Thank Goodness I didn't have to post my last draft!!

What a wild couple of weeks!! Normally, Spring Break is a blast!!! This year was a little different. Not that we didnt' have fun, but it was a bit stressful in the beginning! To see why, check out...

finddavidhoward.blogspot.com

David, my brother, was missing, and through wonderful people was found. I am VERY grateful for the campers and park ranger that were in the area that he camped!! He is recovering, but it will be a journey. Hopefully a smooth one. I had written a post re: David being missing, but didn't want to post it, so when I got the phone call that he had been found, it was a relief!!!

After David was found, I was able to concentrate a little better on some of the other things going on last week. Tuesday morning, shortly after midnight, Saje started throwing up. YUCK!!! At 7am I threw up my hands and tried to climb into bed - the other kids were starting to wake up, so I figured that I could get at least 2 hours of shut-eye. Almost. After I got up, at a bout 9, Cassie started complaining about her throat hurting. I told her to gargle...salt water is amazing! Didn't work. By Teusday night, she was a whinning mess, so I told her that I'd take her to the doctor in the morning. Saje was feeling better, thank goodness!!! Wednesday morning, I took Cassie to the doctors office. Strep. How annoying!!! Doesn't her throat realize that I am way too busy for people to be sick? I was struggling to get all of the curtains made for the "rolling ghetto", because Thursday morning we were supposed to be heading to Pleasant Valley Raceway for a weekend of racing. I was a mess. Almost all of the curtains got finished, but I have to fix the door curtain - when i measured it, I measured the inside of the window, so I could use tension rods, but Walmart didn't have any, so I had to use a different kind that hung a little above the window - by adding about 4 inches onto the bottom and putting a chocolate brown trim to cover the seam. I didn't get the bathroom curtain hung, but that was ok because it still had mini-blinds, and we able to use the water in there yet (there is a hole in the holding tank, and Todd didn't know until Wed. night that there are 2 holding tanks, so we didn't even fill the water tank, because we weren't planning on having running water. Next trip, we will find out how to switch between the tanks and be able to have running water and not have to use bottled water and have a basin in the sink to catch water. Brushing teeth is hard without running water... ewww!).

Racing went pretty interestingly. There were a few big wrecks on Friday - none involving Bryr, thank goodness!!! Friday morning, one of Bryr's main local competitors was hurt when a rider was coming around a corner, slid into the hay bales, and was thrown into the crowd. The bike landed on Bryr's friend. I wasn't right there, but I guess there was a bit of blood - head injuries tend to bleed. He had a cut on his head, but once the paramedics controlled the bleeding, he was just about fine. Saturday, Bryr had a minor crash with the boy that beat him on Friday. They were both going over a big jump at the same time, but the other boy swerved into Bryr - they collided mid-air. I was on the other side of the track and about had a heart attack. By the time I got over there, Bryr was speeding around the next corner. After they collided, Bryr got right up, put his hands up in the air, shouted "I'm ok, I'm ok", got back on his bike, and took off. Todd was right there and kept his bike going. He lost a couple of spots, but was able to get back into 2nd or 3rd by the finish. The other boy bit his lip and tongue pretty bad (going about 1/2 way through), but is ok too. I worked in the registration shack most of the weekend, but had a blast. Teyla got a little bit of sun - she was a flagger - but had a lot of fun and was excited that she got to help. Shiloah, Cassie, and Saje hung out, played in the playground, and had fun watching too. I was glad to get home and back to my bed!! Todd didn't fare so well tho. Thursday night, the pilot light on the furnace wouldn't stay lit, so he was getting up at least evey hour to relight the furnace. He inhalled a bit of propane. Friday night, the furnace didn't want to work so well, so we brought in a propane space heater. It heated up the "ghetto" extremely well, but the fumes were not so great. Saturday morning, Todd woke up coughing mildly. By Saturday night, he wasn't feeling well and was coughing more. Sunday he didn't go to church. Monday, he went to work, still feeling yucky and hacking up tons and he started draining. Tuesday, he went to work and his whole crew was sick - either barfing, or draining, etc. His boss asked him if he was coming in on Wed. He didn't know. Wednesday morning, he started throwing up at about 5:30, and has finally, today, having his first bit of food stay down. Yuck!!! I don't have time for anyone else to get sick!!!

