A true hero

Last April, just a few days after the Boston Marathon bombings, Mark took this picture of me on the boat out to see the Statue of Liberty.

Luckily, I was sitting a row behind Mark and the kids.  I was sobbing.  I always get emotional when I see the Statue of Liberty, but I was a mess this particular day as the emotions of the terror attack combined with my love for the Statue and all she stands for turned me into one big crying mess.

The reason I love the Statue so much is because of my grandpa.  We have always loved to listen to his stories from WWII.  He was a decorated war hero.  And not the kind of hero who gets awards from calling the shots off far from combat.  He was right in the mess of everything--the Normandy invasion, the Battle of the Bulge, and his Hellcats was involved in the liberation of Buchenwald.  He told most of those stories without much emotion.  But one of the stories that always brought him to tears was the story of coming into NY harbor.

Here is a one-minute clip from a documentary my grandpa was interviewed for.  You can see where I learned to love the Statue of Liberty.

My Grandpa

My grandpa passed away yesterday morning at age 95 after a long and full life.  He was such an inspiration of faith and courage.  He and my grandma were married just days after Pearl Harbor, knowing full well that he would be drafted and sent off to war.  While my grandpa was in Europe for the war, my grandma stayed with her parents and raised the son they had together before Grandpa was sent overseas.  My grandpa commanded a squadron of M-18s across Europe, starting at Omaha Beach and ending on the east side of Germany 18 months later. Eventually they were reunited after the war's end and had 9 more children! The oldest of those 9 was my dad--the original baby boomer.

My friend sent me a message this morning about my grandpa that said, "What a sweet man who raised an even sweeter son."  That summed it up perfectly.  And it brought to mind a story.

My kids have a long list of stories my dad used to tell them.  These stories came to be known as "Bad Robert" stories about some of the mischief my dad got into as a kid.  Nothing major, just shooting windows out of a fish hatchery, installing a secret second phone through the basement ceiling, inadvertently causing a multi-car accident on 7th East when he was about 8, setting firecrackers up in the folding chairs of his sunday school class, and so on.  Just the kind of monkey business a child of the 50s could get into without getting caught.

My favorite story is about strawberries.

My dad was about 5, and by that time my grandma had a house full of four little boys.  My dad and his younger brother shared a bedroom just off of the kitchen.  Grandma sent the boys into their bedroom to take a nap one day, but she forgot about several cases of strawberries she had just purchased that she had left on the dresser in that room.  She was planning to make jam later that afternoon.  Well, a bunch of strawberries and 2 small boys in a closed room was a recipe for disaster.  First my dad and his brother started to eat the strawberries.  Soon my dad picked up a strawberry that was what he described as "Squooshy."  The squooshy-ness surprised him, and he flung the strawberry against the newly-wallpapered wall.  He was astounded by the awesome shape the strawberry made as it splattered against the wall.  He and his brother looked at each other, and they both knew what they had to do.  The rest of those strawberries were soon catapulted against the wall.  My dad said that if the berries were too firm, they would "pre-squoosh" them in their hands and then throw them at the wall--otherwise the berries just bounced off.  They loved watching all the shapes the berries made as they hit the wall and splattered all over.   Soon, Grandma could hear the commotion and laughter coming from the bedroom.  She opened the door and could not believe what she saw.  She started crying and scolded those boys.  She was so upset about the wasted berries, the jam that wouldn't be, and also the incredible mess that she now had to clean up.  She didn't know what to do with the boys, so in exasperation she said, "You just wait until your father gets home and see what he does with you."

Grandpa was a bricklayer, and arrived home at the end of a long day of physical labor.  He was dirty, sweaty and tired.  Grandma told him what mischief the boys had gotten into that day.  Grandpa marched the boys into the bedroom to see the damage.  The boys were expecting the worst, but my grandpa surprised everyone.  He started laughing.  Hysterically laughing at what his sons had thought up to do with those berries.  He laughed at the mess.  He laughed at the patterns the berries had made on the wall.  He laughed at the trouble the boys had caused their mother.  Through his laughter, he said, "I wish I had done something like that when I was a boy."  What an example of love.  He knew that the mess was temporary, that there would be another day for strawberry jam, but that his reaction to the situation would leave an everlasting imprint in the minds and hearts of his boys.   To him, life was about much more than strawberries smashed on a wall.  It was about family, forever, true love, and fun.

