Hyrum's First Recital

Alright! I've been looking forward to this post for a while! The hard part is going to be deciding which pictures to post since I have way too many.

Hyrum started taking piano lessons through ISU from a friend of mine in February. I felt a little bad that we didn't get him started right at the beginning of the semester, but we had other things on our minds. Since he hadn't been playing as long as the other students, I was surprised when his teacher asked me if he could play in the recital at the end of April. We asked Hyrum if he would like to perform, and he excitedly said yes. As it turns out, he loves performing.

He prepared one of the earliest and easiest songs he learned since we were afraid that he would stop and start over if he messed up. He tends to be a perfectionist, and won't just pick up where he made the mistake and carry on.

Because he was the most beginning of all the beginner students in the recital, he went first. I couldn't keep myself from smiling as Dr. Bond announced Hyrum and he took the stage. He played well and didn't make any mistakes. He even turned to look the audience to make sure they were listening as he played. He wasn't even the slightest bit nervous! He smiled at the applause as he took his bow. I don't know where he gets his courage from . I hate performing!

I wanted to get pictures of Hyrum at the piano after the recital, so I took him back on stage and asked him to play something. Instead of playing one quick song, he played through all the songs he had learned so far. He had every song memorized. I don't know why it surprised me--this is Hyrum, after all! He played for almost a half hour. I halfheartedly asked him to hurry up or told him that he should play just one more, but the truth was, I was enjoying how much he loved playing on the stage. Plus, I was getting tons of great pictures! And speaking of pictures...

Hyrum and his teacher, Stephanie.

Our family.

A more accurate representation of our family.

Since Hyrum went first, Stephanie was able to give him some last minute instruction on the stage.

This one is a little dark, but I love Hyrum's half smile.

This is how most of the photo session went. I'd get a serious picture of him playing...

Then he'd notice I was taking pictures, and give me a goofy grin.

Serious

Smiley

Such a big instrument for such a little boy.

There are plenty more pictures on my Facebook profile that I didn't include in this post. They're all good, so I suggest you go take a look!

Hyrum enjoyed his recital so much that he signed up for talent show try outs at school a couple of weeks later. He came home after his try out upset that he had messed up and wouldn't get to play in the show. I guess he's as hard on himself as I am on myself because I got a call from his teacher a few days later telling me that he was going to play. I hope he continues to enjoy the piano throughout his life.

Car Accident

We woke up to a big snow storm on February 25th. I left for school early, knowing that traffic would be slow due to the slick roads. The roads were even worse than I had first thought, so I was only going about 5-10 mph. As I came up to the stop sign at the end of the road, I knew that I would have to stop early. I tried to slow down several yards ahead, but not only was the car not stopping, it wasn't even slowing. The street that ran perpendicular to ours was a major road and the intersection was right next to a grade school, so I wasn't surprised to see a minivan coming straight at me.

The van was only going about 20 mph, but I could see from the look on the driver's face that she had no control over her vehicle. I turned my car toward the shoulder of the road to lessen the impact, but the front of the van still hit the front of my car,

then fish tailed and hit the back of my car.

It then slid across the oncoming lane, through a fence,

through another fence and a hedge,

then hit a railroad tie, broke its back axle, and came to a rest in a flower garden after having driven through two yards.

The police determined that nobody was "at fault" due to severe weather conditions and didn't give any inattentive or reckless driving tickets. I think the fact that both officers slipped on the road and fell on their behinds helped my cause. However, according to the insurance agencies, someone had to be at fault. And of course, since I was the one who didn't stop at the stop sign, my insurance shouldered the cost. Thank goodness I had full coverage on the Hyundai! Costs of repair to just our car was almost $6900. The car was in the shop for over a month! The van was totaled due to the broken axle. I didn't get an exact figure on the cost to replace the van or on the property damage for the yards, but they told me the total figure came to over $10,000. Although the deductible was $500 we didn't have, we happily paid it, knowing that it could have been a lot worse.

