Halloween Party Extraordinaire

My parents hosted a Halloween party this week, and we all had a "spook-tacular" time! The food was fun and creepy (some food items-- like Dad's "witch fingers"-- were so disgusting-looking that most of us couldn't bring ourselves to eat them) and almost everyone was sporting a costume of some kind.




Brigham borrowed a big pink bunny costume that most found very becoming but that Ty found terrifying. Ty was a little disconcerted by all of the costumes, but that bunny costume pushed him over the edge. He got hysterical if we even went near Brigham. I struggled not to laugh as I comforted the poor little kid. Due to the bunny trauma, Ty refused to don his pumpkin costume. I guess that's something we should probably work on in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully post-traumatic shock wears off quickly in one-year-olds.


There were many fun games and activities including "Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin", "Musical Electric Chairs", a balloon stomp, a ping-pong ball blowing war, and various races. Benjamin also favored us by reading an original Halloween composition complete with illustrations. The evening ended with a pumpkin carving contest and cookie decorating. Living near family again is a lot of fun!

Family Fun

We are always looking for fun and inexpensive things to do as a family. A few weeks ago I suggested that we go to Kennecott mine, and boy was that a hit! With all of the tractors and dumptrucks, it was a little boy's personal paradise. I felt like a hero for suggesting it. This week's suggestion did not go over as well.

I saw an add for a witch display at Gardner Villiage, and I thought like it sounded like a fun and festive thing to go see, so we invited Brigham's parents, and off we went. Personally, I thought it was very cute and fun, but I practically had to drag my boys around from witch to witch, and only threats of dire punishments could cajole them into posing for pictures. And that only worked part of the time. Afterwards Brigham pointed out that the only other males there were under the age of two. Strangely, I think that's true. I certainly didn't get any hero's status this week, but I did get a few cute pictures.

Spotlight on Benjamin

Since I use this blog as a family journal of sorts, I thought I'd take a minute and spotlight each one of our kids (since I've stopped writing in their individual journals-- Ty was the death of the whole journaling thing). They are each so fun that I want to be able to remember their cute little antics at these stages forever.

Benjamin just turned seven at the beginning of the month, but he's been wearing size seven clothes for a long time now-- in fact, he's starting to grow out of them! It works out nicely though because although he is the youngest kid in his class, he's still one of the tallest.

Benjamin never ceases to amaze me. Since he was tiny, he's always been fully committed to the things he was interested in-- to the point of total obsession. Fortunately, now that he is older, he is able to be interested in more things at a time. The following are some of the things that float Benjamin's boat at the moment:

1. Sports. It doesn't seem to matter what the sport is, he wants to do it. And he's pretty good at them, too. Just yesterday his soccer coach suggested that we put him in a more competitive soccer league because he is clearly his team's superstar. He is also amazing when it comes to hitting baseballs. He can stand up by our house and hit balls clear across our yard and over the top of our neighbors' playhouse which is built on about 6 foot stilts. He certainly didn't get it from me!

2. Word games. Bookworm is still his favorite, and the kid has UNBELIEVABLE word skills. He can find long words while I'm still staring at the grid trying to get my bearings. He also likes to play Boggle with us and is pretty good.

3. Reading. Benjamin is a great reader and powered through probably close to one hundred books this summer. We just finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban together, and he loved it. I'm sure he'd already be done with the whole Harry Potter series by now if we let him have his way, but we only let him read one HP book with us each year.

4. Pets. Benjamin was infatuated with all of his friends' dogs and BEGGED to get one for his birthday, but thanks to a tip from my visiting teacher, he got a hamster instead. He is totally smitten with Chip (his hamster) and is trying to train him to come when called.

Benjamin is a wonderful kid who seems to be able to succeed at whatever he puts his mind to. We love him a lot and feel lucky to have him in our family!

Catch Up

This month has been a crazy one, and as soon as things get busy, the poor blog gets neglected. So this post is an attempt to record our exciting August events.




We finally got our group of high school friends together and had a wonderful evening with them. Two things amazed me: First-- everyone looks exactly the same as they did in high school (why am I the only one aging here?), and second-- it's amazing how many kids we have as a group! It was really fun to watch our kids playing with our friends' kids-- "The Gang Part II."



