April 15 thru April 21st, 2018

BLAST FROM THE PAST

UPDATE:  DAD / GRANDPA / BOB

The Fine Art of Overcoming Lifes Challenges

by Dad Boice

Looking back on our pioneer heritage and the struggles they went through did you ever wonder how they could sing “All is well”.  Do you wonder how, as we face todays problems and concerns,  we can sing “All is well”?

When we are seeking answers to complex questions here are some ways to get answers.  We may not, probably will not, receive a personal visit from the Lord, but the answers do come—from prayer, the scriptures, the words of the prophet, the still, small voice of inspiration.  

May we never be indifferent to the suffering of others.  May we be sensitive to those about us who are hurting for whatever reason.  Adversity comes to all of us but so does life everlasting.  

When I was your age I thought it would be fun to run the Pikes Peak Marathon.  It started at 6,800 ft and goes to 14,100 ft.  The accent is the equivalent of a full marathon.  On one day you can do the accent AND if you are not very smart on the next day, you can go up and down – taking 5:20 of no rest just running!  Talk about a challenge - well to make a long story shorter here is what I learned:

• ·      Pray for help (after putting in the work) and the Lord will help you
• ·      Run and listen to your heart and not your body.  It is incredible what the body can do when you feel like you are all worn out. 

I think this life is much the same. When we get to the point that we can’t go any further, we need to pray and dig in a little deeper.  We can’t listen to others telling us to quit - it is not worth it.  

1. Drop your head 
2. Dig in  
3. Work harder  

God bless each of you in your daily quest to live great lives and keep the commandments.

 
UPDATE:  MOM / GRANDMA / ROBERTA

Life in the “Burg” is same ol’, same ol’, however, my motto is “same ol’”is way better than the alternative / chaos! Just like everyone else, our spring has been anything but mild, warm and calm – we’ve had blizzards, hail, wind, wind, wind and tons of rain.  Actually, at the beginning of the week I was to pick up a canvas-wrap from the lab but couldn’t because the wind was so strong – so had to wait a day to pick it up!

Yes, I sold my first piece for this year to a neighbor who is an interior decorator, has a huge home and needed something for her “very large” wall space!  She ordered a 3 ft x 4 ft canvas wrap of this image:

It came out really good and she loved it!  So, it was a win/win!  I have done “zero” landscape photography this year so far – kind of missing it but have been pretty busy to even spur my interest.  Now that spring is here, that might change!

Dad and I headed to Idaho Falls for a little food shopping!  By the time we got past Rigby the traffic abruptly stopped – looking in the rear view mirror a truck and camper was not slowing down and barely missed us and almost ran off the road into the ditch!  It was CLOSE.  We sat there for a while waiting for the traffic to move but it did not.  We went through the medium (super-illegal) and headed back in the opposite direction.  The traffic was backed up for miles.  We got off the freeway and drove west to Lewisville highway to Idaho Falls.  We found out there was a police confrontation in Ucon with a guy holding up in a house (just off the freeway) so the highway patrol CLOSED the freeway and redirected traffic.  The guy ended up killing himself.  That incident affected thousands of motorists!  Drama / very unusual for Idaho / common for Utah!

We made plenty of visits to Grandma and this entire week she’s done amazingly well after a month of struggles. When I see her like this, I think . . . she COULD live to 100 but then I snap back to reality when I have to push her back to her room after sitting in church because she doesn’t have enough energy to make it!  Sunday, when we got back to her room (after church) she turned to me and asked, “Where have we been?”  Eeeeek!

This weekend Shawn had some R&R time with his friends and Kandee had meetings at Lava Hot Springs SO, Aspen spent the weekend with us!  She is so much fun, growing like crazy and a real “snuggle-bug”!  Heather and Cooper came down and we headed to “Gravity Factory” for a few hours, then to Pizza Pie Café to “refuel”!  FUN weekend!  Thanks Aspen, Coop and Heather!   

(CLICK ↓ "Read More" to go to the next page)



GRANDMA-GREAT UPDATE:

(AKA:  Alice Lis Ward)

Went for a little visit tonight - watched 60 minutes (her fav) with her, took her some "treats" - her eyes ALWAYS light up when peanut butter M&Ms walk through the door and chocolate covered cinnamon bears . . . sugar diabetes . . . we don't worry about that when you're 94 years old.  Update: her leg swelling is down, pneumonia cleared up and she even stayed awake during church - things are looking up!


TYLER, MONICA AND VAN:

Hey guys, just like everyone else, life has been super busy for us. The days just seem to fly by. We're happy and healthy and loving life. We're really looking forward to Spring and Summertime around here. We got Real Salt Lake season tickets again this year and have been to a few games already. We love going to the games together as a family and we're hoping to indoctrinate Van that soccer really is the best sport ever. He recognizes the team's fight song and starts clapping every time he hears it and then raises his hands in the air and shouts at the end of it (just like the fans do in the stadium). Its pretty dang cute. 

