LONG DAY - MANY MILES

SATURDAY, August 28, 2010 I admit this is a disjointed entry! Jim has Austin and Molly this weekend and had a couple of fun things planned to do with them. The first was tubing down the Provo River; Austin opted out of this one. The other was go-cart riding up north; Kaysville or Layton or that area somewhere. First thing this morning I went to Jayden’s first football game and Bailey’s first soccer game. Jayden’s game was against American Fork’s fifth graders. The West Lake Thunder; Jayden’s team won thirteen to six. Bailey played some other local team. Bailey’s team lost five to one. Grandpa Wayne, Stacey’s father was at the games. He was also at Jayden’s scrimmage last Saturday. As I was riding home from the games, Jim called and asked if I would drive up Provo Canyon so they could drop one car off down stream and I take him and Molly up to the drop off point to float downstream. I said OK. About that time Corey called and said they were hungry. We all ended up going to DP Cheesecake in American Fork for Philly sandwiches. From there we went home so Jim and Molly could get ready for rafting. Austin rode with me on the way from home to dropping Jim and Molly off. He did the driving from our house to the sandwich place with Jim and Molly. As we were going to the canyon, I queried Austin on his driving ability, how much, what kind of roads etc. I came to the conclusion that at least he was confident in his abilities so when we dropped them off, I let Austin take over the driving. He has his “permit”. I had him drive the Alpine loop which is about forty-six miles of somewhat steep up—then down narrow windy mountain road. I for the most part kept my mouth shut as far his driving goes and let him do his thing. He did very well. After coming out of the canyon there were miles of stop and go traffic and he did well with that. From there he drove on I-15; again, no problem. He parked at Costco and later backed out of the parking spot and drove home. In all, he drove sixty-five to seventy miles of all sorts of conditions. That doesn’t count the seven somewhat miles driving with Jim and Molly. He mentioned and I agree that he does better when no one is freaking out and telling him what to do. All I did was tell him where/when to turn and that sort of necessary stuff. I did matter-of-factly point out that on the canyon road he did sometimes go over the center line (unpainted) when there was no way of knowing if there were cars coming from the other direction. Alexa had her first soccer game at eight this morning. We haven’t been able to get hold of Niki to see how that went. Nike told me earlier that since it is four year olds, not to bother to come. It would have been a stretch to get in all the games. As it is I only got in the last couple of minutes of Bailey’s game.

BANTER

Thursday, August 26, 2010 Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:57:58 -0600 My cousin Sherilyn sent me a link showing a video of two boys doing some amazing antics, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, from walls to building sides and scampering up to the roof grabbing onto bricks and ornamental features at amazing speed; a whole bunch of that sort of thing. She followed it with the following comment which ended up going back and forth between the two of us. Sherilyn (speaking) I'm amazed! I think they're great, but none of my kids ever better try such a thing! Fred I was somewhat that way as a kid but on a much more limited bases. I had/have a fear of heights which put a damper on things a bit though I always tended to attack my fears rather than shy away from them. There were times though that I simply panicked and could go no farther. I did jump off the peak of our house onto the lawn and other times into the trees that were next to the house. (Montie did much of it too feeling he had to I suppose.) Maybe I landed on my head once which would explain other problems I have. He he I did tend to push the limits. I rode my bicycle standing on the cross bar or seat or handle bar. I did that all the time. (On the few occasions I fell, I just landed in my feet running then jumped back on.) Sherilyn Fred! How could you?! That's terrible! I'm so grateful you lived to grow up! What in the world would I ever do without you?! You hadn't better be doing anything like this anymore! Climbing buildings and jumping off roofs and riding bikes on the handlebars! Now I'm frightened all over again! Fred Yea, I was forever climbing up on the roof of our house by just scaling the wall, window sills etc. Sherilyn Did you join the track team in high school? You shouldda! You would have been the star and won state and just everything! And that would have added even more glory to the Jepson name, more than you've already brought, which is a LOT!!! Fred The one time I ran the track in gym class I was only 2nd best. Some wiz kid passed me maybe 100 yards from the finish. If I couldn't be first...well you know. You have got to remember I gained six inches over the summer between my sophomore and junior years and another six inches the next summer. I was such a little runt the coaches weren't interested in me. Besides, remember I am the quiet shy one in the family. I used to jump over picnic tables at Fairmont Park to impress Uncle Alex's daughter. What was her name...Sandra? Sherilyn You'll always be first with me, no matter how you did in gym class! Always! And that's true. You've always been quiet and shy, even more so than I am, and I'm real bad! You were impressing Sandra?! I'm so hurt! I thought you were jumping over them for me! I'm not interested in your story about Sandra! I'm just green with jealousy!!! So there!

