Adventures in Baltimore I thought I'd let you all get caught up on my adventures I'm having in Baltimore. On Friday we went into D.C., and saw the Ford Theater , where Lincoln was shot. They had an interesting play about how it went down. We also went to the Aerospace museum , which Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed. The History museum was closed for renovations. Yesterday we went on a 5k run. Christa took 3rd overall for the women's group, and Brigham won his division. And everyone cheered when Mom & Dad crossed the finish line. We went to the park to look at the frogs, but they were done doing their thing and had left. We went to the Rainforest Cafe , which Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed, but I don't plan on returning there. We've gone to Church today, and I'll update you on more of our adventures later!
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So, this is just a reminder to ya'll that didn't make your own reservations to fly and therefore may not be aware of just how early we need to leave here on Thursday! We are on flight 2947 which Departs at 7:20 AM, which means we have to leave here at 5:20 Am to be there by 6:20 am. Which of course means you need to be up by about 5 am. Make SURE you bring your Drivers Licencses folks ! Also, I believe I remember that Chad is on the same flight with Brett, BJ, Kim and myself. That is 5 of us, and 6 with Brigham driving, to be transported from the airport to Dastrups place. This means that we need to pack light! Like 1 suitcase, and your carry on, and your carry on will likely likely be riding with you on your lap from the airport to Dastrups. Who knows. Maybe well be riding people on our laps so we can stack up the suitcases. But, the good news is that we aren't going across the plains like that, so we can be really close, as a family on the trek to the Dastrups! The...
Yesterday I decided to go visit Kiera & family in Loma Linda . Kiera wasn't having the best day, and she was afraid of me at first. But eventually she got comfortable enough with me that she had no qualms about spitting up on me. The Nelsons have a pretty nice place. I had imagined it to be in the concrete jungle somewhere. But it's actually in a decent looking neighborhood. They have a yard & everything. Oh, and I do mean everything. Their three bedroom house is fully furnished. It looks like they've been living there quite happily for years. The house itself is a little old, and smells of old people, but it's a nice little place. And I saw no spiders while I was there. The Nelsons treated me to the In 'n Out experience. It was a good hamburger. We played some games, and had a good time. I'll have to wait another two days to see Kiera again. I'm looking forward to it!
So, yesterday, before we went 4 wheeling up at the mtn property with Chad, Saun , Randy....I came out of the bedroom to a bit of a surprise. Kim had on his camouflage pants and coat, and he had plastered himself against the wall and was looking away from me. (I should have taken a picture). I said, "What in the world are you doing?" His answer was, "You can't see me! I'm in camouflage !!! I am sure that Brigham and Steve have wondered many times where the weird side of your spouses came from. If you hadn't already figured it out, now you know. ONLY 4 more days till I get to see my whole family again!!! Wahoo for me! Is the forecast still for rain every day?
Steve surprised me last night with an unexpected gift: a fancy-shmancy jogging-stroller complete with odometer and MP3 player speakers so Kiera can listen to tunes while I jog. I wonder if he got it for me more for my behalf or his..... Today I locked our keys in the car at chuch. What a goobersnarf I am. What a pain it is to get locked keys out of a car. Steve's younger brother Kyle got his mission call to Japan and I guessed it. : )
About two or three times a year I'll have a question in Sunday School that nobody seems to be able to answer, or I get an answer I feel is a blow-off. Today was one of those days, and I thought I'd pose the question here. This could be a lengthy blog post. The lesson started by discussing Matthew 15:22-28 , which is about a Canaanite woman who wants Christ to heal her daughter. Christ has what appears to be some harsh words for her. I don't understand why. The initial answer was that Christ was sent to minister to the Jews, not the Gentiles. Yes, that's true, but wouldn't it be just as easy as to help her the first time? To me, comparing her to a house dog is insulting. And while it may have been the Jewish culture to refer to gentiles as dogs, I would have expected Christ to not follow that. I also pointed out that in John 4 , Christ goes to a Samaritan woman and teaches her. So why did he not help the woman in Matthew initially? The answer I got to this ...
