NEW YEARS EVE BLING BLING

Fred and Lyn, Chris' girlfriend at our house in Saratoga Springs, Utah. Lynn and her boys Wyatt and Cade gave the blig blig to me.

BAILEY the SPIDER QUEEN

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 An-email from Stacey You’re always asking for stories‏ From: Stacey Jepson (staceyjep@gmail.com) Sent: Wed 12/30/09 1:28 PM To: Fred C. Jepson (fcjepson@hotmail.com) So, I was putting away Christmas and I was out in the garage. I moved a box out of the way and there was this spider under it. I freaked out and was scared to go into the garage for the rest of the day. Bailey said mom don't be scared. I will go take care of it. A few seconds went bye and she came back into the house laughing her head off, saying this is what you’re scared of mom. I went to go look and the spider was fake. So the point of the story is, don't always believe what you see. Ps. Bailey is still laughing at me. I couldn't get the picture of the spider to upload.

GORJ SAVED SANTA (Jayden age 10)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2009 As promised here is the story Jayden wrote in school for Christmas. "Gorj Saved Santa Jayden We are going to staret with a elf named Gorj. All the elves wer hard at work in santas work shop all but one. It was Gorj (George) he was slepeing (sleeping) santa cam in and asked way arnt you working I’m sleeping Way don’t you fix m slay. (Why don’t you fix my sleigh?) How (why) don’t we take the engen out then we poot it bak in. Thay take the engen out then poot it bak in. Santa went to work. Gorj thought it was cool to see Santa go to work then lookt at the engen remembrd he fix it. We fixt it he felt hape. (happy) He went to the work shop. Gorj felt Good about Him Self antil he got sik. Santa is stuk in the hcimne (chimney) Ho Ho Ho help me a vois (voice) cam fram the hcimen (chimney) Gorj savd santa. Santa gave Gorj a brake. Gorj did not tak it."

PROGRESSIVE DINNER etc.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2009 Today after church we had a progressive dinner at ours and our kid’s houses so Grandma Bev could see them. We had appetizers at Corey’s and Stacey’s, soup and salad at our place, the main course, Café Rio chicken burritos at Niki’s, then desert at Chris and Sierra’s. Jim’s Julia and her kids, Ethan, Jacob and Autumn were there at Niki’s and at Chris’. Of course in no time they were best friends with Jayden, Bailey and Alexa and were yelling and screaming and running around like a bunch of Banshees. And of course they wanted an adult to chase them, and at Niki’s house have a war throwing light plastic balls at us. First it was Jim, then it was my turn and finally I sicked them on Corey. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. And I was being careful. At Chris’ house it was all me, up and down stairs umpteen times. At first I thought I was going to die then I wished I would and get it over with. Just kidding! We got in a conversation about Jayden’s new pellet/B.B. gun and how Stacey is paranoid about someone getting hurt. The story came up about how when they were living in their apartment in Albuquerque and Jayden was six or seven years old. They saw a show about a kid throwing a stick and hitting a rabbit. After seeing it, Jayden asked if he could go outside. After a while they started wondering where he had gone. They went out and found him lying on the ground with a stick in his hand waiting for the rabbit that lives in the apartment complex courtyard to show up. Tonight when Corey was telling the story, Jayden got all embarrassed and tried to shut his dad up. When he wouldn’t he hid his face. I kind of felt bad for him but loved the story. In my entry of 20 November I recorded what Jayden wrote in school about what he was thankful for. He did a very good job and used a lot of imagination. Tonight while we were at their house they showed us a Christmas story he wrote in school. Again he used a lot of imagination and again it was way good. I will try to get it home so I can transcribe it into my journal for you.

SHY BAILEY--NOT!

Saturday, December 26, 2009 I spent much of the day running around with Corey, Jayden and Bailey buying stuff they needed for tomorrow’s progressive dinner and whatnot. We also went in to Payless Shoe Source in Lehi/American Fork to buy Jayden a much needed new pair of brown winter boots. While we were in there I noticed that Sven Menssen, his wife Nicole, their daughter Cara and son Robert were in there also. I told Bailey that they were in our ward and with only a slight nudge from me, Bailey was all over Cara pretending to take her knitted brown hat off her head etc. Bailey has got to be the friendliest girl on the face of the planet.

MERRY CHRIST-MAS EVERYONE

Friday, December 25, 2009 Christmas day 2009 Today is the big day. For Judy and me, we didn’t start the family festivities—food and presents wise until 4:30 this afternoon. That is when everyone was scheduled to arrive—appetizers at 4:30—dinner at 5:30 and opening presents after that, dessert later. The kids of course did their Christmas’ last night and this morning with their other families which was fine. Grandma Bev; Judy’s mother has been with us since the 22nd and will stay through next Tuesday if I understand it correctly. She has been a lot of fun. Last night, Judy, Bev and I went to a ward Christmas program where various ward members performed, singing, piano playing etc. Of course the finale (and high-note) was Jim playing his flute with Judy accompanying him on her harp. Just kidding on the high-note, they were all wonderful! At 11:30 Judy and I were back over to the church to listen to Fred Blackburn give a forty-five minute organ recital. He is a very gifted musician. He finished it off with two carols on the chimes played along with the organ. I have no idea how he pulled that one off. The organ was playing without him sitting at it. Hmm! In addition to tonight’s family dinner, we will be having a progressive dinner on Sunday. Ah ha here it is off an e-mail: At Fred & Judy's – (Christmas Day) 4:00 - Doors Open 4:30 - Appetizers 5:30 - Dinner Served 6:30 - Open Presents 7:00 - Dessert Family Progressive Dinner - Sunday, December 27th 4:00 to 4:45 - Appetizers at Corey & Stacey's house 5:15 to 6:00 - Soup & Salad at Fred & Judy's house 6:30 to 7:30 - Main Course at Niki & Greg's house 8:00 to 9:00 - Dessert at Chris & Sierra's house On an unhappy note, Chris was bumped off his first flight and didn’t get in until fourish this afternoon. When he did, he told us that he has been fighting the flu for the last several days and was running to the bathroom on the plane every fifteen minutes. He decided to forgo the festivities and stay home in bed. Through it all Sierra missed the message that Chris missed the first flight and was waiting at hers and his house for him to pick her up and bring her out here. Somehow Niki (I think it was) found out and I drove into Salt Lake and got her so she was here in time for everything. Anyway Merry Christ-mas to you Merry Christ-mas to you Merry Christ-mas family friends and loved ones Merry Christ-mas to you As they say, let’s keep Christ in Christmas!

YOU GUESSED IT!

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2009 Today when I picked Jayden and Bailey up after school, Jayden and Issie walked up hand in hand. She then let go and rubbed the back of his head-then she took his hand again. I then drove Jayden and Bailey to their dad’s work so they could go straight to a Christmas party for Stacey’s side of the family. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2009 The last couple of days Bailey has been sick; coughing and sniffling etc. Today was Stacey’s day to work so I spent the day with Bailey. She seemed to get better as the day went on. I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes back to school tomorrow. When I went to their school to pick Jayden up, I parked in a different place than I usually do so, according to Jayden’s instructions, I got out and waited by the flag pole for him. Pretty soon he and Issie came running up, laughing, pushing each other giggling and wrestling. They said their goodbyes and I took Jayden home. Corey left work a little early and was home not too long after I brought Jayden home.

CONTINUATION of the ENTRY BELOW

When we got to their house they turned on the Disney channel and watched the Disney movie, The Thirteenth Year. It is about a boy whose mermaid mother left him on a boat when he was a baby. He became the 2nd fastest swimmer on the junior high swim team. When he reached his thirteenth birthday he started morphing into a mer boy and won the state swim championship. He was only a mer boy when he was wet so he still looked normal much of the time. In the end, his mermaid mother came back for him to teach him the things mer boys need to know, but he announced to his adopted parents that he would be back in time for school next fall. Bailey turned to me as he was swimming out to sea to meet up with his mother, “I think I’m going to cry!” I told her I was too…and I meant it.

FROM THE MOUTHS of BABES!

Monday, December 14, 2009 When I picked the kids up after school, Bailey showed up first doing a half dance/half run and giggling. She broke away from the friend she was with, got in the car and announced in a tone of voice that suggested I shouldn’t tell Jayden "I'm telling you this"..."Jayden dreamed he and Issie were kissing.” A moment later Jayden and Issie came walking up side by side, said their goodbyes and Jayden got in the car. Issie gave me her usual big wave and ear to ear grin. When he got in the car Jayden said “OK, I dreamed that Issie and I were kissing and Nate (his friend) woke me up.” He also really woke up at this point. “When I woke up I yelled so loud that the devil and Father in Heaven could hear me!” (I’m not sure if I’m telling it word for word.) He didn’t say why he was yelling, if it were because Nate spoiled his dream or what. Ages ten and eleven!

JUST BABBLING

Thursday, December 10, 2009 Last night Jim, Corey and his family and Judy and I went to the new Rodizio Grill in American Fork. I am not a huge Rodizio fan but I enjoyed it more than usual this time. Maybe it was because I focused more on the salad bar than I usually do. Bailey mostly ate salad and related items. Jayden ate mostly black bean and rice. Corey mentioned that Stacey would like an electric (heated) throw (small blanket) to put over her when she is sitting on the sofa. Corey always has the heat turned down too low for the rest of the family; (and me when I’m there). Before going to dinner, he and I bought one for her at Wal-Mart in Saratoga Springs. We also got a pink gift bag and pink tissue paper and put it all together before leaving the store. We gave it to her at dinner. She seemed pleased.

WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER

Wednesday, December 09, 2009 9:08 a.m. Corey called. I guess he is in his car driving to work. He just had to “share with you how crazy cold it is.” He said that it was thirty-one degrees in his garage when he got into his car and by the time he got to the stop sign behind Eagle Valley Elementary School, where Jayden and Bailey go to school, it was “negative” thirteen. He said that by the time he got to the Smith’s store in Saratoga Springs, approximately three mile from our house, it was one degree above zero. I left the house a little before nine and as I drove to the Smith's area the temperature on the gage in my car fluxuatied between positive seven and positive five. Several hours later it was only plus eleven in Provo.

DOING DOUBLE DUTY/FROM THE MOUTH OF A THREE YEAR-OLD

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 For a while today I had my hands full. Not only did I pick Jayden and Bailey up after school but I had to go right from there to Greg’s parents’ house and get Alexa and Gavin and take them all to Greg and Niki’s and watch them until Corey got off work. After he took his two, I took Alexa and Gavin to where Niki, Greg and Judy were all getting their hair done. It was at some lady’s house. She is a neighbor of Michael and Shannon’s. I have noted elsewhere that three and a half year-old Alexa is madly in love with Troy from Disney’s High School Musical and everyone knows it. Today ten year-old Jayden jokingly said to her, “Troy doesn’t shower!” Alexa immediately responded with, “Gabriella doesn’t poop.” And “Gabriella drives a dirty car!” It amazes me what the mind of someone that young can come up with. If you don’t know, Gabriella is Troy’s heartthrob in the movies and Alexa is adamantly jealous of her and even cried when they kissed. She sobbed, “Troy is supposed to kiss me!”

BAILEY and DEVIN

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 01, 2009 Yesterday after I picked Bailey and Jayden up after school and took them home, Bailey asked if she could play with (I forgot her name) . I said sure and I drove her to a house across from their elementary school. The girl wasn’t home but there were three boys about her age playing in the driveway next door. She started talking to them. She asked if she could play with them and again I said yes and left her there. A while later Corey called to check up on them and I told her where Bailey was. He voiced some concern. He said he didn’t mind her being there and playing with them but she has a tendency to take off without letting them know where she is going and they have to search the whole area trying to find her. He asked me to go get her and bring her home. When I got there she asked if Devin could go home with her and play. I said yes and she ran through their garage, into their house and a minute later a cute little boy her height came in tow. He is a very nice polite young man. They were in the same room in school last year if I remember correctly. He told me he had to be home at six and at ten ‘til he climbed into my car and I took him home. As it turns out, the girl Bailey originally wanted to play with goes to her grandpa’s house after school every day.

2 dreams; A double murder – Chris’ death

Sunday, November 22, 2009 – Oh boy. Here we go again. I woke up this morning from two bad dreams. I guess they were in the nightmare category. The first one involved a stabbing and a drowning in which I was nearly the next victim. One day, after I escaped, thanks to some people walking into the area scaring off the perpetrator, I accidently walked into the wrong apartment. As I was profusely apologizing to the three or four people who were there, I noticed a magazine which was open to an article telling about the bizarre happenings I had been involved in. I knew of the article's existence. I asked them if they would mind making me a copy of the article. They said no, they would just give me the magazine, which they did and I was on my way. There wasn’t a lot of detail in the next dream but it involved my son Chris’ death (again). It was represented by a large egg being thrown and splattering in the general shape and size of a person which quickly dried.

RAMBLING

Friday, November 20, 2009 Again it was my day to pick up Jayden and Bailey after school. I waited and waited but no kids. Finally I started to drive home to see if I missed them somehow. Jayden came running up to my car with Issie. He hopped in and announced that Bailey never showed up at his room to meet him. That is the daily plan. Jayden panicked and called his dad on my cell phone. Corey said he was coming home “right now.” After checking the house to see if she might have gotten past us and had gone home some how, we drove back to the school. There she was standing next to the sign that says the name of the school. Jayden yelled at Bailey for not being where she was supposed to be then he called Corey and told him we had found her. He asked to talk to Bailey and gave her a big long talking to. It seems no one would listen to her explanation (except me) Her class had been playing on the playground instead of being in the classroom. They quit early and Bailey went to the sign to wait for us. We just didn’t see each other. She felt bad that everyone was getting on her case. After a while Jayden realized how bad she felt and he apologized. That helped and soon they were being silly goofs. Teasing Jayden, I asked him if he had ever kissed a girl. He said no, “I’m not going to kiss a girl until I am fourteen.” Bailey piped in with, “Mathew kissed me under the table but it wasn’t my idea.” Jayden got silly and made up a poem and they repeated it over and over and over again. After a while they did it while doing what looked to me like an Irish jig. It goes: There once was a Grandpa from Kentucky, Who peed his pants in the movie When he went home his bed was wet. End of story – the end (I’m not sure if line three is exactly word for word.) I pretended to be mad and chassed Jayden around the house while Bailey and Buddy got between us and protected him. Bailey wielded a plastic sword. Following is a “poem” Jayden wrote in school. His penmanship is very good. I kept his spelling and punctuation. I’m thankful for two things. One thing I’m thankful for is my dog. Our dog’s name is Buddy. We throw his favorite ball. He catches his ball in the air. Another thing I am grateful for is my Mom and Dad. My dad went to college twice. My mom works for Fedex. My dad fixes credit card machines. My parents are smart. As you can see, I am the luckiest person to have these things.

NIGHTMARE after NIGHTMARE after NIGHTMARE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009 The last two nights I have had a plethora of nightmares. The last one this morning that I woke up to was about me being chased by Arab terrorists. In most if not all of them I was being hunted down by someone. This afternoon, being Tuesday, I picked Jayden and Bailey up after school. We went home and they did their thing; video games I think, and I read for a while. After my eyes got tired, I lay down on Stacey and Corey’s bed and took a nap. I woke up from a two part dream. In the first part I was in an airplane over Mirror Lake in the High Uintahs when it broke apart or something similar; I’m not sure exactly. I went into a free fall, curled up in a ball and landed in the lake lower legs first. The semiconscious part of me had me kick off the bottom of the lake and make it to the surface. The still asleep part of me had me stuck in the mud at the bottom of the lake not being able to kick myself loose and I drowned. From that dream I went immediately into another dream. Corey and Stacey and I were in an airplane in the same area. Again the plane broke apart. This time we had one parachute between the three of us. I was wearing it and Corey and Stacey were hanging onto me. Corey and I were hanging on to each other for dear life but finally we couldn’t hold on any longer and he fell and died. He landed on a ledge half way down a cliff. The highway ran along the edge on top. People were standing above where he landed watching the whole thing. The weight of Stacey and me was too much for the parachute to hold and I knew if we both stayed hanging on we would both died. So I pulled Stacey up to where she would be able to hang on by herself and I let go and fell. I was able to guide myself so that I landed virtually on top of Corey and I was killed also. Since there were witnesses our bodies were soon recovered. The scene changed to sometime later, maybe a day or two before Corey’s and my funeral. I don’t know were Stacey was but she was obviously distraught. Corey and I waited until she was as calm as we figured she was going to get and we appeared to her. I was at Corey’s right side and back a step. He did all the talking, telling her that we were in a better place and happy and that he wanted her and the kids to be happy and generally encouraged her. (The scene was from her point of view.) I finally spoke up and asked her to tell everyone else that we had appeared to her and she had visited with us. The scene next changed to the day of our funeral. Stacey was at our viewing in the Relief Society Room at church standing five or ten feet in front of our caskets when we appeared again. Each of us was standing behind our own casket. We were smiling encouragement to her and I think Jayden and Bailey were their witnessing it too. (Again the scene was from Stacey’s viewpoint.)

SO CUTE, BAILEY ANN

Friday, November 13, 2009 Again today I picked Jayden and Bailey up after school and took them to their house. We watched cartoons including The Last Earth Bender which we have seen over and over. The two of them took turns, or often both talking at the same time giving me a blow by blow account of what was going to happen next including “word by word.” After Stacey got off work at 6:00 the kids and I left to meet her, Corey and Judy at McGrath’s at Southtowne for dinner. As we were driving on Redwood Road north of Camp Williams, Bailey asked me if I could drive with my knees. I told her “No, the seat is too low.” She said that she wanted me to drive with my knees so I could put my fingers in my ear so I couldn’t hear what she wanted to say. (She didn’t want to feel embarrassed.) Finally she said it anyway. “I think the city is so beautiful when it’s dark.” I told her I thought it was beautiful too. This gave her some confidence and she said, “Jayden, do you think the city is beautiful.” Jayden was so intent on playing a video game on my cell phone he didn’t respond. He probably didn’t even hear her. I thought she was so cute and so mature for an eight year old.

