Gratitude

My mission president passed away this past week and I miss him dearly.  I haven't seen him, or his wife and family, since they finished their mission 14 years ago.  They came up from Brazil for a mission reunion last spring and I longed to be there but the end of residency did not allow that to happen.  Marcos Prieto, along with my Father and brothers, is a man of profound influence in my life.  Much of what I am and hope to be I learned from this man and I was deeply saddened to hear of his passing.  I have wet my pillow not a few times over the past week praying for his wife and children and I am secure in the knowledge that the Lord will bless them for his service.

In this state I have been able to think of some of the many blessings in my life.

I am grateful that cancer didn't take my dad.  I wasn't here when he was diagnosed nor did I see him during his year of chemo, but I am reminded of the miracle that is his remission every day I see his former patients who never forget to ask how my dad is doing.  I love telling people that he is 3 years free of cancer, and I love living 2 doors from my parents.  I have taken my parents for granted my whole life and thanks to modern medicine I look forward to continuing to do that for quite a few years to come.

I am grateful that after a decade and a half of living away from Cedar I am back and living in the same town as my brother.  I go running with my brother three mornings a week and though it is still difficult to pull myself out of bed on those mornings, I cherish that time.  I enjoy the exercise and the company.

I'm grateful for a job that keeps me from being worried about the upcoming presidential election.  Frustrated, yes, but not worried.  I once arrogantly thought that I wouldn't have too many trials concerning personal finances because I understand them and I do a pretty good job at saving.  The likelihood of having to worry about finances is not very high for us and I'm not so dumb as to not be able to recognize the blessing in that.

I'm grateful for a mother who is the greatest grandmother in the world.  Jessi absolutely adores my mom.  When grandma was gone last week for a convention Jessi was a shell of herself each day as she had to do her reading at home with mom or dad.  Every day she asked when grandma was coming back.  Once again I love having my parents 2 doors away, because, heaven knows, we all need help raising kids and I think I may be on the lower portion of that bell curve.

I'm grateful for Kentucky, Washington, and Indiana and how they have shaped my thoughts.  I have met wonderful people who do not believe as I do and yet are great contributors to society.  The "yet" in that past sentence makes me sound as though only those who believe as I do can truly be good people and I have to admit that growing up I may have felt that way a time or two, but I was very very wrong and I'm glad to have been wrong.

I'm grateful for Melissa for every reason imaginable.  I'm sad that she was never able to meet President Prieto, but I know he would thank her for continuing what he and the other great influences in my life have done with me.

I am grateful for my time on my mission when I was able to work so closely with a chosen servant of the Lord.  I am grateful for the knowledge that I will see him again and be able to feel his warm embrace.

The Annual Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

                I am happy to be writing another Christmas letter.  Many of you may remember (not so happily) from last year that the tone of the Christmas letter tends to be set by the outcome of a certain football game, and though it’s been over 2 months I still have a little celebration each morning at 6 minutes to 11.               

                Of course the biggest news of the year is that we added another member to the family.  She’s wonderful and perfect and sometimes I just like to stare at her and think about all the good times we’re going to have together.  That’s right folks I bought a truck in July (that last part about staring at the truck really is true, Melissa says I’m pathetic, and she’s probably right).

                It really has been a wonderful year and we have been very blessed with the addition of Jocelyn Melissa Corry to our family.  She was born September 22, and has been a joy in our lives (more of a joy for Melissa than myself as I tend to like children much more than babies, but I am warming up to her).  Both mom and baby are very healthy.

                We moved home to Cedar City in July and have loved every minute of being home.  I finished residency in South Bend, IN at the end of June and we said goodbye to a number of great friends and made our way across the country for what we consider to be our last cross-country move.   I’ve been approached numerous times in the past 5 months and asked if it was all worth it now that we’re home.   My response each time (as corny as it sounds) has been: The experience itself has always been worth it the job and being back home are just icing on the cake.

