The Many Faces of Whit

I just wanted to post today and show everyone my hot, hairy hubby. He grew a full beard for a couple weeks and then shaped it into multiple 'staches (for my benefit of course).

He started out growing one for the 24th of July breakfast. The elder's quorum presidency was in charge of it. When he started, the other guys wanted to join in, so I put in a coule pictures of their 'stache attempts :)

On the 24th, he wore his pearly snap cowboy shirt and under it he wore a shirt with this message: Guns don't kill people. People with mustaches kill people.

Well, he wasn't arrested, but he was definitely responsible for quite a few people who died laughing.

Today I finished writing the first draft of my third book at 7:52 am!

Fast Food, Slow thinkers

It took me over an hour yesterday to drive home from 5300 South and the hospital where I volunteer on Wednesdays. It was a hot, hot day yesterday and my air conditioner wasn't working. My windows -all of them - were down to let the warm air at least be moving and keep the inside of my car breezy.

I know I am mostly cold, but I can get hot, too. It's actually kind of dangerous because I can't sweat (at least not to cool me down) and I can overheat easily. I was trying to avoid that and kept hunkering down into the shadows by the door handle so I could get out of the sun.

It didn't really work and by the time I got onto 89 to go into Ogden, I was so, so hot. Hot and tired (you know that kind of super tired you get when you're way hot?). Anyway, I called Whit and told him I was picking up fast food for dinner because I'd be too tired to make anything.

Actually I'm kind of lying. I'd been planning on getting hamburgers from Carl's Jr anyway. I LOVE them so much. I can't help it, they're delicious. I especially love the Bourbon burger. Mmmm. So I was pretty excited and hungry. I had a coupon for a 2 for 1 Teriyaki burger and my mouth was already watering.

I pulled into a little strip mall area where there are a few restaurants and shops and things. Carl's Jr is there and it's really convenient because it's like 2 minutes from our house.

But I was disappointed that there was a long line. Two cars, then me, all waiting to order through the box. I was frustrated because I was hot and the sun was beating inside my car. I kept hiding in the shadows to at least get a little relief. It didn't really work and I was getting hotter. I started fanning myself with my Teriyaki Burger coupon.

The two cars were taking freaking forever. I was like come ON. Order already. By the time my turn came I was a little hurried and asked what their specials were. 99 cent crisp burritos. Carl's Jr also has like a small Green Burrito-type menu, I guess for competition purposes. That wasn't what I wanted, though.

So I told the guy I wanted two Teriyaki Burgers and I had a coupon.

"What?" came the static-y guy on the other end.

I said it louder: "Two Teriyaki Burgers and I have a coupon."

"Sorry. What is your order?"

"Teriyaki Burgers. The Teriyaki Burgers!" I yelled.

"What?"

Ugh! Come on! "Two TERIYAKI BURGERS and I have a COUPON!" I practically screamed. Geez.

"Um...This is Taco Maker."

Finally complete!

The duplex is done! We finally finished all that work – and by “we,” I mean “Whit.”

That duplex was a monster – it’s only 2-bedroom, 1-bath, but it seemed to need everything! For the entire month of June (and the last part of May) he worked straight through his lunch hours and clear until 10 o’clock every night. He watched no TV the whole month. He always eats fast, but he ate particularly fast so he could hurry over and keep working.

Here is his list:
Rebuilt the hallway floor because it was soggy wood. Then he tiled it.
New back door. Paint it.
New tracks for both bedroom closets and hall closets.
New light fixture in Master
Repaint entire place. Patch holes (many, many holes to patch. The guy who lived there before punched holes everywhere, plus they had posters covering every square inch!)
Paint kitchen cupboards
Re-do all baseboards
new stove
New kitchen sink plumbing stuff (he worked upside down for hours!)
New plumbing for toilet, bathroom sink
New bathroom fixtures
New flooring throughout – bathroom and hall were tiled, carpets in bedrooms and front room were pulled and hardwood underneath was refinished.

Geez. That doesn’t quite seem like a very long list…I’m sure I forgot something. He worked so hard. I am so lucky to have such a hard-worker! Let us know how you like it!

He did awesome and escaped injury...almost entirely! The very last day, in the very last hours, he cut his left thumb with a razor blade and his right thumb on a light fixture. They're both really, really bad! Poor Whit!

MWU Float

We did a float in the Kaysville 4th of July parade! It was pretty fun. The parade theme was “Proud to be an American” and we wanted to do something catchy with that song, so we made banners that read: Proud to be an America, where there’s just a-bil-i-ty!

All three titleholders rode with 362 kids. It was fun.

Our Growing Garden Part I

Our Growing Garden Part II

We've had garden success! It's been fun watching the plants grow. So far we've eaten parsley, chives, spinach, arugula, broccoli, and even strawberries!

