February 2007

February 1^st is Grandpa Stout’s actual birthday, but we planned a special 70^th birthday party for him on Saturday the 3^rd.

Ricky went to Amber’s birthday party all day on Saturday. He came home with a cool sword he bought from a store in the mall. Brian babysat while we went to the adults’ birthday party at Grandpa Stout’s house.

Cindy organized the party, and she gathered photos and messages for a special book to present to Dad. The theme of the evening was dinosaurs. She brought posters of dinosaurs with Dad’s face scanned into the picture of the dinosaur’s face. One poster read: “Welcome to Geriatrics Park: be sure to visit our 70 year old fossil.”

All the siblings and spouses were there which made it extra nice. We enjoyed being together after so many years of missing out on these fun family events.

We got several pictures with Wendy, Cindy, Tim, David, Heidi, Rick, Dad and Mom Stout.

We had fun visiting and playing a game in which Dad was given trivia questions about what happened the year he was born (1937). He answered correctly almost all the questions, and we learned some new things.

Dad told some funny stories, such as the time he was mission president in Kobe, Japan, and President Hinckley visited the mission, and they were treated to a fancy 7 course meal, complete with raw oysters. Dad recalled having to eat all of Mom’s oysters, and then hearing President Hinckley ask him, “Now President Stout…how long would you say we have been friends?” He then proceeded to ask Dad to eat all of Sister Hinckley’s raw oysters, and his as well. Then the host said, “As soon as President Stout finishes his oysters we can bring out the second course…” He was feeling quite ill by the time he ate all four helpings of raw oysters! What a great guy!

Dad requested that “his girls” sing his favorite song, “I wonder when He comes again.” Unrehearsed, Shauna, Wendy, Heidi, Cindy, and LaNae did a terrific job.

Wendy made Dad a “cake” made of tropical fruit, and a sign on top that said “70,” which caught on fire before we finished taking pictures and he could blow out the candles.

Isaac Arnoldsen, love’s Allen’s cell phone.

Earlier in the week on Dad’s real birthday, David made Dad a cake for his birthday, and decorated it with 70 candles!

Dad only took 6 or 7 tries to blow out all 70!

We watched a video tape of the Super Bowl with Rick and Shauna’s family for Family Night on Monday the 5^th. Megan showed us a youtube video called “Maths,” and we about died laughing.

LaNae took the children to the Legacy Center pool after school on Tuesday the 6^th.

Wednesday the 7^th Tim turned off the alarm clock and lay in bed (not a smart thing to do). We slept in, and Tim almost missed his 8 o’clock class at Waterford!

Rick was a guest at Cindy’s Wolf Cub Scouts den on Thursday the 8^th. He taught them about Japan. Tim and LaNae checked out “Murder on the Orient Express” and watched it for a date on Friday the 9^th.

Amy went to Giullia Sosa’s birthday party, and she got to dress up like a princess on Saturday the 10^th. Tim and LaNae attended the Church’s World Wide Training Meeting. They were excited to see their friends Takashi and Naomi Wada, who where part of the training broadcast. In the evening Tim and LaNae attended Waterford School’s 25^th anniversary dinner held at The Utah Museum of Fine Arts on the campus of the University of Utah.

LaNae took Rick, Brian, Todd, Lorin, Carson, and John to Preston’s birthday party on Tuesday the 13^th. It was at Allen’s parent’s house, and the boys played football in the backyard.

LaNae stopped by the oriental market, and picked up some ingredients for Tim’s Japanese class sukiyaki project. LaNae also got some hi-chews candies for the kids’ Valentines treat!

LaNae made a special dinner for Valentines Day.

Tim’s ninth grade Japanese class made sukiyaki on Friday the 16^th.

They learned about how to make sukiyaki in their Japanese textbook, and wanted to make it at school. It was a big treat for them, and Tim says it even tasted good.

