So you’re aware, Josh has been playing football.  He was picked up by the second B team (of five teams total) for the Riverton Mity Mites.  At least, I think he’s a Mity Mite. Oh and yes, I’m aware that’s spelled incorrectly.  I think the play on “Mite” as in a little bug, vice a Mighty Mouse was really clever on their part.  Then just to confuse my little mouth-breather, they misspelled, “Mighty” as well.  Whatever I guess. Anyhow, Josh is twelve, but he’s playing with the eleven year olds.  I’m pretty sure I already told you all this, but I can’t honestly remember.  Anyhow, he, “Z-d” down, meaning he is playing the eleven year old league because he’s mity.  Well, a mite anyhow. Anyhow, he barely squeaked by under the 90 lb mark set by the league to do such things.  So, he’s coached by Coach Denos, and Coach College (our neighbor).  Josh loves it.  He’s getting a lot of play time.  On defense he plays either outside linebacker (that’s ma boy) and/ or defensive end (Cause he’s smooth like dat).  On offense they have him slated for either running back or fullback.  I’ve tried to coach him a little off the field on how to put his shoulder down as a full back and really wreak havoc, but he really tries to get slippery instead.  He’s more of a juke kind of runner vice a dozer.  I hope when he gets a little size he can get a little taste of some quarterback’s blood in his mouth to keep him mean (grrrr). 
Lexi finished her musical production thing.  This really wasn’t a total musical like we were led to believe.  Don’t get me wrong, it was cool; I just had envisioned they were going to do the whole of, “Mary Poppins” and not song selections out of it as well as out of, “The Sound of Music.”  Either way I’m really truly proud of her efforts.  She has a phenomenal voice.  She almost made me cry the other day in Primary.  Well, I did get a little teared up, but that’s because something got in my eye.  Like an eyelash or something.  Anyhow, she has the sweetest purest voice and that day when she was sitting next to me, (I teach the 10 and 11 year olds) it just got to me.  Of course, she’s incredibly subtle like her dad, so she, at the top of her voice range says, “Daddy?! What’s the matter?!?” to which I try to silence her because now all the primary ladies now think I’m a giant wussy.  I’ve worked really diligently the past few years to put on a stone cold exterior and in one little moment Lexi messed it up.
Isabelle will be baptized in a couple of months.  Can you believe it? Wow, eight. Unbelievable.  I was looking at some old pictures. Some from out in Tooele, and some from when we first moved here to Riverton.  I can’t believe how beautiful those kids are.  I really truly feel blessed.  Isabelle is our thin girl that you have to coax into eating. But in some of those pictures she had just the fattest little cheeks.  Isabelle has really tried to get me involved lately.  Tries to read to me too.  She also brings around her American Girl Doll catalogue and wants me to sit down with her and pick out day beds and outfits.  The other day she found two catalogues for Halloween costumes.  She’s convinced I should go as, “Nacho Libre”.  But I found a, “Bacon” costume that really has me second guessing.  I want to dress Josh up like Luke Skywalker and strap Sam (the Hamuel) on his back and dress him like Yoda.  Anyhow, so many options considering I’d just be answering the door anyhow.  The good news is, if I go as Nacho Libre, I can go ahead and just stop working out, because I’ve pretty much already hit the physical requirements.  I’ll have to grow that cheesy mustache for a while, but hey, sacrifices you know?   Wait, we were talking about Isabelle Maria.  Anyhow, so this little girl…man. Talk about just plain sweet.  She’s so kind.  So tender hearted.  I just love her to pieces.  I can tell she’s really trying to get time with me.  Which is a good segue here.  See I quit Facebook the other day.  No, seriously.  I guess it just didn’t register until Isabelle was trying to talk to me in the kitchen, and I was looking at the home computer, waiting to make a funny comment with someone 7,000 miles away.  I even snapped at her when she tried the third time to talk to me about what I considered to be inane.  I realized after I’d snapped at her how wrong I was.  Here I have this beautiful girl, whom I may have ten years left with in my home.  She’s trying to talk to her daddy, trying to get her fifteen minutes of fame amidst the chaos of four siblings, a mom, a dog, football practice, Army requirements, neighbors, home teaching, visiting teaching blah blah blah…and she’s RIGHT next to me.  Pretty humbling to realize.   So I quit.  There’s other reasons as well, but I figured if I don’t have my scripture reading completed for the day, or haven’t fixed the toilet flapper yet, promised for the fifth time to replace the sprinkler head, well, if I’m putting all that on the back burner just to make funny comments…well I’m wrong. Six ways from Sunday I’m wrong.  So now I try to focus all my efforts on my wife and kids when I walk in the door.  It’s increased my patience exponentially.  But I still find that around 9:30 pm, after the ninth, “I’m thirsty” and the 25th, “I have to put this in my backpack” and the 32nd, “Josh, did you feed the dog?” I’m pretty much done.
