The Hazard Chronicles

I wrote last week's post from the airport in Portland just before I flew down to Utah to be reunited with my family. The flight went smoothly, albeit long (hey, at least the tickets were cheap), and I soon found myself in the car with Wendy and Brandon on the way up to Downey, ID.

Some of you don't know where Downey is, so I will explain: There is a large expanse of nothingness between Pocatello, Idaho and Brigham City, Utah. Right in the middle of this vast area of sagebrush and...well...more sagebrush, there is a gas station. This is Downey.

I went to the city website and found out that the population is 650 and the city tagline is "Welcome to Downey: raising cattle, crops, and kids." No joke. And it makes me wonder if there is anything significant about the order they listed these things in. Oh, and it is also a city where they couldn't find normal wire to run a phone line so instead they used barbed wire fences that were already put in place by the local farmers. Again, no joke.

So why, you might ask, was I going to Downey? Well, remember that gas station? Rachel's dad built it. Actually, the whole family did, and Downey has become a meeting place for the family every Memorial Day where they can all go and talk about how glad they are that they don't live there any more. And it is where Kelly, Rachel's father, has made his final resting place after being struck by a car a few years ago.

And so we went to Downey, and with the rain pouring and the wind howling we paid our respects to those who were passed.

And I hugged my kids.

As soon as they saw me all of my children got the biggest grins on their faces and came running at me with outstretched arms chanting papa, papa, papa, as if I had just scored the winning touchdown of the super bowl. It was a very rewarding moment as a parent, and even more rewarding since every time they saw me again for the next HOUR they cracked up into giggles and came and gave me hugs and begged to be held and started the papa chant thing again. I love my kids. They are amazing.

After we were done in Idaho we all drove back down to Utah to stay with Rachel's family for a while. Most of them were still working or in school, so there was time for us to be able to help out around the house or in the yard while they were busy. While doing this I got totally reved up about owning a house some day that I can work on. Maybe it's a guy thing. Maybe I'm weird. Maybe both. But I really enjoy being able to fix things up and make them look nice- especially when the only difference is a couple of hours invested in good hard work.

We also spent a lot of time at parks. The "hanging monkey bars park," as Evelyn calls it, had something for everyone: a playground for Evelyn to be a "rock climber", trains to keep Jackson mezmarized, and grass for Adalie to eat while making cow noises. Yep, she sometimes forgets that she is a person and goes into cow mode. It really is very strange.

Also slides. Addy LOVES the slides and will dive down them with reckless abandon. She does NOT like it, however, when there is nobody to catch her at the bottom and she is launched face first into the wood chips. She actually did this a few times, which concerns me because I would really like to think she would learn after a while that this is no fun. Also, it turns her into a big, blubbering, whiney heap of tears for the next several minutes.

I liked it better when she was a cow.

When we were all able to be together we played games. This allowed for a lot of good conversation, as well as the chance for me to firmly establish myself as the undisputed loser of Uno Attack. Also, I need to make a special mention here of Brandon's robotic wings he crafted for the costume contest at a Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention that was recently held in Salt Lake. They are (offically) cool! He won first place. I guess that's what you get when you let a mechanical engineer enter the world of costume design.

On Saturday evening after the kids woke up from their afternoon naps we all went over to Marissa and Wesley's apartment for a BBQ and pool party. Evelyn took to the water right away and was soon jumping off the edge and pushing off from the wall all by herself. Addy and Jack took a little while longer to warm up to the idea, but after a while they were also giggling and splashing while we carried them in the deep water. I think that we will definately be involved in a lot of water activities as a family.

After the pool party the plan was to drive back to Rexburg to be with my family, but after a brief conversation in the car we decided that we were having so much fun in Utah that we might as well stay a few extra days. After all, what's a vacation if you can't be spontaneous and change plans? So here we are, still in Utah...and loving it.

Here is a screen shot from Brandon's 3-D design software that he used to help make his wings. I'm thinking he might have had the competitive advantage in this contest.