ROAD TRIPS

My favorite thing about the road trips were the small things to pass the time. Making mix-tapes. Remember the one with Pinocchio being interviewed by Kermit the Frog?? a sure fave. And you learning about the Talking Heads, The Cure, Doors, Police, AC/DC, etc etc etc., I also remember stopping for Frosty's when the odometer hit 8888 miles or a combination of 8's. There is even a photograph of the odometer reading 88888. Really fun. Traveling with The Little Yellow Potty Chair was also a life saver too. It wasn't until we got the Living Room on Wheels that we were introduced to the joy of videos, movies and gaming on the road. Up until then it was matching license plates, finding alphabets and the hand held original "YOUR MOVE SQUIRE!!"

Insane Road Trips

Ok everyone, I know this is nothing compared to what Blake and Indira have done. Drive from AZ to NJ. (a trip that blake has made out there back and back twice now)

But Della Keaton and I are about to embark on a most excellent adventure. We will leave from NJ, Thursday Aug. 4th., to take Keaton out to Provo to attend BYU with the "Great One". At this point all we HAVE to do is get to Minneapolis for a Twins game Saturday the 6th. (7 pm start) and then to be back here to go to work Monday morning, the 15th.

I wanted to ask the family the following question: Of all the times we road tripped, what are some of the best memories that you have had, things we were able to do, stops along the way (few there ever were)? Or, what are some things you would have wanted to do that we never got to do?

Be careful, there are a lot of trips to remember, you all were so small that I don't know if you even remember traveling from TN to AZ and then from TN to CA. ( Blake Usilton's wedding) Multiple trips to Florida, to Aunt Claudia's, just to list a few. So is there something that Keaton, Della and I just have to do on this upcoming adventure?

I will look forward to a little blurb from everyone. I / we had such a wonderful time with you all coming home and being able to hang out together. Dorney park was great. The No Hurling challenge is still on the table... I think we all did pretty well right? Nobody hurled right? Ya'll are all the best!

All of my love, Pop.

PS. what are the Grandchildren going to call us? Della and I?

thoughts

I know we will all do reunion posts later. This was recommended to me by Julia and it fits beautifully with my thoughts of late and I wanted to share. I love you all so much. Now I know why Granny would cry when we would show up to visit her at Easter and why she cried when we left. Thank you all for coming - thank you for making the effort. It was wonderful.

My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee

Text and Music by Rob Gardner

For a little while
Have I forsaken thee;
But with great mercies will I gather thee.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee
For a moment.

But with everlasting kindness will I gather thee,
And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings,
For the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
But know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

Though thine afflictions seem
At times too great to bear,
I know thine every thought and every care.
And though the very jaws
Of hell gape after thee I am with thee.

And with everlasting mercy will I succor thee,
And with healing will I take thee ‘neath my wings.
Though the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
Know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

How long can rolling waters
Remain impure?
What pow'r shall stay the hand of God?
The Son of Man hath descended below all things.
Art thou greater than He?

So hold on thy way,
For I shall be with thee.
And mine angels shall encircle thee.
Doubt not what thou knowest,
Fear not man, for he
Cannot hurt thee.

And with everlasting kindness will I succor thee,
And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings.
For the mountains shall depart,
And the hills shall be removed,
And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea,
But know, my child,
My kindness shall not depart from thee!

http://youtu.be/dwzMNKAT0p4

Life Choices

Happy pictures make serious posts happier, right? One let's get this started on the right foot then.
Speaking of re-do's and regrets and what ifs, has anyone else seen the Adjustment Bureau? Not only is it a really well-done movie, but those what-ifs are a major theme in the movie. What was meant to be? No matter what? What say do we have in our destiny? How is our fate determined? etc. Pretty thought-provoking, especially in the context of this latest blog prompt.

Like all of us, I don't like dwelling on my regrets. Sometimes I behaved poorly, stupidly, weirdly, etc, but that's what I did and thinking about how retarded that must make me will not help. But I don't have too many official things I'd rather do over, just those 'what-if's. The biggest (and only, at this young point in my life) what-if revolves around moving to Indiana to attend IPFW.

