Pinewood Derby

Last night was the Pinewood Derby!  Although Benjamin is the only Cub Scout right now in our family, they let the other kids make and enter their own cars as well.



I have less than no wood-working skills, so Rachel helped them make the cars.  All I did was add a little graphite to the wheels on race day.

I'm not sure who came in first, because the kids really didn't care.  They had a great time just making and racing their derby cars.

Marie's Whole Wheat Rolls with Wood Splinters

Yesterday I made some whole wheat roles.  I had the urge to make some whole wheat bread because they are so much more filling than regular wheat bread.  I used Marie's recipe, which Rachel has printed out and laminated.  I assume this is Marie Johnson's recipe.

While mixing up the dough, I broke the wooden spoon.  I learned that you are not suppose to use a wooden spoon in the kitchen-aid mixer while it is running.  I searched through the dough with my hands and eventually found a wood chunk.  Hopefully there was only one lost wood chunk and no remaining splinters.  Nobody likes to get splinters while eating rolls.



It also wasn't just any wooden spoon.  It was Grandma Fielding's wooden spoon that Rachel inherited when she passed away a number of years ago.  So it had sentimental value.

Despite the loss of the great wooden spoon, it brought tears of laughter to Rachel.

Thanks to Marie and Grandma Fielding, the roles turned out great!!!

10th Wedding Anniversary!

Ten years ago today I sealed the deal with Rachel as we were married for time & eternity in the Mesa, Arizona temple!  I have been blessed by having Rachel at my side for all these years and we have grown from a family of 2 into a family of 6.  It is fun to think back to those early days and all those wonderful memories we have had since then!

Rachel's step-uncle sealed us in the temple.  My brother Justin was serving a mission in Tempe, Arizona and even came to our wedding at the temple.  All of Rachel's siblings came to the wedding as well as her Grandpa O.V. and her Grandma Sally.  My dad, grandma Kimbler, and all my brothers except Steve came out for the wedding.  Some of our aunts & uncles also came.

I don't remember much about the actual ceremony, but I do recall that we had to kiss across the alter as husband and wife twice, because it wasn't a good enough kiss (sorry honey!).  Hopefully that has improved since then:)  We've had some great practice since ;) wink!

It was a hot summer day and it was very warm as we took pictures around the temple grounds.  We had a reception that evening.  I mostly remember meeting a lot of people I didn't know while my feet got sore from standing so long in the line.  Mark got Rachel a Dr. Pepper to sip on while we waited in the wedding line.  After we left the reception we had to stop off at some random dumpster in order to get rid of all the random stuff that was attached to the car to celebrate our wedding.

After that we went to our hotel and [edited for content] ... and in the morning we went to Rachel's parent's house to open gifts.

We went on our honeymoon to Disneyland which was a total blast!  I had never been to Disneyland and I'm sure Rachel thought I was like a little hyper kid thrilled at all the great things there are to see and do at Disneyland.

In the days and years that have followed, we have laughed together, cried together, made & delivered children together, and have made many many wonderful memories together!  Rachel has always been a stubbornly loyal & loving wife and is my best friend!

Thanks honey for a wonderful first 10 years!  I'm looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring!

I love you!

Nate

Easter 2011

This Easter weekend, we participated in the Walmart egg hunt.  It was very crazy with tons of kids and parents rushing to get as many eggs as possible.  We got enough candy to make any kid sick.



At home we colored eggs of our own, as the tradition has it.

On Easter morning, the kids had fun finding all the eggs the Easter Bunny hid all over the house.  I bet the kids are still finding eggs days later.  Good thing the Easter Bunny only hides plastic eggs with candy instead of real hard boiled eggs.



For Church on Easter it was Stake Conference.  Rachel made cute ties for the boys to match Emma's dress.  Somehow we managed to get some good smiles from the kids.  It is usually quite the hassle to get them to smile properly.   Even Henry was cooperative!  And of course we have our goofy pictures that the kids  insist we take.



Happy Easter!

Hard Day's Work

This week I am attending work meetings at Eglin AFB.  This particular meeting is very important for us as it gives us opportunities to talk with the users of the products I work on.