We picked some broccoli, but I didn't cook it in time and it flowered!

Even our flowers are growing! We have mini pansies (I heard someone call them Johnny Jump-ups) that are right outside my door and it makes me happy to see them every morning when I see Whit off to work.

And our huge geraniums that JMom gave us are blossoming so big - I love it!

A Hendleday...

My mom called me the other day and told me how excited she was because she found a xylophone at a yard sale.

"Why did you buy a xylophone," I asked. None of us play the xylophone.

"To go with the lute!" she said.

"When did you get a lute? Why do you even have a lute?" I asked.

"Because you need more than a hand drum," she said.

"What? Why do you have all these instruments?" I asked.

"Well, I've been getting them when I see them so we can all play them when we're together on our Sundays! I have a drum, a lute, a xylophone, one, no two sets of maracas, a couple tambourines, a zither, and a train whistle!"

"What?!"

"Yeah! I'm so excited! I know it will be so much fun. Your dad thinks I'm crazy."

"Everyone thinks you're crazy."

But there are two things I love most about my family: 1. whatever happened, they're on my side, and 2. days like this:

Unofficial Best Aunt of the Year Award

I got this letter in the mail from Ellie (Whit's sister, Brook's, oldest daughter):

It says:

Dear Aunt Meg,

You are my hero. Really, honest! I don't think if I had that accident I would be able to wake up every day with a smile on my face. And I wouldn't be able to draw as good as you. And I would not be brave enough to bring Ms. Wheelchair to Utah. I think if there was an aunt of the year award you would win it. You are the best aunt I could ever have

YOU ROCK!!

Love,

Ellie

When I read it, my heart went bling :)

Duplex - a work in progress

The duplex is coming along really well. Whit has had a lot of help from our families to do the work - and there is so, so much work. Everyone has come to help - Tom, Hendlemom and Hendledad, John, Tawnee, and even Ian (he painted the doors!). Jared came for a few hours and did some major sanding on the wood floors; I'll post some pictures in a day or so when I show you all just how gorgous it is. Whit still has some small stuff to do like fix all the sinks (they leak), paint base boards, put the light switch covers back on, etc. It looks so gorgeous that the first potential rennters from the KSL ad took it and will move in sometime during July. We are so grateful for everyone!

Here are some working pictures for you! Kaila helped a lot with painting. Whit got a paint gun from Paige and couldn't quite figure it out at first...

see it squirt?

it was squirt, paint, squiet, paint...

good thing the carpets are coming out!

Kaila kept going back to our house to research the gun online. They figured it out :)

So, it didn't really save a lot of time. But Whit had fun using it.

Lots of fun!!

Haircut

Before:
During:
After:

Head wars

I had this pounding feeling like I should visit my neighbor from across the street. Her husband had left her and I am her visiting teacher, even though she's inactive. It went on for a couple days and I never acted on it. (In my defense, it's not like I can go knock on her door, I have to just sit at the bottom of her stairs and throw rocks until someone hears me - or I just wait until I see her outside already...which is rare). Anyway, an easy opportunity never came and late Friday night I baked some cookies to take to her Saturday morning (why do we always need a reason to visit?) Anyway, Saturday morning I was getting ready to take her the cookies and Whit was putting on his grubby work clothes because he had to go help someone move (since he's been in the Elder's Quorum presidency, he's had to do a bunch of stuff for the members of the ward). He called the president to find out the address of where to go and guess what - it was my neighbor across the street. She was moving away and I didn't even know. Sigh. I'm the worst visiting teacher ever.

Too bad that backwards isn't an option.

I decided then that whenever I get a nagging feeling like that, I'm going to act (whatever it is). Since then, I've done some weird things, but it's always turned out sucessful - and not just for others, but for me.

Like, I was driving through my neighborhood and I saw a nice looking black lady lady on a motorized scooter and a feeling came that I needed to stop and ask her to be in the Ms. Wheelchair Utah pageant. I was like, no way! And I sped up my car to drive faster. First of all, it's awkward in anycase to invite someone to be in the pageant, every time I'd done that, they get offended (not joking), so I only do it through referrals now. Second, she was in a scooter, not a wheelchair. Scooters have a bad rep in the real wheelchair world, they're reserved for older people (which is good, they sometimes need that kind of help) and fat or lazy people (am I letting too much of my awful self show thru this post?). But as I sped away, I remembered that I'd PROMISED myself I'd act on those feelings. So I rolled my eyes and turned my car around to go ask her (really though, what was I going to say? "Hey, I can see you're not walking. I can't wak either. We have tons in common. Let's be friends.")

I'm so sure.

But I did and said something not unlike what's above. But it was weird - she was so excited about the pageant and said she would definitely do it (that was a first for me). Even more though, she was excited that I'd stopped to talk to her. She asked about my car. She was really nice. When I was ready to leave she grabbed my hand and said in a very born-again Christian way that she was sure God had sent me.

