Heber's Trophy

Heber and his trophy

Heber finished baseball a couple of weeks ago and was especially looking forward to gettingg a trophy. He had seen some other kids get one early because they weren't able to come to the last game.

Heber ready to go to sleep with his trophy

He brought it to church with him to show to his friends and class. He begged me to let him take it to the pool. And yes, he even sleeps with it.

Happy Independence Day

Heber, Hannah and their friend Annie

Concentrating on lighting a sparkler

 We went to a fourth of July breakfast with our ward at the church. We spent the evening with some friends. Their kids age match up with ours so it was especially fun for the kids. We went swimming, had a BBQ and went to see fireworks.. The fireworks were getting long and late so we ended up leaving early. We came home to a broken AC, so it was a sleepless night for all. But it wasn't crazy hot, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But late and restless nights make for a good nap time and time to do a blog post.
A couple months ago I told Hannah that the baby would come sometime after The Fourth of July. I forgot that I told her that. But she remembered and kept asking if the baby was coming now.

Annual Air Force Duty

It's summertime which means my annual Air Force duty is likely to take me away for a couple of weeks. This year I spent two weeks at Vandenberg AFB, CA. It's about an hour north of Santa Barbara which is a couple of hours north of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it's not close enough to drive so I had to do it without my sweet wife and kids. Fortunately, I won't be going back there for duty any more but will be much closer and able to bring my family with me.

The flights always have these magazines in each seat. They're fun to look at. Some of the things are actually kind of neat. Others are just weird.

The Math clock reminded me of something my friend Zak Price might like. He's a nerdy engineer at Virginia Tech and can appreciate this sort of thing.

Instantly thought of my dad—lover of bikes and video cameras

Jana, in light of her recent literature review. Commas save lives.

I appreciate how well they try to sell this old-fashioned type writer as if it's something great.

"Want to get that special someone's attention? Or perhaps you want to spice up your marriage? Then discover the simple solution to slouching and stress."

So this one gets the premier inventors corner spot. Am I missing something? Aren't these just paper towels? "No. Their Sani Squares!"

"This guy used to be just another unhappy, old bald guy. But now, thanks to Flair Hair, he's his team's most stylish fan!"

"Don't let the sounds of nature ruin yours or anyone else's hike. Take control with the Solar Miracle Portable Charging Speaker."

This one actually looks kind of fun.

Back to Air Force stuff, a lot happened over the two weeks. I feel like I'm expected to get done in two weeks what takes full-time airman several months to complete. I got to shoot and qualify the M-4 rifle. There is a new procedure which makes shooting much more realistic and fun. I completed some Self-Aid Buddy Care training which I can see using on my kids before anyone else. Lots of job specific training. It was tough being away from family but very productive from a work (and school, which I'm getting closer to completing) standpoint.

Our commander, Lt. Col. Joganich was on his way out. For his second to last day he wanted to do a Ruck March on base. I'm so glad I got to make this one. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Happy Father's Day!

I cry every time I watching this video. Maybe because it reminds me so much of Talmage. We are thankful for our Talmage, he does so much for us. There is no one the kids and I adore more!

I'm SO Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Talmage has been gone for the past two weeks for Air Force duty. We are happy that it is only two. He will do his remaining training in September.
We are so excited that he'll be back home, just in time for Father's day. This is for an amazing dad! We love you!!!

Olive's Identity Crisis

Every member in our family has a lot of nicknames. So much so that Olive doesn't really know her actual name. She claims Ollie-pop or Goose-Monger the most—before Olive.

Baby-O

Ollie

Ollie-pop

Goose

Goosie

Goose-Monger

Loosy Goosy McWoosy

Her newest addition is "Goose Mon Wong Shin Tsau Li."

O's Idea of Potty Training

With little success her and there, lets just say she is interested but not committed.

Copy Cat

I thought that this outfit looked very "Jana". Nothing says Jana more than a patterned skirt paired with sandals and a solid colored shirt.

Family Transportation

Olive cycling with Talmage.

Since we moved to the Dallas area we have been biking and busing a lot less. Plano isn't really a bike-friendly town (despite recently being ranked the most biker-friendly city in Texas)—there are no shoulders on the road . Although on the weekends we see herds of cyclists taking up the right lane. But we were pretty content with our one car and cycling and busing when needed, that is until we realized that after the baby comes we wouldn't all fit in it. We considered buying one of these and putting it in our Volvo so we could fit all of our kids. 

Fit four kids in one row! Only a European company would think of that!

