The Big 5-0 for George

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY GEORGE-EE...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!

 

Mike celebrated his 50th birthday this past week!  And we celebrated with fun, family and flying.

You read that right...flying!

 

I saved up and hired Utah Paragliding to take Mike on a tandem paragliding ride.  They were awesome!  Jonathan kept in touch with me throughout the week about the weather, and even texted me at 7 am with an update, and Hal did all the flying with Mike.

 

No one told Mike what we were doing, and if you know him at all, you know that may not have been the best idea.  ~ANXIETY~!  He stewed and worried about it for 2 days before, up until we pulled into the parking lot and I showed him a sign of where we were.  I kept telling him I would tell him if he wanted me to, but he held tough and was relieved he was going paragliding and not having a surprise party for him.  (Someday this man will trust me!!)

 

When I showed him the sign, Oakland asked what we were doing there.  Cali said, "Papa's going to jump off that mountain."

 

"NOOOOO!  I don't want Papa to jump off a mountain!"

 

I woke him up early so we could get to the site by 8:30.

 

 It was REALLY windy up on top so he had to sign them in the van so they didn't blow away.

 

 And everyone else hung out in the van waiting for him and Hal to get ready.

(Brandon, Alex, and TJ)

 

 (Ash with a cold, red nose held by Kierra)

 

 (Kierra holding Ash, Mo, Colby, Oak, and Cali)

 

 

 Getting suited up

 

 

 Hal and Mike walked down the hill a ways...

 

 ...Hal took the 'wings' out of their container and hooked each of them up...

 

 ...the fam got out of the vans long enough to watch...

 

 ...they took a few running steps...

 ...and they were off!!

 I took this picture to show how far away they got at times.  And to show the guy with the red wings; he just flew there.  In that same spot.  The whole time...

We got to watch a few hang gliders take off...

Mike and Hal did some see-saw moves...

 



This is a tandem hag glider taking off.  Notice the dog...

That's the dog in the middle of the bottom of the picture.  If the pilot isn't doing a tandem flight, the dog jumps on his back as he's takin off and goes on a ride with him.  The lady in the blue coat had to yell, "NO!"  "STOP!" until the 2 had actually taken off so he wouldn't jump on the pilot's back.

 



Then Hal and Mike swirled down, down, down...

 



...took 2 or 3 steps when they reached land and that was it!  It was that easy!

 



After the 45 minute ride, he was all smiles.

 



I guess I did ok with his 50th birthday present!?!

 



And then the girls threw rocks!  What a day!

 

We went home and vegged for a few hours, then we all went to lunch, including both sets of parents. 

 

I love this man so much!  He is my best friend and he makes me happy.  I hope that at least for this day, he could feel some of the joy that he gives me!!!



Alex the Amazing part 2 with pictures (from Alex's perspective)

I had a great day yesterday.  I shouldn't have because my sugars were crazy, but I laughed throughout the day and worked hard.  Then came my favorite time of day; wrestling!  It was a bit different than most practice days.  We still had practice from 2:45 - 5:30 but then all our parents were invited to come watch us in an intramural scrimmage.  That's wrestling-ese meaning we got to do a match against our own teammates.  My mom came and took some pictures during practice warm up and then my sister took pictures of the match.  They did OK.  It's hard to see my muscles ripple via pictures, but they tried their best.

 

 

 

 

Here's a great butt shot my mom took (she can be soooo embarrassing) but I wanted to show this because check out my form! Everyone else around me is squatting, but I am able to keep my legs perfectly straight!
 

 

Here's another technique of mine; roll around like crazy while everyone else sits still stretching their legs.  It keeps my opponents guessing, even during warm ups!

 

 

 

My mom took this picture of me with a few of my teammates.  I don't know why that kid is sticking his tongue out at my mom, but I thought it was a good pic anyway.

 

 

When coach called us out of the stands I gave a wave to my adoring fans.

 

 

 Then I sat where coach told me to and waited....

 

 ...and waited...

 

 ...and waited.

 

This is a great picture because it shows the difference in the size of me and my opponent.  The poor kid never had a chance!

 

A little smack talk; "I'm gonna take you down!"

 

 And then we are on the mat!

 

 

 This is the ref.  He had to put some kind of ankle bracelet on me. Probably to give my opponent a better advantage.

 

 

 Then we bust knuckles at mid-mat...



...then let me at him.  I could do a complete commentary explaining my moves, my motivation, my thoughts while wrestling, but I think I will let the pictures do the talking!

 

I pinned him!!

