Corn In Egypt!!!!!

I went to see the doctor this morning to get the results of my MRI. He said it showed nothing torn or separated. He did say the rotator cuff looked like it had been "scuffed" but not torn anywhere. He took me into the back room to view the MRI and it was very interesting. The pictures were every clear and intricate. He told me they put the dye into the lining of the socket and it flows out to cover the whole socket. Then if the dye moves up through the rotator cuff "tendon" then he knows there is a tear or separation in it. The dye stayed right in the socket where they put it. He said the lining was in excellent shape but there was some wear in the bursa area which is the beginning of bursitis. The problem is that the bursa has been damaged or traumatized and it is swollen. In the pictures it is the blue thing that looks like a squished water balloon. Because it is swollen there is not enough room between my shoulder ball/socket and my clavicle bone that goes out over my shoulder. There are also two small bone spurs that are sticking down into the bursa and irritating it. When I try to lift my shoulder it pinches the bursa causing pain and won't let me lift my arm any higher. The trick is to reduce the swelling in the bursa to give me room to lift my arm. He gave me three options:

• Go in orthoscopically and remove the bone spurs and clean things up. Be in a sling for about a month.


• Get a cortisone shot and see if it clears up. If not get another shot.


• Get a bottle of Aleve, take two tablets morning and two at night and get a bag of frozen peas and ice my shoulder every day. Leave in on until it goes numb (about 10 minutes). Go through a regimen of stretching exercises to loosen things up each morning.

I bet you can't guess which one I agreed to do. I just took the first two Aleve and will start icing in a few minutes. I was greatly relieved when he told me all this. He said he had suspected the rotator cuff was torn and was surprised when it wasn't. I do all the exercises for 6 weeks and if it doesn't help he may want to try the cortisone shot. We'll see.

Pictures: See the swollen bursa in the left picture? The one in the right picture lays flatter and gives the bones more room to raise and lower. The little bone right above the bursa is the one with the bone spurs on it.

Hope you enjoy the anatomy lesson. I am greatly relieved and looking forward to a pain free summer.

Dad

We Made It!

Kimbre and I made it to our one year anniversary on Saturday. With my wacky schedule we decided to do something on the only days off that we had in common. On Monday the 19th, we packed up the Bronco and headed to Sandpoint, ID. I did a little pre-planning and snooping around online and found a little hole in the wall bed and breakfast place. We stayed overnight in Sandpoint, ate out a lot, and watched movies. Yesterday we celebrated out real anniversary with a Pizza Pipeline Pizza and Tricky Stix, before I left for work.

Our neighborhood internet connection that we poach for free has been down all week, so I missed out on all the blogs and updates. It's good to see what everyone is up to.

I'm done (for now) with graveyards and am one step closer to being a real cop out on my own. I just have one more phase of the training program to go. We had a bet last Thur. at work to see who could get the first arrest. One hour into it I arrested some kid who had 5 or so suspensions on is DL. I won a free Pita at the Pita Pit (are you jealous Kelly??).

That's the news up north. It snowed 4-6 inches last night, but it's a meltin' right now.

I didn't know how crazy my scedule was until I saw my post time below.

I have not title for my entry.

Nothing outstanding this week. No stories of drunks climbing signs, sissy white kumonos and yellow belts, defacing Richard Scarry books, or feminizing my children, but we'll see what I can come up with.

Yes dad, like you I enjoy this blog thing. It is great to hear from all of the family members (I get Erik's blog at work), and see the pictures. Les, sorry we didn't go to your show this year. It's been a busy month and two of my priests have shows next weekend.

Dad, I feel a little like you in administering your ward. We've made some changes in the young men presidency and things are starting to "click." The Bishop thanked us today in APC and said that any one of us leaders could be in his seat. We all looked at each other and asked "is it I?" The big news is that we plan to attend General Conference this spring. Originally I was just going to take the young men but then the YW heard about it and asked "why can't we go?" We are now planning for 30+ attendees. I have no idea if we'll get that many tickets, but we're going anyway. I think Brant is going too. Brant, I'll Nextel beep you in the Conference Center.

Lisa played a duet in sacrament meeting with one of her piano students. It was great to see the fruits of her labor. The student is a YW who only started a year or two ago. She now accompanies her seminary class.

Monkey see, Monkey do

Tonight's picture fits perfectly with Lacey's copycat theme of Weston. Katie saw Tyler doing his workbooks from Grandma and decided she wanted to play along. She led me into Ty's room and had me help her get out a Richard Scarry book and then she found a pencil on the floor. She then set herself up across from Ty and proceeded to draw in her "workbook." Monkey see, monkey do. (Nice tie in to Dad's e-mails, huh?)

