Concerts galore!

This past week was busy but fun. Wednesday night was Adam's choir concert. The high school band and orchestra also played and the finale was the band, orchestra, and choir performing together. They were so good!! Of course I forgot my camera, if you're reading this and you have some pictures from that WFHS concert last week, please email them to me!
Thursday was a home game for Austin's flag football team. On Wednesday Austin had fallen off his skateboard on the way to school. His face and the sidewalk fought and the sidewalk won...his left cheek just below his eye was hit hard and he had a scrape the size of about 3 or 4 quarters laid next to each other. He had a huge, black lip, too. He didn't feel very well for a few days, including Thursday, so he didn't get to play a lot in his football game.

He had to run from the game to his band concert. He plays the baritone. He wore his suit and looked so handsome!
Friday night was the annual Jon Schmidt Christmas concert. If you don't know who he is, you're missing out. You can check him out at www.jonschmidt.com. He's a piano prodigy with a style all his own and his concerts are so much fun.
Sunday evening I got to go to Symphony Hall downtown and see The Nutcracker with my mother-in-law. It was put on by Ballet AZ and the Phoenix Symphony. They all did a great job and it was so much fun! We're going to go back in February to see Sleeping Beauty.
This coming Sunday I have my annual Christmas recital for my piano students and I'm looking forward to that!

All I can say is...euw

So the other week, Ken and I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up around 11 pm and turned off the tv, yawned, stretched, and noticed something crawling on the ceiling above Ken's head!! I woke him up and we got our black light. He got a broom handle and knocked it off the ceiling and this is what the evil thing looks like in black light:



Of course he got the boys involved and they decided to play with it a while before its demise...they like to tickle the evil creature's back, trying to get it to sting itself. Why oh why were these things created???

For this post, I'm grateful for black lights to be able to spot these things before they do any damage. I'm grateful for a husband and sons who will get rid of them when they are spotted. I'm grateful that we've lived in Arizona for 9 years, 7 of those years in this very house, before seeing these horrible, ugly things! And I'd be ever so grateful if I never, ever had one in my house again!

Giving thanks

Well, it's that time of year again, my absolute favorite!! I'm so glad Thanksgiving hasn't been cheapened like Christmas and become so crazy like Halloween. It's still the best holiday because it's always on a Thursday and Ken gets Friday off. Wow, a 4-day weekend, so rare!! And the food is the BEST.

So my posts this month will all include something of gratitude. Today is Veteran's Day so how could I not say something about veterans?? I have no idea what it's like to be in the military, let alone go to war. I don't know what it's like to be out there fighting for our freedom or to be willing to die for what I believe in. There are so many who do know, though. I truly thank them. From those who fought to free us from British rule in the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean "conflict", Vietnam, Desert Storm, and those who serve now and all times in between.

My dad's dad serving in the Army in the early 1930s:


My father was a Korean War vet, although not in Korea; he served on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. He was on the USS Coral Sea and the USS Lake Champlain.

Deck inspection, my dad is the starred sailor:


If I had to choose a branch of the military it would be either Air Force or Navy (except I'm scare of the ocean) but I love love love the Navy!!

My father-in-law came to the United States in the mid1950s and served in the National Guard. I wish I had a picture of him in his uniform!

Our long-time family friend, Thom, served in the Navy in the 1970s. He'd come visit in his black casual uniform and my sister Linda and I just thought he was the coolest. Our friends Rob and Christina met while serving in the Army.

My nephew Will, my cousin Kelle and her husband Mel are currently serving. Mel is over in the Middle East and I hope and pray he comes home whole, healthy, and happy as he and Kelle are expecting a baby!!

Thank you so much and God bless America!!

Arizona State Swim and Dive Championships

Adam and Jeremy had their last regular swim meet the other week. Over the weekend, they participated in a regional meet. The top 16 from day 1 advanced to day 2=both boys advanced in at least one event. On day 2, the top eight advanced to States this coming Friday and Saturday. The top four relay teams medaled, so Jeremy will get a medal from Regionals. His State events will be the 200m and 400m freestyle relay and 200m and 500m individual freestyle. Adam had to wait for relay results but barely missed an individual event. What a great, great job for a freshman!

The boys just came home from swim practice and Adam found out his 200m medly relay team made it to States!!! So both boys are participating in the Arizona State Swim and Dive Championships on this weekend! YEAH!

See how they grow

Today is Austin's 13th birthday, he's officially a teen! He's a really great guy to have around. He has a cute sense of humor, he loves to be helpful. He's good company and has a big heart. It's hard to believe he's already 13 but it's fun to watch him grow up. He loves adventure and is usually up for trying something new. The other week he saw a remote control car on tv that follows a laser and can even go on walls and ceilings, so that's what we got him and he loves it! (Frankly, so do I, it's too fun!)

Austin, we're so glad to have another year with you and are looking forward to many, many more. Happy Birthday, buddy!

Update on "they're just things, right?"

