it was saved and the people sitting there were coming in and she just pretended not to hear us and stayed there. So we had to cram together and sit on the floor. I wish I had a hot McDonald's coffee to "spill" on her!

Anyway, Mandi's next dance went really awesomely, too. She is in the yellow in the middle at the start, and you can see it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZhkME6P-ZA . Her last one went just as well; it's at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbA7U-V_dE8 .

We left as soon as her last dance was done to rush home so she could get ready and go to prom. Got her home and ready and off and she had a great time. Anyway, quite a busy day.

We found out last night that her dance company (Downtown Dance Company) took first place in each division they competed in, took Judges Choice Award, and won first place Overall (they won the whole enchilada). They had a trophy there that was over 7 feet high, so I guess they have that in their dance studio in Blackfoot now.

Next week we are going down to Draper, Utah for a competition, and the following weekend she's got one in Idaho Falls. If anyone is in one of the neighborhoods and wants to stop in, give us a call!

2009-04-11T20:50:00.010-06:00

Dagon strikes his "Scary Tough Guy" pose!

Wow... two in two days. We went to an egg hunt at the church this morning. I didn't realize it, but it was also a breakfast for the ward. Which was kind of nice, as we got up in time to take Victoria to the egg hunt. She had fun and got a stash of candy, so she was happy.

Later we got Amanda to join us and we colored some Easter eggs. She wasn't thrilled about it, but she did join us and had a tolerably decent time. She even consented to being photographed, although she wasn't in her "going out and seeing people" attire. The older she gets, the less enthusiastic she becomes about family activities, for the most part. Oh, well... I think most of us went through that, whether we admit it or not. She is still a super-wonderful girl and an awesome daughter! She is now doing x-rays at the chiropractor's office where she works. Electrocution and irradiation of patients... why couldn't I get a fun job like that at 16???

Later Victoria said she wanted to fly a kite, which was odd because we haven't done that in ages. We had a sponge bob kite in the closet, so we got it out. We went out and it flew! I've never flown a kite that's stayed up for more than about 32.7 seconds, so it was kind of fun when Victoria kept it up for over 10 minutes. She had a blast!

Amanda went to the Junior Miss thing at the high school with her friend. I've stuck on a picture of that so you can see what Idaho kids travel in! :) Actually, it is the truck she was in for crash three of a few months ago. Instead of repairing the bed, they replaced it with the flatbed. So that s what her friend drives to school now. Gotta love it!

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

Conference, Elk Burgers, Work, and Family Woes

2009-04-10T19:47:00.003-06:00

Last week I had the chance to go down and work as Auxiliary Security at conference. I've done it for a couple of years now, mostly at conference but also at President Faust and President Hinckley's funerals. I missed last October, as it was a day after Dad's funeral and I was too hammered emotionally to do it.

I got to be in the conference hall (or whatever they call the main auditorium) for all the sessions. It was really neat to be there and feel the spirit as the bretheren (and some sisteren) spoke. We were ready for all sorts of problems and disturbances, but it went pretty well without a hitch (a few medical problems was all). No negative sustainings, no shouting, etc. I was in the balcony level (the top of the 3 levels). My section was interesting. During Saturday afternoon, it was the "make out" section. At least 15 dating couples and a few married couples spent most of the time swapping spit. Oh, that was gross-sounding! O.k., kissing. Two of the Guest Services sisters (elderly) commented on one couple to me and said, "If they're not married, they should be." I told them they weren't married, at least no rings, anyway. They said, "Then they'd better get married." I said, "I'll help them out." I went up to the couple, told the sister, "Sister, this good brother wanted me to ask you something for him." I dropped to one knee and said, "Will you be his eternal companion?" She looke at me, both of their mouths dropped, and she stammered a "No." Quite fun. I'd love to have heard the ensuing conversations.

During Priesthood session my section was the video arcade. Dozens of Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood brothers playing video games on their phones, DS's, etc. And those are the ones that were close enough for me to see the screens and see exactly what they were doing.

So, I'm just wondering, when you have the incredible opportunity to go to conference, why do you not pay attention to what is being said? I'm looking forward to the Ensign so I can read what I missed while I was otherwise engaged in my duties.

On the way down to SLC, I stopped at a place in Roy that was on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-In's and Dives (or whatever it's called). It's called the Burger Bar. They have these massive burgers as well as elk and buffalo burgers. I wanted an Elk burger, and boy, it was good! The fries and shake (definitely against my diet, but I figured I was in for the experience!) were o.k., but the elk burger was good. I really had to try to tell that it wasn't a beef hamburger, and even then it was tough to taste a difference. But it is really lean (only 2 grams of fat) (although I'm sure the sauce they put on them kicked that way up!). But it was quite tasty. There's another place in SLC that was on DDD and they are supposed to have awesome Philly style Steak and Swiss, but I'll wait for that one until Susan is with me, as I know she'll eat a Philly (she won't eat game, although I have bought buffalo meat on several occasions and not told her... for which I am now in trouble!).

