Dusty and Liz's March/April Family News

March & April 2009 News

Ava celebrated her 2^nd birthday in March. She had a Dora the Explorer friend’s party with some boys and girls from her Nursery class. Everyone decorated tambourines and then lined up for a dancing parade to Dora music. After a snack, everyone played outside on the swing set or with the bubbles and chalk. It was a beautiful day and a fun play date.

The weekend before Ava’s birthday, the girls attended the Chick-fila birthday party while the boys were at the Father & Son Campout. Ava didn’t like the chick-fila cow (a little too scary for her), but she enjoyed her meal, cake and balloon. Later we picked up a kiddie chickflick and had a movie night. Dusty and Ethan enjoyed their first Father & Son Campout. They went fishing and canoeing, roasted marshmallows and slept in their tent.

We spent most of Spring Break down in Orlando. Dusty and Liz were able to attend the temple together, which was great. The next day, the whole family plus Aunts Amy, Kim, and Emily and Cousin Maya went to Sea World. Amy scored us half price tickets and we had a blast. We went on some fun rides and enjoyed the Shamu and dolphin shows. The only downside was that Ethan threw up all that night and Ava came home seriously ill. She didn’t eat for about a week and still has not regained the weight she lost.

The kids went to a really neat Primary Activity this month. They brought their backpacks and scriptures and embarked on a scriptural journey aboard a ship. They traveled from place to place, learning scripture stories involving a boat (Noah, Brother of Jared, Nephi, etc.). Sarah and Ethan really enjoyed it. Sarah also went on her very first field trip. All the kindergarten classes went to the Challenger Learning Center and watched “The Little Star that Could.” In her field trip journal she drew a picture of her and her friends picnicking and wrote that her favorite part of the trip was lunch because she was hungry.

Anna is a sweet baby. Her brother and sisters adore her. She rewards us with her adorable smile. Unfortunately, she is suffering from congestion. Ava came home sick from nursery last Sunday and has shared her cold with almost everyone. Because she is under the weather, Anna missed her 2-month vaccines. So in a couple of weeks we will try again. She visited the eye doctor again this month to follow up on her cataract. I guess nothing has changed, and we will visit again in four months. The doctor wants to monitor the cataract to make sure that it doesn’t get denser or require surgery.

Liz just got released from her calling as Enrichment Leader and has accepted a new calling in Young Women’s as the Miamaid Advisor. It will be fun serving in YW with Melissa, but that means she will now be the “old” Sister Brock.

Dusty keeps busy with his calling. This weekend he participated in the stake youth service project as part of the Southeast Day of Service. They were going to clean up a park, but I think ended up picking up trash along the highway. Whatever they did, he did it with them in the heat with a sinus infection – what a trooper. He has also been dealing with more bad kids and their parents at school. One of the teachers wanted to press charges on a student for injuries that she received when he slammed a door on her. The parents got involved and things got ugly. The principal finally convinced the teacher to drop the charges, so the student could be transferred to another school.

Dusty’s Journal Entry:

Recently Ethan and I attended the Church’s annual Father & Son’s Outing. We went to Woodman of the World Camp ground in Hosford, Fl. It was a fun time. It was the inaugural trip for Ethan and I. Since I have been on maternity leave, Ethan and I left at around 230pm. We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch and ate it as we rode in the car. Ethan was excited to get a Spiderman toy in his lunch. He got hi favorite chicken nugget meal with fries and chocolate milk, and I got a side salad with a chicken sandwich and a Dr. Pepper for drink.

We arrived as one of 3 tents that I could see at the site. We picked an area away from others and I put up my tent. It was a huge tent for just the two of us. The tent actually sleeps 9 I think. What I quickly realized that it is a lot of work for one person to do when your child is young. Ethan played around the tent while I set it up. He talked to Liz for about 12 minutes or so. Liz said that was a special treat for her cause Ethan rarely stays on the phone for any length of time.

The tent was up and people began showing up to camp. I saw Rick and Mike Bergstrom setting their tent up from afar and we both went to say hello. Mike has two boys and Rick has one like me. There are likenesses in age to Ethan. I introduced Ethan to the boys and Ethan was shy at first. But all of the sudden, Ethan told the boys how fast he was. Then he ran a short distance to show his skills. I laughed. He ran back to where we were all standing and he said, “See!” How funny. Soon they ran off to play soccer. It was neat to see Ethan interact with other boys. As a parent you want your kids to be accepted by others. At this point, I was able to sit around a chat with Rick and Mike and visit a while. Later, we decided to walk to the pond and fish. Ethan was excited. We fished with no bait from the bank. I didn’t want to catch a fish honestly because I had no tools to deal with it, other than throw it back if we indeed caught one. So, we casted out our rod and I showed Ethan how to use it. He is in such a hurry to do it himself with no care for proper instruction by his old man. I guess that is kids…. or boys rather. I imagine I was much of the same mold as Ethan. I guess it is the excitement of things. We fished next to Mike and his boys. We actually fished with pieces of chicken nuggets. It would have been funny to catch something with that ”bait.”

Soon, we corralled a canoe that was there and we set off into the pond. Before I knew it we were afloat and halfway across the pond and I realized I didn’t give Ethan any instruction on canoeing either. I was afraid he would stand up and tip over into the water. He had his life jacket on good thing. The canoe was probably a 12-foot canoe. He seemed to be a mile away from me in the front. If he went over I would not have time to catch him. Oh well, off we go!

Ethan made nicely and began to row almost instinctively. I was kind of surprised at that. He didn’t even drop the paddle either, another success! We fished a bit there too with no catches other than “seaweed” as Ethan called it. One moment of hilariousness was once we entered the water on that canoe, I could tell Ethan was slightly, well more than slightly elevated in the air. With me being 325 pounds of man and he 45 pounds of boy, the canoe favored my weight more than his. I got a couple of pictures of it. It was funny.

Later that night we ate dinner in our tent. We went to a store down the road and got Ethan a corndog and I some chicken fingers and fries. We both drank soda. He loved having his own bottle of Pepsi. I loved my Dr. Pepper. I let him pick out some candy to eat as well. What the heck, it was his special weekend with dad. As we ate and enjoyed each other’s company I came to the realization that I should spend more time with Ethan. I never get to have one on one time like this with him away from home with no distractions. It was really a sweet experience for me. I love that Ethan boy. This moment was priceless to me. We went and sat by a big bonfire for a fireside. Ethan played in the sand and watched the fire with amazement. We later roasted marshmallows and he quickly learned how sticky they could be and also how tasty they are too.

I let Ethan chase the other boys in the night with his flashlight while all the fathers sat around the campfire and talked. It was good times. I am thankful for the gospel and the programs of building families. It’s great to get around other fathers and kids with the same beliefs and has no worries of any wrongdoing or inappropriate talk. Good clean fun. Ethan and I finally went to bed around 1148pm. He slept like a rock and I felt like I slept on rocks. We awoke the next morning early for a stake-sponsored breakfast. It was yummy, eggs, link sausage, and pancakes with orange juice. We went back to our camp; I broke it down and came home around 1030am. It was a fun trip. Short trip too. The gospel is truly restored and the priesthood lives.