Things Hyrum Thinks About

Hyrum prefers Toy Story 2 to Toy Story 3. The reason? "The kids are mean to the toys. In Toy Story 2, they aren't." Thanks to an early birthday present, he is discovering Toy Story 1 "how they meet."

"Now talk about the Buzz mission." The intro to Toy Story 2 is very much his favorite part.

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One of Hyrum's favorite books at school is about a mouse named Murray who wants to make a perfect soup. To get the ingredients, he runs around doing favors for people in a barter system economy. "Murray is in a hurry" is the catch phrase. Hy announced on Wednesday that today he would be Murray. On Friday, he asked when it was Sunday so he could be Murray. I came in his room today and asked him what day it was. He exulted: "Sunday!!! That means I am Murray!"

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Last week Hyrum discovered Animal Crossing. His character in the game is named Buzzz. He specified to us every day that he was "Buzzz from Animal Crossing" as opposed to Buzz from Toy Story. I get to play Tom Nook the raccoon storekeeper whose voice I do as an Indian accent. The number one thing he talks about, though, is that fact that the opening screen is "Dark" and has "a cat." "And then the light goes on and you walk until you stop. You go in the house and tell .... and you go in the store and work for Tom Nook."

"Marioparty has a question mark!" he interjects from the dinner table.

When Mommy reminded him that he doesn't work for Nook forever, I told her he and I had finished Nook's chores. Hyrum then explained, "You walk out of the store and you win!" Buzzz punched the air to celebrate paying off the downpayment on his house. "And then we save."

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Last Sunday Hyrum decided to be his friend Margaret. This was very funny because I home teach Margaret's family. So we all went over to Margaret's with our Margaret. She sat in my lap and he sat in her dad's lap and was overly affectionate. When we got home, I got to be Margaret's daddy and Joy was Margaret's mommy. We have spent this week trying to convince him that most people only get handshakes and hugs. So I ask permission to stop being Nook so Daddy can give him a kiss. The odd side effect is that he has wandered to me and asked to shake my hand. He is very looking forward to playing with Margaret this week for his birthday.

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"Mommy, what's my name?"
Fred
"Nooo!"
What is your name?
"I'm Murray."

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Hyrum would also like me to blog about his time outs and being sent to his room. I'll pass. He's a good kid.


* Joy's disclaimers: We have decided it would be best this year to have only one person over for Hyrum's birthday. So if you know us and you were invited last year, we're sorry. We asked Hyrum to choose only one person, and since Margaret is very popular right now, he chose her. We love you and wish we could have more people over.

Hyrum Moving On part 1: Thank You and Farewell

Last week, Hyrum said, "What is repent?" and "What is the Holy Ghost?" Today he asked "What are you doing?"

Thank you.

Tonight, Hyrum took turns playing Tic-Tac-Toe with Mommy. 

Mommy asked, "Will you be x's or o's?" 

He said, "I will win with o's."

The Buzz coloring book and paints were an enormous hit.

Thank you.

Last week, Hyrum managed to keep the same pair of underwear unsoiled the entire day, and for the first time complained when his diaper was not clean. Tonight he jumped over and across the scriptures. He now regularly asks us to "Give me choices" for what he can eat.

Thank you.


Thank you all for loving our little boy, for pushing him, for spending so much time with him and us, and for the great blessing you have been in his life and ours. Thank you for your insights and examples. We will miss you.

American Culture and Aid

I don't pop in here too often with my work anymore, but this one deserves sharing to a broader audience. I found a wonderful website today that provokes much thought about how our US culture affects international aid ... and a lot of it could just as well be talking about US Mormons (dunno if German latter-day saints or Chinese latter-day saints or Tongan latter-day saints feel the same.) So over here I'm going to talk religion instead of aid. The three starred links are to the original posts and are well worth reading.

Y'see, our stake president a while back was terminally ill and testified at one point that receiving help was one of the ***hardest things*** he ever had to do. After that, practically everyone confessed their own lack of ability to be served. "Jesus came to serve, not to be served," is the often misunderstood logic of those who forget a Savior who also allowed people to wash His feet or anoint his head as a service. Going back to the book of Pres. Monson stories, how much more often did I think of wanting to be Monson's shoes as the giver rather than the recipient of God's love?

My mother did her dead-level best to keep me from that attitude. Her primary argument, though, was still really about giving: by giving people an opportunity to serve me, I was serving them. Yes, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver, but "what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift." I have to think the Lord loveth a cheerful recipient too.