I am trying to get a business going part-time doing real-estate photography. It's slow getting it going, but I've finally got some of the logins I need to put the pictures up. So I'm hoping it will take off. It's got good potential for some sweet extra income. I've just got to get a decent digital camera now....

As for family woes, Grandpa Pete (my mom's dad) has had some big problems lately. Grandma Pete has cancer, which has been controlled by chemo and radiation, but she's not sure if she's going to go on with that. I called Grandpa on Saturday night and he seemed kind of out of it about Grandma's medicine. I called my cousin Ira and he said Grandpa just worries and he would check on him. Monday the home-health nurse had them take Grandpa to the hospital. They thought he'd had a stroke, but it sounds now like it's a break-down of some sort. He's not doing well with his short-term memory or his thinking. So we're hoping he'll be o.k. eventually. They couldn't find anything physical to blame it on. I got a lot of this third hand, so I hope the info is fairly accurate.

Tom's daughter Allison has been in ICU in Orem. She has an illness that has been requiring some expensive treatments. The other day she was really weak and "crashed", to use Tom's word. They took her to the hospital and when I talked to Tom last, the doctors were just "strutting around acting like God and not telling them anything." So keep them in your prayers, if you would.

Well, I guess that should be a long enough post. Y'all take care!

Life, Cats and Dogs

2009-03-25T10:46:00.006-06:00

Amanda did an awesome job in CATS! She is an excellent dancer and did a remarkable job (I may be biased, but irregardless, she was spectacular!). I went 3 of the 6 nights and Susan was there for 4 nights and Victoria saw it a couple of nights. The school did a really good job with the whole performance. A lot of the photos I took of the play turned out blurry or too dark (usually both, actually!). So I'm going to try to get some photos out of the video (yes, I recorded the most of it!).

Victoria had a blast with the characters. She knew some of the kids, but even if she didn't, she would just run up and expect a picture, a hug, or both.

We got a bark collar off of e-bay for Dagon (the little terrier/chihuahua cross dog of ours) to see if we could get a stop put to his barking. I put it on him last night. Mandi's friend came over and Dagon started to bark. He got beeped, but didn't care. He got the next step up, which I don't even know if he felt. He barked again and got another level up and he stopped barking for a moment, then he started again, which kicked up to the next level (shocking collar, not the worthless supersonic sound thing). Well, he felt that one, then started to yelp because of the pain, which then kicked it up to the last shock level and he really yelped. I calmed him and it stopped and he was o.k. When Mandi's friend went to leave, he started in barking again and got zapped, zapped, and yelping. At that point I took it off and it won't go back on.

baracula

2009-03-23T11:25:00.000-06:00

CATS

2009-03-10T14:26:00.002-06:00

Snake River High School, which is Amanda's high school, is performing CATS (the musical, not the euthenasia project) next week, March 16-21, at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $5.00 each, and should be purchased in advance. If anyone is interested, give us a call! A trip to Idaho for a cultural event like this could really be worth it :)

2009-02-25T08:42:00.002-07:00

Last night Victoria and I (Susan got sick, so couldn't go) went to the Vienna Boy's Choir at the Blackoot Performing Arts Center. It was fantastic! It's incredible the sound those boys can get from their voices, and the way the blend with each other is incredible. They are really talented and have been taught well.

I last saw the VBC in 1982 in Salt Lake City. I took my mission papers to the church office building and then went to the concert. So I was really excited to see that they were coming to Blackfoot.

We had tickets on the third row. Victoria really enjoyed it. She took her friend, Hazel, with Susan's ticket. They were both very well behaved (this from a girl who can't quietly sit still in sacrament meeting!). According to Victoria, some of the boys were "hot." There were boys from Austria, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, United Arabs Emirates, Bosnia Herzogovina, Bulgaria, and other countries. One from the USofA. They age from 10 to 14, although some looked younger than that.

It has surprised me some of the concerts and things that have come to Blackfoot, Idaho. With a new performing arts center, it's been easier. There is also a new Mexican dance hall that has had some pretty major concerts. Mostly from foul-mouthed bands that are current top 40 groups (yes, I've worked a few of them, and it amazes me at the prevelance of the use of the "f word" in todays younger people. Of course, you only need to watch TV shows like the bachelor or ugly beauties and see how often they have to bleep and fuzz out the mouths of these supposedly attractive wastes of skin). (hmm... I guess I have an opinion, right???).

