Conquering the Mountain - sort of.

Dave vs. Mountain
Well, my brother Tyler will be proud of me. I finally got the board and hit the slopes. 

Dave Ridley at the very end of the first snowboarding attempt ever. 3 times down the mountain and I was SOAKED and worn out from falling and flipping so many times. Perhaps My goal was to not require a stretcher, so I succeeded. 2 days later, I'm still discovering muscles, now aching like I'm 80, which I'd forgotten I had. :)  Fun times!

Next time is going to be AWESOME!

12/8/2008 - In Pursuit of a Mind at Peace

Some Topics from on 12/8/2008.

So much on my mind. I thought I'd write it out quickly before going to bed: 

The House:
Emily has done a lovely job. The tree, stockings, sparkly hangings, picture of Christ, Nativity scene, flowers - even the santa bears I teased her about - they do all create a feeling of Christmas around the house. It is nice to have the lights casting multicolored shadows of the branches on the walls in the evening whilst the Mormon Tabernacle Holiday station plays on the computer. And the Advent Calendar - thought I've never really understood the history behind "the Advent" or just where that comes from (I think when I was a kid I thought it was a Jewish thing which had to do with Hanukkah, somehow) - I'm glad that she decided to make the candy-studded tree poster and I think with the scriptures and service activities in the candy packets each day, it's sticking to the meaning of the season and it turned out very nice. I think the kids enjoy it and it's a worthy tradition for future years.


The Friends/Neighbors:
We recently had some friends over from Emily’s BYU college years along with Christa & Steve to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. Even with all the noisy kids, I'm glad that Emily had this in mind and made it happen. And, in a related note, the night before that, we were able to go to meet Steve and Christa at a basketball game which Christa's coached. Those two events with a few friends may not seem like much, but a little bit of social interaction on our part – apart from the usual busy routine of work and just-us family activities – makes a big impact on our homey lives.


The Ward Christmas Party:
I'm still not sure we shouldn't have gone out and helped the other few members of the activities committee take some pictures of the families in the ward - I don't feel like we're quite doing our share of the activities committee callings we have. Perhaps we could take the car after/before Becky's birthday celebration at our house tomorrow and visit some families for some snapshots? It might work out for me to wait with the kids in the car while Emily runs to photo-snap people, starting with our cul de sac.


Holiday Travel:
I still think I'm going to be here over Christmas proper. I think if we just plan some very positive Christmas moments at the Pre-Christmas at the Grand View Ridleys and the Post Christmas here, it won't be so bad missing the actual Christmas date. I'm pretty sure we did not RSVP anybody in the Ridley camp about the Grand View Christmas on time, but we are trying to make it happen.


FHE
So, also for Family Home Evening this next Monday – I’d like to touch on a lesson from our Elder's Quorum which covered how to train up our boys for Priesthood. It included a lot of good ideas (which I want to jot down before I forget them - not growing up in the church, I think this is one thing that I'm not really sure about how to do along with prepare boys to go on missions, etc). We of the Quorum talked about talking to our daughters also about how boys prepare for the priesthood - maybe we could have a motherhood/priesthood lesson (or two) before Christmas. They suggested talking to boys about their relationship to the women in their lives - sisters, mothers, etc. Also previewing the Duty to God materials, reading D&C 20 & 121, defining terminology regarding priesthood (such as 'priesthood,' 'ordain," "office," "keys"), involving boys in service projects, letting them see and talk about blessings - lots of things like that. Anyway I feel like i need to do some of these things more deliberately, so along with interviewing our children, I think we could cover some of this in FHE meetings, etc.

I think our kids would benefit much from a weekly presentation of the highlights of their education so I can "ooo!" and "aaaaah!" and give them some recognition and get educated about what they're being educated about. I'm enjoying reading along (behind usually) in Hayley's book so I have a clue. It’s my job to know more about what they're learning and though I can’t keep up, I like having some conversations with her about the stories and characters and principles once in a while.


Presents
Last year my bright idea was to set Emily up with music she could pick out and download and play – you know, in the car, around the house, during her study time – whenever.  I’m pretty sure she has not used those download vouchers for more than a couple songs. I don't know - I think she wants books and music, as usual - classics we don't own and songs she would have to pick out herself...but that didn't work too well last time.  So this year’s gift may have more to fixing up the downstairs bathroom than gift purchasing, as such. I have never felt like a competent gifter.


Parenting
...I don't know - I feel like my role in parenting has been sort of random and unclear. Time to have another long talk with Emily about this, I suppose.


Jobs
Speaking of unclear - I don't mind having household responsibilities. Can we just define what mine are, for starters? Just some basic things that I can plan on doing regularly? Surely if I were an awesome husband, I would just be really good about looking about the house and finding what needs doing and doing it before you have a chance to think about it. That would be awesome. And I think until I develop that talent, I should still be doing some regular something and I feel guilty about it. I wasn't saying earlier today that I didn't want to vacuum out the car or do anything else. I am sorry you cried. I just was letting you know that when you say "I have a request" that I assume it means you have an unpleasant task for me to work on, so I'm wary - I wasn't at all saying that I would not do such a task. Anyway.


