Happy Birthday Bruce!

This is Bruce and some of his friends on New Year's Eve--2009. Those aren't gang signals. They're making the numbers 2-0-0-9.
The sad thing about getting so far behind like I have is that important days come and go and they don't get recorded or acknowledged. So here is my late birthday tribute to Bruce.

Bruce is smart--4.0 gpa from a very difficult school. He works hard and stays on top of things and I hardly have to worry at all about his schoolwork. After my growing up, I really didn't deserve to have such a conscientious student for my oldest, but I'm grateful.

Bruce is a great basketball player--We enjoy watching him play, his passing, his court presence, his leadership. He is a hard worker and never gives up. He loves a game where everyone scores and does his best with passing and court leadership to make that happen. Coaches love his work ethic.

Bruce is kind and generous--When his friend Mehmet needed a place to stay, Bruce helped make that happen. If a friend needs something, Bruce is willing to help. He's a good person to have on your side.

Bruce is motivated--He is focused and determined to reach his goals. He works hard to do that and doesn't get easily distracted. He knows what he wants and what it takes to get there and then does what he needs to to make it happen.

Bruce is funny--He has a great sense of humor and makes us laugh a lot. He is ridiculous and dry and very witty.

Last but most importantly, Bruce has a testimony--he is never hesitant to say prayers, he is anxious to serve a mission and doesn't hesitate to stand up for what he knows is right. He is willing and ready to fulfill his priesthood assignments. He is a good example to those around him.

We love Bruce. He is such an important part of our family and as happy as I am about the man he is becoming, I hate how fast he's getting there. I can't bear the thought that we are less than two years away from him leaving on his mission. I love having him around. I love visiting with him. I enjoy watching our shows together and I love that he is my son. I love you, Bruce.

Bruce and some ridiculous glasses. I guess these silly glasses sell for a lot of money, so he made his own with tape.

I accidentally deleted this cute picture of the girls, so it is completely out of order, but then so are most of the pictures in this post.

Once again, my pictures are backwards. I obviously haven't done a posting for awhile. One Saturday, after we'd looked at about eight homes with a realtor and driven by several others, we picked up cheese bread and cookies at Great Harvest and headed around Alpine Loop. The leaves were changing, as you'll see in the last pictures, and it was beautiful. We stopped in Wallsburg and looked around the valley and the school house. It was sad and neglected. I took a lot of pictures, mostly because I wanted them. Hopefully it won't be too boring. It sure doesn't look like it did when we lived there.

This is a picture of the library in Heber. I spent a lot of time here and had my own library card. I checked out every Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew book they had, as well as Harriet Tubman, the Little House on the Prairie books and more.

This is the house the uncles built for Grandpa and Grandma Higginson. It used to be white. It sits on the corner of the school house property. I remember watching Gone With The Wind here with Grandma, among other things.

This is the little post office. It is no longer used as a post office. I don't think it is used for anything. We used to walk down the hill to get the mail here. Phyllis was the mail-lady. I read all of the FBI most wanted posters here. I can remember reading the most wanted poster of Patricia Hearst.

This was our church. It is now used as a community center or something like that. I have many memories of church meetings, learning to lead the singing, the ward choir, Primary, Relief Society, being able to say the prayer by myself because I didn't want Velma Ford's hot, wet breath in my ear, Sunday School parties, ward auctions, movies, and more. Everything, it seemed, happened at the church. Even a little scuffle or two.

This is the first house that Grandpa and Grandma Higginson lived in. It was a couple of blocks from our house. The garage is a new addition since they lived there. I have many happy memories at this house as well as a couple of embarrassing ones that I won't go into right now.

Wasatch Elementary--the school we attended until I finished fifth grade and we were moved to the new school in Midway. I had a one great teacher here, one pretty good teacher, two bad teachers and one wicked, horrible, abusive teacher.

Here are some pictures of what was once a really neat house. Now it is sad, boarded up, run down and lonely. When I think of the difference between now and when Dad and Mom had the green lawn, the animals in the field and barn, lots of kids running around, a bright orange front door with a cool door bell, the patchwork carpet floor, the big windows, the garden, and everything else, the contrast is heartbreaking. I wish I were rich and could afford to buy it and restore it for the family to use as a get-away, because it is a huge piece of our family history. I hope someday to write about our years here.

One of the windows was broken out and the board that had been covering it was on the ground, so we were able to look in at what I think had been the principal's office. It was too scary and dark once you got past the broken window. If I hadn't been worried about hanta virus, and mice and broken glass and all manner of boogey men, maybe we could have explored. But I'm a chicken.

This is Joe through the overgrowth, standing at what was once our kitchen door with the pretty little lawn by it. Oh, it is such a mess now.

This cute car was at Sundance, where we stopped for a few minutes to look around.

It was a nice day.

Jason Mraz--The Interview and The Concert

So much has happened since Summer. We found out Travis got the job in Utah. We put our house on the market. Travis, Bruce and Veronica stayed in Bill's basement and started work and school, while Savannah and Joe started school in Idaho with me. We finally couldn't stand it anymore and came to Utah as well, thanks to Leslie, who kindly let us stay with her.

During the craziness of looking for houses, making offers, trying to sort of home-school the two youngest kids, new jobs and schools, etc. we won tickets to see Jason Mraz in concert. We had to answer ridiculous questions on the radio, but with Leslie's help on google and Veronica's help tracking down some lyrics to a song, we won tickets and the opportunity to interview him before the show. Bruce and Veronica did the interview and then they along with Travis and me enjoyed a great show. He's an amazing musician and it was really fun.

The interview was really casual and he was very nice to them. I got to watch.

This is us following him back to the room for the interview. He was riding his bike all over the corridors of the e-center. It was a nice diversion from the hectic school, work, house-hunt schedule we'd been keeping.

Miscellaneous July

We worked on the house a lot during July, in preparation for probably selling it and then Leslie, who was visiting took picutres of the whole house for us. Here's the house we enjoyed for nearly four years and that now we desperately want to sell.

I hesitate to even put this in my blog, but here are Leslie, Veronica, Savannah and me at the midnight release of the fourth book in the Twilight series. I ended up hating it with all my heart and didn't finish it. A piece of crap book as far as I'm concerned.

Here are Joe and Anna watching the actual airshow featuring the Blue Angels. Lori and Scott's family, Leslie's family and our family were in chairs by the side of the road. We had sandwiches, chips and cookies. It was fun.

Here is the main reason for their visit (and everyone else's that came). The Twin Falls temple is absolutely beautiful and we so enjoyed going through the tour with everyone. What a blessing for the people in Twin Falls.

The Blue Angels Arrive in Twin Falls

July was a busy and fun month for us in Twin Falls. During the month, Travis was interviewing for a job and travelled out of town twice. Bruce, Veronica and I worked hard during the month on the temple open house and we began having a lot of company as family came to visit and attend the open house.

I haven't posted for awhile, so these pictures are backwards, but on Nairn and Maria's trip to Utah, we drove to the airport and watched the arrival of the Blue Angels who were in town for an air show. We watched them arrive, taxi in formation down the runway, line up and exit the planes with exact precision. They had someone standing on the tarmack leading them, as if they were an orchestra or something. It was very neat.

Joseph, who is obsessed with flying and Daniel were able to sneak in a picture with one of the pilots. It was a neat event.