Enough Already

JaNae keeps pestering me to post another blog (or whatever you call it), so rather than reinvent the wheel, I've include excerpts from letters I've recently written to Sid. I added pictures and videos taken by my fabulous, lovely, and amazing wife. (Obviously, you can see that JaNae is really the person that posted the blog. She just wants to convince all you other women out there that she has wo-manhandled her husband into being totally compliant to her every wish!)

April 11, 2010 Letter:
This weekend, JaNae and I drove down to Boise to be part of Ty’s [my brother Andy's oldest son] ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood. It’s about a 4½ hour drive to Boise, and both of us were quite tired heading into it. The night before we left, the freezer alarm at my work went off. It was no big deal. When the freezer went into defrost mode, there was too much moisture in the air. This moisture froze and bound up the fans so that when the defrost was over, the fans would not click on. This caused the temperature to increase and set the alarm off. I was called in at 1:00 a.m. Basically, when that happens you go into the freezer and beat the tar out of the fans to free them of ice, then get out of the freezer and let it do its thing. The problem is you have to wait until the temperature is moving well past the critical stage before you can comfortably leave the freezer alone. JaNae went with me (because you don’t want to be in the freezer without someone else knowing you're there), and we didn’t return home until 3:00 a.m.

Needless to say, we slept in a little longer than we had anticipated, and we were both tired when we left. JaNae slept the first couple of hours, and I slept after that. But we arrived, none the worse for wear, in time to watch Ty play lacrosse. Lacrosse is very interesting. Basically, you catch the ball in a netted stick and run like crazy so the other players don’t beat the tar out of you, which they can do as long as you’re carrying the ball. Eventually, you try to throw the ball into a net (kind of like soccer). Ty’s team won, and he played well. [Ty is #22 in the dark red jersey and helmet.]

April 18, 2010 Letter:

Another week has passed filled with interesting experiences for JaNae and me. I had to work yesterday, and due to the fact that I hadn’t closed on a Saturday for quite some time, it took me a while longer, and I didn’t get home until nearly 7:00 p.m. JaNae already had dinner ready, and we hadn’t been eating longer than about five minutes when the phone rang. It was the missionaries. I was sure they needed someone with whom to split for the night or some other favor, which is fine, but that wasn’t it at all. Instead, they called to tell us that one of the members of our ward had extra hockey tickets (we have a minor league hockey team here called the Tri-City Americans [the team in white shirts] who happen to be in the playoffs), and could we please call a gentleman I have helped them teach twice previously to see if he’d like to go. (Of course, the missionaries weren’t going. Just the member and his family.) We never got hold of the man, but within twenty minutes or so, JaNae and I were seated at a hockey game with this other member couple and two of their children.

I think I told you about lacrosse last week. Well, hockey is much the same. The only differences are that all the players are on ice skates, and you can hit anybody anytime for any reason. Oh sure, there are rules. You can’t hook people with the stick or trip them. But the basic gist of the live game is smashing opposing players into the wall and fighting, all while trying to get a small puck into the opposing players’ net. Basically, there are a ton of loud noises to hear, which makes the whole thing more fun than it ever appears to be when watching it on TV.

Well, our team won 4-0, and JaNae and I really had a fun time doing something we probably would never have thought to do on our own. Made lots of new friends, too, but of course they are all overweight, sport tattoos, and drink lots of beer. Oh, and the fighting is really interesting. The players are allowed to do it willy nilly, as long as they are both still standing on their skates. They take their protective gloves off, so their punches really hurt, and start pounding each other. As soon as they fall on the ice, however, two or three of the refs dive on them and pull them apart. They then have to sit in the penalty box for five minutes apiece, and the game continues, only now with fewer players. What a kick! Needless to say, the activity really developed our sensitivity to spiritual things just in time to attend church today.

Well, there you have it! My post for the next six months is now completed, and I feel so much more in tune with my feminine side. Talk to you in a few months!

Welcome to the Dark Side

Dan's discovered the world of Facebook...Heaven help us all....(Yep, the pictures are the same day hours apart.)

Catch-up Time-It's all in the Timing

To best catch up on this post I have to go back to March 2009. Dan took a job with Biomat USA as a manager trainee position. Their training program is approximately 9 months long. After the training is completed, the company then transfers the new manager/assistant manager to a center that needs the leadership, unless the center where the training took place is in need of someone in the management position. Dan knew it would be temporary since the Pocatello center had a manager and assistant manager who wouldn't be relocating for several years.