All summer I've been wanting to take our kids tent camping since I have so many fun camping memories, but with Jacob hating the great outdoors the way he does, I was nervous about it. We decided just to go up Little Cottonwood Canyon and give it a shot since it is so close to our house and would be easy to bail if we needed to. I spent all day packing up (I can NOT believe how much stuff is required for a simple overnight camping trip! It's no wonder we don't do it that often!), and when Brigham woke up we took off. Unfortunately, we missed the last camping site by about 20 minutes. After all the preparation the last thing I wanted to do was go home, so we decided to be brave and drive 1 1/2 hours to camp with my family at their mountain property. Jacob mostly wanted to hang out in Grandpa's Jeep or in the trailer, but it actually went surprisingly well! It was Ty's first camping trip (sad to say), and he had a great time. He LOVED Grandpa's "tractors" (ATVs).






Jacob's fifth birthday was a major August event as well. I still can't believe that my boy is 5! Jacob's birthay was one of those days when everything that can go wrong does. We were seven minutes late for our appointment to meet his teacher, so we had to reschedule. The balloons I bought for Jacob were not tied tightly enough to their holder, and they ended up on Walmart's ceiling. Brigham took Jacob to the raceway in West Valley to see some real race cars, and they finished practicing about 2 mintues after they arrived. We went to go swimming (one of his very favorite activities this summer!), but found that all the pools were closed. Jacob was a very good sport about everything and seemed to enjoy his day despite all that went wrong. Like always, he LOVED opening his presents (even more than the presents themselves), and we let him eat about four pieces of his Bookworm cake (he would have kept going, but I knew that we were nearing the point when we'd see all that cake once more). Aunt Cambrie arrived from CA with her girls that afternoon, so it was fun to have cousins for a birthday party!



After a summer that didn't feel nearly as eternal as the last one did (thanks to having family close by), Benjamin and Jacob headed off to school. Benjamin started second grade on the 23rd, and was happy not to have to go with a full set of baby teeth once again, having lost his first tooth about 5 days before. In ABQ he was one of only 4 boys in his class of 17, and now he is enjoying being one of 21 boys in a class of 26. He actually has 2 teachers who each teach for half of the week.



Jacob started school on the 30th. He is in a developmental kindergarten class that only has 6 kids with a teacher and 2 aides. So far it seems like he is enjoying it quite a bit!

Although we don't have pictures (I have a hard time managing a camera when my boys require full-time supervision), we also spent a weekend up at Bear Lake with the Dastrups. Unfortunately we arrived in unison with a storm/cold front, but we still had fun swimming in the heated pool, playing on the beach, and playing some tennis. Jacob started having asthma trouble which ended up cutting our trip a little short, but with the help of some breathing treatments and steroids, Jacob is doing much better.


Whew. We finally made it to September. It is only the 5th, but those few days have been eventful. Brigham's sister got married on Benjamin's birthday (much to his dismay since wearing dress clothes is just about the worst thing you could make him do), and she had her reception the night before ("I can't believe that I have to wear church clothes for three days in a row!" said Benjamin after church today.) Not only were Aunt Liz's wedding and luncheon on his birthday (both wonderful events), but the first BYU game of the season was, too! Benjamin was happy that the team gave him a victory for his birthay. He received many wonderful presents, but his favorite was the hamster that we gave him (instead of the dog he's been begging for). He named it Chip (short for Chipmunk since he thinks it looks like one), and he adores that little animal! Ty does, too. We all get a kick out of watching it roll around the house in its ball.


Here is Benjamin's football field cake which Jacob got to before he even saw it. Benjamin was shockingly good about it. He just laughed and said, "Jacob, you're a pest!" I learned that Jacob's wingspan is far more than I gave him credit for.


So that's about it! For any of you still reading, here are a couple of random cute pictures from August:


Ty figured out how to ride a scooter at 18 months old. The kid never stops going!


...except when he's sleeping. He loves chewing on Bear's tail and often falls asleep while doing it. Maybe that's why Bear went missing for a weekend this month... it was a long weekend!

Canyoneering Adventurers!

Four beginners. Seven beautiful, fast-flowing waterfalls. One crazy idea to rappel down them, and a guide loopy enough to take on the task. Add it all up and you get a day never to forget!

We went with my brother and his wife, and between the four of us we could still count all of the times we'd been rappelling on one hand. The canyoneering trip that we chose was for experienced rappellers (as we found out when we arrived), but our guide assured us that he could get us through in one piece if we still wanted to go. Of course we did!

Anyone watching a video of our experience might think that they were watching clips from "America's Funniest Videos": there was plenty of slipping on slimy rocks, crashing into the side of the canyon, going under the waterfalls, and general spasticity. Put that together with our ultra-attractive canyoneering attire (rain jackets over helmets and wet suits), and my guess is that we would have sent anyone with the slightest degree of experience into hysterics. Luckily we were the only ones in the whole canyon. Our guide might have been laughing, but the roaring of the waterfall drowned it out (he said the water was at the highest level he'd ever seen it thanks to the rain for several days beforehand-- it was also colder than normal. BRRRRRRRR!).

