Groovin' in the Kitchen

Abby and Caynen had a great time dancing in the kitchen with Uncle Scottie.

Helping Grandpa

Shellie and George came to visit for the weekend, and while they were off at the parade of homes, Grandpa, Abby and Caynen were slaving away in the backyard cleaning up the yard and loading the truck for the dump. Caynen could barely reach the truck bed - but he did his part. What good little workers!

Grandpa and Drew Bop It

Snowed In at the Kolob Cabin

Looks like we're trying to keep up with Kenny and Christan's big snowstorm back in D.C. Of course, I think we can handle it when there's snow in the mountains, while we're enjoying 70 degree weather in St. George! Time to plant the garden!

Where's Christan When We Need Her?

Where is Christan when we need her? Oh, the pain of losing our beautician! Since Kenny and Christan moved, Scott has had to pay for his haircuts. So he decided to save money this time and do it himself—not such a great idea - especially since he did it with his shaver! He knew it was bad - but he didn't have a mirror to see the back, so he didn't know just how bad. When I saw it, I immediately left work and took him to Evans Hairstyling College right by the Dixie State College. I snapped a picture before we went in so he could see exactly how bad it was. Here's the email thread that followed after I sent these photos to the family:

Wait. What is this? What happened?!?! Someone fill me in!—Shellie

I'm not sure if he was going for the cancer patient, burn victim, or horror movie look, but what ever it was, he got it. When Mom took him to get it fixed, he told the girl that his roommates held him down and cut it against his will. You can't make this stuff up. —Kenny

Hi guys,
If you think Scott looks scarey to us, just look at the expression on the face of the guy in the car next to him. I'm pretty sure he has just decided he doesn't want his hair styled at Evans. —Dad

Gotta love our one-of-a-kind Scottie!—Mom

Snuggies, Cakes and Hearts in Virginia

This is the 2nd year in a row that Christan has been forced to throw me a birthday party! She and the kids treat me so well, maybe we'll make it a yearly tradition - a wintertime birthday in Virginia! I got heart plates, a heart cake and cupcakes, and the highlight of it all: my very own SNUGGIE!

Visit to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown

We visited Jamestown settlement, founded in 1607, the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States of America. It was a fun hands-on place for Bailey and Corbin. They got to touch and do everything from scraping out a canoe, to shaving wood, to steering a ship, to exploring Indian teepees. It was great.













































































































































































































The funnest part of the trip was our stay in Colonial Williamsburg with Kenny and Christan's friends, the Cooks, who used to live on their street in Woodbridge. The Cook's volunteered to put us all up in their home. They gave up their beds, cooked us all our meals, tended Drew, and entertained us royally (what's better than home movies of Disneyland?). It was one big pajama party!

Bailey and Corbin loved being with their good friends again - well, so did Kenny and Christan, too. These are great friends!
One of the highlights of the trip was when Kirk and the kids found an Eastern Snapping Turtle in the gutter. He let the Cooks adopt it when we left. All in all, the trip was a great success!

The Holocaust Museum - We Won't Forget

I've always had a great interest in books about the Holocaust, so I was determined to get to the Holocaust Museum while we were in D.C. Christan put Kirk and I on the Metro, and we spent most of the day at the Museum. It was very sobering - it really made me contemplate what I might have done if I had lived at that time. I hope I would have had the courage to help the Jews - like so many in Denmark did - at the risk of their lives. But it seems like so many otherwise good people in Germany, Poland, and all over Europe, turned their heads and did nothing, probably afraid for themselves and their families. I was particularly touched seeing the accounts of a group of University students in Germany who gave their lives trying to stop the craziness. Maybe it hit home because one of the students in the movement was Willi Graf - probably an ancestor to some of the many Grafs in Santa Clara whose ancestors immigrated from Switzerland and Germany. Here's an excerpt: "In 1942 Hans Scholl, a medical student at the University of Munich, his sister Sophie, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, and Alexander Schmorell founded the “White Rose” movement, one of the few German groups that spoke out against Nazi genocidal policies. Nazi tyranny and the apathy of German citizens in the face of the regime’s “abominable crimes” outraged idealistic “White Rose” members. Many of them had heard about the mass murder of Polish Jews; as a soldier on the eastern front, Hans Scholl had also seen firsthand the mistreatment of Jewish forced laborers and heard of the deportation of large numbers of Poles to concentration camps. At great risk, “White Rose” members transported and mailed mimeographed leaflets that denounced the regime. In their attempt to stop the war effort, they advocated the sabotage of the armaments industry. “We will not be silent,” they wrote to their fellow students. “We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" Because the students were aware that only military force could end Nazi domination, they limited their aims to achieve “a renewal from within of the severely wounded German spirit.” After the German army’s defeat at Stalingrad in late January 1943, the group distributed pamphlets urging students in Munich to rebel. But in the next month, a university janitor who saw them with the pamphlets betrayed them to the Gestapo and they were executed. At his trial, Huber concluded his defense with the words of Johann Gottlieb Fichte:
And thou shalt act as if
On thee and on thy deed
Depended the fate of all Germany,
And thou alone must answer for it.

Fun with Family in D.C.

Three days after I got home from helping Shellie, I turned around and flew to Washington D.C. to be with Kirk at the end of his Sheriff's conference, and to head out to Woodbridge to stay with Kenny and Christan. We are so lucky - we've been able to visit them 5 times since they moved 1 1/2 years ago. Thank goodness for Sheriff business! We timed it just right, because not long after we got back home, the storms hit back there. They have had sooo much snow they've had to cancel school and work several different times these last few weeks. One of the first things we were able to do was take a tour of the White House. We were there with a bunch of noisy school groups, and the tour went so fast, we were outside and done before we knew it. President Obama didn't come say hi, but Bailey knew that he was somewhere in the White House because the flag on top was flying (she learned that in school). After the tour we met my nephew, Brady Barrett in D.C. for lunch. He's there as intern with Rep. Jason Chavetz, and he's having a great time visiting all the historic sights he can cram in before his internship is over in April. It was great to see his handsome face.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

This is what Shellie's family looked like the day before they finally started turning the corner and feeling a little better. The second picture is the first happy faces we had seen for quite a while. Shellie's little Caynen was admitted to the hospital to get some IV fluids because he was so dehydrated with rotavirus. He couldn't keep anything down and he didn't want to drink anything either (can't blame him when everything he would drink would come right back up - or out!). They had to keep him 2 1/2 days because he just wasn't responding like they hoped he would. They have to be so careful with the little ones. While he was in the hospital, Abby got the same thing, so George and I took care of her while Shellie stayed in the hospital with Caynen. We were afraid Abby might have to be admitted to the hospital too, but George was finally able to get some medicine in her that stopped her from throwing up anymore. It didn't prevent the tons of diaper changes that we had to go through - and her raw little bottom. When Shellie brought Caynen home from the hospital, Abby wanted to sleep with me. She was so sick, but it was nice to have her there snuggling by me. I think it made us both feel better. We were able to keep Abby out of the hospital, but the next thing you know, George had his own bout with the sick stomach. Luckily, it was only a 24-hour bug. What a crazy place that was. So glad everyone is finally healthy now.