fathers day

Fathers day has always been a good day at our house.  Breakfast in bed, sleeping in, avoiding any type of work, relaxing all day.  I basically accomplished all of those today.  We even made it to church (almost on time).

Yesterday my dad finished a bike ride from Reno to Salt Lake City.  A ride of over 660 miles in 6 days.  You can read all about the ride here.
http://www.ikickedcancersbutt.org/riders/rich-linton
https://www.facebook.com/RidefromReno
http://www.ikickedcancersbutt.org/

He rides for Alisa and sent us these pictures.

We all gathered at the University of Utah to welcome him home.  While we were waiting for my dad to come in, other riders would come in and the announcer would say their name and who they were riding for, an older gentlemen wearing a pink jersey crossed the finish line, and this followed.

Announcer: "and this is John Doe, riding for Jane, his wife, who passed away from breast cancer last year.

James: "Dad, why aren't you riding?"

Me: "uhh, I will next year, I have been pretty busy, I will do it next year"

James - in perfect teenager form: "hmm, I guess that is ok"

I couldn't help but think of Alisa, who constantly challenged me to be better.  (I should also mention that I have given James the job of editing this blog for spelling, grammar and historical accuracy, so some of the details above may change.)

This ride is hard (just talk to a bike rider if you can't imagine it) but my dad has been a strength to me and my family throughout our challenges.  He worked hard to support us growing up, he hired me after I graduated from college (even though in my teenage wisdom I had told him I would never work there again), he has continued to be an example to me and my boys.  His mother died when he was 12 and I am constantly reminded of the example that he is to my boys now.

We had dinner at their house tonight, now that I think of it, I am not sure I even wished him a Happy Father's Day, I am sure I didn't get him a present (Alisa always took care of that kind of thing), although I did take credit for dinner, claiming that was his present (except my older brother, Ashkii (and his wife) did all the work).  He played ultimate spoons with the nieces and nephews, and even changed a few rules.  I am proud to be his son.


We continue to figure out this new life of ours, and are grateful for all the love and support.

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there, and especially to mine.

Remembering

Tuesday evening Steven and Andrew stayed overnight.  All the boys get along great and it really is an easy thing to have them over.  The best part of the evening was during dinner (that was conveniently delivered).  When the boys start fighting during dinner we pull out this jar of questions to keep ourselves from getting out of control.

Here are some examples of the questions.

"What is your favorite thing about being a brother/sister?"

"If you could be an animal, what would it be?"

We came upon one question that seemed innocent enough...I would never have guessed where this lead.

"What is your favorite holiday?"  We had some of the expected holidays; Christmas, Easter, etc. We asked everyone to give one reason. Then it was Andrew's turn.

Andrew: "My favorite holiday is my birthday, because I get presents."

James: "Well, wouldn't you pick Christmas then, because you get more presents."

Andrew: "No, because on my birthday I get presents, and no one else does...(mischievous smile).

Then it was James turn.  He said his favorite day was March 10th because it was awesome (also happens to be his birthday.) We decided to check March 10th for any "awesome" holiday.

This was a mistake.  For the next 30 minutes we checked everyone's birthday and what special holidays were celebrated.  There were some great ones, and you can check out yours here 

http://www.checkiday.com/ 

I would bore you listing all the great holidays we found, but by far the best/worst one we found was on March 10th.  

International Day of Awesomeness! - no joke.  read all about it (we did)

 http://dayofawesomeness.com/

James is never going to let us forget this.

That really was the highlight of our week.

Things aren't perfect though.  

Luke told me we needed to go on a vacation, to the Oregon coast, because Alisa always wanted to take us there.  I told him we would.  I can tell he is having a bit of a tough time.  He isn't excited about doing much, but does seem to have fun once he gets going.

Sam was having a hard time deciding if he wanted to go to scout camp this week.  Really??? Sam???  This kid loves the outdoors, scout camp should be heaven for him.  He is going and will do fine, but we are starting to see signs of strife around here.

I think James is doing the best.

I yelled at the kids yesterday (first time, since...not sure when, but it has been a while) for whining about helping around the house for an hour.  I apologized, they bucked up, and we got the garage clean.  This might be a little sacrilegious but sometimes I find myself thinking I should submit Alisa to become a saint, then I realize I am a member of the wrong religion for that.  I think I just want to talk to her again, and don't you pray to saints?  I am happy passing my messages to her through Heavenly Father, and I am sure she can hear me gripe all day anyway.  

I finally got up enough courage to listen the Alisa's funeral service.  It was hard, but also refreshing to listen to that celebration of her life.  My favorite part was when Brittany sang Amazing Grace at the graveside.  Here it is for those that were not there.

I also watched a slideshow Alisa's sisters made for the funeral.  It is awesome, made me cry (I guess lots of things do these days, but this especially)

Alisa's sister Kirsten also made this video, which is just beautiful.  Thanks Kirst.

18 days down, many years to go

It has been 18 days since Alisa passed away.  When people ask how we are doing, I just answer "as well as can be expected."  The truth is I don't really know how we are doing.  The boys seem to be doing really well.  They play Lego's, run around with their friends, fight, complain about the food, beg for dessert, and mostly obey.  Pretty much the same boys I have had since I can remember.

Not everything is the same.

The house is not nearly as clean, although we get amazing help from our family that keeps the house from turning into a disaster.

We don't eat as well, people are bringing us dinner, and it is really good, but I am learning that Alisa must have supplemented meals, because we are definitely not eating as many fruits and vegetables as we used to.

We barely made it to church last week, James texted me this Sunday morning standing outside my door.

Notice the time? Church starts at 11:00.  Yes, I was still sleeping, but we made it to church (late) and are determined to do better.

Sometimes we like to go through old pictures and videos, it is pretty fun, and we can't help but get a laugh.  Mostly because of Luke.  After watching the below vi
deo, James said: "Luke is hilarious, I wish I would have known him back then."  I have edited the video, so it is a little shorter.

James also found this picture and we like to call it The Cheerio Lord.  Not sure how this came about, but we are pretty sure he is about to use the Force on someone.

The Cheerio

I am so glad Alisa took so many pictures and videos.  She would always tell me I needed to take more of her (she was most often the videographer and the photographer), we have a lot, but I am sure I will get to a point where I wish I had more.

Thanks to my family and Alisa's family for helping keep us busy and occupied this summer.