Uncle Gerald...

Summer’s great uncle passed away this week, and though I’ve only had the opportunity to visit him on vacations or other occasions about a dozen times I’m really going to miss him (in the picture above, Uncle Gerald is on the left and great Grandpa (Gerald's Dad) is on the right). It’s not like we ever talked on the phone or emailed (Gerald was not much of a phone talker), but we would always hear the “Gerald” stories through Summer’s family and what he was currently doing. Considering all that, it probably seems a little strange for me to write a post about Gerald, but every time I had the opportunity to be around Gerald he said or did something that had an impact on me and made me think about the most important things in my life.

Gerald was born with some mental disabilities, which from some people’s perspective makes him a person with a sensitive spirit. However, even before we had our own special spirit in our immediate family, I’ve always noticed the almost unnoticeable things that Gerald did from the first day I met him. One time we were going somewhere not too far away and Gerald was so concerned about Summer and if she was going to travel safely, he kept asking about Summer (he taught me that day how I should always show concern for my wife). On other occasions I remember Gerald just crying when Summer and the rest of us were leaving, or crying when he started talking about the Savior or the gospel. One time Gerald came with our family to visit Grandma Lou when she was in the assisted living home (Grandma Lou is Gerald’s Mom). While we were there Ammon kept taking his glasses off and Gerald kept talking to him as if Ammon understood everything, explaining that you can’t see if you keep taking your glasses off. Then Gerald would proceed to demonstrate to Ammon by taking off his own glasses and saying, “See, I can’t see now.” As Gerald left that day he cried and tenderly hugged his Mom and kept saying, “I love you.” I could list a dozen other experiences that I witnessed concerning Gerald, some that made me laugh out loud, or love my family even more, or think of the eternities. For me, the story I think that summarizes Gerald the best though is his baptism story.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to give a talk in church. Part of the talk centered on Gerald’s baptism story as told to me by Deb and Summer’s grandma (Gerald’s sister). When I first heard this story I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Just like all of us, Gerald wasn’t perfect. But on hearing his story it was clear to me that Gerald got it, he had an understanding of the big picture, of our purpose in life and why we are here in families. It seemed to me that he had so much more than just a simple faith. To him, the Savior, the gospel, and the great plan of salvation were not just things to have faith in, but they were real and his knowledge was sure. Here’s Gerald’s baptism story as told to me:

“I wanted to share with you an experience that exemplifies the joy that can come into the lives of those that receive the gospel message, and those that share it. My wife’s great uncle, Gerald, was baptized into the Church over 30 years ago, and his baptism experience is one of joy and inspiration every time we hear it. Gerald is a very large man, and has some mental disabilities, but he is independent in many regards and very intelligent with regards to the gospel, sports, and other issues, but he is also very responsive to the promptings and whisperings of the Spirit. In short, to me it seems he usually is not afraid to say or do things in much the same way a child would or I wish I could but usually don’t due to social norms or thoughts of embarrassment. On the day he was baptized, my inlaws were joking with him that he might not make it through the baptism ordinance because he was so large and the person baptizing him would not be able to pull him up out of the water. When he got down into the water, Summer’s Grandmother said the spiritual excitement in the room was powerful. Once the ordinance was completed, Gerald leaped up out of the water and jumped up the stairs of the baptismal font shouting the whole time, “I’ve made it, I’ve made it.” He couldn’t stop saying it. The first thought when this experience is told is that he was just happy to be pulled back out of the water by the person performing the ordinance, but then Grandma shares that you could see the emotion in his face and hear it in his voice, and the tears streaming down his cheeks and everyone else’s that was in attendance. It was then that I understood that he truly had made it.”

I’m going to miss seeing and hearing about Gerald. I look forward to meeting him again. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that right now there is a special place in Heaven with a set of stairs just waiting for Gerald to eagerly run up, while emotionally proclaiming, “I’ve made it, I’ve made it.” I’m sure it would be yet another memorable sight to see.

Merry Christmas!

Too many times I was going to blog and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas,so I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! This year we hosted the Cheney family Christmas Eve party. We had good food, entertainment, and fun presents. All the cousins shared their talents. Coleson sang his 1st grade class' version of the twelve days of Christmas. He made up the first line. We thought that was a pretty honorary spot to get to be the gift that is sang the most, it must be the most popular gift, maybe something that every first grader wants for Christmas. No, just original. Here's his line, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a knife for cutting my meat." That's our boy! The other lines included desert turtles, blankets, desks, chapter books, tickle me Elmos, race cars, soft beds.

Ammon and Brynn did the chicken dance. Coleson's cousins played the guitar, played the piano, and sang an original version of Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. We also got to play a few songs with grandma's bells. Everyone, especially Brynn had fun frosting their own sugar cookies. Coleson's masterpiece Christmas morning was exciting. We couldn't put any pressents under the tree before Christmas because Brynn would have opened them, so no time to guess or shake gifts. Her shirt says it all "Bit O' Trouble!"

