Missing My Boy

Today is Matt's 21st birthday, and I'm a-missin' him somethin' fierce tonight.  Wow!  Don't get me wrong.  I love missions, and I especially love what they do for my kids.  Rachel came back from Georgia a much-improved version of herself, and I suspect/hope that Matt is doing the same kind of maturing down in Honduras.  But I miss my kids on their birthdays.  A lot.

When the sign-up sheet to feed the missionaries came around on Sunday, I noticed that tonight was open, and making dinner for the elders seemed like the perfect thing to do on Matt's birthday. I had thought to myself that I would just pretend that the missionaries were Matt and his companion.  That would ease my loneliness and make me feel closer to Elder Young in some weird way.  Well, it didn't turn out quite like I had planned. Transfers happened this week, and the "elders" turned out to be sisters.  It wasn't quite what I had envisioned; it was better.  These sister missionaries were awesome, and I loved having them in our home.

I even made a birthday cake for Matt (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, which was his favorite when he left), and the sisters humored me by letting me light candles and the whole nine yards.  They joined us in singing "Happy Birthday" to Elder Young, and it was really quite cheesy but fun.  I let them blow out the candles, and they wished for more successful missionary work in the Cloverdale Ward.  I wished that Matt was having a happy birthday in Honduras.

Thanks, Sister Del Nero and Sister Willard (her SECOND day in
the field.  We were her very first dinner appointment.  Very fun!)

And, Elder Young, when you read this upon your return, please know your mama was missing you just a little extra on your birthday.  Stay safe, and return with honor!  I love you to Honduras and back!!

Elder Young and Elder Permann: companions in the MTC,
companions in Honduras.  Didn't see that coming. . .

Goodbye, Friend

An alternate title for this post could be "Role Models, Part 2."  Back in June, I wrote about Brother Taylor and how much influence he had had on both Adam and Matt while he served as their Young Men's leader.  I am very grateful when my children, or Mike and I, have the privilege to associate with good people.  I don't take that gift lightly, and I feel like we have been very blessed to have many amazing people in our lives to inspire, befriend, and encourage us.

Recently, another man who has been a very positive role model for all of us went Home. Yes, capital "H."  Russ Rowley lost his battle with multiple myeloma a little over two weeks ago, and we are feeling his absence immensely.  Russ was a member of our bishopric up until he could no longer serve due to his fight with cancer, and he got to interact with my boys very regularly.  They loved him.

We met the Rowleys around fifteen years ago.  Their daughter, Ali, was the exact same age as Rachel (26 minutes younger we once figured out), and they played basketball together on several teams.  Russ was even the coach for their Y-ball team in second grade.  As Rachel said, "I think we were the only second grade team in the valley to be running actual plays."  He was a good athlete, but he was also a fun coach and a joy for anyone to be around.

Rachel and Ali were baptized on the same day, and our paths continued to intersect. When we were finally in the same ward with them, I was thrilled, and when Russ was put in as a member of the bishopric, I thought, "He's perfect for the calling."  Happily, I was right.  He served with diligence, faith, optimism, happiness, and endurance.  I think I was most amazed when I went to visit him in the hospital after he had a bone marrow transplant, and he diligently followed up on speaking assignments that he had issued to me and Adam.  I'm thinking, "Wow, Russ.  I think we've got this.  You just go back to fighting cancer, and we'll handle our talks."  Amazing.

One night at Young Men's, the boys and leaders were playing kickball.  Before Adam even returned from the activity, Mike got a call from Russ, asking if Adam was okay. Apparently, there had been a collision close to home plate, and Russ landed on top of Adam.  Russ wasn't a petite man, and Adam did say his foot was killing him.  However, he didn't dare tell Brother Rowley that it hurt because he didn't want him to feel bad.

I don't know if Russ was feeling guilty about the accidental collision or what, but when it came time for Adam to do his Eagle project, Russ signed up immediately to help the whole day.  He showed up early, stayed through the whole backbreaking, dirty process, and did it with a smile on his face and a frequent laugh and constant words of encouragement.

When I went to look back at pictures of that service project, most of the ones I found of Russ were of him with his head down, just working and doing more than his fair share without acclaim or acknowledgment.  That was pretty much Russ, a hard worker who didn't need people cheering him on to do the job.

Working shoulder to shoulder with the Young Men

Not afraid to get dirty. . .

This one makes me tear up a little.  I'm SO grateful
for the influence Russ had on the youth.  Priceless.

Who needs to have fun on a Saturday when
you can help Adam Young dig ditches?

This is probably my favorite picture of Russ that
day.  Just hanging around, waiting for all of us to
catch up with him.

A couple of days after Russ passed away, I came downstairs to find Adam wearing this rather odd T-shirt.  I'm thinking, "What?!"  When I asked him what it was all about, he said that Russ had brought it to a white elephant Christmas party a couple of years ago and that he had won it. "I just feel like wearing it today."  I completely understood.

