Veteran's Day...

Shortly before Veterans Day earlier this month I had the opportunity to plan the Duty to God activity for the young men in our neighborhood (I usually get to do this once a month or so, and Summer always offers great help and sound advice). The “expansive” local Syracuse museum was putting on a veteran’s exhibit, and the night of the activity was opening night (the Hill Air Force Base museum was closed and they were unwilling to open late for a special tour). The exhibit was small, but really pretty cool (20 young men and leaders filled the space up quickly). A retired military man was there as a sort of guide, and he had actually served for the entire Vietnam War. I was so impressed to talk with him. I’m impressed to hear about our military personnel serving today and doing multiple one or two year tours, but I can’t imagine being able and willing to serve for the entire Vietnam War. After being at the museum for about 20 minutes we headed back to the church for the rest of the activity. My work has been involved in a program that sends packages to military personnel serving overseas. So after talking about Veterans Day and our visit to the museum I asked the young men if they would be interested in writing brief thank you cards that would be included in the packages being sent overseas. Everyone wanted to participate, and for the next 15 minutes these 12 to 17 year old young men put a few thoughts down on some thank you cards we provided. I was impressed with each of their responses and wanted to share parts of a few of them with you:

•I wish I had the courage to do what you do every day. Good luck! Stick with it. Push forward.

•I can’t imagine what it’s like, but I know you must have lots more courage then I do. I don’t think I could ever thank you enough.

•I’m very glad for all you do. I want to let you know you’re in my prayers. Stay safe!

•You have made this country stronger every second you are out there. We love you people, and hope you make our country invincible.

•I want to thank you for being a hero for our country. You are the reason this country is America!

•If you guys weren’t fighting we wouldn’t have any of the freedoms and privileges we have as Americans. I hope you stay safe and stay brave. Thanks for defending our freedom.

•Although it may not seem like much. I thank you for serving for our country. Knowing that we have good men and women like you out there fighting for us makes me feel safer. We are all praying for your safe return.

•I am a 13 year old boy who wants to thank you for defending us and for fighting the enemy while putting your life in danger. God bless you, and God bless America.

•I appreciate the service you are rendering for our country. Here at home, many of us take freedom for granted, but everyday I pray that I can fully appreciate that freedom and what it means to me. Thank you for your service.

On Veterans Day the scouts put up flags in our neighborhood at around 6 a.m. in the morning. Thinking back to my own teenage years, getting up anytime before 7:00 a.m. was considered cruel and unusual punishment. I hope that putting up the flags on this Veterans Day was a little easier this time around.

Coleson's 5th Birthday Party!

Coleson’s 5th birthday party had an awesome Star Wars theme, with Coleson dressing up as Obi Wan Kenobi wielding his trusty light “saver.” Kids’ birthday parties nowadays all have themes and are generally really cool. Coleson has been to a Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Princess birthday parties this year alone (the last one has become an annual tradition with one of Coleson’s friends Kate, we partially paid the favor back with the all boy, except for Kate, Star Wars party this year; she had a great time). When I was a kid the closest a kid’s birthday party came to a cool theme was something like “Crazy Pin the Tail on the Donkey Party” or “Scavenger Hunt for Sugarless Candy Nobody Wants” (back in the day we didn’t have theme birthday parties, and we liked it, we loved it).




Summer made an awesome Star Wars birthday cake that Coleson and his friends drooled over for its aesthetic qualities even moreso than when they were actually eating it (it appears like I can’t really say Star Wars without preceding it by the word awesome). Each kid was given his own light saver, and was required to complete a Jedi training course. Once Jedi training was done it was on to the awesome Death Star piñata (Summer did a phenomenal job in the construction process). Destroying the Death Star was met with great vigor and zeal by all of the Jedi Knights, and when the prizes poured out all assumed Jedi composure was immediately lost. Its amazing how quickly light savers were turned on fellow Jedis and the force was used to lay claim to Dum Dum suckers and Snickers bars.

The highlight of the party came when an unexpected visitor arrived to wish the Jedis a Happy Birthday. One of our neighbors (Shaun) has a sweet Darth Vader costume, complete with a mask that makes the authentic breathing sound and a light saver that looks and sounds as real as the movie. At first the kids were in complete shock (one young Jedi wisely ran behind the couch and decided to hide for a time). After a minute or two, and some coaxing on our part, the kids got into it and a full good vs. evil battle ensued. One of the kids at the party was Darth Vader’s son in real life, the whole time he kept looking at Vader and asking, "Are you my Dad?" (we found this an ironic twist to the whole Star Wars story).