This week's news is that my nerdiness has increased another notch. Saturday, I took my General test and have now moved up another Amateur Radio License. A lady in our stake took it and got 35 out 35. I didn't want to be outdone (male ego), so I studied really hard. I ended up making a dumb mistake and got 34 out 35. I now have access to most of the frequencies alotted to Hams. (I can now talk radio to radio to Hams around the world.) Now I just need to start saving my pennies for that new radio. Sidework anyone?

Les had her shows this weekend. The kids did really well and it just got better each night. She had a lot of friends from church come each night and it was fun to see their reactions. Tyler and I went Saturday night with Les's dad. It was fun to see it all put together and polished. I had seen many parts of it during rehersals, but it was the first time to see it all together.

Today was our Ward Conference. It centered around Christ and the sacrament. I was given a speaking part near the end of the presentation during Sunday School on the crucifixtion and resurrection. In true Zirker fashion, I bawled through the whole thing. The music was really good and the spirit was really strong. The Stake President spoke during Sacrament meeting and then we finished with the sacrament at the very end. Our Bishop blessed the sacrament with the priests. It was a neat way to end the conference.

Have a great week!!!

Brant

Can You Find Me in the Picture?

Lacey just posted their blog from here and now it is my turn. We had a total change in our bishopric today. My two counselors were both Vet students and they both graduate in May. They have been very good but now are involved in "rotations" and are out of town or on-call a lot. I decided to change the whole bishopric. So, now I have two new counselors, a new ward clerk and a new executive secretary. They are a good bunch and I am looking forward to working with them.

Tomorrow morning I go in to see Dr. Pennington to get the results of my MRI. I am a little apprehensive as usual but eager to get this thing fixed. It is a constant pain and sometimes just aches from hanging there. I cannot feel it improving at all so I am assuming there will be some sort of surgery.

The Jazz Festival is history. It snowed almost every day. Not a lot but enough to make it messy. Mom and I went out to run of the sacrament meeting programs last night and the stake center was a mess. She and I spent an hour and cleaned 6 restrooms and mom hauled out all the garbage. Finally we just left chairs, tables, pianos, drum sets, etc. all over the place. This morning it was all put away and cleaned up. The jazz fairy must have done it.

Sacrament meeting was great. Besides the change in the bishopric, I had taken a few minutes at the end of the meeting last week and asked everyone to try to get to church on time (sometimes we start with about 8 people in the congregation). Well, this week Seth and Lacey's talks were about attending our church meetings and they both talked about their families attitudes about getting to church on time as they were growing up. They gave excellent talks. At the beginning of the meeting the chapel was about half full. See, someone was listening last week. I felt good because the Stake President and one of his counselors were on the stand with us.

I contacted a stump grinder for an estimate but he hasn't shown up yet. Maybe this week.

The contractors have completed the building addition on our building in Pilot Rock, Oregon so I am going to the "substantial completion" meeting on Tuesday. Bishop Berglund is going with me. I enjoy having him along. We are a couple of "has beens" and we gab about old bishop's experiences all the way down and back. It is about a 4 hour drive each way.

Mom is busy with school and college. She has a big paper due this week so she is busy working on it.

I know I've said this before but I sure enjoy your blog entries. Keep on blogging.

Love, Dad and Mom

About the picture. You guys don't know what real sky-diving is all about. We were doing it with military parachutes and ill fitting helmets. My jump was a static line jump. My rip cord was tied to one leg of the pilots seat. When I jumped out I was all alone and the ground was a long way down. The other guy in the picture is Keith Rodeback. He was a year older than Uncle Eugene but was of our "group" of friends from Warden.

Eyelash Curler

We had to log in under mom and dad's name because I can't remember our password and our computer is old and slow at home and doesn't like blogs...One more way we use Mom and Dad...

To explain this week's picture, often when I am rushing to get ready in the mornings, Weston is in his high chair eating breakfast, watching me apply the puddy to my face. He likes to get in my make-up drawer and "pretend." This is him trying to use an eyelash curler.

Our Sabbath meetings were exceptional this morning, Seth and I had to give our talks. Thanks for the input Kevin, Seth quoted you as the general authority of the family. Seriously though, the tidbit fit right in.

I finally shelled out the money and joined Curves officially this past week and I love it. Seth dropped me off once and saw one of the ladies that works there. He said she looked super old, and I told him she was about the same age of the other ladies that workout there. I love it, it's something that I can actually go and do without feeling silly.

That's about it for us.

Marlo's Blog

In case anybody wants to know. Cousin Marlo has blog where she gives periodic updates on her life in Paris. Here it is.

http://greergallery.blogspot.com/

Yellow Belt

So as of tonight I am now a yellow belt in Karate. For you beginners out there that is exactly one step above brand new. I had my belt graduation tonight and Kelly, Buddy and Michelle came along to watch. Their favorite move was the "prancing pony". Sorry the picture is kind of dark but our house if bad for pictures at night.