I'm not sure you guys have any idea how much shame and humiliation I felt graduating high school as the Valedictorian without any college plans. I felt like I was letting everybody down, like all those people who expected so much of me would be disappointed and see the 'real' loser Liberty was. ((SIDE BAR- maybe I should follow Pop's line of thinking and keep some things in person, but then again, I'm trying to follow my own advice and be more honest which is a lot easier for me to do here than in person)) What if I had gone to University of Chicago? Or anywhere else? IPFW doesn't have the best reputation locally, although I had no idea of that when I moved out here, and things on campus have changed a lot, making some of those stereotypes outdated and unfounded. Still, it felt like I was crawling away from NJ to go to some school no one had ever heard of, simply because they were still accepting applications without an essay in June. But (and I've written a whole paper on this experience, so I've thought about it a lot) what if I hadn't?!? What if I hadn't moved here and hence had never met Brandon??! I feel like both Brandon and I had to suffer so much prior to meeting each other- being humbled to dangerous levels of self-loathing to get here- leads me to believe it was JUST THAT IMPORTANT that we find each other just then. We needed to meet each other in Fort Wayne at that exact moment, which required me to choose IPFW as an embarrassing last resort and Brandon to flee BYU and head back home. This is where I think of that movie. Is there anything I could have done to keep me from ending up here in FW? Or was it bound to happen no matter what? Believing that relieves some of my guilt and makes me feel better about ending up here. Maybe nothing I could have done would have kept me from ending up in IN that fall. And even if there was something, it wouldn't be worth losing Brandon. ... ... ... But that doesn't mean I don't occasionally have selfish thoughts about how my career might be different had I attended a more prestigious school. Then I see Brandon and remind myself this is the ultimate prize. A fantastic marriage with a wonderfully kind loving honey. We are blessed. It was worth it. And I would do it again.

I love you Brandon.
Anyway, this has been Liberty, shedding a few layers for you. Be kind. :]

PS- I'm writing this in the school library, as I prepare wait for the last final of my undergraduate degree. Wish me luck!!

Reset button?

Yeah yeah, sorry I had finals and everything, that's why I been blog-less. Grades come out monday. I might pull an A in Functional Anatomy (a 4 credit class!!!!) if not that, definitley an A-. And of course, I got a C in religion. freaking BYU, I"m telling you, it's madness. Living with Kim and Steve for the summer, working full time at the library (that's gonna drive me insane real quick) just keepin it realz for the summer. gonna try and work out start running and everything. (we will see how long that lasts haha) Great year, junior year. GLad it's over. we will see whats in store after graduation next april. whooooo
re-do's? regrets? I guess re-do's and regrets go together with me, I regret a decision I made and I would re-do it over differently if I could. I dont regret anthing, except some personal things that I definitley would do-over. I don't regret coming out to BYU. after 3 years, it's finally coming around to me that this is a good place, a good thing to be doing and it's great. I love my ward, my friends, my professors, the whole atmosphere. It finally got to me when me friend got called to serve in Ukraine---and I could share that news, and it was a normal thing. I could say "my friend got called to serve in the Ukraine" and I wouldn't have to explain what a mission is or anything else;they would understand and say "that's great" but I digress. I'm glad I don't resent or regret anything about coming out here. It's been a blast to spend time with all my extended family, I love family, it's the most important thing. I only wish I would spend more time with my immediate family!!!!!
what if????--My main what if is what if I didn't go to byu but I just went straight to massage therapy school for 2 years. how much money would I be making? would I still want to do the things that I'm thinking about now? (masters in athletic training, PA school...) I know that if I stayed in NJ tho, I probably would have made bad decisions (or worse than I have already made) I needed to get away and BYU has really strengthened and taught me a lot. I just think about my career and if I would feel the same (and I wonder if I would be making a lot more moolah) I also think about the missed opportunities and missed blessings that I miss out on when I'm acting stupid. I think "dang it, this is probably what the Lord had in store for me, and now I will never know!!!" but like pop said, all you can do is get up and try harder. Get up and try again. Learn from your mistakes and dont be afraid to believe in yourself to do your best. haha, cheesy, I know, but if you give 110% every time, you will never have any regrets.

Anyway, I love and miss you all so much. All the sumner clans here say hi and send their love. ew, the other day, we had everyone over for easter, and Uncle Wayne called aunt Janet his "main squeeze" LOLOLOL, haha, wow uncle wayne, he is the best tho. Love you al, happy Easter and best wishes! Happy Anniversary to Indira&Blake and Mom&Pop "still crazy after all these years" hahah. Go Miami Heat!!!

