Playing in the dirt...

We’ve been in our house for over a year now and we finally decided to do something about our backyard. We had a ditch washed out by rain running right through our backyard. The kids had fun riding their bikes down in it, but it was not visually appealing and we couldn’t do much else. After dealing with it for too long, Sarah made some phone calls and found a joint that sold dump trucks full of dirt for $50. So she finally had enough and made me take two vacation days to work. (It wasn’t a fair swap. 2 days off for 2 days of hard manual labor.) They brought the dirt on Tuesday evening and work began Wednesday morning.

Let me start off by mentioning that the dump truck had no way of dumping in the backyard and we were forced to have it delivered to the driveway. I had to take each wheelbarrow load around to the back one by one (roughly 50+ loads). The dirt was so full of rocks we could not even get through one square foot without being forced to pause and pull out 3+ stones. (My fist size and larger. And I’ve got big hands.)

We decided to put the stones to some use and first lined the bottom of the ditch with the rocks. The plan was for the stones to take up the lower spaces with rocks and then cover them with the dirt and pack it down. It took us over all day Wednesday, all day and late into the night Thursday, and early, early Friday morning. We were under a time crunch because I had to work Friday and we were expecting severe thunder showers Friday by noon.

So after an aching back, four popped blisters on my hands, and a little elbow-grease, we got the job done. The boys can now run flat, kick a ball back and forth, and we can finally play some croquet on some flat, somewhat level ground. The next step is to get some sod put in….more fun.

~Bryan

No More Snoring...

Regan did very well with his tonsil/adenoids surgery. He didn't even know he had anything done when he came out of recovery. When he woke up he asked the nurses, “Can we take my tonsilles out please?”

We were a little nervous going into the surgery. Only because we heard story after story about friends or their kids struggling with the recovery. Not being able to swallow without pain, being nauseous from the medicine, or struggling to get their kids to even take the medicine. All of the nerves were for not. Regan took it like a champ. He came home begging to eat food right away. He even stole a piece of Sarah’s chicken from her chicken salad without us looking. He already popped it into his mouth before were could do anything. We just warned him to chew it up really good and braced ourselves for the aftermath, but there was nothing. He never had any trouble eating and constantly asked to eat things like chips, crunchy cereals, etc. We had to keep telling him no and suggesting softer, more gentle foods.

We heard about kids wanting to stay in bed and sleep the whole week of surgery; not Regan. He was up running around chasing his brothers and having fun the second he got home. We would force him to lay/sit down and relax. He would just pout until he could get up and play again.

After the procedure, the doctor told us Regan’s adenoids were blocking 50% and his tonsilles were also blocking 50%. For weeks/months the poor boys was struggling to breathe at night. He was peeling the paint off the walls with his snoring and he was constantly coughing, trying to clear his airway. We could hear his snoring from nearly any part of the house (he must have inherited that from his Grandpa Topham). Now he is so quiet I have to check if he is even breathing at all. He sleeps so peacefully now. We are lucky to have a great kid with an amazing ability to recover. He is our little Superman. Nothing keeps him down.

~Bryan

Sick of the Sickness...

My poor wife. Regan, Rhys, and Ronan have been passing around a flu, fever, and stomach bug for what seems like months. We've taken them to the doctor repeatedly and put them on countless medications. Sarah has had to deal with their constant runny noses, spikes in temperature, mood swings (mine too), and coughing. On top of all that, she has gotten sick in there too.

Throughout all this, Ronan has become very spoiled. He feels he needs to be held ALL day long. He won't let us put him down without screaming and crying. He just follows us crying "Dad, Dad, Dad!" or "Mom, Mom, Mom!" It was cute at first, but we've created a monster. The picture above is a time he chased me into the shower crying to be picked up.

We thought something was wrong with Regan because he constantly coughing and had trouble breathing. Regan was struggling to breath and snored enough to peal the paint off the walls. Sarah decided to look in his mouth and saw enormous tonsils. She took him to the doctor and she was told his tonsils weren't large, but monstrous. As a result, Regan is schedule to have his tonsils removed on Monday, April 7th. At the same doctor's visit, the Dr. also looked at Rhys and told us they were huge as well. He will have to wait until he is older to have his removed though. That lead us look at Ronan as well...you guessed it, enlarged as well. So I we will have fun in the years to come.

~Bryan

A Chat With The Prophet

As most of you know, and if you don't, we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons). In fact, I was raised a member of the church my whole life.

Last week I was in Salt Lake City, Utah for a training conference with work. We were staying and attending daily training session at the Downtown Marriott. After the second day of training we concluded and filed out into the hotel lobby. As I rounded the corner I saw a pleasant surprise, President Thomas S. Monson. He was relaxing while having his shoes shined.

Roughly 90% of my co-workers are LDS and most stood around to simply watch the man. Either they were aw-struck, or out of reverence, they left him allow. I, on the other hand, was too thickheaded to follow my co-workers example and I approached him.

President Monson is known for his fantastic memory and his ability to retain the smallest of details from past events. In my youth our paths crossed and out of curiosity I asked Pres. Monson if he remember the following story (as best as I can remember):

"Pres. Monson and Pres. Packer were speaking at an area conference in Mesa, AZ when I was eight or nine. My father was asked to help out with security at the event and was in charge of the back door where they brethren entered. My family and I sat with my father back behind the stage and arrived hours before.

On that day I was wearing a shirt and tie with slacks and suspenders. My brother had been snapping my suspenders all morning and it was driving me crazy. I had enough and on the way back to my seat they were snapped again. I was so angry I turned around with my fist cocked back to punch him and to my surprise it was Pres. Monson. Luckily I stopped myself before I swung and he just laughed. He opened up his suit coat and thumbed his suspenders, ‘Great minds think alike.” We smiled at each other and we both proceeded to our seats.

After the conference concluded my parents could not find me. They searched all over the arena and nearly called the police. After searching for what seemed like an eternity, they saw a door open and caught a glimpse of me. My best friend’s mother had been asked to feed the Brethren. After everyone filed out, I snuck in behind Pres. Monson and sat down next to the 'funny man who snapped my suspenders.' He shared half his sandwich and juice with me. My parents wanted to be mad at me, but couldn’t because I just want to spend time with the Apostles. I also remember my brother going home complaining because he was hungry and I was fine.”

I told the Prophet it stayed with me because I remember how nice he was. I remember the time took to make a young boy angry with his brother smile, laugh, and because reverent instead.

After I finished relaying the story, Pres. Monson chuckled and told me he was glad I did not throw my punch. He told me to be truthfully honest he did not remember the story, but was glad he had made a positive impression on me.

I am not surprised he did not remember me. I would have been more impressed if he had. He has met millions of children the world over and has probably left equally as many memories with them.

~Bryan

And So It Begins...

Here is our first attempt at a blog. We have had family and friends bombard us with requests for constant updates on the family and I finally surcomb to the pressure. We will TRY to keep this somewhat updated.

~Bryan