Spring is Here?

Last Saturday was beautiful. The snow was all gone and the temperature was around 55 degrees. Well, this week is Jazz Festival and right on schedule it is snowing. Yesterday, the first day of the festival, was pretty nice and the sun even showed its face for a few hours. Now today, here comes the snow. As you can see it is pretty light stuff. It will probably melt in a few hours but I've had enough.

Did any of you get the Monkey Grams I sent? When we got the first one from Aunt Linda I nearly died laughing. They seem to have the same affect on most people.

Hope you are all enjoying this "spring" weather.

Dad

Fun at the Zirker House

So you may be wondering what the heck is going on in this picture. Kelly is actually removing the wax from her ear. The Powells introduced us to the very effective, if slightly odd, method for cleaning ones ears. You put the ear cone in your ear and then light it on fire. The heat melts the wax and then the vaccum it creates draws the wax up into the cone. It works quite well and you even get to go to the natural food store to buy the cones (in bleached or unbleached paper of course). Sweet eh?

Gorgeous

Here's two young ladies trying to look like Gorgeous the Gorilla. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is which.

Sunday Night

This picture must have been taken before they developed the dress and grooming standards at BYU. Actually it was up the canyon (Vivian Park) just before Brant was born.

This is great. About 8:00 Sunday evenings the blog comes to life. Everyone starts to post the weeks activities from their families. I love reading them. The pictures help too.

This week Bishop Berglunds's mom died. She had been fighting some rare disease and it finally got her. She was 80 years old. They had the funeral at Shorts. It was mostly old time farmers with only 6 LDS people there. After the funeral they had a reception type thing at our church on Mountainview. Steve said it was probably the first time some of those old timers had set foot in a Mormon church. He needed a projector to hook to a laptop to show the power point of his mom growing up. He came and asked me if it was OK. I told him for the average member the answer was no, but I would gladly get the projector for him. It's not what you know it's who you know.

Today it hailed, snowed and sun shined. It's that time of the year in Moscow. Remember mowing lawns? I can sure live without that stress.

Tomorrow Mom and I are both off work so we will probably do what we usually do - nothing. Mom has some school work to do and I need to order the food for a luncheon I'm in charge of in Kennewick on Wednesday.

That's about it for now. We love you all.

Dad and Mom

Nursery!!!

Today was Weston's first day of Nursery!!! It didn't even phase him. All week I've been telling him how exciting today would be as his first day with the other kids. He couldn't wait to get there. The past couple of weeks he has found his way to the toys, but Seth has had to drag him out. We kept peeking in on him during the two hours, he even saw Grandpa once and it didn't bother him. So our kid either really loves toys or has no attachment to us...
Nothing else exciting to report. We're narrowing in on our final day at Creekside, we've tentatively decided on April 30th as the last day and then we would have the next two weeks to move. If all works out as planned Seth won't have to work during finals and I could pack everything up to move out right after the semester is over. That's if all works out as planned...
Seth and I are giving talks on Sunday about the importance and blessings of attending our Sabbath day meetings. Anyone have cool stories or thoughts about the subject???

Brant's Post

Time for another post this week. The picture of the week is not family appropriate, so will not be posted. It involved Katie chewing on some femine hygeine products, or what we like to call "fruit roll-ups."

Last night was our family get together at Erik's. It was fun to get together and let all the kids play together. I feel bad that we do not get together more. It seems like we all get busy and the next thing you know it has been several months since we last saw each other.

Friday, we went to another musical. This time is was a local high school's production of State Fair. I had two priest's in the play. They did a good job and sang some really good numbers. One of the boys was in barbershop quartet singing about the love of their lives- no, not women- PIGS! We sat with several other members from the ward and it was a fun evening out.

The rest of the week was spent in various activities. Monday, I canned applesauce for humanitarian day at the cannery. Tuesday, I went along as a chaperone for Tyler's field trip to the Arvada Center. We saw some art work, made pastel drawings, and saw a show about dinosaurs. It was fun to get to know the kids in his class. Thursday, Les helped in Ty's class with the Valentine's party. They had fun and came home with lots of candy. I finally by the end of the week had had enough of sweets. (Did you ever think you would hear me say that!)

That's all folks!!!

Brant

Boys and Toys

Erik took the boys for a test ride on Richdell's new excavator on Friday. They didn't stay outside long because the wind was freezing! Braxton says that they went to the dinosaur museum on Friday. Then they visited daddy's work, that's where we rode the excavator. They tried to grab daddy with the scooper. They tried to grab Kanyon too, while he was on the skid steer.