Dating, Temple Attendance, etc
Emily and I really should go on a date...somewhere...somehow...I'm sure it will be good for us. As also would be making time for Emily to take her turn going to the temple and several other little yet really important things that I’m not really feeling very confident are going to happen with regularity even though I’m very aware that they should. The temple is a place where covenants, such as marriage, are made and renewed and remembered. There’s an extra weight of realization that comes from knowing that I'm a Marriage and Family Therapist...so I know this is really unwise to leave these things in a state of dangle for long.

Food Storage
This continues to come to my mind. It's not just because of Uncle Tom and Cheri's family lesson on it at the church building the week after Thanksgiving or whenever it was - this has seriously been on my mind for at least six months and the thoughts and feelings about it just continue to be stronger and more persistent. I wish we were already sitting on several cases of essentials and I KNOW we don't have the money. But we also don't have the money to not shop sales and buy cases.


Book Club
I don't even know what we're supposed to be reading for book club. Emily goes every week. I think that stopped for me when I was preparing for an audit at work. I have several books on Therapy that I want to read and feel would be helpful before I get to the list of books for book club…so it seems to me that I’ll not be joining them for their discussion group anytime soon.


Family Relations Teacher Calling
I just realized that I wasn't set apart today. Why did I forget that? I was thinking about it before and during church - but it never occurred to me after. Maybe that means that today wasn't the day. I want to be reading the manuals and doing lesson plans to prep for January startup of the class and in one week I've done next to nothing about that. It would be much more rewarding in the long run than playing the little battle tanks game (fun strategy games are sometimes appropriate, and there was probably some more balance I can bring to the next opportunity by reading the manuals first - in-stead regressing into a computer game for two hours.)


Well, I think this took less than an hour. I didn’t realize I had all that on my mind. Perhapse I can sleep more soundly now (usually not a problem).

- good night..
Dave Ridley

 

Dave's Ice Capades

Dave's Ice Capades

Never having ice skated before, I attempted some pretty amazing Olympic-Gold-Worthy stunts in this video. The mind boggleth to concieve that those meger hockey skates were capable of carrying one to such figure-skating triumphs.  I would say that I owe it all to my trainer and the brilliant instruction at my skate school - but as I have neither, I will have to admit that I'm simply a natural and give all my thanks to you, my adoring fans!

Music and Thanks

And now - here are some badly-lit, poorly-cut, randomly-placed,
low-pixel, rather-rugged, cell-phone-test video clips. Enjoy!

Brief Thanksgiving Messages from Nathan, Matthew & Hayley

Music by Emily (by accident)

Hayley playing 'Give Said the Little Stream.'

Hayley's quite pleased with her song.

Matthew Plays a Mean Harp!

Humanitarian Services Project

Here's a little service project Dave got to do recently as part of his job at the boarding school. We trucked some of our program residents to Salt Lake to help them do something non-selfish for a change. It went very well.

Dave making infant care kits at LDS Humanitarian services.

Every kit contains 4 cloth diapers, 4 clothes pins, 2 bars of mild soap,
2 recovery blankets, a pair of tiny socks, and a little handmade
beany all packed in a ziplock bag with a language tag from the Church.

We packed away enough of these for about 84 newborns. We also packed a tall pallet stack of emergency sanitation kits for shipping out to some needy country somewhere. It was a good activity.

Halloween Post to Come

We have Halloween pictures.


When we have 5 people comment that they want us to post them, we'll post them.


So let it be written, so let it be done.

006 - Sixth Weekly Update from the Utah Ridleys - General Conference, Angelic Rescue, Ward Hoedown, Long Workday, and Snow

General Conference, in the words of Dave:

Along with Saints the world over, we attended the General Conference 

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on October 4th and 5th - from the comfort of our own home. Emily got packets of things for the kids to color and work on that were related to the talks to help keep them tuned in to the messages of counsel and instruction from our church leaders. We even took the huge box from our recently-installed dishwasher and made a Conference Tent (shack?) for the kids to sit in with a door cut out facing the television. It was our most successful Conference to date in terms of attention spans and noise levels and it appears that our children actually were listening much of 

the time. Nathan, for instance, seems to have paid particular attention to messages about the reality of angels, seen and unseen, who assist us in times of trouble (see below). After the last session of conference, a feast was prepared and hosted at the Ridley house - notable attendees were Glenn & Tessa McMillan and Becky & Matthew Lords. A good time was had by all. Dave also attended the Priesthood Session of conference on Saturday night at the chapel and was reminded of his duty to his family. Meanwhile, Becky was good enough to come over and keep Em company and play with the kids. It's nice to live near neighbors (of course, we miss living close to Ty and Sara in Idaho. But you can't have it all – at least not simultaneously).
 