Despite our complete lack of canyoneering skills, it was an amazing experience! Our rappels took us through this beautiful slot canyon that would have been a pleasure just to see. Add the thrill of rappelling down gorgeous waterfalls, and it was an experience like no other!

The rest of our trip was spent hiking around in Arches National Park and enjoying the amazing beauty there. We went on a 7 mile hike on primitive trails that was fantastic. It felt so good to be back out in nature again! Our goal is to somehow convince Jacob that nature is way better than electronics. Wish us luck!

Good-Bye Smokey

Today we mourn the loss of one we count as a member of our family-- our dear Smokey. Smokey has been with us since the very foundation of our family, being the car that I purchased in college. It was my first car, and in the last 12 years we have formed a very special bond.

Smokey may have had a salvage title from being in a flood in St. George, but he always got us from point A to point B-- with only a few repairs being needed between the two. It was Smokey who wisked us away from our wedding reception and off into the sunset, and it was Smokey that Brigham drove into a cement barrier the day after. (I will miss seeing that dent every day.) It was Smokey who brought our first baby home from the hospital. It was Smokey who took Brigham to his first and last day of medical school, and his first and last day of residency. Although the Kelley Blue Book may have said (and I quote) "this car has no value", it's easy to see why to us, he was worth every repair.

Smokey was a very loyal car. Being the amazing machine that he was (a 1994 Ford Escort but with a Japanese engine as we found out during the excrutiating safety inspection in Maryland), he was stolen within a month of our move to Baltimore. We deeply mourned his loss even then, but only a week later, Smokey found his way home-- scarred and smelling like an ashtray.

Smokey has traversed the country a couple of times in his long life. He has sported Utah, Maryland, New Mexico, and Utah plates once again. We can take some measure of comfort in knowing that he expired in his home state.

Thank you, Smokey, for sharing our lives and being there most of the time when we needed you. You will be sorely missed.

Oh, Glorious Day!

Ty turned 18 months old yesterday-- a huge milestone in every LDS family. No longer am I condemned to walk the halls every Sunday with a restless toddler who can think of nothing greater in life than pushing the button on the water fountain and trying to slurp water off of the drain (I know-- so gross!).

As suspected, Ty had no problem with going to nursery. The minute he saw the cars and trucks he raced away without a backward glance. Brigham sat next to a man who'd spent the first hour in nursery, and after mentioning that our son was there, the man said, "Is your last name Dastrup? Oh, yes! Your son seems to know how cute he is and that he can get away with just about anything! He's a troublemaker!" Hmmm...

Dastrup Family Reunion

The first annual Max and Claudia Dastrup Family Reunion was a rockin' party. There were some nail-biting soccer games...


some wicked noodle ball...


wild water events...


the Family Olympic Games...


heavenly music, and many other awesome activities not pictured here
such as a hike to Stewart Falls (which we are proud to claim as our first full successful hike as a family, although Jacob did require a shoulder ride from Brigham nearly the entire 2 miles back and my shoulders were about to fall off from carrying Ty in our Kelty).

Ty survived being pushed into our 6-foot window well and then hosed down by a well-meaning cousin ("I was just trying to help him get down!") with only minor scrapes and bruises, so all in all, the reunion was a huge success!

Fourth Festivities

It's nice to live in a place where the Fourth of July is celebrated as it should be again. (I was always bummed that there was not a parade to be found in Albuquerque except on Cinco de Mayo-- causing Brigham to exclaim, "What country is this, anyways?") We had a couple of days of celebration, thanks to the holiday falling on a Sunday. On the third we got to enjoy Sandy city's celebration-- bouncy castles, police K-9 demonstrations, booths, etc. with Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup and cousins, and that evening we attended the Sandy parade. It was really fun to watch our boys during the whole thing. For Jacob it was definitely a love/hate relationship. All of the firetrucks and vehicles were fascinating, but the loud sirens were just too much. Both he and Ty felt like they needed my lap to be secure, causing somewhat of a commotion since I only have one lap. Monday was Provo's celebration, and we enjoyed the parade with the Dastrups (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa who went at 5:30 am to save us a good spot!) and then a BBQ, kiddie pool, and fireworks with the Gronemans. How fun to be able to celebrate with family once again! Happy birthday, America!