Weekend at the Zoo

So this weekend cousin Michelle decided that it was time for us to go to the zoo. So we did. Kelly's favorite part were the elephants (since there weren't any sea lions). I liked the gorillas. This is a picture of T-rav taking a "cat nap" just before he growled at the little girl and scared her half to death.

A Slow Night On The Blog

It seems to be a slow night on the blog so I thought I'd give you all something to chuckle about. Boy, don't I with we hadn't used that Navajo rug as a saddle blanked and worn holes in it! I went back years later to the pump house in Warden and tried to find it but someone must have thrown it out.

Today was beautiful. Fifty some degrees and the sun shown all day. The car washes were packed and people were out in their yards working and cleaning up. Shane got all his motorcycles out and cleaned and serviced them. I washed the Explorer yesterday and checked all the fluids today. I even started the Ranchero and let it run for a while.

Shane still plans to take down one of the trees between their place and ours. I mentioned that I wanted to grind the stump and he told me about a van and trailer w/grinder that sits in the parking lot at the McCoy apartments. I went down and got the phone number off the van and called the guy. He will set up a time next week to come look at the stump. It looks like he has the same set-up that I was going to rent from Hahn Rental. Shane wants to ask him if he takes trees down too.

The Jazz Festival starts Wednesday. The town will be crazy for a few days.

That's it for now.

Dad

I Did It !!!!!! & Survived

Mom and I just got home from the hospital. I went in at 8:00am to check in (took one Valium pill) and then I had to get a shot of dye in the shoulder so it would show up on the MRI better. Their paperwork said it was the right shoulder and I had to straighten them out. The orderly said that after all, I would probably know which shoulder hurt. They put me on the table and marked the spot with a sharpie pen. Then they deadened that area and stuck a humongous needle into my shoulder socket. The deadening was OK but the next shot just about brought me up off the table. When I sat up there was a picture of my shoulder on the monitor.

Then off to the MRI. When we entered the room the hole in the machine looked mighty small. I layed on the table and he sand bagged and twisted my shoulder into the position he wanted, handed my a "panic" button (he didn't call it that but that is what it is) and motored me into the machine. Now, I'm not a small guy and the machine is not that big. Thank heaven for the Valium, we all got along fine. At first I had to just concentrate on slow breathing and it all went well. In my mind I was trying to estimate how long I had been in there, he said it would be 35 minutes. My left arm went totally asleep (I couldn't feel it at all) and I was guesstimating about 15 minutes when he started to roll me out and said it had been 40 minutes. He repositioned my arm above my head and rolled me back in for another 2-3 minutes. That one was a piece of cake.

Mom was waited out in the waiting room for me and we came home. I wasn't supposed to drive because I had taken the Valium pill. I really didn't feel different at all but I know I would have been a basket case if I hadn't had it. Now I wait until the 26th when I go back to the doctor's office to get the results. The technician said I did great and didn't move at all. How can you when you are stuck in a little tube?

Mom took a sick day today to go with me and I took a sick day too. So, here we are home at 11:00am and nothing to do. Mom is sewing and I am typing. The sun is shining and it is beautiful outside. It is supposed to be in the 50's tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted.

Dad

Late night fun

Early morning on the 15th, We (training officer and I) got a call for a mental person at the Coeur d' Alene Casino. Some guy was babbling, saying weird creepy stuff, and bothering the customers there. When we arrived he just kept going, so we told him he had to leave and offered him a ride. After making his call for a ride, he decides we are there to kill him, so he climbs up the casino sign along Hwy 95. He made it about 20-25 feet up before things got interesting. While spouting off stuff about the FBI and how we are going to kill him he tried to climb higher, slipped, and fell like a rag doll. He landed feet first and rolled over screaming. Long story short, he got a free trip to the psych ward at the hospital and a free cast on his brand new broken ankle. It's not illegal to be crazy in Idaho, but after you are a threat to others or yourself, then you go for a ride. This is what happens when you self-medicate with meth.

Braxton Zirker, MD

Lisa took this pictures today when the boys were playing "doctor." The first picture shows how Braxton set Kanyon's broken ankle. The "C" clamp sucks the germs out so other people don't get sick. It worked well until Braxton tried to remove it by turning the screw clockwise. Note in the second picture Kanyon's hospital bed, Braxton's doctor's light (a belt and a bracelet), and his medical instrument. Kelly, no need to spend lots of money on doctors and bulky foot casts, the boys could have you fixed up in a jiffy!

We're not going to win...

So, I went online last night to post Weston's picture for the big money, and they're no longer accepting photos...dang it. I wanted a new pair of shoes.