If you read my blog post from the first weekend in October, you read about all the things that were broken in our home in a very short amount of time. Expense breaks, things we needed to fix, there was no chance we could wait until we could afford to fix it. No chance we could just "live without", either. It's been three weeks and I'm happy to say we called a repairman who fixed the water softener in a short amount of time. It cost us about $150 less than we thought it would, yeah! Ken had to do the work himself of cleaning out each and every faucet, toilet, shower head, etc. clogged by the resin because the repairman would have charged $75 each to do it. There are a few faucets that are still slow and we've been taking baths instead of showers because the master shower is still clogged, but slowly it's coming together.

Ken found parts, mostly used but a few new, to fix his car. Since I haven't been allowed to drive after surgery, it's sort of been a good time for all this to happen. It's been frustrating and not cheap, but Jeremy got his old job back and is already making money to pay us back for the parts. He thought he'd be in SO MUCH TROUBLE for having a fender bender but we said trouble is for bad choices, he just made a rookie mistake. What good would it do to punish him? He has to pay for the repairs but that's not trouble, it just is, right? The car is back together and running, we just need a new bumper (well, one from a junk yard) and we'll be back on the road.

The washing machine door is still cracked but the machine works just fine, doesn't leak, so who cares.

So what do you know...they really are just things.

Our family is busy and stressed like everyone else, goes through the ups and downs of life, we laugh and cry, we gain and we lose, and through it all we have each other and that's what really counts. Despite the unfortunate death of our little bird, our dog Zoe is doing very well and even has a birthday coming up next week! So things are looking up, this month came in rough but is going better. :) I hope yours is, too.

Bye bye, Birdie

We haven't had the best luck with pets. Our first pet was a rabbit we named "Jetta". We needed a car and my VW Rabbit had died on us, so I wanted a Jetta. Ken got me a bunny and named him Jetta to be funny. Jetta didn't live very long, unfortunately. Then we were given a cute little parakeet and one day found him feet up on the bottom of the cage. Then I wanted a kitten and Ken found one for free. He brought it home and although it sure was cute, that little thing would jump up onto us and cling onto our thighs with its claws. Ken took it for a walk and only Ken came back, if you know what I mean...
We thought we'd go cheap and safe and get some fish. We loved the black golfish with the long fins. They looked so pretty and graceful! One day we saw that one of them that had been sucking sludge off the bottom of the tank must have sucked a little rock into its mouth and it really couldn't breathe properly. We took tweezers and removed the rock but it was apparently too late. The poor fish died. We'd gotten two, that left us one. Then we came home one evening to find the second one had committed fish-i-cide...it had jumped out of the fish bowl and was dead on the counter!! Yes, we are sure that's what happened because nobody else was in the apartment at the time of death. So we had a fish drown and another one decide it just wasn't worth going on...
When we moved into our current house Jeremy wanted a bird. I told him if he studied about how to take care of one and could tell me the important points, we'd go get him a bird. Jeremy is a real go-getter when he wants something and by the next day we had to go to the pet store to pick out a parakeet! It must have been sick to begin with or something because he was lethargic and acting weird right away. We took him back and got another one, who we named Sam. Then Ken found three more he liked a few months later so we had four parakeets.

Sam was still pretty friendly since we'd worked with him on a few things while he was the only bird we had. One day while he was perched on my shoulders, he jumped off and hit the tile floor pretty hard (his wings were clipped). The skin on his belly split open and his poor little leg was broken. Most people would get rid of him but nooooo, we suckers felt so responsible for him that we took him to the vet. We paid $140 to get him stitches, a leg cast, and some antibiotics to make sure he was ok! Is this a sad sight, or what?

Then my sister came for a visit and brought our sweet dog Zoe's daughter, Ginger. Somehow Ginger managed to get into the birdcage and swiped one of the birds, Charlie, within something like 20 seconds flat!! Poor little bird was gone and hopefully didn't suffer much. Months later, we found our pretty white one on the bottom of the cage. That left two, Sam and Woodstock.
When virtual pets were big I had one and the batteries kept dying...
The other day I woke up and went downstairs. Sam and Woodstock were in their cage in the loft and I noticed them both singing and chirping away. A few hours later the boys came downstairs and said Sam was on the bottom of the cage. Yet another pet gone wrong...so sad! Bye bye, little birdie.

A happy birthday on October 14

I totally see Tawni in this picture!!!




You should never ask a lady her age and a lady usually doesn't tell, but you'd never guess which birthday this is for my sister if you knew her. She's young at heart, active, fit, and way younger than the calendar says. Barb has a big heart and is extremely creative. She is really good at decorating in a funky, ecclectic style and is THE dumpster diving diva! Happy Birthday, B!

A look back

52 years ago today, two young people in love got married in Dover, Pennsylvania. They settled down the road in York, PA and raised a family of five daughters. They couldn't have known what the future would hold, but they knew they'd find out together.

For the first time since then, the bride has to spend this day without her groom, who passed away in January. I don't know what everyone believes or holds dear to their hearts, but I'm glad the marriage of that bride and groom was later sealed in the LDS Temple for time and all eternity. Their original marriage was performed "until death did them part"...but their sealing in the temple is for all eternity, without end. I know he's waiting for his bride and once they are reunited, there will be no more loss or separation.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad...