Settling In

I have been chastised for not blogging much in the last couple of months. There just always seems to be something more pressing to do-- laundry(currently there are 4 clean batches getting wrinkled up in the laundry basket), weeds to pull, bathrooms to clean (FOUR of them!), etc. This new home is wonderful, but it does require a lot more work, so the blog falls by the wayside. Here is a quick recap of what's been going on.

First of all, we've been loving having family around and have been doing many fun things with both sides. There have been cousin parties, a trip to the zoo with Uncle Brett and Aunt Katie, Thanksgiving Point farm, Wheeler Farm, the highland splash park, and many other get-togethers with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. It's been awesome.

Benjamin loves playing with his cousins as often as possible, and he has made a couple of friends in the neighborhood, though he is still too shy to go ask if they can play. He has been reading up a storm and will be starting swimming lessons on Tuesday (wish him luck-- he's been nervous around water all of his life!).

Jacob has started his summer school program and seems to enjoy it from what we can tell. He's started becoming more vocal in the last couple of weeks and is experimenting with sounds such as "na na na". It's very exciting for me to hear his voice, even if he isn't saying words. I pray that maybe this will encourage him to become more verbal!

Ty is still a crazy kid who has no sense of his own mortality. He's almost constantly putting himself in danger-- running down slides, dancing on the table or his high chair, running in front of swings, etc. He's started becoming more verbal, too. He loves calling to me, "Mama!" and when I answer he says "Okay." Then we repeat that exchange about 50 times in a row. He also asks, "Where is it?" and "-K go? (Where did my milk go?)" He LOVES to draw and will tell on himself for drawing somewhere he shouldn't by saying, "Uh-oh!" when he does it. He never walks anywhere-- his little legs always move as fast as they can. He's completely adorable!

Brigham and I went down to Albuquerque one last time last weekend for Brigham's graduation and his last shift as a resident. His graduation was a very kicked-back affair, but it was good to be there and say goodbye to our friends and Brigham's collegues. Brigham has worked several shifts at his new job and was pleased to find that his fear of not having as many patients couldn't be less founded. His shifts are crazy busy, but he is learning the ropes and figuring the new system out.

Although we are not completely unpacked yet, this beautiful house is starting to feel like home to me. Life is good!

Crazy I Guess

This past weekend was the Wasatch Back Relay-- a 188 mile (although it ended up being almost 190 miles due to a surprise detour) race up and down the mountains from Logan to Park City. Brigham and I ran this crazy race with six of our best friends from Baltimore, and despite only 2 hours of sleep in the almost 28 hours it took us to finish the race, it was awesome! It was definitely hard-- we started at 1:30 pm and ran in the heat, ran all night long in the pitch dark with only little headlamps, up steep mountains and down steep roads. Each runner had at least one leg that made everyone else glad that they were not running it. But unlike most teams who had 12 runners to spread the joy around to, we only had 8. That meant we each had to pick up some extra legs. But it was a surprisingly good time! Cheering for the other runners on our team (the Fantastic Four Couples) and supporting them through difficult sections of their runs was really cool. Each of our team members did an awesome job-- even though it was a tough run and we had to pick up extra legs. Brigham ran like an animal (his second leg was uphill on an unpaved road in the heat of the day, smothering in all of the dust from the support vehicles) but unfortunately on second to last run, something tore in his leg. He managed to limp/run to the exchange point, but after that we all knew he was done. I picked up his last leg for him, which fortunately was only a flat 3-miler. The run that earned my place on the team was an 8 mile run up a mountain at 2 am about 35 minutes after my previous 4 mile leg. Our team finished in just under 28 hours, and we took 38th place in our division of about 656 teams-- which put us in the top 5% of teams. We are quite proud of that-- especially since the other teams had 12 people instead of 8! It was a great memory-making experience and a wonderful way to strengthen our bond with our friends. Even though I was dreading it for over a year, I'm glad that we did it!

Utahans Once Again

After seven years, the prodigals have returned to Utah! Those were seven very challenging years, but they were also wonderful. I loved meeting such amazing people and exploring the different cultures. We've picked up things in both Baltimore and Albuquerque that are now a part our daily lives (Old Bay seasoning and green chilies for example). We've made lifelong friends and seen a lot of neat places. But we are glad to be home. How great it is to have family around! I want to thank everyone who helped us with our move, but I especially want to give a shout out to my parents and brothers Chad and Brett who all took almost a whole week off of work to come down and help us move out of ABQ and move into our new house. They were awesome and amazing. I shudder to think of how long it would have taken us to do all of that by ourselves!