There is so much about being independent and self-reliant in the US culture (and some of LDS culture) that people feel unclean if they have to accept charity. Charity is even occasionally used as a dirty word. In those cases, that's because they do not see charity as the love of God expressed by the kind gesture of one person who feels love or compassion for another person, but as a statement of moral superiority:

Being able to survive on one’s own strength is almost a moral quality. “She worked hard and took care of her children, despite terrible challenges” = “she is a good person.”
And although we almost never say so directly, needing help is almost, well, immoral. (Which is exactly why, in my opinion, Nicholas Kristof can write with a straight face that boozing and whoring is what keeps Africa poor).

That, and a person's/religion's/country's sense of moral superiority naturally lead to a sense of entitlement, but a very different entitlement than we normally talk about: we're ***entitled*** to give - it's a right - and it is selfish of people to refuse our help. When I read that thought, I realized that was part of what I felt anytime someone had turned down my assistance while blaming it on Jesus.

Confessing my own weakness a little more, there was someone once upon a time who I found really annoying to serve because anytime I did, the person immediately turned around and gave me some trinket so that s/he wouldn't feel indebted to me. I compare that to one of my best friends: we were major supports to each other and both gave and received compassion, meals, time, ears and tears, and a few bucks once or twice, all the time feeling that we were receiving more from the other than we could ever give back. And being thankful for that.


In part thanks to those experiences, I've tried to move my inner reason for letting others serve me towards a notion of expressing love in a way they would accept as love. It's deuced hard to figure out, though, so a lot of people end up with casseroles, lanyards, and ***stuff I don't need anymore*** (file under culture of DI). And then there is the difficulty of being a home teacher who wants to love families who won't let him help with anything when we constantly teach that love is grown through service and vice versa.


Your thoughts? As giver AND receiver?

For more reading: then-CES Commissioner Eyring on the gift of being a good gift giver, where he learned how to give gifts by receiving.

Friends, Service, Home Improvement Projects, and No One Dying of Typhoid

Joy says, "It was a great weekend on little sleep. It started out with Mommy reading scripture with Hyrum and feeding him before Daddy got home."

I had promised that I was responsible for dinner because it was my night for the date.

"And that made me feel free to not have to make any dinner for that night. So I totally exploded and made dinner for Sunday night instead."

Which is her preference anyway - making dinner for a future is much happier for her than cooking for today. "Less stressful, more enjoyable."

"So, feeling well prepared, Derrill got home with ... PIZZA!" PIZZA! Whole wheat crust pizza delivered as I walked up to our door from tiny local pizzeria Pizza Aroma. It was Nice. "Hearty and Tasty." Joy's comment throughout was "This is very flavorful, but still good." I teased her about the word 'but' - I think flavorful pizza is great because it is flavorful, not despite.

Then I took her out on a play date. "Which was easier to prepare for because we were all ready which made it nice to go. When we go play games with our friends, we put Hyrum down for the night at their house." He sleeps through Guitar Hero, Mario games, and loud Uno riots remarkably well. "I'm always amazed."

"We had a nice time visiting with them. We also played some games. I got to do the drums and the vocals. They have a great Beatles Guitar Hero where we know lots of songs and that makes it fun." The regular Guitar Hero gets old since the four of us only know about 5-10 songs of their 80 or whatever it is. "Twist and Shout!" Beatles songs are interesting in part because the Bass has a harder part than the lead guitar, and since Shari likes to be the lead guitar, I get the harder parts. "We played til my wrist gave out on me."

"Then we played Uno. It was fun hashing out what rules we were going to play." People were amazed at how many I wanted to clarify before the game started, but they weren't half so many as the ones we later debated during the game. "It was all friendly, and we all won at least once." Now variants to me: go again when you play a wild card (we ruled that one overpowered); ask the person you want to win what color she would like "That was cute"; and kiss your spouse if you play the same card "same color, same number."

"Then we got home and stayed up late together to read Potter."

Saturday morning was the Primary activity. When they called Joy to be a Primary teacher, there was a whispered warning that 'maybe I could help her out occasionally.' They asked me (and also Joy) to teach the kids about the symbolism of the Passover meal. Joy and another sister passed out the food while I explained the stories - not entirely in costume, but definitely with props. "I appreciated that you did it Derrill because I didn't want to do that part. I could've, but didn't want to."

I had a lot of fun. It was interesting to see what each group of kids remembered about Moses and the children of Israel. Some kids started talking about the tabernacle in the wilderness, another kid stole my thunder and told about the last plague before mentioning the others including details about the blood on the doorposts and on and on, and several kids got confused between Moses and Jesus. We served them a little chicken (instead of lamb - not my fault), romaine lettuce for the bitter herbs, matzo, and grape juice courtesy of the Primary. I told the story of the Passover as it happened to us (one group asked me if this really happened and I got to bear testimony that, yes, it did. Well before my time, but it did.) and when the Primary leader came to switch groups, I asked 'Moses' if it was time to go to the promised land and cheered them away.

