Work Update

Work is going well. We are about 95% done with our self perform structural concrete, i.e. the fun work. We are pouring one big slab every week in what is the lower level of the parking garage. There are drains to slope to and a lot of fine grading and semi-challenging work. The most challenging part is keeping everyone busy and on task. Unfortunately and Fortunately we have the first layoffs of the job tomorrow. Most of the guys know already if it involves them, they also know it is inevitable. It's life in the union.

Friends

I was lucky enough on my mission to Florida 11 years ago to serve with and around a pretty good guy named Jared. Jared and I were in the same district for a few months, then were lucky enough to become companions for a month (which happened to be December & Christmas so it was especially fun). We would go on splits as much as possible so we could work together and we forged a great friendship. Our humor levels are very similar and we spend a lot of time laughing.

Hardly a few days go by still without some form of communication, usually a phone call. Most people know that I am the person to call most of my friends and family at least once every 6 months or so, if not more often, just to keep in touch. Jared is one of the few that will actually call me. We were able to catch up this summer for a day down in California. He lives in Florida now so it was fun to catch up and see each other's families.

Rusty's Birthday

Rusty had his 4th birthday on August 13 while they were in Idaho. I was sad that I wasn't there to celebrate with him. He had a fun birthday anyway. We have never been at our own home on any of Rusty's birthdays. We have always been on vacation. He is such a happy kid. He has a cute smile with the biggest dimples. He loves to sing, he often is making up random songs during the day. He is very outgoing and likes to talk to people. I'm glad you had a great birthday, Rusty. We love you.

Seattle

We took a little trip to Seattle after we got back from camping. We went to a Mariners game with Luke's cousin Dusty and Angie. The Mariners are Luke's favorite team. We stayed at Dusty and Angie's place. The next day we went to Pike's Street Market. It is so fun to walk through there and look at what everyone is selling. The produce sold there is so yummy and tasty.
Luke and Dusty

Pike's Street Market.

After the market, we spent the rest of the day with our friends on their farm. They have the best place for kids. It has the coolest tree house with a zip line, a huge tree swing, tons of open space for the kids to play in. We had so much fun, the boys didn't want to leave. But we had to drive back to Coeur d'Alene. It was a fun trip.

Riding In Cars With (My) Boys

As many of you know, Janna was able to take a trip recently with her family to the Bahamas. I chose to stay and see my family up in Coeur d'Alene as I don't often get the chance to see them now that we are in Colorado. The boys and I were together for about 9 days. We were able to do a lot of fun stuff. We attended a Spokane Shock playoff game thanks to my good friend and owner of the Shock, Brady. The boys really liked their thunder stix. Both boys went to the dentist, AKA Grandpa, for the first time, and both of them did great. My dad's assistants couldn't believe how well behaved they were. I just made sure they knew about the toy drawer they would get to open at the end and that took care of any behavioral problems.

Tuesday the boys went to Silverwood with Grandma and Scott and Sam, and had a great time. I spent the morning working with my cousin Brett and Sadie watched(he was taking a nap)Van for me. Thanks for your help Sadie. We were also able to spend a lot of time with my Grandma Joy who was up for the reunion. She had never met Rusty and Van and hadn't seen Stone since he was about 10 months old.

Wednesday was Rusty's birthday and my mom was great to make him a Raspberry Chocolate cake, so good. We had a swimming party at Aunt Jean and Uncle Steve's house with a lot of the 2nd cousins (kids of Mikin, Lizzie, Angie B, Brynne) plus Hayliann was in town. The kids swam and we had popsicles provided my Grandma Paula. Thanks everybody for coming and Rusty sends out a big thank you for the gifts. Great Grandpa Lee and Dan came over that night and we had cake and ice cream.

The next morning we started the long drive back to Denver. We drove to Idaho Falls the first day and stayed with my cousin Gena and Owen and Eli. We were able to also see Ginger, Genelle, and her family.

Friday we drove to Salt Lake and stayed with Great Grandma Hart. Thanks for letting us crash at your place Grandma. We spent some time with Grandma, cooked hamburgers, and got to see Cookie, Madie, Zach, Parker, and Suzie. We spent some time seeing a couple of friends too, til Van started not feeling so well. We were able to watch the Olympics as we stopped at different places too.

We spent Saturday in Orem and Provo. I took the boys to eat on campus at the CougarEat (memory lane) and got them a football and basketball at the bookstore. They were doing great. The two older boys travel very well and made it a lot easier for me since I was limited while I drove. We got to spend some time in Orem seeing some friends from our days at BYU. Thanks Matt and Natali. We spent that night at our friends Mark and Deidra. We had fun hanging out with Mark and watching the Olympics. The boys absolutely loved playing with Mark. They wouldn't leave him alone. They really like the fact that all food, treats, and drinks were there for them to have, they just had to ask first. The next morning Deidra chased them around and wore them out for me. We had so much fun there. After we left their house Sunday mid-morning, it was the long drive home. We stopped in Grand Junction for lunch, and other than that we made good time all the way home. The boys probably wished they had Janna there to talk me into stopping more often, but at least it made the time traveling less.

All in all we drove about 3700 miles on the trip, about 1500 of them just me and the boys. Despite being a single parent for 1/2 of the trip, I had a really good time with the boys. They probably were ready to see mom. It let me know that I would do okay if I ever had to do it again. Plus I was able to do it on the road, away from the comforts of home. I just had to think a few steps ahead and have the diapers and wipes ready at a moments notice and make sure I had tonight's PJ's and tomorrow's clothes ready to go. Oh, and the toothbrushes and flossers too. I got to know my boys a little better and now, hopefully they will come to me sometimes for help and not overload Janna.

We have a lot of pictures to post from our trip but still have to download them from the camera. We'll post them later.