January Randomness

January brought a new semester of school. We also got rid of our black cat Buyo because of behavior issues. We were sad to get rid of Buyo, and Diaho mourned the loss of his best friend for weeks. Eventually, we got a new tortoise shell cat, Kagome. Kagome was a rescue who had been hanging around a house where several large, aggressive dogs lived. She was still a kitten, but was getting older and was scheduled to be put down later that week if nobody adopted her. She looked so much like my mom's sweet cat Goldie that she instantly stole my heart. She turned out to be a wonderful cat! She was petite, dainty, well behaved, and affectionate but also playful and feisty! She had a few eccentricities such as chasing bottle caps and licking Mike's hair, but they only made her more endearing. Even Diaho was happy to have her in our home. She was the perfect fit in our family. Sadly, I don't have many pictures of videos of Kagome. She was only with our family for a short time before she passed away in May from unknown causes.

My step-dad Sherwin has a wood shop out in his shed. Every now and then, he tinkers with things such as the sunflower lawn decoration he made for my mom one year. His latest project has been making what he has called "tone boxes" for his and Mom's grandkids. He makes them out of different types of hard wood, so no two look the same. The one he gave to Hyrum and Emily is made of cedar and walnut and looks as beautiful as it sounds. He wrote a short message on the underside and signed it for them. Both kids love playing it, and Emily enjoys making up songs to sing as she plays. I'm sure the kids will always treasure it, and there just might be a fight about who gets to have it when they're grown.

Weddings

The end of December and beginning of January brought my 31st birthday and weddings. Two of Mike's nieces got married within a week of each other. Their mother must have been going crazy trying to plan and organize! We weren't able to attend Caryssa's wedding due to weather conditions, but we made it to Ashley's on January 7th.

Brock and Ashley were married in the Salt Lake temple. Mike and I were excited to attend the ceremony since we haven't been back to the SLC temple since our own wedding. Unfortunately, Mike's recommend was expired, and mine was left at home. We tried to make some quick phone calls to my bishop and stake president to verify my recommend so that at least I could attend, but the process took too long. Instead, we waited with the kids in the designated waiting room until the family came out for pictures.

We had a nice visit with Mike's family, including two of his brothers who live far enough away that we only see them every couple of years. Both newlywed couples looked happy and completely oblivious to the world outside their own--just the way newlyweds should look!

There was a beautiful reception that night in Wyoming. Everyone danced. I got video of nearly everyone, although a few people managed to dodge the camera. My kids had a blast dancing, particularly Hyrum. I have no idea where he learned to "dance" like that, but he had me laughing so hard that I didn't have time to worry about whether or not he was putting holes in his suit. Although I love the scenes of Hyrum dancing, I have to say that my favorite parts of this video are Mike and my brothers-in-law dancing with their daughters. Too sweet! <3

Fall Update #5 - Lost Teeth and Cats

Mike and I started school again this fall. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun. Well, at least it's fun for me. We're both feeling a bit burnt out now that we've hit midterms. I sure hope we survive!

Hyrum's new school wanted us to get him evaluated by a psychologist so he could be admitted into the speech and occupational therapy programs. We've known for a long time that he is probably on the autistic spectrum, but we had never gotten him a diagnosis since the school districts in Nampa and Shelly had no problem putting him in the correct programs without a diagnosis. We took him to a series of psychological evaluations and interviews. The whole process took a couple of months. When it was finally all over, he was given the diagnosis of PDD-NOS, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder - not otherwise specified. It's often referred to as "atypical autism." In other words, he has a lot of the symptoms of autism and a lot of the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome, but doesn't have enough of either one to qualify for either diagnosis. For example, kids with autism often have behavioral issues. Hyrum doesn't. He does have speech difficulties consistent with an autism diagnosis. Someone with Asperger's Syndrome usually has normal speech. However, most of his behavior and cognitive development is consistent with an Asperger's diagnosis. What this all means is that Hyrum is on the autistic spectrum, but that they don't have a term or a definition for what he has. He is very high functioning, and is closer to Asperger's Syndrome than to autism. I believe the school was hoping for a specific diagnosis in order to qualify him for in-school speech. I really hope that they won't keep him out of the programs he needs just because he doesn't fit into any of their neat little boxes. The psychologist did recommend that he be put in speech at school, and also recommended he be in occupational therapy although he doesn't qualify for it through any disability. So far, his school has been lousy about working with us. I sure hope they cooperate in this. The doctor provided us with a letter to take to the school requesting that he be put in these programs, so I imagine that ought to be enough for them. There have been a lot of "issues" at this school, but that's another rant for another time.

