Marching Band - Nebo

It's been a few days since I have written. I have been busy with work. There have been new things added that have added to my workload. I am grateful for this type of thing because it is what keeps me in a job.

Thursday evening, I had to run to the school a bit early because our daughter was feeling quite sick. She was shaking and crying. She seemed OK after I picked her up, but I am sure a part of it was that really late night last Tuesday when they were at the Weber review. It just went way too late. She needs to get some of her rest. It was a good thing that my kids had Friday out of school for a teacher prep day. It gave her the time she needed to get some rest. There really isn't a lot to put down that was done on any of these days.

Yesterday was the day of note, and the reason for my writing here today. My wife had been doing laundry and taking care of the various things in the house because she knew I wouldn't be home to help her out on Saturday. My daughter and I left around 10:30 in the morning to go to the school. The buses were leaving at around noon. There is all the loading and finding out what is to be expected of you as a Chaperon. At the beginning of the trip, I met one woman who had short spiky hair. It was that way because she had just finished with some chemo for her breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy and is now cancer free. She seemed to have a pretty good attitude about it all. She said that she has thought of putting some color on the ends of her hair because she may as well have fun with the hair loss that she has experienced.

When I got on the bus I was to be on, I couldn't find a seat. I ended up sitting with one of the students. It was OK. The bus was loud, but bearable.

Once we got out to Payson High in Payson Utah, we started to set up and get ready to have some lunch. Derek, my nephew came over because he thought he had seen me. Both my daughter and I said hi to him and he told us that he was there with his girlfriend who was over the color guard for I think he said Provo High. He wasn't sure he would be there when we took the field.

We had lunch of Hogie sandwiches. They were quite good. I talked a bit with Graber and the guy who was over the color guard. He and his wife were going to take off after the competition to go on their anniversary in Park City. I mostly wandered around the area and talked to a bunch of different parents that were there. I didn't hang with just one or two people. I got around to most of the people.

One thing that we noticed was that we were running out of water. We had to go into the school to get some water. We were filling those five gallon jugs out of the drinking fountain at first until we found a janitors closet that we could get it from. I carried two jugs (with somebody else) back so the kids would have water. I ended up carrying one other jug on my own. That kind of wore me out.

While the Marching Band and Color guard were warming up and practicing we were just kind of watching. One funny thing that happened was that the sprinklers turned on to our color guard. They all got wet.

Finally, we got over to the field. I was asked if I cold get the podium to the other side of the field which I said I would do. That's when we realized that the podium didn't make it with everything else. We were close to going on, and the podium was back at the base camp (the exact opposite corner of the whole school plus seminary building from where we were). I needed to run to get it. As I was running to get it I was wondering how I was going to get it back in time. Even if I ran, I wasn't sure I would be able to do so. I couldn't even run all the way back to the camp (I did walk quite fast). I was breathless by the time I got back to where it was. I saw a man and woman on the lawn in our area and asked if they were with Bingham High. They said they were and I asked for a ride. The podium was quite heavy to carry the distance I needed too plus the speed thing. On the way back, another of the mothers was looking really ragged from running to help out. She only made it about half way. We picked her up and she was more winded than I was. She asked the guy who his student was and he said that he was the bus driver. I hadn't realized that. It was a good thing his wife came to be with him out there, because it made this car possible. Anyway, we got there in time. I was told to stay back with the podium to bring it back across the field when they were done.

All of that finished and we loaded up. We then parked the trailers to the side of the road and watched the end of everything. We stayed for the award ceremonies. Timp View took about everything (including 1st place). We ended up taking third place out of the four schools that were there. It was Binghams first year in the 4a division, but Graber really wanted us to beat out Orem High. We were only about 2% behind them. Riverton won't be any competition at least. So, the sights that Bingham is setting on is to beat Orem. Graber doesn't think we will be able to take Timp.

When we got back to camp, I drank a lot of water. I was quite dehydrated. They packed everything up and we were on our way back.