One of the youth was kind enough to watch Fantasia 2000 with Hyrum and follow him around the building afterwards. Hy was happy to find us. "I had a really great time helping. I helped prepare the plates to go out to the kids and I really enjoyed visiting with Sis. Haney." Joy identified her as a kindred spirit.

Then we got home and took a nap it was very painful to wake up from. "Only because of its brevity." Joy finally convinced me that she was interested and happy to take over a house project that I was willing but not looking forward to: repairing our leaky roof by putting on another coat of aluminum stuff. I mixed the goo while Joy swept the roof, then she scrambled on up and started painting the roof while I cared for Hyrum and let him practice saying "yes." "That's going to take some time since he's accustomed to just echoing, but I think we'll get it."

"Well that project was bigger than I'd planned! Derrill seemed to have a better idea of what it entailed. I thought 'Half hour - no problem.'" *chortle* "Two hours later and not done yet I decided I'd better stop. Two blisters, blackened hands, black up my arms, on my legs past my knees (seeing as how I'd worn shorts and all)." I meanwhile, had discovered that rubbing alcohol is not the same thing as mineral spirits because it certainly didn't clean the aluminum off my hands. "So we had nothing to clean it off with! And it was kind of painful. I do have some exhema and the aluminum was pretty rough on my hands and legs." The Dawn foamy dish soap did a decent job, but left a lot to be desired. We both figured we'd be colored for several days. Thankfully, we had managed to keep Hyrum away from it. I went to the store last night to get some kerosene and that washes it off very quickly. So the next time someone like me googles: How to clean off aluminum mobile home roofing they will find this blog telling them to use kerosene.

Course, now the house smells like a fire trap inside and out after Joy bathed in aluminum, in kerosene, in water, and in skin moisturizer. I am very thankful for her. I don't like new heights - I'm fine with old heights, but new ones aren't my friends, and I didn't really trust our roof to hold my weight, so I was apprehensive and she saved me. My hero!

We were in so much pain when we went to bed! What a day. Oh right, and Friday we were fasting because one my mission areas was doing a 40-day fast and I had signed up for Friday. So this was the day of and after and while I was struggling with that evil scale that lied to me.

And we're all pretty healthy finally - no strep, no typhoid, no dysentery, ... "just the normal allergies." And today the Primary grabbed me to lead the music singing "Follow the Prophet" (a real learning experience for me!) while Joy taught her kids about Easter. Now she needs to go pick up the sister missionaries to feed them stuffed peppers. I need to do some cleaning, some table setting, and our son will probably wake up from his 4 hour nap eventually..... "Could he really still be asleep??" If not, he's happy. "Well, he didn't sleep well last night....." (fade)

3-11-10

Looks like something fun is happening at the Watsons. Derrill's brother and his wife are visiting for spring break, but why all the decorations?







Oh that must be it. The little giant is finally 2 years old. Hyrum is a toddler. I took the day off work to spend time with him and make the day special.




Hyrum usually shows his interest in something by being very intent and serious-looking, so most of the pictures I got are of a very intent, serious-looking boy fascinated by his presents. One present stood out on the cheering and giggling scale, though: Grandma Straw sent him a Sorcerer Mickey Mouse. He saw it and immediately asked to watch and listen to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. He danced Mickey around and showed him to everyone multiple times with great ecstasy. Now he's started sleeping with Mickey in the crib too. Congratulations, Grandma Straw.

Here's a video of his fun with Mickey, starting with a kiss and ending with a laugh-inducing request for milk:



There were many other hits, though. Joy got Hyrum another toy phone. This one is perhaps the most phone-looking toy phone he's had. He picked it up, put it to his ear, and started having a conversation. He even held it to his ear to open the next presents! So far, we know he's talked to Pop and Boo, Daddy, and Bob the Builder on the phone.




Pop and Boo got Hyrum this nifty tent and tunnel set for his soft ball collection. We invited a few friends his age over - so sorry for the others who couldn't come due to illness! - to run through the tunnel and throw balls around. Hy had a lot of fun playing with them. They also enjoyed some homemade play dough and dug through a big container of rice to hunt for presents and tops. Hy enjoyed crawling through the tunnel by himself, but wanted to watch the other kids and throw balls around.

Joy adds, "It was really nice at the party that the kids tended to get tired of activities about the same time. And they all enjoyed the activities that we had and it was fun - kind of busy. We had some fun. It looked like everyone else did too. Emilee did a great job helping Hyrum with the rice and Steve did a great job of helping Hyrum with his play dough. They also helped clean up and helped it all go smoothly. I'm also really thankful for Derrill who organized a lot of it and insisted there be more than one guest - a good thing since several couldn't make it."

