Cake Sledding and Balloon Popping

Wow! 11 years :)

Aust had his birthday on the 18th of this month. I can't belive he is almost out of his childhood. It kind of makes me sad. But, at the same time he is able to do more and more with us and that is really fun!

He had a great day at school. A guy came and put on a laser show and he felt pretty happy about having that on his birthday. Then, that night he was able to attend the Blue and Gold banquet with me (even though he is officially out) and they all sang Happy Birthday to him. He was quite embarrassed but I could tell he really appreciated it by the huge smile on his face.

For his birthday he was opened his presents but what he really looked forward to was the sleep over at Grandma Gardners. I had asked Aust what he wanted, a birthday party with friends from school, a skiing trip with mom and dad or a party with his cousins. He didn't even have to hesitate. (And that's saying something because he loves to ski!) He definately wanted a party with his cousins. :) Mom was so thoughtful to have it at her home so that many of his cousins could be there.

I can't decorate elaborate cakes or think up fantastic parties because I am so simplistic. But, I have learned that children are pretty simplistic too. (Maybe I have just not out grown my childhood!) So, I just gave them plastic bags taped to their feet and told them they were carpet skates and were going to play "Carpet Skate Tag" and they played it for hours. Amazing! Rachel, Siera, Aust and Davey tired themselves out on that one! (Bryson, Dillon and Trevor were gone to a B-ball game) I don't actually have a picture of it because my sweet camera man was at home working in his shop but he did get great pictures of the "Balloon Pop Chase" the day before. Even little Logan got into the action :)

Four of the boys went sledding the first day and Terry was there to catch the extreme action. You know your going to get great pictures when you combine boys and sleds! I only wish I could have gotten them on Saturday when Rachel braved the boys and went sledding with them. She was a trooper! I made a quick video of the Extreme Sledding Event ...

It was so very fun to have all the kids and it helped to have Grandma's good cooking! (Thanks a bunch mom! ;) (Love ya!) Terry did an awesome job on baking the cake. (His secret ingredient is chocolate pudding. Makes it very moist and delicious. But don't ask him how much because he never, ever measures!)

Aust is a treasure in our lives. A bright light that shines in our family. We are so blessed to be his parents and we love him a ton! So grateful to have that sweet boy!

It was a great week!

Hidden Treasures...

This post is dedicated to a little boy who loved simple treasures and still does!!

Well, we finally did it. We had the piano man come and tune up our piano. This man is a major professional piano tuner. He tunes up all of BYUI’s grand pianos for concerts and the grand piano up in the Walk Festival Hall in Jackson Hole. He has tuned up famous actor's & several high-official leader’s pianos over there in the Billion-air homes of Jackson. His work involves pianos in nearly every fancy-shmancy, elegant place around us so I‘m pretty sure when he came to our little home he had no idea of the shock he‘d find in our piano.

Our piano is from Terry’s youth. His mom got a new one and we were blessed to get this one when we lived in Murray shortly after Terry‘s accident. It’s really been a trooper. We’ve moved over 13 times with the poor thing. (Actually, “poor us” because we had to lift it and it’s very heavy!) So it was out of tune, the pedals did not work and some of the keys knocked, stuck or didn’t even play when you played it. It’s been hauled up steps in the blazing heat of the summer, drug down ramps in the frigid cold of winter, pushed here and there with very little love on our part. On several occasions Terry threatened to get rid of it ( usually when he was straining to lift it into a moving van) but I won out. Then we had Austin and now the piano finally has someone that is starting to love it.

Since Austin has been wanting to play it I knew I would need to call the piano man. I could see it had problems but had no idea of the little treasures that were hiding inside. Terry had told us stories of the many times he and his brothers had pressed pennies (and anything else they could get ) down between the keys so that the keys would stick and they would not have to practice the piano. (Their poor mother!:)) I figured it was only right that we fix the poor thing since Ter had been a major contributor to it’s demise. So, before the piano man came Terry opened it up to vacuum it out. Wowser it was dusty!!! But even more surprisingly were the very large rocks, seashells, feathers, papers etc! (Thus the reason for the photo I made up top ;)) I couldn't imagine how some of it got in there??! On further inspection we found that the piano has a very large, long hole just under the key board for the music to come out and I think Austin had seen it when he was about two or three and thought it would make a very nice secret treasure box. He must have stashed things there for a while, ha, ha oh-boy... no wonder the pedals were totally un-operable! Well you know what they say, like father, like son!! We were just glad that we opened it up and cleaned it out before the piano man saw it. Wheeeew...

Back to the piano man. He gingerly sat down and played just a few notes...the look on his face said it all. Terry laughed and laughed because it was just so funny to see this man’s reaction to our poor little battered piano. I laughed too. I tried to be more discreet but his face was just so funny! (I would loved to have taken his picture but no one likes to have their picture taken when they are showing such an unfavorable face :) ) He explained that he has a scale that he goes by which measures the severity of a piano’s problem- ‘O’ is when the piano is at it’s best and ‘100’ is when it’s at it’s worst. Ours, he said with obvious dismay... “is well over 100!” Well the good man worked and toiled and did his best. I felt bad for him. First he removed every key and in doing so he found even more hidden treasures- (oopps!) hair pins, strings and sticks in the process, which he promptly gave to Austin along with a brief little reprimand about why we don‘t put foreign things into the piano. (Thank heavens he didn‘t find the hidden treasures of a once three year old boy - rocks, feathers, sea shells and papers!) Then he reinstalled every key and foot pedal, and finally took great pains in tuning it... well, you just can’t believe the difference!! It’s like we have a brand new piano!! Yahoo!! And yes, the piano man had a smile of satisfaction when he left. (I really don’t think he has been on a project that needed so much work done :) )

So now Austin is constantly on the thing and so am I. Terry even tried his hand at a couple of notes. This piano has had quite the life. Ahhh... the once sour tones of a battered and unloved piano is now quickly becoming our newest treasure. Imagine that! It's sweet melodic sounds bring smiles to our faces :)

Rocks, shells, and feathers...are a boys simple treasures!