The ref put my hand up in the air and the crowd went wild!  Actually, the crowd was cheering for me the whole time!  Screaming my name, yelling through their excitement at seeing such a great match.  I have to give my opponent credit.  He wasn't a sore loser.  I need to work on that for that one chance in a million that I am on the other end of a pin.  But, I must say again, the poor kid didn't have a chance!

 

I got a few congratulation bumps...

 



...then I make my move on the ladies!

Don't worry girls!  There's enough of me to share!

 



Then we ban together as a team and wrestle the mat.  It took all of us, but we finished it off!

 



 

A congratulatory kiss and hug from dad...

...and TJ. 

 

I'm the winner!!!  Yeah.  I know I am amazing!



Alex the Great!

I'm thinking that should be Alex's wrestling name!

Al started practice with the wrestling team this past week.  He did such an amazing job!  I was impressed with his tenacity, his endurance and his excitement over being on the team.  I was equally as impressed with the integrity of the coaches and other team mates and how they involved Alex in everything they did.

It's kind of hard to see in these pictures, but Al is in the center of both of them.  The top one is just him stretching with the other guys.  He's the one in the jazz jersey and white shorts, almost dead center of the picture.  And the bottom one is a feel-good picture; the team had started at the end I'm standing at to take the picture doing the crab walk.  Alex was one of the first ones to start out, but obviously everyone passed him, but they are all waiting on the other side for him to finish.  And what you don't see (hear) is all the cheering the guys are doing to get Alex to "keep going!"  It's fun to watch the other team mates.  They have been patient, but pushing.  Supportive, but strong.  And the coaches?  Well, let's just say those big lugs have brought this mom to tears a couple of times, just with the simple fact that they are allowing him to try out, but also with how they have involved him so heavily in the practices.  I know the boys on the team wouldn't be so supportive and accepting if the coaches weren't.

Mike and I are both Beetdiggers; all of Al's siblings and almost all of his aunts and uncles are Beetdiggers, and now my Baby Beet...I am so proud to say we are Beetdiggers!

I'm hoping to take some decent pictures this week and will make sure to post them, so look again later to see Alex the Great in action!

Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful....

It snowed.  And snowed.  And snowed some more.  Saturday morning was spent shoveling the almost 2 feet of snow we received in  the past few days.  It's absolutely beautiful, but cold!  Even the girl's snowman doesn't look happy to be out in it.

Our own little army

Our army began with Will in June of 2008.  A week later Mac enlisted.  Four years later the army doubled in size with Quincy and Daniel.

These are all angel babies that I am close to.  Will belongs to a neighbor of ours who is a year or two older than Cali. Of course Mac and Quincy are Cali's, and Daniel belongs to another neighbor who just gave birth to him on Saturday. All these moms live within a block of each other. All of them had little boys.  I could name others that are friends of the family; the 4 year old who was with his family at a cemetery taking pictures and a headstone fell on him, killing him.  Or my neighbor's sister-in-law who had a stillborn little boy. See.  A little army.

Yeah, it helps knowing they are in the arms of our loving Heavenly Father, but it still hurts. 

Yes we know that these moms will get to raise these sweet men in the hereafter, but we miss them NOW!  And it hurts when they aren't "counted" among the grand kids.

And of course I pray every night asking Heavenly Father to give my two little boys a kiss from their Nanny - not that our Father in Heaven isn't busy enough as it is, but I don't think he minds me asking.  But I would like to do the hugging and kissing for myself.

It scares me to know how awesome these men are. 

There's nothing I want more than to be able to salute this army of ours and then hug the stuffin' out of each and every one of them!



When our neighbors couldn't find Daniel's heartbeat and they called to tell us, I didn't know what to say or do.  After all we have been through with Cali and her boys, and I couldn't think of what needed to be done.  It was hard.  It was hard to talk to Cali about it, because I knew it hurt her.  There is nothing worse than watching your child go through pain - horrible pain - and not be able to help in any way.

We went shopping.  Not the usual therapy for Cali and me, but it did help.  We found some things that were similar to what Will's mom gave to Cali when Mac was born;  a little ring to put on Daniel's hand and a matching one for a necklace for mom.  A teddy bear to go in the casket, and a matching one to keep, and matching tie tacks for Daniel and dad.  I know how much these things helped Cali.  And how amazing is it that Will's mom was able to come and comfort US just one week after losing Will?  I don't know how she did it.  But she did and we can never repay her for the love and support she gave to all of us.  And now it was Cali's turn.  She did an amazing job just being there for this mom.  I was very proud of her.

The funeral is coming up.  Cali and I will be there.  And I'm pretty sure so will Will, Mac, and Quincy.  They will be there to help Daniel, who will be there to help his family.