It was a major production for us, unaccustomed as we are to multiple kids or throwing parties. We were glad Steve and Emie were around to help out - Uncle Steve dumped the entire tent of balls out on one of the kids, to his delight.

Hyrum successfully blew out his two candles after enough tries.

The big reason for inviting other kids over was because when Hyrum went to James' birthday party, he saw the other kids eating cake and he tried it too. So Joy made the same vegan chocolate cake for this party and when he saw the other kids eating it, he tried some too. It wasn't much, but he ate a little! Woohoo!

"It was really cute to see them gathered around to eat cake. It was like seeing miniature people. They were just sitting there all agog waiting for ice cream and cake. It was like the reason they got together was to eat ice cream and cake and it was exciting and fun. That kind of anticipation is exciting. Hyrum didn't know what was going on, but the other kids did."

In every sense, it was a much more successful party than the traumatizing one we threw for Hyrum alone last year. To assist, we introduced him to some of the activities the day before. They all passed.


The tent came with two "complimentary gifts" that the company wanted us to review. These glasses with silly, flexible ear pieces were one of them. Hyrum opened the glasses, pulled on the ear pieces and in 2 seconds flat had torn both of them out. What a cheap thing! Are they sure they really want a review from us?



Pop and Boo also got Hyrum a truck book he loved and a numbers puzzle he has enjoyed putting together a few times - it goes up to 20.

Uncle Steve and Aunt Emilee gave him a set of Lightning McQueen Cars cars. They were worried nothing could compete with Mickey for attention, but he was quite enthralled with them too. So enthralled, he wasn't interested in opening this great big package in front of him. So Mommy told him it was a ramp for the cars. He played with them for a bit longer, then parked them under the couch in a line.



Imagine his surprise when he opened the big box to discover a truck filled with hot-wheels-like cars. He got them all out, lined them up several different ways. Then he gathered them up in his arms and sat on them to make sure no one stole them from him. I asked him where his smile was, and this is him showing me where it's hidden. A big Mommy win.

We got him a bunch of books, some Handy Manny toys - of which his favorite is the flashlight and my least favorite is the pliers because they are very annoying to get out of the toolbox and they hurt putting them back in - a Bob Builder and a Toy Story memory match game (two parents with one mind), a couple easy puzzles, a slate to draw on, a Bob the Builder video and some other Bob merchandise. Our card to him has Mr. Rogers singing to him, but Grammy's card to him took the cake: Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Funky Town," changing their tune depending on which of them you press. I think we're going to hear a lot of Funky Town soon.

We opened some of Pop and Boo's gifts the night before and some the day of while they joined us via webcam. This is them watching him open one of our presents to him.

What I've Been Up To

Hi there. Hy here. I've had a busy week. Before Dad can get to the boring details, I thought I'd tell you all about MY week.



We packed up the car Monday morning and transferred to another car. We were in that car forever! We finally landed in Alexandria, Virginia where Dad's "adopted" sister and her family live. Mom and Dad adopt a lot of people.

They have a little girl who's 9 months old in 12-18 month clothes named Emma. I liked Emma a lot. I even learned to say her name! emMa. Ma. Ma. emMa. She's really cute. I couldn't stop hugging her. Until she started pushing me away, anyway. I'd respect her space, then give her another hug to let her know I understood and it was okay.





I always wanted to play with the book or toy she was playing with, and I'd follow her parents when they put her down for a nap or when they got her up. They taught me about a wonderful new food: grapes! Grapes are wonderful. I could eat them all day.

I really missed my Dada. I didn't get to see him for two whole days! I just about drove Mama out of her skin with missing him.


Thursday Dada came back to us and we piled in the new car again. When I woke up, I was back in my own little bed. We had a nice Friday at home while Mama and Dada did laundry and I tore up the place (at least, when Mama and I weren't doing errands.) This is me eating peaches all over the place.


Saturday we got in our old car again! What's up with all this driving around? We got to a place where everyone was dressing in bright colors. My favorite part was at the beginning where these guys in dresses played really loud music on drums, bagpipe, and Rauschfeif - the noise pipe. It's the top part you stick on a bagpipe. They were a lot of fun and, as they requested, Dada tossed me in the air at the end of every song. They seemed to think excitement was throwing babies in the air. They said I'd have to come back for their other gigs.



This is me in a mirror while Mama looked at some headdresses.







I got to meet the queen (she's blindfolded so it doesn't ruin the surprise). Mama talked to her lady in waiting and complimented her on her dress. The lady was weird: she started to go off about how nice it was to have clothes and how nice they felt.






