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April 5, 2020

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April 5, 2020 We, along with the rest of the world, are ready for a cure for Covid-19.  I readily admit that I have things the easiest.  I get up in the  morning and go to work alone in a shop, and occasionally I go to a store for tools or supplies.  Amy and the kids, however, stay home all day everyday in accordance with the governors stay-home order.  On top of that, it was a cold windy, rainy, snowy week.  I think everyone is suffering from cabin fever. The chickens have grown a lot!  It seems like they have grown 25% every time I see them.  They were all supposed to be females, but I think a rooster might have snuck in with the bunch.  On Monday or Tuesday night, about every half hour one of the chicks would let loose with this piercing chirp that penetrated two closed doors and woke Amy up every time.  I have become a deep sleeper, so I didn’t hear it most of the time.   The next night I turned on a small fan in our room which, when combined with two closed doors, drowned out
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March 29, 2020

March 29, 2020 When we found out the kids would not be attending school, and all their regular lessons and activities had been suspended, we talked about how the kids were going to use their time.  I pointed out to them that this would be a great time to focus on developing a skill they are interested in, or to try something new.  The consensus seems to be to try something new.  Here is a report on some of the families activities. Maddie immediately stated that she wanted to learn to knit.  She has been working at it steadily, and is progressing on knitting a throw.  I have also heard her playing the ukulele, which is a new instrument for her.  She does this in addition to keeping up on the homework she is assigned by her teachers, and practicing voice, which she has been taking lessons for since January.  She loves it all.  She has also enjoyed cycling with her sister. Caden and Kami heard a violin number by an artist they enjoy and were enthralled with it.  It is an original co
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March 23, 2020

Sunday, March 22,2020 Dear Family and Friends, A lot has happened since I last wrote.  Caden got home from his mission to Texas on January 23rd.  About a week before that, we received permission from Oregon Department of Human services to move out of state and to take Anni with us.  For any of you who don’t know, Anni is almost three and has been living with us since she was seventeen months old.  We had been wanting to get back to Idaho for family reasons, but normally they wouldn’t allow a foster child to move out of state, so we were waiting to figure out a way to keep Anni with us.  Once we received permission, things started moving really fast.  Four days after we received word, Amy and the kids moved back to Rexburg.  I stayed on until the end of January at Harrison Family Medicine. We are renting a house out in the country.  This is the first time we have rented since 2002, and it is a little different.  The house is pretty small for a family of nine, but everyone is being
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August 12, 2019

Dear Family and Friends, Today is Caden's birthday.  He is twenty years old.  He will finish his mission in January.  I can't wait for him to get home! We had the Kerns family reunion up on Willow Creek last weekend.   I admit I was skeptical about camping up there, but Steve Moultrie put up a shelter and brought in some port-a-potties, so it was almost as good as home.   (Not really, but it was as good as any other camp)   The first night was beautiful, and I slept really well considering there was a cow bawling all night looking for its calf.   There was something about the acoustics down in that draw – there were times the cow sounded kind of like the T-Rex on Jurassic World.   The kids spent the time making whips, throwing knives, and making and using boffer swords.   It could have been the training facilities for the Dauntless faction!   Friday evening, it started raining, and we had about 90 minutes of lightening.   I had been down at Grandma and Grandpa’s with Abram
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April 15, 2018

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April 15, 2018 Dear Kami and Caden, It has been a busy week full of mundane activities.   On Monday afternoon, Mom texted and said that Maddie had hurt her ankle at track practice.   She wasn’t sure if it was sprained or broken, but I figured that the way she was getting around, it was probably just a sprain.   Just to be sure, we took her to the doctor and because there was a chance she had stress fractures, we took her for an X-ray.    Luckily, it is just a sprain, so she should be feeling better in a couple of weeks.   Dr. Harrison recommended she rest it for two or three weeks and then see how it feels when she tries running, but it is still aching pretty bad right now.                  The picture on the left is the original sprain.   The one on the right, that looks like a cadaver leg or something is after her first full day of wearing a brace.   The picture below isn’t as dramatic, but is a more acurate represantation. M
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April 8, 2018

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April 8, 2018 Dear Kami and Caden, This big highlight of the week was Mom’s birthday.   The birthday planning started Monday night when I took the kids shopping for presents.   I set off with all five of them, and thought we would have a fun time, but I had forgotten how hard it is to shop with a crowd.   When we arrived, I suggested that Maddie and Isabelle go get their presents, and I would take the boys to get what they wanted.   Within five minutes I was ready to pull out my hair!   I was pushing a cart, but the boys could not keep their hands off of it.   Between the four of us, there was constant pushing and tugging from all four sides of the cart.   If you could have traced our path, it probably would have looked like I was having a seizure or something!   I kept telling them “let go of the cart!   Stop pushing the cart!   Just don’t touch the cart!”   I was pretty sure I was going to go crazy before we got out to the car. To make matters worse, I was trying to text
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April 1, 2018

April 1, 2018 Dear Kami and Caden, It was fun to read your letters last week.   I love the details and the funny things that happen.   Kami, I’ve been laughing and wincing about you whacking your head on the jeeps whenever you get in (your right, it is the kind of thing that would make me cranky) – and about everyone thinking your 16!   And Caden, it is so fun to hear about all the interesting people you meet.   It brings back so many memories of my missionary experience!   So much of life is routine and monotonous, I think much of the joy comes from little moments and unusual and funny experiences!   Please continue to share them and also tell us about the people you are teaching. The kids were out of school this week, and Mom got to spend more time with them than I did, so she probably has all the funny’s to report.   I was gone before the kids were awake most mornings.   One of the interesting things was Maddie and Isabelle spent three nights at an almost-total stran
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