Hawaii Honeymoon

Well, here is the much anticipated posting of our 10 year anniversary trip to Hawaii. I had a work trip to Hawaii and was planning on being there for about 2 weeks. Knowing that this might be the best chance we had for a trip like this, we made arrangements for Grandma B to come out and watch the kids for a few days while Sherrie came out to spend the weekend in Hawaii. It was a much needed 'break' for the two of us, and the 70-80 degree tempweratures were a nice relief from the cold and snowy Iowa winter. We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, BYU Hawaii, the Laie Hawaii LDS Temple, the Arizona Memorial, the Ko'Olina Resort (for dinner and to see the shark pools and beach), and just days free of kids! I did get a chance to go to a quilt store for my mom and Sherrie, so I had to document that. Below are some pics with some of the excitement. Thanks to Grandma for watching the kids, and for friends helping out with snow removal and all that fun stuff. We both hope it won't be another 10 years before we do something like this again, but it was sure worthwhile this time!

Abigail Update

I though I should give an update on Abigail. The picture below is a week after the incident. Her lip is healing nicely, and there should be minimal scarring.

Emergency Room Excitement

Well we finally had the 'opportunity' to go to the emergency room. We actually jinxed ourselves by commenting to someone the other day that we have survived for over eight years without having to go to the ER for stitches or broken bones. To make it worse, we jokingly said that Abigail would be our first to have the 'experience'.


I was out camping with the scouts when Sherrie called me in a panic. Abigail had cut her lip wide open and it was obvious that stitches would be needed. Sherrie ran the boys over to our wonderful neighbors, called me and headed to the hospital. I finished unloading my gear at camp and did the same. We met at the hospital, and poor Abigail was quite nervous and holding a wet rag on her lip. Luckily we got right in, and into a room. Abigail was silent and obviously frightened, but was so brave as they gave her an IV. Because the cut was on her lip, it required a plastic surgeon, and as they wanted her to be calm and motionless, they needed an iv with some drugs to keep her semi-sedated. She was incredibly patient and calm, the best the nurses had seen, which was amazing considering what the little 3 year old was experiencing. They got her sewed up without too much problem, and we were able to get out fairly quickly. Thanks to our neighbors and hometeacher who helped out with the boys. It is sure nice to have them close. So without further ado, here is Abigail's new (and very temporary) look. Imagine some women pay big bucks to have such full lips!

Tribute to a Great Man

Many of you know we are members of the LDS church, and last Sunday the president of the LDS church passed away at 97 years old. I think the news spread quickly, as I found out not even two hours after his passing. I won't go into any details of his biography, as there are better sources for this. Our kids recognized him and loved watching him speak (even as young as they are).

There is little you can say to someone who inspires you to be a better person. He was a unique person who recognized and preached about serious traps in life, among them gambling, anger, pornography, honesty, and integrity. His words were always infused with a deep love and ever present optimism. One would have a feeling that through faith and work, sin could be overcome, and there is reason to hope and work for better things in the world. If ever God called men as prophets to testify of Him, Gordon B. Hinckley was one of these men.

Maternity Update

So after much prodding from friends and family I realized I hadn't updated people on the newest baby news. So just before Christmas we found out that we will be having a baby boy. Abigail was a little upset as she was sure it would be a girl, but we explained that our family could only have one princess. The boys had a mixed reaction, but now all are happy with things. So we are open to any good boys names, since we don't have too many good ideas yet, and your suggestions are welcome.

Christmas Trek West (then back East)

So Sherrie has been giving me a hard time for reporing on the overly reported Iowa Caucuses (overly reported in Iowa, but I am doing this for the benefit of posterity and history, right?). I guess this blog is for the family, I should let people know what has been happening.
Since our summer plan are up in the air with the baby coming, we wanted to make our trek west to Utah and Idaho. So with the van loaded with Christmas and the kids all googly-eyed with the pre-Christmas excitement, our trip begain. We headed out at 3:00 AM the Friday before Christmas and made great time...but we ended up in Laramie, hanging out at a truck stop for 4 hours while the roads west were closed. The kids were remakably patient, especially since we didn't move for a while. Our friends the Parks from Waukee were in the same situation, and it is nice to see good friends even far from home. We luckily got a hotel room for a warm night's rest. It was near zero in Laramie, and with the wind this is a real blessing. We made it to Utah by noon the next day. We had a wonderful time with Sherrie's family, and stayed there through Christmas day. We headed to Idaho on the 26th and were able to take some tractor rides play with cousins, and relax. All my siblings were around so it was good to be with them. Suffice it to say grandpa and grandmas house was full and noisy, but they wouldn't have it any other way. We went down to Lisa's on the 31st and passed the New Year's celebrations by resting for a long drive. The drive home was much more pleasant weather-wise and we made it back a day before I had to be at work and Cole had to be at school. How great it is to be with family, but always nice to be home. Happy New Year to you all!

Iowa Caucus in Grimes

So I thought I would fill you in on the results of my precinct for the Iowa Caucus. It was held in the Elementary school here in Grimes. First off there was about 5 times the expected turnout. They figured 50 people would attend and actually had between 200 and 250 or more. They had a person from each campaign give a two minute speech on why his or her candidate was the best choice. No one was there for McCain, Giuliani, or Duncan Hunter, but a former Arkansas Congressman spoke for Huckabee, a local woman volunteered to speak for Ron Paul, and another Grimes local spoke for Fred Thompson. Josh Romney was there to speak for Mitt, and received the loudest applause from the audience. Then the people filled out little pieces of paper with the name of the candidate and submitted it. In all it took about 45 minutes to complete. The results from my precinct were..
88 Huckabee :(
66 Romney
Some for Fred and McCain
12 for Paul
0 for Hunter
0 for Giuliani
It was a little deflating for a Mitt fan, but for all the Mormon Conspiracy theorists, I only knew of 7 people in Grimes who are active Mormons, and there are alot of people who are not LDS, but support Mitt because he is the best candidate, and does not rely on the LDS congregation network to spread his message and the congregation's leaders to promote his candidacy (yeah maybe a veiled comment on another candidate...) The results look like a Huckabee win with Mitt in second trailing by 8% points. The race for third is a race with McCain and Thompson. All that is on the TV is the Caucus results. Mitt is a little disappointed, Huckabee is promoting his evangelical network, and maybe the biggest news is that Hillary is running in 3rd for the Democrats (albeit a close 3rd).

I hope that Mitt will pull out a good one in New Hampshire, and South Carolina leading into Super Tuesday. Of all the candidates he has dedicated time and resources to all these states and wants people to know that he has the experience and ideas to take the nation in the right direction.