Coleson couldn't wait. He was so excited the week before Christmas that he got up at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep. We took it as a trial run. Someone is always waking us up at night, but occasionally on the nights when everyone sleeps, Coleson usually comes through for us. I told myself no matter what time Coleson got up on Christmas, that I would get up with him and read stories or just enjoy the excitement with him until everyone else got up. Well Brynn woke up in the early early hours and kept us up until a little before Coleson got up, so I just couldn't do it. He got to watch cartoons for an hour or maybe two. He was excited though because he doesn't always get to watch tv. Brynn made sure we had the lights on the tree lit, so she could say "OooHH." (Brian has taught Brynn to always make sure the Christmas tree lights are on very first thing in the morning and throughout the day). Ammon had fun crunching wrapping and tissue paper.

After our family time we went down to my grandparents house where my parents were staying. We got to open their presents and have another feast. We spent the night so we could have more time together. The next day we went sledding for 1/2 hour and tried to go to the movies, but they were already sold out. At least we enjoyed everyone's company.

We're Thankful!

For Grandparents: We had a fantastic Thanksgiving at my grandparents home in Southern California. We enjoyed the 80 degree weather and the beach. My grandparents had never met Brynn, so that was a treat for them. She loved following great grandpa around the garden and all over the house. Most of the time she just wanted him to hold her. It was good timing (age wise) because she is so cute trying to carry on nonsense-conversations and saying hi and wanting to give kisses all the time. My grandmother is also one of the best cooks, so you know our food was so delicious! Jenna's marshmallow salad was wonderful as well and we got to see her new(4mo)cute baby! Coleson enjoyed the mounds of Legos to play with. It was such a nice visit. My grandparents are awesome examples of serving others. Right now they have missionaries living with them and continue to get last minute calls from people who need rides or anything. They are so willing to help others even when they have people visiting. Thanks for all you do!


For cousins: We also enjoyed visiting with my cousins. We were planning to go to Legoland, however, our plans got changed. The one day out of the whole year that it hailed and poured rain in San Diego, was the day we were going. We have no complaints though because we went to the Birch Aquariums and still enjoyed the weather the rest of the time. I miss hanging with my so. cal. relatives!

For silly times: We had several days of long car rides. Brynn started entertaining herself by just going Ahhhhhh -with the motion of the car. At one hotel Coleson would walk back and forth across the sliding glass door doing silly poses and faces while we were trying to pack. Ammon likes to do shout outs when everyone else is supposed to be quiet-like in church-you can't help smiling about that one. Of course we have our silly times at home, too, but it's nice when they come at not so fun times.


For our garden: We had a good garden this year. I wasn't expecting too much because I knew I wouldn't have the time I normally do to take care of it. Every week during the summer I would make pasta with fresh basil, tomatoes, zucchini and crookneck squash. We had lots of strawberries, blackberries and some raspberries. We were able to make a lot of jam. We also had good sized bell peppers and jalapenos. Coleson brought home a bean plant in a cup from kindergarten. We planted it in the garden and got about 25 beans off of it. It was the best green bean plant we have ever had. I love cooking with fresh ingredients, so I was sad when we had, what seemed like, an early frost that killed everything. It was really hard for me to start buying tomatoes at the grocery store again.

For our abilities: We are constantly reminded of the abilities we do have. I see how Ammon struggles to eat, swallow, sit up, hold his head, communicate and its all things that come naturally to me. I am so thankful that I can do these things. Then, we are grateful for all the things Ammon can do. I go to his preschool class every month and all the kids have different challenges. One girl has a trach, oxygen tube and a feeding tube constantly. Yet, she can smile, touch and pick out objects when asked too. Another girl can walk with a walker well, crawl, sit up and handle objects well, but she also has a trach and doesn't speak and can't hold still. Ammon can breath on his own, sleep well most of the time, smile, shout out occasionally, laugh, walk with his walker, and,although he has a feeding tube, he can still eat and drink when he wants to. He still understands about going to church, going to school, who his teachers are, recognizes neighbors and talking on the phone.

For :all of our families, friends, neighbors, teachers, Brian's coworkers, his job, our home, the gospel, temples- I love to drive through so many states and see temples everywhere, Christmas coming, our car that safely drives us everywhere, two cars- I've only had my own car for the last 5 years, health-when we aren't sick...I could go on and on..

Happy Birthday Coleson!!

Coleson turned 7! Seven sounds so old, he's not my little boy anymore. I am having a hard time at letting him grow up. It has been his birthday the whole week-actually ever since Ammon's birthday was over. Every time I would ask him to do something he didn't want to, he would say "remember it's my birthday." He really does help me a lot when Brian is out of town and it's not always fun for him.
He had a Bakugan party because "that's all I want for my birthday." We thought it would be fun to "train" his cousins and a few neighbor friends in being Bakugan brawlers. I am so thankful for him and his wonderful personality. I think it's been hard for him to not get all the attention now that everything is 'how's Ammon', 'what's Brynn doing now?' Just looking back at our posts I realized he has really been blog-neglected. He gets his fair share of fun though. My extra time revolves around Coleson and trying to enrich his life with fun. I try not to make our blog into boasting about our kids, but its his birthday so here we go.