There was one boy and his girlfriend that thought it quite funny that I kept on telling them to take their arms from around one another. It was just a game to them, and it turned that way to me as well. The trip home was louder than the one there. After we put everything back into the school, I took our daughter out to Apollo Burger to eat. That made her feel better since I had told her that Mom and our son had gone to the cabin and ate at Dairy Keen. Well, that was the day with the marching band.

Of course, today being Sunday, we went to our church meetings. Nothing much happened there. The rest of the day was spent in just relaxing and taking it easy.

Marching Band - Weber

I had to leave work a little early today so I could get to Bingham High School to be a chaperon for the Marching Band to go to one of the Venues. In this case, that venue was Weber State University. This is the school that I got my Bachelors degree from, so it was a good one to go too.

I also had to clear up a couple of things for our daughter at school as far as money paid and so forth. She was a bit upset when she thought she couldn't get her jacket from BHS with her name on it and the fact that she plays the flute. I also got some insurance information in.

I got on the first bus to be a chaperon. We were asked to not allow any PDA's (Public Displays of Affection). This included boys putting arms around girls. As the trip started, I noted a couple of boys who were sitting with girls so I could keep my eyes on them. I saw one girl putting her head onto the shoulder of the boy she was sitting with, and then he was keeping his arm around her. I told another chaperon that we had a PDA. She asked if I wanted to be the mean one or her. I thought she preferred that I do it, so I walked back there and picked up his arm and put it to his side. I got a look of why, but no argument. Then, the girl looked up at me and it was one of my daughters best friends. She had a look of don't tell my mom (of course I won't). Anyway, my daughter will probably hear about that one (she already has - I told her).

There were no other issues on the trip up, and that was all fine with me. Instead I just visited with one of the other chaperons. We talked a bit about the difference of raising kids now vs when we were growing up, and how we watch so much more (out of necessity).

We got a nice place to park at Weber that was out of the way of all the other bands. It was also beautiful and we were able to look down at the sunset from there. We had a dinner of Tacos and then the kids were taken to watch a couple of the groups doing the Marching Band thing. I stayed back because I had a couple of phone calls that I was dealing with. I have found that my insurance probably won't cover the various drugs that I am told I need because insurance companies don't like the word compound drugs.

Everybody came on back and then there was practicing and I just visited with bus drivers, chaperons and other people that were there. We also had a lot of the other bus drivers come to our group because Graber invites them up to eat a good dinner (most schools don't seem to do this). Graber only charges $35 for the Marching Band season for these dinners and there is a lot of food that the kids have from this. It is well worth the money.

We finally went to the field around 9:00 in the evening. As we were waiting to go on the field you could look straight across at eye level and see the quarter moon. It was quite beautiful. I tried to get a picture of it but couldn't because of the lights on the football field. That was a bummer.

We set up in good time and the Marching Band played. They did a good job and we got the stuff down in good time. Unfortunately, we did not get everything packed up in as good of time as all that. We were finally able to leave there and got home at midnight. Not a very good time since I get to work by 6:00 AM and my daughter has to get up for school about 5:45.

I was asked to trade buses because one of the mothers wanted to be with her son. From what my daughter says that didn't happen because he came onto our bus. I think the real reason she wanted me there was because she had seen some potential problems with people in the back of the bus. She told me that they were using foul language and she saw a potential problem and that she thought a male presence should be there. Of course, when I got there, my daughter is right in the middle of all these guys. They were loud, but I didn't hear any foul language (well not terrible enough to say anything). The bus driver did announce that according to Jordan School District policy no boys and girls could sit in the same seats when it is dark outside. I had one boy sitting by a girl and had him move. They, of course thought this was ridiculous, but I had to enforce it. As it happened, they wanted to watch a movie together on her ipod on the trip home. They had to hang their heads in the aisle to share the headphones while watching the ipod. Nothing happened to really talk about, but I was watching various people on the bus and thought about the awkwardness of the age. The boys were being stupid to try and impress the girls or make them laugh. I'm certainly glad I am no longer where they are now.