Anyway, having deviated from telling about a wonderful cultural experience, the Vienna Choir Boys did an incredible job. Most of the songs were in a foreign language, but it only enhanced the experience. One thing that I did notice was the depth of the classical music compared to the "pop" songs they sang (by their definition, "pop" is Chiqitita by Abba and I've Grown Accustomed to her Face, sung in German. I read somewhere that listening to classical music engages most of your brain, but modern music only needs a small portion of the brain to process.

Snowshoeing for Special Olympics

2009-02-22T08:34:00.004-07:00

On Friday Victoria and Susan left early in the morning to ride a school bus to Magic Mountain, near Twin Falls, Idaho. Victoria went to compete in regional Special Olympics in snowshoeing.

Vicki has been doing this for a couple of years now. She "trains" once a week and then just goes and runs her little heart out and has a blast. Last year I got to go to Sun Valley and spend two days with her while she competed. It was really fun. Victoria is so outgoing that she would just run up to anyone and make friends with them. We'd be walking around and she'd point to the National Guard people and say, "There's Sgt. Johnson!" and head over to say hi. They'd greet her by name and start talking to her. It was really funny; everyone knew her by name. She was the youngest competitor there. On the way to the venue the second day she went and sat right by the coach of the Chinese team (there were several foreign countries there, too). He gave her a gift and all day long the whole Chinese team would greet her when they saw her. I ran into Larry Plott, who was a volunteer there. I knew Larry from when I taught at the police academy; he was the director. I started talking to him and he asked why I was there. I told him my daughter was competing and she was the youngest one there. He said, "Victoria?" He knew her and started telling me stories about her! His wife came up and he introduced me as Victoria's dad. His wife started gushing about Victoria, too! The D.J. knew her and had her on the mic several times. It was really fun to see how she just made friends with everyone.

Anyway, this year was Susan's turn to go with her. They had a blast! Victoria got two first-place ribbons and a second-place ribbon. The funny thing is, I don't know if the kids even realize (or care) what place the ribbon is. They probably don't even realize that every kid in the race gets a ribbon! They just care that they are there and they are having fun. So much can be learned from them. They are "competing" but most don't care about winning. They are just having fun and that's all that matters. So different from the little league horror stories of parents duking it out or killing the coach or something.

Maybe we need to examine the importance we place on winning and competing and make kids sports (or other activities) more about playing to have fun. When Vicki was bowling last fall, the kids got just as excited over knocking over one pin as getting a strike (and actually, after the first 3 frames of zeros in game one, a pin was a pretty big deal! I didn't realize a bowling ball could travel the whole lane in 38 seconds and still knock something down).

What's This for Tera

2009-02-09T11:03:00.001-07:00

I told you it was a cell phone! ;-)

Check this out...

2009-01-25T17:29:00.003-07:00

Go to http://www.archive.org/details/the_new_three_stooges_the_noisy_silent_movie to see a Three Stooges movie animated by Chick Otterstrom (so they spelled it wrong!).

Enjoy!

2009-01-15T14:42:00.003-07:00

Things are getting back to normal after the Christmas holidays. I only worked one day during the Christmas break. Not that I planned that, but I got busy doing stuff that I didn't go in.

Susan and I both took yesterday off for my birthday. We went to Johnny Carino's for lunch. Then I barbecued some awesomely delicious steaks for dinner. Oh, they were good, too! Homemade bbq sauce. Then Susan made a cherry-chocolate cake. In between we got the mirror on the car repaired and dropped off and picked up kids from school. Got some reading done and rested. So a pretty good birthday.

Today Amanda woke up feeling horrible. Sore, swollen throat. Susan took her to the doctor and he said it was strep. Then the test for strep came back negative, which he said he isn't sure he believes. But she's on all sorts of meds and bed rest and a follow-up visit later this week. She's not to be dancing for a few weeks, which will kill her. She's getting ready for CATS at school and for competitions in her dance company, so she isn't going to want to take time off. I just hope she gets feeling better soon! I don't want her to be sick for her 16th birthday next week!

We are on the 12:30 church schedule now, thank heavens! It is so much easier with a teenager! I get a little more sleep, too.

Amanda and her Rather Awful Boxing Day

2008-12-26T23:04:00.003-07:00

Amanda has had a bad day. She was driving to a friends house this morning when a guy who was snow-plowing a parking lot backed into the roadway in front of them. Mandi hit the brakes, which produced a skid (the roads were ice) and she slid. They hit the truck and it damaged the passenger side mirror. That's it. It could have been so much worse! I went out and the guy gave me his info, said he'd pay. Then he and another guy started saying the girls were speeding (I really doubt it, as the Focus can't go quickly on icy roads without losing it), so I said, "I'm going to call the police and we'll let them check this out." The guy didn't want that (I guess he didn't know I was also the police). It's a work vehicle, so if he doesn't pay, I'll contact his employer (which I get the feeling he doesn't want to happen). Anyway, Mandi was shaken up. The mirror (side mirror, electric, the whole thing... can't get just the back cover) has to be replaced... $97.something plus labor. Geez, I thought the whole mirror assembly would have been a couple of hundred, and so did the parts lady. Lucky dude, I guess.