Why you should always wear a helmet

So today was super icy and since I have a broken foot I've been riding my vespa to school. Bad idea because ice and vespas don't mix. I wiped out on a
really icy patch and vespa went sliding down the road while I went flying, landing head first. Good thing I had a helmet on, eh? As you can see, the vespa has seen better days. I look slightly better than the vespa, but only because you can't see the bruises yet. This picture is the worst of the damage but the whole side is scratched to some degree. What a way to start the week.

Life rolls on

Another week has gone by for the two of us up here in lovely North Idaho. I'm getting used to graveyards, and the "night life." I continue to get my feet wet by answering up for every kind of call while on duty (if you want details, just ask). Kimbre is doing great at work, and has submitted her app. for her Idaho license. Sorry we have no pics. We all know I would win with my handsome smiling face (think of me as 3-4 yrs old and sitting at a picinic table... Mom knows the picture).

Kelly I feel for you, a word of caution though, my Irish dancing was never the same after my stress fracture.

Last Word - I Win

It looks like everyone has gone to bed so here is my last post for the cute kid contest.

Just mail the check to 680 Lund Lane, Moscow, Idaho 83843

Have a good week.

Dad

We've Created a Monster

I'm sure glad to see that Kevin has figured out how to use this blog. I thought you had all gone fishing because nothing was posted for a few days. I have been accused of being like Grandpa when he first got e-mail. He posted his first letter and then sat there waiting for everyone's reply. Nothing happened (it takes time for people to read it and then decide to respond).

I talked to my relief society president (the one that introduced me to this site) today at church. She said she tried to find and hack into this blog but couldn't even find it. That makes Mom and I feel better about putting all this family stuff out on the Internet.

Maybe I should go deep into the archives and find a bunch of baby pictures and try for the $5000.00.

Not much going on here. Kevin, my understanding was that the broadcast was shown early on Saturday and then probably again several times. The stakes could watch it at any time they wanted. Our stake did it at 8:00am and also taped it and showed it again today at 4:00pm and invited everyone in the stake. I announced it today and encourages everyone to attend. I told the stake president in my PPI today that I was there yesterday at 8:00am with a bad attitude for ruining my Saturday but left with a tear in my eye from Elder Holland's presentation (Presidents Monson's too).

Keep on blogging and in Brant's case, dancing.

Erik and Matt, are you out there???

Dad

Moab

Kelly went to Las Vegas with her friends this weekend so I decided to go to Moab with my friend Ry Ry. We went down on Friday and rode the Slickrock Trail. It is "the trail" in moab and it took us about three hours. Saturday we rode another 12 mile trail and then made stops at Arches and Canyonlands. We had a lot of fun and I was tired enough that I when I came home I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until this morning when a drunk hispanic man ran his minivan into the neighbors truck.

You think your kids are cute...

I thought I'd post a picture of some cute kids.

Trav is howling at me to tell you all about how I've been crutching around Provo the past 2 weeks because I have a stress fracture in my left foot. Oh and did I mention that I have a fashionable blue-velcro boot as well? It happened in my Irish dance class and so I'm not allowed to dance for a month (2 weeks now). I just got back from a very brief weekend trip to Las Vegas to visit an old roommate. And I've decided that Vegas is a dreadful place. Aside from having a very tasty gelateria (and my roommate) , there really isn't much worth seeing. But it was a fun trip just the same.

My Kids cuter than yours

Lisa is making me do this. She says she'll split the $5000 with you, Lacey.

P.S. We considered entering Kanyon's picture (the one we posted a week ago) but he's too old for the contest. So, we'll give Raya a try.

P.S. Call for confessions!

Family,

Lisa has to teach the Relief Society lesson next week on the Miracle of Forgiveness. Does anyone out there have any good repentance stories that she could share with a room full of sisters? Thanks.

I made it!

I figured out how to create a post without creating a new blog account. Hoorray!! Lacey, we will probably bless our baby in August, at the same time as Hallee's baptism. Erik and Jaime, would that work? You're all invited if that is a good time/date for you.

Kevin's enjoying the less-hectic work schedule. I (Kevin) actually tackled a few home improvement projects yesterday. I didn't get too far on them because we went to the World Wide Leadership meeting. Ours was at 3:00 pm. Was it broadcasted in the morning for PST?

Lisa spoke in church today about "Love in the Family." She used our family as a perfect role model. In preparation for the talk we took a "Language of Love" test. It basically asks if you show love by service, gifts, praise, affection, etc. We learned that one person's way of showing love is not the same way that the receiver want to receive love. Enough of this mushy stuff.

How is the rest of the family? C'mon, don't be shy. If I can navigate this blog stuff, so can you. This will only be successful if every member participates. It's like a team, or an eight-legged table. If you remove one leg, the table falls. (OK, bad analogy).