My hands are full juggling family life and still working for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah. I've been busy at work organizing a conference about addiction and substance abuse for 250 medical providers that will take place in early June. I love taking Van out for walks on the days I stay home from work AND we have fun playing indoor soccer once a week with a bunch of other old-lady-has-been players. 

Tyler somehow manages to do it all. He does "Daddy Day Care" with Van on Mondays, keeps his busy carpet cleaning business going the rest of week, continues to dabble in his car hobby, takes care of our rental units, and is maintaining the most emaculate yard in the whole neighborhood.

Seriously, you should see how green it is! He's been saving his pennies and recently bought himself a bitchin' new lawnmower (those are Tyler's words, not Monica's). This past Friday he took his restored Chevy truck out on its maiden voyage and drove to a Cruise Night with some other car buddies. Everyone loved his truck!

Vanny-panny keeps growing-growing-growing. He's 1.5 now and has entered a really fun, interactive stage. He's starting to say quite a few words and uses some sign language, which makes communicating with him SO MUCH BETTER. And he joins in laughing if other people around him are laughing even if he doesn't know what everyone is laughing about. He is Mr. Independent and wants to do everything by himself. Lately he's obsessed with:

• Keys and using them to open house doors and car doors
• He's also obsessed with any big trucks or construction equipment and excitedly points and yells out "Big truck!" when we're driving in the car and he spots a semi  
• (((Editor's note:  ALSO obsessed with TOES - so says dad!)))

Van gave us a little scare last week...we went out to eat and in the split seconds we weren't watching him he opened a salt shaker (he LOVES twisting off the cap of pretty much anything!) and poured a couple of tablespoons of salt in his mouth. He had so much salt in his mouth and throat that he couldn't breath. My sister-in-law, who is a nurse, grabbed him and threw him over her knee and patted his back until he had spit up enough to start breathing well again. After throwing up a few times, we ended up taking him to the ER at Primary Children's to test the sodium levels in his blood. Too much salt in a little body like his can been toxic and can cause swelling of the brain and/or seizures. 

They tested a little sample of his blood and let us know his sodium levels were high but were within the normal range and that he would be fine. We're grateful to have such a good children's hospital nearby and for the awesome pediatric doctor and staff who took such good care of Van. We hope we don't have to go back to the ER anytime soon. 

Since Cameron probably won't write about himself, we'll write something for him. We love that he lives so close. Sometimes we'll ride our bikes up to his house to visit him and we usually have Sunday dinner with him every other week or so. P.S. He's a really great cook! So we love it when he invites us to his house :) Cam runs around and chases and plays with Van, who laughs and giggles the whole time. So as you can imagine, Van LOVES Uncle Cameron. 

We love you all and have loved reading everyone's updates! Thanks to Bob and Roberta for helping us all to stay connected. Can't wait 'til we get to see everyone again. 

VW just SOLD . . . haha, didn't stick around for long!

Love,

Monica + Tyler + Van

(((Editor's note:  Haha Monica, Cam fooled you / see update below!!!)))

CAMERON AND LEO (AKA:  LEAH)

Hi Family,

Greetings from SLC!  Things have been maintaining the same level of busyness.  The Spring has brought a lot of work around the rentals with yard work galore.  I had a tenant recently move out so I have been working to get that unit filled.  I know a good carpet cleaner who whipped the floors into shape and helped to get the garage spotless.  It so happened that the carpet cleaner’s wife was super friendly and helped to meet the RC Willey carpet guy for an install.  Team effort!!  I wish dandelions were a valuable commodity as I would be worth millions because of the place I am living in now.  The lawn is still a work in progress.  My daytime job is pretty crazy but that isn't anything really new.  The company is doing well so it is a good problem to have for now.   

I have been playing more racquetball lately which has been fun.  I took a two year hiatus because the sport is pretty hard on the body.  I have cooled my jets and go more for fun than to beat everyone.  Mountain biking season has officially kicked off so I have been doing more of that recently.  The first couple of rides are the hardest before you build some endurance.

Leah has been doing really well in school.  She has been working her butt off to study for her classes.  I am super proud of her focus and hard work.  She is still dating Duncan and they spend quite a bit of time together.  He recently got a puppy so Leah has been helping out quite a bit with him.  She will be finishing school the second week of May and moving back to SLC.  It will be great to have her around again.  

Now that Rexburg is starting to thaw out, I will probably head up north more to do some golfing, fishing, and mountain biking.  Hope everyone is doing well and look forward to the next "get together".
(((Editor's note:  couldn't be happier!!!)))

Cameron and Leah

Check back tomorrow for more updates - just couldn't get it all done in one night ! ! !

Okay fam-o-lee . . . I would love to read some comments from each of you this week - we got (1) comment last week from Ashley . . . that was it!