Re Do

I don't know if I am totally prepared to write this. I must agree with the Great Queen Della, being older there are so many things that you look back on and wonder if things are as they should be. I'll break this into a couple catagories. 1) Do Over, 2) Regret, (not plural by design, only going to list one, of hundreds), 3) What if's. So first; Do overs. Maybe I should have one pre marriage and one post marriage. In my younger days if there was one thing I could do over, and I don't say this lightly: I would have studied harder and been strickter in keeping all the mission rules. Or in shorter words, I would have liked to have been a better missionary. Also Long term I would have liked to have kept up my language skills, and developed more my reading and writing. I don't mean to say I feel any less about myself, I just think I may have missed out on some really special times. There were a couple companionships that were really unproductive. I feel I missed some lessons and opprtunities. (retitled: What If): again, should that be before marriage or after. 2 things here. When Della and I got married, I had a chance to get on full time at GM building cars in WI. I could have transferred to University in Wisconsin, but because I was so close to graduation, I didn't want to lose any credit transferring from ASU. So we ended up in Arizona and started our family, and graduated 2 years and 2 children later. I often wonder how things would be different if we would have stayed in Wisconsin. (I guess that is not really a regret, more like a what if... Regrets. Maybe I will add this later, I can't really think of any "regret" things. I have a few deep personal things, not really for on line sharing. but I look back on how my life has been blessed, and I feel regrets are just downer things that you can't do anything about, so as a wise man once said... 'accept the things you can not change, and wisdom to know the difference'. So having said that, I am really sorry I missed attending IN the temple the 2 weddings of my beloved children, Blake and Indira; and Liberty and Brandon. Wo, this all of a sudden got heavy and I will just sign off with that. You all should know that I love you, Conference was great this weekend. I loved the Lamb and Sheep Poem... I hope I haven't been a bad papa sheep! I don't believe I was... Be Good Bloggers. Pop.

Regrets, Re-Do's and Do-Overs

Pick a card, any card. As person with more years under my belt, I have a plethora of regrets to choose from. One of them which has needled me over the years concerns our foreign exchange student Yoko who lived with us in Tennessee. This was the year that Jane Westmoreland May decided she was going to be a foreign exchange student group leader and get all of these students placed in houses and we were going to be one of those houses. We chose one from Japan because Benet spoke Japanese and we got Yoko. Yoko was a spoilt "only" child coming from an affluent family whose parents were older. Because of this, she believed that we were not old enough or experienced enough to be parents. She was rude to us and disobeyed my instructions. I tried very hard to give her a good American experience with an American family. She told all of her friends at school that the only reason we had her was so that we could have a live-in babysitter, she was mean to my children and (horror of horrors) broke our stereo. Interestingly enough, all of the Japanese students that came over that year were little SNOTS and did not last with their families longer than 3 or 4 months. Yoko lasted 8 months with us before I finally broke and said she could no longer stay with us. I had always regretted not being more compassionate and better able to endure her in our home. But... I was really really glad when she left.

A PROMPT! ACKKK!

Ok so here it goes. I've been struggling with what to both write about and what to ask everyone else to write about. I had thought about doing a "what bands have had an effect on your life and why" but I just felt like it was an easy way out. So as I've been pondering I got to thinking, if I could redo one thing in my life what would it be. Even with such a potentially engaging prompt I'm struggling to think of something to write about. Not because I have nothing that I would want to take back and do again but because I have so many.

I suppose I have one but with a caveat. If I had redone this mistake I wouldn't have met the love of my life. I wouldn't have begun a life of true fulfillment with my better half.

With that said I shall begin. My second year at BYU I lived in an apartment off campus with three other guys that I didn't know. Living in the apartment was AWESOME. I felt so free and could do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Sadly that freedom went to my head. I slowly but surely missed more and more classes and eventually just stayed in my apartment all day. This led to isolation to the Nth degree. This isolation led to shame and that shame led me to avoid almost everyone.

Like I said at the beginning, it's not the fact that I in the end left BYU that I would redo, but what I would want to redo is to have left BYU under better terms. Having lived a better life, having done well in my studies. That is my biggest regret, that I left in disgrace.

Now that I have laid bare one of my faults I hope that you can see me more as a real person rather that what imagined construct you have of me. I love you all. Be fabulous and wonderful as always!

MOMMA DELLA!

MOMMA DELLA!

What would we do without you? You are kind and loving and fun to be with. One of my first memories of you was when you took Lib and I and Benet through your school. I had planned on trying to walk and without even asking you had a push chair for me. That's when I knew that you had a heart of gold. Thank you for being so caring and such a boon for Lib and I. May your year be filled with happiness and joy because you deserve it.

With Love,

Your Newest Son,

Brandon

MAMMA MIA MAMMA MIA MAMMA MIA LET ME GO!

Happy Birthday Mom!
We all love you dearly.



Thanks for putting up with us and all our silliness. And even including some silliness of your own. ;] These pirate pics were your idea, were they not?



