JT's Birthday - #11

John-Thomas turned 11 years old in April. You can tell from the pictures, he is still in his "gorfy" picture phase.

Joy: We did an extra-long tennis time with his friend B____.

JT: It was really great. I liked the feeling of almost one year until I'm a deacon!

Nia: It happened. There was chaos. It was fun.

We had pies instead of cake for his birthday. That was enjoyable!

These pictures are technically part of our Easter celebration, but JT loved playing dreidel (out of season). He won! My new name is Joshua, the son of Nun because I kept rolling Nun.

Hyrum's Birthday - #17

Hyrum turned 17 this year.  These next few posts are mostly about saving some pictures.

We went to Pastafina in Weatherford. We wanted to do bowling, but the bowling arcade was packed for the next 2-3 hours and it was raining. We found another bowling place in Granbury to go instead.

He had friends over, as usual. Three cheers for Austin, who has come to each celebration for years.

Hy: We played soccer and ping pong.

Our ping pong table from last year died the death about a month ago. The remaining pieces were sitting against the wall, waiting for me to repair them or give them last rites. I tried. I did. Nothing helped. Then my parents sent us a portable ping-pong table and we were much more at peace saying goodbye to the old one. The new one is small, but has been loved.

A lot of Hyrum's birthday was preparing him for winter at BYU: suitcases, gloves, coats....

Happy Birthday, Mr. Tennis.

I'm glad you won...

When my father was a lad, he played games with his mother, like Scrabble. (John-Thomas says, "They had Scrabble back then?") She won. She won a lot. She taught my little father to say, "I'm glad you won. I'm sorry I lost. Maybe I'll do better next time."

Eventually, he "got gud" and he won. He won a lot. He taught his mother to say, "I'm glad you won. I'm sorry I lost. Maybe I'll do better next time." And then she made him clean up the game because he won.

In our modern day, Hyrum wins a lot of games. And I try to allow him the privilege of putting the game away. I explained to the children today why I do that and retaught them the mantra: "I'm glad you won. I'm sorry I lost. Maybe I'll do better next time."

JT - who is a good sport about coming in last many times - says, "I'm glad I won. I'm sorry you scored any points at all. Maybe you'll get negative next time." And he smiles and giggles.

Happy 4th of July!

We enjoyed watching 1776 as we do each year. Nia made a turkey, and it was one of the best we've had. We had the missionaries over as well who encouraged us to consider all we are grateful for, including our country. I enjoyed much less physical pain than I have had in a week.

To end the evening, we left dear America and went to medieval England for A Man For All Seasons. It tells the story of Thomas More, who is portrayed as one of the last honest men in a corrupt, power-hungry government. He refused to sign a loyalty oath, admitting the Pope had no authority to let King Henry VIII marry his brother's widow and therefore he was free to marry Anne Bolyn. He did not speak against the king either, so it took years in prison before someone came forward with false testimony to support his execution. There are any number of outstanding quotes from that film, courtesy of imdb:

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Thomas: Some men think the earth is round, others think it flat. It is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King's command make it round? And if it is round, will the King's command flatten it?

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• William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
• Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
• William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
• Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

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• The Duke of Norfolk: Oh confound all this. I'm not a scholar, I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or not but ***, Thomas, look at these names! Why can't you do as I did and come with us, for fellowship!
• Sir Thomas More: And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?

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Sir Thomas: I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.

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And let's end this post with a quote or two from John Adams, celebrating both men's commitment and integrity:

John: There are only two creatures of value on the face of the earth: those with the commitment, and those who require the commitment of others.

John: Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Courtesy of ChatGPT

Fossil Rim

Most summers we like to get season tickets for somewhere interesting and really enjoy it. One year (21-22) we did Fossil Rim, the safari park near Glen Rose, TX. We visited often and enjoyed each trip, but one thing we never seemed to manage was to get there first thing in the morning. This year, someone - I think it was the alumni association - paid for all faculty and staff at Tarleton to get free access for a couple weeks. So shortly before graduations, we drove down and really enjoyed seeing much more active animals than we would find in the mid- or late-afternoon in the Texas heat. (Go figure!)

One of our best encounters was the first and also the last. An ostrich came over, feeling very aggressive, to demand our food pellets. It attacked Joy through the window and tried to eat the toy giraffe hanging there by its neck. Joy tried to protect herself ... using the bag of food pellets! She quickly realized how counterproductive that was and closed the window. When we left the park again, the ostrich came to dance for us and snuggle with the van. 

Joy: I think the ostrich was trying to open the window so it could get to me.

Joy: Everyone that wanted to had personal encounters with the giraffe.

D: Often there is a long line of cars for the giraffes. They are quite adept at welcoming themselves inside in a gentle, non-threatening way (unlike the ostrich!) It was nice to have this one to ourselves for a while.

Turns out, 2021-22 when we had season passes was the last time we went to Fossil Rim. Joy took the kids to Fossil Rim a number of times while I had to work. Given that I wasn't blogging that year, here are some pictures from a couple of those trips too, below the fold:

Goals 2025

I tried something new with my goal-making this year. My New Year's Resolutions were a series of things I wanted to do more of, but without promising myself I'd do them literally everyday from now on. I posted five 3x5 cards on a wall and any day I accomplished one of the goals, I put a tick mark. Each goal had 14 days on it and once I got to 5 ticks on each day, that meant I accomplished the goal 70 times. 