Brigham is back in New Mexico finishing up his residency, but the boys and I are official Utahans. The work around here never ends, but it is so awesome to live in such a beautiful house in such a great area! And I've never felt so welcomed to a new place! We've already met all of our surrounding neighbors, and they are all SO nice. Benjamin has made friends with a couple of the neighborhood kids but is too shy to go over to ask if they can play, so he waits for them to come out. It also turns out that this is "the place" to be for special needs programs-- that people move here just to get the programs. Everything has fallen into place so beautifully, and we just couldn't be happier unless Brigham were here. For so many years I've wondered if it could all be worth it, and I'm pleased to say that the answer is YES!

Jacob's Talent Show

This week Jacob's school put on a talent show, and Jacob's class was in it. They have what they call their "Fourth Grade Buddies"-- a class of 4th graders who comes into their class once every couple of weeks or so to play with them, and they helped Jacob and his class do the show. Brigham and I cried through it (I know, I know-- I've been bawling a lot lately), though neither one of us can tell you exactly why. For me it was mostly two things: 1. There was my Jacob up on the stage like any other kid! 2. There was a fourth grader kneeling behind him, helping him to do the actions, and losing her moment in the sun to give him one. I think Jacob's teacher has been so inspired on so many occasions. How brilliant to give these preschoolers with difficulties fourth grade buddies to look out for them at school! Anyway, we loved the show and hope you will too.(I had to let it buffer a lot to get it to play.) Click here to see Jacob in "The World's Greatest"

Home Owners for the First Time!

It's official! That beautiful home that I've been dreaming about for the last two months is now ours! We couldn't be more excited to move in and start our new life.

We want to thank everyone who has helped us throughout this whole process. A BIG thank you goes to Dad Dastrup who has had to put up with a lot from us as his pickiest and most opinionated clients ever. Thank you so much for helping us make this dream a reality! We also want to thank Mom Dastrup for all of her help in the home search as well. We know you put in long hours on our behalf too-- THANK YOU! A huge thanks goes out to Mom and Dad Groneman as well for babysitting for days on end while we searched for the perfect home and for doing our walk through.

There are others who have helped us with a down payment. You know who you are. THANK YOU. You've made our dream come true!

Now let the happily ever after begin!

First Tooth Lost!

No, it wasn't Benjamin-- it was Jacob! When he was coming off the bus today, he had blood running down his chin. I thought he'd bitten his lip and was going in for a closer look when he reached up and pulled a tooth out of his mouth! Benjamin is NOT going to be happy about this. Apparently he is the only kid in his class who hasn't lost a tooth yet, and he's been imagining wiggly teeth for months. This is going to be some serious salt in his already tender wound.

Blessings-- Some in Disguise

Lately I can't help but see all of the ways in which we are blessed-- there are so many!

Jacob had his very first playdate this week. Some of you already know the story, but a couple of months ago I was out to dinner with Brigham, and I asked Brigham if he thought that Jacob would ever have a real friend. He said he didn't know. About a week and a half later, a girl I didn't know ran up to me in church asking, "Are you Jacob's mom?" I said I was, and she told me, "My son, Jack, is in Jacob's class, and I just had to tell you that Jack LOVES Jacob! He tells me all the time that Jacob is his best friend, and he wants to know when he can have a playdate with him." Of course I cried.

My second blessing this week came in disguise. Brigham and I finally got to go to the temple on Friday, and I was really looking forward to it. We were almost there when I realized that in the rush to get Ty to the babysitter, I'd forgotten my temple recommend. I was so bitterly disappointed! I dropped Brigham off at the temple and then rushed home to get my recommend, hoping to get back in time to be able to do SOMETHING. I'll admit that I cried again-- this time in sheer frustration. It's not easy to line up a babysitter for 3 hours.

When I got back to the temple, I asked if I could do some initiatory, but the lady said they were full for the next 20 minutes or so (that never happens here, but it was a stake temple day), so I could wait in the lobby. I went and sat in the lobby-- disappointed, but trying to get my feelings under control. You can hardly imagine my surprise when a minute later my mission president came walking into the room! I gave him a hug, and he asked if I could wait for him a minute. A minute later he came back and invited me into his office. I was so confused and asked what he was doing there. It turns out that he is our new temple president! I'd heard that we had a new temple president named Shumway, but I had no idea that it was THE President Shumway! I had a wonderful visit with him and his wife, and the next day when I took Jacob and Benjamin to their temple tour, I was able to introduce them to President and Sister Shumway. We plan on having dinner together sometime soon. So all is well after all!