Thanks for being so groovy. I always appreciated you looking out for us and 'loving us no matter what.' You are a great and wonderful mom. WE LOVE YOU!

LIBERRRRRRTY!!!

Is this Rugburn's Sister?? What was her name?? She is a doll isn't she? Making some sort of Health Service Announcement Video from the Way back Machine.

I love that she was so much fun to play with. She and Julia were so much fun together and such good friends. There were many of my friends with daughters who screamed at each other and fought like cats and dogs. For the most part, Liberty and Julia got along famously.
(I know this picture is sideways - please send me a message to tell me how to not do this in the future - they scanned in sideways, i fixed them, but they still uploaded sideways. grrrr.)
Liberty - I love you so much. You are a joy and a great example of excellence to me. Have a wonderful and a joyous birthday. kisses and love. Momm

Birthday Blake Wishes

This is a wonderful picture of Blake wearing the ... is it Mr. Potato Head glasses?? I don't know, but it makes me smile. The next picture of The Three Amigos, I am trying to turn sideways... *grunt*, *twist* groan - no dice.... it came out sideways and no matter how I try to twist it, it won't upload correctly. This is the boys sitting upside down on the couch.... just turn your head sideways like one of the Hyperbole and a Half blog kids.

The next is showing one of Blake's secret talents - the ability to blow up a latex glove and put it on his head. yeah - hahaha. I love it when he does that. Lastly - is Blake doing the Happy Dance because he graduated from High School and did not have to go to the First Day of School. That was a happy day for him.



LOVE YOU BLAKE!!! Have a happy Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE!!!

Fabulous Birthday wishes to Blake Cameron Sumner, the Blakester.
From my limited photo collection, I found a few Blakes...




Plus one stolen from his facebook.
WE LOVE YOU BLAKE!!! Hope you enjoy yourself. [or enjoyed yourself... since in Korea... that was yesterday.] it's the thought that counts. ;]

Adventure-time in Chicago

Hi family! Warning- we forgot our camera. :[ So this will be a very verbiose post. :D My apologies.

So this weekend Brandon and I decided to celebrate our February birthdays and Valentine’s Day by going to Chicago for a much needed vacation. I’d had a horrible week. I was working 12-14 hours days all week, (and I don’t mean out of the house for 12 – 14 hours, I mean GOING, non-stop from class to work to church to internship and repeat). It wasn’t very fun. In fact, on Thursday night (the last day of that wretched week) I had been asked to be a part of a Relief Society lesson on Family Home Evenings. I was supposed to talk about FHE without children – young couples, widows and empty nesters. I started my talk saying “I’ve had a bad week, so if I cry…” then I cried through the whole lesson. It was not my best moment. Anyway, I was glad I still got a lot of support from the sisters. They were nice to me even though I felt pretty useless. Friday I had only an hour of class and an hour of work then we could leave for Chicago.

We packed up and ate lunch and headed out the door around 1:30. We’d probably get to our hotel by 4.30 (Chicago time, which is an hour earlier than Fort Wayne) and have plenty of time to get settled and get to our Medieval Times reservation at 7:30 (Medieval Times!! Yeaaah!) Well, about an hour or two out from Fort Wayne, the van starts making some strange noises. Whenever we got over 50 or 60 mph it would gradually start getting louder and shakier. We pulled over once or twice to see if it was the tires, but couldn’t figure it out. We pulled into the nearest town and discovered the internals of our rear passenger brake drum had apparently disintegrated. Yippee! While we wait we walked through the cold to a nearby K-Mart to wander around and attempt to lift our spirits. About 2 hours and nearly $400 later, we were back on our way, with not nearly such a nice cushion of time to make our reservations. We decided to say yes to the toll roads in the hopes it would get us there a little quicker. Little did we know we would add about half an hour to our travel time just waiting in line to pay. Bleagh. I was getting frustrated and kept asking if we should just call to cancel and reschedule. But Brandon thought we could do it. We pull into Medieval Times about 4 minutes before the show started and are seated shortly after it had begun. We made it!!!

Medieval Times was a blast. We got to cheer on the green night (the bad guy! Yeaaah!) and eat with our hands and because we bought a Valentines day package they gave us some cool cheering swag- as well as two nice flutes (for our sparkling juice!) After a stressful, adventure-filled trip it was a nice-surprise that we’d actually made it. I kept trying to get our knight to throw me a rose, but sitting up on the very top row with Brandon makes it a little unlikely. I still remember when Julia got a rose when we went with Granny in Florida. I was so jealous!! (and still am?) One awful thing- we got to see this big guy sitting in front of us try to carry his own vomit up the stairs and into the bathroom. Grooossss. The fight sequences were cheesy- a few of the players clearly forgot their actions, as they awkwardly tried to slap each other or dodge hits that never came. Ha. Afterwards we went through the ‘torture museum’ which was really more of a hallway, but that was gross too. I kept wondering if that really happened. People are pretty sick sometimes.