This time, Alissa somehow convinced us to all stay out on the beach in Destin.  Normally, I stay at a hotel much closer to the base but that isn't close to a real beach.  And normally I don't get to come here with co-workers, so it is nice to have some people to hang out with after meetings are over.



Today, we got out of meetings early, and on the way back to the hotel somehow the topic of playing frisbee on the beach came up.  So we stopped at a Walgreens on the way back and picked us up a frisbee.

We played ultimate frisbee and also spent time just passing the frisbee around on the beach.  I also took another run along the beach.

Just so everyone knows, California beaches are nothing compared to these Florida beaches.  The sand here is AMAZING!  It is fine, clean, soft, and very very white.  The water is warm and is often warmer than the air temperature.

I know this makes my job look very tough.  But trust me that this is a very welcome change of pace!



We played frisbee until I threw it too high and it landed on top of a restaurant's roof.  It didn't come down.

Emma's Birthplace

As you may already know, Emma was born on the bathroom floor.  Yes it is true, in fact it was this one:

[caption id="attachment_88" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Emma's Birthplace"][/caption]

It was a Sunday morning:  March 13th 2005 to be exact.  Rachel had been having contractions early that morning.  Just to set the stage, we already were pros at this birthing thing, and Benjamin was now 2 1/2 years old.  With Benjamin, when contractions were 5 minutes apart, we called the hospital to let them know we were on our way.  They told Rachel to take a shower and to get some dinner before heading on over to the hospital.  It all went smoothly and Benjamin was safely born in the hospital as planned.

This time we had the same mindset.  Rachel told me to take a shower, we ate some breakfast and took our time.  I called the hospital to let them know we were on our way over.  We called a friend over (Amy Whitlock) and she was on her way over to watch Benjamin for us.  Just as Amy arrived, we put our things into the car and Rachel said she needed to go to the bathroom before we left for the hospital.

A few moments later I heard Rachel screaming from the bathroom!  I ran over and opened up the bathroom.  Rachel complained that she had to "push".  I recalled that the last time she had to "push" was when Benjamin was born.  I knew that Rachel was having this baby!  RIGHT NOW! I told Rachel to get off the toilet and she refused.  I didn't want our baby to be born in the toilet so I forced her off the toilet and had her sit on the floor by the toilet.  I yelled at Amy to call 911.  Adrenaline was kicking in and instinct was taking over.  For both Rachel and me!

The 911 operator instructed me to get some pillows to help Rachel be more comfortable.  Out loud I said: "Pillows, where can I find pillows?"  I started to run towards our bedroom where I knew there were pillows when Rachel yelled back: "Not those pillows!  Use the ones in the guest room!"  I ran instead to the guest room, grabbed the pillows and in a frantic dash I threw them at Rachel and they bounced off her head.  I quickly grabbed the phone back to get my next instructions from the 911 operator!  In the meantime Rachel struggled to get the pillows behind her to provide some support.

Things progressed VERY quickly.  I can't remember what the 911 operator was telling me because Emma's head was starting to crown.  I tried to explain to the 911 operator that the baby was coming as the operator kept asking if I was really sure the baby was coming.  At that point I threw the phone because this operator was not much help and I needed to deliver this baby without someone asking such a stupid question.

As Emma's head appeared I helped the rest of her out, being careful not to drop her as I already knew how slippery a new baby would be.  I turned her over in the "football" hold, patted her back to get her to start breathing, and did a quick mouth swipe to get fluid out of her mouth.  Emma started to cry and I immediately handed her over to Rachel who was both thrilled and relieved to be holding such a precious little girl in her arms.

I got back on the phone with the unbelieving 911 operator and gave her the news.  The operator then asked if I had a bulb syringe.  I remember thinking: "really? Like I carry one around in my pocket... just in case..."  Rachel overheard and told me there was one in the toy-box.  Of course, why didn't I think of that!  In a dash I found the toy-box, picked the whole thing up and dumped all the toys out in one quick maneuver.  And behold, there was a bulb syringe after all!  I ran back with my prize and attempted to suck fluid out of Emma's nose and mouth as instructed.