                Melissa continues to stay busy with our 5 children at home.  Four of the kids have school at some time of the week, but not all together so she spends a fair amount of time running from place to place.  She continues to design, sew, quilt, write tutorials and then blog about it all.  We now live two doors from my mother (which I love) and I have found that the trips to the fabric store are a little more expensive than they were in South Bend, but when you move to a larger sewing room you have to fill up that space with something.  I’m not complaining, I had to fill and empty carport a few months ago.  With all that keeps her so busy, Melissa did find time to participate in a Triathlon with my brother and me last Saturday.  She swam while I biked and Robert ran.  It was a lot of fun and something I hope to do again.

                Spencer, 8, was baptized in January and has amazed his parents with his understanding of that ordinance.  He is currently in 3^rd grade at South Elementary.  He enjoys his class and is being taught by a woman who taught one of the two kindergarten classes when I attended kindergarten there.  He also got glasses a month ago and has been commenting quite a bit about how much he has missed seeing in the past.  He was very surprised to see the Bishops eyes in church his first Sunday with his glasses.  Spencer also went on his first deer hunt this year and enjoyed it immensely.  He wasn’t there when I got my deer (it happened later on in the hunt while he was in school), but is still excited to have the antlers go up on his wall (mom’s not too enamored with that, but she’s not ready to let me build a cabin and it’s not safe to drive around with a rack of antlers in my truck).

                Jessica, 6, is in first grade at South Elementary and loves it.  She reads with her grandmother every day after school.  It’s interesting because she reads for 20 minutes each day but often times we don’t see her until dinner time which is well over an hour after she gets home from school.  She is happy to have her own bedroom downstairs with an attached bathroom and walk-in closet.  I’m a little worried about a 6 year-old being that excited about those things, but whatcha gonna do?

                Kristian, 4, (probably 5 by the time you get this letter, unless you read it on the blog) goes to preschool 4 days a week at a school that is located in what was part of the playground when I was a student at South Elementary.  He’s in class with his cousin and they have really warmed up to each other after what was a little bit of a rocky start.  Kristian is our little athlete as his favorite pastime is wrestling, wrestling and wrestling.  When his uncle Mark came down to visit he had a wrestling camp with the kids.  The other 3 tired quickly, but Kristian was still ready to “belly down” after 30 minutes of drills.

                Kamryn, 2, continues to grow into her personality.  We haven’t figured her out quite yet as she gets into more trouble than the first 3 kids combined ever did.  I can’t remember the last time her feet were free of marker.  She is enamored with her new baby sister and often becomes sad when Josie cries for more than 30 seconds.  She attends a preschool 1 day a week to help with her speech as she tests at the level of a 4 year old for understanding, but at the age of a 1 year old for her speech.  I’m not entirely sure how they measure that stuff, but I believe it as Kami always seems to know the perfect time to flash a smile or give a kiss or hug to get out of trouble.

                Jocelyn, 0, is a baby and I don’t particularly enjoy babies so I have nothing to say here.  Okay that’s probably not nice.  We were very worried about Josie because she failed her first 2 hearing screens and when she went in for the definitive test the machine broke, but she didn’t seem to respond to anything before the machine broke.  A lot of prayers were said and tears were shed.  Two weeks ago she had another test and while she does have some decreased hearing she can, in fact, hear.  She has a repeat test in a couple of months, and we are much less afraid about it.  It’s a new experience for us to be happy when our baby wakes up crying because her siblings are screaming in the hall, but the two times it has happened have been very joyful moments for us.

                We wish you all the best this holiday season.  It has been a wonderful year for our family and we have certainly felt the hand of the Savior in our lives.

Love,

Jacob, Melissa,

 Spencer (Spence) , Jessica (Jessi), Kristian (Nader), Kamryn (Kami, Bubbles), and Jocelyn (Josie)

In case your were wondering we have not lost any from the ranks of the Ute faithful this year, but Nader is still holding strong to his Irish.

Uncle Eric

Jocelyn

Jocelyn was blessed on Sunday.   My parents and Corinne and Dave and their family were able to come down from Salt Lake for the weekend for the special day.  It was so fun to have them all for the weekend and enjoy the time with family.  (Thanks again guys!!)  And Robert and Shaliece were able to attend sacrament with us as well.  Let me tell you, there was some fun going on in our pews on Sunday!!