Nathan Rescued, a la Emily:
Last week Nathan refused to even go through the door for music class. Frustrated, I drove the boys to a nearby park. We got out of the car and walked over the two bridges to wander around the baseball fields for a few minutes. When it was time to retrieve Hayley from class, I called for the boys to follow me to the car. I ended up carrying Matthew or holding his hand, and watched as Nathan, against my instructions, ran on the inside of one of the outfield fences instead of on the outside - the shorter route back to the car. I walked back over the marsh on the bridges and put Matthew in the car, expecting Nathan to follow in a few minutes. I waited and watched, but didn't see him. (There were large trees that blocked my view of where Nathan had wandered.) Leaving Matthew in the car, 

I went back over the bridges and started calling for Nathan. After I'd gone a few steps along the bank, I heard a small voice: "I'm down here, Mom." And down there he was. He had gone down in the mud of the marsh, probably mistaking its green covering for grass, and therefore solid ground, which it wasn't. He was 6 or 7 steps into it. I had no hope of reaching him without trudging through the mud and getting stuck myself. And he was very stuck - up past his ankles. Fighting back a bit of panic, I told him to try getting his feet out again. He wiggled and squirmed, but he

 was still stuck. I told him to try getting his feet out of his shoes. He got his right foot out, but then put his foot back in the mud to 

try and release the other foot. He wasn't getting anywhere. He looked up at me forlornly and said, "Are you going to have to leave me here?" I didn't have a good answer for that yet. I told him to hang tight, and saying a prayer for help, I 

started looking for reeds and branches - anything he could step on to help get him to the bank. With a bunch of reeds in my hand, I turned back across the bridge - and suddenly, there he was, his shoe in hand, safely up on the grass and running toward me. I was very relieved, but still talked to him about being obedient. I asked him if he had 

thought about yelling for help - or whether he was worried he'd have to stay there for a long time. He said he was worried. I took his pants, shoes and socks off and put them in a plastic bag. Once we were on the 

road I asked him how he got out - for I really didn't know how he had done it. He just said, "Maybe Heavenly Father helped me." I told him that was probably true, and that I had prayed for help. I was reminded of Elder Holland's Conference talk about angels.


Ward Hoedown
Dave and Emily were recently called to help with the activities committee. The assignment: canvass 1/3 of the ward with fliers, shop for the food at Costco, and come early to set up. Emily 

decided to be brave and get the job done with the kids during the day. The first time they went out for half an hour before lunch and got half the houses covered, but Nathan was pushing the stroller and navigated Matthew through some very large puddles. After lunch, Emily wisely took the boys in the double stroller. Hayley was most helpful – running up to the doors to tape the fliers to each residence. All told, it took them a little more than an hour. Friday night, we gathered with our new ward family for beans and cornbread, bareback riding, barrel racing, calf roping, folk-song singalonging, square dancing, and pictures by Emily in front of a beautiful and elaborate countrified backdrop (the "calves" in these events were stuffed animals and the "horses" of two varieties – stick, in the case of the barrel (bucket) racing, and 16-18 year-old priests and teachers offering their services, in the case of bareback riding). Dave was the PA announcement voice of the events. Yee-haw!

Long Hours
By the time Saturday the 11th dawned, Dave had already been at work for some four hours. The new job involves a more manageable set of duties and a shorter 

commute and we're all grateful - and the learning curve at this early stage is still very steep making each task take longer. After a couple of weeks of things piling up on the desk at work, it became apparent that he would have to go in on Saturday to write reports and tend to other necessaries. The rest of the family trollied off to attend the BYU Homecoming Parade that morning. David left the office to join them for lunch at home, took a brief break to play with everyone, and went back to work until dinner, stories, and bedtime. The kids being laid down in peaceful slumber, Dave once again marched back to the office for another four or five hours.

Long hours for David means, of course, long hours for Emily. Stress mounts as the as the kids bounce – off each other, the furniture, and the walls. Without their fatherly friend, they weary their mama and tread her toes in the kitchen with endless requests, complaints, and "I want to show you something"s.  Running errands becomes a lot more complicated with kids in tow. So, on most such days, Dave tries to do the extra office time when the kids are sleeping (say between 10 and 6 – coming home so Emily can go walking in the increasingly-cold weather).  Is it worth it? The result - David can once again operate his therapy office in an organized manner without fear of losing important paperwork or forgetting critical appointments. We are hoping (against reason) that as he gets more accustomed to his job, it will be several weeks before he has to pull another long day like that.


Snow
October 12th, we arose to find our yard hiding under a cold white. Mt. Timpanogos was wrapped thick in an indistinguishable wall of precipitation and clouds and rendered (or dithered, depending on how you don't look at it) entirely invisible. The kids were amazed that something so massive as a mountain could completely disappear. Not wanting them to get wet but sympathizing with their excitement over the opening snowfall of the season, Dave held each child out over the back porch by their ankles to allow them to retrieve a snowball's worth of the precious powder. Breaking with tradition, the kids had post-breakfast dessert - colorful bowls of flavored snow.

 - The Ridleys

005 - Fifth Weekly Update from the Utah Ridleys - Sundance

(click photos for larger shots)

View from the ski lift.




Cool item in one of the Sundance Lodge stores.

Sweet Cars parked outside the Lodge
(we had to take this shot to show Nathan and Matthew)

Maybe rather than focusing on a shallow detail level across a whole week (or so) of activity, it would be fun just to go deep on a couple days.

