"I'm holding steady at 30." -- Shantell Bertha Thaxton Berrett

About 2 scores ago Marilyn Beecher and Gerald Burt Thaxton became parents to a baby girl which they named Shantell Bertha Thaxton.

For as long as I remember, I have made my family breakfast in bed. Today was no exception to that rule. I made Shantell her favorite breakfast, which is spaghetti.

Who am i kidding, I made the spaghetti for me. I made her eggs, bacon, and OJ. She had to go into work today, so she was up before I got back from basketball. So it wasn't really breakfast in bed. It was more like breakfast at your desk.

Happy "30th and holding" birthday.

See Stewart Run. See Stewart Trip. See Stewart Falls

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
John 1:3

Today we decided to explore some things that were made by Him. We decided to explore Stewart Falls. We didn't start the hike at the Aspen Grove trail head. Instead we decided to ride the tram and then hike down to the falls. I took the kids on the same route to the falls in the Summer of 2005. Here are some sample pix from that hike.

The kids have asked each subsequent summer to hike to Stewart Fals again. Amanda was the most animate about it because she claims the water is the coldest and best water that she has ever tasted. This time Shantell was able to go as well as the Owens.

Shantell is afraid of heights, so the ride on chairlift wasn't a very relaxing ride for her.

It is a pretty and easy hike down to the falls.

The falls are pretty spectacular.

There was lots of time to explore the falls. Amanda loved the cool mist from the falls. A great time was had by all. You can see more of the pictures of the hike in the photo gallery.

The ride on the chairlift is about 45 minutes round trip. All the kids wanted to ride the chairlift around again. I don't think Shantell was to keen on that idea, so she suggested that explore some of the mountains made by Him in Park City. So we decided to explore the mountain that the Alpine Slide was built on. I know, I will probably burn in hell for this. So will someone please bring some marshmallows with them when the come?

Bre met the height requirement to drive the Alpine sled, so she wanted to drive one. I was a little bit hesitant on the idea. I didn't want her to go flying off the sled. While we were waiting in line for the chair lift, we saw at least three adults fall off their sleds while riding them. I eventually gave in to her pleas. BreBre is pretty fearless. I showed her how to make the sled go fast and slow. I went right behind her and thought for sure that I would run into the back of her sled, or see her mangled body on the side somewhere. I never ran into her nor did I see her body on the hill side. PHEW! She made it down it one piece.

It was a fun day.

Mary Margaret Knox Kiser

I received a call from my brother Rus on June 27th informing me that my maternal grandmother had a stroke. This was some very heart wrenching news. You see, my grandma has always been a go getter. She has always been involved in some community project or another. She turned 90 last September and showed no signs of slowing down.

My Grandma lives on a 23 acre ranch in Cedaredge Colorado. It is a very small town located at the base of the Grand Mesa National Forest. The town is so small that it only has one stoplight, and that stoplight was probably installed about 5 years ago. I spent at least two weeks at my grandparents ranch each summer when I was in elementary school. Looking back, the time I spent there is my most cherished childhood memory.

I went over to see my grandmother with my father, T-y, and Brielle this weekend. Grandma's stroke has really made her 90 year young body look old. The stroke pretty much paralyzed the right side of her body. Its a good thing that she is left handed. The other good thing is that she is very mentally sound. She was able to carry on a conversation with me and she recognized my kids and addressed them each by name.

Another thing that amazes me about my grandma is how well she is loved. She has had a constant stream of friends calling and visiting. She is an amazing lady. Here are some of the community awards that she has received over the past century: Salutatorian of High School, Peach Queen, Grand Marshall of Little Britches Parade, Honorary Golden Gleaner, Wankan Award - National award for Camp Fire leaders, Historical Society Appreciation Award, 5 year camp crafter, King Benjamin award (Institute of San Diego South State award), Lifetime member of PTA, Mary Kiser Day, Fire Fighter lookout named for her in Pioneer town, National delegate of Republic Women 4 or 5, nominated as Republican Women of the Year

While the ranch isn't the same as it was when I was a kid, it was still fun to explore it with the kids. Here are some pix of the kids and I exploring the ranch. You can see more pictures here.

My grandma has made some landscaping changes to the yard. One of those changes was that she built a fire pit. My mom, dad, the kids, and I roasted smores one of the evenings that we were there. Dad, Floyd Robert Berrett, didn't want to roast his marshmallows, so he just grabbed them and smooshed them between to grahams. I decided to give our smores a twist by spreading peanut butter on the grahams. It was delicious!!!

Thanks for being such an awesome Grandma. I love you!!

The Neon Chicks

What is there to say about the Neon Chicks? They are a group of 12 year old girls on there way to girls camp at MIA Shalom. This was Amanda's first year attending. Shantell went a couple of years ago and stated that a lot of the girls had cots to sleep on. Earlier this year I bought 4 Coleman cots off of Craigslist.org so that Amanda would have a good nights sleep. I know, I was pretty naive in thinking that a bunch of teenage girls would get a good nights sleep at camp. They probably stayed up half the night reading scriptures instead of sleeping.

Bling Bling Master

T-y and Bre went to the dentist this morning. T-y had 1 cavity and Bre had 5. The dentist put shiny silver caps on Brielle's offending teeth. She now has more bling in her mouth then I have in the bank!