Those that stood in the circle for the blessing were Jacob's father, my Father, Robert, Dave, Bishop Whetmen, and Jacob.  (Posterity effort :)    Jacob gave a beautiful blessing and Jocelyn slept the whole time.  She looked adorable and the spirit was very strong.

                           

And important part of her blessing was that "she would be able to hear the words of the prophets and follow them."  This is so important because we have been very concerned about Jocelyn's hearing.  She failed both of her hearing screens at the hospital and the subsequent one 3 weeks later.  So we had to follow up with the audiologist.  We met with them 3 weeks ago and the test had to be scheduled because of equipment malfunction.    We have been very nervous over the last few weeks as we still see very little response on her part to noises. But we just continued to pray in faith that all would work out.

Yesterday was her second hearing test.  And I am so happy and relieved to report that while the news isn't perfect, it is extremely good.  The test showed that she is hearing but the responses time of the hearing is delayed.  The doctor said this could be for one of two reasons most likely.  1 - She still has fluid in her ears.  If this is the case, they will continue to dry and all will be just fine.  2 - She has partial hearing loss.  If this is the case, we would be looking at hearing aids and eventually all will be just fine as well.

So we will be redoing the test in 3 months and hoping for outcome 1 but being just fine it if is outcome 2 as well.  When you were concerned about deafness and the life that would mean, hearing aids don't sound bad at all.  I can't being to express how grateful we are for this little miracle in our life and I am so happy that the results were so positive.  We are truly mindful of the Lord's hand in our life and grateful for all of the prayers that were given in Jocelyn's behalf.

It had to happen sometime!!

A few weeks ago we had another one of those "I can't believe she did that" incidents.  And of course, it involved this little stinker.

Kami is the first to do many things in our house that none of the other children ever tried.  She was the first to color all over my couch, she was the first to eat markers, she was the first to hide in my bathroom and attempt to put mascara on her eyes and end up like this . . .  (and she has done this like 5 times now :)

And now . . .  She is the first to stuff something up her nose and not be able to get it out.  She came to me the other day just howling and shoving her finger up her nose (only lodging the item even further ) and when I looked all I saw was bright green.  I called Jacob, who was at work, and he said to try with some tweezers and if I couldn't get it out, call Dad, and if he wasn't home to bring her in.

Well the tweezers did not work at all.  Not only could I not get a hold of the item, I didn't have enough hands to hold onto the tweezers and keep Kami's hands from swinging at me.  And then I attempted to call Dad who was up the mountain, so I was down to the last option of taking her in.  So I called Mom, who thankfully left Wal-Mart to come sit with the other kids, (Could you imagine how awful it would have been to take them all in) and took Kami into so Daddy could come to the rescue.

And he did.  We were in and out of the clinic in about 2 minutes.  (I am so fortunate that my insta-care is  truly instant!!!)  Kami was fabulous, she laid still and let her Daddy dislodge one necklace bead from her nose.   Good Times!!!

Halloween 2011

Halloween!!  What can I say??  This always seems to be a holiday that my children love and I tolerate. Oh well, what ya gonna do??

Every year we do pretty basic pumpkins.  You know, the face that takes about 3 minuites :)  Well this year the kids asked for something a little more detailed.  And, since I was trying to find a way to like Halloween more, I decided to give it a shot.  So we got online and found some pretty cool patterns and we set off to cut out some fancy pumpkins.

The "we" part quickly turned into the "I" part when the kids decided it was to hard for them and they would rather just play with the leftover pieces of pumpkin.  I on the other hand, was concentrating pretty hard for something as simple as pumpkin carving. (hence the tongue out :)

This was the end result (but the picture was taken two days later so some of the pieces are beginning to shrivel :)  They aren't perfect, but the kids were happy.  Using just a kitchen knfe was hard on some of the curves.  ( I already went and got a decent set of carving utinsels for next year, got to love the half off day after Wal-Mart sale :)

This is everyone right before we loaded up to go to the ward Trunk-or-Treat.  They had a lot of fun!!  Except for when a glow wand exploded in Kristian's face leaving him with some major stinging eye's, but daddy took him home and washed it out and then he was back to collecting candy :)    I have to say I am not a huge fan of Trunk-or-Treats, but that  is just me.  (I won't get into as it only contributes to the "Why I just tolerate Halloween" issue :)

Afterwards we all got together and sorted the candy. (and sadly, the candy in the picture does not represent all the candy)  Probably the part of Halloween that I really enjoy!!  I just think it is so fun to put things into like piles ;)  And the candy bar pile and smarties pile have switched in size since I was a kid :)  

So that was our Halloween!!