When I have a few minutes, I will go take some pictures of our "ghetto" so you can all see the beautiful retro curtains. The "ghetto" isn't out of remodel mode, but we are doing bits at a time. It is a work in progress :) like everything else in my life :)

Hair - who has any left when they have a teenager!

AARRRGGGHHH!!!!! She's not even a teenager yet, but man is she tempermental!!!!! Sometimes I think Shiloah is dead set to make as many waves before school as she can and leave for school with a tumultuous wake behind her. Mom - she's wearing my leggings, she's looking at me, she won't take my leggings off, she... the list goes on. Then, of course, Cassie Rae must respond with a "But mom..." Sometimes I just want to throw my hands up and hide under my blankets, but that wouldn't work because I would still be able to hear them clear across the house.



Saje said the funniest thing about 2 weeks ago. We were sitting at the table, having breakfast and scriptures, and he was looking out the window at the pre-sunrise sky (the sun wasn't quite up, but it was getting light) and said, "Mom, the sky is broken," in a rather matter-of-fact observative three-year-old way. I was thinking "What?", but when I got to looking at it, he saw the mountains, the blue sky, and a a thick big group of clouds that spanned the entine visual field. It looked layered. I thought it was a funny observation, but he is a funny boy.



Bryr has stated that he wants to play basketball with his friend Riley when it start up with the Rec District. I think it would be a good thing for him. He loves to ride/race his motorcycle, but he isn't well rounded in the team sport area yet. Someone mentioned that he should play football next fall because he is built like a brick and is rather tough.



Teyla is getting tooooo excited for her Birthday later this month. She can't wait to get to go to stake dances. Her first one will be the Gold & Green Ball (formal). She has been planning with her cousin Breann all the girlie things like dresses, hair, accessories... It will be fun. I got a new dress too. We are going to have a fun day getting ready.



Here is a picture of Bryr at the awards ceremony of the Idaho State Series with his trophy (that is so big that the only place in the house that it fits is on the floor next to the piano). The problem with trophies that size is that when you have 3 of them - where do you put them? There is only the one open side of the piano. We are going to take one or two fo them to one of the motorcycle shops that sponsors him so they can be on display. We are in the process of getting/choosing sponsorship offers. If you want to check out his webpage and see how he's done, you can go to:

http://www.mxsponsor.com/bryr-walker

This was at the banquet for the Western Idaho Motocross Series - he took 1st place in 2 classes, so he got 2 of these trophies that are about a foot taller than he is.

This one is at the state series awards ceremony at the OMC Track. It was a Sunday morning and we were going straight to church after (we don't start until 1pm right now while our building is being remodeled- but that is a whole other topic that I don't want to get started on!!!!! ARGH!), instead of the free riding day for all qualified riders. There were 20 kids that races in the series, but only 2 that qualified for trophies (you had to race a certain # of races and if you were 1 short, you didn't place). Bryr had enough points to not even race the final race (in the mud and bad weather the day before the awards ceremony) and still be 100 points ahead. It was awesome!

Well, it's off to get the kids ready for school. Teyla left an hour ago (for her charter school in Nampa), but the elementary kids don't leave for another hour. Bryr wants to play the PS2, but we need to have breakfast and scriptures first, so.... until next time.

It's September already!!! - Where did the summer go?

Time sure flew this summer!!! I love having fun, and this summer was no exception. We did tons of racing, some visiting, and some traveling.

I went to California for the first time ever. That was interesting. As soon as we crossed the border we were stopped by the "Border Patrol" inspecting vehicles for and oranges or cherries that people were trying to "smuggle" into the state. Fun - huh. I thought this was America - do I need a passport to travel to Utah now?