They're just things, right?

A few weeks ago one of our sons burst through the garage door coming home from school. We have a bad setup, I guess; our garage door into the house leads into the laundry room. We used to have a regular washer but about a year ago got uprights. I happened to be doing laundry at the time. I never, and I repeat NEVER leave the washer door open but because I was in the middle of doing laundry it was open. The garage door handle smashed into the washer door and broke the glass. It still runs but DANG IT...I wasn't the least bit happy. I'm still not. But it's just a thing, right??

This past week I had surgery on Thursday (gallbladder removal, no biggie, I'm doing great) so Ken was home from work on Friday helping me out. We texted Jeremy and told him to ride the bus home from school so he could pick up Ken's car and head back to swim practice. That way we wouldn't have to come pick him up when practice was over. A few minutes after he left the house he called and said he had a "fender bender". Not what a parent wants to hear. He rear-ended someone who stopped suddenly. The light ahead was green so he just didn't expect the lady in front of him to stop, but she did because the person in front of her stopped, not wanting to possibly get stuck over some railroad tracks because traffic in front of them wasn't moving well. It caught him off guard just enough to run into her back end. Her car apparently didn't get much damage and after all, isn't this why we have insurance? But the car Jeremy was driving is a 1984-not worth enough to have full coverage so we only have liability. Jeremy said Ken's front grill was dented so I'm thinking ok...not too terrible. Ken ran up to the scene and was gone for over an hour. A good friend of ours helped Ken tow the car to our house--not a good sign. I went outside and couldn't believe my eyes. The front end was OBLITERATED. The lady Jeremy ran into had a higher bumper than Ken's car-so her back end went about 6-8 inches into our front end. There happens to be a LOT of important stuff up there (who designed it that way??), most of which is now toast because there wasn't anything to stop her bumper. The damage to our car runs into the thousands, even just for parts, let alone labor. The hood is bent, the front of the frame is bent, it is awful. We desperately need that car and are now down to one car. Good thing I can't drive for a week because of the surgery. After that, it WILL matter much more. Nobody was hurt, thankfully...and after all, the car is just a thing, right?

So we're having a peaceful Sunday and I noticed that upstairs the water pressure was lower than normal. Later in the evening there was almost no water pressure at all. Strangely enough, the hot water had some pressure and in other places the cold water was normal...like no pressure at the sinks or shower, but the tub in our bathroom ran as strong as normal. Then I noticed something odd coming out of the tub faucet-it was orange, had no odor, and looked like gelatin or fish eggs. People out there with plumbing experience have probably seen this before and know exactly what it is, but we were stumped. It wasn't rust, we know that. We've seen rust and this wasn't it. So we did what any normal person would do--we turned to Google and according to a helpful website, we now have a broken water softener. Apparently there are orange, fish-egg looking beads at the bottom of water softeners and if they are coming out of your faucets you need to call for a repairman. Holy crap. But I'm trying hard not to stress because it's only a thing, right?

Last month both of our cars were in need of major repairs (that happens once every few years) and we spent over $3,500+ in repairs and parts...this month isn't looking good so far, either. I'm FREAKING STRESSED!!!!!

17 years already??

Today is a special day for Jeremy-it's his 17th birthday! It all goes too fast, it wasn't too long ago that he was a just an 8 lb newborn baby. Now he's a gentleman, a good student, an athlete extraordinaire, almost an Eagle scout, a good friend, and a great son. He's a natural leader, too. Jeremy is good company-he's absolutely hilarious and loves to make me laugh. It's impossible to stay mad at him, not that we get mad at him often. He's a good musician, too. He learned a little bit about guitar in junior high and decided to keep learning on his own. He can play some fun songs and even tries to write music, too. He eats almost nothing but junk and is a skinny, muscular thing-some people have all the luck. Have a really great birthday, Jay!

Updates

Our "fall" schedule is in full swing now and everybody is pretty much used to being back in school and sports by now.

Jeremy and Adam have been practicing to exhaustion with their swim team each day. They have 3 1/2 hours of weight training, running, and then swimming! They had their first meet on Tuesday and both boys did a great job. I was teaching piano and missed it but wish I'd been there to see Adam come from behind in both of his races to win!!! Way to go, Adam!! And Jeremy won his races, as well! They are both in awesome shape. They've had practices for about a month now and it's great to see them make such quick progress. Aaaah, to be a teenager again! The swim team members voted Jeremy as their captain again. He thinks it's because nobody else wants the job, maybe he's right but it's still an honor. He's working on finishing up his Eagle requirements and we'll get to celebrate his court of honor with him in the near future. It's so fun to see your kids achieving goals and doing well. Adam's loving high school and making friends and we couldn't be happier for him.

Austin joined the band and is playing the baritone. If you've never seen that instrument before, it's huge. He lugs that things to/from school every day but he's having fun playing it! I tease him that he should have chosen a smaller instrument but I think he likes the big sound of the baritone. He's making some new friends and every day after school gets his homework, practicing, and chores done quickly so he can go hang out with them.