ATV Weekend with Geocaching & Rummy. Yesterday we (Me, Thomas's) went out by Elberta and rode ATVs. It wasn't as cold as it seemed from yer mom's post. It was about 55-60 degrees & mostly sunny and with a sweatshirt under a windbreaker it was perfect weather to ride ATV. I tried to call Brett then Chad to go with me, but I couldn't get hold of either. :-( There's really some cool rides there. There's an old railroad grade (no longer any tracks) that has a tunnel that goes through a mountain. We rode our ATVs through it which was pretty fun. We saw a couple of mines and went on some wild trails (Marilyn wouldn't have liked them). We found two geocache stashes . Chad told me about geocaching. It's pretty fun. Today we (Marilyn and I) went with Chad, Saundra & Randy up to the mountain property. Rode ATVs up/back and played rummy 5000 in the trailer. It's still pretty cold up there.
Great news! I just found a 5k race on the 28th that we can do! Even better, it says it is $10 per person or $20 per family! I think we should all do it! Those who want to run can, and those who want to walk can do that. It says that there is a feast afterwards for all participants. It looks like a little community race, and I think it would be a great memory-maker! Let's do it! Who's with me?
I have some pictures from my bike ride today if y'all would like to see. I have a nifty case to carry my camera around in now, thanks to Buffy. So if you'd like to see some photos from my bike ride today, you can see them at http://picasaweb.google.com/cgroneman/Biking . These ones are not from real mountain biking. The road to the trail I wanted to ride on was closed, so instead I just rode up the closed alpine loop road to the summit (About 1200' gain from where I started). It was a very peaceful ride since there was nobody else on the road. I'll post more pictures there from time to time as I take my camera with me on rides.
So with only one week remaining until our fun-filled reunion, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that it's finally starting to warm up here. The bad news is that right now the forecast predicts rain for every day that you are here. That could ruin some plans. Our tentative plan was to spend a day at the National Zoo (FREE), a couple of days in DC for all those feeling touristy (weather won't affect that), a day at a national park where you can hunt for fossilized shark teeth on the beach, a day close to home-- playing frisbee golf, bocci ball, croquet, etc. with a picnic, and on that Sunday going to see some gardens here that are beautiful. Anyhow, you can see that rain might make our plans a little trickier. So keep your fingers crossed. Dinner plans include: a trip to the Rainforest Cafe, a Baltimore crabfest at the Dastrups, and adults' dinner night at Gertrudes (I succeeded in getting reservations for all of us together), so please budget a...
Well, Kim is off fulfilling the desires of his heart. He is 4 wheelin today in the west desert. It is only 42 degrees out there right now. And only supposed to get up to 54 today. It is a cloudy day, and of course there will be wind chill. And he actually asked me if I WANTED to go! Yeah, sure. When pigs fly. But he has been wanting to do it. So I hope he has fun. Really. The physical therapists working with Jack at the rehab center, are already talking about Grandpa's coming home soon. That is going to make 4 wheeling become more difficult. Especially going with Saundra and Randy. Who will be taking care of Grandpa? Volunteers, anyone?
Mormon Media Wars - For those of you who haven't seen it, there is a battle going on between LDS film makers that I find amusing: Richard Dutcher's blast . Keith Merrill's Response. ...and if you look at the Herald, it keeps going. Merrill apologized for his response but the comments to all of these stories are something to read. Interesting if you have time. IMHO Keith Merrill is on the moral high ground, but one point that Dutcher makes that I have to agree with: A lot of the LDS genre movies I've seen are trash or at least significantly lack an element that makes it worth watching....including his. Especially the "comedies". The only movie of Dutcher's I liked was Brigham City. Chris Heimerdinger has some good input . What do you think?
Not tons happening in Cali. So I'll share a few tidbits: 1. We got our trees hyper-trimmed. There ain't a leaf left on em' . They look kinda silly, but at least it will help control spiders. 2. tonight we are going to an open house for Steve's parents' newest bookstore. They bought the last remaining church-owned bookstore (deseret book is not church owned for those of you who were wondering). 3. Steve's younger brother Devin (the Gorilla for the Suns) has decided he is going to marry a girl who was part of the polygamists as a child and left at the age of 17. She is a returned missionary and a really nice girl. thats all folks.
For Dad and anyone else who has Google earth, and is interested in seeing exactly where those pictures were taken from last Saturday, here's a file you can open . You can orient yourself from the pictures like this one where we were. So dad, next time you're down there, you can stop by and check it out yourself. That spot takes a pretty rigorous little climb up the side of the hill from the road. Or you can just go to the much more widely known visitors center up the street with a bunch of Indian drawings on the rock walls surrounding the path behind the visitors center.