Saturday we went to the Temple and got some of Brandon’s family’s names done. We did a session and a few sealings, (which I think might be my favorite) and then went home to eat and change before heading to the Chicago Auto Show. Brandon will have to write about that. I just followed him around trying not to get lost in the crowd. Eventually I just sat down and read Harry Potter while he wandered through the last half of the show. There was a bag-Nazi there, this little old lady who badgered everyone to see what they were carrying, even if they’d already been checked by someone else. Brandon says: It was huge and really fun to see all the cars. The Infinity concept was a little disappointing- it looked ugly and disproportioned. The Panemera wasn’t as ugly as everyone said either. The Evo still takes my breath away. (Liberty: does it? Brandon: It really does.) Disappointed Ferrari didn’t show up- or any of the other major supercar makers. We stopped to look at the new Lexas LFA. The ‘booth jock’ (the guy who stands there and talks up the cars) was kind of a jerk. It’s bizarre how everyone who works these cars has to be so pretty. (Sorry, Liberty’s Principles of Persuasion class is seeping in!) He was more concerned with fluffing his hair than answering anyone’s questions. He kept using the phrase “pure Japanese muscle” – not true. Traditional Japanese ‘muscle’ came from I-5 and I-4 turbo, not the naturally aspirated big blocks in this car.

We had planned to take the local trains from the Auto Show to Gino’s East (Yes, we did go to Gino’s!!) I was kind of nervous about taking the train, but we decided to add a little more walking to a further station so at least we wouldn’t have to transfer. After figuring out which way we needed to leave the convention center towards the Metro station, we headed out. We only made it about a block or two before turning back. The roads, and more importantly, the sidewalks, were poorly plowed, making it impassable for even Brandon’s heavy duty wheelchair. We headed back to our car and drove up to Gino’s, where we had to pay for parking (again! $30 for 2 and a half hours? BARF!) and wait outside in the cold for an hour before being seated. We had a delicious pizza (cheese and sausage) and an appetizer to hold us over while we waited. Best mozzarella sticks I’ve ever had. (Really, Pizzatillos) Yum. We ordered a medium (of which we each only ate one piece. Oops) but got to enjoy it again for lunch (and dinner) on Sunday. The service was pretty atrocious, but when you’re so popular that you don’t even have to try to get people to come, I guess you stop caring. No, we didn’t graffiti anything either. We’re not that exciting.

Sunday morning we debated whether or not to go to Church, but ended up just lounging around our hotel all morning before we had to check out again. Hahaha, yeah, we were bad, but that’s what you’re supposed to do on vacation-- be lazy. :D

So I’m writing this to you on the car ride home. I’ll edit and proofread in a few hours when we get home and Brandon will probably add in a little bit too. Just wanted to share with you our adventures and good times. We had a lot of ‘hiccups’ but we still had fun. Brandon does an excellent job at looking on the bright side. He keeps me from getting too frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. :] Oh, and I neglected to make birthday post for Brandon, so I’ll do it here:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON! You are MOST Awesome!! :D Brandon turned 24 last Thursday, Feb 10th. Going to the auto show was his birthday present, as well as an audio card for his computer that Liberty bought him (only because he’d put it into our Amazon cart- otherwise I would never have picked out computer parts for him). We love and miss you all dearly and are thrilled about Indira and Blake’s growing family. :D Hope you’re all staying warm- I’m praying Spring will come soon. (Like Brandon said in his previous post, we don’t do well with Winter). Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

-Liberty (and Brandon)

Mayonnaise

So at our apartment, we like to have dance parties, lots of them. This is the epitome of my dancing. always with the mouth open, looking like a fool. That's Dubon there, in the pink. (Her name is Andrea Dubon, I call her Dubon) She was my roommate freshman year and we lived together since then! Oh yeah, I also wanted to show off how tan I was!