Emily and I recently took a holiday:

On Friday night, Emily was invited to drop her preparations for dinner and go up to the BYU campus, ostensibly to watch a foreign film presentation with Becky and Matt. As soon as she was out of the driveway, I told the kids to hastily grab their shoes and get in the car. I packed their pajamas and other necessaries into a suitcase and drove them to Thanksgiving Point and swaped cars with Aunt Christa so the kids could spend the night with their Aunt Christa and and Uncle Steve in Salt Lake.

Back at BYU, I retrieved Emily from the theater and she and I went quickly off to dinner at Cafe Rio. Following our very satisfying meal, we wandered all over the BYU campus visiting a few buildings that had been erected since our graduation. We laid out on the little "molehills" and looked at the stars, talked about memories of the place, etc. As the icing on the cake, we came home and watched part of the presidential debate...I know, we're sooo romantic. Let no one say that we don't know how to get the most out of our date time (gag).

We got to sleep in a little the next morning and, as Emily got ready for the day, I proceeded to gather our lunch into a backpack. I wouldn't tell Emily what we were up to. That was fun - for me at least.

We drove up Provo Canyon. If you haven't been up the canyon lately and are in the area, go soon. It was SO beautiful at about 10:00 in the contrasting shade and sunshine - so beautiful, in fact, that I missed the turn off for Sundance Ski Resort because I was looking at the mountains. I thought it was further on (who knew the resort was so close??). Once we made it up to the lodge, Emily was pleasantly surprised by the ski-lift: a one hour round trip (we timed it, one way takes about 28 minutes), very quiet and peaceful, for only $8 per person (cheap is of the essence until my first paycheck arrives). It was an excellent ride with a very nice view. ¡Que romantico! So, I think it makes up for the presidential debate lameness the night before. We stopped at the top and hiked a bit. Beautiful landscapes of the valley opened up suddenly around corners in the trail. The back side of Timpanogos is worth visiting.

Emily, looking unsure about the Ray's Lift.




Me, enjoying the scenery




Emily calmly ascending the mountain
at 10:51 am (you can read her watch)




It was a little steep in spots

I appreciate the dark contrast of the shady sides of the trail and the ferns growing quietly in little patches. We saw 3 deer, which made our wilderness experience complete. Back at the lodge area, we had our picnic on a bench by the stream. Very nice. We saw some shiny old cars. We stopped in a cool shop or two. We checked out photos of famous people who visited Sundance. Then we went home to romantically install a dishwasher…(Again, what sort of fuddy-duddies install a dishwasher during date time?)

Uncle Tom was the master installer. We did half the job at that point, and since it got pretty involved (we had to install a new electrical outlet in the wall, drill holes for pipes, etc.) Uncle Tom agreed to come back late that evening to finish the job and Emily and I sped off to Salt Lake to get the kids. Emily attended Women's Conference with my sister Christa while I made a fine leftovers dinner at my sister's apartment. Then we came home and finished the install once the kids were down. Anyway, that's our trip. We took pictures . We had a good weekend.

- Dave Ridley (with slight editing by Emily)

The huge trees are...way down there.




Where's Waldo...er, Emily?




There are actually THREE deer in this photo,
but you can't see the third unless she wiggles her ear.




The 28-minute lift




The "back side" of "our mountain"
Timpanogos

Fall colors above Sundance Lodge
as seen from the lift

Dave, at one with nature
during our backpack dinner

Ridley Reunion Video Clips - from July 2008

So...These videos should have been posted months ago. :) Somehow with ending one job, interviewing for another across Utah, transplanting our family to a new household, and training for my current therapist position, I just never got around to it.

Matthew looks on while Hayley, Nathan, and their cousins attack their soon-to-be Uncle Steve during the Ridley Family Reunion in Grand View.


Aunt Christa helps the cluster of cousins pummel her Fiancé, Steve; sort of a Ridley Hazing ceremony...


Here we see a quiet moment of domestic life captured on film...watch quietly so as not to disturb the wildlife.


The Mighty Assemble


Vollyballers


Nathan's Cool Cool Sliding Skills


Hayley happily blowing her bubbles as Nathan, in his muscle suit, unwittingly steals the scene.


Shazam! - Nathan does it again.


Hayley's more ladylike glide pattern leads to a less-successful slide than her brother.


Powering through the straightaway, Nathan struggles with the dismount.


Super Nathan touches down rather late on the runway.


The Ridley Wagon Train preparing to depart. (Nice hat, Uncle Casey!)


Exceedingly rare must-see footage of Emily piloting an off-road vehicle as she tours the farm-equipment in a remote Idaho location.


Apparently Nathan's little bladder was sorely tested during the train ride...


With fragile confidence, Emily prepares for launch - nerves tensed to the breaking point - because she knows Christa is in the cockpit on this desperate mission!


Rounding the Ridley Bulldogging Practice Arina, the Train weaves precariously near the trees, nearly dislodging the passengers in it's reckless descent!


The cattle look on in wonder and disbelief.


The Wild Ride reaches the south 80.