Jason Hewlett - Marching Band

My wife continues to be sick but has told me that today she is feeling a little bit better. Getting your tonsils out at 50 is something that one shouldn't do if they don't have too. It has taken her a lot longer to recover than she thought it would. I have tried to come up with meals that she both likes and is soft which the rest of us would like to eat. For the most part, I think I have done OK, but I could've and should've done better.

Thursday evening, my wife actually decided to cut some hair. She wasn't sure if she would be up to it, but she did it anyway, and didn't do too badly. That night, I watched a movie called "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas". While it was a good movie, it is not a movie one wants to watch to be an upper. It is about World War II and an eight year old son of a Nazi officer making friends with an eight year old boy Jew in a concentration camp. It is about innocence and about knowledge of the world. The ending is sad, so I don't recommend it if you need a movie to make you feel good all over. It was also this night that my wife and I gave away our tickets to Charlie Jenkins (for Friday night). My wife knew she wouldn't be feeling up to going to that. I also canceled meeting with my cousin before going to that.

Friday, I mostly stayed home. I had the day off from work, so instead I mowed our lawn and took care of a few things around the house. I had already told the Scouts that I would not be going on the camp with them (I thought it would be to go to the concert, but instead I was able to stay home with my wife through her soreness), so I spent a night at home with my family. Our daughter did go to a party of one of her schoolmates. I met the mother and we let her stay out until around 10:30. She said she had fun.

Saturday was chores. I worked to get my kids to clean their rooms and the bathroom. I also did some dusting and vacuuming. My wife didn't want me to do the laundry because she wanted it done right. It was just a day that not much else was done.

Saturday evening, my daughter and I went to watch Jason Hewlett. He is a comedian who does various music artists as well as actors. My wife wasn't feeling up to going, so that's why I ended up with my daughter. We both had fun going to this, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Originally I was going to take my son because Meghan was going to be babysitting. He didn't want to go too much though and offered it up for her.

Sunday, my wife didn't feel up to going to church. The rest of us went to church, and I had to give a lesson on personal journals. I felt it was a pretty good lesson. I took in some scrap books that I have and histories of my parents, grandparents as well as great grandparents. I also took in my own personal journal. I ended up reading an entry from December 15th 2005 from that. It was a touching entry.

Today was work and I struggled with a few issues there. I did get them taken care of, and felt good about the days work. After arriving home and having a quick dinner, my wife and I went to Bingham High to see our daughter with the Marching Band. It was soon after that that I realized that I have to chaperon on Tuesday. I called Glen and told him I wouldn't be able to make it to young men tomorrow.

Well, that's about it for this past week.

Just Stuff

It hasn't been all that long since I last wrote here, but I thought I should at least put something down. Dee Anne hasn't been doing very well with the tonsillectomy. She has been quite sore. She wakes up in the morning and feels quite raw. Then, after she knows the kids are off to school she takes the Loratab. This helps out, but not as much as she would like. By the time I get home, she is doing OK again, but you can still tell she is sore.

Tonight, she was able to open her mouth wide without having so much pain. I took this as a good sign that maybe it will start to leave. I just hope I am correct.

Monday it was raining in the day and into the evening. We got some pretty good rain so I decided to turn off our sprinklers for this week. I will need to turn them on again for next week because we are back to above normal for our regular temperatures.

Tuesday, I went out and did some Friends for Scouting fundraising (I have nine homes that I need to hit up for money). I don't like doing this, but I do it because it is something they ask me to do. I know the Scouting organization needs money to run, but I am not the type of person to go out and do this. I also went out tonight to pick up the slack. I ended up talking with Pon and Marie for quite awhile in their home. They had some questions about the Mormon missionaries that I was able to answer.