In the fall Dan was asked to come help out the Kennewick, WA center for a week. I drove up and joined him a day into his trip. A few weeks later Dan came up for two weeks, this time I came along for the whole trip. (What a blessing that I wasn't working so I could be available to come along.) We knew Kennewick was an option but it didn't feel right to either of us so we just enjoyed our time in a new city and continued to speculate where we would move to.

While Dan worked, I headed out and took in the sights of the Tri-Cities area (Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco make up the Tri-Cities.) Here are a few pictures from those first trips to the Tri-Cities:

After our visits a couple offers were made but we still didn't feel good about the location. We looked into other options discovering that Kennewick was our only option at present. So we decided to list the pros & cons and really considered the option of moving to the Tri-Cities. We came to the conclusion that despite moving farther away from our families, it was the right thing for us to do and accepted an offer for Dan to be the Facility Manager for the Kennewick Biomat facility.

The packing then began with more determination.

Dan's job gave us a stipend to help us move. I figured we'd hire movers to do the work. Dan figured we'd save the money and do it ourselves. Dan won with the promise that he'd take care of it all. Guess who packed the most boxes...yep, not Dan. A HUGE thanks to the Lovelands for coming over and plowing through the final areas. I really couldn't have done it without your help!

Finally things were ready to be loaded onto the U-Haul truck (told you we did it ourselves) Lots of help from family and friends loading the truck, last minute packing, and cleaning the carpets! (Mark &Amy, Ann & Kevin, Kevin's employees, Liz [you school-ditcher you], and the High Priest Group from the Princeton Ward!)

Then we said good-bye to our first place...

...and began our drive west....

We towed my car but I didn't get a single picture of my car loaded onto the carrier!

Though Kennewick is only about 8 hours drive from Pocatello, we took it in two days to not push ourselves. We stopped in Boise to stay with Dan's brother Andy and his family (A HUGE thanks to them too) giving us an easier drive plus visits along the way with more family.

We arrived in Kennewick the evening of January 20, 2010:

First stop was to get my car off the carrier so we could unload the truck:

Next was our new apartment to begin unloading our things...

...and unloading...

...and unloading! (HUGE thanks to the YM, Elders and High Priests of the Hanson Park Ward!).

(Yes that's a bed in the spare bathroom, doesn't everyone put one there when moving?)

Let the unpacking begin!

After several days weeks of unpacking our new place began to take shape:

We even hung some things on the walls to make it more our own...

Other homey touches were made...

 

(Not thrilled that our bed was Dan's work bench.)

Ha ha ha...guess I need to supervise better next time! Ha ha ha...

We even purchased some new furniture for our bedroom:

Every little bit and each new day Kennewick feels more and more like home.

Would You Like to Rephrase the Question?

The other night I turned off my light and had the following conversation with Dan:

Dan:  "Hello?"
Me:   "It's ok, Sweetheart, I just turned off the light."
Dan:  "Who are you?"

He accuses me of making these conversations up. I continue to tell him I can't make up stuff this funny. :)

Horticulture 401

A few weeks ago I purchased some peppers at the grocery store. For whatever reason I shook one of the peppers and heard a rattling noise. I bought it anyway curious why it was rattling. Well, when I cut it open I discovered that it was pregnant! There was another little pepper growing inside. Of course I had to get pictures of the baby pepper. We didn't eat the baby but the momma tasted just fine. Learned something new that day.

HEEEEERRRRREEEE'S Flat Stanley

The official word has been received, our former visitor and new friend, Flat Stanley, arrived home and has returned to school. Now the rest of the story... (The following CLIP has been approved for ALL AGES by the Horrocks Family Production Association: No parent cautions necessary; suitable for all ages.)



The visit invitation is not limited to just those related to Shayla...friends are welcome too.

Helping Mother Earth????

In anticipation of our 2011 family reunion I was looking at the websites Ann gave is for Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. I decided to request additional information for the area so we will have it when it's time to plan for the specific activities we want to do while there. Since the date isn't chosen yet and we could be going Spring of next year, it seemed like a good idea. A few weeks later the first of several thick envelopes began to arrive....

Nice of them to send so many lodging suggestions...only problem I said lodging wasn't needed.

Now why would I want to buy books and clothing from a place I haven't visited yet?

Good thing they ask the questions and then don't pay attention to the answers. If they did, they would save taxpayer money and space in the landfills. :)