The Time Has Come

Well this week the writing was on the wall that Brigham was ready to be potty trained. While he was supposed to be down for a nap he instead scooped poop out of his diaper and spread it all over his wall.

Today was the first day with "big boy" pants and he has done pretty well. He has come running a few times saying "Potty! Potty! Potty!" and there have been some minor accidents. But every time anything comes while he is on the toilet he yells, "I'm so proud of you!"

Brigham finds the sprinkler

Holly was in the house the other day and heard Brigham screaming outside. She ran out there to discover that Brigham had pulled the head off of a sprinkler and was getting shot in the face.

Vancouver

This week I was able to go up to Vancouver for a medical conference. What a beautiful place. The conference was at the Westin which was right on the bay with incredible views. The weather was perfect all week. Some of the trees had already begun to turn colors. I didn't get to go out and tour around much but I think that Holly and I are going to have to take a trip up there some time and do a bit of exploring.

One of the nights there was a dinner at the Vancouver acquarium. They had a beluga show which was amazing. What interesting animals. They look like swimming marshmallows.

The trip went very well. There are many ultrasound companies that are showing interest in our company. Hopefully we will have some new announcements soon.

Glasses for Greg

For my 33rd birthday I had to get reading glasses. Talk about a crummy present. I just picked them up yesterday. The prescription is very mild but it does help with reading quite a bit. Pretty soon I am going to have to start wearing my pants really high.

New DeVore photos

There are some new DeVore photos from the last 6 months here. Hope you enjoy.

Jacob shows his lack of teeth

Here is a video of Jacob showing off his lack of teeth. His face is looking much better. All the scabs are gone.

Brigham Video

Here is a video of Brigham doing some entertaining.

Brigham Video.

Disneyland and Spiderman

Yesterday we took the day off and went to Disneyland. What a perfect day. Temperature was about 75 degrees and there was no one in the park. The kids got to do pretty much everything they wanted to and we were only there from 2 to 8.

Brigham and Jacob were very excited to see Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. Elastigirl could see that Jacob was a little banged up so she spent some extra time with him.

Jacob went on Space Mountain for this first time. This was my first time since they have redone it. I thought it was incredible - definitely one of the best rides I have ever been on. Jacob wasn't so sure. He is more of a Thunder Mountain Railroad fan.

Brigham and Luc went on Matterhorn for the first time. We weren't sure what they would think but they both seemed to like it.

We followed up the day with some Double Chocolate Bread Pudding from Ray Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. That has to be the best desert I have ever had.

Brigham has recently found a Spiderman outfit. It is much too big for him but he wears it all over the place.

He stayed Sunday night at my parents' place. The next morning he had two large suitcases. He grabbed one and made my mom get the other, took her to the front door and said, "Airport!" It looks like he is ready for another trip.

Jacob wants his two front teeth

Jacob lost his two front teeth. Holly said that he did really well at the dentist. He has scabs all over his face and his lip is still pretty swollen but he seems to be doing all right.

Jacob get's a nose job

Jacob took a spill today. He was going out to the car in his walker. I was putting Brigham into the car and Jacob "coasted" in his walker out into the street. A van was coming so firmly instructed him (yelled) at him to get back on the sidewalk. He turned around and his wheels caught on the edge of the driveway. We want face down without even a hand out to break his fall.

His front two teeth look like they might have to come out. We are going to the dentist tomorrow. His nose is swollen and may be a little crooked.

It happened about 4.5 hours ago and he seems to be feeling better. He looks like a platypus but he is already up watching DVDs and turning the volume up too loud on the TV.

Brigham giveth and he taketh away

Brigham is a very complex child. There is a little devil and a little angel constantly at war inside of him. The real problem is that you never know at any moment who is going to win.

Tonight was a perfect example. Brigham discovered dome lollipops. He got two of them and gave one to Jacob all on his own. The angel had one.

Well Brigham finished his lollipop a little faster than Jacob (Brigham is a chomper will Jacob is sucker). So, Brigham came over and took Jacob's lollipop. I said, "Brigham! Give that back to Jacob." So he gave Jacob the stick to the lollipop Brigham had just finished and took off with Jacob's lollipop. The devil had regained control.

Yesterday was another funny experience. I took Jacob and Brigham to Jacob's swim lessons. Brigham was very distressed that he couldn't get in the pool. He was walking along the side of the pool until he saw that there was a hot tub. The hot tub was level with the ground and had one of those blue plastic pool covers on it. He went walking for it and I realized that he thought he was going to be able to walk right on the pool cover. I grabbed him just as he was about to step on it.

I had him press down with his hand to show him that the cover was soft and that water would come through if you pressed on it. He thought that was pretty funny so he did it for awhile. I thought that he had figured out that this was not solid ground. I was wrong. Several minutes later he tried to walk on the pool cover again and went right in. This time I didn't catch him until half his body was submerged.

Labor Day 2005

We had a pretty good Labor Day. This morning we went to our ward's breakfast. Jacob played with waterballoons and got to hit a ball off of a tee. The bases were all little kiddy pools. He had a good time jumping into first base.