Cameo by Dave, Breanna the Brave in tow.


Mr. Cool's Sliding Lessons - $1

004 - Fourth Weekly Update from the Utah Ridleys - Songs, "Opera," Kung Fu, and Bike Skills

The shots I'm attaching in this update are from a few weeks back. They depict scenes from Christa's wedding which I thought you all might appreciate. Disclaimer: No grooms were actually harmed in the making of these photographs.

Family Scripture Time

We've been working on scripture mastery scriptures along with our breakfast reading of Mosiah 22 . So this evening when Matthew wascoming down the stairs, Emily heard him announce, several times, "Behode: Dis is my wuk!" We have found the following fun links that help the kids learn the scriptures that we're working on so far. Seems to work really well:

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/seminary/songs-bm/j-Mosiah2-17.mp3

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/seminary/songs-ot/01-Moses-1-39.mp3

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/seminary/songs-ot/20-Jeremiah-16-16.mp3

http://lds.about.com/library/bl/seminary/songs-ot/02-Moses-7-18.mp3

Apostles Song (video link)

A Night at the Opera (sort of)

Saturday, Becky and Matt came over to watch the yahoos while Emily and I went to the O.C. Tanner Gift of Music concert, "An American Songbook"

at the Conference Center. We met Christa and Steve there for the second half and had a good time all around. Performing were the Utah Symphony Orchestra , Brian Stokes Mitchell, and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir among others I'd never heard of. I appreciated the they played some John Williams. :) As the MoTab site sums it up, they played:

"American composers Richard Rogers, George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin...among others and will include selections from shows such as Man of La Mancha, South Pacific, and Ragtime. It will finish with a patriotic flourish of songs such as "America the Beautiful," "God Bless America," and a salute to the Armed Forces.

So it wasn't exactly an opera, but it was more culture than I'm accustomed to [having grown up with the cows and all...(groan)] and one of the main singers was a world-renown opera soprano. So that factors in there somewhere. Steve and Christa came out on the balcony beneath the hanging gardens as the event concluded to gaze upon the waterfall, the lights of the town, and

the temple and talk in the sometimes-rainy evening.

Kung-Fu Training

Monday was new hire orientation for me at Provo Canyon School. The boys on my caseload are effectively without a therapist while I was in meetings all day learning about benefits, policies, and service excellence. Tuesday I got to train in what to do when I'm choked, kicked, punched, bit, or otherwise assaulted at work. We trained on how to do "Handle with Care" restraints and take-downs including "the wrap" and "supine" for when kids get particularly out of control and might hurt themselves or others. This was all a different form of the same safety material I was trained on at my last job. I refer to it as "The Yearly Kung-Fu lesson."

Riding a Two-Wheeler

Lastnight, the family recreated the traditional scene of Americana in our own culdesac - with mom looking on as dad jogs behind the oldest child on her bicycle wobbling forward and slowly the father pulls his hand away from steadying the seat and the child is launched forth before she knows it to navigate on her own. She had a few close scrapes and kept hesitatingly breaking before she'd gone far and after a couple encounters with curbs, she was crying in the frustration of it all. But Hayley kept going with a little encouragement from her mother and

though she had not mastered it, had at least faced her fears and stuck with it until her parents called it a night because it was getting too dark to see her brothers zipping around in their tricycles. Hayley has been so hesitant to try riding on her bike ever since some unsuccessful attempts (with training wheels) almost two years ago now. When I came home this evening, Hayley beamed at me at the door and reported that she "learned to ride a two-wheeler today!" We are all pleased and excited for Hayley's new skill.

And Matthew can pedal his trike!

A Cat-Nap, Martial Arts Practice, and Toilet Tag

After congratulating Hayley, I sat down to eat dinner with Steve and Christa who had come to join our family for a day-late Family Home Evening. I want to first say that I don't blame their lesson about Christa's mission to the Church Historical Sights before I admit that I managed to rudely fall asleep as they presented. I guess I was worn out from the day's Kung-Fu? But after my ten-minutes of repose, I was quite lively and as we walked out to engage in Steve's "Toilet Tag" activity in the back yard, I demonstrated one of the day's take-downs on Christa who suddenly found herself securely sitting on the deck unable to flee and indicated that she felt it was quite effective. We all enjoyed "flushing" one another in Steve and Christa's variation on freeze tag as the sunset pink on our very own Mount Timpanogos.

003 - Third Weekly Update from the Utah Ridleys - In the words of the kids

Weekly Highlights:

 

Microwave, Dining, Wet Socks, Playing at Matt & Becky's, and the Refuge of Mommy

Matthew: I goed to the store at Wal-Mart. And I got a microwave with Daddy and Nathan and not Mommy and Hayley. They were staying at our house. I becided to eat dinner. I becided to get the rice and the pineapple without the peppers. And I forgot to go outside with socks on. And I didn't go downstairs outside. Now there are two outsides – one down there and one up here. [Split-level house – front yard and back yard by way of deck or basement] Yeah. I goed with someone else to Becky's house and Matt's house; I goed out and play at the park [the "quad" as Hayley calls it, between the apartments, which has slides, sandbox, and lots of toys with wheels.] I got to ride on the twicicle and the 'cooter and the t'uck too and on…and a wot of sings wit' wheels and I gotta go to dose. And the cart – I did ride in the cart and in the t'uck and I'm done now.