Next topic. I now have a Facebook account. I am having fun meeting up with old friends from high school or church or even just keeping in touch with my nieces that don't live around here. I'm not a pro yet, but it's fun. Check it out.

Teyla is elated that school has started back up. She is still playing her saxaphone and is still 1st chair. She loves her dance class and is excited that she gets to have dance again next semester. She is also very, very excited that her b-day is next month. She is eager to go to the stake dances. She is growing up into a beautiful young woman.

Shiloah has decided that she not only wants to play volleyball and run track, but she wants to play the violin as well. Today was the first day that she got to take her new violin to orchestra practice. Talk about excitement!!!

Cassie has been a great cousin trying to help her 1st grade cousin Tierra adjust to a new school. She is a little social butterfly and is doing very well in math.

Bryr finished the Western Idaho Motocross Series a week ago Saturday. He finished in 1st place in the 4-6 stock class and the 4-6 open class. There are some new kids that are pretty fast, but they don't jump many of the things that Bryr does, and they haven't been to any other tracks, so they are not very well rounded or experienced yet. It makes me nervous when one of these kids lines up right next to Bryr at the starting gate. He's been taken out a couple of times by one of them and had to make up the time. We have one more state series race left - then I can breathe!

Saje is my little Spiderman. I found a Spidey costume somewhere (I think at a yard sale) and he LOVES to wear it. He hates when I tell him that it's time to take it off to wash it. He wishes that he could go to school. On the first day, when I took the other kids, he went with his backpack and hung it up in a cubby, and was ready to stay, but was very sad when I told him that he didn't have a teacher at the school and couldn't stay. He felt better when I told him that we would have school at home.

All together we are pretty healthy and happy, besides the few sniffles that seem to come when school starts. We are all pretty busy with racing, music, church, and other activities, but we still have the time to visit with our friends and family.

Summer, Summer, Oh how I love summer

Isn't this a great picture of my kids! On our way back from California (to race and see Thor), we stopped at the sand dunes just north of Winnemucca and played for about 10 minutes. Can you see the dary grey sky? Yea, that hit about 2 minutes after we left. We all had a blast and the kids were able to get some of their energy out. This was on Memorial Day. I was glad that we were able to stay at Thor's and visit him. The kids had a blast trying to catch lizards, and loved singing Thor's "The War Box" songs half of the trip.

I am soooooo glad that school is out and I have some free time. Ha Ha did I say I had free time? When is it? and when can I get some? We have been going non-stop since school let out, and here we go again! I can't believe June is almost over.

Let's see. We've been to California over Memorial Weekend, we've been to Glenn's Ferry, and there have been a few other race weekends. There were 4 weekends in a row that we had races, but we were all together, except for one of them, Bryr and Todd went to Glenn's Ferry (the first time) alone. We all went to cheer Todd on at the Idaho City race as he crossed the finish line (see picture below). All of the guys that went this year finished. It was awesome!!!

Last week, I was only home for half of it. Tuesday and Wednesday was ward girls camp (not to be confused with our stake's "Young Women of Zion" camp which will be the week after we get home. At ward girls camp we do the certification part. At the stake's camp, they focus on the spiritual aspects, more like a youth conference. Then, Friday, I left for our stake RS "Fill Your Bucket" retreat. It was great! There was enough free time and play time to balance out the class time. We could stay up late and play or go to bed early (the cabins were chosen based on when you wanted to go to sleep). I stayed up late, then went to bed. It was a blast.

The next few weeks will be a lot of fun tho. Sunday after church we will head to Utah to visit and play for a few days, then we are off to Preston, ID for the next race in the state series. Bryr is still undefeated in the state series.

Teyla and Shiloah are going to go to volleyball camp next month. They have both been interested in volleyball. Shiloah has played rec. district ball for the past two years and has enjoyed it. Teyla has played at church a little and has discovered that she likes it, too. It is almost a prerequisite to be a Walker that you learn to play volleyball somewhat. I confess that I am not a pro, or even semi-pro, but I can hang in there with some of the better ones. I do duck, tho, if Greg, one of Greg's boys, or Todd goes to spike one. They spike hard.