I'm teaching my fall schedule of piano lessons and having fun with the students. I'm trying out a different series of books and hope the kids like them. I know they're well written and if the kids apply themselves they'll learn a lot quickly.

Ken is plugging away at work. It's been so busy there, probably just like a lot of other places where the work force has diminished by a lot quickly and the people who are left get the extra work.

Ken's mom has moved in with us for a while until her home is built and we're having a fun time together. I can see where Ken gets his personality and willingness to do things for others. It will be a good day for her to get to move into her new home and she'll be just around the corner but we'll still miss her! We've been going to the gym to exercise so she's been a good influence on me, too, getting me out the door even on days when alone I might not have gone.

Josh is doing better each week in Hungary. He's had a tough time getting used to being in a foreign country and doesn't recognize the language as well as he thought he would but he's getting it. He misses everyone a lot!! Check his blog for updates and pictures!

Oh Mii, oh my

This is my Mii I created a long time ago:



And this is a picture of me as a child my mom just sent:



Cracks me up...

Birthday girl!

Thursday, August 20, my cute niece, Olivia turned sweet 16. She is cute and fun, sweet and loving, smart and a great athlete. She plays water polo and swims and loves drama and has all kinds of friends. She's a ball of fun energy who's hard to keep up with but it's worth trying! So a day late (sorry!!), I hope you had a really great birthday and your 16th year is the best yet!! Happy Birthday, Liv!

Flashback

My mom just sent me some slides with pictures of me and my sister, Linda. Aaaaaaw!!!
I would love to tell you all about this day but I have absolutely no recollection of it! It looks like Linda and I were having a lot of fun, though, doesn't it? I just had to share them!! (I'm on the left.)

On this day

29 years ago today my sister, Linda, died from Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a nasty genetic disease that affects the lungs and pancreas. Today there are medications that help CF patients live more comfortably and longer...but it's always fatal. Linda was only 11 years old.

Linda was an "old soul", mature way beyond her years. She endured her life-long illness with a tremendous amount of patience. She made friends everywhere she went. She was unusually intelligent and had a quick, cute sense of humor. She was a good artist and was so careful about details, even at a young age. Every year our school, Sunset Lane Elementary (later changed to Trimmer Elementary) held a Spring Fling to raise funds. I believe 4th grade students all made posters and a winning poster was chosen. Linda's was chosen as the winning poster and hung in the school with a ribbon on it. She also made a map of the world out of some homemade, salty clay. I remember it looking absolutely perfect and I know it's still at my parents' house.

She was my older sister but she was much smaller than me and I felt protective of her, at least that I remember. One time at our bus stop a neighbor girl was teasing her. I got right up in her face and told her if she kept it up she'd get a fat lip from me. She said if that happened she'd go get her mother. I told her that would be fine, I'd be happy to tell her mother how she'd been treating my sister and that actually, maybe we should go get her mother NOW. She left Linda alone after that.

Some wonderful teachers at our school dedicated several books in Linda's memory to the school library. I used to check those books out of the library just so I could have them to myself. I think they were "All About Horses" and "A Very Young Skater" but I could be wrong about that. After all, it's been a while.

I wonder what she would be like now had she not died. I wonder where she would have lived and what friends she would have. But life is really hard and sometimes I wonder if she isn't actually better off being where she is. For sure, she's spending time with our dad and I know he couldn't be happier about that. Linda, you're loved and missed.

A birthday!!

Today is my brother-in-law's 20th birthday. Yes, 20! Susan, Ken's mom, was pregnant with Elliot at our wedding in 1989...and now here he is, a sophomore in college. Time flies! Elliot is really into health and fitness. If he were here we told him we'd make him a birthday cake...but he said he doesn't eat cake, he's THAT into health. He has more friends than I can keep track of, he loves to be out and about and always has a fun place to go and fun things to do. In fact, right now he's enjoying a road trip with some of those friends.

Have fun, be safe, and have a great birthday, Elliot!!

It's been so long

I haven't written on my blog in such a long time. It's summer, you know...lots going on. The boys finished up the City of Gilbert swim team. Austin twisted his ankle fooling around with Jeremy the morning of the preliminary meet so he couldn't swim. That knocked him out of the finals for sure. Adam and Jeremy each swam in preliminary events and made the top 16 so they went to finals. Adam won his heat for the 50 m freestyle but there was another heat of 6 swimmers. Timewise, they beat him, but I'm so proud of him for the improvements he's made in his swimming in a short time. He's very strong and when that gets combined with better and better technique, he'll be a swimmer to be reckoned with! Jeremy swam in 3 races; 100 m freestyle, 50 m freestyle, and 50 m butterfly. He won all 3 events and got medals for being all-city champion in those 3 races. Way to go, all three of you for the 5:30 am practices and improving your times!! Both Jeremy and Adam have started pre-season practices for the Williams Field High School swim team. Adam will be starting high school so he's excited about that...Jeremy will be starting his junior year. Austin is starting Jr. High by going to 7th grade. Although he's attending a K-8 school, the 7th and 8th grades are separate from the other grades and their curriculum is run like a jr. high, they change classrooms, etc. They also have more sports team opportunities than the earlier grades. Have fun, boys!