[A few minutes later, Matthew begins again] I...I, I – becided to get a microwave with Nathan and Daddy. AND I goed to Wal-Mart. And the other green car was in the grass out there. And I…and I…and Nathan was getting something with me – like cars…He was hitting me on the head and on the finga' and on my head and on my finga' – wite here! and wite here! and wite here! – and then I goed to mom.

Mom: And did I give you a hug?

Matthew: Yeah. {suddenly noticing his mom and giving her a hug.} Mommy – You got your pajamas on! [Matthew runs down the hall, yelling] – Mommy, are you getting your pillow?! [Matthew has gone to "help" his mom].

 

 

Music Practice & Random Acts of Kindness

Nathan: I went to Music Class. And I um uh…And I get to play the bells that they gave me. There are words….I mean there are letters on the bells. And we play with mallets on them – they're just 'bing, bong, bing bong, bing bong bong.' And I get to do homework and I already did some homework.

Dad: We've got to tell them what the homework is.

Nathan: The homework is, well from my music class and it's called the Big Big Red Balloon.

Dad: You sing it?
Nathan: You draw some and color them in. And you get to do this big red balloon thing where the balloon gets stuck between the wire and on the wire.

Dad: And that tells you what note it is?

Nathan: Yeah!  It goes up up up up or down down down down. And we sing a song with it called, "My Dad Took Me to the Circus in the Mary Month of June." (And Nathan sings a few bars: "and the favorite thing I got there was a big big red balloon! And it went up up up up up up and it floated and it floated and and it floated I wanted it to come back down down down down – I got it!"  Hayley joins in with the singing.)  And we got some red balloons, and mine popped. (Nathan and Hayley also sang the Barnyard song in tandum, it was quite cute.)  

Dad: Was there anything else in your week?

Nathan: Yeah. I sleeped a lot of nights. And, um, I got to ride my bike on the deck. I just carried and carried mine and Matthews bike and we rided…

Mom: "and rode"?

Nathan: And rode and rode and rode. My bike.

Mom: Nathan had carried his bike up to the deck and he was riding around. And Matthew came to the sliding door and wanted to ride his bike too. So Nathan went to the Garage and got Matthew's bike and carried it up all the stairs so Matthew could ride his bike too.  And tell them about how you made everybody's bed!

Nathan: We made…I made my bed and then Matthew's bed and then Hayley's bed. It was so tiring! I wanted to see all of the pictures that were on the blankets. I did Hayley's with the strawberry blanket, mine with the Cars blanket, and Matthews with the yellow blanket.

 

 

Books, Music, and a "Lemony-Cinnamony" Reception Cake

Hayley: I read some exciting books. One was called the BFG. The BFG is really a big giant that's called "The Big Friendly Giant." I read another book called "Danny the Champion of the World" – he's learning how to poach. Poaching is trying to kill—what are these birds called—pheasants. Danny and his father live in an old caravan behind a gas station. Then he goes to school with a very bad teacher. The teacher had been in the army. One time he and his friend were sitting together in school his friend asked him a question "what are two sevens" and Danny answered it. And the teacher caught them and got all of what they had been doing out of them (cheating) and then he summoned him up to the front of the class. Then he took a white cane from the wall, lifted it up in the air, and brought it down, "thwack!" on Danny's hand. And then he did the same to his friend. His friend was called Sidney.

Dad: Hayley, are you going to tell us the whole book?

Hayley: No. Another book I read was the BFG.

Dad: You already told us about that one.

Hayley: It's about a girl named Sophia. She's an orphan. She's up late because she can't go to sleep and then she sees the BFG. The BFG lives in a cave is in a mountain colored blue in a yellow-colored wasteland. The other giants that live with him are mean giants that eat people.

Dad: You've told us about two books – is that all you did this week? Tell us what else you did.

Emily: It's good that she's reading. It doesn't have to be…

Hayley: One time I went to music class. We go one Tuesday every week. One Tuesday our mom comes with us and another Tuesday, only Nathan and me. There are other people in our class. There is me, Heidi, and I can't remember the other one. The other ones are preschoolers, but we still learn a lot. Sometimes we play the bells along to a CD that we have. We even got puppets – there's a song on the CD that talks about the puppets, there are different kinds of songs for different puppets.

Dad: Hayley, anything else?

Hayley: Last week we went to Aunt Christa's reception. I met a lot of new friends there. And for the first time in my life, I learned to play soccer. We had cake there. It was kind of like a lemony-cenimony cake with white frosting. We had fun. It was a long way to where the reception was. Because it was in Layton and I live in Orem so it was a long way. I met Maurine, Becky, and Grandma. Becky and Grandma and Maurine were there because Mommy and they had been at "A Woman's Conference." Time out for Women, actually. I saw Steve and Christa in their wedding clothes at the reception. There were Steve's family-Lots of people were there...

