Progress

One more step closer to finishing the cabin.  

Windy

I almost forgot to mention the wind storm that hit this month.  Its hard to believe the power and damage that can happen so quickly and easily.  

The home below is just across the street from me.  The 2nd picture is by the library.  

Many people were without power for a week.  We were blessed and fortunate that we didn't have any damage to our home nor did we loose power.  We were able to help out several neighbors that had damage to their yards/ homes.  

Ageing

It really stinks getting old.  We had dinner with the Slocum's last weekend and played a little volleyball in their backyard.  

It only took one play before I was injured. 😬 I feel like an idiot!  I feel like I can't even walk anymore without getting hurt.  The first ball that came over the net was just a little too far away from me and I dove for the ball.  I landed on a straight arm and felt a shocking pain go through my arm.  I originally thought I had broke my elbow.  I felt the bones knock together, and it was Painful!

Adam ended up taking me over to the insta care and they did and X-ray and told me I was fine.  No broken bones and no visible signs of injury. (other than the fact that I couldn't straighten my arm or bend it)  So the doctor told me to just go home.

Well you can't have a pain that bad without some kind of damage.  The next day I couldn't do anything with my arm other than hold it close to my body.  It was a great day to remind me how thankful I am to have two working arms/ hands.  

I have to admit that I was a little relieved to see/ and feel some pretty bad swelling (because I felt like an idiot at the insta care when they said I was fine).  I went in for a 2nd opinion on my arm today.  The elbow is loose and I don't have any strength in my arm or hand.  The doctor examined the arm and told me that it appears that I tore the muscle in my arm.  He said there really isn't anything they can do as far as a brace to help it heal.  He just said it will be painful while you wait for it to heal and if its not better in a month, come back.  

I have appreciated Advil this week and Im extremely grateful for my ridiculously hard bones (my bones have caused many doctors many problems during surgery because I have great bones).  I know the Lord blessed me that this injury wasn't more serious. 

Simple Joy

This past weekend we got to doggie sit for Adams mom while she was out of town.  Ila was in heaven packing around this little dog all weekend.  Ila would LOVE to have a little dog she could pack around all the time.  We just aren't big fans of little dogs.  

Buddy endured being followed around by this little dog but I don't think Buddy loved this little nuisance that took a corner of his bed.  

Birthday boys

September a double birthday month for our family.  This month Avram turned 17 years old!!!

I don't think his birthday was too exciting.  He had school and football practice so by the time he got home he just wanted to eat and go to bed.  

He got a radio for the truck that he drives around.  The radio was stolen before we purchased the truck and we decided it was just one less distraction for him to deal with so we didn't replace the radio.  

Its hard to believe Avram was once this little.

Avram is such an amazing young man.  He has taught me more than I ever imagined.  He has challenged me in many ways.  

As a mother I know the Lord blessed me so much sending me Avram.  He is funny, witty, and overall a very reasonable and responsible teenager.  

Our 2nd birthday this month was our little Gabriels birthday.  He would have turned 12 years old this month.  I am so grateful for this child this child and the impact he has had on our family.  

This was the first year that I wasn't able to be in the temple for his birthday.  I thought I would spend a few hours doing family history work for his birthday gift but I didn't even get a chance to do that.  His birthday was spent helping Briggs with 10 lawns and then I went to watch Avram play football.  

Big or better

Have you ever had kids come to the door and tell you they are playing the game bigger or better?  If not the game is that they start out with an item and they go to a door and ask if the person will trade them for something bigger or better then the item they have. Once the trade is made then they continue going door to door making trades u til they finally quit and they hopefully end up with something really cool. 

I feel like Briggs is playing that game right now but with a few different rules.  

