Coming of Age

You might not read as much about Brandon on this blog, because the real news from him is on his mission blog. Please pop over there for a read-through!

Brandon is reaching the waning weeks of his mission and I can tell it's a bittersweet time for him. This week's email from him closed with: "9 weeks is so close and I don't want it to get any closer. Do I really have to put Jamaica behind in so short a time?" I love that he is totally immersed in his mission and the work there, and the people he's come to know. I feel the same way about his mission ending: I'll be glad to have him home again, but I've also been so content knowing he is in Jamaica, making a difference in someone's life.

The flip side for us at home, is that Cameron is reaching the age for his mission, and has been getting preparations and paperwork done for that. Yesterday was a milestone moment for our family, as Todd ordained Cameron an elder (the office in the priesthood that is held by missionaries). He is one step closer!

Fortunately for this mom, the Church has a nice little line in the paperwork called the "availability date"-- the day the young man is available to report to the Missionary Training Center. This can start on a young man's 19th birthday. However, we've gotten Brandon's return itinerary, and he will be home on May 5th (Cameron's birthday is the 4th of May). So to have a bit of a cushion, we put Cameron's availability as June 1st, and then at least we can have a chance to take some complete family portraits before I have to say goodbye to him!

So here are a few of our photos from yesterday, just after his ordination. I would have loved for Brandon to be able to stand in on the ordination, but he's a bit far away! Here's the kids together, rocking the whole black and white polka-dot look. If you look carefully, you can see Christ looking over their shoulders!

Cameron's High Councilman, Grandpa, Cameron, Todd, and the Stake President:

And the group picture of the family with Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to get a group picture of my family with Brandon back in it again! But I hope he's savoring these last weeks in Jamaica, and making great friends and great memories!

Moments

Some of the best moments in life are meant to be shared. I'm glad to have shared in one of those moments for my nephew, Josh ..... the day he married his beautiful new bride. We wish them all the best! Here are just a very few shots of that day......

Joselyn coming in on the arm of her dad:

The happy new couple:

(I had to get this shot of Cameron and his cousin, Nathan. Just weeks apart in age, they've stayed good friends ever since they were tiny.)

Posing before the cutting of the cake:

The wedding was mid-afternoon. Prime nap time at my house. So what did Emma do? You got it:

We're glad that Joselyn has joined our extended family circle. Brandon would so have liked to have been here for this -- Joselyn is a good friend of his as well. We know this next generation of Huffakers have wonderful opportunites for some amazing life experiences ahead of them.

(Makes me feel young again!)

When Chocolate Strikes

What I know for sure:

1. Chocolate is a powerful antidepressant and as such, should always be kept on hand, in case of emergencies.


2. In a pinch, semi-sweet chocolate chips can be substituted for other forms of chocolate when the need strikes suddenly. The handiness of chocolate chips is evident, in the fact that you can pop them in your mouth by the handful, according to need, and no one else is the wiser for it.


3. When popping chocolate chips by the handful, it is a good idea to keep track of any stray chocolate chips, that may have missed your mouth.


4. Stray chocolate chips have a way of finding the gap between your apron and sweater-top, unbeknownst to anyone, including yourself.


5. Later, when you remove the apron, and find the mostly-melted chocolate chip embedded in your sweater, family members WILL look at you oddly. It's best to simply say nothing and find the stain remover a.s.a.p.

Just in case you should ever find yourself in need of a chocolate fix......

Fly Me to the Moon

Some people get chocolate for Valentine's Day. Some get flowers. Some get jewelry. But why be predictable? Why not change things up a bit..... and send a Singing Valentine?

Each year for Valentine's Day, Gold Voices (our high school's jazz choir) offers singing Valentines. Recipients get a card, a rose, and the huge embarrassment of being sung to in front of their friends and co-workers. It's also a pretty good fundraiser for Gold Voices.... and one that's pretty much guaranteed to wear out the most enthusiastic of singers by the end of the day!

Alyssa spent Saturday evening helping to make Valentine cards for today's singing Valentines, and asked if I could help drive. So, I spent this morning as a chauffeur for one of the groups that traveled to other schools and in the community. Alyssa's group stayed at the high school, so she wasn't in the group that I drove around. I couldn't just sit in the vehicle though, I had to get out and see the wonderful reactions they got from their audiences. It was priceless!

This rather blurry photo..... is the only shot I got (on my phone) of my group singing to Darcie!




They had over 300 orders for Singing Valentines, and my group had 54 of those to deliver. Some of the song options included, "Fly Me to the Moon," "Hey, Good Lookin'" and "[Mind if I Say You're] Cute". Since their area also included my neighborhood, and Someone ordered a singing Valentine for me.... I got to be serenaded this afternoon as well:


By the time they got to me, they were down one singer, but amazingly .... still had smiles for my camera! Thank you Natalie, Jo, Hannah and Levi!!

I was also a bit spoiled for my V-day: Todd, who knows me so well, bought me flowers that I could arrange for myself! I love when I get to do that. The white rose in the left foreground is added in from Gold Voices:

And, although this wasn't exactly for Valentine's.... I have to show the beautiful ring he got me for our anniversary! Please overlook the aging, dry skin on the hand that's wearing it!

