Riding Motorcycles

 Today, the littles and Mike went up to Cub River to ride motorcycles.  They had a great time.  

Nathan rode the 100 with the clutch and did great the whole way. 

Jason rode the little 90 and had a great time.

They also got to take turns riding a friend's mini rzr.  

There was a big puddle of water that got zoomed through about a hundred times.  

On the way back to the truck, Jason got going a little too fast, turned to look at Nathan, and missed a turn.  According to Nathan, Jason drove into a ditch and launched off the other side.  Nathan said it looked like a bomb exploded under his back tire.  He went flying, the bike went flying, and the helmet that wasn't strapped on, went rolling far, far away.

                                       

He laid there for a long time, not moving and it scared the crap out of Nate.  Mike got to the truck before he realized the boys weren't behind him, so he turned back to find Jason laying in an awkward position.  He said he thought he had a broken leg because he was so crumpled and messed up.

The short of it all is that he's ok.  He was pretty sad and pretty banged up.  It was the worst kind of crash any of our kids have ever had.  He was just going way too fast.

It knocked him silly.  He remembers looking back at Nate and then he was flying and everything went black.  He's got quite a headache and was stressed out because he couldn't remember all his penguins names.  His four bottom teeth are chipped and he bit his tongue.  He had a huge clod of grass and dirt stuck in his hair and it took him a bit to get cleaned up from all the grass and dirt stains covering anything that didn't have a clothing covering.  We are so lucky that he crashed into a soft field instead of onto the gravel road. 

We've learned all sorts of lessons.  Number one, is to strap helmets on properly.  We're pretty sure it  saved his head from the first impact, but it did end up pretty far away from him.  We're also going to work on not riding so fast.  Especially on loose gravel. 

When the boys walked into the house, Jason came to me and cried.  He'd been so tough, but when he saw me, he remembered how bad he was hurting and how scared he was.  I helped him get in the tub and get clean clothes on.  We got some medicine in him and I brought each of his penguins in, one by one so he could make sure he still knew them.  He was seriously scared that he might forget them.  

We made tomato soup and let him eat it with soft crackers mushed up inside.  

Then, we had a great conversation.  He thanked me for being so good to him and helping him so much.  He was so grateful for the tomato soup and applesauce.  He talked about how scared he was because everything had gone black and he couldn't really think straight when he came to.  Nathan thinks he was out for 10 minutes and Jason doesn't remember anything until Mike got there (about 10 minutes later) so he probably did get pretty messed up.  He told me that he prayed and felt really good and knew that Heavenly Father and Jesus were helping him.  We said a nice prayer of gratitude and he was just so tender and emotional.  We snuggled on the bed for a little while and then he got ready for bed.  

I'm so grateful that things weren't worse than they were.  I'm glad they had a nice ride and had such a good time before all this happened.  And I'm so grateful that I am Jason's mother.  That I could be there to comfort him and help him and make things okay.

Crappy things happen sometimes.  I'm glad we can walk away from this one.  Life is good.

A Dandy Day

The boys were going to go to Moab with Mike today, but their plans fell through.  They were pretty devastated to find out they couldn't go anymore.  Nathan complained that he had already told his teacher he'd be gone, so he did extra work the day before.  Jason was just sad.  So I told them they could skip school.

We had grand plans, but we didn't end up doing anything really fun during the day.  They knew that Mike was going to take them on a motorcycle ride when he got off work, so they were happy to hang out with me till then.

The point of this post is what happened on our walk...

We took Charlie out and the boys started gathering dandelions.  They wanted to gather enough to fill a vase for me.  

We ended up talking about how dandelions are edible.  One thing led to another and pretty soon, we were eating dandelions.

Jason didn't love it.  I didn't mind the taste, but things have tasted funky for me since I got covid in July, so that's not saying anything.

Nate liked it, but I don't think any of us were surprised at all.  He's always eating leaves, grass, and berries from the wild.  

He also loved smelling the dandelions...

We had a fun little walk.

 Jason must have been feeling the feels for the walk too because when we got a little ways down the street, he grabbed my hand and said "I love life."

Me:  Me too.  What are you loving most right now?

Jason: Probably the animals.

Me:  Nice!

Jason:  I don't want to hunt anymore.  I don't like people who hunt endangered animals because I don't want them to go.

Me:  I get that.  I don't want them to go either.

Then, Nathan caught up to us and they were off again, running from one spot to the next.  It was a fun little slice of the day.  I love life too.  Mostly because of the little Schwabbies that are in it.

Smithfield, Utah

I remember when I first started driving to Smithfield.  I was living in Logan, going to USU and I'd drive out to Smithfield because that's where the baseball games were played.  I remember getting off work and feeling like the drive might as well have been to the Idaho border because it was so far away.  I liked the town though.  It was super small and it didn't have many stores.

When Mike and I were dating, he talked about moving a trailer up to the trailer park in Smithfield.  He had just sold one in the park and knew that there was an opening.

We moved a trailer into it and that's where we spent our first year of marriage.

The new Lee's was built and things weren't feeling so small anymore.  Now, I was driving into Logan every day for school and that drive still felt so far.  

A friend of ours moved into a little subdivision up Smithfield Canyon and we went up to visit him.  We saw a house that was for sale and found out it was a repo.  We put in a bid and next thing you know, we were homeowners in Smithfield.

We never thought we'd stay.

Today, I yelled out loud when I heard the prophet announce that there would be a temple in Smithfield, Ut.

I had just told the kids that I hoped there would be one close to us because I knew the Logan temple remodel would make it hard for us to attend the temple.  Brigham City is close, but the temple patrons pack the Logan Temple and I knew it would be hard to move that large of a crowd through the smaller Brigham City temple.

So, I've been worried about it ever since they announced plans to remodel the old pioneer built temples. 

There are no worries now!  We're getting a temple in Smithfield!  

 I got a text, shortly after the announcement, from a friend of mine.  She said that Sam must be on the temple committee in heaven.  I laughed and agreed, but then I thought about it and it made me smile to think that Sam might have put in his pitch for putting the temple near his family.  It can only help us be stronger as we continue to walk through this life.

Allie emphatically said "I can get married in my home town!"

Jason and Nathan are hoping it's done in time for them to go do baptisms for the dead for the first time in that temple.

Jake wondered if it would be done in time for him to go there before he goes on his mission.

So, now we wait.  I can hardly wait.  I'm excited for all the temples to open back up again.  Our Logan temple is opening up again for baptisms for the dead.  I made an appt for later in July.  It's all coming around the corner.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Life is good.