Anyway, I asked Lisa if there is any more news. We were going to mention Kanyon's poop schedule but didn't think that would be appropriate on a family-oriented blog so we'll leave it out.

Mom, Lisa mentioned in her talk today that you used to put notes in our lunches as a sign of love.

1-4-3

DANCE FEVER

Since we are posting cute kid pictures, I thought I'd add this one of Katie from Christmas time. Needless to say, it was bathtime after we took this shot.

Last night was our stake Valentine's dance. Jamie's cousin David Shaw was our DJ and did a good job. We had plenty of hokey-pokey, YMCA and even a good ole Cotton-Eyed-Joe. Les and I even managed to sneak in a two-step with Katie in tow. It started at 7:00 and by 8:30 I was sweaty, worn out and tired. The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be.

Friday night we drove up to Fort Collins and saw the Academy's production of Disney' High Musical. I had avoided seeing the musical on TV but finally bit the bullet and went to this production. The things we do for family. It was pretty cheesy but the kids did a good job. Les choreographed a few of the dances and they turned out nice. I still do not want to see the real musical. There are much more important things to watch, like Mythbusters or American Chopper.

That's about it for this week.

Brant

Weston

Kimbre told us about the Regis and Kelly baby photo contest, so we've been snapping photos of Weston in an effort to win $5,000.00. It's a long shot, but what's the harm? Here's the one that I want to submit, we took it today after church. Weston loves the razor. Seth's mom sent him a toy Superman/Spiderman (I don't remember which super hero) razor but he wants the real thing because it makes noise. One Sunday as we were getting ready for church, we let him play with Seth's razor, he didn't want to give it up when it came time to go. Because we were in a hurry, we let him play with it in the car. When we got to church, he had a bunch of red marks on his cheeks and neck from shaving. So this last time he got a hold of it, we had to take the blades out...

We're still kickin' here in Moscow. In a effort to strengthen my back (and everything else) after the car accident, I am going to join Curves hopefully this week. Kelly or Leslie, are there any perks for referring new people? I have a friend who is going to join with me, so hopefully we can get a good deal. Seth is enjoying school. We both can't wait for the summer, we're planning on moving to Seattle for the summer. We would also like to make a trip to Denver sometime before August 14th (Weston's 2nd birthday, thus we'd have to pay for him to fly...) Do you guys have your summer scheduled yet as far as baby blessings and baptism go? It would be nice to plan a little family reunion or something.

Well, Weston just woke up, so I better stop bloggin'.

Take care.

It's Time For Spring

Well, it's about that time of year. We've had rainy but warm weather and our snow is all gone except where the snow plows piled it in the corners of the parking lots. I washed about an inch of grime off the Ranger today and actually drove for a couple of blocks with the window down. I had to run some supplies out to the stake center and on the way back I stopped at Hahn Rental and checked on a stump grinder. They have one that mounts on a "Dingo" (a small Bobcat type thing that you walk behind and is mounted on tracks). Does that sound familiar to those of you in the business? I told him I only had one tree, a maple, and he said a half day should do it. The stump is about 3-4' in diameter but I would like to "grind" down an area about 6' in diameter. This would include the area raised by the roots etc. This way I can bring the lawn back down to it's original level and get ready to plant a new tree later this spring. I probably won't do this for a month or so. I can rent the grinder, the powered machine and a trailer for about $200.00 for 4 hours. Hopefully that will do it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Seth, Lacey and I attended the Worldwide Leadership Broadcast this morning at 8:00am. Not my idea of a Saturday morning activity. It was a good presentation and one that we will probably use with all our teachers later in the year when we get the DVD.

I go in for my MRI on Friday morning. I'm not too excited about it but see it as a means to an end. Hopefully it will show what is wrong and I can get on with life.

Hope you are all well and getting ready for spring. I just remembered that Trent call for me this week and I was at a meeting. When I got home it was too late to call him and then I forgot. Sorry Trent, I'll try to call you tomorrow after church. What would be a good time?

That's it for now.

Dad

Today is a really really glorious day. And I'm going to tell you why. Today I finally finished designing the experiment that I have to do for my thesis. FINALLY. If any of you are dying to see what it looks like, feel free to go to this link:

http://new.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_0UidjaCGHUR89P6&SVID=Prod

It's pretty cool. At least I think it is.

A note to Kevin: (in case you don't realize this) you don't need to log onto the blog if you just want to read it. You just log on if you want to make a comment or a post.

