How dee do! (It wasn't a shark, it was an alligator!)

Yesterday I got a phone call from Joseph telling me that if I would dress up like a pirate and go to Krispy Kreme I could get a free dozen doughnuts!

My roommate Paul overheard the conversation and before I was done speaking with Joseph, he had already cut his pants up to look like pirate pants. :)
We waited in line for about three hours... and I had my leg strapped up behind me with my belt so I could have a peg leg. That was a long time to walk around like that. I did a lot of sitting. Little kids would come up to me and ask if my leg was really missing. Then when their parents told them it was fake, they would come up and say, "that's not real" and try to pull my wooden stick out!

When I first got out of the car, there were some teenage girls who were standing there with their prize boxes of doughnuts. One of them said that they should give me a doughnut because I actually didn't have a leg.  ?? Then her friend points out that I actually did have a leg. She was blonde... haha. Not in a negative way, but they were all pretty young and innocent. (aka super naive). I asked how long the line was. Another girl said that they had cut in line, and it only took them 30 min. She said they had offered to pay for a spot in line, and that the person who they asked said that they could just cut they didn't need to pay.
So what does she do?
She gets out some money and tells me (she was trying to hand me 3 dollars or so)
"You go and pay to cut in line"
What??!!
Then her friend tells her not to give away the money and she looks a little reluctant until I tell her that I will be fine. I am just going to go get in line.

While in line my roommate and I decided to use my peg leg to play limbo with the sword-toting, me-stabbing, pegleg theiving children who were next to us. That was fun. One little boy asked a girl in line next to us (we started talking with her and got to know her a little) if my leg was really cut off. She said no. Later she left and the little boy asked a different girl who said yes. He was confused. "I thought you said that it wasn't real"


School is going well. I am taking Organic Chemistry, Computer Science, Portuguese 105 (for spanish speakers), 2nd half of the Book of Mormon, and Spanish (latin american literature). I am also still working with the BYU grounds crew in the sprinkler division. We mostly do site development - so we are closely associated with construction sites and new sprinkler systems. We do big repairs, but the little things are usually maintained by the gardeners who each have their own area of campus that they take care of including mowing, trimming, etc.



We use a lot of pvc pipe. Here is a valve bank (manifold or header). It has different sizes of valves for different areas.

This week I went to the women's soccer game and, while cheering for a girl named Sarah who I used to hometeach, we met this group of girls. They were part of a youth soccer team. They decided to become Sarah's personal fan club!
They all would cheer for her and shout her name. They asked us how we knew Sarah, etc. They asked if I was her boyfriend. I said no and pointed to her real boyfriend sitting a couple of seats over. Then they started talking to him. They said "Sarah's such a stud." "She's a good one." and things like that. One of them told Lance (Sarah's boyfriend), "I dare you to keep her" hahaha They were preeettty good at selling the marriage idea. It was a fun soccer game, and we won.

This last picture is my hairdo on friday. Not how I normally do it, but I decided to try something new.  And also the football game last week.

John's Homecoming

 We just filled up on an awesome dinner from Grandma.  It was a late night by the time  John got released and we sat down.

Cornered Esther for a selfie

Grandma told some great stories  These are reminders for her to tell the truth.

"Look at me I Grandpa,"

 Hey Will someone write up the dime story!! And any other stories that you remember.  The videos were lost.  I seriously felt sick about it for two whole days.

Revised Esther's Wild Ride

Here's a better version of Esther's Wild Ride.  Hopefully it gives you a sense of being there!

John's Mountain Rap

Here's the long awaited "John's Mountain Rap"  Hopefully it works well for all y'all! 

Misc. from the Omahans

Misc. stands for miscelanious...miscellaineous...miscellanious...miscellainious...that is why I just use the abbreviation. Here is an update on the Ericksons in Omaha.

I am doing a lot of things with teeth.

Eliza and I are madly in love.

Eliza works out like a champ doing things like Zumba and pilates and P90X and Hyrum-toting. She is also reading a book a day, so if you need any book suggestions she is Madam Librarian.

Hyrum crawls all over the place. He gets really excited when he stands up. He likes to climb up on things. And of course everything must be looked at, touched, and tasted. He is big into textures. Rubbery, hard, rough, beaded, ridged, soft, fuzzy, smooth, etc., etc., etc. At stake conference today, he was sliding his hands across the gym floor making squeaky sounds. Then he got to the wall and started scratching the surface.

He has been eating lots of solid foods. He likes everything, but of course his most favorite is whatever we are eating. He does not have any teeth yet, but he is good at aggressive gumming. He even attacks things like newspapers. I think he'd digest all the recent news if we'd to let him. He is also practicing to be a model like his momma. At least that is what I think.

There have been storms here lately. We've had lots of rain and thunder and lightening and even some hail. I wish I had a picture but you'll just have to believe my "hail story". The hail stones were the size of a nickel. At least we have some proof of collateral damage.

What the hail?

Eliza and I have been trying to think up a long list of meal ideas. We came up with a decent list but we are always open to suggestions. On Saturday the answer to our dilemma came in the mail.

Why would you eat the spam if you have fried rice?

Apparently it goes with everything and can do anything, even taste bad. I think that I would rather have the cold hotdog option.

Hyrum and I have been going running. Last Saturday we ran to the post office and back (almost 3.5 miles round trip). It was a little chilly. There were some good hills. The best part was seeing this cute boy at the end of the run.

Esther's Wile Ride!

Just so you can get a feel for the ride in the woods to get wood and to fish.  This particular day I was not with them, but the next time we went to get wood, we saw some dirt sliding off the side of a ridge and looked closer to see a bear scrambling up the edge to get off the road.

Peaches.

Sooo Summer Peaches.  Virginia had a small crop.  We had a late freeze and so the trees took a bad hit. But I was lucky enough to get some anyway.  I persistently called the farm over and over.  The owners are old.  They forget things.  You have to talk slow. And wait patiently for them to check things out.  But the price is right, and they come already picked.  And their workers load them up for me.  And so I usually take the hour trip there happily.  I always get a ton.  Some for everyone.  I get a sitter for the kids, usually someone I bringing peaches to, and then I take out the van seats and load up the van. 
 
We did 70 quarts the kids and I.  And then I put away some freezer jam too.  Maybe 10 pints. I don't know.  I didn't check.
The kids also ate to their hearts content.  We now have only a few left in the fridge.  And I officially just finished catching the last of our fruit fly infestation today.  We love peaches.