We're very nearly half-way through the year (June 30 is 180 days). I've got 3 goals done (finished one today) and I'm shooting for a fourth by June 30. I've added some more goals in between, and each time I finish a goal I replace it with another. I also reward myself for every 7 days I complete a certain goal.

Most days I get to put 2-4 tick marks up. Once the kids are in bed, if Joy is otherwise occupied, the board of goals is one of the first places I go to figure out what I want to do next. And because I start fresh every day, there's no guilt at having "broken resolutions". I don't have an end date by which I have to have completed any of the goals. This is just something I want to work on and incorporate into my life more.

So all in all, I think it's been a good system. I've learned some unexpected things about how to manage myself in the process too.

My daughter, the singer

 In late April, our stake put on a special musical performance honoring the prophet Joseph Smith and his mission to testify of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. The script was written by our stake music coordinator. Hyrum and Nia got involved initially, but when Hy learned his regional UIL exam would be the same day as one of the performances, he dropped out. Nia and one of us parents drove out twice a week for rehearsals.

The youth danced and sang and formed an orchestra and did the narration. It was really a very impressive event!

The family attended both performances. These videos come from the second night with two of Nia's favorite songs: Israel, Israel, God is Calling (as an upbeat fiddle song) and My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee by Rob Gardner.

My daughter, the dancer

Nia, formerly known as "Princess" on this blog, has finished two years of dance at junior high. Here she is performing with her class.

She is just right of center at the start of each.

Nia: We were sad at the end of the year when we found out our teacher was leaving. I may not be doing dance anymore, but still. She was nice. She cared about how well we did in class and helped us improve. I'm a lot closer to being able to do the splits now, even if I never quite made it.

A successful operation

Last week, John-Thomas went in for a hernia operation at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth! I am very pleased to report it was a resounding success.

The doctors figured there was only a hernia. The ultrasound claimed there was cancer also. The hospital gave us urgent attention and from the discovery at his annual physical to the operation, less than 6 weeks had passed. The outstanding news is that the operation demonstrated there was absolutely no cancer to worry about at all.

When my parents came out, Dad gave JT a priesthood blessing. I gave him another the night before. Both of us promised him that there would be no longterm damage, that the doctors would know what to do for him, and that he would recover quickly. We are thrilled that these promises came true. My confession is that it took real faith on my part to make those promises - the doc had me convinced there was something that needed urgent removal, that JT would be there overnight, and that there was real risk of longterm damage. I cannot express my gratitude sufficiently to a merciful Heaven that this was not the case this time.

John-Thomas has been recovering very well. He stood in church and sang to the fathers with the rest of the children. He has been up and walking around all day today with very few complaints. To top it all off, he has been keeping up with his home schooling English lessons.

Joy: We have had so many people thoughtfully inquiring after his health. We have appreciated that.

20th Anniversary

Patrons of the Arts,
June 2023

DW: We are celebrating our 20th anniversary this year. Rather than having a larger trip, we decided to devote special time every day for a bit over a week, making 7-10 dates together.

Joy: We went for time together and for variety. Our goal was at least a couple hours together every day.

DW: We officially started with Pride and Prejudice at the Granbury Opera House. We were pleased to see that they still have their list of supporters from 2023 up, which includes us! 

Joy: We had some nice conversations with the people we sat near. When we first sat down, they had some windows on stage at really odd angles and we were thinking that was strange. The windows came down either at the front or back of the stage depending on if the characters were inside or out. It was really a good impetus for us to watch some more of the movie (Firth and Ehle). The love story seemed a lot more abrupt in the play!

DW: It got me thinking about the real challenge of taking a novel as complex and character-rich as P&P and turning it into something for 90-120 minutes. Some characters are just going to end up on the cutting room floor. And in this case, the growing love story between the two main characters was one of the casualties. Intermission ended, Elizabeth walked on stage, and said, "Well, that was a lovely six weeks in Derbyshire!" and you now knew we had skipped Lady Catherine and every conversation that would redeem Darcy in her eyes. But it's easier on the set designer! The letter shows up, telling us Kitty has run off, and Darcy happens to call on her whole family to learn the disaster. Lady Catherin did still show up at the very end.

Joy: I thought she did a good job. I liked how they did a flashback to the ball at Merytown, talking about what happened while other characters danced and Darcy insulted. I think they didn't have near enough of an idiot for the dad, which I don't see as an improvement. He's really supposed to be a comedian in the show.

DW: I was impressed to see Mary played for laughs.

Joy: Mary was done well.

DW: And Mr. Collins was more of a fop, less cringe, with his over-exaggerated bow. Mrs. Bennett was in too much self-command.

Joy: No kidding!

DW: And afterwards we got on the free trolley for a short ride around the square in the dark. The trolly ride reminded Joy of the Cinderella carriage ride we took after the family dinner on our wedding day.

DW: Over the 20 years, we have had to replace Joy's wedding ring a few times. She likes opals, but opals aren't really good at staying put in their ring setting. The first time we had to replace it, I hid her new ring in an unopened jar of Nutella. We opened it for New Year's and Joy was very pleasantly surprised to have a new ring.