Aubrey's blog

Aubrey made a blog ( dearsavvy.blogspot.com ) so we can see all the fun adventures she will have this year at college.  She and Savvy are the best sisters ever, and it is going to be sad to not have them together anymore.  Her first post is for Savanna, but it is so cute I had to share it here.

College adventure

We are in Logan this week taking Aubrey to USU.  It has been a fun adventure so far.

On our first morning at the hotel, Savanna lost her brand new retainer in the trash.  She and Aubrey did a little dumpster diving and saved the day when they found it at the absolute bottom of the trash.

Later that day at lunch, Zachary was complaining about how he couldn't eat his corn on the cob because his loose tooth was causing him pain.  Mark reached over and in about 1/10 of a second, twisted the tooth right out.  No blood, no pain.  Zack was one happy dude.

We all made it safe and sound, and a little squished.  In order to not drive two cars to Utah, we shipped Aubrey's stuff via UPS, and then everybody got one small bag and we drove my car.  It was very cozy, especially because Aubrey couldn't live without her guitar, which took up almost all the cargo room behind the back seat.   But we survived.

 We all survived the journey, but Aubrey's boxes didn't do as well.  I bought moving boxes at Home Depot.  That was not the best idea.  Aubrey's boxes all did make it to our hotel, but they were absolutely destroyed.  I don't blame UPS at all, because one of the 4 boxes was a Nordstrom box, which was just as packed full and just as heavy, but it arrived without a scratch.  Miraculously, all of Aubrey's things made it.... at least she hasn't noticed anything missing yet.  The lesson is that Home Depot boxes may be inexpensive, but they are garbage and nobody should ever use them for shipping anything.

Savanna helped Aubrey get all moved into her room and to get things organized.  If anyone ever needs help organizing, just talk to Savvy.

We got Aubrey all moved in on Saturday just in time to attend Cache Valley's annual cultural event, The Cache Bash.  I had not ever been to a demolition derby before.  It was fun, but very, very loud.  It was incredible how absolutely crammed the stands were.  Everyone in town was there!

I admit that it was hard for me to watch the crashes.  It just hurt my tummy to see people racing toward each other on purpose.  Eventually I got more comfortable watching, and by the final round I was cheering for a black Impala.  One thing we learned is that old station wagons are pretty tough, and so is an old Impala.

 Coming from Nike Town, and the land of Pre, we decided to go check out the university track.  It wasn't very easy.  The track is crammed somewhere between the football training field, a giant parking lot for the football stadium, and a soccer field.  There was one tiny set of bleachers.  It was no Hayward Field.  But it was a nice track!  The kids took a lap and practiced their high jumps.

 Mark is loving the trees on campus.  So much variety.  He taught the kids how to tell a juniper tree from a cypress tree by looking at their berries.  They thought it was pretty cool.

 Then the kids climbed the pine trees.  Yes, they are pine trees, and not fir, hemlock or spruce trees.  The kids can tell you all about why pine trees are the best for climbing.

Today we had some fun, played UNO, ate waaaaay too much food at the cafeteria.  That Aggie Ice Cream is just so good you keep going back for me.

 Noah got a haircut at the official campus barber shop.

 Aubrey has met new friends, and is having lots of fun being a college student.  She met us for lunch today, but is pretty much into her groove and doing her thing.  Which is awesome, because that's what we came here for.  It will be sad to say goodbye, but we are so happy that she is here and learning what college is all about.

YW Fun

When the strawberries were in season at the beginning of June, we had a YW night where we made freezer jam.  A lot of freezer jam.  Basically I made the girls make my jam, and I sent them each home with a container to share with their families.  It was a great night.

Each year, my week at YW camp is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  This week, my unexpected trip to Utah for my dad's funeral made it so I had to miss most of the week at camp, but I made it for the last day.  My job at camp is to be the raft guide, and the last day we have a course set up in the river that the girls have to do in a raft without me in the back yelling at them to paddle left, paddle right, etc.   They were awesome, and after the week I had had, it was so nice to be at the river and with my girls again.  I had time after the groups had all gone through to just sit in a raft on the river and think about everything.  It was beautiful and peaceful.

