Wes finds a Christmas Angel

 

2009 Review

Friends and family - So sorry to be such an infrequent blogger. 2009 was a wonderful year: Granddaughter Katelyn was born in August. Our baby Audrey graduated from high school. Donna loves job at Deseret Book. Wes, Trent, and Mitch completed two more semesters at SUU. Rachel and Audrey each got in one semester. Wes' children's book "The Best at Nothing" was illustrated and is submitted for publication. Had a wonderful family vacation at Midway, Utah. See pics for samples of fun in 2009.

Latest Poem From Wes

WHEN SUDDENLY NOTHING HAPPENED

There come those times when blood is chilled;
A shiver shakes your spine;
You sense there’s something’s now amiss,
There’s something out of line.

Our home has been a constant din,
For more than twenty years;
Crescendoed kid cacophonies
Of slams and shrieks and tears.

‘Til now, at last, all children grown,
I’m bothered by the sound
Of silence as it screams at me
With not a kid around.

I gave my wife a “hello” kiss,
She asked me for my name.
This house seems so familiar
Yet nothing feels the same.

I can hear the door not slam;
And the stereo not blare.
The bathroom does not hiss and buzz
From blowing dry their hair.

My razor sits unstolen
Right where it belongs;
The fridge is unmolested
By human-locusts throngs.

My feet can feel the floor not thump
As bumps and stomps are gone;
Though not a single rattled dish
How clatter lingers on…

The quiet somehow echoes harsh;
Upon my deafened ears.
How creepy to find switched to off
The racket heard for years.

I never dreamed I’d miss it all,
Life’s constant audio feed;
When, suddenly, nothing happened here,
It was something else indeed!

Rachel in the Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular Featuring the Rockettes

Everyone agreed that Audrey (green dress) was HILARIOUS as a wicked step-sister in the high school production of Cinderella. The drama director for SUU has asked her to apply for scholarship.

This year for Halloween we decided not to dress up but to go to the party as ourselves.

This is Wes - A few weeks ago, I was assigned by my English professor to create a satirized and fictional news story based on current events. Hurricane Ike had just hit the coast and I wrote the following:

HURRICANE IKE SURVIVORS PROVEN RIGHT – THE DANGER WAS ALL IN THEIR HEADS!

GULF COAST, TEXAS - The recovery is underway after Hurricane Ike left a path of destruction throughout the Gulf Coast region. It is estimated that over 20,000 residents ignored the government’s warnings; ignored recent history; ignored the pelicans and hermit crabs removing themselves to Oklahoma; ignored the deep-sea oil platforms tumbling toward them from the far horizon; turned off the basic animal instinct for survival and determined they would “ride this one out”. It is also reported that 20,000 residents simultaneously dialed 911 the moment that Ike made landfall and they found themselves up to their mullets in seawater and that their roofs were being sent airmail to New Jersey. At that point, frustrated authorities could only instruct these intrepid souls to use indelible pens to write their social security numbers on their forearms and the words: “I am a moron” on their foreheads.

Survivor Blain Gotnowitz spoke with reporters after first responders, comprised of rescue crews and personal injury attorneys, risked their lives pulling him from the churning waters of Galveston Bay. “I had no idea that my 1962 Airstream trailer would not be able to withstand this hurricane. The government warnings were so ambliverous that I didn’t realize I should have packed up my woman, seven kids, three dogs, and guinea pig and left town.” When asked about his understanding of the words “Certain Death” Gotnowitz replied, “That’s what I’m talkin’ about! Those warnings were to people who live on the Gulf COAST. They shoulda also warned us folks who live a couple of blocks OFF of the coast! How were we to know?”

Initial estimates for Mr. Gotnowitz’s neighborhood showed that the hurricane had inflicted over 10 million dollars worth of improvements. When told that the island would have no running water for weeks to come, Gotnowitz was unconcerned. “Heck, we don’t need no hot showers to clean up. Why, the sheriffs department just told me that my wife and kids have already washed up on the beach!”

So far, the EMTs, firemen, and attorneys had been unable to locate all victims but greater help is on the way. Tomorrow will bring the chilling howls of the cadaver dogs among the dead and of Jessie Jackson among the survivors. The hurricane winds are gone. The hot air has only just begun to blow.