Ken's mom has moved in with us while her home is being built in the neighborhood right next to ours. She bought her home sight-unseen simply on our recommendations based on what she told us she was looking for. She has now come out here and has seen the model home and is happily watching her cute house be built and couldn't be more excited. The boys are happy to have a Grandma around and Ken and I enjoy her sweet company. Ken is a lot like his mom, easy to get along with and good to have around. Welcome to Arizona, Susan!! Elliot has been here visiting, too. Elliot is Ken's 20 year old brother. Well, he'll be 20 on Monday, close enough. Elliot was born about 8 months after Ken and I got married, so Susan was pregnant at our wedding!! Ken's enjoyed some time to get to know Elliot better and now Elliot has gone on to California to get ready for school this fall there after a fun trip with some friends.

I found out I have gallstones, and not just a few. My gallbladder is fully loaded with stones and it's been the cause of a lot of my pain and digestive problems over the past 20 years. So soon I'll have surgery and have my sick little gallbladder removed. I'm hoping for relief from some long-standing problems. I'd like to tell off about 15 different doctors who, in the past, have dismissed my complaints, failed to order the appropriate tests, given me antacids and sent me home feeling like a hypochondriac. Quacks.

I've been working more hours with my ASU research project and also looking into graduate programs. Right now I'm seriously looking into becoming a school psychologist. In Arizona, that requires at least 60 hours of coursework and state certification. Well, Arizona State University only has a PhD program which would most likely take 5 years (121 hours). Gulp. If I really pushed I could complete the program in 3 years but that would be murder. So I'll have to seriously consider all kinds of things before actively pursuing that field of work. But you know what? 4 or 5 years are going to pass and I can either have my education complete or not...we'll see.

So it's been a busy summer but a pretty good one. The boys start school August 10 so they have one more week of "freedom". Jeremy has been working and enjoying having his license...and has a girlfriend. Yikes.

More later!

You reap what you sow

So last night we had our first corn from our garden with dinner. Oh. My. Gosh. Silver corn is the best, it was incredible. Sweet, juicy, absolutely perfect. We have a ton at once and are sharing with neighbors. We thought we were being smart planting some plants and seeds to stagger the corn but for some weird reason it's all ready at once...hundreds of ears at once! I am NOT canning this year. Maybe next year...

Our cucumbers are a huge disappointment, along with our green peppers and larger tomatoes. They are nasty and just not growing right even though the plants look great. The green veggies taste like perfume and the tomatoes are splitting from the intense heat here. The cherry tomatoes are growing well, though and will have to do for this season.

You live and learn. The corn has been worth all the effort. We're also still getting strawberries and zucchini.

Today we celebrated Ken's birthday. He's graced the planet for 44 years now. He went to work so we couldn't have fun all day like we did for my birthday. Sad. Maybe next year! I'm not going to come up with 44 things I love about him...he's awesome and there's very little I'd change about him, that should suffice. I wish there were 2 of him, 1 to go to work and 1 to stay home with me! Ok, while we're at it, let's just make like 10 of him, 9 go to work and the original stays with me! We get along great almost all the time. He's an extremely selfless person so I'm spoiled that way and he makes me more selfless, less selfish when I think "what would Ken do?" or when I don't want to do something for him but then realize he would totally do it for me. He's not perfect but he's awfully close. Very easy to get along with and thoughtful. Happy Birthday Ken!

Birthday Fun

My twenty-nineteenth birthday was yesterday, June 9th. Ken stayed home from work, which is present enough; but he also made me the typical "Hosch birthday table" complete with York Peppermint Patties, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Almond Joy's. There were several cards; one from each of the boys and one for each meal! The breakfast card had a gift card inside for the Cracker Barrel and we went there for a late breakfast. We were going to go to a movie but instead stayed home and watched the video Austin got me; classic Looney Tunes cartoons. The boy knows his mom!! I love Bugs Bunny and miss those cartoons on tv!! (I cannot stand Spongebob and the other newer cartooons...)



The dinner card contained a gift card to Carrabba's so we went there for dinner. If you're thinking that's a lot of food in 1 day, you're right. We could barely eat dinner so we brought our stuff home and have enjoyed our meals today. That was the gift that kept on giving!

We missed having Josh here but he had a good day yesterday, they had a devotional with Elder Bednar and Josh is in the MTC choir; he emailed us today and said he loved singing for that devotional, so he enjoyed his day yesterday but for different reasons.


Thank you to all those who sent me birthday wishes, made phone calls, wrote on Facebook, etc. By the time you're my age (which is still young but we're not talking pinatas and pin the tail on the donkey birthdays) the fun is in hearing from your friends and loved ones, so thank you!!

Congratulations, Jeremy!

