Erik's Cars

Mom knew exactly where they were.
The Jeep

The Wedge

The Stock Car

She also found the Log, the Canoe, and the Coupe. We'll save those for another day.

Pinewood Derby Cars

Here they are. Back in those days the photography left a little to be desired. I do recognize the "log" in the center.
You can see the "log" a little better here. Do you recognize any other cars?

This picture looks like "dueling brothers."

More "dueling brothers."

Kevin's "32 Coupe"

Erik and Trent, sorry I couldn't find a picture of the famous Jeep. I remember it was brown with a tinted piece of plexi-glass for a windshield. Erik won a ribbon and some money with it at the Grant County Fair as I remember.

Hope these help. Sorry we couldn't find more.

Good Luck tomorrow night.

SNOW!!!

Well, we finally received a big dumping of snow. I think we ended up with almost a foot here at our house. I grabbed a few hours of sleep after plowing all night with Erik and Kevin, and we spent Friday playing in the snow. It is quickly becoming a tradition to build a snow fort after a heavy snow. Luckily, this one went pretty quickly and the kids had fun helping. As I look out the window, we are back to grass and the fort is a pile of boards. Good times while it lasted.

Other than the nice shot of my behind, this is what Dennis and I did on Saturday. Dennis had some time off and so after a week in Arizona at Spring Training, he visited Tina for a few days and then our family. This was with the understanding that we put him to work. I resisited but Les said that he was tired of living in an apartment and wanted something to do. We ripped up the old blue vinyl tiles and laid down these slate looking vinyl tiles. Other than lots of nasty pee soaked plywood under the toilet (thank goodness for Kilz), it went pretty well. This picture is me applying silicone around the toilet to avoid a nasty repeat.

Brant

Summer Plans

For anyone who's been following, you may have noticed that in the last month I've made a few trips for work. Very scenic locations like Las Vegas, Vernal and Roosevelt. I've been working installing home security systems (in case you're wondering, I'm not one of the leachy return-missionary types that goes door-to-door selling them, I just install them). I enjoy the work and it pays well so I'm off to Nashville and Memphis Tennessee for the summer to work. I'll be leaving in three weeks and Kelly will come as soon as she is done teaching the Spring term at UVU. I'm going with two of my neighbors and my next door neighbor is my boss, so it should be a fun summer and we'll get to live in a part of the US where I've never even been before. While we're there I'm hoping to be able to take weekend trips to Alabama, Mississippi, and possibly New Orleans. I'm sure we'll see plenty of exciting things that you don't find here in Utah, possibly eat some chicken, corn bread and grits and experience some good, old fashioned Southern hospitality.

At least I know that if I wear orange in Tennessee I'll fit right in. I'll be able to go to the football game on Saturday, hunting on Sunday and pick up trash on the side of the road with the convicts on Monday.

Another Festival of Colors

Perhaps you remember last year's post about the festival of colors at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. Well this year's was much the same, but with even more people..about 5000 more. So if you don't remember what it's about, read my old post. Or if you don't care, just look at how lovely T-rav and I look with our colors this year.

Enough is Enough is Enough!!!!!!!

You'd think it was still winter. Yesterday Shane raked and fertilized his lawn and this is what happened. This morning I drove the Ranger to church, not a good decision. I barely got up the hill past the football field and then slipped and slid all the way to church. It is melting now and the drive home was better.

This picture is from Matt and Kimbre's vacation. This is the Battleship Missouri (The Mighty Mo as she was called by those who served on her). It was decommissioned after WWII and sat in Bremerton, Washington as a tourist attraction for years. I always wanted to tour it but put it off until "tomorrow". In the early 90's it was refitted with all the latest gadgets and armament and recommissioned for use in the Gulf War. Then it was decommissioned again and moved to Pearl Harbor for permanent assignment as a tourist attraction again. I would love to climb all over it but alas it is too far away. Maybe some day.