Next, the 911 operator instructed me to find some string or rope in order to tie off the umbilical cord.  I couldn't think of where on earth I would find some string or rope.  Once again, Rachel said we could use some yarn.  So I ran over and grabbed a whole ball of yarn.  I wasn't sure how tight I should be typing this knot on the umbilical cord, so I carefully tied a bow knot like I would on my shoe.  Another job completed!

At the insistence of the 911 operator, I also grabbed some blankets to make sure both Emma and Rachel were sufficiently warm.

At this point the firefighters arrived.  (By the way, I figure that the time that elapsed between the start of this story and this moment of the story is less than the time it has taken you to read this.)  As they ran in, the very first thing they did was laugh as they saw my neatly tied bow-knot from yard on the umbilical cord and proclaimed "uh, what is that?"  I got out of the way as they started to check mom and baby out and properly clamp the umbilical cord.

The ambulance then arrived and came in to help.  Here is the video just minutes after Emma was born and the ambulance finally arrived!

From Emma's Birth

My adrenaline was still pretty high, but things weren't happening so fast anymore.  Both the firefighters and the EMTs were in a cheery mood, and very happy to help in such a joyous occasion as this!

[caption id="attachment_97" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Emma, EMT, and Nate"][/caption]

We rode in the ambulance over to the hospital, where eventually Rachel was taken care of (that is another story) and Emma was admitted to the hospital.  In the hospital, they asked me lots of probing questions about the birth, none of which I could answer very well as I was busy delivering the baby to pay attention to random details.  They asked questions such as "what color was the amniotic fluid?", and "what color was the baby?".  Although Emma came 3 weeks early, they determined she was a full term baby despite daddy's inability to answer all the questions for the Apgar test.

I'll never forget what a great blessing it was to deliver my little sweetheart, Emma!  I just hope I never need to do that again.

Temple Visit

Today we went to the Los Angeles temple.  Emma took Gary the Gateway Gater along to see the temple.  It is Good Friday.  The kids don't have school and so I also took the day off from work.

Going to the temple on Easter weekend is a good reminder of the wonderful things our Savior has done for me and my family.

Ridgecrest Sledding

[caption id="attachment_83" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sledding at Walker Pass"][/caption]

One month ago today, on a March Monday after work, I decided I would take the kids up to Walker Pass (about 20-30 minutes outside of Ridgecrest) to see if we could find some snow and go sledding.  It had been cold and it seemed as though there was plenty of snow in the mountains, so we thought the chances were pretty good of finding snow at Walker Pass.

It was very windy at the pass (~50 mph winds), but with the hill and trees we found some protection and could enjoy the snow and some sledding.  It was also finally cold enough to wear my down parka again, which I have rarely worn since living in upstate NY.  Even my 4 years in Utah did it rarely ever prove cold enough for this parka.  I wonder how many goose gave their lives feathers to keep me warm.

The kids enjoyed themselves for a few seconds before they started to freeze (I suppose they have Ridgecrest blood/intolerance to the cold) when these pictures were taken.

 

A Prophet's Voice In A Child's Mind

Twice a year members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather together to hear living prophets and apostles speak in what we call General Conference.  Today we can watch it broadcast live on the TV or internet.  Their messages are always filled with uplifting and motivating messages meant for us in our day.

In order to help our children appreciate the importance of hearing a prophet or apostle's voice, we printed out a little worksheet to help them write down what they have heard.  Here is some of what Benjamin came up with:

[caption id="attachment_69" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Benjamin's notes from General Conference"][/caption]

President Thomas S. Monson warns of "manataric aid" (humanitarian aid).  I"m warning you!  If you have a disaster, you better watch out cause we'll send you some hygiene kits, blankets, and food!

President Henry B. Eyring promises:  "children".  Has he spoken to my wife about us having more children, and why would he share that over the pulpit???


What warnings did he give:  food.  Yes, food is a sin now.


What scriptures did he share:  good ones.  Trick question -- why would he share bad scriptures anyways?

Thanks Benjamin!