So, this evening Mandi's at a friends house. Susan and I are watching telly and reading. We hear someone at the front door and figure, "Mandi's home early." It was the father of her friend, who said that Amanda had been in another crash and his wife was driving them home. They'd been in town and were stopped at a red light in a turning lane. When the light went green, they turned and were hit by someone who ran the red light. It hit the truck right behind Mandi's seat. She bumped her head but otherwise is o.k. as far as we can tell. Messed up the truck, but it was driveable. So, I guess she's given her guardian angel a run for his money today!

The Day Before Christmas

2008-12-24T12:15:00.003-07:00

It's the Day before Christmas, and it is a white one. Blue skies, but white all over the ground and the roads. We're going to go to Olive Garden for Dinner and then to some friends. Later, we'll watch the DVD of Dad reading the Christmas Story and Mom reading The Night Before Christmas. I'm so glad we have that. Especially this year.

We wish all of you a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Lots of love,

Rick, Susan, Amanda and Victoria

Holiday Times

2008-12-22T23:47:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I pull up this blog thing and wonder why it looks so boring compared to my cousins' blog spots. I guess I need to spend some time learning to add photos and stuff to it.

Christmas is close. It's been a good season this year as well as a lousy one. I decided not to send out a Christmas letter this year. It would have been short. "2008 Sucked. Love, Us." It's different without Mom and Dad. I have found this a hard time of the year without them. Not like we are always down in Utah near them, but I miss calling them and knowing we will see them at Christmas time. Dad being Papa Claus. Mom's cooking. And of course, being with them. I guess the moral of this year is, don't miss out on family time while you have it. One never knows when it won't be available.

Our plans for Christmas have been messed up by Mother Nature. We planned to go to Utah for some family Christmas parties this past weekend, only to have our van in the shop for (long overdue) repairs and delayed parts as well as weather we wouldn't have travelled in in the car (Focus's (Foci?) don't do well on slick roads... they are all over the place even at low speeds, and the darn thing came without anti-lock brakes). So, we stayed home and are now snowed in with over a foot of snow. We've shoveled out our long driveway (garage to road, about 35 yards) by hand three times today... tomorrow a guy is coming in at $70.00 an hour to plow the heck out of it... worth it!

We'll have a white, Idaho Christmas. Maybe a Utah New Year if the weather is good.

But regardless of where you spend it, have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful new year! Hopefully 2009 will find me learning to do a better job on this blog. Now if I can add one of our family pictures.....

2008-11-05T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the election is over. Thank heavens that ends the commercials, mailers, phone calls, and all the other annoyances of our election process. It would be nice if the candidates would create one mailer with their stand on a pre-determined list of important topics. End the negativity, the mud-slinging, and the lying (like that will happen with politicians!). Inform us, stop bugging us. And if you are the media and want to know how I'm going to vote, wait and see what the election results are.

As to the results; I'm not thrilled. I think our country is about to get a whacking from a president who is too liberal and hasn't got the experience to lead our country. I think we are going to see a surge of terrorist attacks coming to our country and our citizens. I don't think obama will have the backbone to deal properly with that. And if he brings our troops home, he brings the terrorists to our homes, too.

Our local sheriff's elections went well... my boss stayed my boss. He's a good man. He's in the stake presidency in his stake and he is supportive of me and my job. I've fared better under him than under our previous sheriffs. If we could get rid of some of the incumbent county commissioners maybe the county government could move into the 21st century.

California's Prop 8 passed, thank heavens. It is good to see that, although we elected a bogus president, the majority of people in California still support that which is right. Evil has been kicked backwards a bit. The sanctity of the family is not to be defined by politicians and sinners. It says a lot for the importance of marriage and families that those living a deviant lifestyle still want it. I'm sure my cousins in California are happy with the outcome of all their hard work for the past few months.

Have a good one. I guess I need to get a format and some pictures on this and let people know it exists!

Now What???

2008-10-19T17:16:00.000-06:00

O.K. I've started a blog. Now I've got to decide what to do on it. I've been looking at some of my cousin's blogs and it doesn't look too tough. I'll have to get some pics ready and all and get it to make sense! So watch for more stuff to show up here. L8r!