Thursday I go in to have my toenail removed. How's that for something to look forward to? Not much new here. Still waiting for spring. I got my new garage door opener last week. Now I just need a nice day to lay it all out and install it. After 34 years I will be able to just push a button and up it goes.

We got the bid to put the new "rock" like vinyl product around the concrete foundation of the house. It was over $7,000. So, now we are working on Plan B (there is no Plan B).

Have a good week.

Our Hawaii Trip

Matt and Kimbre do not have Internet service in their new home yet so I am posting these pics from our house. They came down this week and we dumped all their pictures on our external hard drive and so, like Grandpa, I am picking a few to post on the blog. Maybe if they can find a place to access the blog, they can do a commentary in the "comments" section.

Spring Break is Over

Seth took Weston to Yakima on Friday to watch Ned play baseball, but really to leave me to my vinyl. I'm trying to have 200 products for the crafts fair. The above product is one of the signs I made and is an idea from Dana Peterson, Charlie's wife, who used to do vinyl. Normally one does not hang it on their heat register, but one does when it is late at night. Travis saved me on the shipping cost and picked the cast iron scrolls up in Lehi and then mailed them to me. Seth and Weston came home last night and Seth will start school again tomorrow. I have the jury for Farmer's Market on Saturday, so I'm hoping that goes well. That's it for now. Lisa, you do the coolest projects. I love the "syrup pockets" on the waffles.

Two totally unrelated things.

Felt Food: Lisa made this waffle iron for Raya's birthday (April 3rd, don't forget to call).

What? Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?

A sister in the ward was watching Adria while Lisa was conducting primary. And, Adria found her lipstick. Luckily they were able to wash it off. I was none the wiser until Lisa showed me this picture.

Just for fun...

Seeing Travis's picture of the new bridge, reminded me of this cartoon.

Brant

Off to State!

Tyler had his Odyssey of the Mind competetion on Saturday. Their skit is about a warthog who learns several new tricks. He learns to fly on a broom and spins his tail. He learns to swim and paddle his legs. He even learns to lie and his nose grows like Pinocchio. Ty is Dr. Bugs who helps the warthog to see better. They did okay on their presentation and outstanding on their "sponteneous" part (kind of like sight reading.) They placed first in their category and will go on to the state competetion in April.

Brant

The USS Arizona

I have always been interested in WWII stuff and when Matt and Kimbre sent us a post card from Hawaii (the top picture) it brought back old memories of when I toured the USS Arizona memorial in 1969. I've always found that era somewhat fascinating. I Googled the "Arizona" and found dozens of pictures, including the one above.

We are in the middle of the Moscow Monsoon Season. Last night it just dumped on us. Today it drizzled and it is supposed to rain off and on all week. I should have known. Joe, Joan, and I all washed our cars yesterday and now they are all dirty again.

About two weeks ago my left big toe kind of flared up on me. I have been very careful for over 20 years and not had a problem and now it is inflamed, bleeding, and so sore you can't even get near it. I am going to call the doctor in the morning and take the first appointment he has to get it taken care of. Hopefully he can see me in a day or two. I have a meeting in the Tri-Cities on Tuesday but I don't care. This thing hurts too bad.

It looks like we will need to replace the whole roof over the cultural hall in Pendleton. We found out that this is the 11th building of this type and era (1947) that has had roof failure. The church has decided that total replacement of that section is the best way to go. The architect and project manager are estimating about $250,000. We'll have to see what happens. Everyone is working hard and fast to get this thing approved and construction under way so we can open it up during the summer when it doesn't rain as much.

It's back to school tomorrow for Mom. It was a good vacation but all good things must end.

Thanks for the calls on my birthday.