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUSE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2009 Corey called this morning and asked if I could rescue Stacey. Their van wouldn’t start (again) and she needed to get to work. He thought maybe we could jump it. That has worked in the past. For a while they were having a lot of trouble with the battery dying. When I got there and checked, the battery seemed fine—the lights where shining brightly. But, when Stacey tried to start it, it made a loud clicking sound so I drove her to work at FEDEX KINKOS in Draper. While we were driving we started talking about Christmas which is in a month and a half from now. She said that Jayden is getting the idea that Santa may not be real or at least not like he thought he was when he was younger. He said that Santa Clause died a long time ago. Stacey said, “Yes, there was a St. Clause who died way back when but now other people do his job for him.” Jayden said, “I know who Santa really is, it’s Father in Heaven.” Stacey said “Uh…sure!” At this point Bailey chimed in with, “If it’s Father in Heaven we should get everything we want ‘cause he can do anything.” Whoa, Fortunately Corey who was there did some quick thinking and said, “Yes, but Father in Heaven only gives you what you NEED!”

FUNNY LITTLE ONES

Thursday, November 12, 2009 Today Niki hosted a boutique party at her house for Brook Barton. Last night Judy cut up vegetables and made dip for it and today I delivered it. Afterwards I put Gavin in my car and went around the area putting flyers on all the community mailboxes, advertising the affair. From their Gavin and I drove to Alexa’s preschool to pick her up. It seemed the whole place was watching for us. Niki had called ahead to let them know that “Grandpa Fred” was going to pick her up and that “he is wearing a red shirt.” When we walked in the door everyone was laughing. They announced that just before a “Grandpa Frank” who was wearing a red shirt came in to pick up his grandchild and they at first tried to give Alexa to him. Good thing this gentleman and Alexa knew the difference! (Come to think of it, I'm note sure they tried or not but I thought that made the story more interesting!) Later while we were in the car, I was teasing Alexa and asking her how old she was. She held up all the fingers and thumb on one hand and said “five.” I jokingly scolded her and said, “NO, YOU'RE THREE!!” She of course responded with, “No, I’m five.” “No, you’re three.” “No, I’m five.” Etc. Finally she said, “I’m three and a half and one ninth.” When we were driving out of their area on the way to get Alexa, Gavin saw the pond and start saying, “Duck!” and “There it is/they are.” (I forget which.) After picking Alexa up we went to Carl’s Jr. for lunch and to kill time. I got them an order of Chicken nuggets (Carl’s Jr. Star shaped) and fries. They each ate a handful of fries and Alexa took a couple of bites of chicken. At his request, I squeezed a packet of ketchup for Gavin to dip his fries into and he daintily dipped away. But a few minutes later he suddenly slapped one hand flat into the ketchup, fingers and all and started making a fist and opening it—back and forth squishing ketchup every where. Then he took a big sip of milk and intentionally spit it out all down the front of his shirt. After that with two swoops he threw everything that was on the table onto the floor. There was ketchup and fry sauce and fries and paper etc all over the place. I decided it was time to go home. I cleaned up as best I could, pack up the two rug rats put them in the car and left. Whew!

ISSIE or ISn't HE

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 Because Corey had the swine flu last week FEDEX KINKOS wouldn’t let Stacey work fearing she might contaminate her pregnant coworker. Today she picked up an extra shift to make up some of the money she lost while she was off. I picked up Jayden and Bailey after school. When they saw me they ran up to my car laughing. They said that after school Issie had to pee bad but when she was finished she discovered there was no toilet paper. Bailey said, “So I had to help her.” I asked how she helped her and she said she got some toilet paper from another stall and gave it to her. A moment later Issie walked past and when she saw us gave us a big smile. Today Corey got the results of his lab work. He has type 2 diabetes. He called me and told me and he seemed to be taking it well. Later at McDonalds he called Stacey and the emotion of it hit him. Poor Kid. On his way home from work he stopped at Wal-Mart to get some medicine and some test strips etc. the test strips were frightfully expensive so he called his insurance company. He ended up putting off getting the test strips. I would have paid for them.(I met him there with the kids.) The medication he is on is a combination pill of Glucophage and something else. The other stuff makes the pancreas produce more insulin if I remember correctly. The Metformin/Glucophage helps the cells use the sugar better. I hope I have that all right. At Wal-Mart Jayden was upset and pouted because he couldn’t get a Star Wars sword. He got over it.

ISSIE, YES OR NO

Monday, November 09, 2009 When I picked up the kids after school today Jayden and Issie were walking down the sidewalk side by side talking with great animation and big smiles on their faces. Bailey was close behind also in the conversation. After Jayden and Bailey climbed in the car, Jayden was hanging half way out the window and told me to drive to Issie's house. As it turned out, she was just crossing the street so we turned around and went back the other way. When we met up with Issie she yelled, asking where we were going. Jayden yelled back "to your house". She giggled then screamed "NO" and giggled some more. Jayden laughed and we headed off to his and Bailey’s house. Jayden confessed "I'm bad" repeating it several times, "I lied, she never slapped me!" He also said that today VaShawn told Issie he loved her. I guess this grossed her out and she broke off their relationship. Jayden told me about it several times and each time the story had a little different twist to it. Long story made short Jayden and Issie are back together and besides VaShawn is moving away soon.

TYPICAL SUNDAY in SARATOGA SPRINGS

Monday, November 09, 2009 Chris is in town. It was his forty-first birthday on the seventh and so the whole family came to our house after church yesterday for dinner including sushi which Jim made with the help of Chris and Jayden. It was fun to watch how patient Jim was walking Jayden through the process. Jayden is a smart lad and I’ll bet he could do it on his own the next chance he gets. We also had tempura, wontons and Thai chicken soup. Niki brought her camera and took pictures of the kids outside but between the cold and Gavin being grouchy I wonder how they turned out. I said something about Issie and Jayden got a sour face. He isn’t taking their breakup nearly as well as he was Friday. Corey and Stacey’s ward put on their primary sacrament meeting program yesterday. I understand it went off very well. Stacey did a fantastic job of putting it together. Her abilities continue to amaze me and her confidence continues to grow. Two kids refused to give talks so Jayden and Bailey filled in and did a good job. Bailey’s talk was only a few sentences long and she memorized it. Jayden’s was lengthier. Greg and Niki were the speakers in their sacrament meeting. Niki said that most of her twenty minutes were spent introducing the family and how she and Greg got together etc. She said she let Greg do the preaching.

IZZIE

Friday, November 06, 2009 Friday is one of the two days a week I pick my grandkids, Jayden and Bailey up after school. When they got in the car today, Jayden announced that he and Izzie are officially over. He said that she is now going with VShaun or however you spell it. When Izzie told him, Jayden called her a goody goody and a weirdo. That put the final nail in the coffin and she slapped him. He’s ten and she is nine or ten. Kids!

THAT'S JUST DUCKY

Monday, November 02, 2009 Yesterday before sundown all of us except Chris met at Niki and Greg’s. Niki had gotten cute outfits for the kid. We drove down to the scrub oak by the fishpond near their house and Niki took a bunch of pictures of them. After going back to the house we ate lasagna, garlic bread and green salad. A good time was had by all. Before we left for picture taking, Gavin said “duck”, grabbed my finger and led me into his parent’s bathroom. He motioned for me to climb into the tub and get “his” rubber bath toys that were in a brown wicker basket in the far corner. There was still a little water in them and as I one-by-one squeezed them and alternately squirted him and me he squealed with delight.

MEOW

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Last night Judy and I met Niki and here brood at Winger’s on 134th and Bangerter for dinner. Alexa was wearing her black (and purple) cat Halloween costume. She was really cute she had whiskers painted on her cheeks and a black cat’s nose painted on hers. She kept saying meow and jumping all over the place. I don’t know if Gavin was tired or what but he wasn’t as animated as he sometimes is. We need to get a picture of Alexa.

NEVER-ENDING SAGA!

Monday, October 26, 2009 Corey has been sick the last twenty-four hours or so. He stayed home from work. He said he would pick Jayden and Bailey up after school so I wouldn’t have to “babysit”. Later this morning he called. He sounded terrible. He asked if I would get him something for his aches and pains. I said OK. He also asked if I would get the kids happy meals. They are always hungry after school and he didn’t feel up to preparing anything for them. He also asked if I would pick them up and drop them off at home. I talked to the pharmacist at Walgreens in Lehi. He asked if he had a fever. I told him that it had gone down. He said that if Corey would go to the doctor, the doctor would give him some medicine. He also said that for the aches and pains he would just take Tylenol or Ibuprofen. He took Ibuprofen this morning but only 400 mg. He should be taking 800 mgs. I passed this information on to Corey. When I picked the kids up after school, Jayden announced that he talked to Izzie. They are still friends and might still play together at recess but Jayden is not to “follow her around.” Darn! I had already picked out my Tux for their wedding. Bailey didn’t hit me when I brought up Quincy’s name.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIR JEPSON

Monday, October 26, 2009 My father is 100 years old today. I wonder how he is celebrating his birthday up in heaven. I’ll bet he is being silly and saying something tongue in cheek. My mother is probably watching him and shaking her head; not exactly in disgust but perhaps a little bit in embarrassment. It is him I got my sense of humor from.

UPDATE

Sunday, October 25, 2009 An update on what when on between Jayden and Izzie; Stacey got it out of him. Jayden had chewed Izzie out for talking to/being friendly with another boy. Izzie told him she would if she wanted to and he got mad. He later told her he was sorry but she didn’t accept the apology.