CHAD'S BIRTHDAY BASH - Well, his after birthday bash. On Sunday the three local kids came over and we had 'nuther BBQ (Vinegar Chicken, Salmon, Hot Dogs) along with some apple-rhubarb and raspberry pies. Nummmy! After that we played a rousing game of Carcassonne in which the birthday boy proceeded to trounce us all. It was nice and Chad got to take home a bunch of loot .
This week I was talking to Benjamin on the phone . He called to thank me for the "Utah Raptor" dinosaur that I sent him. He was pretty excited about it. He knew that we had a Utah Raptor from when he was here at Christmas, so he wanted to know if I still had one here. I told him I couldn't find a Utah Raptor in the stores, so I had sent him mine...but that was ok, because I could play with it with him when we come to Baltimore in a bit. He sounded cautious when he said, "Well...ok...you can play with it, but it is still gonna be mine, alright?" One has to protect ones interests after all. It reminded me of a blurb in the readers Digest last month: "Dinosaurs are fascinating. My 3 year old is obsessed with them. Recently we were riding on a bus, and he asked another passenger for her name. "My name is Deena," she said. "Can you say Deena?" "Deena," said my son. "Can you say Pachycephalosaurus?" Can't ya j...
Our Mountain Property - Dear co-owners of the mountain property (that's you kids): I went to the annual Upper Whittemore Property Association members meeting a few weeks back. They were voting on new board members. Heck if I know how it happened by I was voted into the board of directors. Now.....to add insult to injury, I went to my first board meeting where they were voting for board officers and I got voted in as secretary of the board . Man.....ya blink and look what happens! Anyway, we were supposed to go inspect some of the water lines on Saturday and I thought there would still be snow up there (never been able to get up in April before, only in May). Since it was a low snow year, I figured I could make it up and there would be piles of snow around the trailers like there has been in May of previous years. I took my ATV up just for fun. There was no snow . There was a small pile in the shady area of Grandma's trailer and up under the pine trees on our lot, bu...
The Missing Wallet I slept in 'till 8 this morning (that was 9.5 hours of sleep, which was good after working several 14-16 hour days in a row). I did a bunch of miscellaneous things, and by early afternoon I was ready to go on a bike ride. On my way out, I stopped at a bike shop and made a small purchase using my credit card. The bike ride wasn't that great. Anyway I returned home and realized I no longer had my wallet with me. In my mind I retraced everything I'd done since going to the bike shop. It wasn't much. I had my wallet with me at the bike shop, and had only pulled out my card to make the purchase, and I remembered getting the card back and putting it in my wallet. From there I drove to the trailhead and went on my bike ride. I drove straight home afterwards, took care of my bike, and took a shower. And now I no longer had my wallet. I searched my pockets, my room, the living room, the bathroom, my car. No wallet. So, I decided it would be prude...
Thanks for your prayers, everyone! Jacob is still sick, but doing much better today. Brigham returned home safely, and is officially DONE with medical school! Hooray! Also-- we got a phone call from the "woo study" people. We need a count on how many people want to do their thing in a bucket for $50 so we know how many to request.
The Dastrups would appreciate any prayers that you could send our way today. Brigham is currently in Philadelphia taking Step 2 part 1001 or whatever it is of the boards today. After today, he is DONE with everything here at Hopkins-- as long as he passes. So he could use some prayers-- especially because he didn't get much sleep last night due to a fiasco that we'll have to describe another time. Also, Jacob, who was completely healthy 2 days ago, might be in the hospital by tonight. He came down with Publish a cold yesterday, and today he's wheezing and having a lot of trouble breathing. I took him in this morning, and our pediatrician said that if it were anyone else, he would send them to the hospital. As it is, he put Jacob back on steroids, and if he's not improved by about 2 pm, we're headed down to Hopkins. So please pray that he will get better soon! Thanks! We appreciate your support!
Yesterday I participated in an asthma/allergy study to try to earn a few pesos , and I found out a few interesting things. The researchers were looking for people who are allergic to ragweed and dust to participate in the study, and while I know that I have seasonal allergies, I wasn't sure what I was allergic to, and I was worried that I wouldn't qualify to do the rest of the study (which is $450!). Well, as part of the screening they put about 10 different allergen solutions on my arm and then pricked me under each one. If you are allergic to the solution, a hive will form where you were pricked, and the more allergic you are, the bigger the hive will be. After I was pricked, nothing happened for a few minutes, and I thought, "Oh, man! I'm not going to qualify for this study!" But then my arm started to burn, and soon I had a bunch of hives all over my arm. The researcher lady and doctor were both impressed because it turns out that I'm allergic to al...