Brian attended the winter campout called the Klondike Derby on Friday and Saturday the 16^th and 17^th. His patrol built a sled for the dogsled-type race that is the highlight of the campout. The sled was made of bent aluminum conduit, mounted on skis. About 380 scouts in about 40 patrols competed in the race offs, and Brian’s patrol was one of only four patrols to qualified for the finals. In the final race each team had to travel 75 yards to a pole, turn around the pole and return to the starting point. Brian’s patrol arrived at the pole first, and rounded it with the other patrol hot on their tails. They had a 20-30 yard lead, when a lead runner from a competing patrol accidentally stepped on our sled’s ski. The boy got was dragged to the ground, tangled in our sled, and dragged for about 20 feet, screaming. Our boys realized he was getting hurt and called an “all stop.” While untangling the boy, two teams passed Brian’s patrol, including the tangled boy’s patrol. After the race, Brian’s patrol had taken third place.

Brian’s patrol was disappointed about not taking first, but they stood tall, as a special commendation of scouting spirit was awarded to their patrol. Brother Schaefer, one of the Asst. Scoutmasters observed, “Our boys grew a foot today!”

Luke has begun saying a lot of words! He says “Amen” at the end of prayers, and he will point to what he wants and say “please.” At school they teach that there is play time and work time (study time). When it is study time, they say “Time to work” and Luke gives the teacher his toy and pays attention. Then they can get him to repeat words and do activities. At home we have begun using “Time to work” when we are trying to communicate with him. He responds well, and we are thrilled with his progress!

LaNae has been very involved at Luke’s autism preschool, Giant Steps. The Salt Lake Tribune did a series of articles on autism and they asked for permission to take pictures of him when they were at his preschool. Here is a picture of Luke we found at www.sltrib.com .

Giant Steps is a terrific preschool, with an ideal teacher-student ratio of 1:2. We are concerned, however, about kindergarten next year, as there are only two or three teachers in classes of 12 students in the autism kindergartens in the Alpine School District.

LaNae has been involved in lobbying Utah lawmakers during this session for more education funding for kids with autism. She is on the Giant Steps board, and was asked to go speak with one of our representatives (Kenneth Sumsion or Howard Stevenson) on Friday the 16^th. They have a 2-hour lunch break and she was able to talk with them during this time. Right now Utah has a huge budget surplus, and as autism has been in the media a lot, “…it’s best to strike while the iron is hot,” LaNae says.

After school on Friday Tim took Rick to Amber’s house, and he took Amy to Alyssa Prigmore’s birthday party. After the party Amy stayed for a movie night at Alyssa’s house. Tim went to the BYU library until it was time to pick them up.

Tim and Rick visited Wyatt and Lisa Bingham on Sunday the 18^th. Lisa’s father was visiting and we got to meet him. Lisa’s sister Karen was also there.

Monday the 19^th was Presidents’ Day, and the kids were out of school. Uncle Rick and Aunt Shauna’s family invited us to go see the movie, “Bridge to Terebithia.” LaNae took Brian, Todd, and Amy to the movie. Rick went to see Amber and Morgan in Orem and Tim stayed home with Luke.

The Rollins boys from across the street came over for a play date on the 21^st.

Luke had a field trip to the Bean Museum at BYU on Friday the 23^rd. It snowed hard that day. LaNae went with him. He didn’t like seeing the animals at all and we spend part of the time in the car trying to calm him down, but at the end, he did calm down and was fine during the presentation of the snake, lizards, and turtles that they gave downstairs in the auditorium.

Amy had a tea party for her stuffed animals.

Amy also made some jewelry out of paper.

Sunday the 25^th it snowed. Brian’s deacons quorum president and patrol leader came over and issued him a calling as the troop’s Chaplin’s Aide. Brian will be responsible for calling on someone to pray at scout activities, and he will need to prepare and share a spiritual thought at each campout.

Amy had several play dates with Abby McCandless and she got to hold Abby’s new baby sister, Sophie. Rick went to Tyler’s house in Cedar Hills several times. Todd played with his cousin John Stout almost every day and Brian and Megan hung out together a good part of February as well.

We did some pruning on the trees and bushes outside our house.

The last week of February was very busy for Tim, with finals to give at Waterford and two big papers for his doctorate classes due the same week.