Not your normal Monster Truck Rally

Samuel's cousins love Monster Trucks. We have started a tradition of going to Monster Jam with them every January here in Houston. In January 2008 Ethan, Nate, and Samuel had a great time playing with their own monster trucks, while wearing their protective headgear, and watching all the action. Here is a picture from last January.



Needless to say 2008 was a very difficult year for my sister Elizabeth and her family. Ethan struggled most of the year with cancer and passed away the day after Thanksgiving surrounded by family. This post is an amazing story of this year's Monster Jam in Houston. Let me tell you the story.

As part of the Make a Wish foundation trip during the summer of 2008 Ethan and his family were flown to Phoenix to fulfill Ethan's wish. He wanted to meet Jimmy Creten the driver of his favorite truck Bounty Hunter. Not only did they meet him, they got to sit in his truck, and go to the show there in Phoenix. Ethan, his family, and Jimmy created a bond of friendship. Ethan constantly spoke of his trip and seeing his favorite driver and truck.

So even though Ethan was gone this year we made the trip to the Reliant Stadium to watch Monster Jam. Elizabeth and her family had gone early to use pit passes to get close to trucks and to say hello to Jimmy again. During the one on one they gave Jimmy a little craft Ethan had made for him before he died.

During the competition Bounty Hunter performed well - and even as the night progressed he kept winning and winning. Finally the championship race featured his truck. In a perfect race Jimmy won and celebrated by performing donuts in the dirt. It was wonderful to see my sister and her family cheering him on with their home made sign.

When he got out of the truck the announcer interviewed Jimmy and asked about the race. Jimmy produced the craft Ethan had made for him and told his story. He said he knew Ethan helped him win the race. Everyone in the stadium was cheering and Elizabeth and her family were crying. It was a wonderful time. But there was more.



Following the race part of the event the trucks engage in a freestyle competition. During this part of the contest the goal is to put on a show by jumping, flipping your truck, lighting on fire, etc. As the trucks performed the crowd got more and more excited. When it was Bounty Hunter's turn he performed for the crowd, but his time was more cautious doing a large number of donuts and simple jumps over the cars. He didn't perform as well as the truck that tipped over and lost a wheel, or the truck that got stuck on top of the cars. Stacia and I thought that maybe the truck was damaged or he just lost his pep after his earlier win, but that was not the case.

My sister told us about a week after the show that Ethan's favorite part of the freestyle competition is when the trucks do donuts in the dirt. He also liked it when the trucks finished their show instead of getting damaged during their time and not being able to finish. After winning the race competition Jimmy chose to play it safe during the freestyle, and do a series of donuts, to make sure he was performing the best parts of what Ethan loved to see.

I don't know about you but I have just become a big fan of Bounty Hunter, Jimmy Creten, and Monster Trucks.

Samuel at a Rockets game

I don't remember who won the game, but Joseph caught a freebie hat! When does that ever happen? (I guess when you have any ticket better than a nosebleed seat your chances go up.) Eventually we convinced Samuel to try it on. Since our 5th row tickets and parking were both free, we let Samuel have a bucket of popcorn and a gigantic soda for dinner. We shouldn't get into the habit of buying food at arena events, but sure enough, when we went to Monster Jam at Reliant a few days ago, we spent even more on food. Oh well.

50 days to go

Here's the "around 7-months progress" taken with 53 days to go. This was the "not lifting like a dancer should" photo so I could look as big as possible.

Thankful Thursday

Jen H. does this almost every week and I want to be more like her, especially this week.

Here are 10 random things, random order:

1. Food network online. Now we don't have cable, I can still get all the recipes online.

2. Maternity clothes. Comfort is paramount, especially after months of sickness, sore muscles and getting kicked about from the inside.

3. Getting kicked about from the inside. We're grateful for the pending arrival of another little boy.

4. Joseph's pillow. I use it whenever he's out of town. Best pillow and best gift ever, since I gave it. I'm a pillow snob and wish I could find one like it for me. (He has offered it, but I can't take something so good away from him!)

5. Good eyesight. I wanted glasses in third grade when my friends were getting them, but Joseph is agonizing over doing Lasik or not, and I'm glad I don't have to worry about that.

6. My mother-in-law is staying with us and it's sincerely a joy having her around (and no, she doesn't read this blog, yet). Who knew we'd get along so well, like "a house on fire?" as she would say.

7. Internet. Thanks to Al Gore. And we love our Sunday webcam talks with "Grandma Reindeer" and Gramps!

8. Toddlers - mostly Samuel of course, who came up with the name "Grandma Reindeer" yesterday.

9. Hot tap water. Remember Jane Eyre breaking the ice to wash her face at Lowood?

10. The Doctrine and Covenants. We started reading this as a family on General Conference Sunday and we are at section 76. I think we've only missed 3 days and it's been great. Samuel has read (call and response style) several sections all by himself!

and a few things I could stand to be a little less grateful for:

• Clearance candy - my latest binge was on $.80 bags of black and blue Batman-themed Reeses Pieces. I got 4 bags because no chocolate = no caffeine, unlike the last binge of $16 on Halloween candy bars.
• internet - what a time waster!
• Library hold requests- what do I do when I have the maximum number of items requested and then there's something I really need to get? They won't let Samuel get a card yet...and then things get lost so easily when you have 20+ items checked out...

Hello Gothic Revival - vacation episode 3

I couldn't get enough of Château Frontenac. Quebec City was lovelier than Montreal -- better preserved as an old city. This meant, of course, more stairs. We spent a long time hiking around looking for the Plains of Abraham. The details of this battle are mind-blowing. The French made mistake, after mistake after mistake. If not for this place, a lot more of us would be speaking French right now.

Vacation to Vermont & Quebec - episode 2

Samuel napped at Place d’Armes in front of Notre Dame Basilica. When he fell asleep, we just stopped wherever we were and relaxed. Joseph was happily entertained by his new Blackberry which was our map and tour guide as we wikied historic locations, battles, and restaurants.

















Jean Talon market was high on my list and I wish I liked eggplant or had the occassion to buy one of these bouquets.


















St. Joseph's Oratory was another hike. Inside there were some escalators, but again, mostly stairs. And we went to the top. We had the option of going up on our knees on the stairway reserved for pilgrims, but I forgot my rosary. St. Joseph's is famous for healing cripples and they have walls covered in canes inside from those who came lame and left walking.
























This folk art sculpture was at Stash Cafe. Going to an authentic all Polish restaurant was a highlight. I cried when I told the waiter I wanted one of everything, and I am only a quarter Polish. (Last week I got emotional again when I saw the billboard for Sobieski Wodka Polska on 610 Loop at the Galleria. ) The BYU MOA had an exhibit of these wood carvings years ago and my parents have a couple. Dibs!

Vacation to Vermont & Quebec - episode 1

One of the first major events of our vacation was Samuel's decision to change his favorite color from green to pink for obvious reasons:

















The Ben & Jerry's brochure had this pink ice cream cone on it and Samuel was determined to have one. But alas, the free sample of the day was white mint chocolate chip.














We drove from Vermont to Joseph's mission stomping ground, Montreal and suburbs. We climbed the stairs & trails to Mont Royal (getting lost because Joseph had only done it in the snow once 10 years ago!). Samuel and Daddy had lots more energy than Pregnant Mommy who trailed behind, complaining that this reminded her of the hike on our honeymoon when we also got lost. In a startling similarity, we learned at the top of both hikes that we could have driven to the top. But we are better people for walking.