A Voice from the Dust

Dust, as in dusty Caliente, NV.

On May 26, 2009, I took off for the Den of Sin (Las Vegas) to attend two legal conferences. The first night I stopped in the surprisingly lovely Omaha, NE. I stayed with our friends from Wymount, the Boyle's. While there, I saw Warren Buffett's home and office (from outside, of course). It's amazing that a man that is periodically the world's richest human still lives in his first home (without a security fence), and drives a used Cadillac.




From there I headed for Denver, with a brief pit stop at Cabelas' home office. In Denver I stayed with Robby and Shannon Packard. I failed to snap a pic of the town, but I was thoroughly impressed. And for those that know Robby, I should mention that the man has not aged a day from his time at Ricks College.

Then I headed to Las Vegas. This leg of the trip started rough. Stop-and-go morning traffic, climbing a few thousand feet in elevation on I-70, and winding mountain roads made for some unfortunate car sickness. I got better as the day progressed, but the lack of cell phone service through southern Utah had Jenny in a panic, as she thought I passed out and drove off the road somewhere before Richfield.

I finally made it to Las Vegas where I am still being hosted by yet another Wymount BYU 1st Ward alum family: the John Bragonje's. Rather than introduce me to the debaucheries of Las Vegas, they drove me up to Caliente, NV, a dusty Nevada town whose apparent hey-day expired roughly a century ago. Here's a pic of the rail station, constructed in 1901, and which is still the largest building in town (edging out the LDS church down the road).



We also navigated 28 miles of dirt roads to Nevada's remote Beaver Dam State Park to do some hiking. I tried to get John to carry me in his pack, but it sported the sign "Kids only," a reference, John insists, to physical, not behavioral, maturity.



Finally, we strolled the streets of Pioche, NV, a dwindling mining camp where the first 72 deaths of the community where by the gun, rather than by natural causes.

I miss my family dearly. Thanks to those back home trying to keep Jenny distracted.

today

Grant is whining, pulling at my pants, while I finish washing pans. I look over and see a toy screwdriver on the counter, and wonder why it's there. I must've taken it away from the other kids. "Here Grant! Do you want a screwdriver?" He takes it, looks at it, throws it on the ground, whines louder, and gives me the "I'm not stupid, that's not what I want and you can't trick me" look.

I can't stop laughing.

Little Reminders

I'm a mom. I watch kids, chauffeur them around, break up fights, cook for them, feed them, bathe them, clean up after them, read to them, teach them, love them, yell at them, soothe them. Repeat. I've had this job for 5 1/2 years, so I've kind of forgotten about the other roles I used to play. Today I had a little reminder, and it was thrilling and inspiring.

My Bachelor's degree is in English Education. It's been a while, and I know I've forgotten some grammar rules, and I am not in the habit of pumping out 10-page papers every day, so don't judge me on my writing here. But I was a pretty good student--I earned a scholarship from BYU-Idaho for my grades (I know many of you who read this were in my classes or worked with me and also got scholarships, so I feel silly bragging, but it's fun to remember and feel smart). I even had some papers published. I was busy--usually taking 21 credits with 3 or 4 English classes at a time and working 20 hours a week. 

I took my last English class over 6 years ago. Now I have a brother and sister who are attending BYU-Idaho. Today my brother, Dennis, called and asked if I ever had teacher so-and-so and did I take a certain class from him. At first I was like, "I don't think so. It's been a long time." He said the teacher's name again and started describing what he looked like and the class he taught. "OK, yeah, I think I know who you are talking about, why?" Dennis then explained that they have an assignment in their class and today his professor handed out an example to the students. Dennis looked at it and saw the name on it was "Jennifer McGregor." Apparently we had to give credentials and contact information because on the back of the the assignment there was information about me, including the fact that I had taught children in China for two semesters! It also listed my college email address. It was definitely mine!! (I got 100%) Dennis talked to his teacher after class and informed him that I was his sister. The teacher was surprised and asked how long ago I had taken his class. I think it's been 7 years! So for 7 years, 3 semesters per year, my paper has been handed around as an example for at least 21 different classes (who knows how many classes he has each semester?)! 

Lesson? We never know how we will affect others. I hope my example has been helpful to those who have used it as their guide. I wonder how many other papers of mine are floating around BYU-Idaho? I feel flattered and reprimanded at the same time. I'm busy and have new priorities, but there's no excuse for letting my talents rot. I once felt like I could take on the world, talk to anyone,  and accomplish anything. I have forgotten the exhilaration of analyzing a piece of literature and writing pages of carefully selected words in a matter of hours. Most of the writing I do is on this blog! Maybe I don't have the time or desire to analyze stories, but I could write anecdotes about my family for my children. Why do I let motherhood and housewifery be an excuse to stop growing as an individual? I am taking some classes to keep my teaching certificate current, so I have been forced to write better and more often.  Anyway, this little story has made my day and inspired me to get writing. Thanks, Dennis!