Not a lot going on on the blog tonight so I'll throw something on. This last week I went to Las Vegas to work for a few days and Kelly came down to join me when her Spring Break started. We saw cousins Buddy and Michelle and then wandered a few hours south to Phoenix to visit with some friends. Phoenix was lovely and sunny and we were both impressed. I do think Spring would be a great time to be there, but maybe not the summer (what do you think Lisa?). We managed to go swimming a few times, hike up Camelback Mountain, play tennis, walk around downtown, visit the farmers market and help someone move. I think a good time was had by all. I especially enjoyed the drive home today as we passed through all types of terrain and weather. We left sunny, deserty Phoenix and passed through rain, snow, wind and more sun all on the way home.

The bypass bridge being built at the Hoover Dam

We stopped to sign the wall and eat a Cheesesteak in Wikieup, Arizona
Kelly, just before she was blown off the bridge at Glen Canyon Dam

I got accepted!!!

WSU is having their mom's weekend crafts fair at Beasley Coliseum in two weeks. I just found out about it and applied for a booth. You have to pass "the jury" and I did! I received my acceptance letter yesterday!!! I'm so excited. It's the same thing as the big crafts fair we used to go to in October with all the fun wooden toys and gadgets. Seth's friend from high school lives in Spokane and his wife will be joining me. She sells custom photo albums.

Sleep Apnea

I fell asleep on the bed tonight while reading my scriptures. I would have remained in that comotose position until 3 or 4 in the morning except for a dream. It seemed that my hands were bound and there was some sort of thick cloth over my mouth, through which I could not breathe. The urgency of it hit me when I realized if I didn't get air soon I would probably black out. Then I woke up, gasping for air.
You ever had a dream like that?

Here is a picture of the Ochre Hills temple. It's about 10 minutes from Angie's house. We took a drive around it last Sunday with Travis.
Can anyone spot the monkey. The tree in our front yard is just getting big enough to climb.

Here's Braxton's artwork at an art show for our school district. His is the middle house on the black sheet of paper.

Happy Birthday Lacey!

Sorry we missed you today....we'll try to catch you tomorrow if you're not too busy vinyling!

Our Next Project

Heaven forbid we go into the spring and summer with nothing to do. We decided to actually jump into a project and do it rather than wish and talk about it. The upstairs bathroom. We decided that we could dream and talk about it for years or we could come back to earth, scale back on the size and just do it. So, it looks like now we will put in a new tub (I dread this), put new green rock around the thing and then add a new tub surround, new window, new floor vinyl (the other is stuck down pretty well so I'm thinking of just laying the new squares on top of the old stuff), new towel bars, TP dispenser, sink and shower hardware, and paint. This way we get a new look without the expense of "remodeling" the whole room. Yesterday at Home Depot we saw a tub surround we liked but it was over $2,000 just for the walls. We decided it was nice but not that nice.

We also went to the Dome Show and got some ideas for the outside of the house. We kind of want to add the rock look to the exterior of the house from the siding down to the ground. We saw some nice fake stuff that looks good. The guy was willing to come give us an estimate although I told him it was "iffy" at best.

We're all headed to Richards for cake and ice cream for Tiffany's Tyler's birthday and Lacey's birthday. Right in the middle of that I have an Eagle board of review to do. This will be my 97th eagle.

Andrew Berglund had his mission farewell today. It was very nice and really by the book as per the church direction. He is going to some south, south Texas mission (Spanish). Cody Woodbury got his call to the Ukraine. He leaves in June I think. Tyson will be home in a couple of weeks. Pat is flying down to get him this week.

Have a good week. Go to the Backlund Cousin's blog to see Mom's old fort/tree house. Grandpa Backlund built it for her.

We Made it Back Alive

After getting all moved in, Kimbre and I decided to do the responsible thing and take a trip to Hawaii. Her parents bought into a timeshare company and Kimbre has been saving her tips for the last year to pay for our fun time.

We made it back from Hawaii yesterday. We took the red-eye out of Maui at 11:00 and made it to Spokane around 1:00 the next day. I forgot all about the day-light savings change, so I was all sorts of mixed up when I came back to the mainland.