POOR IZZIE

Friday, October 23, 2009 This afternoon when I when I picked up Bailey and Jayden after school as is my want to do, Jayden had a long face and was rather grouchy. Bailey, as she always does, chimed in with, “Izzie isn’t talking to Jayden”; no explanation. Jayden in so many words told me to drop the subject and said that if he wants me to know anything he will bring the subject up. As we were waiting to pull out onto the road from the school parking lot, we saw Izzie walking down the sidewalk. She recognized my white Chrysler Town and Country minivan and look at us with a long face. A moment later she did the same thing. I waved and she waved back. Again she looked over her shoulder at us. Still Jayden said nothing. I took the kids home where they did whatever kids do until Corey called and asked us to meet him at Wal-Mart while he did his honey-do-list shopping. By this time Jayden was in good spirits and at the store he and Bailey were their usual over the top goofy nuts.

ALEXA and GAVIN

Thursday, October 22, 2009 The other day I watched Alexa and Gavin while Niki ran off to a meeting. Niki had laid Gavin down for a nap but the minute I walked in the door, Alexa ran into his bedroom and woke him up. We were afraid he might be grouchy but he was a perfect angel. At one point Alexa yelled to me from the other room and told me to “come here Grandpa!” Little Gavin who is barely walking jumped up, grabbed my finger and towed me off to find her. He is a smart little cookie. He just doesn’t say much. Another time he grabbed my finger took me to the front door and down the sidewalk to the corner of the street. On another visit, Alexa grabbed her “glass” slippers and a princess dress and had me put them on. I sat on the floor with a glass slipper on each of my big toes and the princess dress pulled up under me chin. I must have been quite the sight. Lately every time Alexa comes over to our house she goes into our bathroom and comes out with Grandma’s makeup all over her face. It is rather cute actually.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 My ten year old grandson Jayden has twin friends named Zack and Cameron. Recently they have been going over to Jayden’s to play after school. Their mother has a rule that wherever they go they have to call home and tell her where they are. The other day when they called, Jayden took the phone and said “Hi Cameron’s mom, my name is Jayden Jepson. We haven’t had a chance to meet yet. I just wanted to make sure you know that Zack and Cameron are here playing. Our phone number is… [Left out for cyber safety reasons]. Did you get that; do you need to get a pen…good, OK well don’t worry, they will be safe here. OK, bye.” The kid’s mom came up to Stacey in church Sunday and said how cute she thought that was.

A FULL DAY of KIDS

Friday, October 16, 2009 Today Jayden and Bailey didn’t have school and both Corey and Stacey had to work. So, of course I had the kids for the day which is fine with me. We had breakfast at McDonalds in Saratoga Springs and lunch at McDonalds in Saratoga Springs. Do you get the picture? For lunch Jayden ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese. Bailey got a double cheeseburger. I was smart enough not to order anything. I ended up eating two thirds of Jayden’s and half of Bailey's. Later Judy called and told me to meet her at Sizzler for steak. I was still full from lunch. Oh well! At about 3:30 the kids and I got in the car to meet Corey. I called him and he advised me that he was on the seventh fairway at the Ranches Golf Course so we drove to the clubhouse and waited for them (Corey, Greg, Mike and Danny) to finish. Bailey wanted to walk out on the course and meet them. I said they wouldn’t let her. She and Jayden, on their own went into the pro shop and asked the girl behind the counter if they could. Surprisingly she said yes. I explained that we had no idea where to look for them and anyway they should be about finished and would be back at the clubhouse before we could reach the bottom of the hill. A moment later we saw them on the ninth green with their final putts and then climb into there golf carts. While the kids were talking to the girl in the pro shop Jayden told her, “My dad’s the fat one that can’t golf and is a lousy driver!” speaking of the golf carts. (He had no way of knowing if Corey could drive a golf cart or not.) Today Bailey told me she is no longer going with Blake and then immediately reminded me that they never were girlfriend boyfriend. She has a new heartthrob named Quincy. Bailey said, “But Blake is still in my class.” Tonight Judy and I saw the movie Opa a romantic movie filmed on the Isle of Patmos. We quite enjoyed it though it didn’t get wonderful reviews.

POOR SIERRA.....boys!

Monday, October 12, 2009 Yesterday Chris and Sierra came over to visit. Chris took over and barbequed steaks, which was good since I had been dizzy for four days and yesterday was particularly bad. While I was sitting at the computer, Sierra came in and sat on my lap. She had a long face. I asked her what was wrong. Molly piped in, “She and her boyfriend (Wesley Wright) broke up.” Then added, “He kissed another girl!” Sierra said the that they didn’t exactly break up, she said in fact that they weren’t really going together and added that their relationship was…and then gave it some name I had never hear of before. It was really quite complicated. I didn’t realize it had gotten that involved. I thought he was just her date for the prom a while back. I had heard that he was quite the “mover” anyway. Oh dear! What is a poor girl to do?!!!!

MORE on FUNNY KIDS!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2009 Today Corey, Stacey Jim, and I went to Joy Luck for lunch. While we were there I asked Stacey and Corey about their trip to Southern California a week or so ago. Stacey sent me the following e-mail: Well where should I start? There is a lot. Every time Bailey caught a wave (she and Jayden were riding boogie boards in the ocean, I assume near San Diego.) she would yell ”I’M LIVING THE DREAM " and when she was at Disneyland doing the Jedi Training Camp, she wanted to fight Darth Vader because she said she wanted to have her revenge. She didn’t get to fight him when she did it last time. So when it came to her turn this time, just before she got up to fight him, she yelled out “I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE VADOR.” There is a whole bunch more but hard to put in an e-mail. As for Jayden, there was a lot that he did that was funny but I guess the funniest was with Crush. He asked Crush “where do you sleep” and Crush said “the bottom of the ocean” then Crush asked him “Where do you sleep” and Jayden said “in my bed.” Crush asked him what’s that like and Jayden said “yep it’s really comfy. There're these guys that hunt for birds and then they rip out there feathers and stick them in my pillow.” By this time every one in the room was laughing and Crush just looked at Jayden then looked at us then at Jayden then at us and finally said “You have serious thrill issues dude.” There is a lot more but to hard to type it all out. Corey told me earlier that originally Jayden was going to say what he said when we were at Crush (a talking turtle that interacts with the kids in the audience) last time. That time Jayden was asked something about eating Chicken. Crush, the turtle asked Jayden what chicken tastes like. With a smug tone of voice he said, “Like Turtle!” This time he told his cousin Hunter to say that one. The kids really liked doing the boogie board. Jayden finally got tired but Bailey kept going for quite a while. I talked to Bailey about it after I picked them up after school she was still excited about it. I asked Stacey to refresh my memory on what happened on the previous encounters. The following is her response: Bailey never got to fight Darth Vader she wanted to so this time when she was chosen to fight him she was way to excited. Jayden’s conversation with Crush in Disneyworld was, he asked him what his favorite food was and Crush said seaweed. (I think) then Crush asked Jayden what his favorite food was, Jayden said chicken and then Crush said what does that taste like? Jayden said like turtle. Crush then said I am going to keep a sharp eye on you dude.

NORWEGIAN SKY

Wednesday, October 07, 2009 Dear Diary Or whatever! Yesterday morning Judy and I arrived home from yet another cruise. I’m sure I said it before, but the reason we took this three dayer was so we would be frequent sailors on NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) and thus get a discount on the one we plan on taking with them next February; a twelve day cruise in the Mediterranean; Greece, Turkey, Egypt etc. (Judy’s cousin Kathy is a lounge singer on the Norwegian Jade, this ship.) This last cruise was on NCL’s Norwegian Sky out of Miami. We sailed to Nassau the Bahamas and to Great Stirrup Cay, their private island and back to Miami. We never got off the ship. We have been to Nassau a couple of times already and we just didn’t bother with the island. We enjoyed the ship especially the dinning. NCL has “Freestyle Dining” where you don’t sit at the same table with the same people every night. In fact we dined alone at every meal. The first night we made 7:30 reservations at Cagney’s their steakhouse and the second night at Il Adagio’s their Italian restaurant. Each was excellent. To get on flights, we flew from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas and from there to Atlanta. We stayed in Atlanta overnight and flew into Fort Lauderdale on the 7:00 a.m. flight the next morning and from there we took the shuttle to the ship. Coming home we flew from Miami to Atlanta, couldn’t get on two flights so stayed overnight there again and took the 7:00 a.m. nonstop home. All in all we had a good time.

JAYDEN THE GOLF PRO- ho ho ho

Friday, September 18, 2009 At 3:30 p.m. I picked Jayden and Bailey up at their school and took them to Corey’s work. From there they were going to Camp Bow Wow Salt Lake City Dog Daycare & Overnight Boarding Kennel to pick up Buddy. He has gone there a couple of times for the day to get used to it for when the family goes to Disneyland next week and he will be there the whole time they are gone. On the way from their school to Corey’s work, we passed the Ranches Golf Course. Jayden saw a hole in the fence and said, “I wish I had brought my golfing bag. I would run over there and start golfing. If a worker comes I will do an evasion. I will throw up (something) and make a white smoke causing a diversion, then I will hide me clubs and say, ‘I wasn’t golfing.’” Just before we got to Corey’s work, the kids and I stopped at Taco Time and got them burritos. Jayden got a chicken one and Bailey a bean one. They each got a coke. After meeting Corey, they had time to kill before Stacey got off work so we all went to Yoshi’s Japanese Grill on 123rd and we ate sushi. Jayden, like his father is a bottomless pit. After that we bought Jayden a new backpack next door at Kohl’s, to replace the one he had stolen from him.