Mama got to ride the camel. She was way up high and giggled. She had never ridden on a camel before. Dad says I can ride on a camel some day when I'm older. Mama said the camel walks like it's pregnant: waddle, waddle, waddle. It has a slow waddle.

I also really enjoyed the jousting. I'll have to get Dad to post some videos. We got back in the car, they changed me into my jammies, and I woke up back home again, ready for church. I wonder what they have planned for me next week!

Hy at the Park

The other week, we got together with our dear friends the Petersons at a nearby park for a picnic and ... well, kid chasing mostly. I had fun video taping Hyrum being a toddler. So here are a whopping three videos of this blog's most photogenic topic.


There was a pond that gravity naturally seemed to attract Hyrum to. I finally gave in, walked him to the edge, and held on to his leg while he splashed and picked up leaves.




The toddler toddles.



Hyrum plays with the mulch.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to our friends at BYU who graduate this week.

Including, but not limited to:

My brother, Stephen, who sang at graduation! He has a BA in Spanish Lit and will be pursuing my road not traveled at UConn (ie - what I would be doing if I weren't an economist. You can see the internal dialogue here:)
Stephen's wife, Emilee! She got a BA in Biology while working as an ASL interpreter. To celebrate, she went to Disney and swam with the fishies in their aquarium.

Tiffany, my home teachee, who is now a BA Economist. Now she gets will be trying to find a job in Ithaca.

Also to Alan, brother of my high school's All American Cameron, who is also graduating in economics, if I read his parents' Facebook note correctly.



To our friends at Cornell and other schools that haven't finished the school year yet, good luck on finals.


And just remember, for everyone who continues on to grad school:

You could already be a winner: The choice is yours

If only I were original enough to come up with this. But I like the idea and will pay it forward too.
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The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. [ie - before Easter 2010]
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a song. It may be a [comic collection] or maybe even some creation I haven't yet dreamed up. I may draw. I may bake you something and mail it to you. It may not be big or impressive. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! But lets be honest here. This is me and I will likely do something amazing. =) So come on, sign up!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

*Edit* I copied this off of someone else's blog... but if you don't have a blog... then you are exempt from the catch... but only those people who I know don't have a blog...
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Life, Death, and Christmas

There has been a lot to think about this Christmas. I hope you'll forgive me for reciting the death toll for a moment before getting to the happier part, but in my more morbid moments it has seemed that Death has been delivering a great many telegrams this semester. If you'd rather skip all that, head on down to the dashed lines separating off Elder Wirthlin's testimony.

As you may remember, my good friend Evan Wade passed away earlier this semester. His death was quite sudden and unexpected. Timed as it was at the cusp of beginning so many wonderful things in life, it has made me feel particularly blessed to have been able to finish my own degree and be sealed to my wife. I commented to Joy the other day that I've been thinking of him regularly. I miss him, far more than I had expected.

Around Thanksgiving, Grammy had multiple strokes and the doctors also found there had been a heart attack at some point. This also was unexpected, and I find myself quite unprepared for the thought of Christmas without Grammy. In the last twenty years, that's been about the only time I've gotten to see her. Thankfully, Dad reports that Grammy is, to all appearances, fully recovered and doing miraculously well. But the realization of the fragility of mortality was hit home again. (This picture from the Ensign is of Grammy, though she doesn't actually need a wheelchair, then or now.)

A few weeks ago, Aunt Elizabeth died. I don't know that I ever met her or my great-uncle who is now left to mourn her loss. Uncle Calvin reported that she was "was released from the prison of her body" in hospice care after weeks of strokes and terrible pain. He is comforted that her death relieves her of the burden of that suffering, bringing her somewhere without the pain.

Last week our stake president succumbed to the battle he's fought with his cancer the last few years now. I didn't know Calvin Gehen well, but he had a powerful spirit with him at each stake meeting. He radiated peace and compassionate service, in part because you would sometimes never know how much he was suffering to be there. Being with him reminded me in many ways of the opportunities I've had to shake the hands of one of our apostles. Joy is hoping to sing in the choir at his funeral on Tuesday.

A couple weeks ago, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin passed away. This was not particularly surprising since he was the oldest of the apostles. Though I've known a number of people who knew him (my friend Darrell married his granddaughter and my first mission companion was Elder Wirthlin's home teacher - which provided some interesting stories), I never had the privilege myself.

So today, since I'm sick and unable to attend church, I thought I would get around to watching Elder Wirthlin's funeral, which the Church has graciously put on their website. It was a beautiful service. (Other friends of Darrell will see him and his wife walking out of the funeral at 1:11:42-1:11:56. She's in a red sweater.) In my favorite talk that he ever gave, he told of the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane on Good Friday, reminding us that no matter how bleak the Fridays are that must inevitably come to all our lives, "Sunday will come." During the funeral service, I realized that he gave that talk just after his sweetheart had passed away, surely going through his own Friday. How important the testimony of resurrection morning is!