Cassie is having fun with Tiera (Jeff's youngest daughter) living so close. Ok. They are not in their house yet, but they are over every day and will be in within a couple of weeks. My kids are excited to have MORE cousins close. It is also good because they don't get bored and want to stay inside and watch TV all day. Yeah!!

Saje is having a blast! His hair is almost white, because he is outside playing soooo much. He loves to ride his bike as fast as he can. I have to make sure that he has shoes on, tho, because he has scraped off the end of his toe a few times. He loves to go to Bryr's races and is excited that his "bike" is just waiting for him to be able to hold it up. He sure loves his brother and wants to be just like him.

Well, I'd better get to work. The garden will not hoe itself (gosh darnit), so I'd better do it before we don't have a garden because the weeds took it over, AGAIN!

Bryr finally attempted this jump in a race and look how he did. He cleared it then some. Before last weekend he would slow down and roll through it, but at practice the night befofre, he finally got the courage to try it (our jumps at home are similar to this one, but they are filled in so he couldn't hit the face of the second bump). It really helped him to keep his speed up and go faster.

This is Saturday morning. Bryr is the first person in his class to ever get an AMA #1 plate for the State of Idaho. Way to go Bryr!!

This is not too long before the 2nd moto (I think). I didn't get to go back Saturday because it was my work day.

Here Bryr is proudly holding his 2nd place plaque. After taking 3rd and then coming back and winning the 2nd moto, it averages out to 2nd.

This last picture is what I saw when I got home from Stake Conference Saturday night. After a rough day at the track. You can't see much, but by the morning his eye was swollen shut. A lady at Stake Conference that was sitting behind us asked me if this was a result of baseball season. Ha Ha. My son is not that uncoordinated as to get hit in the eye with a baseball. Hmmm.

He has recooperated well. I kept him home from school on Monday because he still couldn't see well, but he went Wednesday and Friday. His eye now only has a racoon ring around it and his cheek looks a little mottled, but the color has faded immensley!

He got lucky and dad picked him up from school an right after last recess (about 45 min early) on Friday to go to Mountain Home for another race.

Holy Helicopters Batman, or did Bryr learn to fly?

What another busy month it has been!!! I am soo excited for school to be getting out soon! I think I am MORE EXCITED than the kids! But enough about that. What is this about Bryr learning to fly?

Last weekend, April 25th & 26th, Bryr had two separate races. Friday was the AMA State Championship #1 Plate race and Saturday was the Lorreta Lynn National Qualifier.

Friday was AWESOME! The girls all had school, so I took Saje and we went to watch. Bryr was wicked fast and took 1st place in both motos. I will post pictures tomorrow (I'm at work right now), but he was so fast, he lapped the other kids on the same bike (KTM 50ProJr), some more than once, and kept up with the two fastest kids on ProSeniors (they are bigger than ProJrs.). He did great!