Doctor's visit

My appointment went well. First came the x-rays. The standing position was no problem but then came the sitting and stretch your arm out to the side position. She grabbed my arm to help me put my arm way out to the side for a good picture (they say she may recover in a week or two). After that I went to the exam room to wait for the doctor. By the way, the doctor is Dr. Pennington (an orthopedic surgeon) who is in the student stake presidency. He came and said the x-rays didn't show anything drastic but they did show a small bone spur sticking up under one part of the rotator cuff. This is not a result of the injury but something that should be removed. He started through all the things I could do and they were mostly stop-gap solutions. He said the right thing to do is have an MRI and then decide from there. If it is a "partial" tear you can possibly treat it with a cortisone shot, therapy, and live with it. Again I said that was not an option. The other way to go for a partial tear would be to go in and remove the bone spur, smooth the surface where it is, take out bits and pieces of the tear and hope it heals. If it is a complete tear he will need to go in and reattach the rotator cuff (he thinks it is the part right out over the top of the ball and socket that is torn), stitch it to the bone (the ball and then drill two holes up from the outside of the arm bone, up through the ball and attached to the same place for additional strength. Then for 6 weeks I would have to have my arm in a sling, only bringing it out 4 times a day to rotate it so the socket doesn't freeze up. I would have a "foam wedge" between my body and my arm to hold it out from by body. So, once we get the MRI and know how bad it is we will make a decision. In the mean time he wants to schedule the MRI for later this week, then he is out of town next week so surgery would still be a couple of weeks away. Sounds fun doesn't it??????

We'll keep you posted. Dad

This morning

I'm sitting here alone this morning waiting to go to my doctors appointment. It's at 9:15. I'm a little apprehensive but anxious to find out what's wrong with my shoulder.

Matt and Kimbre came down last night. We had dinner with them and Seth and Lacey and then it was hair cut time. Kimbre did Lacey's and then mine. Sure is nice that someone makes house calls for hair cuts. While they were here Matt did their taxes on-line.

Kevin, hang in there. It's bound to get easier. Your attitude seems to come through in your message. I didn't mean to frustrate you.

I talked to Grandpa last night and he was appreciative of the invite to come to Denver for Garrett's wedding. It sounds like he may take you up on it.

That's about it of now.

Dad

I feel like complaining

Dad,

I know this is a good thing and it will all work out in the end, but I'm in a grumpy mood and logging onto this blog is not intuitive.

Anyway, this is the Kevin and Lisa Zirker family signing in for the week.

We're alive.

Snow's melting

Time for our weekly family letter. (I assume that is how we are going to work this.) To the right you will see Katie. Everytime she wears this snowsuit she reminds me of Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story. The temperature has really started to climb here, we are currently at 47 and the snow is finally starting to melt.

Last night was our yearly couples valentine party. About nine couples get together at our friend's home. Each couple brings a sappy video clip and we all share them. This year's winner was Return of Jedi when Han Solo and Leia are surrounded by storm troopers trying to get into the Ewok bunker on Endor. Leia pulls out her hidden blaster and Han Solo says, "I Love You" to which Leia answers "I Know." We also went around the room and told how we met, there were some funny stories, usually starting out, " I was engaged to someone else at the time..."

On the nerdy front, our stake has become quite active in amatuer radio. The stake president wants each ward to have 2 or 3 people licensed. Currently, they are about 30 people attending the licensing class at the Stake Center. They have two more classes and then they take their test. Tonight, I offered to set up my radio at the Stake Center and let them listen into a couple of nets (radio groups) that are run by other stakes in the area. I hope we don't look too sad and pitiful all gathered around my radio listening for conversations while there is a Superbowl going on.

Leslie continues to be busy with her musical rehersals. This year they are doing Anything Goes. (That's all right, I had never heard of it either.) She is a little stressed out because this year they moved up the performance dates so that means fewer rehersals. It should turn out well, but there will be some long hours between now and showtime at the end of the month.

Well, that is enough for now. Keep the pictures and updates coming, I think this blog thing is going to be really neat.

Brant

Family Letter

This week's letter. Some of the stuff has already been published so I'll just hit the highlights. Our nice weather turned to snow last night. We got about 1". It is now 42 degrees so it is all gone and some of the older snow is melting too.

We had a nice ward social last night. Lots of good food, fun and conversation. We played trivia, men vs. women. We had to keep trying but the men came out ahead by one point. I'm not sure how fair that was but we had fun.

I gave the 5th Sunday lesson today in priesthood/relief society. I learned one thing while preparing the lesson - the thickness of three Louis L' Amours is equal to the thickness of the standard works (about 3"). The content may vary from time to time.

I go in to see the doctor on Tuesday to have my shoulder checked. I guess I have come to the conclusions that I probably tore my rotator cuff and it will probably need surgery to correct. But, there is also something wrong with my arm (half way between my shoulder and my elbow - a kind of suspect I might have broken it). I guess I'll know after Tuesday. As you can guess I am a little reluctant to go in but the hurt isn't getting any better and something has to change.