Deer Hunt 2011

Doug, this is for you (sorry Char, mostly Doug here).

We started off uneventfully at Dad's house.  Mark and Robert decided that we needed to take both ATVs and Robert Didn't want to pack his stuff twice so we took three trucks up to deer camp.  Spencer and I drove my truck.  Robert and Dallin took his and Mark rode with Dad.

The road to Kolob was especially bumpy due to the snowstorm we had two weeks ago.  I don't remember washboard that bad and coming around blind corner I almost hit a lady on an ATV.  She scowled at me as if I should have known she was there.  Dad and Mark were in the lead vehicle and decided to drive as fast as they could so we had to stay 1/2 a mile back for the dust to settle a bit.  Of course when we finally got on top they decided that 5 mph would scare the deer so we got out and pushed the trucks instead to keep the engines quiet.  Mark and Dad claim they saw a bunch of deer, including a three-point, but their stories were unsubstantiated by the other 4 of us suffering behind their constant stopping.

We arrived at camp and found that the table had been smashed by the winter snow (actually Mark and Dad already knew that as they had been up earlier in the day).  As you can see Spencer was great moral support, he takes after his dad.

The evening was enjoyable as always.  Robert warmed us up some stew and cooked some rolls in the dutch ovens.  It was good, but the cheese we brought up was a bit moldy and may have given some of us a bit of the runs, but that's a story for another day.  He had to do it the old fashioned way (in the coals) because he forgot the propane tank for his camp stove.

During dinner the adults and Dallen ate around the campfire while Spencer ate behind the tables.  He said he hadn't earned his spot around the campfire yet because this was his first hunt.  

As the clock his 6:00 dad decided he had been up too long so he went to bed.  I think in the future I'll put my camper on the truck and just set up a bed back there for dad so he can sleep on the way up.

Spencer went to bed around 8 (he was pretty excited about the next day), but didn't actually get any sleep for at least another hour as Dallen went in to join him at 8:15 and the two of them played around a bit.  Mark decided to wake up dad around 9 and we got a good laugh.

The next morning we left camp at our usual time with walkie talkies in hand.  I soon found out that my radio did a great job of receiving communication, but nobody could hear me unless we were close enough to talk to each other anyway.  After listening to some kid on the other side of the hill chat with his dad for 5 minutes I finally turned it off.  We did our usual route of the mountain with dad walking straight up from camp.  Upon arriving back at camp Robert reported that he had walked the whole top of the mountain and seen nothing.  I had seen a couple of does, while dad had taken an easy up and back route (he did say he made it to the top, but I'm not so sure) and shot at two bucks and saw a bunch of does.

I went down in the oak alone while breakfast was being cooked, but didn't see anything.  Breakfast was great and while we were eating it Doug Urie and his wife drove up to get some wood.  They brought Pug up with them so it was good to see them.  

In the afternoon we went down to Hog Wallow and hiked over to the south fence while dad took a nap.  Saw a bunch of does but nothing to shoot at.  We were becoming a little discouraged.  After another short rest at camp Spencer and I decided to take the ATV back down to Hog Wallow and sit for a bit.  I think I made it 15 minutes before I had to go walk around a bit.  I chased a doe for a while and heard two gunshots in the distance.  We rode to the south gate then back to camp where we learned that Robert had fired at a big 4 point, but missed.  He had Mark do some target shooting with the .243 and felt worse when Mark his a soda can at 30 yards (maybe 40 or 20 I can't remember for sure) on 2 of 2 shots.

We did one more sweep in the oak below camp south to north, before heading home.  I did see a deer that I think was a 2 point at the north end of the property just above the gate, but I couldn't see for sure if the deer had antlers so I didn't take a shot.  We drove back to town in the dark with Dad again sending up a 50 foot wall of dust.