Mom's the weeeeeener! Yesterday Brett picked up a couple of hitchhikers (Chad and Buff) and came for dinner. I BBQ'd some bacon wrapped steak and some polish sausage and some MahiMahi. Not bad if I do say so myself. Of course, after mom challenged us to a rousing game of Settlers of Catan, it was neck and neck and I threw a last minute rally, but it wasn't enough to overcome yer mom winning with that smug look on her face. A good time was had by all but I was disappointed that Cambrie and Christa didn't even bother to show up. [harumph!] Oh yea....and the Easter Bunny must have stopped by our house because you should have seen three apparent grown ups scrambling through our living room looking up and down trying to find candy left by the EB. 'twas quite a sight.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!! The easter bunny got caught in the act at our house. I guess it was because he came at 2pm. Silly bunny. I woke up this morning to find a large spider just above my head on the wall. Steve trapped it in a cup. Then this evening we were in the living room talking and I was feeding Kiera when Steve's eyes got really wide and I looked over and there was a huge spider headed my way on the couch (about 2 feet from me). I screamed and ran across the room. Kiera, who was eating at the time, thought it was hillarious and busted up laughing. I tried to explain that it wasn't funny and spiders are scary, but she didn't get it. Steve trapped this spider in a cup too and now both spiders are trapped in their cups sitting on the desk where I am typing. Why? because we paid $140 to have them got rid of and there is a guarantee. So we have to proove that we have spiders alive in our house to get them to come back and respray. YUUUUCCCCKKK!!! PS for those of you ...
It's fantastic weather here in Utah, and I decided I needed to go mountain biking today. Normally I just go biking up the Provo River Trail, but today I wanted to get onto some trails. Lucky for me the Internet decided to have some good suggestions on where to go around here, and I found this one . Previous to this experience, I've only been "Mountain Biking" at Sundance. In some ways this trail was better than Sundance, in other ways it wasn't as good. Namely that it has a good 30-40 minutes of climbing before you get to any downhill (Sundance has a lift, negating the need to climb). Climbing uphill on a bike for 30 minutes wears you out fast. I had to take a few breathers. I think I took a few wrong turns too. But, what wants to go down must go up first. I wish I could relate to you how much fun it is to bike on mountain trails, particularly the downhill ones . Flat are good too, but downhill is a blast. You go through the forest, over streams, thro...
Brigham and I have started brainstorming ideas for when ya'll get here. We thought it would be fun to go out to dinner as just adults once. So we're trying to decide where we should go-- trying to balance yummy food with cost-effeciveness for those on a tight budget (like ourselves). On match day Brigham and I went out with our friends to a terrific restaurant called Gertrudes. It's a nicer restaurant, and the food was OUTSTANDING. Of course it is a little pricey, but on Tuesdays they call it "Gertie's Grill Night", and their entrees are only $10-12 (instead of $20-26). Anyway, I got online to see if I could get us a reservation for Tuesday, May 1, but they only can accomodate a party of seven. There are nine of us adults, so that's obviously a problem. So I'd like to call a vote: Would you rather eat divine food and split into two parties (4 and 5) or go somewhere else and either pay more or have the food be less yummy?
Update time: Kim went to see Grandpa 2 days ago. He is doing good. He has decided that he likes it at the VA rehab where he is. He said the food is good, and Kim says that he was very "with it" which is something I haven't seen since he broke his hip. So that is good. He is continuing to make progress, and will likely be coming back here before terribly long. I got a secondary infection so I still haven't been up to see him . My mom suffered her first angina attack this week. My mom (who has sworn that she will never go to the ER again) INSISTED that dad take her to the ER! It causes a lot of pain. My grandmother suffered many times with angina before her heart finally took her. Brigham could explain what causes it better than me. I just know that it isn't fun and can be dangerous. Not that anyone is worried about the danger of it taking her life (since that is also what she wants and needs to have quality of life again). I just wish it wasn't so ...
It's never too early to start planning. I've been working on my own obituary for a while now and believe I have it finished. I want you folks to use this when I kick the bucket. I should leave enough money to cover the cost. How better to be remembered for who I am than by having this in my great-grandchildren's genealogy books: Kim LaVar Groneman, who always thought life was far too serious, would like to take this oppportunity to inform my family, friends, enemies, and people that just like to read obituaries, that I died [date] of [whatever] My last moments were spent thinking about my wife Marilyn and other family members and wondering who would celebrate my leaving. I gotta say I love my wife. It always brought a smile to my face and my heart beat a little faster when she entered a room and who knows if that didn't contribute to such an early demise. (That and the chocolate, bacon, butter and other things that make life worth living.) My legacy is my childre...