 

Emily's Two, Somewhat-Brief Summary Comments

Emily:  Time out for Women was wonderful. And I feel like things are coming together-we're still getting the kinks out of our new situation.  (Emily says she can write next week. So be ever-vigilant and watchful - her exciting update cometh).

 

 

Playing with Kids, Glenn's Performance, and…Dave's Nerdy Side

Dave: You already know that I goed to Wal-Mart. You can guess that I also attended a wedding reception and took the kids to play at Matt and Becky's (I had a lot of fun there kicking a ball back and forth with Hayley who seems to really enjoy soccer since she played at the reception). I spent a good portion of the time Emily was gone doing something very nerdy – I was organizing about 60 books that I've read on GoodReads.com—that is, when I wasn't doing kid duty. On another day, I put the kids to work hosing the dry spots of the lawn and garden. They were very diligent, you might expect. Let's see – our little family went to have the "Glenn McMillan Unplugged Live Performance" experience at Muse Music along with Becky & Tessa (his beloved wife to whom he dedicated two songs) & Shanna Phelfrey (esteemed cousin) and a modest crowd of Thursday-night club-goers. Prior to the show, we even got to have dinner with Glenn and Tessa in their very own home. The kids had a rockin' good time and Glenn is a very brave stage man to perform to a crowd like he does-putting it all out there at full volume.

Emily and I read Macbeth for our book club last week. I should mentions that we meet with a handful of "homeschoolers" interested in Thomas Jefferson Education every Thursday and talk about a book and what we're learning from it to apply to our own lives. We're reading Leadership and Self Deception this week. This was a text from a very important class I took at BYU—one of my favorites. Go out and find it and read it – it's neither expensive, thick, nor difficult to read, but it is HUGELY helpful in relationships (particularly your relationship with yourself and, indirectly by extension—if you pay any attention to the spiritual side of your nature—your relationship with God—although that's not stated in the text). So I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's book club meeting. 

I started work this week. So far, while the state of Utah confers with the state of Idaho regarding my background check, education, and licensure issues, I am pretty much sitting and reading case files and policies of the facility this week. I don't yet have such necessaries as keys or an office and have to be escorted by some other employee when I'm with the school residents. The therapist I will be replacing (a huge former semi-pro football player) was good enough to "supervise" at least brief 15-minute introductions with the boys that will be on my starting caseload of six. Maybe by next week I'll do some therapy. J

002 - The Utah Ridleys - The House Gets Organized and Dave gets a Job

Our last episode included "Out of the mouth of babes" accounts of our recent lives. This week, we're talking (mostly) from the adult perspective.

The House
Our house is a reasonably-well-kept-but-30-year-old rental property in Orem, UT. It turned out to be about ten minutes from "the job" (see below), so that's a huge blessing. The landlord seems anxious to be helpful and so we've already done a handful of repairs. And I have found that we have mice! We are getting the rest of the boxes unpacked and starting to put up pictures.

I tacked on a picture from Google Maps taken some months (October?) before we got here. I imagine that is about what it's going to look like in a month.

My personal favorite feature of the house is the view of Mount Timpanogos from the back porch which is almost as idilic as this one http://www.peakware.com/photos/442c.jpg . Because I thought it was interesting, here's a view FROM the mountain looking down http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Timp_Panaramic.jpg - if you blow it up to full size and look down toward Utah lake, you can almost pick out our house (not really). More seriously, as we were all sitting at the breakfast table this misty morning, the kids and I beheld a great white cloud that went lumbering across the green face of the mountain and it really did look just like a long, lithe dragon breathing fire and coming along down a path. As the evanescent vaporous behemoth morphed and dissipated, we made up adventures about it chasing a little knight (unseen because of distance). Hayley fancied that the dragon, having eaten, looked as though it stretched out to sleep - and, of course, when it sleeps, it becomes invisible.

The Job

I signed the paperwork for a job with Provo Canyon School yesterday and am hopefully going to start training for it on Monday.Provo Canyon School has three campuses: one for teenage boys, one for girls, and one for younger (sometimes grade school aged) students. The following web sites are for 2 of those campuses: http://provocanyon.com , http://www.sommersetprogram.com/. I expect to be mostly at the first one. I think I'm taking over for another therapist who had a caseload of 8, but the standard caseload is 9-11 residents. I was told that most of these kids are private-pay entitled rich kids, LOTS from LA County (I think the LA County school district has quite a racket going). We'll see how accurate that is.

As I was signing the paperwork yesterday, I got a call from another company ( http://www.newhavenrtc.com/ ) who want me to come out to interview (they're a little late) and a third company, Heritage School ( http://www.heritagertc.org/ ), called to say they are losing a therapist in January and want me to join them if I am at all unsatisfied with Provo Canyon.

First Weekly Update from the Utah Ridleys - In the words of the kids

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

    I'm sitting here with the kids who don't want to go to sleep. So we're writing you a letter on the laptop instead.