We had a geat week in Maui and did a quick overnight trip to Oahu to see the USS Arizona and the Polynesian Cultural Center. The weather was kinda poopy all week, so our activities were hit and miss. We enjoyed snorkeling in the ocean and saw quite a few sea turtles. We tried to take a snorkeling trip to the island of Molokini, but the wind and rain was a little too much. We did however see quite a few whales as they wintered off the islands. It was nice to take a week and just relax with no schedules to keep or crazy graveyard schedules to battle with.

As soon as we get internet access, I'll post some pics of the trip. It's just one of the many things on our new to-do list.

A big thanks to Mom and Dad for helping with our move. We were a little less than prepared, but they took it in stride and really helped out.

A Dad Saturday

Yesterday, I found myself without a huge list of church, school or family activities planned so I was able to get a lot small projects finished around the house.

I spent the morning with Aimee finishing some details on the basement remodel. (The HP of our ward are finishing out a member's unfinished basement for the missionaries.) This week I installed the plumbing and no leaks. I even installed my first electrical sub-panel and fired it up. No sparks and everything works. Aimee and I helped the bishop hang the last of the cement board in the bathroom yesterday. We are now ready for taping and texturing (that will be hired out.)

After lunch, I raked the leaves in the backyard and got the patio cleaned off. I even fired up the sprinkler system and gave the yard a good watering. The poor grass looked really dry.

I then vacuumed out the van and took it to a car wash. I came home and did the same thing to the focus along with an oil change. A quick trip to Home Depot made the day complete. When I got done, I thought about all the Saturday's back home spent cleaning the cars with dad and working around the house. Good times, good times...

Brant

We're still alive...

Not much is going on except school, the kids have been sick, and I do vinyl. I'm trying to catch up on everything in between orders. I've been getting some random customers through the store and my website, which is always exciting. On the last Saturday of the month, I'll be showcasing my goods for the Farmer's Market craft jury. There are only 35 spots available for crafters this season. So, we'll see how it goes. It would be every Saturday from May through October, so if all goes as planned, I would be a little busy... but I hope it works out!!! Pat and I are doing the booth together but she will be in the Phillipines picking up Tyson from his mission when I do the jury thing. Can you believe Tyson is coming home? Cody got his call to the Ukraine and will leave in a couple of months.

I got a new calling yesterday, I'm the Relief Society Secretary. I didn't think I would be doing much, but I've have since learned that I'll be busy with Visiting Teaching and all the numbers. We went to visit some sisters on Sunday and were able to have a good visit with an inactive sister. She acted as if nothing were amiss, so we'll see if they start coming back. That's the fun part.

Hope everyone is well. We got tons of snow today!!!

Spring, What Spring?

No pictures today. It has snowed the last couple of days and this week it is supposed to get down into the single digits (about 8 degrees). Where did spring go?
Grandpa finished his two weeks of radiation therapy. Now they say his nose will feel like a giant sun burn for a couple of weeks. Hopefully this will kill the little spot of cancer.
He also claimed he lost all the hearing in his right (good) ear over night. I said, it just doesn't happen that way. Brenda took him to the doctor and they washed a humongous gob of wax out of this hear. He must have pushed it up against his ear drum while poking things in his ear. Suddenly he can hear again.
Now he has an ingrown toe nail. He has had it since November. He is going in to have it surgically repaired. He takes all the poking and prodding in stride.
I have had a sore "spot" in my throat for over a year and decided it was time to have it checked out. The specialist checked everything and couldn't find anything. I was concerned about it being cancer but he assured me that there was nothing to indicate that. Basically, he couldn't tell me why it was sore. It kind of comes and goes but is always there. I feel better just knowing I had it checked out.
Mom's asleep upstairs, I just finished working with an eagle scout wannabee so it is time for a nap.
We love you all.

509-349-2024

I was poking around on the interweb this morning and somehow got onto the topic of Warden, Washington. It was kind of fun to look at the map and see where we used to ride our bikes to school, where the soap-box derby was and where I did my first handlebar-walk-over on the hill next to the Cornelison's (sp?) house. In case you're wondering, it looks like the unfinished house next to theirs is still unfinished. Here's a few questions I came up with.