Fast forward one week to Friday morning.  I awoke at 5 AM in order to get to Navajo before sunrise (having to go through Parowan and Brian Head really cramps my style).  This time I was alone as Spencer had school, Robert has a real job that requires him to work like normal Americans, and Dad is in Texas.  I got to the property about 30 minutes before daybreak which was a bit early so I sat in the truck for 10 minutes before getting out to head down to the meadow.  As I was walking down the road to the meadow I heard a bunch of deer down on the hillside.  I froze and stood in that spot for 20 minutes waiting for it to get light enough to see.  

I made my way down the hill, off the road now, and proceeded to follow the sounds of deer along the hillside between the cabin and the meadow.  About halfway across the hill I heard something and saw a deer make the turn North around the hill.  I continued my pursuit and saw that it was a doe.  I made the turn North around the hill then backtracked from the other side to the peak to the West of the cabin when I heard deer jumping down the hill.  I raced down through the bit of oak on the hillside and waited.  Off to the east of me I saw a doe and fawn trot down the hill and into the meadow.  I watched them through the scope for another minute as they crossed in front of me and headed across the fence to the west and down into the gully.

At this time I decided to loop the property so I headed down the west fence to the bottom and turned east from there.  I saw and heard nothing back in the pines, but it was very enjoyable just to be up there anyway.  When I got to the meadow across the fence on the east side of the property I saw a deer coming down the hill from the trailer.  Another doe and behind it a fawn just like before.  It may have been the same two I saw earlier, but they would have had to make a big loop to get back to that side of the property.

I proceeded North up the fence.  Past the pavilion and through the thick pine until I was within sight of the main road whereupon I turned west again with a plan to hit the road and head back to the truck.  As I crested the short hill before the truck I heard something and looked up to see two bucks trotting through the trees toward the road that goes to the cabin.  They were both big bucks at least 3 or 4 points.  I followed closely and saw them once more as they turned south toward the cabin, but couldn't get a shot off. 

I hurried up Uncle Steve's road an stopped at the point where the old road had connected.  I could hear them and then I saw one up on the ridge just beyond the trees.  I knew there were two so I raised the gun to the place where I had seen the deer and hoped that he was the first rather than the second deer.  Just then a big buck entered my sight and I fired.  I didn't see it fall so I reloaded and went running up the hill (isn't that what dad does anyway, he's killed a lot of deer).  I knew if I made it quick I would be able to see them before they made it down the big hill to the pavilion.  Just as I got to the top I saw my deer laying on the ground with a shot through the neck.  

I cleaned him where he lay 50 yards from the cabin and pulled the truck to within 30 feet of him.  In all my excitement I forgot to tag him, but remembered just as I locked the gate to leave the property.  Good thing I had some suture in my bag for that.

As if the deer wasn't reward enough I plan to reward myself by getting some new orange when it goes on clearance in the next few days.  Especially a new hat.

Grandpa Powell's 80th Birthday!!!

This last weekend we drove up to Salt Lake to attend my Grandfather's Surprise 80th Birthday party.  It was great to get to spend time with all of my extended family.  

The kids loved playing with the balloons while we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive.

Everyone making sure that everything is ready.  My mother and sister's put this whole party together in less than a week and I must say, I was quite impressed :)

SURPRISE!!!  I think Grandpa was more thrown off by the balloons falling on him then the actual Surprise party.  And funny side note . .  We were supposed to yell surprise and then start singing Happy Birthday.  Well I jumped into Happy Birthday a little quicker than everyone else so everyone followed my lead.  Which turned out quite comical as I tend to start to high when I don't have a note played for me.  Ya, Happy Birthday sung in the rafters, always a good laugh :)  

The great grand children that were there in attendance.  Grandma and Grandpa's posterity keeps growing and growing.   

And so do my parents . .  Exactly Half of the children in this picture belong to my parent's children.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!  We love you!!!

Purpose of Catching Up

Okay, so I know I haven't posted here in a while.  And I know that it is extremly sad that I can post on my quilting blog almost every other day and neglect this blog for months.  Which is why it is random that quilting is what is bringing me back here.