Brigham loved the water balloons. He went through about 5 of them and was always a little disappointed when they popped.

We then spent the afternoon swimming with Grandpa DeVore and Uncle Nathan. Granny Dot kept the kids well fed.

Tonight Granny Dot came to pick-up Brigham so that he could sleep at here house. She took both boys to get some french fries. Right when she drove up to the house Brigham vomited everywhere. It was quite the mess to clean up. After a bath he wasn't so sure he wanted to make another trip. He grabbed his doggie and climbed into bed. But before Granny Dot could leave he changed his mind. He hopped out of bed, grabbed his suitcase and went marching out to the car. His "suitcase" is a Spiderman backpack with wheels. He loves it and looks so serious when he is dragging it behind him. Whenever he bumps into anything he says "Sorry, sorry."

Brigham's Birthday

Brigham had quite the Birthday. I don't know if he understood what it was all about when the day started, but by the end of the day he was definitely a birthday believer.

Holly bought him a Winnie the Pooh birthday balloon. He carried it around all day telling anyone that would listen, "My Birday!"

The whole DeVore clan came over for cake and ice cream. We all sang to him and he loved that. He couldn't quite blow the candles out but he tried really hard.

Then the presents started. He didn't know what it was all about but he caught on quickly. His eyes would get big with each gift that came out. Some highlights were:

• A Poohbah musical toy that Brigham loved and which caused major emotional trauma to Jacob (it is now hidden)
• A raw piece of steak (from Trevor and Heather of course - they also gave him gourmet popcorn)
• Several airplanes (airplanes are his latest kick)
• A Spiderman backpack, a wagon full of Duplos and a broom (that may sound weird but he was absolutely thrilled)
• And an airport and train play sets

There were other things too but I can't remember them right now. The best was that we put the two play sets in the family office to get them out of the way. They were still in their boxes. We were trying to get Brigham down to bed when he opened the office door and started carrying the play sets out to the living room. It was hilarious. The play set boxes were about as big as he is. He was staggering under the weight and tipping this way and that but he got them both out there.

The next morning he woke up and the first thing he said was, "My birday!" Sorry bub. You only get that once a year.

Jacob is standing up on his own!

Jacob is now standing up on his own. Jacob has been able to stand unsupported for sometime now if someone helped him to get in the proper position or if he was able to pull himself up on something. But yesterday he started from the floor and got into a standing position by himself without pulling up on anything. This shows a lot of improvement in his leg strength and coordination.

He was very excited and is now standing up all of the time.

Joseph Smith Website

I don't know how many of you know that many of the Virtual Reality photographs from our Virtual Historian program were used on the Joseph Smith website created by the church. The main site is here.

The VRs are spread around the site but the easiest way to find them is to go to the Historic Site section. Here is an example of the Sacred Grove. You need to have Flash installed to view the images. The ones with the little cube at the bottom right are VRs. Look at the example above.

Jacob avoids the knife again

Jacob was supposed to have surgery on his eyes tomorrow but we
postponed it at the last second. In his pre-op exam his eyes were
doing much better than they had the previous visit so we decided to
wait a few months.

This isn't the first time that this has happened with Jacob. When
Jacob was just a few weeks old he was supposed to have a tracheotomy
because we was having trouble breathing off of the ventilator. The
day before he pulled his own breathing tube out and has been
breathing on his own ever since. It seems that all Jacob needs is to
be faced with a scalpel and he decides to try and fix things on his own.

Brigham is on his way to Utah

So Brigham is taking a plane ride for his 2nd birthday. Tomorrow he
flies to Salt Lake with Granny Dot. Granny Dot is going to drop him
off with Grandma Hales while she makes a trip out to Vernal to take
care of some things on the farm.

Brigham was very excited to go. He left tonight with his PJs on and
his new Spiderman backpack all loaded up. He wheeled it right out to
the car, jumped in and said "Dot Dot's house". At least that is what
we think he said.

Recollections of France 2004 - Holly & Crew arrive in Paris

When we rented the van we made the silly assumption that 7 passengers meant 7 passengers with legs. French minivans only make provisions for 4 people with legs. The other three must be amputees. My brother Trevor, his wife Heather and son Luc had just arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport. Holly, Jacob (4), Brigham (8 months) and my Mother (too old to mention) would arrive in a few hours and there was no way everyone was going to fit in that van. Trevor and Heather quickly decided to drive to St. Aubin sur Mer (a small town in Normandy where we would be staying), drop off their stuff, and then return to the airport to get Holly and crew.

It was a Sunday and after three hours of driving Trevor and Heather arrived in St. Aubin s/mer to discover that the rental agency was closed (The French don't care much about promiscuity, adultery, alcoholism, or chain smoking but they take their Sabbath day very seriously). So they decided to get a hotel room in the nearby city of Caen.