 

Free Fun Fair

 

This Saturday I took the kids to the free fun fair at the park.  They got to make some little crafts, play search and rescue, be grumpy in the stroller, and throw a frisbee around.  It was fun and free!

[caption id="attachment_65" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Free Fun Fair"][/caption]

Afterwards, by some miracle that I still can't explain, Emma convinced me to take them all to Burger King.

 

When $$ Hits the Fan

[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Fixing bad work by previous owner"][/caption]

On Saturday, we mostly completed a multi-week project to install 3 new ceiling fans in our home.  Rachel had the only electrician who was willing to come out give us a quote to install the new fans.  Since we are NOT handy with projects like this, we thought it best have a professional do the work.  However, when the quote came back, we decided maybe we should become a little more handy.

The family room fan was first.  This project was to replace a fan that wobbled like crazy.  I had tried to balance the blades first, but it seemed nothing worked.  Rachel was happy to get the ugly fan out of here and put in a new one she picked out.

 

Our first discovery of the project was that the circuit breaker labels were not correct.  I tried every breaker on the panel before I found the one that would turn off the power to the family room ceiling fan.  It turned out to be the one labeled "bedroom" and not any of the ones labeled "family room", "living room" or "kitchen".  Hmmmm.

[caption id="attachment_55" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Family room finished product with NO wobbling fan!"][/caption]

Next discovery was that the old fan was installed improperly.  The previous owner did not use the correct size box and had hacked a job of installing one side into the box for a light fixture and the other side into the beam.  Not safe.  Therefore, I had to cut a larger hole in the ceiling to install a properly sized box that we could safely use and hang a fan from.

Installing the fan itself was a painful job as the blood left my arms and pooled up in my feet.  I also had to re-splice the wires several times to get all the wiring to fix inside the box with the remove receiver.  I will try to block that memory now and focus on the finished job with a fan that works great!

And look!  No wobble!

The next phase of the project was a fan to replace the light fixture in Benjamin's room.  His was the only bedroom without a fan.  He got a cheap fan like the other kids already have.  If I thought installing the family room fan was bad, this installation was even worse!  I thought it was going to be cake, but boy was I wrong!

[caption id="attachment_56" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="This fan was painful to install."][/caption]

The first and only major problem was installing the new box, since of course the plastic one used for the light fixture is not safe for a fan.  The box needed to mount onto the side of a beam in the ceiling.  When I got into the attic to install the new box, I found that I had about 2 vertical feet to work with between the beams and the actual roof of the house.  Now, also keep in mind that I have to balance myself on the beams, which are spaced some 3 feet apart.  Further, there is loose insulation everywhere up there, and every time I move, it creates a dust storm of this awful stuff.  Also keep in mind that I am not a gymnast.

Somehow, after gagging on dust, pulling muscles and causing all sorts of pains I didn't know were possible, I still wasn't able to get the wood screws into the beam to mount this stupid box!   Without asking for permission from Rachel (which would not have been granted anyways), I cut a larger hole in the ceiling so that the wood screws could be tightened from below.  That did the trick!  In the end, we tried to use some of the cut drywall to "repair" the ceiling and now it is hard to tell.

[caption id="attachment_57" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Installing living room fan"][/caption]

The third and final phase was to install a new fan into the living room.  Now, this in theory should have been the most difficult fan to install, since there was no pre-existing fixture nor even electricity running to that location.  However, it was actually the easiest in the end, but not without it's issues.

I first went into the attic and with sufficient room I was able to install a new joiner box that I could use to splice in a new wire for the new fan.  I soon realized that there wasn't enough wire to get into the splice and back out to it's original destination.  So I cut the wire, leaving one poor light fixture without any electricity.  I used that same wire to connect up a  new wire which I ran along the beam to the predetermined location in the ceiling.  Then I realized that the new fan would be on a switch in the hall!  Score for us and all by mistake!

The rest of the fan went up without too much problem.  It was a much hotter day, so the attic was very warm and I found myself completely drenched in sweat.

[caption id="attachment_58" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="New living room fan"][/caption]

Ta da!  All working and functional!

Now, for the savings calculation!

