A Rite of Passage

They took the big step. It's one of those things where you are one person before, and another afterwards. Changed forever. Never to go back. Never again will just any old whitewater, class III and the like, do the trick. Justin and Brady ran the Murtaugh! And even more amazing than that - their mother survived. Oh, the hours of worry! Fretting and stewing! And finally, the phone call from Tad at the take out, they had lived!

I'm only partly being sarcastic. My babies, on the Murtaugh!

I agreed to let Darren take them down at 8,000. A "safe" level, everything flushes, easy to miss the big stuff, yada yada yada....

Anything up to 12,000, I thought we had decided.

So much for that. They hit it Saturday at 14,000! I got the "I'm taking them." I knew I couldn't insist otherwise. I didn't feel I needed too, Darren could paddle the Murtaugh in his sleep... but there is always that mother bear instinct lurking inside of me.

He did make a concession, "I'll put two lifejackets on them."

What a comfort.

The Great White, Justin on the rear oars, Brady up front to get all the action. They're pulling away from a nasty pour over on the right.

Pete and the tip of his 15' cat can be seen in the middle of the shot.

Brady floating high, double lifejacketed.

Meet Roxanne

This is Roxanne, our new kitten. She started out as Rocky Raccoon because of her black and white striped tail. But we didn't think it was girly enough, so we improvised. She cries when she is alone, and it breaks our hearts. So we just play with her all the time!

I've seen Fire and I've seen Rain

But I never thought I would see this...Saturday morning we were up diverting water from Justin's window well, and burming up dirt to stop the flow of rainwater from running through the pig pen and chicken coop. We had a torrential rain storm all night and it finally became too much. 8 inches in a window well and Lake Pig Pen had begun to form.

Only two days later we were using those same shovels to try to stop this:


The kids did all the right things - shovels, buckets, hoses, fire extinguisher. Brady coming in to say they needed help. I have never called 911 in my life before. Justin came in to call but I was already on it.
The Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Dept. was actually pretty quick getting here. Our biggest concern was how fast it was heading toward the cliffs. We were afraid it would jump up to our neighbor's house.

How did it start? Model rocket gone awry. Innocent fun. We still have big puddles of water from the recent rain throughout the burned area, but that cheat grass stuff is just like paper! I don't want to imagine if this had happend in August. We all learned a lot from this. You hear how fast fire spreads, but I have never personally witnessed it. WOW.

I called Darren right after I called 911 and he thought I was being silly. "It's so wet out there, it will just burn itself out". I started to question my frantic call to 911 until I went out again to help pour buckets on it and saw how fast it had spread. I was so glad to see the fire trucks! I called Darren back and basically yelled at him to get home, he responded that he was right behind the fire trucks and that he couldn't believe the HUGE plume of smoke he could see all the way from Frontier, I think he got the picture at that point!

My boys and their friend did exactly what they should have. I'm proud of how they reacted. Hopefully it won't happen again, but we all have a little experience under our belts now!

In the meantime, Uncle Pete, enough of you and your toys!

Amidst all the Father's Day hub bub - cards, new BBQ grills, power tools, new ties- all the things "they" tell us we must get to give our dad's- I wondered what to give my dad. In the end, my dad got a card, and I plan on calling him soon. I know with 100% assurity he doesn't want anyTHING, on this one given day, to make him feel worthwhile. For real. You'd have to know my dad.

Reflecting today on my dad, here are a few of the things that stand out in my mind:

• sitting at the kitchen table, tears flowing (mostly mine, but probably his too, he's a crier), trying to understand trigonometry. Even when I forgot my textbook he could just "come up" with the appropriate theorem. He's an engineer.

• sitting on the floor of my bedroom, backs against my bed, tears flowing, (again, a crier), talking through some trauma, quite often making peace between my mom and me:)

• after 36 hrs. of labor with Justin, my dad and mom came in the room to see the baby. My dad walked straight to me, brushed away my hair and kissed me on the forehead.

• his outside work clothes, green pants and shirt. My mom detested them.

• the day he came home from helping my brothers deliver newspapers, no doubt wearing the green outfit, with 50 cents or so in his pocket. An apparent "tip" from someone who figured this was is sole source of income. My dad had simply replied "thank you". Absolutely not caring a bit what people thought. I would have been scrambing to explain that I was only helping, these aren't my normal clothes, etc.... He just really doesn't care. Like I mean, really.

• my dad always did the dishes, and vacuumed a lot. My best friend affectionately nicknamed him "slave."

• countless games of catch and hotbox in the backyard. In the summer, between church league and city ball we played A LOT of baseball. I credit Brady's baseball skills mostly to him.

• a couple weeks ago my parents came to visit, they stayed to watch Brady play a few innings of baseball, but then were going to leave the game early to drive to Utah that night. Brady ended up pitching and you couldn't have pried my dad away from that game. They didnt' get home unitl after midnight.

• hearing that when I crossed the finish line at the SLC marathon, my dad had tears streaming down his face. I was really excited when I heard they would be there for the Vikingman Tri a few weeks ago. I guess I haven't grown out of the "Hey Dad, watch this!"

Sure and steady and always true. I never have to guess about my dad. I appreciate and need that steadiness in my life. As I learn more and more about the world, I realize what a gift it is to have a dad like I do.

Rain Shmrain

The youth float trip we were helping out with got cancelled on account of rain. So we headed out to play. (The weather was great, go figure). This is the obsession of the moment - river boarding, or bungee boarding.

A bungee cord is anchored to a rock then hooked at the other end to a river board (similar to a skim board you use at a the ocean). The current pulls you downstream - then WHOOSH! you go for a ride. Not so simple as it sounds, but Darren and the boys have improvised so they can practice.

Paige is dazed and confused after Darren pulled her downstream then (much to my dismay!) let her go! She flew!

Paige with the grappling hook. This how they retrieve the board. (Darren actually made that in high school. We have laughed so many times that we still have it. Look at it now, so useful!)

Darren and Brady are jealous that Justin can stand up and surf!

THINGS ARE GROWING!!!

Things are starting to grow around our yard...

thanks in part to the magical chicken poop fertilizer mixture!

Even the snakes are getting big!

Charlotte is growing, although she is still the runt of the group.

Spinach, YUM!

Happy Birthday Brady!

Brady turned 11!

He got to go to his first scout campout at Murtaugh Lake. I was surprised what a hard time I had letting him go. I woke up in the middle of the night worrying about him. I just can't believe he is so grown up. When I picked him up he talked non-stop for 30 min. about all that he learned and did. I guess I'll loosen the apron strings a little!