So last night, (speaking of which) I moved Olivia out of our bed into hers.  Stacey and I try and watch an episode of, “Parenthood” (the television show, not the movie) as our quiet time.  While she’s putting Ham to sleep with a bottle, and I’m answering the 23rd backpack emergency.  It’s a pretty cool show actually, and it’s nice to watch people on TV who have problems almost as bad as ours.  I really identify with Adam Braverman.  He’s the oldest brother that tries to sort out chit from Chinola.  Anyhow, they have crazy parents and an autistic kid and a girl dating an African American recovering alcoholic…wow.  Anyhow, so it kind of puts in perspective some of the things we’ve had to work on.  Sorry, I got lost in what I was talking about, someone came and interrupted me.  Where were we?  Oh yeah, so, we now send Olivia upstairs.  She always asks, “I lay in your bed for a few minutes?” which, of course, you can’t say, ‘no’ to. I mean come on.  So I make her a sippy cup (no more chocolate or strawberry Quick now) and get her blanket and escort her upstairs to our bedroom.  She pretty much passes out from there.  Well, so last night, we turn our show off and head upstairs.  In the middle of our bed, is this little angel.  I only say that, because she’s sleeping. She’s pretty much a demon child during her waking hours.  But when she falls asleep, her face softens to what must be softer than silk skin.  I couldn’t help it last night. I kissed her cheek and her pouting sweet little lips a half dozen times between there and her bed.  I had to fight against wanting to hold her the rest of the night and just soak her in while she’s sleeping.  She’s got blonde hair, dark brown eyes, beautiful porcelain skin, and when you hold her up to you sleeping she starts to talk in her sleep and asks you to, “a-hold me?”  I don’t really deserve this life, I really don’t.
So Sam, or the Ham, everything’s, “Ham” with him.  He’s, “Hamsome”; he’s Hamuelio; he’s Hamsonite; he’s Hammy Davis Jr.  You can pretty much do ANYTHING with the name, “Ham”.  Man that kid, I swear. He’s got this incredible ear to ear smile.  I held him for about a minute and a half last Sunday. There’s always some neighbor trying to come steal him away.  He’ll look at you from across the room, and if you start to smile, he can’t help it.  He just melts you with this soft, 100% acceptance perfect wide smile.  Hammy is, in one word (hyphenated albeit) a God-send.  He is everything we needed in a child to pull us all together as a family.  Lexi has to help us with him very often because we have a lot of moving parts and pieces you can imagine.  Josh just adores his little brother.  He picks him up, he carries him around, he’s a little too rough with him, and he loves it.  Olivia fights with Hammy and taunts him and he’s just accepting enough to let her go on until he’s had enough.  Then he bites her.  He’s his mother’s world, and he’s my second chance to enjoy things I’ve missed with Josh while I was off building an Army career.
Speaking of which, I think I decided not to pursue my Master’s for a while.  I was looking into an 18 month Master’s program for an MBA with U of Phoenix.  I have another Army school to complete in the next three years called, “I.L.E.” Short for, “Intermediate Level Education.”  Basically, I can’t promote to lieutenant colonel (LTC) until I have it completed.  It has three phases.  One two week phase, followed by a yearlong phase where I meet with my class once a week on a designated day. Read all kinds of homework, write papers, etc.  Then you follow it up with the culminating effort of another two week course.  Oh, and the fine print, is then you have to get an, “AOC”, or Area of Concern.  Blah blah blah.  More school.  Bottom line, I’m eligible for LTC in about 4 years and I don’t want to have some mobilization or some other issue come up and put me back again.  I’ve done that my entire career.  Focused on family, my job, etc, and had to really rush to finish my required schooling to promote.  I’ve seen too many good officers miss out on a promotion for something as simple as checking the block.  So, I figured, we’ll start that in January, and by March of maybe 2014/2015 I’ll be all done.  God willing and the creek don’t rise anyhow.  So, by then I’ll have just 4 years left in uniform and I’ll work on my Master’s before I leave service.  But enough about me.  Let’s talk about what I think.
So, Stacey is doing really well.  She’s finding it difficult to keep up with her hour work out during the day with football, Sam, Olivia, taking care of me, canning peaches and pears and being pretty much the all-around perfect mother and wife.  I swear I really don’t deserve that girl.  I’ve been told as much by enough people to know it’s true to boot.  She’s amazing and I really look up to her for her spirituality and her love for our children.  She’s an amazing person and I feel blessed beyond measure to know that despite my complete failings in many regards she even wants to try.  Personally, I think that because I’m a world class lover, she can’t make the choice to toss me out, but the reality may be that she thinks my kids would miss me and she needs the extra driver to get people to and from dance and football. Anyhow, I want her to know that she’s the only one in the world that I truly feel has no pretense, no hidden agenda, is honest, is loving, and what an example she is to me and our children.  There is no possibility of a better mother for our incredible (and active) children than her.  I simply cannot say enough about her.
Well hey listen, I have to get going, I’ve prattled on long enough anyhow.  I’ll write again when I can, but until then I’ll just keep on keepin’ on. You probably won’t see me in a bike race, or a run through mud, or anywhere else for that matter, because God’s given me plenty to do so that I don’t get lost in the sauce with alternate activities.  I will of course take a pause on life here in about a week and a half to go hunt that monster elk I’ve been talking about.  I’m taking the 26th of September all the way through the 5th of October off to do it in.  I’m in a word, “stoked.”
 
Hey, seriously, I gotta go.  You have a great day and keep smiling.   All the best.
 
J