Among the words offered during the funeral, Pres. Boyd K. Packer shared with the family Elder Wirthlin's final testimony (it's about 30 minutes into the video), which he had spoken approximately the week before. Let me share a piece of it with you:
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From time to time if we are living worthily, the Spirit of God touches our hearts, and minds, and our lives, and improves us forever. The warm feeling penetrates our hearts, a silent, still small voice speaks to us, communicating through the burning of our bosom the knowledge given to us from God. It draws us closer to Him, sanctifying us and strengthening our desire to return to His presence. During such unforgettable moments, revelation comes to us and forever alters our view - sharpening our focus on what matters most. We sense more profoundly our eternal relationship with Him as the literal Father of our spirits. We also feel more acutely our complete dependence on the merciful atonement of His Son Jesus Christ.

I had such a revealing experience. It was Christmas time in Bavaria in the Alps in 1937. I have always loved Christmas. There is a special spirit about it. The chill of the winter air is the perfect counterpoint to the warmth that should fill our hearts as we contemplate the message of salvation found in the birth, resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I experienced that warmth many years ago while serving as a missionary for the church, just prior to the outbreak of WWII. As you might expect, the possibility of armed conflict was very intense, but as Christmas approached, our thoughts were drawn to the Savior. We rejoiced in the privilege of serving Him during that sacred season in the famous city of Salzburg, Austria.

On Christmas Eve, Elder S and I visited the village of Oberdorf, nestled securely in the beautiful Bavarian Alps. It was a clear, crisp winter night. We walked under the canopy of stars across the smooth stillness of newfallen snow to a humble little church where a familiar melody beckoned us with a message of peace and hope. [Pictured is the church to which he refers.]

Inside, a choir was singing in German a carol that brought warmth to our hearts on that cold winter night. Though we were far from our homes and families, we were filled with our Heavenly Father's love and comforted by His Spirit, as we listened to the calming strains of Silent Night, Holy Night.

Perhaps it was like the night that more than a century earlier inspired the assistant pastor in that quaint village to write the words to one of the most beloved hymns in all of Christendom. [He then tells the story of how the words and music came about.] As we listened to the choir's harmony while standing in the very same church where the first rendition of the sacred song was sung, we were spiritually moved. We were filled with the true spirit of Christmas.
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He told of how the Holy Ghost touched him and his companion at that time. As they walked the 15 miles back to their home, they spoke of a strengthened resolve to do what is right, to find a wonderful person with whom to spend eternity as husband and wife, and to keep their lives in focus with the principle and teachings of the Savior. He closed by saying, "I pray that our hearts and home may resonate with His marvelous message of love and peace during the holiday season. Forever with the apostle John, I testify that God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son...."

I've been looking forward to this Christmas all year. It's the first time I get to play Joseph. I've been a shepherd many times; I'm far too young to be a wise man; I've even been a dumb ox sometimes; but I've always looked forward to being the dad. No, Joseph wasn't the father of Jesus, but he was the man with whom God entrusted His Son, as He has entrusted me with a precious delight named Hyrum.

After all, besides death, this year has brought life. Wonderful, sweet life that has filled and changed our hearts in marvelous, miraculous ways. We are not the only ones so blessed. My dear friend Marcy and her husband have a dear little Emma after years of praying; our dear friends the Petersons just welcomed their third little one into the world; my former home teaching companion and his wife just received their first blessing; and there are countless more Corbins and Daniels and Timothies and Janes and Millies and more.

Each year, their families and friends will celebrate their lives, putting on cone-shaped party hats and singing old songs off key and eating good food and giving presents to each other because they are so thankful that this precious child is still with us. Every year, we also celebrate with funny little red cone-shaped hats, singing old songs off key, eating good food, and giving presents to each other on society's best guess as to His birthday. For behold, a virgin conceived, and she bore a son, and she called His name Emmanuel: God with us. I am so thankful that we all get together as brother and sisters, friends, neighbors, and family to celebrate the birth and resurrection of our Savior as well, whose sacrifice and sacredness conquered death, inaugurated hope, and promised peace. God be praised for the matchless gift of His Son.

Utah, part 3: The South

When we had landed in UT (back in part 1), the rental car place tried to convince me to upgrade to an SUV for only a little bit more. No thanks. They tried to convince me to upgrade to a luxury car for only a little bit more. No thanks. Then they confessed that they didn't have the car I ordered and outfitted us with a minivan at the same rate. Now, I've had a favorable switch pulled on me plenty of times, but this was the first time I experienced someone trying to be underhanded about it. Between that and the fact that they charged extra for Joy to drive it too so that there really was no price difference between them and their competitors leads me to decide we aren't going to rent from Dollar again.