So today we took Jeremy to get his driver's license. He passed and now is a legal driver in the state of Arizona!! We asked him on the way home how it felt to be a licensed driver and he said he wasn't sure because we were still in the car with him. He drove himself to work this evening so we'll ask him later!
If you remember a while back I wrote about how he rode his bike to work and the chain came off the bike, throwing him into the road and a pickup truck narrowly missed running him over. Last week he was riding home, crossing in front of a side street. Someone in a truck saw him but pulled out too soon and clipped the back of his bike...and just kept going. What the heck?? Well, we don't have to worry about him getting hit on his bike any more. Is this better, though? Ugh...being a parent can be tough! By the way, he took Ken's car. :)

PS I updated Josh's mission blog today!

Weekend stuff...

Saturday morning the boys had their first swim meet. They did a great job!! Adam was on a campout so he missed it, but Austin was right there with all the kids in his race. They did a 50m freestyle swim. He said he had a bad turn and didn't get much push off the wall but he was right there with the pack, he got 5th. He did a great job for his first swim meet since 2002! Jeremy is in the 13+ age bracket, which hardly seems fair to 13 and 14 or even 15 year olds because Jeremy is almost 17. He's had 2 years of experience on the high school swim team, too. He took 1st and another guy who is also on his swim team was right there with him and took 2nd. It could go either way between those two but today it was Jeremy. Then Jeremy and the guy from his HS swim team took part in a relay. Guess how that went...

I love Gilbert's swim team meets!! When the boys swam in 2001 and 2002 they swam for Mesa's program. Great program, but the swim meets were held in the evenings when the pool deck was about 110 degrees. All the parents crammed around the decks sweating to death while their kids swam way past sundown~ that was not fun for us even though we loved watching our kids swim. And Mesa would have 4 or 5 teams there, Gilbert had 2. Mesa would do all strokes in each meet, Gilbert's focusing on 1 stroke per meet, at least for now. Mesa had all age groups in one meet...Gilbert is doing the older 2 age groups first, then they can go HOME! And the best part? The meet was during the morning so it was still actually quite gorgeous out. So props to Gilbert for doing it right!! Of course I forgot the camera so I don't have pictures from the meet. What was I thinking? That's ok, Austin forgot goggles! I bought a pack of 3 goggles at Costco. The boys said one pair doesn't fit anybody very well but that leaves 2 pair, right? Jeremy already had a pair from swim team so everyone should have goggles but I wound up buying yet another pair Saturday after the meet so they'd all have some that fit or work for them. Such is life.

Ken still can't walk, time to see a doctor, it's been almost 2 weeks and he can't put any weight on his left leg. He's in an incredible amount of pain. The swelling and bruising are getting under control but there's more going on in there than meets the eye, apparently...

Adam got to see his best friend, Theo Rogers, last night. He was SO excited about it! The Rogers family moved from here to Missiouri a few years ago and about once a year they come visit family and friends they still have here in town. We miss them a lot and Adam misses Theo like crazy. I've never seen two kids happier to see each other than they are when they get together.

Our corn is over 7' tall and ears are starting to form, I'm pretty excited! We have a gazillion flowers on our cucumber plants, too, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what we get over the next few weeks. The plants look great, here's hoping the food grows well!

Ken's leg

Youch...and this is a week and a half after he hurt himself...Ken was playing basketball last Tuesday evening and 2 minutes into the game felt like somebody hit him with a sledge hammer in the calf...but nobody was behind him! He tore something in there and still can't walk on it. What's that, has he gone to the doctor's yet? He's a guy, of course not.

He spent Memorial Day on the couch with his leg propped up after some morning chores. He worked waaaay too hard for someone who can't even walk! He braved traffic and went to work Tuesday and when he got home his leg was HUGE. He worked from home Wednesday and Thursday and again braved it to go to work today, but his leg is swelling up despite having it propped up in his office.

He was so sweet yesterday and went to Fry's for some Mylanta for me-plus I think he really needed to get out of the house! He used the scooter cart and of course ran into people we know in every aisle!!

Get well, Ken!
(PS. The last time he did this it was to his right leg and he did a sprint triathlon 4 days after it happened...crazy man!)

Summer stuff

Last Tuesday evening Adam had his promotion ceremony from junior high to high school. I was excited to go cheer him on and it brought back memories of Josh's promotion, which seemed to take place just a year or two ago...but it was in 2004! Jeremy didn't tell us about his promotion so we missed out on that. Adam went to the movies with Ken while I taught piano lessons. When they were over I got a text from Ken saying that Adam didn't want to go. That made me sad because I wanted him to see us there for him, but we decided to respect it and not make him go. :( I'm still sad, though. Their last day of school was a half day on Wednesday.

Summer always seems to come so fast. Yesterday morning swim team started...at 5:30 am!! The boys were all ready to go on time, which is impressive. I'm wondering whose horrible idea it was to sign them up--for the next 2 months every single weekday we have to drag ourselves out of bed at 5:15 am to get over to the pool. But they like it and it's so good for them in every way! I dropped them off at the pool and came home and hit the treadmill, then cleaned up the kitchen. Today the kids were ready but not quite as early as yesterday. I haven't hit the treadmill and am seriously considering heading back for more sleep...the best of intentions gets you where, exactly?

