What a Difference a Week Makes!

Take a look at this sleepy guy, only a few hours old. . . .Now, take a look at this alert little guy. . . .

The growth and development of a new little child of God in just one week is nothing short of a miracle!

Summer Potpourri

This summer was fabulous and amazingly busy, with visits (x 2 in each case!) with our daughters and their families and our son in a wide variety of locations and situations, a quick trip to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, a couple of fun trips up to Albion Basin, and an awesome cruise to Alaska, with a number of work days sprinkled in to stay grounded in the real world. Our trips to the Church Historic Sites and the Alaskan cruise both deserve individual blog posts, but this one will be a potpourri of summer adventures.

Tom and Amy and family visited and, among other fun experiences, we accomplished an amazing feat- hiking with 3 kids (ages 6, 4, and 2) and a 7-month pregnant mom on a HOT (95+ degree) summer day up to Timpanogos Cave.

I had forgotten how amazing the cave is, especially through the eyes of a child.
Other favorite activities included slip ‘n sliding and swimming in the hot tub,

Grandpa’s purple cows, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores in the backyard,

hanging out in the water-fall,and visiting Temple Square and the Children’s Exhibit at the Church Museum of History and Art.As if we needed a getaway, we did rather impromptu one with our friends Bruce and Diane, heading down to Cedar City to the Shakespearean Festival. We didn’t do Shakespeare this time but saw 3 great plays, “Great Expectations” (the musical), “The 39 Steps,” which was hilarious, and an awesome production of “Pride and Prejudice.” We enjoyed the greenshows, the seminars, and our great bed and breakfast.

We also took the scenic route home, through Cedar Breaks National Park. A couple of days later, Bruce and Diane called and said that the wildflowers in Albion Basin were supposed to be at their peak over the weekend. The wildflowers did not disappoint!We had a great hike up to Cecret Lake, passing amazing vistas and a huge lounging bull moose, and then shared a picnic dinner “on top of the world.”

David made the comment that he didn’t think that he had ever seen more spectacular scenery anywhere else in the world. I had to totally agree. A few days later, we took our friends Kimball and Terry to see the wildflowers.We got caught in a major thunderstorm, but we made it to the car where we enjoyed our picnic dinner, with the rain adding to the ambience.

Brad and Emily and family spent a couple of days with us at the end of August before they headed up to Brad’s family’s cabin in the Uintas. Highlights of their visit include getting reacquainted with Sam (now 2 ½ months)four- wheeling with Brad up North Canyon and really testing out the Razor on some steep, rocky trails above Bountifuland visiting the Conference Center, Temple Square, and the Church Museum’s Children’s Exhibit. It was a quick visit but very fun. . . . Yes, our summer was crazy busy but, oh, the memories and we loved every minute we were able to spend with our family and friends!

Bookends

This summer has been incredibly packed with adventures- so many that I don't know how I'm going to blog about all the experiences. Emily once created the term "Blogshaustion"- the exhaustion one experiences when there is simply to much to blog about and Brian created the term "Blogbligation" - the feeling that you are obligated to blog about certain events. I'm feeling a little both of these emotions these days since all our fun and adventures have been getting in the way of my blogging.

The chronicle of our summer began and ended with matching bookends. We began June in Portland with the birth of Brad and Emily's Sam and ended in August with the birth of Tom and Amy's Jack. Yes, we have our 12th grandchild!

Jack Bradley Omer was born on Monday, August 30, at 5:26 p.m. in Thousand Oaks, California. Of course, all the little Spirits coming straight from Heavenly Father are big miracles, but there was an additional miracle associated with Jack's birth. Amy was scheduled for a C-section last Friday because Jack was in the breech position. But earlier in the week, he miraculously flipped and then was head down and ready to go. It was a fast delivery and mother and baby are doing great and just came home today.

Here's a peek at Amy and Jack a couple hours after the delivery.
Here's the other half of the equation that produced such a cute little guy- Tom and Jack.
Jacob, Allison, and Gideon were pretty excited to go to the hospital to meet Jack.
Uncle Brian was next in line to hold Jack.

Grandma gave up the camera to have a chance to hold this new little bundle of joy.
We were doing the math earlier today- 5 + 1 = a great family!
Jack looks pretty happy to be home with his family. What a cute addition to the family!
Couldn't resist three last shots . . .

Allison and Jack- She will be a big helper!

Gideon reading to Jack, "What animal this?"

Naptime with a friend.

Dr. Tanner!

Of note. . . With Emily's help, I was able to publish the post about Dr. Tanner. You can find it here.

"I'm a Big Brother!"

It's official. Trevor has paid his dues- waiting 9 long months plus 10 extra days- and is now a member of the Big Brothers Club ("The Boys"), joining Braden and Dallin. He even has an official sticker to prove it.

Samuel Brad (Sam) was born at 10:52 a.m. yesterday morning- 10 days after his due date but none the worse for his wait. He is adorable and so alert! He seems so "mature" for a newborn. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches tall.

Here are some official photos of "The Boys" and their baby brother.
Braden and Sam

Dallin and Sam

The Boys and Sam

Grandpa and Grandma got to hold Sam, too.


And here is the happy family, so glad that this day has finally come!

We are so excited for them!

Sleeping in Seattle

Right after we arrived at Emily's home, someone commented to her that the best way to get a baby NOT to come is for her parents to arrive. After a week, it seemed like this might be the case. We decided to test the theory, so we took the boys and got out of town for the weekend. We took the kids to visit their cousins in the Seattle area. The bonus was that we got to visit our daughter and her family, as well.

It was pretty much a party all weekend as the kids played,

swam,

ate (a lot), and slept together.


For the kids, probably their favorite activity was playing a video game "You're in the Movies" and seeing the movies that were compiled from the segments they acted out. Pretty funny! Even Grandma and Grandpa got in the act!

Two unexpected happy experiences included David cheering for Julie, Caleb, and Kate in a 5K in a nearby town and I was in Relief Society on Sunday when Julie taught the lesson.

We loved the opportunity to see our family in Seattle and, most importantly, Brad and Emily had a fun weekend together- a good thing before being "tied down" with a new baby and three very active boys! We're still waiting, but the end is in sight- Sunday, at the latest!

Straight as a Board, Light as a Balloon

On Saturday, we had a break in the weather, so we checked out the local county fair with Brad and Emily and their family. The fair was surprisingly small and and a little "honky-tonk" for a large metropolitan area, but it was pretty fun. The boys got to milk a cow. . .

watch the "dock dogs" jump into water to retrieve things. . . and hold a bunny.

Oddly, if it weren't for the rabbits, a mother sow and her piglets, and a tiny petting zoo, there would have been no animals at the fair.

The highlight of the afternoon was Professor Bamboouzle's Illusionary RoadShow, co-starring Professor Bamboozle and our very own Braden! Braden was picked because of his enthusiastic rockin' out in the audience. (Shades of "Let's Make a Deal!") Braden was the perfect candidate for the daring feat of levitation- he was exceedingly courageous when he didn't know what the Professor would ask him to do, he provided comic relief with his dancing on the stage, but, most importantly, he was "straight as a board and light as a balloon" throughout the stunt.

I have to admit the Professor bamboozled me and I never figured out how he made Braden float in the air "straight as a board, light as a balloon."