A couple of weeks after YW camp, we actually went camping for 2 nights.  Not the kind of camp where you sleep on a mattress in a cabin and walk to the dining hall to eat your delicious meal that the kitchen staff made for you.  I'm talking about sleeping in a tent, cooking everything outdoors and really roughing it.  Well, if flushing toilets and warm showers count as roughing it, that's what we did.  It was a blast.

Tinfoil dinners are my favorite.  Beef, zucchini, onions, carrots, potatoes, all roasted to perfection.

I loved swimming in the lake.  Savvy is not in YW yet, but she thinks she is.  She pretty much tags along on every activity and we all love it.

 I seriously love to cook outside.

The view of the lake from up above was just amazing.  It was a really fun camping adventure!

 For years Aubrey has been begging to have a cupcake fight for an activity.  I kept shutting her down, but for her very last activity, I finally let her have her way.  The girls brought unfrosted cupcakes, and I just swirled cool whip on the tops rather than wasting perfectly good buttercream frosting.  It was very messy, and the girls loved it.  We set up plates of cupcakes all over the grass, and the girls all started in a bunch and when we said go, they ran for the cupcakes.  I think the most fun part was watching them hose each other off.

We will see what kind of excitement the fall brings.  I'm not into fancy froo-froo stuff for YW.  We have learned lots of useful skills and had a lot of fun this year, though.  I love my girls.  And I love the women who work with me to make the magic happen for the girls.

Foot Traffic Flat

One exciting thing that happened this summer was the Foot Traffic Flat.  We run it every year, and it is a great race.  You should totally come visit me and run it next 4th of July.  It really is a flat race, and there is fresh strawberry shortcake at the finish line!

I had really not trained the last month as I should have.  My trip to Utah for my dad's funeral put a real damper on running.  I would head out to run, and I would just end up crying.  I did enjoy a few short runs through my old Skyline stomping grounds while we were there, but there wasn't much training going on.  I was terrified of the half marathon that morning, and my only goal was just to NOT walk.

Two of my teacher friends also ran the half marathon.  I made matchy 4th of July headbands for us.  I ran the first 8 miles with one friend, and then she stopped to stretch a bit.  I kept on going.  Friends don't wait for friends when it is a race.  We all met up at the end to celebrate !  Yay for teachers who run together!

I ended up running the entire race without walking.  It was very slow, but I kept a steady 10:30 minute pace--like a slug, but I was steady and able to make it through the entire race in 2:18:59.

Savanna and Aubrey ran the 5k together.  Aubrey had a Boston shirt, and we tried to find one for Savanna.  They wanted to match.  We ended up buying a white tank top and painting the Boston B on there for Savvy.  The two girls ran step by step together, until the last 10 yards when Savvy elbowed Aubrey out of the way and ran right in front of her to finish first!

Noah also ran the 5k.  He finished in 28 minutes without doing any training!

 Mark finished his half marathon in 1:27.  He was super fast, so he and the 5k runners got their medals and then waited for Joel and me to finish our races.

 Mark is so fast and super cute.

 Joel finally beat me at a half marathon.  He ran a 2:06.  He is an awesome runner.  His hair looked super cool.  The night before we had been at a family reunion and Joel did his hair in a super crazy fashion for the family photo.  He used a lot of gel.  Then he got up with major bedhead and ran the race.  His sweat mixed with the gel to make his hair stand up in an electrifying and cool style.  It made him run really fast.

We are planning to run it again next year.  It's the best way to kick off the 4th of July!

My Dad....again

Life has just been too crazy and emotional for me to sit down and think about all the stuff that has happened in the past few months.

In April, I survived a terrorist bombing.
In May, I sent my oldest kid on a mission for 2 years.
In June, my perfectly-healthy and super-fit dad suddenly passed away at age 66.
July was relatively uneventful.  A family reunion, half-marathon, scout camp and a high adventure.
Now it's August and we are taking Aubrey to college in Utah.

My heart has had just about enough.  But life goes on, kids grow up, people we love pass away.  We knew life would be full of joys and sorrows, and this is exactly what we are on earth for.