SILLY GRANDKIDS

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Niki called and asked if I wanted to have lunch with her and Alexa and Gavin. I said ok. We met at Café El Lago and had a good visit. I sat next to Alexa who was perhaps sillier than usual if that is possible. She had me scoot my chair up against hers and then had me slide over right next to her. For a while I had one butt cheek on each of our chairs. She laid her head on my shoulder and had me lay my head on her; sometimes on her shoulder and sometimes on her head. She got eyeball to eyeball with me and giggled. Then we got our puckered lips all but touching and we giggled some more. At one point she grabbed the bowl of chips, pulled it up next to us and said she was sharing it with me but not with Mama. I asked her what she would do if Mama took one anyway and she said, “I would tell her I’m not proud of her!” At 3:30 I picked Jayden and Bailey up from school. We saw Izzie walking down the sidewalk. Jayden asked me if I wanted to meet her parents. I said yes then he said "she is going to her grandparents". He never did explain the “meeting her parents” thing. I don’t know if he lost his train of thought or what. He said that one of Nate’s friends is writing love letters to Izzie but they don’t know who it is. He just signs the letters with “dot, dot, dot.” Jayden didn’t act too concerned. He said that the other day Izzie had a sore butt. (Whatever that had to do with the story) I guess later they were goofing off and Izzie tried to kick him in the butt. He jumped out of the way. She missed him and they both fell down. He said they landed with “our lips so close that we almost kissed.” Jayden said that Izzie doesn’t wear high heals, suggesting that he is glad. (She is way taller than him.) He said that the other day another girl kicked him “in the nuts with high heals”. Ouch! At Corey’s suggestion, I took Bailey and Jayden to Corey’s work then he left a little early. Stacey picked up extra shifts today and tomorrow

WALT DISNEY WORLD - in Orlando

Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Last night Judy and I returned from five days, four nights at WDW in Orlando, Florida. The weather was mostly nice though we experienced a little light rain. Worse than the rain was when the sun was out and beating down on us but a good share of the time it was overcast and nice. We got there by flying to Phoenix having a 2 ½ hour layover, taking the red eye to Atlanta, having a 2 ½ hour layover and then flying into Orlando. At the Orlando airport we took the Disney Magical Express to the Saratoga Springs Resort where we checked into room 8236. It is next to a staircase leading to the pool which we could see much of from our room and was a short walk to the main building, it’s pool and Animator’s Palate, it’s restaurant or rather fast food outlet. Even better, our room was only steps away from Saratoga Springs first shuttle bus stop so when we came back on the bus from wherever we had been, it was off the bus, step into the elevator and boom we were “home.” We were also not far from the boat to Downtown Disney. The first day we spent at Hollywood Studios where we ended the evening at Fantasmic, their laser light show. It was very good. I’m kind of lost as to what we did when but while we were there we went to Epcot twice, Animal Kingdom once and of course the Magic Kingdom. Other than a bleeding toe from too much walking while wearing socks it was a lot of fun. We went to our little pool twice and the main pool once. That on the last day while we killed several hours from when we had to be out of our room at 11:00 and catching our Magical Express but back to the airport at 2:30. We only ate one sit-down meal. That was at the Morocco Pavilion. The rest of the time we did fast food at the Animator’s Palate and of course a lot of places in the parks including Mexico, Japan, Great Brittan and others in the Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom. I don’t remember eating at Hollywood Studios. We did a ton of rides. Judy is really into the fast scary rides and I enjoy them too. You’ll have to ask her for a breakdown on all the rides though we did the Tower of Terror, the back lot ride, Kilimanjaro Safari, the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the train around the Magic Kingdom, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Country Bear Jamboree, Swiss Family Tree House, The Haunted Mansion, Impressions de France, the movie at the France Pavilion, Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros at the Mexico pavilion, Sorin’, Spaceship Earth, The American Adventure, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids. At Epcot we saw IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth. I’m sure I missed something including seeing several of the Resort Hotels including The Grand Floridian and the new Bay Tower Resort. For more detail, talk to Judy. Coming home we were able to take a non-stop and even got to sit together in seats 16 E & F. The next adventure is in a couple of weeks when we take a three night cruise out of Miami to Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, NCL's private island. All this to get us a better rate when we sail on them next winter/spring in the Mediterranean.

THIS AND THAT

Thursday, September 03, 2009 Yesterday the pool was 95 degrees. I tried to do my thing but gave up after a half hour. It was too hot. I wanted to leave at 10/15 minutes. Chris is in town. He called Judy and asked if she wanted to have dinner at Macaroni Grill in Murray. She called me and asked if I wanted to join them (Judy, Chris & Sierra). We had a nice visit and I ate too much. I had the balsamic glazed pork chops. It was good but I think I would have preferred it sans (without) the glaze. This morning I went to the Temple. After the temple, I met Niki, Greg, Alexa, Gavin and Corey at Chuck-a-Rama for lunch and again had a good visit. It seems that every other time I go to Chuck-a-Rama I’m not impressed and the other half the time I like it. Today I liked it. Interesting. Niki took the kids to the zoo yesterday and Alexa got a gorilla mask. She calls it her monkey mask. She brought it to lunch today. She put it on and made funny noises, then she had me wear it and I did my “monkey” impression. We kept taking turns doing this for some time. We were a pair. Of monkeys that is. Gavin was cute. When I helped him out of the car I went to set him down. He made a jester and sounds letting me know he wanted his blue blanky. I grabbed it and set him down. The blanket was so long it dragged along the sidewalk behind him. He was barefoot. He kept walking on small pieces of gravel and winced but he wouldn’t let us carry him. At the table he grabbed a large chunk of watermelon, twice the size of his fist and shoved it in his face and in time managed to get it all down. That is except what was on the front of his orange shirt.

TEN YEAR OLD at The DOCTOR

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Last night Corey and his family met Judy and me at Appleby’s in at American Fork for dinner. During the conversation they told about Jayden’s and Bailey’s doctor appointment earlier in the day at Alpine Pediatrics. I asked Stacey to e-mail me telling me about it. The following is her response. (Posted with her permission.) Well let’s see; it started with the milk. The Dr. asked how much milk they drink and I told him "about 3 servings a day". He said "That’s good you don't want more then that, 3 cups is good, 4 is too many...but no one drinks that much, its impossible" …and both of my kids eyes went right at me because I drink about 6 cups a day and that’s not including the 2 yogurts I have.... Then came the “boy test” for Jayden. The Dr. asked him if he wanted me and Bailey to leave and he said very uncomfortably "yes." After it was over we went to the car and Jayden looked very upset. Of course I asked him if he was ok, to which he said ...“NO”... I told him that every boy like Daddy, Grandpa, and Uncle Greg, has to go through that and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. He said "it’s not that, I know I have to do it, it's just”...(There was a long pause)… I said again to him "it’s just what?” He quickly said "I wanted the girl doctor to do it, it felt wrong having the boy do it ...besides girls are the only ones that are suppose to touch you like that; you know when you grow up and get married its suppose to be your wife" . I jokingly said “Oh, so when you and Issie get married?” and he just smiled and said “yep but not till where really old like you and Dad.” At this point I was in tears from laughing so hard!!

AIR FORCE WIFE

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2009 I went home teaching yesterday with Len Pavia, my partner. He teaches and I sit there and nod my head occasionally in approval. The first stop was to Gary and Lorie Lunt’s. As we were visiting we learned that Gary was at one time the base commander at an Air Force base in Washington State. I hadn’t known that detail before. Len told about a two week trip he and Judy and several other family members took. (He got home just recently.) In response to that, Lorie told about the time in the sixties when they were moving from Germany to Washington State due to a transfer. They flew to New York and had to wait a couple of days for their car to arrive by ship. They toured New York. She didn’t like it. After their car came they started their trek to Washington. She was eight months pregnant and had two little boys an eight year old and a four year old and she was tire and grouchy. She said they stopped at some little town somewhere to get something to eat. The waitress was slow and grouchy and Lori commented on it to Gary while the waitress was away. When the waitress returned one of the children blurted out, “Mama said you’re grouchy!” Lorie didn’t know what to say and feeling less than pleasant herself she just stared her down!

OQUIRRH MOUNTAIN TEMPLE DEDICATION

Sunday, August 23, 2009 Somewhat lazy but enjoyable day. Today there were no regular church meetings in Utah. We had no choir practice and we got to sleep in relatively late. Our session of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple Dedication wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. in the stake center/our chapel which is in our back yard. I even hopped the fence and walked over to it early and held down three comfortable seats in the chapel proper for Judy and Jim who showed up only a couple of minutes before the service started. it was via satellite. I had my moments of leaking tear ducts. After the dedication Jim and I helped take down and put away the chairs I helped set up yesterday morning. Corey, who is not in our stake, put a lamb roast on the spit on the barbeque on our back deck. Judy made oven baked potatoes, a salad and prosciutto wrapped, brie stuffed figs. The figs were good but it is something I can only eat couple of. They are so rich. We had a good visit then Corey, Stacey, Jayden and Bailey went home and Judy and I cleaned up the dishes etc. Corey et al looked at a new house today which they really like. They would like to figure out how to get into it. That is all except Jayden. He doesn’t want to leave Issie. He is in heaven. They are in the same class at school this year. Stacey said that both of them gave her nods of the head and looks (the eyes etc) indicating they wanted to be alone the other day. I think it was after school! They are ten years-old.

