Of Nirvana and Birthday Cupcakes

These last two weeks seem to have gone by so fast. I blinked, and they’re gone. Joe celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday. He received money (which he tells me is going to be used for his next demolition derby car), a ShopVac for the garage, new winter gloves, and lots of hugs and kisses. Brooklin just kind of slobbered on him and smiled, but I think he knew what she meant. We rode the 50 with AJ and friends around the neighborhood. AJ still rehearses his speech about wrecking last year at Grandma’s house every time we mention the dirt bike, but he did much better yesterday. We also supported our local FFA by perusing their pumpkin patch and bought five pumpkins for carving. Actually, we mostly spent the day cooking yummy things to eat. We made pancakes, our spicy orange chicken wings, cupcakes (side note: Natalie told Joe that she was “so proud” of him for choosing cupcakes instead of a regular cake), and personal pizzas (courtesy of Joe’s mom). I think we dirtied every dish in the house.

Joe’s brother, John, is home from Iraq for a few weeks, so we went over there Saturday night and ate dinner and visited. We spent Sunday afternoon over there as well. And last night, John came over here before he had to leave this morning. It was very nice to see him, but, like always, it's hard to see him go back. We wish him well with peace and safety!

Joe and I gave a really interesting lesson in church on Sunday. I’m not entirely sure that the kids in our class didn’t going to go home and tell their parents all about original sin, the quadratic equation, being “saved,” and/or achieving a state of nirvana. But hopefully, they at least got that if they memorize the Articles of Faith, we’ll bring treats.

Brooklin apparently doesn't get bathed enough because she still thinks the water is HILARIOUS!


I've been trying to catch Brooklin giggling on video because baby giggles just don't last long enough. My other kids always want to star in these videos.

Joe the Demolition Derby Racecar Driver

Last week I was finally able to do something I have wanted to do since I was a kid.

I was able to drive a demolition derby car in the races at our local rodeo arena. I realize this may sound lame to some, but let me explain. This is a short 1/8 mile oval with 8 cars in FULL CONTACT racing. There’s additional prize money for the most aggressive driver out there (i.e. take out the most competitors). The wonderful part about this is my buddy/boss has paid for everything (the car and all entry fees).

So they start out with the time trials, and I was all kinds of nervous. But I ended up pulling off a 12.89 second lap which I later find out was the 7th fastest lap of the night. This qualified me for a trophy dash. They run two trophy dashes; the first for the fastest four and a second for the 5-8. Well on the first lap, I was spun out by a faster car, and the guy behind him smashed into the driver’s side rear corner. I need to add they hit hard. While I was trying to recover, I swear I ate 2 lbs of dirt. I was in a front wheel drive car, and all of my competition was in rear wheel drive in this race, so I was eating their dirt the whole time. My goggles even had ¼ inch of dirt in the bottom. Needless to say, I took last in my race.

Anxious to redeem myself, I was in a regular heat race next with a more diverse group of cars. I was quickly able to take the lead, and I looked up ahead and there were two cars all tangled up in front of me (perpendicular). So in my .5 second analysis of the situation, I decided to try to hit one of the cars right in the rear axel. I neglected to account the fact that the car I hit was a Cadillac El Dorado as seen here.
http://www.avicarcollection.com/PICT0021.JPG/PICT0021-large.JPG
Needless to say I was stopped dead in my tracks, and I was passed by two other cars. I was able to get my car going again, and I ended in third place. I did talk to the guy I hit and he told me it was possible the hardest hit he has ever experienced (I bent his rear axel smashed his rim and blew out his tire and he had to cut back his rear fender a bunch to clear a new tire).

My last race of the night was called an Australian Pursuit. In this race, you start staggered around the track. When you get passed, you pull over and stop. When there are only two cars remaining, you race for 1 more min and if there are no more passes, then you call it a tie and split the money.

In this race I was just running for dear life, and I could have sworn I was being passed on every corner. The back end of my car was bouncing over the ruts so hard I was told it was 1 ½ feet off the ground. I ran about 12 laps, and I was right behind the two cars trying to take each other out when the guy in front of me finally completed his pass.
We go for another 3 laps and I realize we are the last two out there. I was not going to catch him, so I let off a little and coasted to a tie for 1st in that race.

I ended up winning money in two of my three races totaling a whopping $50 which I gave to the my buddy who had $500+ invested at this point.

In summary this was one of the most adrenaline filled experiences ever!

This is a video I took of my co-worker driving the same car in a different derby before I busted the car up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vNByRBi848

Of Growing Up Too Fast...

September must have been extremely busy because I haven’t had a chance to sit down and actually write what’s been going on! Actually, my work schedule has been miserable. They’ve been penning me in wherever there was an opening because several people have quit. I feel like when I’m home, I’m either sleeping or working non-stop to keep the laundry and dirty dishes from overrunning the household.

In the midst of being perpetually tired, we managed to do some fun things. We took down the old mirror in the bathroom and replaced it with a nicer one. The mirror was seriously stuck to the wall, so it took a big ol’ drywall patch.


We got our backsplash up in the kitchen. One more notch on the way to DONE!!



AJ started school at Garden Heights and LOVES first grade! He is reading more. He brings home a book every night and gets to choose a treasure for every 10 books he reads. So far, we have read nothing but dinosaurs, and it’s great!! I keep thinking one day they’ll run out of dinosaur books for him, but not yet. AJ has officially graduated from speech therapy…yeah!!


Natalie started ballet again. She’s doing well. We’ve almost got her skipping for real!

Brooklin has entered the bumped and bruised baby stage. She insists that she will walk by the time she’s 9 months old, as evidenced by her current abilities of standing with help and climbing stairs. She also grew her first two teeth (the bottom middles) and had her first ear infection this month. Actually it was her first sickness of any kind (she’s never even had a runny nose to this point). We’re just realizing how non-baby friendly our house is.




Joe has been called to the scouts for the same age group as our Sunday School class. To which, Kyle Hirz replied, “Are you serious? Awesome!!”

Joe’s mom, Liz, Liz’s friend Jamie, Dyana, and I spent the second weekend of this month in Seattle and attended a performance of “Wicked” at the Paramount Theatre. The show was FANTASTIC!! Absolutely worth every penny we spent! We drove over on Friday and spent time shopping, reading good books in our nice hotel room, and enjoying all kinds of food that none of us had to cook or clean up after. Despite getting lost in downtown Seattle and nearly missing the show and the blisters I got on my feet from running several blocks trying to get to said show (oh, and who could forget when Brooklin ate so much at the Cheesecake Factory that she literally burst?), we had a great time!!




Joe already gave a pretty full synopsis of his demolition derby racing experience, which he’s still smiling about. Last week, his work sent him to Bozeman, MT, for a mold remediation training. We missed him terribly while he was gone!