Hawaii~Pearl Harbor

On this Memorial Day, I have to salute everyone who has served our country, living or dead. That includes my father (Navy), his father (Army), my cousin (Army) and her husband who is currently in the Middle East (formerly Navy, currently Army), my nephew who is at basic training right now for the Army, my father-in-law (even though he was born and raised in Germany, he served in the American military after becoming a citizen), and many family friends.

On our last day in Hawaii, after leaving the ship, Rachel rented a fun convertible and we explored Oahu. I'll write more about the whole day another time, but because it's Memorial Day I want to write about our visit to Pearl Harbor.




The first thing you do is go see a short historical film about Pearl Harbor. You learn a little bit about why it happened, why the Japanese wanted to pull the U.S. into the war. Studying about history is so different when you are in the actual place something significant happened. Like the other Hawaiian harbors, Pearl is very pretty. After the film we took a navy boat out to the USS Arizona Memorial. I'd seen the memorial on tv but seeing it in person, smelling the oil that is still seeping up from the Arizona, seeing the ship right under the water, seeing the actual site that is the grave for over 1,000 men is sobering. People were throwing orchids into the water and crying, just like they would put flowers on any other grave.

There is a marble wall at the end of the memorial that has the names of the sailors who died when the Arizona was attacked and went down. We were told that we would see many sailors with the same last names; there were 75 sets of brothers onboard (only 14 survived) and a father/son pair. Could you imagine being their families? At the foot of the wall are the names of Arizona survivors who have since been interred with their shipmates.


From the memorial you can see the Missouri, which had also gone down that day but was brought up and repaired. (You can see the Arizona under the water as you look across to the Missouri.) Battleships were replaced with air craft carriers, but this is still here for tours so people can see the great ships that were attacked in 1941.


After the memorial we were walking around the theater/gift shop area and passed a gentleman wearing a hat that had stitched on it "Pearl Harbor Survivor, USS Pennsylvania". Rachel and I looked at each other and both got tears in our eyes. We wanted to go shake his hand and talk with him, the stories he must be able to tell. (Not that we'd ask...but if he offered, we'd be happy to listen...) He was a volunteer at Pearl and we took photos with him and read about him on the volunteer wall.



This man's story is incredible. His name is Everett Hyland. He and his brother George were both in the military during WWII. Everett was working on the USS Pennsylvania when it was bombed in dry dock.


"The wrecked destroyers USS Downes (DD-375) and USS Cassin (DD-372) in Drydock One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, soon after the end of the Japanese air attack. Cassin has capsized against Downes.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is astern, occupying the rest of the drydock. The torpedo-damaged cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) is in the right distance, beyond the crane. Visible in the center distance is the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37), with USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside. Smoke is from the sunken and burning USS Arizona (BB-39), out of view behind Pennsylvania. USS California (BB-44) is partially visible at the extreme left.
This image has been attributed to Navy Photographer's Mate Harold Fawcett."

His volunteer board includes his Purple Heart for injuries sustained at Pearl Harbor as well as several other medals. It also includes the telegraph sent by the Navy to his mother in Connecticut dated December 11, 1941, stating her son had been injured in the line of duty. Could you imagine knowing your son was at Pearl Harbor and then getting a telegraph like that?? There is a sweet post card written to their mother by his brother, George:

But he was hurt much worse than his brother let on. {Sadly, his brother George died as a result of injuries sustained at the battle of Iwo Jima.}
If you google Everett Hyland you can see all of this information has been published, so I don't feel like I'm telling any secrets! From http://www.arizonamemorial.org/locations/arizona-memorial-everett-hyland.html:

Typically when the call came to man battle stations, Mr. Hyland’s duty as a member of the Antenna Repair Squad placed him top side during an attack. On December 7 th, Mr. Hyland and his fellow squad members assembled near the clipping room and helped disperse ammunition out to the 3-inch 50mm anti-aircraft guns.

When a Japanese aerial torpedo bomb exploded near the clipping room he was severely wounded. None of his squad members survived. Mr. Hyland’s wounds were so extensive that he was almost given up for dead. He did not recognize his surroundings until Christmas of 1941.

After 9 months of rehabilitation he returned to sea.

He went on to serve in the Navy until 1945, then worked as a science teacher. He's been volunteering at the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona memorial since 1955!
Amazingly, he went on to marry a Japanese woman who, as a child, had actually helped to make paper mache balloons that would carry ammunition across the ocean in an attempt to keep American planes from bombing Japan. That still amazes me. She also volunteers at Pearl Harbor and is a sweet and kind woman.
He has a quick sense of humor. I wish him all the best! What an honor to meet a Pearl Harbor survivor...

There is a board with photos and stories of many people who didn't survive that attack, some of the sailors were only 17 years old! It is a beautiful place with an awful history. There are thousands of amazing stories from that day, thanks to Everett Hyland for sharing his.