MY POOR ACHING EVERYTHING

Saturday, August 22, 2009 I am stiff and sore even after taking some over-the-counter pain pills and later a prescription one. I woke up at a little after 6:00 this morning and was at the church before seven to clean it preparatory to the temple dedication broadcast tomorrow. After cleaning we sat up chairs, filled the overflow and all the way to the back of the cultural hall. From there I went to Lajeunesse’s and helped load a U-Haul (some other brand). They are moving to Sunrise Meadows. I came home took a shower and a short nap and then went to McClure’s and loaded the same truck again for their move to a neighboring ward. Brother McClure’s MS is getting bad and they found a home which is more conducive to his condition. Jim was finally up in time for the McClure’s move. Corey was over so he helped too. (Jim was at a LDS singles party until 3:00 a.m.) When we came back from McClure’s, we all went to the pool for a short dip. Judy had taken Jayden and Bailey an hour or so before so by the time Corey and I were ready to get out, the kids didn’t complain. This afternoon/evening there is a neighborhood party at the pool’s pavilion. I made a suddenly Salad; double batch. I added green onions and small shrimp. Hope it goes over well.

BREAK OF DAWN (not a move title)

Thursday, August 20, 2009 Judy and I got up at a little before six this morning. We had an assignment to do a seven a.m. sealing session in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We drove separately since she had to go straight from the temple to work for a mandatory nine a.m. meeting. As I was going through the “S” curve on my way to the temple I had to come to a complete stop and wait for a family of raccoons to cross the road. As they crossed the road they passed the body of a dead raccoon and several of them stopped to take a look before moving on. When I came back the dead raccoon’s body had been moved off to the side of the road. The temple supplied the names which were Chinese and German from the late 1500s and early 1600s. For lunch, Corey and I ate at Bajio’s in Orem in-between work appointments for him. He ate a burrito and I had a salad. For dessert, I worked out in the swimming pool for over an hour. (Kidding about the dessert part.) It had cooled off some for a while but it is getting hot again and I think it is supposed to get into the low hundreds in the next couple of days.

GOING TO CHILI’S on a FULL STOMACH

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Tonight was the fund raiser at Chili’s in Jordan Landing for Sierra’s Taylorsville High School drill team so in spite of still being stuffed from sushi earlier, I met Judy, Niki, Greg, Alexa and Gavin for dinner. With a flyer/coupon, 10% of the cost of the dinner goes to the team. It was Alexa’s first day at pre-school or rather she and Niki went and registered for school and got to know Miss Wright and a couple of the kids. Although she is but three years old I think she will fit right in and do fine. Today was purple day for Alexa. She had on purple leotards and a purple top. She had a purple flower hair piece and purple underwear. She even went to the trouble of taking off the other color panties she originally had on and putting on the purple ones. While we were waiting for the food to come to the table, she and I danced in place for a good five minutes with hand gyrations and all. Alexa and I has gots the moves! Long day—I’m tired. See the following blog entry for the Sushi story etc.

SUSHI—JUMP ON IT

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 Today eight of us met at Simply Sushi in Downtown Salt Lake and boy did we stuff ourselves. At least I did. I didn’t think Corey was ever going to stop and I wasn’t about to let him show me up. I drove Austin and Molly. Corey had Jim with him in his car since they had a 1:30 p.m. appointment downtown; which fell through. Judy took TRAX to The Gateway where Corey and Jim picked her up. Julie Bird and her sister Susie (sp) came separately. (They took Judy back to work afterwards.) We had a good visit in addition to eating. Jim is driving to Idaho Falls after work to see Jenn…hmmm? He took an inflatable bed and an ice chest to take her some sushi; he asked Danny, one of the sushi chefs there at Simply Sushi to have some rolls made up for him to take up north. Jim will cut them when he gets there. (Since Jim rolls sushi there on Friday nights, we all eat for half price when we eat with him though not when he is rolling—working) Jim will be coming back to Salt Lake tomorrow…I think…hmmm again? After Simply Sushi, Austin, Molly and I drove to Lehi where we met up with Stacey, Jayden and Bailey in the Albertson’s parking lot. From there we caravanned to Jump On It, on the west side of the freeway, where the kids and Stacey jumped on the trampolines and whatever else they have, for an hour. At the end of the hour, for an extra $3:00 a person, Jayden, then Bailey, Molly and lastly Austin did a bungee jump (approximately five minutes each). The older two did back flips. Jump On It, is complicated to find. Jim had a map and walk me through the directions via the phone while Stacey followed in her minivan. During the first hour, Austin got acquainted with, and the phone number for, a cheerleader from some school. Her name is Lydia. I didn’t see her but everyone says she is cute. We’ll have to see how far this goes. I am assuming that since Jump On It, is in the Orem area, she is from down south somewhere too. Austin lives in Taylorsville; up Salt Lake City way. I pointed out a cute girl to Jayden and suggested he go talk to her, but he simply stated that he was committed to Issie. I missed the first 2/3s of the action at Jump On It, since I ran to RC Willey and picked up a white entertainment center.

Three going on Eighteen

GET TOGETHER

Sunday, August 16, 2009 Today our friend/Judy’s very good friend, Julie Bird and her sister Susie (sp) sang “If Thou Had Been Here” in our sacrament meeting and as always did an excellent job and got a number of compliments. After church, they came to our house for beef stroganoff and to visit. Niki was here and attended Sacrament meeting with us. She brought Gavin. Greg and Alexa took a nap. Chris came before Julie and Susie left. Later all our children and their families were here. Three year old Alexa is in love with Troy Bolton from High School Musical. It is so intense that one time when Troy kissed the girl in the movie, Alexa started to cry and said, “I want to kiss him!” today she as well as Sierra and Bailey were trying on some of Niki’s old prom dresses. Alexa put a fancy shopping bag over her shoulder and said she was going shopping to get a toy for Troy. When someone inquired further, she said she was going to get him a blue bicycle. Gavin has finally got walking down pat and is all over the place.

BOB MILLET

Saturday, August 15, 2009 Today while Judy and I were running around we saw Robert L. Millet in the Smith’s in Orem. I told him he was my favorite author now Hugh Nibley is gone. He is arguably the best religious mind at the BYU. He is also an excellent lecturer and I love to listen to him on the roundtable discussions on religion on BYUTV. The last time I spoke to him was on an airplane some years back. I’ve been fighting a migraine all day. Judy thinks it is due to the change in weather. It is much cooler than usual. It rained hard earlier today and there was a hard wind for hours. It is balmy and sunshiny this evening.

AVERAGE DAY

Friday, August 14, 2009 Not a lot to write about the last couple of days. I think I am slowly getting out of my funk. Judy has been back from Drum Corps since Monday morning. Yesterday I ate lunch at Chipotle with Corey and Jim. Today I have been with Jayden and Bailey since shortly after nine a.m. We watched cartoons in the a.m. then played basketball at the park in back of their house. This afternoon we spent at my place. We swam for half an hour until we got rained out. After that we played Monopoly—Jayden kicked butt. Later we played Ladder Ball in the back yard. That’s about it.

CHECK-UP

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 This morning at 9:00 I had a doctor’s appointment with Shelly Ebert NP for a check up. I took with me a list of some typical blood sugar and blood pressure readings. She was ecstatic over how well I am doing and told me not to change anything.

FAMILY REUNION

Saturday, August 08, 2009 Today was the Jepson family reunion at a park on Bountiful Boulevard in Bountiful, Utah. Niki, Alexa and Gavin picked up Sierra and Jim rode with me. We had a good visit with family we don’t often see and the kids played on the playground. It was Niki’s idea to visit for an hour or two then go out for lunch. Generally of course everyone brings a lunch. It is a major part of the visiting and we all share. As usual Cousin Rick (Jepson) made homemade root beer the job my dad had for so many years…sugar, water, root beer extract and dry ice. This year Rick also made one with Lemonade…carbonated…it really turned out well. He said he (or someone) had tried it previously successfully so he was confident it would be a hit. Sierra brought her fifty raffle tickets hoping to sell them. I will refer you to Jenn’s blog entry on the subject and my comment to her blog. http://jjnern.blogspot.com/ Some of the buyers who bought five tickets ($5.00 worth each) were Christina, Rick and I think Brent. I bought seven, all the cash I had except a $20.00 bill. There are a lot of less than wealthy people in our family and I chose not to approach them. After the reunion, the six of us went to lunch at the Olive Garden on West Temple in Downtown Salt Lake. Mari, the general manager is a friend of Jim’s from when he used to be a waiter at Olive Garden and she gave him his lunch for free and gave us all a celebration cake which was nice of her. Later this evening Jim and I went first to Sears in the Provo Towne Centre Mall and then drove along University Avenue and State Street looking for a water distiller. Jim is into drinking nothing but distilled water. Yuck but oh well. I wouldn’t mind being able to not have to buy distilled water for my CPAP machine. I woke up crying from a sad dream last night but choose not to include it in my blog entry.