Saturday was a little bit different. I didn't get to go because I had to work, so the rest of this is from what Todd told me. Bryr went out for the practice session, like he always does, and had fun. He then had to wait until the 6th moto for his class to be up. In those first 5 motos, the Pros tore the track up pretty badly, so it wasn't the same as when Bryr practiced. Anyway, mostly through the first lap he went around a corner and hit a hole (a deep rut that the pros had left) and he learned to fly. The biggest problem flying, tho, was that his bike went flying, too. His handlebars smacked his cheek a bit hard and he went down. Todd ran!! and the medics ran. After a few minutes, the medics said he was not broken and didn't have a concussion and Bryr got up and got back on his bike and finished the race (there was no way that he wasn't going to finish a national qualifier). He rode slowly over to the finish line and waited there until the checkered flag came out and he rolled over the finish line. He salvaged a third place. He then went straight to the trailer (as is customary after any race), to wait for Todd. Todd got lucky with his parking spot. Saturday he was surrounded by 3 pros. Anyway, by the time Todd got to the trailer (about 1 min after Bryr - if that) Kodi (one of the pros) had already put Bryr's bike on the stand and he and his girlfriend had Bryr's helmet off and were scrounging for bandages and neosporen. I am glad that motorcycles have grips on the handlebars, because if they didn't, my son's face would be permanently scarred. The other two pros that were right around came over to see what they could do to help. They hung around for a little while and talked to Bryr and doted on him. They signed his old jersey that he had grown out of, and signed his #1 plate that he had won the day before, and were just awesome guys. Jump ahead about 2 hours. Bryr laid down for a while and rested. Todd asked him if he wanted to call it a day and go home. Bryr said, "NO!" and told Todd that he was going to race the second moto. His cheek and eye had swollen up pretty bad, but he could see ok and he wanted to qualify for regionals (so that he could go to nationals). The medics said he was cleared to race if he wanted, so he was going to do it. When Bryr started up his bike to warm it up before going to the starting gate, people's heads turned. Noone expected him to race again Saturday after the first moto's wreck, but there he was going to the starting line. As Todd walked next to him as he rode to the gate, he saw people stand up and start clapping for Bryr. When the gate went down, it was as if nothing had happened. Bryr went out there and rode hard and kept up with the top guy on the bigger bike and came in 1st in his class (over a lap ahead of everyone else). Talk about boy of steel. One of the pros commented that Bryr was tougher than nails and that if that had happened to him today he probably wouldn't have raced the second moto. He took home his first loss of the year (he came in 2nd overall), but still qualified to go to regionals.

Saturday night was also Stake Conference. Todd didn't make it home in time to go, so I took good notes for him. Bryr was in bed sleeping when I got home, but I could tell that he didn't look like my Bryr. Sunday morning, his eye was puffed shut and purple, and his cheek was still very swollen. Good thing I have peas & carrots in my freezer, and lots of ibuprofen in my medicine cupboard.

The swelling is going down, but the color is getting more vibrant. He looks like he is wearing too much Halloween makeup. I kept hime home from school on Monday, but I think he will go back tomorrow. His teacher is aware of what happened and has talked to the kids in his class, and Todd and I have talked to him about what to say if someone asks him what happened. With it being this close to the end of the school year, he can't miss two weeks (I don't know if his bruises would be gone in two weeks) of school. I'm going to go in the morning with him, and if things are too rough, he'll come home for a couple more days.

The kid is definitely tough. He is excited that the swelling around his eye is gone down enough that he can see without it being blurry, and he is looking forward to the next state series race that is this weekend. He would have been out riding tonight had it not been so windy or raining.

Everyone else is doing well. Teyla has her band festival on Thursday, and Shiloah is going to Eagle Island State Park for a Civil War reinactment day. I took the kids last year and they all had a blast. Cassie hasn't figured out what sport/activity she wants to participate in, but she is still the MAJOR Drama QUEEN!!!!! Saje Bug loves to watch Bryr ride and likes to get rides from Shiloah or Cassie. He is also learning how to ride his bicycle so that soon he will be able to ride a motorcycle. Todd has the Idaho City 100 coming up the last day of May, so he is trying to train for that, and I am just trying to keep up with everyone and work and volunteer at the same time. I am having a blast with my new calling as the Beehive Advisor. There are soooo many things to do, so I am going to go home and go to bed now. I will post the pictures of Bryr's lovelies in the morning.

Test

I am trying something to see if it will work. I tried to set up an automatic e-mail thing, so you will know when I post.

Hope it works.
Debra

I thought bad luck came in threes.