We bought the boys a little 1996 Toyota t100 about a year and a half ago. The plan was that the boys could share the truck.  Well Now that Briggs is getting close to 16 he is realizing he wants a little more freedom.  Avram has already been claiming ownership over the truck so  Riggs has decided he needs his own vehicle.  One Day Briggs over heard Adam talking about a van that be needed to get rid of that clear view owned. This van has been parked for nearly two years not being used because the painter that was using it decided he would rather drive his own vehicle then to have to drive the van Adam had provided for them.  Let’s just sat it was in rough shape.  All Briggs heard was there was a vehicle he could get his hands on for free.  This is a 2000 Chevy Astro with 2930000 miles on it. Adam told him we have no place to park another vehicle so you find a place and you can have it.  Briggs hit up some neighbors until he found a neighbor that would do some trade work for a parking place.  Briggs was so excited!

About that same time I had a neighbor contact me and tell me she had a Toyota Sienna 2004 with 179,000 miles on it.  She offered to sale it to us for $500.  I figured we couldn't go wrong.  Well...

After driving the van a couple of blocks the check engine light turned on.  We took it to the repair shop.  A couple hours later the machine called and said, "its not worth fixing."  Sigh...

After talking a little more with the mechanic he said, "it will cost about $2000 to fix the car.  The car is worth about $2500 so you really wouldn't loose money on the car.  You could easily sell this car for $1000 and still make $500?"

Since a van isn't a "kid" vehicle we decided we would sell both vans and then maybe Briggs could come close to having enough money to buy something he would like driving.  

I was really worried about selling the paint van.  It was so old but we listed it for $1000 and we got a ton of calls on it!  We took the van to show to a young couple with no money.  The entire time I felt like I was going to be stealing from them if they bought the van.  Luckily they said they wanted to think about it.  On the way home the van broke down.  Before we even had it towed back home I had called the kidney car foundation and offered the van to them.  They happily picked up the vehicle.  

We still had the red van.  We listed it with the understanding that it needed work.  It didn't take long before  the calls were coming in for the Toyota.  We listed it for $1100 less than any other Sienna on KSL.  I was so happy that the guy that wanted to buy it brought his neighbor/mechanic along to check out the van.  

Well after Briggs sold the van and paid us off he ended up with $700 in his pocket to go toward his future car.  

Now Im just wondering what the next item will be to join our "bigger and better" game.  

Racism

How do you tell your son that he doesn't deserve the same rights and privileges as one of his friends?  How do you tell your son that even though he shows up at least 30 mins before any other kid to practice and he stays until everyone leaves that other kids deserve more playing time than him.? How do I say  just because you are better than another player it doesn't mean you get game time? How do you watch your child stand on the side lines of a game pacing back and forth, watching team mates try to comfort him because they know that justice isn't being served? 

How do you look at your child and tell him that this is all ok and we should be happy about him being pushed aside, treated like garbage and watch him break in front of you? And what do you do as a parent when you know that most of the world would be happy knowing your son has been treated this way?

What do you do when the one who pushed your son aside, the one Who punished your son, walks up to him and admits that your son had been given an injustice (yet that particular player isn't willing to accept that he was the one who really stabbed your son in the back)?

And what do you do when this is one of your sons friends?  This is a person who your son has always admired and accepted openly as a friend.  

What does this all sound like?  Racism. 

Michelle Obama recently shared the following experience: 

Mrs. Obama recounted a story of taking her two daughters out for ice cream with a friend after a soccer game. When their turn came to place their order another customer tried to jump in front of them. Mrs. Obama spoke up and the would-be line cutter shamefully and silently moved back.

She said how hurt she was that people would be so racist.  I guess I don't understand racism.  I can count numerous times when I was treated in a similar (and I have undergone almost the exactly same experience) but because Im white it wasn't racial?   My understanding is that those who work the hardest, those who put in the most and those that have the most talent/knowledge deserve to win.  I know that I will never be a doctor because I don't have the book smart to be able to do what it takes to become a doctor.  Would I ever expect to be given a free pass so that I can have the position/ wages of a doctor because Im a woman and there are already too many men in the medical field,  No!  So why do we allow this to happen?  

Im sure most people will read this post and think Im a horrible person, a racist, etc.  But what I am writing is because I am a mother who has watched her son treated like garbage because of the color of his skin.  

I know minorities don't understand this side of racism but maybe mothers will understand this side of parenting.  