    Hayley says, "I'm having a fun time in Utah now. We just moved, so we are kind of new around here, but I'm getting used to it. Nathan and me have swings that we can play with outside. We even have a tree that we can climb in.  I like living in this house. It's like an old friend we had - their last name was Giles - this house is like theirs. We have new neighbors. I am friends with an eight year old - her name is Amelia; we call her 'Melia' for short. She has lots of brothers. Two of them are Gregory and her twin is Andrew. I like living in Utah now. We are going to Christa's wedding soon. I think her wedding is on Friday this week. We got to watch part of the "Music Man" today - it was fun. We watched it until the parade and then my mom turned it off becaus she thought we shouldn't watch it right now." "once we didn't have hot water - so we had to boil hot water on the stove and put it in the tub if we wanted to take a bath. And then the 'gas man' came and he made it so we could have hot water. Tonight was bath night. I took a shower in the downstairs bathroom. There's a big playroom downstairs and we put lots of toys in it and there's even a table we can color on and it has crayons and paper on it. It's fun in the new house. I kind of miss the old house but this one is alright too. We got a new pantry - it's kind of like a big cupbuard with drawers on the bottom. It's big and white. It has food in it. Becky came over and dad and mom helped to make it. That night was Monday night and me and Nathan directed family home evening. first we had a song and it was i am a child of god and then we had a prayer and it was a lesson from the friend. Then we had the activity. (Nathan added that the activity was rolling the ball - a soccer ball) Then we had a prayer and then we sang the song, 'Faith.' Becky was there for family home evening because we were making our new pantry while it was going. We're having scripture time in the morning now - instead of at night - we memorized a scripture. The Scripture was Jeremiah 16:16 - I've memorized it. Still I haven't got all the words right, but I'm working on it. Nathan hasn't quite got it either, but he's working on it. It's about missionaries looking for the House of Israel. It says that they look on mountains and hills and in caves (Nathan adds, "The Hunters"). And Jeremiah forgot to say that the fishers would fish in every lake and every pond and every ocean.
   
     Nathan says, "I got to go to music class. It was called 'Let's play music.' I don't remember the things that we did in there, but it was at somebody's house. We got some bells and puppets and balloons there. We got to bring them home! Yeah, we get to play - play with 'em! I like - do you know what my favorite vehicle is? Trains! I like trains because I like all things that are on wheels. But I like some other things too. And trains are on wheels, right? And I like to, um, my dad let me have one of his marbles and we rolled it down the driveway - it's kind of a swoopy one. It just rolled and rolled and rolled until it got to the bottom. It was cool! Well, it was this day - today. We have a mountain behind our house. And we went on that drive - a drive ON a mountain. And we got out of the car and looked at the city of Orem - we live in Orem - and Provo and BYU."  Nathan says he likes to have scripture time in the morning and story time at night instead of both together.

      Matthew says, "I'm sorry that you didn't come home. I...get to go to one and then I have prayers and scriptures and balloons. I get to go to one to not - they goed to one because I stay with Christa and Daddy. I did a magic trick to Christa and we did do magic tricks to Christa and we didn't do another one. No not other ones, just all.  Oh great, I'm laying down. Okay I'm sitting up.  And play at a park at another house. One nother house. Um I played at - there's another house that that's right outside. I didn't get to play at Mickey's house - just play at Becky's house, but I didn't play at Matt's house - Matt and Becky's house. and I played by Matt and Becky's house and played by it. I was digging dirt with you (dad) with the shovel - with one shovel without two shovels. And we goed and we goed home. And and and and Christa's car...goed back...and kooo kee, and koo and keeee. Haaa!  Do you know Koo and Kee? Two!...Now, I have 'nother 'dea (another idea) - I have another story! Um ...mommy and daddy and nathan and matthew...I love hayley yes sir-ee, I love mommy yes sir-ee, I love nathan yes sir-ee, we're a happy Famlee!  There's a song!  Twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are...(in falsetto) UP above the world so high, wike a diamong in the sky, Twinkle wittle star, how I wonder up above above the world so high wike a diamong in the kie. How I wonder what you are. I have to say "up above" two times and "wike a diamong" two times. How I wonder what you are, yeah yeah. I sanged two songs!" 


As you can see, they were really enjoying themselves. Nathan got pretty tired so he declined to tell you about his other misadventures. It's getting late fast here and I still want to get a small big pile of boxes and Styrofoam out of the living room floor, change out a load of laundry, and download some new chapters of a book for my mp3 player before I go to bed. I think between the three kids, they've summed up our experiences here pretty well. I'm feeling accomplished because I put a phone line in our house today (much of the work was already done - hole was drilled and phone jack already mounted - I just had to patch wires together and run a line through a wall and do some testing to figure out which wires to splice together.) As a result, we now have internet throughout the house and a third phone down in the basement). Yesterday, I spent about 3 hours shop-vac-ing thick mud out of a drain in our driveway and dumping the loads of wastewater out onto the lawn. The rain flooded the "Swoopy" driveway - down to the basement-level garage. Thankfully, our landlord told us in advance that it might happen, so the previous day, we got everything of value up on makeshift shelves and boards and nothing was water-damaged.

That's our life - Emily wants these boxes out of the floor. I'm off.

  - Dave

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http://jesuschrist.lds.org/