My mom recently had the first of two knee surgeries. She was stuck at home for a long time, and I'm sure was bored out of her mind! Emily, on the other hand, thought that using a walker was a lot of fun!

While we were visiting my mom, Hyrum finally got brave enough to ask her to pull out a tooth that had been loose for a couple of weeks. He didn't cry or flinch or anything! I was so proud. The next morning, he was so exited to tell us that the Tooth Fairy had come to visit him that night!

Sherwin and I had a good time teasing my mom about her wide open mouth as she demonstrated to Hyrum how to open up.

Toothless Hyrum! (Try to ignore the blood beneath his nose. We didn't wash his face after pulling the tooth.)

This picture has nothing to do with Hyrum getting his tooth pulled. I just think it's hilarious! Hyrum was trying to look and act tough, but that is just not his personality.

About one week after losing his first tooth, Hyrum lost his second one right next to it. Now he has a big gaping hole in his bottom row of teeth. He's quite proud of it!

This video has nothing to do with anything. I thought I'd include it for those of you who didn't catch it on my Facebook page. Just Emily being silly and cute. She's a pro at hide-and-seek!

The next bit of news is sad for us. We returned home from our family reunion in McCall to a very sick cat. DeeDee, as far as we could see, hadn't eaten since we had left, and she had lost her voice. We weren't too concerned at first because she would often get depressed when we'd leave her at home alone for a few days, but she'd always snap out of it. After a week of her not eating or drinking, we took her to the vet. She was given an IV of fluids which gave her a large humped back like a camel. She seemed to do alright for a few days, but still refused to eat or drink. We eventually started forcing water down her throat with a medicine dropper, but we couldn't do much about the food. We tried chicken broth since we could force feed that to her, but she would refuse to swallow and let it run out the sides of her mouth. After another week or so, we took her back to the vet for another IV--enough fluids to literally turn her into a kitty water balloon--and an antibiotic. She seemed to respond a little and perk up after the antibiotic, and she finally started eating again. However, she only ate barely enough to sustain herself, and still wouldn't drink. Over the next couple of weeks, she lost so much weight that she became nothing more than a skeleton. Eventually she got to the point where she couldn't even stand up anymore.

After a lot of crying, Mike and I decided it was time to put her down. We hated watching her die so slowly and painfully before our eyes. After school, we took her to the vet one last time. Emily, luckily, had spent the night at my mom's house, but Hyrum came with us. We tried to explain to him what was going on, but I don't think he really understood until after we came home without her. At the vet, we told him to tell her goodbye, but he refused, saying he didn't want to lose her. Eventually, he did say goodbye. Mike decided to stay with her as she was given the shot, but I just couldn't stand to stay. As I handed her over the the vet, she tried with all the strength she had left to climb up my chest and lay her head on my shoulder. It was hard to pull her away, but I knew I didn't want to watch her die, and I knew I didn't want Hyrum to see it. Out in the lobby, another cat came over to sit with Hyrum. He pet it, and smiled, but then told me, "It's not the same as DeeDee. I want to see DeeDee again." I had to explain that it was too late to see her now.

We found out that there is a gene that all cats are born with, but lies dormant in some cats, while it activates in others. It causes the organs to shut down one by one until the cat can no longer function. She was experiencing kidney failure at the time of her death. It was a really difficult day for us. I know Mike's family won't really understand. Mike's the only one who even likes cats, and that's only since he's been married to me. We had DeeDee for 10 years. She was a wedding present to me from Mike, but she was a family cat. I've had a lot of cats, but she was one of the best I've ever had, and we miss her terribly.