Oh, I didn't even finish my Tuesday stuff. After going out with the fundraiser, I had to head to my kids school to get some information on the Marching Band trip. I got Graber to give me a quick what I need to know so I could run back over to our ward house for the activity with the youth there. They did a black light volleyball. People were told to wear white and then there was tape around showing boundaries as well as tape on the balls so we could see them in the black lights. That was kind of fun, but I was sweating by the end. I looked around and I think I am the only person there who was sweating. I wasn't tired at all though.

One other thing that I want to mention here is that there is a great debate right now on health care. I have become quite involved in this debate with various people and have become involved. Some want to add in a public option for insurance which I think goes against have a free market. This country was built on capitalism, and I don't want to lose that. I think the public option on insurance would knock out private insurance since they get to make the rules as they go. The other side seems to think it will help competition. I, of course, disagree. Anyway, I do believe we need to do something. I just don't agree with what some are trying to do. It is a pretty good debate going on at this time.

Tonsillectomy aftermath

My wife has been trying real hard to come up and out of the pain of her tonsillectomy for awhile now. It just isn't happening as quickly as she had hoped. She seems to be doing fine, but I know that she really is in pain.

Of course, I spent all of Tuesday and all of Wednesday at home. I already told of some of the things that had happened on Tuesday, and there really isn't much else. She slept for a good portion of the day and I did little things for her here and there. The same with Wednesday. As I look at what I did and didn't do on Wednesday there wasn't a lot of reason for me to be home. I did serve her very little.

The kids and I are eating things like Sloppy Joe's, hamburgers and really simple things to make. I think our kids like this, but my wife doesn't like it much. I have done whatever I could to make sure my kids are eating OK.

Thursday, I went to work (and also Friday). I had a couple of meetings on Thursday, but boy, was it a busy day trying to catch up on the things that I had missed while I was gone. I did get more or less caught up, but it certainly puts a damper on taking time off (sick leave or not). Of course, my wife had a tough time of it Thursday and Friday. Her throat felt more sore than it had previously.

Saturday, I got up and mowed the lawn. Our son had left around 1:00 AM to go on a hike and see a sunrise at the top of Timpanogas. He kind of enjoyed this, but it was kind of fun and different to hike in the dark. From what I am told (not by him) he was up in the front and went up the mountain quite fast. He does tend to be pretty good at all of the things that he does.

Anyway, after mowing the lawn (I got off track), I helped around the house a bit. I had to stop my wife from doing the laundry (she is not supposed to be working at all). I did the laundry and a few other things around the house. The one other task that my wife wanted done was to fill our 55 gal drum with water (after putting it up off the cement). She also wanted the nine 6 gallon water jugs filled. Not wanting to put water into our drum from the hose, I filled up the 6 gallon jugs and filled up the 55 gallon drum from the bathtub. It was quite a bit of work and those 6 gallon jugs get heavy after a few trips. I did get it done though. My son helped me to carry most of the jugs (five of six) downstairs, and the other three we put in the garage. I like to keep them in the garage in case the emergency causes the house to cave in where we can't get to our basement for water.

My wife had a bad night of it on Saturday evening. She told me that blood started to come up from her scars in her throat. She didn't sleep well, and was in pain. She told me to go to church with the kids, which I did. We came home from that, and I fixed my wife a nice potato soup that I had looked up in the VitaMix booklet. It actually tasted pretty decent (not if you ask our kids though). It was also something my wife could eat with us and get her fill. Even with the chicken I had put into it. I did a little bit more than it actually called for to make it so there would be enough for the whole family. It turns out that there was even some left over for my wife to have again tomorrow.

Not much went on tonight. I watched Jeff Dunham on NetFlix. We had a problem with most of the TV stations going out tonight so I also read a bit. Oh, we also watched the movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" which is a remake of one made years ago. It was pretty good. I enjoyed watching it.

