More traveling (and hospitalizations) than expected

As summer approached, we asked Superstar what he wanted to do this summer. His answer was firm and clear: NOT go ANYwhere. Let's stay at home this summer and just read and play.

Sorry, kid.

This post is a rehash of the trips we've taken and some of the health problems this summer plus some gratuitous pictures of the kids because we always need more of them.

End of May/early June I went to Atlanta for a conference.

I was still on my way back when we learned Joy's mother had a stroke (she hadn't, but that was the report we got) and was unresponsive, so she left the kids with a friend and started driving to UT. My dad called and used some flyer miles to get her a flight instead, which saved a good deal of time and trouble. I got back and watched the kids for a week while she nursed her mother back to health. Turns out it wasn't a stroke and she was soon mended.

Superstar the Archer, who has 2
healthy arms again and knows
how to use them!

The next week was Scout Camp, with Joy and Superstar enjoying 96 degrees and high humidity all day. That was the week the central air broke and we had to have it replaced.

The next week we all stayed home and let my parents come visit us (Yay, grandparents!) after my brother graduated with his PhD in Hispanic Languages and Literature. Yay, Steve! They got to stay for Princess' birthday. Yay, Princess! And I totally need to blog about that.

As soon as they left, I drove JT up to Cook's child hospital. He has been gagging most every day for years and the docs can't figure out what's wrong. So we had a probe inserted through his nose to measure the ph in his stomach. It had to stay in for 24 hours. He had really been looking forward to his "noodle nose", but didn't like it nearly as much once he had it. Turns out his (very mild) food allergies might be harming something in his intestines. He is now on a dairy-free diet to see if it's a milk allergy, but so far nothing has changed. We'll be trying dairy-free for 2 months and then see about removing something else from his diet.

A few days later we left on our two week drive to CO, UT, WA, and CA, which I do promise will get a blog or three sometime. While we were gone, four of us came down with a bad stomach flu - we suspect we had two different stomach viruses because some us ******************* while the others had **********. I did both. Lost 5 pounds, though, and I've kept them off, so that was nice. Horrible pain. We gave it to my parents. :(  Sorry, Pop and Grandma!

She asked me to please help
her look as sad as possible

I got a happier shot
once she had her pink cast

The next week we were with our friends in Louisiana, where Princess broke her arm. :(  She was jumping on the furniture upstairs (we adults were all downstairs) and fell on her arm. Some of her first coherent words were, "Now I understand why you keep telling me not to jump on the furniture." Yyyyyup. She has a pretty pink cast now.

And no sooner have we returned, but we learn that Joy's mother is in a real bad way and has been sent to the hospital twice in one week. We now realize this is not just a one-off, but a longer-term issue. So Joy grabbed the two younger kids and drove to UT to spend some time with her mom and plan with her brothers and sister what they will do for her long term. She may be up there a week; it may be a month or more.

Superstar the Beach Boy

Superstar and I are chillin' at home while I finish preparing my tenure packet, try to get a research paper out before school starts, and prepare for teaching seminary and an overload (one class more than I usually get assigned). The plan is that, at latest, Joy will come back with the kids around the start of school/my birthday and then drop of Princess with me while she and JT return to UT again if things haven't been resolved yet.

So, sorry, Superstar, but it looks like we had some traveling happening every single week this summer. And this week? This week I'm getting a minor surgery for my ankle. That should keep the two of us home at least!

Our family photo the morning Joy left, 5:30am

Games new and old, and the pain they cause

Joy has a new etymological theory: "John-Thomas was just trying to put on his socks and said, 'I'm not a very good socker.' I think that's where they got the name Soccer from! From those very long socks they wear!"

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I challenged Superstar to make some of our games for smaller children more interesting: combine 2 or more into a new game. His first attempt was interesting. We're debating still on the exact name. Maybe "My Great Uncle Yahtzmuti". At any rate, it's a combination of The Great Dalmuti, Yahtzee, and Uncle Wiggly.

1 - Play a trick of Dalmuti.
2 - Whoever takes the trick gets to take a turn at Yahtzee.
3 - If they score >0 in Yahtzee, then they get to move their Uncle Wiggly piece a number of spaces indicated by their Yahtzee roll. No matter what or how they score in Yahtzee, the Great Dalmuti adds up all 5 dice, the Lesser Dalmuti 4 dice, merchants and the lesser peon 3, and the greater peon 2. (So if you got a full Yahtzee and scored 50 based on a roll of five ones, the greater peon would still move only 2 spaces.) Note: You get to choose which dice (as long as you aren't the Great Dalmuti) so you can often avoid landing on bad spaces by taking a larger or smaller die roll.
Repeat until you decide you are done.

If your Uncle Wiggly makes it to the doctor before the game is finished, any extra steps he takes are added to your Yahtzee score. When someone gets to the doctor, the game is over. Add your Wiggley spaces to your Yahtzee score, and whoever has the highest total wins.

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Pioneer Day singing

At the ward Pioneer Day party there was a slip and slide activity. Most of the kids were lined up for it, and I stood watching and longing. It's been a Long time since I got to do that. As I thought about it, I felt very sure that if I did it, I was going to get hurt, probably land on and bruise my ribs somehow.