Several months ago, a friend of mine pointed out to me that I have made lots of videos of the kids, but none of DeeDee. I started recording short videos of her only a few weeks before she got sick thinking that I would one day piece together a video. After she got sick, I figured it was time to make the movie. It's not quite what I would have liked to do if she had been healthy enough for me to get all the shots I wanted, but I didn't want any videos of her when she was so skinny and weak. I think it does a fairly good job showing her personality, although I wish I could have gotten better shots of her sweet, loving side. I think the song has very cute lyrics, so I included the translation in the subtitles.

Last week, we took the kids to a pet adoption sponsored by the Bannock County Humane Society. Hyrum picked out a black kitten because DeeDee was black. I'm sure if there had been a black and grey tabby at the adoption fair, he would have picked it. Emily picked out a tiny Siamese kitten. I was so proud of her when another family came along specifically wanting a Siamese. Her kitten was the only one there, and we had already signed adoption papers for it. The other family begged her to let them have the kitten. She didn't want to give him up, but eventually decided on her own that it was the right thing to do to let them have him. In its place, she picked out an orange kitten which was friends with the black one Hyrum picked. One of the shelter workers paid part of the adoption fees so that we could afford to get both kittens since the two of them were inseparable. It was pretty cute when we got the kittens. One of the workers at Petco had become quite attached to the black kitten because it looked like his cat. He showed us a picture of his cat on his phone and began to tear up as he told us how grateful he was that we were giving the kitten a good home. He became even more emotional when the shelter workers told him we were adopting his orange friend as well. He kept thanking us over and over.

So far, our kittens don't have any names. They're starting to respond to "Orange Kitten" and "Black Kitten," so I think we need to get them real names ASAP. Any suggestions?

"Orange Kitten"

"Black Kitten"

Should I get an AIDS shot?

Should I get an AIDS shot?

A quick 5 minutes in Mike's thought process

(title in 1st person, subtitle in 3rd, narrative in 1st)

This was the concluding question after a few brief minutes I had with myself this morning. Usually even I can't trace back where my thoughts originate from -- Jessica has that talent to a T (is it "T" or "tee"?). However, this time was different, and I thought I'd share it with you, reader:

• We begin by looking over Jessica's shoulder as she completes her morning facebook activities. She found a facebook page for A Little Town called Rigby, Idaho and was sharing a few memories she had of Rigby in the olden days (read: 80's).  It's "profile" image is that of an old sign continuing the towns claim to the "Birthplace of Television," as it was the residency of one Philo T. Farnsworth.

• It was this sign that got the University of Idaho Fight song as sung by Bing Crosby in my head while on my way to the shower (I had had a bath at midnight the night previous, but I wanted to rinse and use conditioner this time).
• While in the shower, another old song popped into my head: the women's baseball song that was sung during the movie A League of Their Own.
• After a few un-lyrically correct renditions of the song, I wondered why the character who Madonna played ("All-the-way Mae," a self-redeeming prostitute) was still alive upon the reunion of the characters when the Women's Baseball Hall of Fame was opened up.  Should she have not contracted an STD of some sort?
• Maybe her frequent activity of her past profession caused an immunity to such a disease?
• ...I mean, studies show that major decreases in cancer are avoided by persons in professions which give more than average exposure to radiation (Reactor & Accelerator  Operators, Pilots and Plane Stewardesses, etc), as well as residents in the Cobalt-60 reinforced apartment buildings in Taiwan.  Even Advil gives you added benefits of increased white blood cell defense (without overdosing, in either case, of course).
• So, should I be seeking an AIDS strain?

Bad Logic FTW!

Topics for next week (read: probably never):

• Why Mike likes bullet points.
• If physics studies the interaction of matter and energy, kinetics, waves, light, sound... why don't we ever study "smell?"
• Should I change my name to Michael? (geez, Mike/chael, stick to a narrative form, will ya?)
• Is a nuclear powered car achievable? (inspired by Toshiba's home nuclear power plant)

• Jessica pointed it out... do I my professor's pronounce it "new-CLEE-er"? And why do I?

Jessica's Birthday and New Year's

My birthday was December 31st, and I turned 30 this year. It's funny because I don't think of other people in their 30s as being old, but when it's me...

