Interesting Insight...

Most of you are familiar with the ward clerk and his duties during sacrament meeting. One of our ward clerks is Bro. Arigot (Coleson knows him by name), and each week he slowly walks the aisles counting the number of worshippers in attendance that day, while making little notes on his notepad. A while ago Coleson explained to us the important work that Bro. Arigot is doing each week. Bro. Arigot apparently is not even counting those in attendance, instead he is checking to see who is being reverent and who is not (bear in mind this is very important work during the Christmas season). We all got a good chuckle out of this unique observation, and I eagerly waited for this Sunday. As Bro. Arigot approached our seats on Sunday, I looked over at Coleson. He too had noticed that Bro. Arigot was coming our way and was attentively watching his progress. Before Bro. Arigot got to us, Coleson looked up at me, we both exchanged a smile, and then proceeded to fold our arms a little tighter and look straight ahead. Bro. Arigot stood at the end of our row, jotted on his notepad, and continued walking. After Bro. Arigot was a “safe” distance away, I tapped Coleson’s knee, and we gave each other a thumbs up before going back to drawing and coloring pictures. I think we scored another perfect mark on the reverence scale.

This past weekend we had several fun activities that we attended. On Friday, Summer and I went to my work Christmas party. It had a casino theme and we had a great time. I don’t think Summer or I have even played the nickel slots before, so we steered clear of the craps and roulette tables and focused on the black jack and bingo (matching numbers and letters is our kind of game). Through our incredible playing abilities we won the first two rounds of bingo and nearly doubled our play money at the black jack table. We’ll still stick with Zarahemla and Candy Land, but it’s nice to know we can sort of hold our own when the stakes are higher. I’ll have to get a picture of Summer out here at some point in her evening dress, she looked fantastic!

On Saturday we met up with Harmer Dog (one of my friends from work, and one of Coleson’s favorite people) and his wife Cassie. We attended the Festival of Trees for our first time and it was a cool experience. All of the money raised from this event goes to the Primary Children’s Hospital, and apparently they clear between $10 to $15 million a year (I assume you can do a lot of good with $10 to $15 million). We were told there was a tree there from the UDSF with pictures of Utah children with Down syndrome, but we didn’t find it among the hundreds of trees. Coleson’s favorite trees were the Jazz Bear (the angel at the top was a Jazz Bear with wings), Hotwheels, and Thomas the Train trees. My personal favorites were the Star Wars, BYU, and Fallen Soldier trees. There were several dance recitals going on while we there, and once Coleson saw one of the groups coming in we knew we had to watch it. This is a picture of Coleson giving his resounding applause for a group of young girls that had just finished their routine. After the festival we watched the BYU vs. San Diego football game at Harmer’s house, and the Cougs did not disappoint. All in all, another great weekend with the family.

California Thanksgiving...

I'll try to summarize our California Thanksgiving up in one post. Bottom line, it was awesome!

For starters, no trip to California is complete without a lunch at the In-n-Out, followed by a dinner or two, and possibly another lunch (from a guy’s point of view the menu has such variety it’s hard to get burned out at In-n-Out). If we gave Coleson the option he’d be cool with In-n-Out for lunch and hotdogs for dinner everyday (personally I could live a long happy life with only Chipotle and In-n-Out). On this particular visit Ammon insisted on trying Summer’s strawberry shake. After one sip he was hooked, and any attempts by Summer to drink her own shake were met by immediate yelps of disapproval. He ended up with a minor tummy ache later that night, but I bet he would gladly endure the discomfort again for another sip of the sweet blessed strawberry shake.



We stayed at Jenna and Steve's house in Irvine for several days and had a wonderful time. We made a quick day trip to Ventura to visit the grandparents. When we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Grabau in Ventura we had the opportunity to see Grandma Lou at her new home (the Grabau’s are Summer’s grandparents and Grandma Lou is her great grandmother). Grandma Lou was so excited to see us, especially Coleson and Ammon. Ammon loves the sound of Grandma Lou’s voice, he’ll just contently listen and stare at her whenever she talks. She’s called us in the past just to talk to Ammon, and he just loves it. Gerald (Grandma Lou’s son) came to visit as well while we were there and it was good to see him. Gerald told us that he recently went with his group home on a trip to Las Vegas (he said it was alright, but not much gambling). Gerald noticed that Ammon kept taking his glasses off, so he started telling Ammon that he can’t see when he takes them off. Gerald then proceeded to demonstrate for Ammon by taking off his own glasses and then saying, “See, it’s all blurry, you can’t see.” (for those of you that know Gerald imagine him saying this in his voice). It was cool to see Gerald talking to Ammon like he should understand exactly what he’s telling him. Ammon listened intently, but unfortunately the lesson hasn’t sunk in yet.



Grandma Lou has five other “roommates” that live at the same home. Vern is the only guy and well aware of this advantageous fact (it pays to have longevity in the genes). I loved the curlers in Grace's hair, simply classic. We had a great time visiting with everyone, and Coleson and Summer even sang a fun pumpkin song that was met with resounding applause. It was touching to see Gerald express his love and kiss his Mom several times before leaving. Grandma Lou got a little emotional when Gerald and the rest of us were leaving and we were all sad to go. The trip to her home was well worth the travel and I hope we can do it again soon.



We made it down to Kristen's home near Oceanside for the latter half of the week and had a wonderful time there. Coleson loves hanging out with his "cousins" especially Dallas. Thanksgiving dinner was one of the best spreads that I've ever had the chance to feast upon. There was even an authentic smoked turkey made by John. The term gluttony and my overall approach to consuming the smoked turkey is probably an accurate description for some. However, what others perceive as gluttony and extravagance in this instance I only consider light nibbling. Dallas said the Thanksgiving prayer and we all smiled at this line in his prayer, “We are thankful that the Pilgrims and Indians could get together and have a good time.” It’s all about the good times.

We made it to the beach and had a wonderful time tide pooling and running through the freezing water (I'm a pansy when it comes to cold water, who isn't).






We missed the birth of Kayla (by one day), but at least we got to see Seth and Amanda. On our way home Coleson graciously offerred to clean the windows at each gas station. You'll notice he has the tongue in cheek just like his Dad does.




On a side note, I took this amazing picture of Ammon. Now I don't want everyone to get too excited, for clarification Ammon is not crawling yet and a few seconds later he did fall over, but this is a huge step for Ammon. You'll notice that he is holding himself up all on his own and we are all so happy for him. He continues to make great progress!



Go Cougs! (that's another story)

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.