You see, this weekend I attended a Quilting Conference in SL, (okay you can stop giggling now :) and one of the classes I attended during the conference was on bloging and social media.  The first thing the speaker told us was that your blog needed to have a purpose and then stick to that purpose.  I started thinking about that and realized that the original purpose of this family blog is for keeping a journal of our family.  (Since I do horrible and a written journal).  And I guess I can say I am doing horrible at the purpose.

So . . . I am trying to turn over a new leaf, again :)  I am going to try and keep a better log of what is going on with our family.  Which comes with a warning . . .  I want to keep up with this which means I probably won't spend tons of time trying to be wity or clever in my posts.  Yup, travel logs and photo's are what you have to look forward to.  Sorry, but I have decided I am okay with that since that is the purpose of me blogging here.  (Hopefully, Jacob can keep it somewhat entertaining for you all, since we know he is filled with whit :)

So, with that intro .. . . .

Here is a little catch-up (and yes, there will be more summer catch-up to follow with pictures and travel logs :)

SCHOOL DAYS

It's a new school year and a new school (South Elementary, the same elementary Jacob went to) in our new home!!  The kids ride the bus to school and are really enjoying that, and I am enjoying not having to drive them all around.

Jessica is in First Grade this year.  Mrs. Bali is here teacher and Jessi adores her.  She has been working hard all summer on her reading with Grandma Corry and has greatly improved.  She had so much fun school shopping this year with her Aunt Corinne and Grandma Powell.  She is very particular about pulling her ensembles together in the morning and loves always being super stylish.

Spencer started 3rd Grade this year.  He has Mrs. Segler, who oddly enough was teaching at South Elementary when Jacob attended.  Spencer loves his teacher as well.  Spencer has always been a hard worker in school and continues this.  He is super excited about reading "Big" Chapter books now.

This isn't Kristian and Kami's first day but they are both in school as well now.  Kristian attends the South Elementary Preschool and gets to be in the same class as his cousin Ty. He is learning so much in school and he absolutely loves it.  We are loving that he is getting a bit beetter at socializing with other kids, as he tends to be quite the little independent guy.

Kami is also starting school at the early intervention center.  She basically is a year behind in her speech and a year ahead in her comprehension, so she can't communicate 2 years worth of what she understands.  (If that makes any sense :)   So now she is super excited to get to go to school like her brothers and sister.   She goes once a week and seems to really be enjoying it.  She is talking more to her Grandma Corry, who she will talk for.  We are still waiting for her to get over her stubbornness and talk to us as well.

We'll I planned to catch up more but I am exhausted.  I will post again soon.  Baby Steps, right :)

Jocelyn Melissa Corry

Today our 5th child was born.  Melissa and I came into the hospital this morning at 4 to start her induction.  She got hooked up to the Pit by 4:30.  When we arrived she was about 3 cm (not much change over the past 2 weeks), but contracting well every 2-3 min.  over the next 2 hours she made it to 6 cm and requested an epidural.  That was 7:00.  At 9:30 she had progressed all the way to 7 cm and so I went across the hall to check my messages.  After 15 minutes she called and told me to come back as she was complete.  Melissa pushed three times and Jocelyn was born (the shoulders came a bit later).  

Jocelyn was born 9/22/11 at 10:19 weighing in at 9 lbs 0 oz and 21 inches long.  I tried to have Melissa wait until 10:54 (think hard about that one Char) but she wasn't having any of that.

Horned Toad

So I've been meaning to record this story for some time now.  You'll have to indulge me a little journal entry here.

Shortly after moving to Cedar (about a month ago) Spencer and Jessi spent the day up the mountain with their Grandpa.  While there, Spencer caught a baby horned toad (this is a frequent occurrence).  He placed the horned toad in a bucket and went back about his playing.  As they left to come down the mountain he remembered that he had forgotten to let his horned toad out of the bucket.  It was too late to go back to remedy the situation so he mourned his mistake the rest of the day.  He was a wreck when he got home and we did our best to console him.  He wasn't to be comforted and cried himself to sleep because he had caused the death of that baby horned toad.  When he woke up the next morning he was still crying.