As tough as it was to say "goodbye" to Russ, it made me happy to have a packed house at his funeral.  Just me and seven hundred or so other people to celebrate his life. Goodbye, friend!

Cross Country Wrap-up

As promised, I wanted to post about the end of the cross country season.  When I last wrote about XC, Adam was heading into the district meet, and I was certain that I'd have a lot more to write about.  I thought about entitling this post "Adam Young and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" because, unfortunately, that's kind of what the district race was for him.  He just didn't run very well in that race, and he missed qualifying for the state meet.  He was so disappointed, but I think he has learned that his whole self-esteem shouldn't be wrapped up in his running, or any other ONE thing, for that matter. It's okay to have a bad day every once in a while.

Not where he wanted to be in the end but
still running hard.  Strong work!

His ability to endure a lot of pain always
blows me away.  I stop when I'm hurting.

A day or two before the meet, the parents were invited to "Senior Night" at the track right after practice.  The seniors took one last lap around the track together, and then they were given some personalized pictures (8 x 10's) that one of the parents had doctored up and printed out.  The parents of the seniors could then say a few words about their kids.  It was a nice moment for a great group of kids.  

There were about 28 seniors, one of the biggest classes
the program has ever had.  

I think this means "Class of '14."

Senior Boys.  Adam logged a lot of miles with these kids. . . and had a lot of fun.

The cross country awards banquet was two nights ago, and Adam was recognized in a few ways there.  He earned his fourth varsity letter for cross country, which may have been the feat that amazed me most.  To letter four times in any sport is pretty impressive.

  

He also received an academic award from the conference.  Smart cookie!

Centennial gives a trophy to each runner who
participates in four years of cross country.
Has it really been four years?

He was very honored to be name the most inspirational
boy runner on the team.  I know he inspires me, but I'm his mom!

As tough as it was to feel Adam's disappointment right along with him--watching one of my children hurt is, oh, so much more difficult than hurting myself--I know that Adam learned a lot from falling a trifle short of his lofty goals.  Those lessons will be even more valuable to him than participating in the state meet would have been.  I'm sorry he had to hurt but very proud of his resilience.  It has been a pleasure to watch him grow, physically and otherwise, these last four years.  I love cross country, but not nearly as much as I love Adam.  

Best Birthday Cake Ever!

Oh, how I've been waiting to share this news!!  Social media and blogs are awesome, but they create an interesting challenge.  While I wanted to shout from the rooftops that I'M HAVING ANOTHER GRANDBABY, I certainly didn't want to steal the thunder from my daughter and her husband.  Once they let the cat out of the bag, however, I was happy to do the same on Facebook.

The next surprise was the gender.  I believe it was Karen's idea that we do a gender-reveal cake for my birthday since she was having an ultrasound on that very day that would likely tell them if they were having a girl or a boy.  I had to think about this for a bit...  If Mike were going to make my birthday cake, that means that he would have to know the news a few hours longer than I did. Adam would also get to know. Could I endure that?  Although the short time they knew the gender was excruciating for me, especially since I was banished to my bedroom while they were baking, the surprise could not have been more fun.

They did a good job.  I couldn't see a speck of cake peeking through.

Karen and Andrew "skyped in"

Check the crumbs on the knife. . .

IT'S A BOY!!!

Our smurf cake

Adam's kinda excited to have a little nephew.  A future sports
addict that he can brainwash. . .?

Just one little birdie left in the nest. . . He will most likely be
on his mission for my next b-day--WOW!!

Thanks, Karen, Adam, and Mike for engineering this surprise.  It was my best birthday cake EVER, and I'm so excited to welcome this little boy to the family in about five months!!

Cross Country: Senior Season

Adam has been running competitively for seven years, and it's hard to believe that his high school cross country career is winding down.  Really hard.  Cross country has long been one of my favorite sports to watch, a revelation that may surprise some people.  I find the purity of the sport simply exhilarating. It's really just the runner and the clock.  No one's jockeying for playing time or trying to schmooze the coach.  Run fast, run varsity. Everyone runs; no one sits on the bench.  Very cool.

Overall, Adam has had a good season.  The highlights of the year, so far (at least to me), have been the Trask Mountain Assault in Oregon, the Athlete's Foothill Race in Eagle, and Centipede. He ran strongly and confidently and managed to awe me.

Trask Mountain Assault

Trask was a true cross country race--up and down a mountain, across streams multiple times, and four trips through deep mud pits.  It seemed grueling to me, but Adam loved it. He called it epic. Yes, this makes him a true runner.

This is fun?

Check out those quads!  Are you kidding me?!

I bet he had delightfully soft skin after this.

Second overall in the boys' race.  He won a rock.

Great weekend!  And, no, I never did manage to
get his clothes all the way clean.  Worth it!