THEY HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE DAY

Friday, August 07, 2009 Today was my day to watch Jayden and Bailey. They prefer to stay at their house which is more boring for me and from nine in the morning to five thirty/six in the evening makes for a long day. At one point Jayden could tell I was not overly enjoying myself and offered to play catch with the football for MY sake. Good on yea Jayden it was fun as long as it lasted. The three of us earlier went to their school and played wall ball. Later this evening Corey and his family, Greg and Niki and theirs and I went to Teppanyaki in Lehi for dinner which was fun. Alexa especially enjoyed climbing on and looking at their large tropical fish tank. She did not like it when the Teppanyaki chief made fire on the cooking surface twice. She turned her back to it but peaked back at it through the corner of her eye. Afterwards Jayden and Corey came over to my house to pick up the first book in the Harry Potter series for Stacey. Since I had two copies of it, Jayden took one for himself. He read the first page to me while he was still here. Corey put the last of the molding on in the little bedroom and Jayden and I wrestled. I’m glad Jayden and I are good enough friends that he will wrestle with me and tease and harass me. Bailey and Alexa do too.

G.I. JOE and CPK

Thursday, August 06, 2009 Corey had gotten passed to get free tickets for the sneak preview of the new movie G. I. Joe. I got the passes from Corey and was at the Gateway at a little before 4:00 p.m. when they started handing the out actual tickets. They gave out more passes than there were actual seats so we wanted to be early enough to insure our getting in. After getting the tickets, I got in line for the movie itself and was in the first forty or fifty people or so. Corey and Jayden showed up at a little before 5:30 and joined me in line. While we were waiting for that last hour before we could get in, we chatted including talking to the people around us. There was a really pretty eleven year old girl next to us who showed some interest in Jayden including whispering to her cousin who was with her, and Corey and I as tactfully as possible kidded Jayden about her. He really does handle things like that well if we don’t go too far with it. The movie was a lot of fun. It was action packed almost constantly from start to finish. It was so loud that Jayden kept his fingers in his ears the whole time but watched the show intently. After the movie, the three of us went to the California Pizza Kitchen to eat. While we were there, I told Jayden he was a good sport and handled the kidding about the cute girl well. He laughed and jokingly said. “That’s ok. When I get home I will put the frustrations out on Bailey.” (i.e. take my frustrations out on Bailey.) Bailey and Stacey saw Monsters and Aliens at a theater in Sandy. It is a tamer movie for kids.

BEYOND THE SUNSET

8/25/95 Somewhere beyond the sunset, There shines a bright new day, Where clouds are light and airy, And the month perpetual May. Somewhere beyond the sunset, There’s a hope of better times, Where people do not hurry, And impatience is a crime. Somewhere beyond the sunset, There are children still at play. If I can see tomorrow, I’ll forget my yesterday. Somewhere beyond the sunset, The sunrise shows it’s rays; And I may see that sunrise, If I live beyond today.

I DON’T GO THERE ANY MORE

Fred Jepson Sunday, August 09, 1998 Once there blew a cooling breeze, And there were flowers on the hill, But that was oh, so long ago, Before my longings did set sail. I looked toward the rising sun. My wanderlust began to soar. I traveled down that one-way road— But I don’t go there any more. My recall brings back daisy-times’ And summer evenings soaked with rain; But often too there was the sad’ And winter nights so filled with pain. And access to my wondered past’ Was ever shut behind that door. And that was then— and this is now; And I don’t go there any more. Now there calls yet farther shores, And greater ventures on the wind. I feel the gale behind me blow’ To where tomorrows all begin. Yet low, there lingers ever still, A longing for that former shore. But I know; I’ve tried in vain, I can’t go back there any more!

LIKE ROASTING A HOTDOG

MONDAY, AUGUST 03, 2009 continued At 3:30 Jayden, Bailey and I went to the pool for a little over an hour. As he often does, Jayden grabbed me by both ankles and while I was laid out flat on top of the water, he twisted me round and round. He calls it “rotating” me. Every time my face was skyward I grabbed a breath of air. Today when he finished doing it for the first go-around he announced in a pompous tone of voice, “Like roasting a hotdog!” Observation: Like father like son I have noticed on many occasions, Bailey will give in to Jayden’s demands or desires on what to do etc, though she can, if she gets riled up enough, strike out, demanding her way, and will even lay into Jayden with both fists flying! Jayden’s retort to that is often, “She didn’t get enough sleep last night!” I’m not sure what exactly happened but as we were getting out of the pool, Bailey got angry and yelled out, “Jayden!” She left the pool and ran home. I have no problem with that except sometimes Saratoga Drive can have busy traffic that time of day and I am unsure how careful she is; especially when she is angry and/or in a hurry.

G I JOE and THANK YOU

MONDAY, AUGUST03, 2009 My grandson Jayden is on an especially aggressive “good Manners” kick! He is pretty good with the please and thank you's all the time but today he is above and beyond. For instance today I took him and Bailey to Wal-Mart to get them something from the toy department and me a sandwich from Subway. He and Bailey picked out a G.I. Joe, The Rise of Cobra, Snake Eyes Sword & Mask set with accessories to share. They said “We are sharing the key-chain with my dad.” I must have gotten a half dozen thank yous between picking it out and the checkout counter and even before picking it out. And after buying it, he said, “Oh Grandpa, by the way I want to give you an extra thank you because when I tell my mom and dad, they are going to ask me, ‘Is there someone you want to say ‘thank you to?’” When we got to my house, he borrowed my phone, called his dad and told him what was happening including telling him about the thank yous. As a side note when we were next in line to pay, Jayden pulled our cart out of the way and stepped back and said to the lady behind us, “You can put your stuff on the belt. We are getting out of the way for you.” Or some wording similar to that.

WHAT WILL HE BE LIKE IN COLLAGE?

SATURDAY, AUGUST 01, 2009 Thanks to Stacey having to work and Niki having a migraine, I spent the day watching Jayden, Bailey, Alexa and Gavin at Niki's house. It went rather smooth considering. Gavin is getting pretty good at walking and go as far as he wants. He just gets insecure or whatever and sits down or grabs your hand after a while. After dropping Jayden and Bailey off at Corey's work at 5:00 I picked up Austin and drove him to where he was acting in "Opening Night" then picked up Judy at Trolley Square. Then the two of us went to watch the play. After the play Judy and Austin and I ate at Hires Big H on 7th east and then we drove home. I thought Austin did an excellent job of acting in the play. He played the part of Dan, a high school student playing the part of Jack Blackwell, a rich man who marries a woman who, as it turns out, marries men for their money then her accomplice Vinnie kills them. In the play, Austin/Dan/Jack smokes. Hmm. Tonight Jim, Jayden, Bailey and I went to see the play. It was the first time for them. Jayden and Bailey hooted in laughter throughout it. For whatever reason at the end Jayden said, “I can just imagine what Austin will be like in collage!”

Wyatt and Cade

Heber Valley Railroad

Heber Valley Railroad

Heber Valley Railroad

Heber Valley Railroad

Chris and Cade

Provo River Falls

Lynn and Cade

Chris and Wyatt

Provo River Falls trail

Provo River Falls

Hayden Peak overlook again

Hayden Peak overlook

Camping

THE MAYAN

WEDNESDAY, JULY29, 2009 I spent today recovering from yesterday’s swim party/BBQ. I did four batches of wash; three of them beach towels, the other, swim suits. I also did a batch of dishes and generally picked and cleaned up. I tore down a large pasteboard box that has been the basement since Molly got a chair/bed from IKEA. It came in the box. Wednesday is the day I take the trash out to the street. I was able to fit the torn down box into it. I take the trash out on Wednesday because they pick it up first thing in the morning on Thursday; 7:00 a.m. I don’t want to miss it. Chris, Lynn, Wyatt and Cade went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point today. At 4:45/5:00 p.m. we all met at the Mayan Restaurant at Jordon Commons for dinner. Everyone was there except Austin and Molly. Austin was at Lagoon and Molly was in Yellowstone. When Jayden and Bailey came into the restaurant they had a bit of a to-do over who got to sit next to Wyatt. Popular-handsome boy that Wyatt! I left dinner early and came home. The last I heard, it sounded as if Judy and Corey and family might go to a dollar movie. Nothing had been finalized when I left. Sierra had to leave early to go try out for a spot on Taylorsville’s dance team. She is on the team but only a certain few get to perform at this fall’s football games if I understand it correctly. I hope I got that right. Ps. Sierra had a friend with her but I forgot her name. She has so many it is impossible to keep up with them all. I called Chris. Sierra’s friend’s name is Ari.

CAMPING PART 2

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2009 Yesterday morning I drove back to the campsite at Mirror Lake to help Chris and Lynn tear down camp. By the time I got there around 11:00, they had gotten a lot of it done. We finished getting ready to go including putting what belongs to me and some other odds and ends into my Camry and we drove to Heber City and ate lunch at the Dairy Keen. The Dairy Keen has modal trains running around the ceiling and a Harry Potter train display with a small train that goes from end to end including going through a tunnel when you insert a quarter. From there we drove to the Heber Valley Railroad station and took the 3:00 p.m. train ride to and along the north shore of Deer Creek Reservoir. We sat in an open-air car next to the caboose and on the return trip all of us except Lynn spent some time on the end platform—the end part of the caboose. Later this evening everyone except Jim and his two came to our place to swim and have a barbeque at the pavilion. We cooked burgers and hotdogs on one of the two built-in grills that are part of the pavilion. Jim had to work rolling sushi downtown at Simply Sushi. As a side note, when Corey and his gang showed up, Bailey ran into the house, asked where Wyatt was and tore off into the basement to be with him. They are both the same age. Wyatt seemed to enjoy Bailey’s attention and was very open and friendly with her.

