Tuesday, November 17, 2009

pumpkin weigh-in

Brady harvested his gargantuan pumpkins this week. He cut off the largest one and bent over to pick it up and just about herniated himself. It didn't budge. He and Dave both had to man-handle it over to the front porch and it weighed in at 128 pounds!! A second pumpkin weighed 77 pounds. Then before he started dismantling the plant, we measured one of the plant stems - 45 feet long. It was massive and was winding all over our front yard. I was seriously worried it would start creeping in our front door.
This morning I learned what the sole purpose of the giant pumpkin growing experience was. Apparently, these pumpkins have been planted, watered, fertilized, loved and cared for, so that Brady and his friends could take them out to the desert and blow them up and use them for target practice. Who knew?! This afternoon they loaded up about 8 pumpkins and headed out for a afternoon of pumpkin destruction.
Dave and Brady recently returned from a week long hunting trip with Joe Wagner up in Wyoming. I will not post pictures because well, they are gross hunting pictures. But they had a great time together. Well, I guess there are a couple of pictures I can post that have no dead animals in them. It was dry and clear most of their week: Then a wee bit of snow came blowing in before they started home:I got a text message from Joe's wife, Madeline, a few days after they got back :
Madeline: I heard a rumor that during the hunt there was a threat to revoke Dave's "man card" . . . did you hear anything about that???
Me: Yes, and he is sitting here watching "So You Think You Can Dance" again at this very moment.
Madeline: That's it . . . he tried to blame watching it on you I heard, so I guess they will have to cut the corners off his man card!!
Me: But Dave said the next night they were all watching the results show together!
Madeline: Joe said being in the same room isn't the same as watching.
Immediately our phone began ringing. Joe had to redeem himself and clear the air that he really wasn't watching. (Just admit it Joe - that show sucks you right in regardless of whether or not you own a "man card" !)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

big news for brady

Well, it took 2 painfully long weeks of waiting for the mailman at exactly 12:15 every day, but a big white envelope finally came for Brady. He submitted the papers for a church mission and the wait for the return mail was excruciating (well, for me it was anyway). His mission call came early afternoon on Friday and I had to wait almost 5 hours until Brady got home from work. FIVE HOURS!! He finally got home and then we had to wait another hour for Roxanne to get off work and get home so we could all be together for the big moment. We put in a few destination guesses prior to opening up the envelope. We each guessed one place in the states, and one foreign location. My guess was an island. I hoped I could make that very broad to include not only the islands of the Pacific, but also Madagascar, Japan, and perhaps even Australia. In-state guesses included Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Oklahoma, Idaho and Michigan. Melanie, I suppose, won the game by coming the closest geographically (she guessed Michigan), because when he finally opened the envelope, his call was for the Illinois, Peoria Mission. His mission covers central Illinois, and parts of Iowa, Missouri, and a sliver of Indiana. One of his good friends, Jacob, is in Indiana. I suppose they will be sort of next door neighbors for the next couple of years. He heads out on January 6th and he is one excited boy. His time in the mission training center will overlap for a few days with his cousin, Kelsie being up there. Hopefully they will get to see each other.

Although I knew he was ready and willing to serve anywhere in the world, and almost hoping to be working in an impoverished country, I realized I was feeling a little relieved at the end of the day to know he will be right here in our country, where there is the security of safe water to drink and modern medical facilities. I hadn't even been aware of those feelings until after the fact. He is truly happy with the assignment and anxious to go. We are so very proud of him.

In other Brady related news, his pumpkin patch is literally taking over our property. Neighbors far and wide stop and look to see what is growing so enormously in our front yard. His largest pumpkin on the vine is about a 18" high and easily over 50 pounds and there are several other pumpkins on the vines that are much larger than any we bought and carved at Halloween this year.Dave thought he would be funny and put a very ripe and bright orange pumpkin out in the vines in the yard. Brady immediately called the bluff . . . "Who put the fake pumpkin in my patch??" He is a good little pumpkin shepherd. He knows his "sheep".

This weekend Brady was the best man at Brian's wedding. Doesn't he look handsome in his tuxedo? He says it's pretty weird to have a married friend. Brian and Megan had a very lovely wedding reception and we enjoyed our evening.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

melanie-isms IV

Conversations overheard around the house:

Dave asked Melanie if she would ever go to Japan with him to see the Ice Festival.
"I don't know Dad, I don't know the culture or any language"
"Well, I know the language and I could help you"
"Actually, all I need to know is food, bathroom and boys, and I'd be good"

Rachel: Is the stove on? I feel something hot.
Melanie: Oh that's just me. It's been on since I was born.

Melanie: I'm like the Grand Canyon, and boys are like the Colorado River . . . they just naturally flow to me.

Texts from Melanie are always entertaining:

Text sent in the early morning to the other side of our house:
Me: are you up?
Melanie: Unfortunately. Don't feel good at all. Head hurts, feet feel raw, pinky infected, inside of mouth has been feeling scratched up lately, etc.
Me: I'm sorry, Maybe we can find some medicine to help you out before we leave this morning.
Melanie: What medicine can repair a broken heart? and raw feet?
Me: All you need is love (la la la la la)
Melanie: Could it beeee? I found somebody to love.
Me: sounds like you've caught a bug, (maybe a Beatle!)

I get texts like these regularly:

How do you spell garunteed? guarunteed? garunteid?
How do you spell "in-cell-a-tion" ????

roger roger 2-4
(um Mel, I think you mean 10-4)

Me: where are you?
Melanie: We're tanning on the roof. No flash photography please.

I sent Melanie into a store and I waited for her in the car. I got this text from her:
I have a wedgie I can't get 'cause there's cameras in here . . . .

Melanie borrowed my phone for a couple of hours, then I got this message when she returned it: uh, hey . . . if you get a text from a 928 number, can you tell the nice man to text me on my phone? :)

And these are my favorites from her:

Night pumpkin!

You're the bomb-diggity!