$90 savings by installing the family room fan.

$156 savings by installing the bedroom fan.

$266 by installing the living room fan.

TOTAL SAVINGS:  $512

I'm Old

Friday I had a birthday and become older than I have ever been before! Crazy! At the last minute, we invited some friends over to celebrate my aging.  The kids were very excited about this birthday thing.  We played some Mario Kart like zombies.

[caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Playing Mario Kart like Zombies"][/caption]

Rachel made lasagna roles, since my favorite food is lasagna.  It's not real lasagna but it is as close to lasagna as Rachel will get;)  We also had pie instead of cake.  We enjoyed blackberry pie and banana cream pie.  Yummy!

All the gifts were great!  The kids were especially excited about it.  Emma in particular was excited and got me this awesome shirt!

[caption id="attachment_50" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Emma got me this awesome Mario Shirt for my Birthday!"][/caption]

It's nice to have friends and family that will put up with my aging grumpiness.  Maybe next year I won't be so old.

 

5K Race!

This morning I ran a 5K race.  It was fun to do it with some friends: Ashley Hill and Becky Trimble were running too!  I have been running since about the fall of 2008 when my brother-in-law Paul Handly encouraged everyone to run a 5K Turkey Trot in Arizona.  Today I set a personal record and came in at 21:08!  I am really excited!  My goal was to do 7 minute miles and I would have been happy with under 22 minutes.  So I blew that out of the water!  I just wished I would have shaved another 9 seconds off my time... I just wasn't paying enough attention to shave off more time during the run.  I was worried I would run too fast and burn out at the end, but I could have gone a little faster (not much) and 9 seconds would have been doable.

Anyways, I told people I was going to do a 5K for my birthday.  And I did.

Fun Run

[caption id="attachment_32" align="alignleft" width="1024" caption="Fun Run"][/caption]

Yesterday evening, the youth of 3 of the 4 Ridgecrest Wards came together for a "Fun Run".  The purpose was to fulfill a physical fitness requirement for the pioneer trek they will be doing later this summer.  They needed to complete 4 miles in 60 minutes.  The course was a "box" around Cerro Coso college up in the hills.  Each loop was on dirt roads and 2 miles long, so the loop was done twice.

My job was to stay with the fastest youth runner for the duration.  I knew it shouldn't be too hard unless we had some quality cross country runners in the mix, which it turned out we didn't.  Gage was the fastest for the first lap (a 13-yr old boy in our ward) and Addison was the fastest for the entire second lap and finished first overall.  Still, everyone did very well and I'm proud of all of them.  All the youth came in within 64 minutes.  While a handful did come in over the 60 minute mark, they were very close.

 

Here are the details from my GPS:

Eagle Scouts

[caption id="attachment_29" align="alignleft" width="1024" caption="Eagle Scout Plaque Names"][/caption]

Years ago, John Agren and myself were scout leaders for 4 fine young men when they just 12 years old.  They were immature little kids then, but they have grown so much.  I'm proud to think that all 4 of these young men are now Eagle Scouts!  Above is a blurry photograph of the Eagle Scout Plaque in our Church building that bears all 4 of their names:  Emery Clayson, David Smith, Lester Lauritzen, and Addison Litton.

Lester just this week received a mission call and will be serving a 2-year Church mission in Mexico City, Mexico.  What a blessing it is to see these young men grown into humble men and become leaders.

Youth Conference

This last weekend, the youth 14-18 at Church had their annual Youth Conference.  This one was shorter than normal because they will be doing a pioneer trek reenactment later this summer.  They did about 4 miles of hiking while stopping at different stations to learn something about the pioneers.  They learned to wash clothes by hand on a wash board, sew buttons, learned about items the pioneers took as they crossed the plains, sang hymns of faith, learned how to grind wheat and make bread the pioneer way.  The conference concluded with a chili dinner and a devotional about the pioneers.

Toothless

Emma has reached a new milestone in her life as she has lost her first tooth!

Posting Mobile

This post comes from a smartphone.  This is a picture of three of the smartest kids in the world.  One of them is made entirely of Legos!