This aching heart is part of the earth experience we signed up for.  Along with the happy and joyous feelings of the heart, the sorrow and pain is necessary for us to truly learn everything we need to learn.   I loved this message from David A. Bednar

"Our physical bodies make possible a breadth, a depth, and an intensity of experience that simply could not be obtained in our premortal existence. Thus, our relationships with other people, our capacity to recognize and act in accordance with truth, and our ability to obey the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ are amplified through our physical bodies. In the school of mortality, we experience tenderness, love, kindness, happiness, sorrow, disappointment, pain, and even the challenges of physical limitations in ways that prepare us for eternity. Simply stated, there are lessons we must learn and experiences we must have, as the scriptures describe, “according to the flesh”

I know that the emotions I have felt over the past months have given me experiences and opportunities I would not have had otherwise.  I'm trying to find the blessings in all of this and to become better, stronger and more loving because of it.

If my kids grew up to be losers who just wanted to live in my basement and take classes at the community college up the road, I would be heartbroken forever.  The heartbreak of sending your kid away for 2 years or your awesome daughter to college are very temporary, and are soon outweighed by the joys of seeing them become outstanding, responsible, caring, serving adults.  Abram's emails from Mexico are the most exciting thing in my life as I read about the love he has for the Mexican people he is serving.  I can't wait to start hearing about Aubrey's adventures in Logan as she gets to experience her freshman year of college.

If my dad had been just sort of there, rather than the greatest, coolest, funnest, smartest, most involved dad ever, my heartbreak at his unexpected passing would not have been so great.  But I will take that heartbreak knowing that he is now a guardian angel for my family.  He taught me how to love and how to make life exciting, and now it's my job to play that role in the lives of my kids while my dad watches us from heaven.  I know that he is in Mexico watching over Abram, he will be there for Aubrey when she needs help or comfort.   He is there with my mom and siblings as we try to navigate this world without our fanny-packed tour guide.  He will still be a part of all of our special occasions.  He lives in us.  And as great as our grief is that he is not here with us now, our joy at seeing him again will be more wonderful than I can even imagine.  It will all be worth it in the end.

I wrote about my dad just 2 days before he died.  I am so happy that I shared what I had written with him before he died.  He loved it, and it brought back so many great memories for both of us.  And because I shared it with him before he died, I feel like God blessed me to be able to say goodbye to my dad.  When I wrote it I had no idea my dad would be gone two days later, but I cried and cried as I wrote it.  When it can time to plan the funeral, I felt like I had already written a talk just for it.  I added some things to it and read it at his funeral.  I have since added a few more things.

 I love my dad.  He taught me the names of the mountains, stars, clouds and rocks.  He taught me how to forecast the weather--my lifelong passion.  He even arranged for Santa to bring me a barometer for Christmas when I was eleven.   He taught me to love science.  He taught me to love languages.  He taught me to sing "Stille Nacht," "O Tannenbaum," and to be good for the Weihnachtsmann.  He taught me to love people no matter what they look like. He taught me how to read a map and find my directions no matter where I am.  He taught me to pray for comfort on nights when I couldn't sleep because I was sure the Russians were coming to bomb us.  He taught me to be courageous as he, with a smile on his face, battled colon cancer and then liver cancer--and won.  He taught me how to do word searches and how to build a fire.  He taught me to love the music of the 60's, and how to harmonize a song as we sang them in the car.  He taught me the stories of the Old Testament heroes.  He taught me that Root Beer is the perfect drink for all occasions, and that dinner is not complete without a loaf of bread on the table.  He taught me that the Smothers Brothers and Pink Panther were the height of comedy.  He taught me the stories of Br'er Rabbit, The Five Chinese Brothers and the Fisherman and His Wife.  He taught me to ride a bike, to change a tire, to plant a garden and how to type.  He taught me to love camping and hiking, and that the best place to sleep in the summer is outside.  He taught me to never go anywhere without a first aid kit, a flashlight or a pocketknife, and that fanny packs can be cool.  He slept with us in the living room so he could wake us up at 2AM to see the eclipse of a lifetime through viewers he had crafted himself.  He made my childhood awesome.   But most of all, he taught me through his life and his faith that should a day ever come when we had to say goodbye, everything would be fine and we would be together again.