Reality.

It's 10:35 on a Friday night. Joe's camping with Logan at the father and son outing. Madison, Grant, and I had a "mom date." We walked to the park, played catch, watched half of "Kung Fu Panda," and now they are sleeping and I am lonely and reminded of reality. And since it will take forever to fall asleep without my husband-pillow, I'm journaling my feelings of the moment. 

Joe leaves for Texas in just over a week to start meeting people, to get serious studying done for his second bar in 2 years, and to begin work for our new life. Usually a night alone is a blessing--there is something to be said about peace and quiet and time to watch a girly movie or cuddle with a good book; however, tonight the quiet foreshadows the next several weeks or months that I will be acting as a single mother. 

Several families in our ward are moving this week. I have grown close to one family in particular, and when we took our walk today, I walked past their empty home and the sadness of the next few months was almost overwhelming. 

On top of everything else, I realized today that Joe's severance package ends in 5 days. We've been living very frugally these past few months, knowing that the day would come, but until now we've known that money was still coming in for a while. We've been preparing and saving for this new step, but we know it isn't going to be easy. 

Our home is still up for sale. We had quite a few showings the first month, but 0 showings this past month. We will probably lower the price soon; however, we are now considering renting our home for a few years--preferably to a medical or dental student. We go back and forth between what would be better--selling our house for less than we owe--but never having to worry about it again, or renting for several years and hopefully building some equity on it while we wait for the market to get a little better. In all honesty, we wonder if either is even an option. We really love our home and neighborhood that we live in--that's why we bought it! But the reality is that there are so many homes for sale and vacant in Cleveland right now--as they are everywhere, I'm sure.

Now for the more positive updates. Joe, with the help of a great friend, did throw me a surprise party, and I was surprised. I was thinking about it today, and I'm even more surprised that he could keep it a secret. He's the type of person who would be like, "Hey, I'm so excited. You're going to be so surprised!" And then I would, of course, suspect what he was planning!

 Thanks, babe!

Grant got his first real haircut today. His hair is still pretty long (sorry I didn't take a picture), but he looks different to us. He still isn't walking, although I'm pretty sure that he could. He just doesn't want to. He knows how to turn on the boys' c.d. player and pause it (it's the same button). He turns on the music (currently a Shrek soundtrack) and starts shaking his hips. Logan gets frustrated because he (Logan) just wants to listen to his music without anyone pushing pause over and over. Grant also knows how to open the DVD player. Uh oh. He's also only nursing once every other day. 

Logan finishes preschool in a few weeks. We've been talking about kindergarten and Texas. Dad's been brainwashing him. Today he told me that Texas was his favorite state. Oh yeah. He also told me that he couldn't wait until he was a grown up because he was going to have a TV in his room and watch whatever he wanted all night long.  

Madison is my tomboy. We had our mom date tonight while the boys were gone. I asked her if she wanted to watch a girly movie. She said yes, "How about we watch Tigress" (from Kung Fu Panda). I try to convince her to wear skirt-shorts. She refuses and only wants pants. She did consent to wearing one of my t-shirts as a nightgown tonight. 

Anyway, despite a few unfortunate realities, we are doing really well. We are healthy and young, Joe and I both have marketable skills, we have great families and friends, and we will survive. It's just not as easy as we thought it would/should be. We watched Marley and Me a few weeks ago. I'm so not an animal person, but I really liked this movie. Towards the end, Owen Wilson's character asks his wife what comes next in her plan. She says something like, "I've given up on the plan. And it's soo much better [than I could've planned]." I think if we knew the plan, we'd get hung up on all of the hard stuff and miss out on all of the great stuff. 

Happy Birthday, Jennifer

On Monday, May 11, 2009, Jenny hit 28.

She thought we were celebrating her birthday on Saturday with a free Coldstone Creamery ice cream. We had just dropped off our kids at the Heather and Jason Carr's. The ice cream was fine.

We returned to the Carr's and knocked on their back door. We waited. Jennifer peaked into the window, wondering what was taking the Carr's so long to answer the door. After all, she could hear the voices of excited children.

Heather answered the door and apologized for the delay. She let us in, and allowed us Jenny to take the lead. She directed us to go through the kitchen and open the chef's door into the dining room. Jenny barreled through only to hit an invisible wall as soon as she opened the door. To her utter confusion stood her family (parents) and several of her friends yelling "SURPRISE!!!"

It worked.

Thanks, guys.

Can You Tell

We are running out of things to say?

Joe's Thought of the Day

“Why do people in ship mutinies always ask for "better treatment"? I'd ask for a pinball machine, because with all that rocking back and forth you'd probably be able to get a lot of free games.”