(Pssst, Derrill! That's a sign you are OLD!) 
Thanks, I know.

I decided to do it anyway. I ran, jumped, and slid delightedly all the way to the end. The hot day was not nearly so unbearable anymore, I got some amused looks from the more adult adults, and my prophecy was 100% confirmed. I bruised a rib on my right side and have been getting twinges of pain since. Every time it flares up because I'm stretching too far, I try to think about how fun that dive and slide was and enjoy it all over again.

I'm not dead yet.

PS for my mother - I needed a chest x-ray for some reason before my ankle surgery, so that happened the next morning, and because of that I know I didn't crack the rib. I'm okay. No worries.

At that same activity, some of the youth and kids lay in wait to soak the bishop. He took a while coming out, though, so they used up most of their water on each other first. Despite that, here is a short video of his reception:

Conversations with JT - Incredibles 2

Last week little JT started pointing finger guns at people (which is against house rules - no shooting people) and saying "Pew pew." He shot everybody. A lot. A little concerned, I pulled him aside for an interview.

D: Why are you shooting people?
JT: "To stop bad guys."
D: There are no bad guys here. And who do you know who stops bad guys with guns?
JT: "Super heroes."
D: JT, the superheroes don't use guns. Superman doesn't use a gun. Wonder Woman doesn't use a gun. Batman doesn't use a gun [in most of his incarnations]. Green Lantern doesn't use a gun [except in his day job in the military, I guess.] The X-Men don't use guns. The Avengers don't use guns [Good thing he doesn't know about Iron Man. Or Cap's day job. I would probably lose this argument if he knew anything.] Who uses guns?
JT: "The Incredibles."
D: What? Mr. Incredible doesn't use a gun. Mrs. Incredible doesn't use a gun. Frozone doesn't use a gun. Dash doesn't use a gun. Violet doesn't use a gun. Jack ... ... ... -Jack...


"Pew-pew. Pew-pew"

[Riiiiiight. We just saw Incredibles 2 with Pop and Grandma.] So you're Jack-Jack?
"Yes! I am. I shoot fire and ice."
Okay, well, JT, Jack-Jack doesn't shoot a gun. He shoots from his eyes. Will you please shoot your fire and ice from your eyes instead?
"YES!"
[We practiced that a little. Another crisis averted thanks to ... LISTENING!]


This morning JT says
"I can run really fast like Dash. I have a Super Mario hat that can make you speed up real fast. At super limit, and then super speed. I cannot have glasses with them, but fight because I'm trying to defeat a bad guy so there is no any bad guys left. Then my friends can just live with me, but I have to not let them run away from me because they all really disappear and they get in their homes."

What was your favorite part of the movie?
JT: "When this guy had a bicycle and could go really fast like me. Remember, that mom had a bicycle."
D: A motorcycle?
JT: "Yeah. Remember in the Two? Remember we watched it? Remember you saw it. You saw it in a big screen. Maybe we should watch it again!"

JT: "I can do better than they can do. I can shoot fire bolts and ice bolts out of my hands - only when there's bad guys. I don't do it any time someone is around me who is good. But if they stay around, I think 'Maybe he is a bad guy,' and I shoot it. And I say, 'What are you doing, standing around here?' Now can we eat breakfast?"

Something against fruit

This hilarious thing happened while I was in Atlanta. My colleagues and I took an Uber to the Ebenezer church and fell into conversation with the driver. Rather, my good friend Jim fell into conversation while I sat in the back, looking at the city.

I forget now how it happened, but they started talking about the local hookah scene, and how there was a shop that had let you smoke fruit. Jim - ever eager to toy with any idea, serious or fanciful - expressed enthusiasm to go there. It would be a cultural exchange for the faculty! Now, at our weekly meetings, I am generally his devoted sidekick, playing along with any scheme, but this one was not for me. I teased, "Jim, what are you getting me into now?"

After we arrived and I got out of the car, the driver said to Jim, "Your friend really has something against fruit!"

Jim and I doubled over laughing later as he told me. The thought that someone assumed it was the fruit and not the hookah smoking was so bizarre!

Jim explained to him that, no, his friend was a Mormon and they don't smoke or drink alcohol. The driver asked him what a Mormon is. Jim told him the proper name of the church, and it didn't ring any bells. Here was a fellow who had never even heard of us! Boy, I wish Jim had called me over then so I could chat with him! Jim laughed at my enthusiasm, suggesting I could have told him to keep the meter running while we drove around the town and teach him a discussion or two. That ... wasn't a bad idea!

Instead, Jim had given him a very brief introduction - having spent a fair amount of time with missionaries, other latter-day saints, and me, he has a decent knowledge base - and invited him to find out more at mormon.org. Not bad.

(Jim and I were playing prior to a forum/debate one day. Here's a video of how we thought about greeting our class on the first day in this one lecture hall.)

Some Very Important People - ages 4-9

We just (JUST) got back from our whirlwind, 5000 mile drive to visit family in Colorado, Utah, Washington, and California. Here are a few people we love more dearly than ever. More posts and pictures will be coming up this weekend.