Happy Valentine's Day to you too........ I am Feelin' the Love!!

The Pre-Season

A few months away from the softball field, and we just don't know what to do with ourselves.

So with high school softball tryouts now only two weeks away, we've been hitting the cages at the indoor baseball facility here in town. Don't misunderstand, we know Alyssa will have a solid spot on the team (8 seniors graduated off the team last year). But it's really important to her to have a solid start of the season with a lot of pitching practice under her belt as well.

She's been working hard with Darcie (between fits of the giggles), and once again I'm glad to have Darcie catching off Alys, since it would be me otherwise!

(That's a curve ball coming your way!)

Darcie must be getting thighs of steel with all the crouching she's been doing! She is also liking the new glove she wears under the mitt.... for extra cushion against that Alyssa Speed.

It's not all work: but what is it? Ballet? A bird? The Karate Kid 7? (I'm not sure if she realized I snapped that photo!)

We've also been hitting in the cage as well. This is Darcie bunting. I actually still have a lump on the back of my hand from being hit with a softball in the cage there. First bruise of the season -- ouch!! It won't be long before we'll start the 2011 softball season, and we're excited for it! Hoping the beginning of the season won't be bone-chilling cold, and that the girls will play their hearts out!

(By the way, with Darcie still in 8th grade, she won't be able to play for the high school until next year; there is no junior high softball program in our schools. So her pre-season work is prepping her for the travel softball season.)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

"Hello, Bowling Alley? This is the Huffakers. We'd just like you to know that if you ever get swamped, we've got two hallways that can work in a pinch. All we need is the pins. Thanks!"

Yes, seriously. We've got two REALLY long hallways here at the Haven. The photo above is the upstairs hallway, taken from about halfway down the hall. Double that for the actual hall length.

But you have to remember that this house started out as an 8-bedroom house (only 5 legal, with egress windows), and these halls accessed those rooms. When you stand at one end, it kind of has the feeling of a hotel hallway. An earlier remodel (before we moved in) resulted in two of those bedrooms being consolidated into one..... which is Alyssa's room:

This is Alyssa's room, with the entry door in the middle of the picture, closet on the left. The big blank wall on the right is where Emma's crib used to be (see previous post!). Now you know why Emma was sharing a room with Alyssa.

And can I just say now, for the record, that Todd and I are doomed to be Do-It-Yourselfers? Other people purchase houses as-is, in turn-key status, and think nothing of it. We have never bought a house that didn't need some updating work. It must be our destiny.

Or the fact that we know we can do it, and by making our changes, we not only add value, but make the house fit our needs as well.

So, in between bathroom remodels (and we've already got plans in the works for the next bathroom -- since EVERY bathroom in this house needed a remodel!)..... we've come up with a brilliant little project that will cannibalize part of the The Green Mile, um.... I mean, the hall. All credit for this gem of an idea goes to Todd, who conceptualized the whole thing. I had to restrain myself from jumping up and down when he explained it to me.

What you're seeing (besides Todd marking the wall with the level!) is the wall of Alyssa's room on the left, with the door at the end of the hall. The built-in cabinetry at the end of the hall, and behind Todd on the right is the doorway into our bedroom.

After marking, comes cutting:

(Cam the Man is operating the shop vac, trying to neutralize the dust as much as possible!) Which brings us to the current state of construction.

So here's the Grand Plan. In the following photo, you can see the new hole-in-the-wall, which will be the new entrance into Alyssa's room. The built-in-cabinet will move up the hall (toward you), and the new "end of the hall" will have Alyssa's new entrance opposite our bedroom door, with the built-in cabinet (we're not losing that) between them.

The space between the cabinet's old location and the new location will become Alyssa's new bedroom closet -- a walk-in. (After just two ball-gown style prom dresses, her current closet is overloaded. We still have two more years of high school for her, plus two sisters -- I'm foreseeing a lot of formals!) Her old bedroom door will be the door to the closet.

The space BEHIND this built-in cabinet is Alyssa's old closet (scroll back to the second photo, far left!), which is back-to-back with Todd's closet in our bedroom. The old closet will be walled-off on Alyssa's side, and the wall between the closets will be removed, giving Todd a closet that's twice the size of his current closet. Did that make sense?

The total end result will be a shorter hallway (no loss there!), a walk-in closet for Alys, and a larger closet for Todd. Everybody wins!!

Except......

Wait. This has no effect on MY closet.....

Wait a minute.......................!!

Signs of the Times

We are not yet counting the days until Brandon comes home from Jamaica-mon..... but let's just say he only has 3 months left.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Cameron -- who took over Brandon's waterbed for a while -- was without a bed for a bit. Miss Emma has graduated to a big bed (Darcie's), so we gave Cameron's bed to Darcie. Did you follow all that?

It was time for a new bed for Cameron, and this last week, we got one for him. As I was walking past his door, though, I saw this sign on the new mattress:

(Sometimes, you have to be VERY specific with teenagers, who only respond to the letter of the law!) This could be taken in more than one way. May you never flop in your efforts. Flopping is not an option. Stop the flop......