I also wanted to tell yous about my Thanksgiving trip to California! (a little late hehehe) Dubon is from Santa Clarita, just north of L.A. and so we went there for Thanksgiving!!! I drove the whole way haha, Dubon hates driving. We left about 8 am, and it was really cold and the salt from the roads was all over the winshield, and her washer fluid wasn't working, it was probably frozen. SO visibility was like 20% haha. But we stop at her boyfriend's house in Mona (near Nephi) to say hey and he helped us wash it off. Driving there took about 9-10 hourse, we got lost in Palmdale!!! of all the places to get lost hahaha, but nothing happened. So we got to her house then we went out to eat with her family to this cool "dog" resturant. I think the next day, yeah, te next day was thanksgiving so during the day we went to Hollywood Boulevard! I took pics of my favorite stars (Judge Judy, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, The Temptations) and we saw two Michael Jacksons!! I also "stomped" on Tom Cruise's star haha. I guess he was my "least" favorite (I just wanted to stomp on a star haha) Here is a picture of me and one of my favorite stars!!! We went home for Thanksgiving dinner and a bunch of her family was there. Dubon's aunt is hilarious. Tia!!! haha, she was always asking me about the guys I dated and how I like Spanish guys and everything, calling me "La Julia" hahaha, she was hilarious, she's one of those crazy aunts you know? I love her! haha. Dinner was great!

The next day, Dubon and I went to Santa Monica and walked the pier. We checked out some shops and took pictures at the pier! It was beautiful! (There's a bad picture of us! haha!) Later that night, we went to "City Walk" It's a part of Universal Studios but not the amusement park part, so it's free and theres a ton of shops and everything. I bought a $4 fitted 'LA' hat, haha, tryna keep it real.

The next day we went to Beverly Hills mall. We bought earrings there haha. And I think that morning we went with Dubon's dad to get her car a tune up and we all went to Denny's together. After Beverly Hills, we went to the mall with Dubon's family and Pollo Loco (it was freakin good) and just hanging out with them. Her little brother had the gloves with lights on the fingers, so you could glow in the dark and do all these crazy jabbawokeez dance moves and make the lights all psychadelic, it was cool haha. Oh and here is Thor, their turtle. Remember dad, I told you their dog died, and then they got a turtle and you thought it was a horrible "replacement" hahaaha. But it's weird, the turtle will go in the same places and areas of the yard that the dog did! freaky!

I did most of the driving in LA-they all go 80 miles an hour, (I love it haha) and Tia was trying to get me to visit more often and move there and stuff. I really liked it and I could definitley see myself living there!! It was a great trip, I really needed to get out of Utah haha.

Anyway, I miss you tons! I haven't checked the blog in a while, and when I did there were 3 new ones up and I read them all and missed you tons so I put one. I hope we last through winter, it's been freezing here the past couple of days, it feeels like in the negatives! Athletic Training is going great, I'm with the BYU Women's Soccer Team, they are excellent. Still busy as ever and tomorrow I'm going snowboarding! Hopefully, Blake's bad luck wont rub on me and I can do ok. hehehe. Love you! Miss you all tons! Go Cougars! Jimmer Fredette is a baller!

Oh, and here is a picture of me, DUbon did my make up for a date (wow, the 4th date I've been on at BYU haha, and it was set up too) and that's my awesome sweater dress that makes me look hot haha

Keaton's Nose Surgery

This is the before picture showing how Keatons nose tilts to the left when you look at him straight on. We arrive at the Summit Surgical Center Wednesday morning at 7 am on the morning of a pretty significant snowstorm. They took us back and had Keaton change into this lovely surgical gown including the lovely hat. They at least had a gown long enough for him! (At first, they had one for a 7 year old, not a 17 year old!!) The nurses loved him and exclaimed over him and his cute name. Once he got all dressed and ready to go they took him back and he was gone. This was about 8 am or so. We were told that the surgery would be about an hour and a half and we thought we would be done and ready to go about 11 am.



He was in rough shape when we got to him again. The doctor told us that they were going through bone rasps like they were tinfoil. Must be all those gallons of milk the kid drinks. The resident assistant, Dr. Jensen, attends our ward, and he warned them when they started that Keaton was PURE and had never taken drugs or alcohol. They realized this was true when the anesthesiologist gave him nitrous oxide before the IV which caused a "disinhibition effect" and his arms started windmilling! (Keaton told me later that he started dreaming that he couldn't feel his thumb and was only turning his arm over to regain feeling in his thumb). They stopped the laughing gas and gave him straight oxygen and did the IV without any help. All that was left was the healing. Here are the photos. Enjoy.
He got really bored of being out of school with the splints in his nose from Wednesday to Tuesday. We went back to the Doctor on Monday who pulled the splints out of the inside of his nose - they were clear plastic things on the inside of the nose - about 3 inches long - ewwwww! Grody!!! But Keaton was able to breathe through his nose almost right away.
He is still not able to take physical education until March 8, but should be able to run Track!! But ABSOLUTELY NO BASKETBALL!! or anything where he could be hit in the head. The gym teacher won't even let him play badminton. hahaha. He was REALLY thrilled to finally take a shower a week later Wednesday night. Yes folks, we was not able to get that head wet for a week. yuck. So here is his handsome mug with straight facing nose. Still a bit swollen but Lookin' Good!