- Jack Handy

Quote of the Day

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.  

~P.J. O'Rourke

Random

Why is it that every time I comment on someone's blog I have the urge to tell them what the word verification is? I guess the real question is: why do I find the "word verification" choice of letters so humorous?

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I saw someone else who did this star thing to break up their thoughts. I thought it was a good idea.

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I would really like to get up at 5:00 a.m. and sit outside on the patio and drink hot chocolate while I watch the sun rise and write in my journal. I got up at 6:30 a.m. instead. Maybe tomorrow.

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I'm not sure if I should publish my random thoughts. You might think I'm crazy.

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Madison agrees.

 

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I forgot. Grant is showing signs of desire to walk. This includes pushing the walker toy and taking a few steps on his own. We're relieved.

The Phantom Battery

Grant will put anything in his mouth.

As Jennifer was flattening her hair for church, she noticed Grant sitting amid the broken pieces of a toy cell phone (at just 1.15 years old, Grant already knows how to hold it up to his ear and babble). She collected all the pieces, but couldn't find one of the phone's two button batteries. A long search on her hands and knees failed to produce the Smartie-sized pill.

The two parents reasoned, 'He won't eat broccoli florets, why would he eat a metallic battery?' Everyone moved on.

At night, however, Grant cried in his crib for over an hour, which is unusual for him. He normally puts in a worthy 5-minute effort, then calls it quits. But this increased the likelihood that an ingested battery was giving him fits. So they pulled Grant out of his crib, and the little guy thought he was the champ (increased effort, increased results).

Now Jennifer drafted Joseph into the search. The two groped the floor for over an hour, then called the "My Baby Swallowed a Battery, What Do I Do Now" hotline (202-625-3333). They suggested taking Grant in for an X-ray.

At 10:00 pm Joe drove Grant to his hospital. By this time Grant was tired. His body was like a soaked towel; they spread-eagled his little body over the x-ray film and snapped a picture. 10 minutes later the verdict arrived: No battery.

So now, each of the kids have emergency room experience. Madison chopped off the tip of her finger while performing circus tricks on her chair. Logan was rushed to the ER after a few weeks of life because he was full of mucus (still is); then had to have a sweet pea extracted from his left nostril (always something green); and then had to have his forehead stitched up after tripping on a stair.

Kids.

Fun times!

 Logan, Madison, Joe and I went to a Cleveland Indians game. Grant enjoyed playing at a friend's home! We got a little rained on, but fun was had by all.

Kids coloring. Grant only ate the non-toxic crayons.

BTW, Grant still isn't walking, but he has mastered the stairs! I still get a little nervous and try to watch him when he is going up or down, but he's fast! As you'll see, he kind of slides down--he keeps his left leg straight and his right leg bent just in case he needs to stop (like if he sees something mouth-worthy on the stairs, or realizes that the fun is upstairs).  I just watched the video and can't figure out why it cropped his head off, or how to fix it. Sorry! He also is finally getting more teeth--four are coming in on top. We laugh when we see his tongue rubbing his upper gums--it would be weird to all of a sudden feel something hard and sharp coming out of those baby-smooth (and swollen) gums!

We're still planning to move. Life is feeling back to normal.  The sunshine and warm weather help keep our spirits up. I'm basically finished with my first three credits, and need only three more before September to keep my teaching cert. current. I called the Idaho State Dept. of Ed., and they said I could even take a class I had taken before. Life's not too bad! I actually am kind of excited, and told Joe I could work for a while and he could be the stay-at-home dad while he started up the practice. He quickly turned my offer down... must be he realizes that staying home with the kids isn't all play-dates and macaroni and cheese!

Joe is working away at getting a web page up and figuring out marketing stuff for the practice he hopes to get started in a month or so. Stressful? Yes. But he's excited, and even though we both have doubtful moments, we are hopeful and feel like this move--literally and figuratively--will be a great blessing.  

House for Sale!

If you haven't seen our home, check it out! 

Some of our favorite things about our home:

• Feels comparatively new (it was built in 1949, but it's in great shape. And for those of you unfamiliar with the east--1949 is relatively new for a house!)
  
• We have an attached garage (many of the homes out here have a detached garage behind the home.)
• We have a great backyard
• We live a 5 minute walk from the park, which has a great pool, playgrounds, tennis courts, and playing fields
• We a few minutes away from several shopping centers
• The playroom is right off the dining room, so we can entertain or clean, and the kids are never out of sight!

If you know anyone looking for a home out in Cleveland, send them our way!

(I put a picture of Madi's room up because the one on realtor.com doesn't show how cute it is! And this picture is super faded for some reason. In case you can't tell, the colors in her room are pink, purple, and green. I love it!))