The Big Strong Wall

It was Napa Family night, $1.00 tickets, at the Brent Brown Ballpark. Ben and Eli Wall accompanied T-y, Bre, the Owens, and me to the Orem Owlz baseball game tonight. It was great to hang out with Ben. Ben is a great guy. I haven't seen Eli since he was about 2. He is a fun kid. T-y hung out with him for a little bit with helped Eli from being bored. Its funny how fast kids grow up.

It was a good game to watch. Roberto Lopez caught a fly ball in left field and threw out the guy on third trying to get home. The runner lowered his shoulder and both he and the catcher went flying. The catcher held onto the ball, probably cause he used two hands. Right T-y? I should have taken a picture of it, but I was to busy watching the play. T-y really enjoys the games. Bre watched the game for about 10 minutes and spent the rest of the time playing at the playground and rolling down the hills.

It was Napa Family night again so the tickets were only $1.00. The next Napa Family night is August 13th.

Dyslexia and You

"Dyslexia is not a disease to have and to be cured of, but a way of thinking and learning. Often it's a gifted mind waiting to be found and taught."
--Girard Sagmiller
"Dyslexia My Life"

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On October 16, 2006, KCPW interviewed Dr. Kathleen Brown, director of the University of Utah Reading Clinic, says Utah is "a black hole" for dyslexics, because the state does not provide training for educators on how to spot the disability and effectively remediate it.
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Over the past year Shantell has been working as a Dyslexia Tutor. She has taken a variety of Dyslexia courses and studed a variety of different teaching styles. She became involved in this because T-y has some dyslexic characteristics. She has even opened up her own dyslexia tutoring business, The Reading Source, in Provo.

Over the past year Shantell has also been working as a trainer for Reading Horizons. Reading Horizons is a company that is developing and perfecting computer software based on the effective Discover Intensive Phonics for Yourself method first published in 1976. (This is the same program that is used in the University of Utah Reading Clinic.) She has since been offered a full time job working for them. She is in charge of their online product "Reading Horizons at Home". Click on the "Reading Horizons at Home" link and you will be able to see a video of Shantell.

You can read more about the challenges of Dyslexia from The Reading Source website.

Click here to find out why English is such a hard language to learn.

If you know of anyone that is struggling with reading, then have them contact Shantell. Shantell's contact information is listed on The Reading Source website.

When Pigs Fly

I was working in the yard this morning when I heard some kids yelling. I couldn't see any kids around. I kept hearing them yell at me and they finally said look up, so I looked up. There were a couple of kids yelling at me as they flew over my house in a hot air balloon. Maybe I will have to look into taking my kids for a ride in a hot air balloon.

Who is John Hart?

He was one of the five five New Jersey delegates that signed the Declaration of Independence. T-y was asking about who signed the Declaration of Independence and I remembered that my Mom had told me that we were related to someone that signed it. I gave her a call and she informed me that it was John Hart. T-y thought it was pretty cool to have a relative that signed it. Thank you John for looking out yesteryear for the freedom that I have today.

Take me Out to the Ball Game

T-y picked up an Orem Owlz baseball schedule a couple of weeks ago. I was looking at the promotional games and noticed that today was NAPA Family Feast night at the ball field. This means that tickets to the game are $1.00 as well as $1 hotdogs, $1 drinks, and $1 popcorn. I asked T-y if he wanted to go and he excitedly answered yes. He wanted to bring his shadow, Reese, so we asked the Owens to go with us. (Shantell, Amanda, and Brielle aren't home this week. They are up in Idaho until Friday.)

The game was a blast. T-y sat and watched every inning. He didn't even get up to go run around with Reese and Avery. During the game the announcer requested that the fans email song requests that they could play between innings. A pair of tickets would be given to the song requester if their requested song was played. Jonny was sending in a bunch of different requests so T-y told him to request "Thriller". None of Jonny's requests were played. However, they did play "Thriller". T-y was pretty excited that he won a pair of tickets.

The Orem Owlz have a bunch of different $1.00 ticket game promos running this season. You can check out their different promotions on their website. The next $1.00 promo night is July 9th. T-y and I will definitely be at that game.

:: Posted by brb
:: Filed under /daily_journal

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Tue, 01 Jul 2008

What a Game!

T-y played in the City Tournament Championship game today. They played 6 innings. Which meant that T-y got up to bat three times. He struck out twice and walked once. I filmed the walk. You can check out the video here. Also, make sure you click on "More Info" to read why he got a walk.

He played a pretty good game. He had one error on third that caused a run to score. I think he was a bit nervous because that was the first hit that he has fielded while playing in the infield. They were beating the Tigers the entire game, until the bottom of the sixth inning. The Mets were leading the Tigers 10-9 going into the last inning. The Tigers rallied and scored the needed 2 runs to obtain the victory. T-y and his team were a bit disappointed to lose the game in such a manner. They took solace in the fact that the 2nd place trophies looked a lot better then the 1st place trophies. The 2nd place finish earned the team a berth in the State Tournament that will be held July 15-17th.

:: Posted by brb
:: Filed under /tyler

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