NEWS!!!!

GREETINGS FROM KOREA, WHERE TONY THE TIGER DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH !!!

This picture I love because it's cute and it has two of my most favorite things in it, my wife and the temple ^_^

A video from Korea that we never shared with you, (it's at the very bottom) This is a funny one and is telling of how we love each other and have fun together. We love you guys, more to come later on aa we put the stories and posts together.

On a side note, my face is healing very quickly, everything but the cuts on my nose and forehead will be gone by friday and those have gotten significantly smaller. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. I'm taking care of my Body and I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me for it. I'm going to the Temple on Saturday with the branch to do some baptisms and then a session. now that I'm thinking of it I'll post the pictures of the temple that we have, we were able to do baptisms there, (Indira and I) but we were late to the session and were unable to do that. But we still felt the wonderful Spirit that comes with doing the Lord's work in His Holy House






what else?

I Finally started working out today, I forgot how much I really missed it, it was great but exhausting at the same time, we go again tomorrow and I'm sure I'll be plenty sore.
It's finally starting to warm up a bit >IT WAS 44 DEGREES TODAY!!< If you haven't seen the pictures go to my facebook profile and they should be the ones at the very top when you first get to my page.

"my goggles is what cut up my nose. i don't remember falling, i remember going super fast, but the fall blacked me out, from right before the fall to about 5 minutes later when i woke up in the bathroom cleaning myself up...... very weird, but yea, i never lost consciousness and was coherent the whole time. i just don't remember about 5 minutes of my life, where i boarded down the rest of the hill, unstrapped myself, picked up my board and walked to the bathroom, my buddy saw the whole thing but i don't remember any of it. very blessed to be only scrapes and bruises. nothing's broken, i went to the hospital and they said i had a minor concussion and i can't go back out until my face heals up.... that part makes me sad, i wanna go again asap"

I have found that I really do truly enjoy snowboarding. You'll have accidents in anything you do your entire life ( I think I should know that better than most) but that doesn't mean you stop. (I will be wearing a helmet the next time I go, there's no reason to make my brain mushy when I can leave it the way I like it) But I realized that I really don't have any 'real' hobbies. I work out and stuff and I play video games, but I don't have like a HOBBY hobby. I think this will be a good way to wean myself from spending so much time if front of the tv. Not that it's excessive, but like I mentioned before, variety isn't a bad thing. I was looking at gear and stuff online, shopping around and seeing what I would get. I definitely want to get my own gear when I get to Italy, hit up those Swiss alps and do it right ha ha ha. But I really do enjoy it and something that I want to do more of. This picture is of the skyline at sunset across the river from Seoul, take on the speed train where we sat down almost the whole way :D

IN OTHER NEWS...

INDIRA IS PREGNANT!!!!

We are totally excited, and can't wait (can you tell?? lol). I feel like I've spent enough time in primary with other people's kids that it's about time to start having my own. so Keaton Julia and Liberty will be an Uncle and Aunts and Mom and Dad will be GRANPARENTS!!! we need to think of cool nicknames for our kids when they come to visit and somehow end up spoiled ;) Indira will be due sometime in late august early september, still too early to tell, and right now we're working out how things will be with locale and doctors; the pros and cons of her staying in arizona to have the baby, or whether she'll be traveling and delivering in Italy. no solid decision yet but something that we are working on. We are also making preparations to have Both sets of parents be there for the birth whether in the States or Italy. so to Mom and Dad, if you haven't already, and just in case GET YOUR PASSPORTS!!!! we're making preparations to finance most of the trip for you to make it easier on everybody. But it is truly exciting. I'm coming home to Arizona in late June and should be leaving for Italy about a month later. Nothing is concrete yet but hopefully we'll be able to make some kind of trip to the east coast before we leave for Europe.


heh heh "If you're American in the living room and Asian in the kitchen, what are you in the bathroom? ....Your-a-peein!!!" ha ha ha ha sorry, a little potty humor never hurt anybody.

well that's all the new news I can think of at this point. We love you all very much and are so blessed. Hope everybody is doing well.

p.s. this sunday is fast sunday, what should we all fast for? I think this could also be a good family bonding/togetherness activity, aside from personal concerns and needs I think it would be a good idea to bring the Spirit and unity to our spread around family if we were united in our worshipping the Lord.... what do you think??