Coleson and his friends had a wonderful time, and he’s still telling people about Vader. One other highlight about Coleson’s birthday that he can’t stop talking about is his mother getting on Radio Disney. Coleson loves to listen to Playhouse Disney in the car when Summer is taking the boys to another appointment (he actually has the call in number memorized he loves this show so much, so let him know if you need the number). Summer called in to the show and actually got through. Apparently, everyday a caller gets to announce all of the birthdays for the day and wish a special birthday to whoever they desire. Coleson was beside himself when he heard Summer’s voice, and this one thing trumped all presents and other activities associated with his birthday.

Ammon and Nursery...

Several months ago, one of Ammon’s occupational therapists (Mike) recommended that Ammon start attending nursery at church, and he didn’t want us in there with him the whole time. He recommended that an individual be called to work directly with Ammon during nursery time. Apparently the church handbook has a section in it that suggests callings or other accommodations be made for the inclusion of individuals with various disabilities (makes sense, I can only imagine that the handbook would suggest the same things that the Savior would do if He were performing the act). Summer and I have definitely prayed and worked for the acceptance and inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome and other disabilities and have usually been met with success and greater understanding. However, we don’t consider ourselves to be the “in your face” type of people that insist upon every accommodation for Ammon or complete acceptance. Instead, we have experienced almost without exception that even without any input from our side, people are eager to serve, to learn, and to love our little boy, and we have been so grateful for these blessings.

So we took Mike’s recommendation (after several weeks of deliberation between ourselves) and finally approached one of our bishopric counselors. He was ecstatic and said he would talk to Bishop Everett as soon as possible. About two weeks later a new nursery leader was called (Robin). When we heard that Robin had been called we couldn’t think of a more perfect choice. Robin called us at home and said that she had been specifically called to work with Ammon during nursery. So our little boy became a nursery attender and we were the happy pleased parents. The first week we left him with Robin we showed her a few things on how to help him hold his own head up or sit in a chair with assistance. We initially figured, these people don’t know much about all the stuff Ammon can do and we just didn’t want them to hold him the whole time like a little baby. Though I’m sure our initial suggestions were helpful, we were completely wrong yet again in the power of good people and the sweet whisperings of the Spirit in helping people to fulfill their callings. We were surprised and almost brought to tears when we picked Ammon up that first Sunday from Robin. He was so happy, full of smiles, and was wearing a wonderful yellow crown on his head. Written around the base of crown was the phrase, “I can be a good (example).” You couldn’t see the word example because his head was so small that the crown overlapped the word so it would fit on his head. We had never thought of making a crown or doing other crafts of this type with Ammon. Though Ammon couldn’t walk or even crawl out of nursery like all of the other children, his crown was just like all of the others and he had been able to participate with all of the others. (Debbie, Ammon’s grandmother, almost cries every time she tells someone that her little grandson went to nursery today).

On the second week we picked Ammon up and the response was the same, just pure joy all over his face. Robin handed us a picture that he had colored with a crayon, and again we were amazed. We didn’t even think to let him color, to let him be another little boy in that regard. At home we focus so much on doing Ammon’s playtime exercises, feeding times, and other activities that we had kind of lost sight of some of the other fun things that we can help Ammon do. And here are all of these good people at nursery, and particularly Robin, that help Ammon to color, to enjoy snack time, and to listen during lesson time. Again, we are learning from others that we initially thought we would be teaching, and we are all learning from Ammon’s amazing abilities. Mike was right.

Ammon’s been in nursery for a couple months now, and I can’t get over thanking Robin enough for accepting such an important calling to our family. I am humbled to think that on a regular basis as she prays on ways that she can fulfill her calling, in many regards she is praying for Ammon and receiving little inspirations on ways she is meant to help him succeed in nursery, in ways that in some instances are even beyond our abilities as parents. The direct impact of her fulfilling her calling will in many regards reap eternal blessings for Ammon and our family. I can’t help but want to do better and serve more diligently in my own callings; and similar to Robin, simply try to do the things that the Savior would do if he were here performing the same act.

Halloween, Birthday, and Fun...

Halloween was awesome as usual this year. We decked the house out with spiders, spider webs, rats, pumpkins, haunted houses and other "scary" stuff. Coleson is to the age where almost everything is "not" scary, so we have to step it up a bit to get the real scary factor across. We usually put a fake rat right by the door bell, so when people reach to ring the bell we almost always get a scare. This was one of my favorite parts throughout the night. We had our front windoow open slightly so I could hear when people were coming up, and without fail I would always hear a little "ahh" right before the doorbell rang. Sweet music everytime.