Avram has worked so hard in football this year.  Im not exaggerating when I say he leaves 45 mins to an hour before he has practice so that he will be the first one at the field and he always stays until everyone is gone.  Each game he has been given a little more responsibility and a little more playing time.  He works hard.  He hurts every Saturday after he has battled through a game Friday night.  He always puts his all into his games.  THIS SOUNDS NORMAL TO ME.  

This past week a player on his team, who has felt he didn't get his fair share of playing time, went to a news reporter and on tv claimed he was being miss treated due to his race and his right to protest his personal beliefs.  Now if this was true I would think the coaches would treat all minorities on the team in this manner but no one else has this complaint.  

Due to the news report, the district investigation and the public attention brought on the coaches and the team; the Coach didn't want to face any questions so what did he do?  He played this boy 95% of the game.  And guess what?  If a new player is put into the game another player has to come out.  There was one boy that took weight of this...Avram.  Avram went from playing 65% of the game to 5%.  But he is a white privileged boy so he deserves this treatment, Right? 

I don't understand racism.  I really hope I have never made anyone feel mistreated or inferior due to their race, religion or beliefs.  Do I feel like I am owed certain privileges above others because my ancestors were abused, mistreated, and had their property stolen, etc NO.  I don't feel like people owe me because the Mormons were treated horribly and often killed over their beliefs.  This is something I hope is in the past, I hope people have learned from and I hope never happens again.  But if you listen to tv shows it is very rare that a mormon is talked about in a "good" light.  

Do I feel my son should be mistreated because another childs great, great, great grandparent was treated poorly?  NO!  

The world can look at us and call us privileged white people.  Adam grew up in a broken home.  He had many siblings in trouble with the cops quite often.  His dad worked manual labor his entire life.  Some of Adams siblings never graduated from high school and the majority never went to college.  He had Christmas' that were the "sock and underwear" Christmases because his parents couldn't afford to give him anything other than some new sock and underwear.  Adam started working when he was in 4th grade he spent his summers doing siding with his dad.  

Yes, you can say I had white privilege.  I grew up in a home with parents that loved each other and loved us.  They worked hard.  My dad spent many hours away from home doing his work so he could provide for us.  My mom worked countless hours to take care of us.  We never moved into a home that was beautiful and new.  We got the houses that were destroyed.  Most would say it was a dump.  We learned to work hard so we didn't have to live like that.  We learned to save our money because we were never given money freely.  Did we ever go without.  NO.  We drank powdered milk, we learned to garden and can food, mom made our food from scratch, our family vacations were most often camping trips and we always shopped second hand clothing.  In 6th grade I won a city writing contest and I received $25.  I went to shopko and bought my first pair of brand new sweats.  I remember so clearly how soft the fabric was inside of the sweats.  I loved them so much that I never wore them because I didn't want to ruin them. When I went to put them on one day I realized I had out grown the sweats.  That sounds like white privilege to me.  

So I guess I don't understand.  I guess its ok to treat my son horribly because he is white and he should sit on the bench so that a minority, who is not as good, plays ahead of him.  It's only fair, right?  Oh, and Avram doesn't even realize he has been treated so poorly.  He is happy his friend is getting more playing time.  Avram just feels like a failure because he feels like he has let his team down and that is why he is not being played.  

So as a mother, instead of teaching my child about racism.  I will let him stand on the sideline.  And I will teach him that hard work will pay off and he just needs to keep trying.  I hope he will learn that he will be judged on his merit and not the color of his skin.  

 

Bug attack

Ila has decided to take over a new section of the house, the deck.  She has set up base there and she, along with our animals, are having a ball out there.  She was begging me all week to let her sleep out there so finally I gave in on Thursday night.  We sprayed her with bug spray and turned on the bug zapper so she wouldn’t have any bug attacks at night.  I also plant specific mosquito repellent plant on the deck to try to deter mosquitos.

Ila must have some sweet blood because she was dessert for all the bugs in bountiful last night.  Her face isn’t even the half of it. Poor girl.