I like it when stuff works out :)

Handsome Hubby

Whit and I eat lunch together every day, but we picnic it on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I'm already at the college taking a class. It's a nice change and the weather has been really warm, so I love it. We ate together yesterday a little ways from a small group of girls from my class. We finished all at the same time and Whit went back to work and I went back to class with all these girls. In the elevator, one girl asked if that guy I was eating with is my husband. When I said that he is, she was like, "dang- he's cute!" and all the other girls agreed.

They are so right!

Hmph.

For the second time in as many months, someone has asked me if another ADULT was my offspring. This was pretty funny the first time - Ha Ha, the lady probably didn't even look at me - but the second time the person who asked me is a lady I see on a weekly basis! I met this kid (well, if 20 is a kid) when he helped me take groceries to my car from the store. He is new to Utah and wanted something to do so I invited him to volunteer at the hospital the next day. He met me there and a nurse (who I KNOW) asked me if this 20-year-old kid was my son.

Did I mention he is 20?

This is only kind of funny the second time. Do I look maternal? Whit says that instead of waiting, I should just introduce whoever I'm with as my child, that way they will say something like "oh honey, you look way too young to have a child that old," and I can start piecing together my shattered confidence through their compliments. Yes. I think I will. I will now refer to Whit as my son. Go ahead, tell me no one will believe me - that's exactly what I want to hear.

Summer Projects

One thing I love most about Whit is that he's a doer. If he has a good idea, he acts on it immediately. And it never matters if he even knows how to do whatever it is.

Instead of wasting time at the car shop, Whit fixes both our cars. He's never been trained in car-fixing, so he researches online and in the car manuals how to fix stuff - and they both work great! Instead of calling a plumber to fix the chaotic mess of a sprinkler system we had, Whit spent hours researching, building, and rebuilding the entire sprinkler system. Now it’s on timers and will go off in the middle of the night. Yay!

One major summer project Whit has accomplished is building us a garden. He researched square foot gardening and built one up high so I can reach it. He wanted to make sure it was secure, so instead of just four legs, he built it with nine.

Heh heh heh

Square foot gardening is the idea that you can grow 16 squre feet of garden and have it be super productive. It’s basically the soil that makes it so good– vermiculite, manure, and top soil. It never touches the rest of the ground, so weeds aren’t a big issue.

We planted –
basil
tall onions
garlic (we’re both not sure why)
lettuce
spinach
beets
carrots
flowers
brussel sprouts
parsley
broccoli
tall onions 9yes, again – we really like these)
arugula
flowers (they’re good for attracting bees)
cucumbers – we’ll plant these when it gets warmer
potatoes (we’ll plant these when our little potato pieces sprout eyes…they’re currently on our kitchen table)

We also have a longer garden bed running by our carport where we put JMom’s old orange wheelbarrow and planted strawberries. My dad came and planted yellow squash and acorn squash there also (we love squash). We also have big pots and we planted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, peas, and lima beans fresh ones taste so, so good, not anything like canned ones).
So, my wonderful husband has been pretty busy with his summer projects…and it’s only May!!!

Inner-City

Greetings from the inner-city, I have news...or maybe I should say "holla! Let me give yous the skinny on what's going down in our 'hood!" Apparently we live in an inner-city ward. We heard a new couple missionary say that about us and we laughed, then we heard it from the Stake President. Huh. I always imagined I'd feel unsafe if I lived somewhere where we had to have bars on our windows...oh wait...we DON'T have bars on our windows!

Whit just got a new calling to 'seek out the poor' in our inner-city ward. He was called as the second counselor in the Elder's quorum presidency. We're both pretty excited, he'll be pushing the home teaching, apparently that's a huge deal with our for us ruffians. President Monson said we're supposed to 'seek out the poor', so that's Whit's new church job.

He's pretty excited because his new best friend is the president. They both play basketball and carried their ward team pretty far. They work really well together and it seems like it's going to be fun and productive.

...or maybe I should say, "they's homies who know how ta make stuff happen."

Faith

This is 'Faith' This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which had to be amputated. He of course could not walk when he was born.

Even his mother didn't want him. His first owner also didn't think that he could survive. Therefore, he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'. By this time, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him. She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself. Therefore she named him 'Faith'.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let him feel the movements. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and rewarded for him for standing up and jumping around. The other dog at home also helped to encourage him to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward.

After further training in the snow, he now can walk like a human being.

Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he attracts all kinds of people. He is now becoming famous on the international scene. He has appeared in various newspapers and on TV shows. There is even one book entitled 'With A Little Faith' being published about him. He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies. His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'. In life there are always undesirable things. Perhaps we can feel better about ourselves if we realize just how good we have it. I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone can appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day that follows. Faith is the continual demonstration of the Strength of Life.