Have you ever heard the saying that bad luck comes in threes? It also comes in multiples of threes. We have been dealing with the second set of three bad things that have happened since December. I don't remember if I had mentioned in a previous post about my not so great Christmas present that I got (the new tires, alignment, tie rod ends, etc.), but I have received almost the same gift for Valentine's day as well. This time it was the back tires. Yippee!! Can you feel the excitement radiating through the computer? Hmmm........................................ I'm not feeling it either. It wasn't great. It didn't help that Todd didn't get home that night until about 11:30. Anyway, I got over it.
Last month I was asked if I would take my old deliver route back over (the person that was doing it moved). I thought, great, I would have a little extra money, get the things on my need/want list. WRONG!!!!! Last Monday, the 18th, I started delivering again. It kind-of stunk because the kids had the whole week off of school for P/T Conf, holiday, collaboration, etc. I tried to make it fun. Todd did'nt go to work Monday, using his sister in town as a good excuse, so the kids had fun with him, all except Teyla, she went with me. Tues and Wed, the boys went to a friends house and Shiloah and Cassie stayed home and played with cousins at the church, and Teyla had school (because she is in a different school district). We made it through it, but not without bumps and bruises. Tuesday morning, Saje made it out the door before I did and wondered what it would be like to throw a rock at the van window (for anger management, I like to think he was trying to play annie-annie-over). Well.... what do you think happens to frozen window when it is hit by a hard object? Exactly. It shattered. I was very good about not yelling, screaming, swearing, hitting, throwing, or hanging kids upside-down by their toenails. I went in the house, got the clear packaging tape, taped the window together (it was shattered, but it was still in tight enough that pieces weren't all falling everywhere) and went on my way. I called Todd and he was a bit frustrated, too, but what I was going to make in the three days would pay for the window. We made it through the rest of the day. Wednesday morning, I woke up with a toothache (One of my molars broke at the beginning of last summer when I bit into a Snickers Shake from Artic Circle and without insurance, we haven't had the $$ to get it fixed), so I took some Advil (took the bottle with me to work) and left. Halfway through the day, I was driving down the road, hurting so bad that I was tearing up. Didn't feel good. On my way home, I jumped on the freeway and then jumped off when I realized that my window was no longer attached except where I had duck taped it that morning. I stopped at Lowe's and got a new roll of duck tape and added some more. I noticed that my cheek was also feeling a bit funny and numb in one spot, so when I got home I laid down with a bag of tater tots on my face (I didn't have frozen peas). The next morning wasn't any better, but I had stuff to do so I took some more medicine and went about it. I took the kids bowling after lunch. As long as I was busy it didn't bug me too bad, but as soon as I didn't have anything to do, ow! Friday morning, I had a meeting at work, and while there was talking to a co-worker that gave me a business card of a dentist that will work with people that don't have insurance, so I called them. They are closed until Monday morning, so tomorrow morning, I will be calling them at 8 am. Oh, and to top it all off, Saturday morning I attended a RS Visiting Teaching Brunch. It was great, except for the pain and the difficulty eating waffles with a swolen face and painful teeth. What was the topper was when I got home and Shiloah came to me with a container with 2 bugs in it and said that she found them when she was brushing her hair. 4 out of the 5 kids had bugs. I was ticked!!!!! So to culminate my awful week, I have been washing everything and doing hair checks, multiple times a day. So... how many bad things does that make? 1. Tires 2. More tires 3. Window 4. Tooth 5. Bugs. I don't have the strength for anymore.

Now, to look of the positive side, we did get our Fed. taxes back, so we can pay off the credit card and a few other things, and we were able to find a window at a junk yard for about $450 less than what a new one would have cost. We are still going to have it professionally installed, even tho Todd does know how to do it and has done one in the past month for a friens, but he doesn't have the time, plus, they are going to fix the rubber seal thing between the door and the van (it needs some adhesive). We have been blessed, but why do the challenges have to come so fast and so close together? I have not asked for patience, or $$, or anything like that from Heavenly Father, so he must think that I need something. Oh well. I didn't go to church today because I didn't want the stares or the questions about my half puffy face. I got enough of that at the brunch. Didn't want to go through that again.

My kids saw "Escape to Witch Mountain" and "Return From Witch Mountain" today. They thought they were great. I love the good old movies. Todd's sister Melanie borrowed "The North Avenue Irregulars" and my kids think "Savannah Smiles" is boring, but I like them. It's time to get the kids ready for tomorrow, so bye.