I've actually started combing Benjamin's hair occasionally as of late, and today I pulled out the hairspray to try to keep it looking combed. When he saw it, he drew back, wrinkled up his nose, and asked suspiciously, "Is that girl stuff ?" As for Jacob, we think that Jacob might have his first real word-- car! Any time he sees toy cars or cars/trucks in books he says something that sounds kind of like "ka". We are not sure yet, but we are hopeful that it is true! He has also started waving a little bit. I have to hold his arm up, but then he will wave his chubby hand! It's very exciting!
On Sunday we went over to our friends' house between conference sessions for some cake and ice cream. Benjamin was very excited about it, and when we got there, I dished some up for him and put it at the table. I then proceeded to help dish up the rest, and we started eating. About 10 minutes later, I looked over at Benjamin who was sitting with his untouched cake and ice-cream-- a forlorn look on his face. I said, "What's the matter, buddy? Don't you want your cake and ice-cream?" He said, " I do want it! I'm just waiting for the prayer !" A proud moment came for us at the close of the last Conference session. Maybe no one else noticed, but the closing prayer was rather lengthy. Benjamin was in the middle of eating his dinner, but when he heard the prayer start, he said, "They're praying!" and immediately folded his arms and bowed his head. We've been working with him on staying reverent through prayers-- closing our ey...
After 15 complete months , Cambrie and I now have relinquished our faith in the USPS. Back in Dec ’05 , Mom sent my day planner to me through the mail from Cedar Hills to California. When it never arrived we got a bit worried thinking the mail system wasn’t trustworthy. Well, we finally received that package today! The only thing missing was my $20 inside my day planner… probably because the bill’s weight classified my package as too heavy for the postage bought to send it or the bill was so old (at least 1 ½ years) that it could be considered an antique. So thank you mom. Next time I leave something, I’ll just wait until you guys come to CA for a visit
So I'm looking for ideas. And nobody freak out quite yet. Nothing is official or certain. I've been dating this girl for a few weeks now, and things are going well. We met about two months ago in my physiology lab. Anyway, the whole marriage topic came up a few days ago, and to make a long story short, I'm just collecting ideas for how to propose, if in fact we decide that that's what we want to do. And I'm still not so sure about it all. I might. I might not. Lots of questions still. It seems kind of fast for me, but somehow it just seems right like it never has before. Throw out some ideas for me to play with. My friends already said they'd help me out if I needed them to.
Common Answers - March I'm terrible this month...Just like most everyone else! Look at BJ go...she skunked us!! I can't believe Green Eggs and Ham wasn't the number 1 Dr. Seusse book. 299 Breanna Groneman 1111 Chad Groneman 1181 Brigham Dastrup 1885 Kim Groneman 2040 Brett Groneman 2052 Christa Dastrup 2390 Cambrie Nelson HERE ARE MARCH RESULTS I'd like to extend a special invitation for Mom and Steve to join us so we're 100% represented in April. ***ENTER HERE***
There's still sickness and death (it feels like it) at our house. I feel like we should put a skull and crossbones on our front door to warn innocent travelers. Both yer mom and I are still sick as ever. I feel bad 'cuz I put Grandpa up in the VA nursing center and can't visit him because I'm afraid of giving him this stuff. I couldn't even talk yesterday my throat was so sore. I hope someone has visited him. On a lighter note, yer mom and I were walking through the park just South of us last week and there were some guys putting numbered posts all around the park, in the trees, both sides of the stream. We asked them what they were for and they said it's a frizbee golf course. Something else to do when you come to visit. The grass is greening up, which means it won't be long before I have to mow it [grumble][grumble]. Peach and plumb trees are just starting to blossom.
It is amazing how much work can go into putting together a house. We spent all day yesterday working on various little house projects. But it's fun though. Stay tuned for more house pictures. Kiera is having new sleeping issues. She keeps rolling herself onto her back in the middle of the night (she is a tummy sleeper) and then she wakes up mad. I had to go flip her over 4 times last night (in addition to the 4 feedings). I wish she'd hurry and learn how to roll from back to tummy!!