Athlete's Foothill Race

This race was held in the Eagle Foothills, not far from where Adam helped rescue the downed runner last year.  It was a fun race for the runners but a little frustrating for the spectators.  I only got to see Adam as he was coming around the bend to the finish line because it was a point-to-point race.  Yup, just a 5K up and down the high desert hills. Adam finished second overall, so that was kind of cool.  Not too many pictures, however.

He'll be comin' round the mountain when he comes. . .

Now those are some serious runner's legs!

First place team.  Very cool trophy.

Centipede

Centipede is a part-collaborative, part-individual race.  Seven runners race the first two plus miles holding on to a rope.  With three-quarters of a mile to go, the runners drop the rope and finish on their own.  It's interesting to watch.

Last year Adam had to run the "pull" spot where he was responsible for pacing the group. He was completely gassed at the drop zone and struggled a bit over the last portion of the race.  This year he took off like a rocket when they dropped the rope, and it was a powerful thing to watch.

Pre-race focus

Almost there. . .

 

More hardware--nice!

Running has taught Adam a lot about discipline, hard work, confidence, and friendship. We're looking forward to a good finish to the season.  Go, Adam, go!!

Homecoming 2013

Adam went to his senior Homecoming Dance a couple of weeks ago.  Can't believe this kid is already well into his senior year. . . oh, my!  It seems like my oldest just started dating a month or two ago, and she's already married and has her second child on the way. 

Anyway, Adam asked a really cute girl, Rachel, to Homecoming, and she said yes!  She is the captain of the girls' cross country team, and since Adam is the captain of the boys' team, I thought that was pretty cool.  See their matching C's?
  

While they both look pretty cool in their XC duds, it's nice to know that they clean up well.  I thought Rachel was pretty before she and Adam went out, but I realized when we got together to take a few pictures that I had never seen her anywhere but in a cross country situation.  Holy cow, she's adorable!

They went in a very large group, and there were some really great kids there.  I hope Adam knows how important it is to have good friends.  I think he does.  As a parent, I am grateful that he has sought out quality people to hang out with.

Just the guys. 

Russell is one of Adam's best friends.  He runs XC, too.

Rachel also gets points for her reply to Adam's request.  How cute is this?

Since Adam's senior cross country season is just about over, I'll blog about that next. Promise.

Pumpkins for the Primary

Back in May when Mike and I were deciding what to plant in our garden, I was a little overwhelmed about the thought of getting a whole bunch of produce that I would have to can or freeze.  When I inventoried the storage room, it seemed like we didn't have very many empty mason jars.  So, I told Mike we were going to use much of our garden to plant pumpkins for the Primary kids since I am presently in the Primary presidency.  He was game for the idea, so we went ahead and planted pumpkins. . . lots of them. . . seven hills or something ridiculous like that.

Happily, the pumpkin vines produced quite well.  We harvested most of the potential jack-o-lanterns yesterday, and we were pleased to count 50 pumpkins.  I'd already gotten four of them and given them to the Primary president because she wanted to take them to a few less-active kids. So, that makes 54 pumpkins in total, just about the number of Primary kids we have.  How cool is that?!

I wish some of them were bigger, but hey, I'll
take what I can get.

Hoping that some of these get just a wee
bit more ripe in the next week. . .

Next Sunday is our first official practice for the Primary program, and I'm thinking I may reward "good practicers" with a free pumpkin.  Hmmm. . . you all know I'll just give them the pumpkins anyway, but that can just be our little secret, right?  Happy fall, everyone!!

Backtrack Blogging:  Sawtooth Relay 2013

I've become a bit of blogging sloth.  I got a Facebook account couple of months ago, and I put a few things on there.  However, when Rachel came home from her mission, she went back and read every single blog entry I had made while she was gone.  Since Matt is still out of the country and will probably read these when he gets back, and since my parents are leaving on another mission in a month, I feel motivated to keep more current.  Also, this is pretty much all I do in terms of family history.  Better do a better job keeping up.

Adam and five of his friends ran the Sawtooth Relay (early June) again this year.  No driving snowstorms like last year, and Herdegen's Army managed to finish second overall, one spot better than last year.  He and his friends ran well, and I was particularly glad that Adam was able to complete both of his legs.  His physical therapist cleared him to run, and even though he was pretty sore when it was over, Adam powered on through.  Beast!

(l. to r.) Adam, Micah, Connor, Russell, McKay, and Brennen

A very serious bunch, as you can clearly see

These are some hardcore runners.

I'd like to point out that Adam is no longer the shortest
runner on the team.  He's pretty stoked about that.

Second place overall--check out the hardware.  It's the
thought that counts, right?

Running has been a great activity for Adam over the past several years.  He has made some of his best friends in XC and track, and the kids on the team are generally very good kids who don't make dumb choices.  (It would mess up their running!)  Both McKay and Connor are out on missions now, so I especially appreciate their examples to Adam. Strong work, Adam!