ALEXA and GAVIN

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Niki needed two of our round folding tables and ten of our folding chairs for a party for some of Alexa’s friends today. It was her first day back to preschool. Niki said that when she dropped her off she ran to her class. There are four schools in their group and of all four schools; this year Alexa has the teacher who is rated far and above all the rest. Even the other teachers say so. Niki printed off a coupon for buy one, get one free breakfast at Mimi’s Cafe. I met her and Gavin there and then I delivered the tables and chairs while Niki picked Alexa up from school and did some running around. Mimi’s has a lot of ceramic rooster vases and lamp bases and what not. Gavin wanted to get down so while we were waiting for breakfast to come he and I walked around looking at roosters. Every time he came to one he said “Rooster!” Finally we came to a hen on the wall. He looked at it and said “Chicken.” I thought that was interesting from a two year old. The boys, Greg, Jim, Corey and Michael had an eight a.m. breakfast office meeting a Mimi’s. Niki, Gavin and I got there before they left. They warned us not to get the breakfast burrito.

SONGBIRD

Monday, August 23, 2010 - Today was my day to be with Jayden and Bailey. I hesitate to use the term “babysit” or even “sit” as big and responsible as they are. They could spend the whole workday alone but they would be bored never mind what would happen if there was an unforeseen problem. School starts this Wednesday so from now on I will be there when they get home from school or I will pick them up after school on the days Stacey works. Judy forgot her cell phone when she went to work this morning so I met Stacey and the kids at Kinko’s; now FEDEX-KINKOS and from there we drove downtown to Judy’s work and gave her, her phone. Jayden called when we were on West Temple and she came downstairs and met us curbside. From there we drove to the Gateway. We went into Dick’s Sporting Goods and looked around for a little while. Mostly the kids ran up the down escalator for five minutes or so and got sore/tired legs. From there we went to the plaza where you can play in the water that pops up out of the ground. At first Jayden was showing how he can run through it without getting wet. Then he did it walking. By this time Bailey was following him. Finally they got silly and started pushing and pulling each other into the water jets. Bailey was smart and took here shoes and socks off. Jayden didn’t until it was too late. They got wet obviously; Jayden so much so that he was shivering from the cold. When we drove away, Bailey and I had to suffer not having the air conditioner on in the car. Corey had an 11:00 appointment near 33rd S. and Main. When it was over we met at La Puente for lunch. It was spicy but tasty. The kids and I spent the rest of the day at their house. After work, Corey called and said to meet him at Wal-Mart. He had a little grocery shopping to do. As Bailey and Jayden and I were drive to Wal-Mart, Bailey started singing. I told her how good she was doing. She asked “Really?” I answered a sincere “Yes!” She said, “Turn on the radio.” After some searching, she found a Country station and tried to sing along. She didn’t know the songs and had a hard time hearing and understanding the words. But, when the second song came on and the guy sang, over and over, “Are you gonna kiss me? Are you gonna kiss me?” Bailey turned beet red and got all flustered. DON’T TEASE HER