CAMPING PART 1

MONDAY, JULY27, 2009 I have been away from my computer for several days. Friday I drove the van with a load of camping gear to Mirror Lake. I found that campsite number 5 was still available. It had a water tap “right there” the toilet close by and there was room for Chris’ tent trailer and several tents. The attendant said it was ok if I put my stuff out of the van and go let Chris know where I was. That way it would be obvious that the site was occupied. Chris was running an hour or so behind me. I waited near the entrance to Washington Lake, the first place he would come to of the places he suggested I try, but after a while I got bored and drove into Kamas and called him. He was approaching Kamas himself so we met at the supermarket to fuel up and get last minute supplies. After setting up camp we got in Chris’ Jeep and he showed me some beautiful backcountry around Whitney Reservoir. He and I were the only ones in the trailer that night. The next day we went on another long drive. We went back down the canyon to the Soapstone road and went south on it to the Wolf Creek Pass road, went west on it to Francis then back into Kamas and back to the store and gas station. While we were in the store I called Corey. He was approaching Kamas so we all met there and did some more shopping. The next day Judy, Jim and Greg & Niki and Alexa and Gavin came up and we all had a good time. On the funny side; Jim and Corey and Jayden were out in Chris’ canoe fishing. Corey thought Jayden should have been facing the other direction and told him to turn around. When he did, it made the canoe capsize. It turned completely upside down. The water wasn’t too deep at that point but Corey and Jayden were completely soaked. Jim was wet from the waist down. Chris and Niki were on the shore watching and Niki got some good pictures of the whole affair. She said she was laughing so hard she nearly peed her pants. Chris was laughing so hard he was snorting and chocking. Jayden was in hog heaven from all the attention and as they came walking back into the campsite he was beaming from ear to ear and couldn’t stop talking about it. He claimed he “did it on purpose!” Among other things I walked all the way around the lake which took about forty-five minutes. Chris’ girlfriend Lynn and her two boys Wyatt and Cade flew in at around midnight last night. He picked them up at the airport and they went from there to the campsite.

BEET RED

Monday, July 27, 2009 I was so stiff and sore from all the the camping activities the last few days that today I went to the chiropractor then got a massage. After that I got myself a haircut. Nicole, my barber and I were chatting as I was getting my hair cut. Among other things she asked how many grandchildren I had. I said seven. She said that that must be nice…the usual stuff. She said she would like to get married and that she had a boyfriend. As we were finishing up she yawned and said she had been up until three in the morning. I asked what she and her boyfriend were doing until three in the morning. She got beet red and the whole place broke into snickering.

Alyssa

Our next-door neighbors, the Call’s eight year-old granddaughter Alyssa was visiting them today. This afternoon I was in the backyard working when she them came over and asked what I was doing. I said I was cleaning the grill/barbeque. She asked why I was wearing the shoes I was wearing. They are sandals that can get wet. I told her I was wearing them and the shorts I had on so it would be ok if I got wet cleaning the grill. At that she grabbed my garden hose and gave me a good soaking! Later I went over and ask David (Call) if he could use a good laugh and told him what had happened. He said that “She is a real fireball!”

HITTED

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Yesterday I was watching Jayden and Bailey at their house. They were playing in the basement when Bailey came up screaming bloody murder, “Jayden hitted me!” A moment later Jayden came up and announced, “I know. I’m going to my room!” It must have been fifteen seconds later that Bailey was laughing as if nothing had happened and a couple of minutes after that Jayden was back and they were playing like best friends. Through the whole thing, I just sat there saying nothing.

A FULL DAY

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 Corey and Stacey bought a new Volkswagen CC, silver in color with crazy power and speed and it is only a four cylinder. They got it Saturday if I remember correctly but didn’t do the final paperwork until 9:00 a.m. yesterday. Since it is my day to take the kids I met them at the dealership. Anyway the five of us were at Ken Garff Porsche Audi Volkswagen on University Parkway in Orem. Corey had a 10:00 a.m. appointment and Stacey had to be at work at FEDEX/KINKOS in Draper at ten, so the two of them left as soon as possible leaving Jayden, Bailey and me to finish up the paperwork. From there, Jayden, Bailey and I went to Cascade Springs in American Fork Canyon via Provo Canyon, and walked around and through it looking at the fish and all. They thought it was a long boring drive getting there but they really enjoyed it when they got there. We came home via the mostly dirt road that goes over the hill into Midway then over to Deer Creek Reservoir and west through Provo Canyon. Last evening I took them and Douglas (pronounced Dooglas [Scottish]) Jayden and Bailey’s neighbor and friend to Corey’s work then to Jordan Commons to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. In total there were Judy, Corey and Stacey, Jayden and Bailey, Jim, Austin and Molly and me. Judy got free tickets through Mercer, her work. It was a private showing provided by United Health Care. I think we all enjoyed the show and Jayden and Bailey and I enjoyed the whole day’s adventure.

TEN YEAR OLDS!

Monday, July 20, 2009 Last night as they often do, Jayden and Bailey slept on an air mattress on the floor of Corey and Stacey’s bedroom. During the night Corey and Stacey heard Jayden talking in his sleep. He kept repeating over and over “Take that you rock!”…a line from Avatar, The Last Air Bender, his favorite cartoon show and I must admit a quite intriguing one. Corey snuck out of bed and got on his hands and knees to listen to him. Stacey was hanging over the edge of the bed. Suddenly Jayden opened his eyes, giggled and said “gotcha!” or something of the sort. The four of them had a good laugh. Ten year olds!

When are you coming home?

SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2009 The other day I was talking to my three year old granddaughter Alexa on the phone. She asked me, “When are you coming home?” I suspect she has heard her mother asking that question to her father, Greg over the phone.

PIONEER DAY CONCERT

SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2009 Last night Judy, Austin, Molly and I went to the Conference Center for the Pioneer Day Mormon Tabernacle Choir & Orchestra at Temple Square Concert. It was more a commemoration of the Tabernacle Choir having been on the air for eighty years. The second song they sang was Come, Come, ye Saints one hymn I always bawl through and have done so for as long as I can remember. Ever since my sweet mother got me hooked on genealogy when I was fourteen and having read and reread all my ancestors pioneer hardship stories I have felt a strong kinship to them and in my mind will always have a deep abiding love for the Mormon Pioneers. Things went downhill from there and I cried for an hour and a half. The PIONEER thing and a love of the Lord and the gospel did it last night! I am crying again as we speak. The following is the program: “Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square Pioneer Day Commemoration Concert celebrating the 80th anniversary of Music & The Spoken Word. Friday, July 17, 2009 7:30 p.m. Conference Center Mack Wilberg conductor Richard Elliott, Clay Christiansen, Andrew Unsworth organists. Program The Morning Breaks….George Careless arr. By Mack Wilberg Welcome and Prayer Come, Come, Ye Saints….early Latter-day Saint hymn arr. Mack Wilberg Bound for the Promised Land….American folk hymn arr. Mack Wilberg They, the Builders of the Nation….Alfred M. Durham arr. Mack Wilberg Over the Rainbow from the Wizard of Oz Alleluia Fanfare and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty….from Stralsund Gesangbuch, 1665 arr. Mack Wilberg Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing….from JohnWyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, 1813 arr. Mack Wilberg I Feel My Savior’s Love….K. Newell Dayley arr. Sam Cardon Cum Sancto Spiritu from Petite messe solenelle….Cioacchino Rossini I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.…African-American spiritual arr. Moses Hogan Swing Low, Sweet Chariot….African-American spiritual arr. Richard Elliot Rock-a-My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham….African-American spiritual arr. Howard A. Roberts You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel….Richard Rodgers Arr. Arthur Harris Fill the World with Love from Goodbye, Mr. Chips….Leslie Bricuss Arr. Mack Wilberg Battle Hymn of the Republic….William Steffe Arr. Peter J. Wilhousky God Be with You Till We Meet Again….William G. Tomer Arr. Mack Wilberg I LOVE THE PIONEERS!!!!

FUNNY GIRLS

MONDAY, JULY 13, 2009 The other day Corey and Stacey told me about an incident at Wal-Mart. Well, come to think about it all four of them joined in the telling. Anyway, as they were leaving the store, eight year old Bailey yelled to some customers who were just walking into the store: “Welcome to Bailey-Mart. Get your crap and get out of here!” Both she and Jayden have crackup senses of humor. On another note. Yesterday I received a phone call from my (barely) three year old granddaughter Alexa. She went on and on about this and that over the phone. She speaks as if she were several years older than she is. Afterwards, when Alexa put her mother Niki on the line I was told that Alexa had said to her, “I think I need to talk to Grandpa!”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JAYDEN

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2009 Today we are celebrating our grandson Jayden’s 10th birthday at our house. His actual birthday was the 10th. They celebrated with the Bingham side of the family on Friday and after diner and presents, they came here to swim. Today someone asked him what he wanted next year for his 11th birthday. His answer was, “I want to reach puberty!” We all had a good laugh at that. Stacey said that a while back he asked her when he would reach puberty. She responded, “In a couple of years.” Well he was still nine at the time. Now he is ten and in his mind a year from now, when he is eleven will be a “couple of years”. My question is, how does he even know about the subject and how much does he know. He speaks very sophisticatedly for his age. Good luck Jayden!