We also considered having Talmage cycle while I drove the car to where ever we needed to go, like church. One of the kids could ride in the front seat because there is no air bag on the passenger side and it complies with Texas state law.

I miss cycling as much as we did in Virginia. But I realize that being pregnant while pulling kids and groceries wasn't going to work.

Our last option was to break down and buy a van. But we are picky. We wanted a reliable van that would last long with low mileage (our last van only lasted for about two years) AND that we would have zero debt when buying it. We'll we ended up with with all of our first criteria and only half of our second criteria.

Olive & Dolly Riding Safely

After lowering our expectations on price, we finally found a van that would work for us. We put a non-refundable down payment on it. But that night before we go to pick it up and buy it, we prayed about it together and both got the strong impression not to buy it. I was discouraged and we went back to plan A, not buying a van at all.

Our Loved Volvo

But then two weeks later, the same dealership lowered the cost of another minivan that they had by $1000. Putting it in our price range AND it had 20k less miles on it than the first one that we were going to buy! And that non-refundable deposit could work towards it. We jumped on it. I really believe that the Lord was looking out for us and wanted to help us get something that would be right for our family.

Our New Minivan

What I like about our new minivan:

• It seems reliable! Very important when you have a car full of little ones.
• Low mileage. Has 55k miles on it, which is amazingly low for the price range we were looking in.
• Fits all our kids in it and future little one. 
• Has Stow-In-Go back seats
• I love how Heber calls it a Mini-Ban

Heber's Tigger

Heber loves his "tigger" blanket. It recently got a hole in it which got bigger and bigger. Now it's become his tigger sleeping bag.

Texas Wildflowers

Overheard: One for Each Kid

The other night I taught the 12 year old Boy Scouts about Personal Fitness for the second week in a row. They are good kids, but it's such an eye opening experience working with them. It's hard to believe that a rather short time ago I was one of these rowdy, immature and sometimes weird young men.
Afterward, I was talking with Rachel about it and came to the conclusion that if our kids were weird and immature it would be because of their weird dad and certainly not their mother. Shortly after I caught myself once again being my weirdo self (I think I was referring to Olive by her new nickname, Goos Mung Wong Shin Tsao Li) and exclaimed: "No! My kids are going to be weird!"
A few minutes later, a teary-eyed Hannah was walking toward our room.

Me: What's wrong Hannah?
Hannah (in the verge of a breakdown): I don't wanna be weird.

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Olive, running naked after a bath: I coldie! I coldie!

Happens almost every bath.

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I took Heber with me to play basketball Saturday morning at the church. We got there a little early so I started teaching him how to play defense. Later, I started playing ball and Heber kept calling for me from the sidelines to tell me something. I kept telling him to wait until we were done, thinking he was just being a needy little kid. Finally it got to be too much and I asked the guys if they could stop while I addressed Heber's concern. He quietly reprimanded my defense:

Heber: Dad you're not blocking them.

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Happy Mother's Day to Our Mothers!!!

Hopefully you're not tired of our videos this week because we have a couple more for you.

Happy Mother's Day to Claudia!!!

Happy Mother's Day to Susan!!!

Thanks to all the women in our life who mother us, to our moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, and sisters-in-law. Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Happy Birthday Talmage!!!

T-ball

Swing batter batter swing

Warm up and stretching with team

Heber got to play pitcher which doesn't consist of actually pitching but it does consist of getting the ball a lot.  He was so quick at getting the ball so many times. And each time we kept yelling at him to through it to a base. But he would just lift it in the air triumphantly and smile.

Dugout

More Dugout

The week before he got to play pitcher for an inning as well. He wasn't very focused and kept turning in circles. He started turning faster and faster. I was getting nauseous just watching him. Then it dawned on me that he might need to go to the bathroom.  So I pulled him out and it wasn't a second too late.

Grabbing snack after game

Most importantly, he is having a lot of fun and seems to enjoy playing T-ball.

Happy 15th Birthday Talia!!

Hannah's Half-Day of Work as an Engineer with Dad

It's amazing how much time we spend at work. A less demanding job might require 40 hours a work, while others even more. I usually leave the house before our kids wake up, so I see only them in the evening for 2-3 hours before they go to bed. Sometimes when they catch me in the morning they'll ask why I have to go to work? Well this day I decided to show Hannah what I do and took her along for the afternoon.

Finishing up her Plans as she sips her water

Doing some additional research

This was her rough sketch which her boss then red-lined. Can you see a building, tree, road, flower garden, sky, etc.?

Then we beefed up her design to make it more presentable to her clients.

And her personal escort and treat after a hard day of work.