FOUR DAYS AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA

As the title says we spent nearly a week in Florida going to Universal Studios. It was quite the Marathon. We flew in last Sunday; Austin and Molly went by way of Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines. Judy flew from Indianapolis where she had been at Drum Corps with her mother for several days. Jim and I tried for a non-stop but when it go to us there was only one seat left so I told Jim to go on ahead of me. I took a flight to Minneapolis and from there to Orlando. As it turned on it was the same plane but with a flight number change in Minneapolis so I got off and right back on again. At least the second leg was in first class. We stayed at the Saratoga Springs (Disney) Resort but drove each day via our red Toyota Camry rent-a-car to Universal. We had lots of fun and got very worn out. The heat and humidity didn't help any. On Thursday Austin was so sore on the inside of his legs, he looked like he was astride a horse when he walked; if you can call it walking. FOLLOWNING ARE VIDEOS AND PICTURES OF THE TRIP--PRETTY SELF EXPLAINATORY. YOU WILL HAVE TO CLICK ON "older posts" TO SEE THEM ALL! They are in reverse order of how they were taken. Many were left out.

HOGWARTS CASTLE

Molly and Jim on a ride in Jurasic Park

SUPERMAN and the PINK BAT LADY

Friday, August 13, 2010 – The last month or so Jayden has been in football. At first it was strength and endurance training supervised by a couple of coaches on their own. It was voluntary and most kids didn’t participate. I’m glad Jayden did. It really gave him a head start. It was all ages, no hitting, no balls etc. After that there was a week or so of more of the same but in age groups and with the regular team coaches. Jayden has put his heart and soul into it. At the end of that, the three coaches chose kids and broke them down into three teams; an “A” team and two “B” teams since there are so many kids (at least one girl) in the fifth grade age level. The biggest kids went on the “A” team and the “B” teams split the rest evenly. Jayden got chosen by Coach Snow for the 1st “B” team. He is by far the 2nd littlest player but has perhaps the biggest heart and because of his hustle he is the 3rd to 4th fastest runner which is amazing. Corey was asked by Coach Snow to be one of his assistants. He was a bit hesitant because he doesn’t want to miss Bailey’s soccer practices and games. At least Bailey only practices on Thursdays and Stacey and I make sure to be to them. Bailey specifically asked that I be there. I of course was flattered. She has been more and more cuddly with me lately too. Yahoo! Bailey is the second biggest kid on her team if I am not mistaken. They have only had one practice, it is virtually in their backyard; about a five minute stroll. You could watch it out their window. I get the feeling she is going to be ok though she needs to work on her endurance. Coach Snow, Jayden’s head coach got a football and spray painted it gold and each Friday is giving it for the week to the player who shows the best heart, hustles, hits the hardest etc. Today was the first week and “MY” Jayden got it at the end of practice. He is “taking out” much bigger kids with ease and the one time a big kid got him good he shook it off and kept on playing. They have a practice play where they dive and hit their opponent (tackle dummy) while in midair. They call it Superman. The coaches gave him kudos for his efforts and yesterday in practice he used it on a big ball carrier and took him out big time. You should have heard the cheers go up especially from Coach Snow. That gives you a general idea of how he is playing. After practice tonight, Coach Snow said to me that he has never seen anything like it from a first year player. It was said where Jayden and the whole family could hear it.

CUTE SAYING

Seen on a picture of Maddie Gorman. She is Judy's cousin in Newquay, England's granddaughter. A DAD IS A MAN WHO HAS PICTURES IN HIS WALLET WHERE MONEY USED TO BE!

JUMPROPERS AT THE NAVAL ACADAMY http://blip.tv/play/Ae+9MJOSSA

AROUND THE CAMPFIRE!!

SUNDAY, AUGUST 08, 2010 Judy, Sierra and I got home at around 11:00 last night after staying the day at the kid’s campsite in a meadow just below Bald Mountain, not far from Mirror Lake in the High Uintahs. Chris and Sierra, and Jim, Julia and her three, Ethan age 10, Jake (Jacob) age 9 and Autumn age 6 drove up Friday and spent one night, so when Judy and I got there yesterday all the work had been done. Of course Judy and I helped with lunch and dinner and I did a little bit of firewood gathering. It got a little cool and rained lightly for a little while but it was almost better than having the hot sun beating down on us. I took a few pictures and two video clips which I will see if I can figure out how to put on my blog. Sorry Ethan I only got you in one video, no pictures…Oops! Corey and his family and Niki and hers had other things going on so they didn’t join us this year.