Happenings of this last week

This last week had some highlights. Monday the Fire Department had an open house with demonstrations and exhibits of various tools and safety measures. While Kanga and Angel stood in line for the crash simulator Tigger, Roo, and I went and watched the heavy rescue workers turn a pick up truck into a door-less convertible (jaws of life demonstration). Tigger wasn't sure if he wanted to watch the demonstration and kept his ears covered for the majority of it. Whenever he is scared, he covers his ears. His grandmother things that he may be sensitive to loud noises. However, despite having his ears firmly covered he watched with rapped attention and, in the end, told me that he thought it was pretty cool. They also got a tour of an ambulance and a medical lift helicopter. The 'copter was smaller than the one that Tigger rode in when he was born, but it was still pretty neat. They also had some folks from the power company there showing why you don't touch power lines.

Wednesday found Angel, Tigger, and me at Primary Children's Hospital. For various reasons, including his being born early, Tigger was not circumcised when he was born. We've been able to trace some of his potty training difficulties to this and so we decided that it would help him if we did it now. He was a great patient and even woke up form the general anesthetic if a good mood, contrary to what was expected. We spent most of the day there checking him in, waiting for the doctor, waiting for the procedure, and then waiting for his meds. I think we were there for about eight hours when all was said and done. We had dinner at Angel's parent's house and Tigger was back to running around before too long. No, I don't have any pictures from Wednesday.

Saturday I got the lawn mowed - I would like to think for the last time this season. The apples are looking better and I'm thinking I may get some applesauce canned next weekend during General Conference. Angel went over to her mom's for the Women's General Broadcast while I watched the kids. I was just getting ready to start working on dinner when I got a text from some friends inviting the kids and I over for dinner and games. They had a bunch of left overs from a couple of birthday parties and I brought chips. Their kids line up pretty well with ours and so we dads (there were three of us fathers there) didn't have to do much. The kids were well behaved and everyone had fun. Dee came home just after we did and said she enjoyed the broadcast quite a bit.

Yesterday, we saw Angel's grandparents and chatted with them for a while. Her grandfather had a pretty sever stroke a little while ago and while he's recovering well he's starting to show his age a lot more. It was good to see them and Malcom was good for them. He was very content to sit on his great-grandfather's lap and be held. He's a pretty decent kid who goes really quiet when he's not sure what's going on.

Inheritance

This weekend my family had their usual monthly get together. It was good to spend time with family. I'm glad that we get along, although that wasn't always the case when we were younger. I'm also glad that my kids get along with their cousins.

This month had some particular wonderful moments. My father and his brothers have been preparing my grandparents for sale. We we all arrived at my parents house, my father had stacks of books, music, and other miscellaneous ornaments available to us to look through and take home. It was an awesome opportunity to remember and pick something to remind us of our grandparents.

I think one of the coolest things was Grandmother's music supply. As Muscles put it, "I get black note syndrome just looking at this!" Grandmother was very good if her selection of music is any indication. I'd heard her play before, but nothing like what should could have played.

The most coveted mementos were Grandmother's collection of comics. She loved Calvin and Hobbs, For better or for worse, Zits, and Foxtrot. My father's youngest brother took half for his family, leaving us to pick through a measly collection of 25 different books of comics. That mean's we got five each - nobody is complaining.

All in all, it was fun to be able to find some things to remember the grandparents by. It got me thinking about what I'll pass on to my family. As I grabbed a book from the stack I realized that it had my great-grandfather's name on it. I wonder if it will survive to be read by my great-grandchild.

Family photos

With all of the other posts this week I almost forgot my usual weekly post. But as it is broiling hot and the whole family has retreated to the much cooler basement I was reminded of it and so sat down at the desktop to blog. Again, between finishing a couple of books and my grandmother's passing I was not sure on what to blog. The funeral was yesterday and passed well, but I do not see a need to detail its items as I had detailed my thoughts on the one who it was for. I will say that it was good to see my extended family again, although the circumstances were unfortunate. I feel blessed that I know my great uncles and aunts and most of my father's cousins by sight and have interactions with many of them. I am very grateful for my family.

Recently my cousin and his wife found a box of letters and photos in the basement of my grandparent's house. They scanned the contents of the box and uploaded it to Google Drive. Now we all have access to it and this morning I was showing it to my children. I thought that I would share some of those photos here.

These are a few of my progenitors Byron Harvey Jr. and Sen. (left) and William Moore (right). They are probably the earliest ones that we could have photographs of. William Moore was part of the early movements of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints who were driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois back in the 1840s. My parents have been to see the plot of land he owned back in Nauvoo. His uncle, James, had 12 sons and is a big part of why my extended family is so large. Whenever someone asks if I'm related to so-and-so my answer is, "Yes, I just don't know how." In most cases it is through James, William Moore's uncle.

I found this picture of my grandparent's wedding and just had to chuckle. Grandmother looks like she's being ignored for a moment and is not too pleased. My Grandfather is talking with his brothers, Richard and Byron "Moony". I was speaking with Moony at the funeral yesterday and he mentioned that with exception of their father, my grandfather (his oldest brother) was the person he loved the most.

I had to share this one because it is of my grandparents and my father. I never saw them this way myself, but I love how they look here. The original of this picture was on a table at the funeral and my sisters were talking about how hansom our grandfather was. In most of our memories he had stomach difficulties and was very thin. There was little excess weight on him and probably less then there should have been. My grandmother was a very beautiful women as well. Al I can say for my father is that I've never seen him look this innocent before. It's still probably an act.

I hold my family very dear to me and am glad that I can share these photos with my children and now with you. Thank you.