But because of this fortuitous fluke, we loaded our stuff, plus Joy's cedar chest, plus my brother and his wife into our van and drove off to St. George the day after Thanksgiving. My mom's mom lives there and we had a friendly second Thanksgiving dinner there. This is the expression on the newly minted great-grandmother's face the first time she saw her great-grandson.



Steve showed Mom the Wii's capabilities (some of them anyway). Before leaving, Steve decided to also show us just how commodious Mom's cape is, and what he thought of my picture taking.

Because there were too many of us to accommodate at Grandma's, we took Hy to a hotel. That was a miserable night. Hy was up and crying until well after 1am with us locked in the bathroom so that we wouldn't prevent him from falling asleep eventually. On the other hand, Joy and I had some nice time chatting and getting some reading and some projects done in the bathroom - Joy could work on her new calling as branch music coordinator, for instance.

Saturday we ran a couple errands (and bought a disappointing cannoli) before we did something I've always wanted to: complete my set of four-generation pictures. I had dreamed of it being 5 once upon a time, but great-great-grandma Straw passed away just before I met Joy.

Then we drove to Las Vegas where my aunt (Dad's side) lives. Steve and Em drove Mom since Dad was flying back from CA that day, so Joy and I had some time to ourselves. We found some bad traffic on the freeway once we got to Vegas, so I bailed, called my uncle, and got directions on the city streets. We arrived just after the other car, but had been 10 minutes behind before, so I probably caught us up a bit. Dad also beat us there.

This was the first time since I moved out to NY that I got to come to the family Thanksgiving (which they had put off special so they could meet Hy). It was sad that Grammy couldn't be there, but Dad reassured us of her progress. We had a wonderful feast and Hyrum was a wonderful source of everyone's entertainment (once we gave up on his taking a nap after half an hour, that is).

Joy invented a new game with him of saying "aaaaaaa" a gravely sound in the back of the throat and letting him mimic the sound. (That's what he's doing with Cousin Laurel in the upper-right picture.) He gave up when Dad gave out a deep bass version, though. He happily played in everyone's lap. One of the funner parts for me was listening to Dad's family tattle on him, confessing just how Excited he is to be a grandpa and how he's always talking about Hyrum. Go, Pop.

Hy is also fascinated by my brother who is part of a male a capella group. Steve has been learning how to do vocal percussion, which he would practice on Hyrum to entertain him. Hy is ... not sure what to make of this, but appears willing to practice with him in this picture. That, or he's using a Jedi pinch on him. We're not sure which.

After dinner, we got lost (bad, google maps! Go to your room!), called Joy's uncle on the other end of Vegas, and finally found our way to their place. We got to go to church with the Tritsches before tagging up with the other Watsons again and driving back to Provo on one giant tank of gas we had filled up the night before. Cha-ching. It was pretty late when we got back, so Hyrum was a willing sleeper.

We spent Monday with my brother again, though we took a couple hour detour to spend time with some goods friends. He was in 10+ classes with me at BYU and Cornell and their oldest son was in our nursery class. We missed them a lot, so it was nice to spend some time together. Son #2 (no names are being given to respect their privacy, so if you recognize them, you must already love them; and if you don't recognize them, you would love them if you knew them) enjoyed letting me throw him in the air, and I wrestled with them a good while. Their dad got some nice pictures I'm sure he wants to send my way....

I don't know if I've mentioned Hy's affinity for "technology" much. He WANTS to play on this computer. He wants to play with remote controls. He wants to play with fax machines and cell phones and cables and the VCR and anything else with buttons. Emilee cleverly distracted him with a spare keyboard they had laying around. Sister Fran also gave him his very own keychain gadget (a ninja remote that had been washed and dried in the dryer) that doesn't work anymore, so he can happily push buttons and play with a remote. Here's Hy playing with another cell phone, rather triumphantly. "I must interject here that there is an amazing reason why so many people enjoy visiting the these friends of ours. They have a talent of making you feel that you are so important when you spend time with them. S and A I just want to say that we had a really enjoyable time visiting with you. It was as good as visiting with family which we also loved and felt at home with"

"On of my favorite things about that Monday was when I did some errands that day, buying a few Christmas presents and dropping off presents at my brother Doug's home. He and his sweetheart Shannon were home (surprise) and so I was able to spend some time with them. I sure so love my bro."

Hy was not quite as magnificent a traveler on the way home as he was going out to UT. We chalk that up to his inconsistent sleep during this last leg of the trip. Since coming home, he has needed a midnight feeding regularly, although not tonight despite my staying up waiting for it. Hm. Go fig.