Dad-It looks like G&G's farm was roughly half of one the the large squares (the ones divided by township, range and all that. Maybe 1 mile per side) that the surrounding area is divided into. The square is divided on kind of a weird diagonal line. Any reason for that? Who owned the land to the west of G&G's farm, the other half of the square?

Some general trivia:

-What was our P.O. Box number? Combo?
-We lived on 5th street. Anyone know the name of the two cross streets that we lived between?
-How far from our house to Amy Walker's? To the park? (I was way off on the park)
-Name of the main canal east of G&G's?



*I tried our old phone number this morning. No one answered.

Dad

Well Dad, my ward now thinks that you walk on water. It was my turn to speak in Sacrament Meeting today (a member of the Bishopric speaks once a month) and I spoke about being a Son of God. I used my own father and then compared that to our Heavenly Father. I talked about learning the value of hard work, working beside my dad. I'm still impressed that you would drag along a couple of small boys to work. I don't know what your bosses thought of that, but your boys sure appreciated it.

Thanks for the great example-

Brant

Placeholder

We don't have a lot to say about this week but I at least wanted to make a post so that we remain in with the inheritance.

We went to Leslie's show on Thursday. It was good and we always appreciate the free tickets. Leslie, maybe next year I could do something to earn them.

FYI, Lisa's grandmother passed away on Friday. This is Roxann's stepmother. The funeral will be Saturday in Utah. We'll most likely drive out on Friday and return on Monday. Travis, any chance of seeing yous guys on Sunday? We'll try to slip away from the family for a few hours.

That's about it.

Before & After

Remember the great snows of December?

This is the way it looked Saturday morning, and by Saturday afternoon it was all gone!!!

This week was Jazz Festival. We had three girls from BYU-Idaho staying with us. One was from Sacramento, one from Blackfoot, and one from Springfield, Oregon. They were all nice although we didn't see them very much. They arrived Wednesday evening and left Saturday morning. Mom kept them well fed with lots of snacks to make it through the day.

We went to Post Falls on Monday and helped Matt and Kimbre move. Kimbre's dad rented a U-Haul truck and we make it in one and 1/4 trips (we went all the way to Post Falls but the truck was only 1/4 full on the second trip). We left the Ranger for them to use mid-week to pick up a washer and dryer (in the end they didn't need it). We drove their car home. I have determined I'm not suited for a Mazda 3!!! I need a slightly larger vehicle. They brought the Ranger back today, had lunch and will take their car home tonight.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I've had a sore spot in my throat for about a year and it just doesn't want to go away. I figured it was about time I have someone check it out.

Spring is just around the corner. I can almost feel it. Remember, daylight savings time starts next Sunday.

Gaston

I thought I would upload a sample of the show. The backdrop covers the castle behind it, but also reduces the stage size by half. One of Les's biggest challenges was what to do with all the kids on a small stage.

Brant

Beauty and the Beast

"Chip in the tea cart I built."

"Tyler in the castle's dungeon."

Last night was the final show for Leslie's musical this year. Everyone involved did a great job and it turned out really well. She always wonders how it will come off, and every year it turns out wonderfully. The character actors (Cogsworth, Lumiere, etc...) did a great job with their parts.

At the end of the "Be Our Guest" scene they wanted a spray of confetti. They were going to rent two cannons for $1200. I talked with Les and we decided to try my water rocket cannons from the reunion. I took off the riser and replaced it with the body from a 12 inch pop up sprinkler. We filled it full of confetti, pumped it up to 90 psi and let it rip. It turned out awesome! They put one on each side of the stage and shot them at the end of the song.

The best part now is that we get our mom back! As I write this, Les is fast asleep with the girls. After last night's show, Les had to chaperone the cast party. She got home around 2:00 this morning. At church today, she taught Relief Society. I'm not sure how she does it all, but she does a good job.

Brant