Fast forward 5 days.  We were in Salt Lake visiting our other side of the family when I got a call from my Dad.  He wanted to talk to Spencer.  He said he was back up the mountain and he had checked the bucket and found the baby horned toad still alive.  He let him go and the creature ran off down the hill.  Spencer was overjoyed.  He thanked his grandfather for calling then asked if he could talk to me alone.

We went downstairs and Spencer told me that Heavenly Father answered his prayer because he had faith.  He then informed me that he had prayed that the horned toad wouldn't die and he knew it would be okay after his prayer then he said that he was happy that Grandpa called because now he had a story about faith that he might be able to share with people on his mission.

Occasionally I forget the strength of the rising generation, but during those times when I am reminded I am humbled to be a parent.

Our New Addition

No Melissa hasn't had the baby yet (September).  We got a truck today.  That's right at the ripe old age of 34 I officially became a truck guy.  When my younger brother bought his first truck he told me he used to go outside just to look at it from time to time and sit in the driver's seat.  I completely understand that now.

As you know I'm not one for pictures, but this is a momentous occasion so I took a couple.

All tucked in for the night.

End of an era and the beginning of another.

I should really update this blog more.  It seems I read that on a lot of blogs lately.  I'm not sure I'm going to update any more frequently, but I do have some thoughts to write about the last month.  Sorry no pictures just a lot of words.  Feel free to just skip this post and read the next one in a couple of months, or you can jump over to Melissa's quilting blog that seems to get a lot more traffic than this one does, maybe I should give away some free stuff, or not.

A little over a month ago, just after the last post in fact, Melissa and the kids left South Bend for Cedar City to get moved into our new house in Cedar Knolls.  That was a much harder day than I anticipated, and the next two weeks until Melissa came back for graduation dinner were filled with studying, dollar movies, and quite a few trips over to the Larsens who were so good to take care of me.  I cooked biscuits on tinfoil for a few meals and ate at the hospital frequently.  I spent my last night at the hospital in order to have access to the internet as we shut off our ISP before Melissa left.

I was overjoyed that Melissa actually came back to get me and we spent our last day together in South Bend.  That last day was filled with mixed emotions.  I love South Bend and it was hard to leave.  If we weren't coming back home to Cedar it would have been excruciating.  I already miss some of the joys of South Bend daily.  Some of those things I had always anticipated and some I have surprised me.  I always knew I would miss the green everywhere, but I didn't realize how I would miss the early morning mist each day.  Of course I miss Lake Michigan, but contrary to what the Midwesterner's believe it's no Lake Powell.  Of course I miss my friends and we really made some good ones during our 3 years.

My arrival in Cedar City has been filled with mixed emotions as well.  I was unprepared for the anxiety of taking over a full practice.  It's not like starting residency because I know the medicine now and I'm not lost for what to do I've just felt overwhelmed at times at the magnitude of messages and labs, and orders and such that come with a full panel of patient's, most of whom I have yet to meet.  The nice thing is Dad is always a phone call away if I have any questions that need answering.

We had our annual Family reunion that I have missed for the past 3 years and it was great to be back.  I won the horseshoe tournament that in the past was a big deal, but this year was somewhat anticlimactic.  All of my siblings save Doug were present and we missed him dearly.

There are a lot of great things about being back home.  Two of those things are my Dad and my older brother.  Since I got home from my mission I've wanted to live closer to my brother and it almost happened that first year, but he had to up and move to Wyoming.  Maybe that is part of my disdain for that state.  We did live in Cedar for a year during medical school shortly after Robert moved home and that was great, but now we're here for good and it is wonderful.  I've enjoyed running with Robert and his daughter (only on short days, my feet can't take the long days yet) in the morning.

I've got boards coming this Friday and I'm somewhat nervous about that.  Hopefully they go well and my studying pays off.

Moving

The moving truck left yesterday.  The Yukon is gone.  We're extremely grateful to have the use of a friend's minivan until Melissa and the kids fly to the promised land on Monday.

So what do you do when the movers take your toys, beds and everything else in your house?  Well you build a fort of course.