We had a small party at home on my birthday. Hyrum and Emily got me a necklace. Mike got me some gloves, a hair dryer, and an antenna for our tv. The best part of the day was when I went to see my mom at work and my step-dad was there. You'd think my kids would know Sherwin well enough to know that he loves to tease, but I guess Emily is just too gullible. For your enjoyment, here's the condensed conversation.

Sherwin: Well, it's your mom's birthday. Should we give her birthday spankings?

Emily: NOOO!! Don't give her spankings! She'll be good and happy, so please don't give her spankings, Grandpa!

Everyone in the credit union could hear her panicked yelling. One guy in the corner was trying to pretend he wasn't eavesdropping, but his whole body was shaking from suppressed laughter. Most people openly laughed and commented on how cute the kids were. It made my day.

New Year's Day brought with it a lot of snow. In response to this, my mom issued a challenge to all her kids and some of Sherwin's. The contest? Who could build the best snowman! We took on the challenge along with Mom and Sherwin and Dale. I was jealous of the kids' new snow pants and grateful for my new gloves by the end of the very cold and wet day. As always, if you want more pictures, they can be found on Facebook.

And the finished product:

Ta-da! It's a cat, in case you were wondering.

Meow!

Now, lest you snowman purists out there say, "That's not a snowman, it's a cat!" yes. We know. However, it was constructed in the traditional 3 part fashion. The hind quarters were the largest ball, the medium one is the shoulders, and the smallest is, of course, the head. Mike named him "Dave" since his brother loves cats so much. Here is my mom and Sherwin's entry.

RAWR! It's a bear.

...with a golf club.

I'm guess the bear didn't have a great game. He looks a little upset. Dale had piled up some snow to make a sculpture, but hadn't gotten any farther before the deadline. So, who do you think won? Comments?

Although this didn't happen on either my birthday or on New Year's, it's still worth mentioning. Dave and Hilerie, if you're reading this, you might want to skip down to the next part. BSU beat TCU in a great Fiesta Bowl! Congrats Broncos!

Well, now the holidays are over. Hyrum is back in school, and Mike and I start the semester tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Fun at the Park

Last week, we took the kids to Settlers Park. I had a request to post pictures of us there, so here they are!

Although Emily was excited to wear her swimsuit, she wasn't too happy about actually going in the water. She was a good sport about it though.



This picture is a little deceiving. Although you can see her by the water, she wouldn't go in, but sat on the sides crying.


This is a much more accurate picture of our little drama queen.


She enjoyed riding on Dad's shoulders until....


It's a little hard to see because of all the water, but poor little Emily is still on Dad's shoulders here.


What a mean dad!

Hyrum, however, had a blast!





After playing in the water, we moved on to the other activities at the park. (Settlers Park is such an awesome park!)


They had added a lot to the park since I had been last summer. One of the attractions was climbing rocks. Mike wanted us to see them since he had worked hard on the contract for them. Hyrum climbed some of the smaller rocks, but was afraid to climb any higher. I guess I can't blame him. It would be hard to climb in flip flops.



Mike climbed to the top with Hyrum yelling at him to be careful and come down the whole way.

After the climbing boulders, we headed over to the section with giant musical instruments. You would think that they might be loud and obnoxious, but all the instruments made mellow soothing sounds that echoed over the park and created a nice ambiance as the kids played them. Even the drums! The kids loved this part of the park despite the fact that it's one of the few things that Mike's company didn't sell to them.








One of the things that Settlers Park boasts is one of the largest playgrounds I've ever seen which they call "Adventure Island." There are actually 2 parts to it. A smaller playground that looks like a castle, and a larger one which is a ship. I know that seems backwards, but hey, I didn't design it that way! Both kids love playing on playgrounds. Emily is getting big enough that she enjoys some of the smaller things like climbing the stairs, going through tunnels, and the occasional slide. Hyrum is much more daring, and tries it all! Mike had me stay with Emily on the smaller playground while he took Hyrum to the larger one, so I don't have many pictures of Hyrum from this section. You'll just have to take my word for it that he had a ball and was cute. Also that the ship is is pretty awesome with features like communication tubes so you can talk to your friends on the other side.








Last was swings and, luckily for readers who get sick of me bragging about my cute kids, my camera died. So I leave you with two more picture.