Labor Day - Tonsillectomy

Another week has gone by. For the most part it was pretty uninteresting. Since Paul hasn't been at work, I have been taking care of a few things that he normally takes care of. I just hope that I have taken care of it all in the ways that he would have.

Friday, I took the day off at work. I was able to mow the lawn and to go pick up some things from the store for us to go up to the cabin for the Labor Day weekend. My wife went up to Swiss Days with a couple of her girlfriends. I went to Costco and to Walmart for a bunch of stuff. I did look at a Little Giant ladder and am considering whether or not I should purchase one. I'm still out on that one.

Saturday we slept in a bit and then started to get ready to go. My wife didn't want to take care of anything so it was left up to me with some help from the kids. I am grateful for our son who is more than happy to help. We got almost everything ready when my wife asked about paper products. That was the only thing we missed.

We got out of our home and up to the cabin by about noon. We ate a quick lunch and then went down to Swiss Days to meet up with my wife's parents. I wandered a bit with my wife and we bought a 2 pictures in one of the Salt Lake temple. The second picture we chose was also the Salt Lake Temple in Christmas lights. They are really quite gorgeous pictures. I have put them here and if you want to see more of what these people do go to this website: http://framedlegacy.com/ Anyway, I guess we did our part to help out the economy.

We stayed to have a BBQ dinner (I actually had Navajo [they call them Swiss] Tacos. We then headed to the cabin and just spent the evening goofing around a bit. Not too much else went on.

We slept in on Sunday and then just kind of were lazy around the cabin. We played some Progressive Rummy and ate. Pam came up a little later and we made dinner and then went up to the top of the canyon to look at some of the cabins up there. I also drove with my kids and Rod to another lookout point up Snake Canyon. There weren't enough colors there yet to be impressed with. We went back and watched Get Smart. Pam stayed the night.

Monday we packed up to leave. We also messed around a bit, and enjoyed our time. We did leave by around 11:30. Not much else went on. My wife needed to rest before she went in for her tonsillectomy.

This morning we had to get up early. We had to be to the surgical center by 6:30 AM and prepped. We got there all right. We were even a few minutes early. The tonsillectomy was done by about 8:30 and then we had to wait for my wife to wake up. I went in to her around 9:30 and we left by around 10:30. We were home by about 11:00. My wife is feeling nauseous a bit and in pain. We are working on that.

When we arrived home we noticed that the school had called. I had to call them back because our daughter had been hit in the head with a softball and then when she was leaving that she ran into a door frame hitting her head again as well as her arm. I had to run to the school to give her some Ibuprofen and she decided to stay at school because she didn't want to miss her math class. She was wondering what to do about Marching Band, so I got that taken care of by talking with her teacher. She won't have to stay after school today. I told her to give me a call if she needed anything but somebody is supposed to be with my wife for the day. Well, that's about it for now.

Birthday

Yesterday was a busy day at the office for me. I got quite a bit done, but there were a few things that I had to put off until today. Then, when I thought I had fixed a problem we found out that I would have the same problem that we had previously (I just changed the way it was done). It is a software glitch from when we changed things over and it is something that the company we buy that software from will have to fix. At least we have a way around it. That was a bit frustrating.

Not much happened Monday evening. I went and picked up our daughter from Marching Band and she had had a bad day. From her facebook page she wants to quit Marching Band. It seems she is having difficulty with her section leader. She needs to see it through. I'm sure she'll be OK, but it is going to take time.

Tonight, was my mother-in-laws birthday. We thought it was her 80th, but were told that it is only her 79th. She says she was born in 1930 and she should know. We didn't do too much. We got her some chocolate covered strawberries and raspberries, and then we all went out to dinner at Ruths diner up Emigration Canyon. It was a pretty good meal. All were impressed with how good the food tasted. That probably means that it was bad for us. We then visited for awhile before leaving.

Our son is sick and we are hoping he will not be getting my wife sick because she needs to have a tonsillectomy on Tuesday of next week.