You'll notice from the pictures below that Coleson was a Star Wars Jedi. He was commonly mistaken for Anakin Skywalker, but Coleson always readily corrected them that he was really Obi Wan Kenobi (which is the best Jedi). Coleson has been playing non-stop with his light "saver." Attempts to convince Coleson that it's a sabre were completely unsuccessful. He's got it all figured out already, "It's called a light saver Dad because you use it to save your life." No getting through that logic. Ammon pulled off a sweet Batman, although it was a tough decision as to whether he should be Harry Potter with the glasses. Let me summarize with this, though I love my two boys dearly and they are way up there on the cuteness factor in my book, Summer pulled off the coolest costume for the night. She was Princess Leah, and oh so beautiful!




Ammon had his 2nd birthday on October 20, and he had a wonderful time with everyone. We had the traditional bubbling blood punch with the floating green hand, and lots of other "disgusting" food to eat. Ammon did a decent job attacking his cupcake, although we had a trial run about a week earlier where the performance was much more spectacular (so much so that when Ammon was done and completely covered his whole upper body with cake, Summer pointed to me and said, "this is your grand idea, you clean him up.")

Friday Night Game...

This weekend was a great weekend to be together as a family. Syracuse has a new high school that is less than three minutes from our house. With the new school comes local football and I am pumped about that, it’s been years since I attended a high school football game. We are the Syracuse Titans and our colors are similar to BYU colors, so Coleson and I are definitely on board. After I got home from work on Friday, Summer suggested that Coleson and I go to the football game, and despite the expected inclement weather we thought it was a great idea. Coleson bundled up and made sure that he had on his BYU football hat (football and BYU are inseparable in Coleson’s mind). Prior to our departure we feasted upon homemade pizza, that was made by Summer “expertly” throwing the dough, Coleson grating the cheese and arranging the pepperonis, and me dicing our garden tomatoes and peppers (Ammon gave the occasional shout out from the living room). We arrived at the game shortly after kickoff and quickly found a nice open spot on the home bleachers. To ward off the cold and rain (and to keep our “patooties” dry as Coleson would say) we sat on the thick stadium blanket that Debbie made for Summer back in her college days and covered our legs with another stadium blanket from work. With Syracuse being a new high school, the most experienced players on the team are juniors, there are no seniors even attending the school for the first year. Based upon this skill level, the local crowd cheers wildly over any points scored by the Titans despite the poor tally of those points in comparison to the opposing team. Coleson couldn’t stop asking questions, “Who throws the flag; who picks up the flag after it has been thrown; which team is ours; did we just score; why are the football players so small (I almost asked the same question when I saw several of them, it’s amazing how small a high school player is now that I’m “all grown up.”) My favorite question of the game came early on when Coleson leaned in close and quietly asked, “Should I yell, Go Syracuse!” We both agreed that was a good idea and we started getting the crowd going with a few robust yells of “Go Syracuse!” The highlight of the night came near the beginning of the third quarter. Let me paint the picture a little more clearly, we had been rained on most of the night, we were freezing (me moreso than Coleson, I made sure he had the lion share of the blankets), and our team was being badly beaten. Coleson proceeded to go down a list of the fun things we did that night. “Dad, we ate homemade pizza with pepperonis, we had bubble gum, we ate a giant licorice rope, and we are at the football game.” Coleson concluded his summary with the following statement, “Dad, this is the best night ever.” I was one happy Dad. The cold finally got to Coleson just before the third quarter ended and we headed for home. At home Coleson snuggled up with Mom and the couch, drank hot chocolate, and quickly fell asleep. That’s another score for the home team.

Conference was memorable in many different ways, but I wanted to share with you one thought about an especially touching part from my point of view. Elder Wirthlin was giving an inspiring talk on love, when unexpectedly about halfway through the talk he started visibly shaking. The shaking became more severe, but it was apparent that Elder Wirthlin was not the type of man to let a physical condition stop him from delivering his message. I said a quick prayer, like I’m sure thousands of others did, that Elder Wirthlin would be able to convey and complete the message that he had obviously put so much prayer and preparation into. At the point where the shaking became so severe that I feared he might collapse, Elder Nelson (the former experienced physician) quietly appeared at his side and firmly put his arms on either side of Elder Wirthlin and held him steady. Nothing was verbally said between the two and Elder Wirthlin continued with his talk. Though the shaking continued, we knew that Elder Wirthlin would be able to successfully complete his message with Elder Nelson’s firm hold. As I stated earlier, the talk on love was inspiring, and the actions of Elder Nelson only drove the spiritual message home more deeply (this one is an I-pod download). At the end of his talk Elder Wirthlin closed with a fervent Amen. But the microphone clearly picked up two other words after his closing Amen that were not meant for the audience and that I have rarely heard more poignantly and sincere. As he stepped away from the podium Elder Wirthlin firmly said “Thank you,” to Elder Nelson. Elder Nelson then walked Elder Wirthlin into the dimmed lights and to his seat. Nothing more was said, and the sermon on love was again taught most movingly in both word and deed.