At about this time Holly and her entourage had arrived in Paris only to discover that the minivan wasn’t the last of our silly assumptions. She had assumed that if you gate check your stroller in Los Angeles it would be waiting for you at the gate in Paris. She was informed that this simply was not possible. Due to a recent rise in stroller explosions they could no longer give you your stroller at the gate. Now for most people this would be a big inconvenience but for Holly this was a major issue. Brigham was not yet walking and Jacob, because of his cerebral palsy, could not walk either. My Mother had come along with the intention of helping but the day before the trip had broken her arm. She had a full arm cast on and was in no shape to be carrying kids through an airport. In the strong tradition of French hospitality the flight crew watched the Holly & Dorothy Circus struggle their way up the jet way without offering any help.



Holly quickly realized that this wasn't going to work so she asked if they could have a wheelchair for her handicapped son. The answer was "Non". Apparently you have to instinctively know that the stroller that doubles as a wheelchair for your son with not be at the gate in Paris and you will need to request a wheelchair before you leave Los Angeles. If not then you are out of luck because it is simply impossible to get a wheelchair once you have landed. Finally Holly threatened to move into terminal 23 if a wheelchair did not arrive soon (she hadn't even seen the movie "The Terminal" yet). Air France agreed to send one up - eventually.

After 30 to 60 minutes of waiting for apparently the only wheelchair in Charles de Gaulle airport they were ready to set off for baggage claim! It was quite the scene – Jacob in the wheelchair, a French guardian on the wheelchair pushing him, Holly walking and Dorothy carrying Brigham. Wait a minute! Why is the lady with the arm cast carrying Brigham? Holly realized this would look bad for the Christmas letter and quickly switched places with Dorothy.

After collecting the rest of their luggage they finally found the stroller in the odd shaped luggage area. And indeed it was shaped oddly. Air France had decided to create a sculpture worthy of the Pompidou Center for Modern Art with our brand new stroller. Holly was about to break the news to the guardian of the wheelchair that she was going to have to stay with us during the entire month of May when it was discovered that, with some effort, they could get the stroller open and use it. The guardian was dismissed, a damage claim was filed, and our group of weary travelers headed for the exit.

Now the adventure should end there but it doesn't. Apparently the French don't want just anyone leaving their airport. You have to pass a series of tests in order to accomplish this. There is no passenger pick-up per se. So Holly and Dorothy wandered the airport trying to figure out where Trevor and Heather might be picking them up.

Obviously they had to use elevators to get around to the different floors. But French elevators are different from American elevators. The French enjoy their intimacy and thus elevators have been designed to fit only two people, or 1 person and a stroller. So to go anywhere either Holly or Dorothy would have to take the elevator to a certain floor, decide if that was the floor they wanted to go to, come back down to tell the other person which floor to go to, return to the floor they wanted to goto and then wait for the other person to arrive. Needless to say it took quite awhile to go anywhere. They especially got slowed down when they found an elevator that only went to the toilets. That was all it was used for. Holly didn't discover this until she got to the top but decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Dorothy figured that Holly had been gone long enough that she must want Dorothy to come up. So Dorothy came up as well. So now everyone was in the elevator accessed bathroom and had to repeat the elevator relay race to get back down.

When they finally saw daylight it was 3 hours after their flight had landed. They were sure that Trevor and Heather were going to be furious after having waited so long. At that very moment Trevor and Heather were driving up to the Air France terminal after having stopped for several cat naps on their way back to Paris - sure that Holly and Dorothy would be furious that they were 3 hours late picking them up.


It didn't end there. It took them 1 hour to figure out how to fit all of the car seats, strollers and luggage into the MINIvan and then another 30 minutes to find the van key that had somehow been misplaced in the loading process. And where was I during all of this? I was sleeping soundly in Salt Lake City. I wouldn't arrive in France until Wednesday after attending a 2 day convention in Philadelphia. The good news is that we are still married.

We spent most of the month of May living in a comfortable house a block from the beach in St. Aubin s/mer. This beach was part of Juno beach where the Canadians invaded on D-Day. Trevor and I were taking photographs for our next Virtual Historian project, which will deal with the D-Day invasions. The trip quickly improved after the arrival. Trevor and I would wake each morning at 5 am and drive all over the Normandy coast taking photographs. Holly and Heather would load up the minivan and travel the French countryside. We ate crescents and crepes; we visited museums, battle monuments, monasteries, and cemeteries. I can honestly say that I have never lived in a more beautiful place. It was so humbling to visit the historical locations associated with the D-Day invasions. On our final day in Normandy we visited the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach one last time. This has to be one of the most serene locations in the world. Studying in such depth the sacrifices and courage of the men and women who had participated in the events on those beaches 60 years ago was a truly life altering experience. As we spent some quiet moments walking through the cemetery we felt a deeper sense of appreciation for the soldiers who lay there than we had 3 weeks earlier. From there we went to Paris where we spent 3 days and then onto England for a week. In England we visited additional sites where the Americans and British had prepared for D-Day. We couldn't help but gain a new appreciation for the strength of the British people as we learned what they had endured during World War II. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Imperial War Museum in London and listening to British Veterans who had participated in D-Day and the days following the invasion. They were ordinary, humble men who had quite literally saved the world.