Our garden so far...

I used to think of gardening as something retired people do because they don't have much else to do. (Sorry, that sounds harsh.) When I think of gardening, I picture cute, older ladies in overalls and muddy clogs, flowery gloves, oversized sunglasses, and floppy hats. But as you know, we've been trying to grow food here and I even shared some photos of our attempts. Our plants are doing surprisingly well so far despite early high temperatures. (105, 106...ugh.) We've gotten a steady stream of 8-10 strawberries a day and a few smaller green peppers almost every day. Our tomato plants have blossomed and there are lots of tomatoes starting to get going! You can see from the picture that the topsy turvy tomatoes are doing great,too! We may have a hundred ready at once at this rate. That's ok, bring 'em on. Our yellow squash plant has a LOT of blossoms and a few squash already growing. Our watermelon plant, which Jeremy picked out and planted, has blossomed, too. Our corn is 3-5' high and we're so excited to see what comes of that. Our wall is about 6 1/2' high and the corn is getting close to the top...And our zucchinni plants are doing well, too. Several small zucchini are growing, they're about 6" long. I love steamed zucchini with spaghetti, or raw grated onto a salad. Next year we need to start seedlings earlier and plant earlier in the year because we should be harvesting by now, I think? It's getting hot enough that to protect themselves the plants may not grow the food, which takes so much out of them.
But this is pretty cool, I like it! My husband has put in so much work and effort in this. I've done my part but not the hard labor. I planned, shopped, planted, and now water, prune, fertilize, and weed. Next step; provide shade by building t-shaped supports and buying light-colored sun shades for the more delicate plants. The corn should be ok...thank heavens. So far so good. Our tomato plants, which you can see in the light colored pots, were much fuller, but I pruned them back. I read that to have lots of tomatoes, prune any stems that aren't growing fruit. Apparently they didn't mean all of them, which is about how I took it. Ken pointed out that without leaves they can't go through photosynthesis. Ooops.

More Hawaii posts

I wrote about Hawaii the other week but saved drafts to finish later. Now I've posted them and they are displayed on the day I created them, not showing up today. So if you're interested, look at older posts to see a few more days of our adventure in Hawaii!

The MTC

Well, my best friend Rachel and her husband Mark took Josh to the Missionary Training Center today in Provo, Utah. Here is a slideshow of pictures Rachel and Mark took! We'll keep everyone updated on how he's doing, etc. Here's his address, please write him!!!

ELDER JOSHUA KENNETH HOSCH
MTC - Mailbox # 127
HUN-BUD 0803
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, Utah 84604-1793

Josh's Farewell

Our oldest son, Josh, fit in as much as he could during his last week home. Wednesday he went...well, many of you recognize this picture:

That night he played basketball and had a good time slam-dunking the ball. Josh LOVES basketball and would love to someday play in the NBA. He is hoping to grow more over the next 2 years while he's gone, something I can't understand because I'm only 5'10" and am often uncomfortable because there's nowhere for my legs. I know he can reach over the top of the rim, this picture was either taken a little late or a little early...

Thursday Josh got up early and went to work for the last day. He's been working for a friend of ours who owns an insulation company. It's hot work here in the summer and Josh worked for something like 12 hours.
Friday he has his last campout with his friends and had a really good time. He made a spear and tried to catch fish. Here's one that didn't get away:

The guys had a great time. They joked about how there were other boats on the lake whizzing by with their big motors...and these boys were rowing their canoes, pretty funny! I have no doubt who had the better time...





Sunday morning was Josh's farewell talk at church. Jeremy spoke first, then Josh. They both wrote their talks and everyone was moved and impressed with their maturity and ability to convey their thoughts and feelings. They are both such leaders and great young men, as are their younger brothers. We're lucky parents! Josh asked me to play the piano and I was happy to play a solo in his behalf. I play at home quite often and sometimes it's irritating because he wants to watch a movie and the piano makes it hard for him to hear his movie, but I know he'll miss it! :)
Tarik Williams is a new young men's leader at our church but what an incredible guy. He spoke after the solo, then our ward leader, Bishop Butler, also spoke. Lots of friends and neighbors came to show their support for Josh. That evening we had an open house and people were streaming in and out for hours. (We served over 600 meatballs in addition to all the other food!)

Monday, we finished shopping for odds and ends, Josh finished packing up his bedroom, and packed his suitcases, too. That evening, our stake president came over and officially made Josh a missionary. Tuesday morning, we had a family breakfast and then took him to the airport. We were doing ok for the most part...until it was time to say goodbye. We had lots of hugs and tears before he went through security and disappeared in the crowds of people. Ok, so we could see him towering over all the other people, he's not hard to spot! We went up to the roof of the airport and could see his gate and plane and watched it for almost an hour. We watched as his plane pulled away from the gate and took off.
We miss him so much already but are so excited and happy for him. What an adventure he's going on! He's going to make us proud, no doubt about it, just like he always has. He'll be at a training center for about 9 weeks, then finally head to Budapest, Hungary.