Love you all
stay safe, stay groovy!

-Blakester

Ramblings

So today I've been a little emotional and thinking about the future. At lunch today Lib and I were discussing our future and where it would potentially be located. As we were talking I began to realize that I'd leave a place that I've known and loved my whole life. It began to feel like that I was betraying someone that I loved. A place that has made me, for a large portion, who I am. The other part was leaving my family. Here I have my brother and his family, my parents and my grandparents. Usually my uncle and aunt are here but they are currently in Vermont for his job. Not only them but lots of cousins and their families. When I thought about leaving everyone and everything I know, I shed a few tears.

Then on the other hand I HATE the snow. Snow and I have not gotten along this winter and I'm ready to have the next third or so of my life to be in the desert. This also makes me feel like I am ungrateful to a mother like figure. Fort Wayne shall always be the mother land but I need something else. I know nothing and nowhere shall be perfect, but this freaking cold weather is a deal breaker for me now.

My biggest fear, something that I just realized while writing this, is missing the twilight years of my dear grandparents lives'. They have been incredible beacons to me. Beacons of love of family values of duty and of responsibility among many others.

I recognize though that I am entering into the part in my life where it is I who need to pass on the lessons that I've been taught. Being old is scary and we aren't really sure what to do but I know that we have those who do and can help show us the way.

Thank you all so much for loving us, for loving me. For lending me your support and encouragement. Wish us luck as our lives seem to be shifting in to that final gear.

Seoul Tower/Love locks

One of my favorite trips was when we first went to Seoul Tower. It was my first time using the trains here in Korea and Blake's second time :) So I put my faith in him haha since he seemed so confident. This is one of many signs. There are also maps along the train stations to help you know which way you would like to go and which train you need to get on. Just like the picture below to the right indicates :) After many stops and transfers we finally reached our destination. From the ground you can see the tower. Pretty cool huh? I thought so :) The next step was a hike up a steep hill (about half a mile) to the cable car. From there we had to go up a bunch of stairs (it got hot pretty quick). A video for your viewing pleasure (excuse Blake's finger-you may see it again in MANY other videos).

We quickly purchased tickets... and were soon on our way to the cable car.

Once we were at the top there was a wall (we can't remember what it was for and we couldn't understand the plaque).

We were at Seoul Tower!!

Down at the base of the tower there was some entertainment...

There was a lot of cool things to see, as well as some 'asian' culture :D

I Have to say though that the most favorite part of the day was the Locks. Before we had even left the base Blake had explained that we needed to make a stop really quick at the local shopping mart. "What for?" I asked, "To lock some stuff up" came the reply from Blake. I had just assumed that maybe he meant the backpack I was carrying, that maybe there would be a place to put it when we didn't need it right there. so I let the thought go of whatever it was for. After we initially reached the top and before we went to take pictures of the cool performers we saw, "hold on," Blake said "I want to show you something" we walked a ways and found an area that looked to be lined with metal christmas trees, with a fence guarding the edge of the cliff where Seoul Tower was, I looked closer and this is what I saw. The metal tree was actually covered, COVERED in locks. I hadn't made the connection yet and was still unsure of what was going on. It was very pretty to look at though, all the proclamations of love sitting right there on the fence was wonderful to see. you could really feel the Love. Blake began rustling around in the backpack and pulled out the sturdy silver locks he had bought that morning. "I have to make it official" he said with a smile. I hope you don't mind being locked to me forever. I couldn't help but giggle and he pulled out a blue marker and began to write. I was totall surprised, what a wonderful surpise!! Our love was going to be locked together forever!! And he planned it out all by himself!! What a wonderful man!! He wrote on his lock - "Blake locking our love for eternity" and on my lock- - "Indira Supermega awesome Love man" (love man is a tiny cartoon character that Blake likes to draw when he's being cute or romantic, or wants to make me laugh, it's his go-to guy if he needs some help with his emotions; hence the name: Love Man) This is a picture of him locking it UP!! and the next one is of the finished product. We locked it on the fence as opposed to the tree so we could see it better :D

My stay in Korea has been wonderful, my husband has made it super great!! it's a super secret blessing in disguise that I'm able to stay a little bit longer, and although it may complicate things slightly we are glad that it happened. Hope everyone is doing well. We love you all!!!

p.s. Blake is trying a new year's resolution "to keep in better touch with my family" he tells me. so once a week on Sunday he's either going to write a blog here. or he'll be writing a letter home to mom and dad, so look out!!!