We do look forward to hearing about your families. Keep sending pictures

Mom and Dad

Friday Night Full Moon

I just woke up from the graveyard shift and decidied to check the blog out. You've all gone crazy since I last saw this place.

Last night was a friday night with a full moon and the crazies were out. Five of us deputies attempted to go to a bar to "garnish" the money out of the register. They had a civil court ruling against them and we get to enforce it (legal robbery).

Anyways, as we pull up our Sergeant called out a traffic stop on two 16yr old kids who decided to run in thier ford escort. Next thing I know, I'm doing 110mph trying to catch up to the pursuit. It didn't last too long. The kid tried to turn, laid down 300 feet of skids, hit a curb, went airborne, and ran head-on into an old dodge tow truck (old like 40's old) parked in a parking lot. The driver gave up but his passenger bailed and tried to run. Never run from a police K-9. He gave up pretty quick, before he got eaten. Surprise of the night...they were both drunk.

All in all it wasn't too bad for my first pursuit.

How the dogs?

Well, we finally made it onto the blog. Once we figure this out, we'll post a picture.
Hope you are all doing well.

Where is everyone

It's nice to see that at 8:30 Saturday morning everyone is still in bed or finally slowed down on this here blog. I think this will work just fine to do what I had in mind. Rather than try to develop an additional page for each family, we'll just keep going like we have been. I think when the newness wears off this will be a nice communicating tool.

Mom just left to go pick up Lacey and attend our Stake Women's Conference. She said they had a nice speaker last night and then they have various classes they can attend today. Most of the class speakers are the "regulars" from the town stake (Sister Limburg, Sister Miller, etc,). There is a lunch and then our ward has clean-up duties.

Tonight is our ward social - "Battle of the Genders". The activities chairman sent an e-mail using "Battle of the Genders" because he knew if he used the word "Sexes" every ones e-mail filters would dump the message.

We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday and it looks great today. The temperature is starting to moderate and I can actually see a small patch of grass under the crab apple tree. I might even take the Christmas lights down today. We should be in the 40's by next week. Mom said she saw where it was extremely cold in Denver. Is that right?

Enough for now. Have a nice day.

Dad

The Effects of Stress on a child

The stress of trying to figure this silly thing out has caused our children to turn to substance abuse. Enjoy!

My Turn on this blog

If I don't get a picture on here I'm going to be left behind. This always reminds me of the movie "High Noon". Thanks to Travis for showing me how to do it. It's always nice when someone tells you how and you don't have to spend all that time reading and figuring it out.

This picture is from our trip on the Durango to Silverton railroad. This is at the Silverton railraod station. Not one of the west's most thriving stations.

Big News

Here is the latest picture of "the girls." They were being goofy one morning.

The big news of the day is that we are expecting #4. Most of you know by now, but I thought I'd put it on here for those of you who don't. Les is telling everyone, so I guess it is common knowledge. The baby should arrive around mid-August. Les is feeling better, now that she has made it through the first trimester.

For Matt

Matt, I just thought I'd let you know how much I enjoyed Christmas this year. It was so disappointing that you didn't make it to breakfast this day. We even saved you a special piece of coffee cake.

Snowshoeing

Here's a picture of Kelly and I snowshoeing behind Mt. Timpanogos. Sorry it's a little dark but the sun wasn't shining back there and it was only about 5 degrees at the time.

Kent

I've created a monster. Now we'll all be bloggers and they will talk about us in priesthood meeting because of all the time we waste. By the say, I am teaching the 5th Sunday lesson this Sunday and the topic is Time Management. Any suggestions? I want to address these new married (1-6 years) couples and how they need to spend time with each other and strengthen their relationship. No "nights out" with the boys. Give me some ideas, both good and bad.

Hope you are all having a nice day!!!!!

Hello family

So are you Zirkers going to reply to comments that we write? If I ask a question when someone posts a blog will I ever get an answer? Or will I live in darkness?

Look at me

Look at me! I figured out how to post on this here thing.

Nice

We're in like we're burnin' daylight!

Kent

Here it is day two. Brant and Matt have entered the system.

Just remember this is pretty basic and I am still learning. I want to do some more things to the home page but can't figure out how to do them. I want to add a picture of the family and then establish a page or link for each family. Then you can each update what is going on with your side of the family. I'll visit with the sister in the ward that told me about this and then keep trying the old hunt and peck method.

Matt just called and asked if I had seen him on the 5:00pm news (I wasn't watching). Last night a drunk tried to play chicken with a freight train. The drunk lost (he was walking down the tracks). He had just left a bar. I think Matt said they were the first law enforcement on the scene. I'll stick to cleaning buildings.

I hope this blog thing works out. Give me your opinion when you write.

Brant

I'm in! Thanks for getting this set up.

Brant