We're keeping Hy on UT time for now since we'll be rejoining my parents in January for some Christmas in CA action. Why January? Because leaving again in two weeks is just too soon for him "and for his mommy," Joy chimes in. So we'll get to be here, together, for Christmas and put those traditions we worked on during our first Christmases to the test on the actual Christmas Day.

What a wonderful time we had in UT! Being that close to so many family members we love so much made it seem like a much nicer place to live and raise our family than I had imagined when I was at the Y. Joy has noticed a decided positive swing in my comments about her home state. Will we go back there? Hard to say at this point. Right now, it sure looks it would be a wonderful thing ("warm happy smile").

Thank you so much to everyone who let us into their homes and hearts. "I'd like to add a special thank to Lala, Fran, and Steve and Emmy for putting us up so many nights. We can't wait to come back." Thanks for putting us up, for putting up with us, for food and shelter, for loving our son, and helping us have a wonderful two weeks. We miss you all and felt every time we moved on to the next family that we wished we could have spent more time with each of you, and we wish we could have gotten to see other friends out there, if only time and illnesses had allowed. Take care, everyone, and keep the state warm for us! Next I reckon I'll turn the time over to Hyrum for his favorite memories and pictures.

8 Months Old

Being 8 months old means many things for little Hy.

It means he gets to be CAPTAIN AMERICA for Halloween! Between Captain Hyrum and Zorro (middle-aged version), we were able to rescue the fair Roman maiden (whose costume isn't portrayed to best light in this picture).











8 months old means that he gets to eat EGGIES! He doesn't care for them yet as much as his parents do. But this is also cool, because it means he is learning to express his preferences. This week he learned how to stick out his hands in a STOP gesture when he's tired of hamburger/rice/green bean mush and wants milk. He even did it for applesauce and his milk tonight when he was all full. Now, if we had handed him some of our ice cream, he might have found a little more room.... "Something new, there's always a bite or two of room."

8 months old does NOT mean that he eats with his hands yet. Mom tried to feed him bread, but he wouldn't touch it until she put it on a spoon. "However, Friday I tried giving him some crushed grapes. (I know, some of you are going to think grape juice. This was grape pulp.) But I also cut up some of the grape and put little pieces on his tray that he kind of pushed around and played with - but for the first time after giving me the sour look like 'I'm not going to eat that, Mom' he opened his mouth and lunged for the piece of grape and my fingers. He missed it of course. But, he did try again and we got it in."

(Here he is doing his best Punky Brewster imitation)

Speaking of Hyrum's pattented lunge, this is how he normally kisses us. Open mouth, attack like a raptor, big slimy, gooey smack. Being 8 months old, however, means he also now uses this to bite his mommy. Saturday I was bit 5 times. "He bit me on purpose. He was hungry and wanted food. I don't think he knew it was going to hurt me." He hasn't tried to bite the daddy on purpose yet. "We are working on our gentle ways of teaching him that that is not appropriate."

In other anti-social behaviors, being 8 months old means he pushed his first child over. We were home teaching, no less, when he inadvertantly knocked Rhoda down. He was surprised that someone else was as fragile on their legs as he is.

Hopefully, being 8 months old will mean that he finally gets over the fever and runny nose he's had the entirety of being 7 months old. "We hear it comes with teething." So there may be more teeth coming to join his four. But since he was sick the same 3 weeks his old man was sick, I'm ready to accuse germs rather than gums.

Also at 8 months, his grip on my hair is getting TIGHT. He could hold on pretty well before, but now he's taking our mission president's advice to heart and yanking for all he's worth. "And the doctor said he's really strong."

Hy is discovering himself ... in the mirror at 8 months. One of his favorite games is to look in the mirror and smile at himself, and then smile at Mommy in the mirror. He will change his angle to see Mommy in the mirror and then make her disappear and reappear. He also really enjoys playing with screwdrivers and other manly tool toys. He has also discovered splashing in the tub.

Being 8 months means we have an adopted older brother in James P. We've been able to hang out this week with our good friend, Jon and Shari, whose nearly two yr. old son James really enjoys it when 'Bebe Hy' comes to visit. He crawls around with him, shows him cool toys, and how to play with the train. Hy's other adopted older brother comes to Friday Forum with his parents and likes to entertain and tickle the baby.

Excitingly, 8 months is when he will get to fly on an airplane for the first time. We're heading off to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with Joy's family (10 days) and mine (4 days). We've been preparing him for this by keeping him awake until 10pm our time so that when we get there, he will go to bed at the same old time (8 pm) and wake up at a decent hour (6-7) instead of when we'd rather everyone else be asleep (4-5am). He's making the transition very well.








Our little angel is growing up.