Coleson is awesome! He cracks us up. Here's a sample. We had an insulation installer come over to give us a quote a while ago. The guy was going over the numbers with me and Coleson starts asking how much is it going to be. Installer: "Well it's a lot of money." Coleson: "Well we've been spending a lot of money on our basement and my little brother because he has Down syndrome. Like we had to get him a wheelchair and it cost more money than our car. I mean, are you kidding me?! There's no A/C, no radio and it costs more than our car." Installer: "You know you are cracking me up!" Coleson: "I know, I am really funny. I am really smart too because I go to this special class where I learn different languages, like do you know how to say hi in Chinese." Installer: "No." Coleson: "Well I do, it's 'Ne how', and I can write the numbers (shows him) 5,6,8,9. Installer: "What about 7?" Coleson: "Well I forgot, so do your kids like Legos, because I am the Lego master. Oh do you have a Wii because I am so good at Mario Cart...."

I usually have to tell Coleson it's time to stop talking and go do something else. We could be at any store or place and the cashier will know our whole life story in 5 minutes. It is nice that he is so social. I am afraid that he is starting to get a little attitude though at school with his teacher because he "knows it all." Here's another example: He came home from school last week and said that he was a little late for his ALS class. Me: "Why, what happened? Coleson: well my teacher made me finish cutting out and coloring a caterpillar. I mean what's more important, coloring and pasting a caterpillar or learning how to fold a panda. Hello? Folding a panda." Me: "Yea, definitely"--trying not to laugh because he is so serious about it. A few months ago we started letting him watch cartoons on saturday mornings with the intent that we could sleep in--I forgot we have other kids who get us up earlier. He ocassionally sees a few infomercials during his cartoon time. One day I told him we were going as soon as I finished doing my hair. Coleson: "Mom, you should get a Bumpit." Me: "A what?" Coleson: "A Bumpit, your hair will look pretty in seconds and last all day long, it's comfortable and wearable all day long." He is the a pro at quoting infomercials when you really need it. Like when ever we mention how much something costs he tells us that "all we have to do is get a free envelope from "cashforgold," get our old and broken jewelery and send it in, easy fast cash probably more than the highest number we can count, like this one old lady said she got $147..."

He finished up the soccer season a few weeks ago and I actually caught him scoring a goal on my camera! He loves soccer. He plays at recess everyday and got a lot better this year.

Coleson also did swimming and baseball. He can swim now and loved jumping off the "plank board".

Coleson was on the same baseball team with kids we know in our neighborhood, so that was fun. Here is crazy hair day at school. Coleson loves Bakugans, Legos, riding bikes, and reading. He is reading chapter books and loves math! We love you Coleson!!!

Halloween Fun

We had a great Halloween. Coleson decided a long time ago that he wanted to be a Lego person. The he decided Lego Indiana Jones. So I went on a quest to find a costume-but there was none to be found. Since I have so much free time(ha ha) and with his time off track we made our own Lego costume. I could never get the legs right so we made due with a box top and shoes, and accessories. Ammon was a gecko and Brynn a Ladybug. Brian and I dressed up as a "50's Grease" couple.





We had a trial run with costumes for Ammon's Bday party, then the day before Halloween Brynn learned how to trick or treat. At Brian's work they had a party and the kids went around to all the offices and cubicles to get treats. Brynn caught on very fast how to walk pick stuff out of a bucket and put it in hers. She's already showing signs of a true girl by carrying buckets around like purses on her arm. She threw a fit when we had to stop taking things from people. So Halloween night I thought I would walk up with her to every other house. She wanted nothing to do with "every other" part. Luckily, I have some very nice neighbors who helped me push Ammon and walk up with Brynn. She would mumble something with the rest of the kids and get her candy. She is also not afraid to eat right through the paper or plastic to get the sugar-remember my Disneyworld post about eating through the poncho- plastic does not stop this girl. We were so glad it didn't snow and I took all three kids out for an hour. Ammon enjoyed being outside and getting things in his bucket. Last year Coleson was so excited he ran so fast I couldn't keep up. This year it was perfect because he had rectangle box "Lego" shoes to slow him down. Brian had fun at home passing out candy and playing games with kids to earn "bonus" candy. We also carved a lot of pumkins. Lego Indiana Jones and a ladybug for our city's pumpkin walk, R2D2 for mutual, and at the top picture you can barely see "Bob" from Monster's vs Aliens with a few monster friends. I think Coleson has taken up my passion for carving pumpkins.


Here are the monster cheese fingers from the party.