Re-evaluation, Racing, Tim

Today was re-evaluation day. Every 6 months Richard has to re-evaluate at TKD. He is a trainee instructor, and he has to prove that he still knows his stuff . He does all of his past forms, from white belt up to his current one, 2nd degree level 2 black belt. He also has to demonstrate the one- and three- steps for each belt and escape skills.


Here he is doing one of the forms, Fire form (red belt), I think. You can't really see it, but his picture is on the wall behind him with the rest of the certified and trainee instructors. Lauren's picture is there too, she is a certified instructor.


Here he is sparring with another black belt that was testing for rank. He wasn't testing, he was part of the dog-pound, black belts that fill in during the sparring part of rank testing. The girl that he is sparring with is younger and smaller than he is, but she is one rank higher than he is.


Now he is relaxing at his favorite activity, racing! I don't thing it really matters to him if it is 64 scale race cars (like he is playing with here), watching racing on TV, playing Nascar on the xbox360, designing race cars and tracks, or just talking racing, he loves it all, and it all relaxes him.
Tomorrow we are taking mom up to Ruidoso to sprinkle wildflowers on Tim's grave. He is in a beautiful spot in Hondo Valley where deer and elk graze, and there is a little stream that goes right by his plot. His plot number by the way, is 77, which was his race car number. His son Eric surveyed the plot, and left brass surveyors markers. I am sure that he would approve.

Easter Gift...

On Easter mom and I were in the back yard, hanging out and talking about all of the things that Tim had wanted to do. I saw a bird feeder hanging underneath the patio, empty, and with the tags still on it. I asked mom why it was under the patio, and she said that she hadn't seen it before. She thought that I had bought it. We figured that it must have been from Tim. He did that, purchased things and then waited to see how long before someone noticed them. We checked with Richard and Dianna, and Alison, to be sure that they had not purchased it, but as we suspected they had not. I filled it with birdseed, and we hung it out where the birds can actually get at it. Mom was having kind of a hard day, so it was nice to have an Easter gift from Tim.

Happy Birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday Tim. We miss you very much.

Gay Lynn Maupin

We will miss you.

Multitasking

We have been hanging out at mom's house a lot. Richard is a lot like me, I cannot just sit and watch TV, I have to be doing something else too. Richard is making pit stalls on his race track and watching one of his favorite movies, Ghostrider.

He loves those braided rugs for race tracks, we have all different sizes and colors.

He uses the braided rugs for oval tracks, using the masking tape to mark off the pits, grandstands, etc. He uses a sharpie to make signs on the track and number the pit stalls. He will also use masking tape to make different configurations of tracks on the wood floor or on a square rug that my mom has in the front room. He LOVES racing!

Mom's Wedding

It has been a month since Tim died, and I realized that I have never posted any pictures of mom and his wedding. They got married on February 11, the day before Tim's surgery. They were married for 4 days. They were together for *years* before that though.

They were married in Tim's room by one of the doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center, he is also a minister. Mom said that they were going to go down to the chapel, but everyone there on the floor wanted to be a part of it! How sweet! She said that the room was full, as was the hallway outside, of both patients and employees. I should have gone. I feel bad, but we really thought everything was going to work out and I should save my sick leave to go help during his recovery.

The bouquet was a flower arrangement that someone had sent to Tim! They look good. Mom and Tim, not the flowers, though they are pretty too.

The man standing in the background behind mom is Tim's son Eric. The red-headed woman is T'Ann, she was a coordinator for the surgery and would have been involved throughout Tim's recovery. She was wonderful with mom. The doctor in the foreground is Tim's surgeon, Dr. Singhal.

This is the doctor that married them.
Tim had always told mom that he would marry her on a leap year, and guess what? It is a leap year! He is the one who insisted that they marry before the surgery. I think lots of people assume that it was for monetary reasons, so that she would be taken care of if something went wrong, but he had a will, and mom was already named in it, so that wasn't even an issue. He just wanted to do it. I think he wished that they had not put it off for so long.
We miss you Tim.

Spring

The peach tree is blooming! Yay!

Coccooning, Ice Cream, and Movies

Richard has been cocooning lately. It has been a hard few months, and I think his body and mind are resting. He has grown a lot lately, almost 5'7" at last measurement, his grandpa died a month ago, and yesterday a good family friend passed away. A lot to deal with for an adult, let alone a 12 year old.

It is almost 3pm, and he is still asleep. He has always been a late sleeper, we are a family of night owls, but he is definetely sleeping more lately. I will have to wake him soon, I hate doing that, but today is his "assist day" at TaeKwonDo. He is a trainee instructor and assists with 2 or 3 classes a week.


Last night we wanted comfort food, so we made ice cream. Richard has an ice cream ball, so we filled it with cream and vanilla and sugar and rolled it back and forth while watching the Simpsons.





It took almost a whole Simpsons episode of rolling the ice cream ball back and forth for the ice cream to be a good consistancy.



When it was ready, we watched South Park and ate yummy homemade icecream. Then we put in The Prestige, which I bought recently off of the $5 movie rack. It wasn't what I thought it was, I was thinking of the movie The Illusionist, which I loved. I liked The Prestige though, what I saw of it. I fell asleep. Richard watched the whole thing, and said it was good. Maybe I will try again tonight.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Lauren is 16 today. Hard to believe! Happy Birthday Lauren, we love you!

Stanley

Richard is dog sitting this weekend. His name is Stanley, and he looks a little like an Ewok! He has been at my house for the whole weekend, but now I am going to work, so Stanley came to my mom's house with Richard. He has been doing pretty good with Black Dog and her cats so far.

At our house the only cat we locked up was Ren, she is a little aggressive. The rest of the tribe has been doing pretty well with him. I have been trying to get some good pictures of Stanley all weekend, but he just moves too fast! Even when Richard holds him, he wiggles constantly!

Richard has been having a good time with him.

Morning Visitor

I put out lots of bird food, so there are always a lot of birds for my cats to drool over. I had a special visitor when I arrived home this morning though. I first saw him when I was walking in front of the house (in front of the window that is in the background). He was on the ground, I almost stepped on him. I thought he was hurt, but then he flew over to the finch sock. I was surprised at how close he let me get!

That is Stimpy in the window, bird-watching. Usually there are 3 or 4 kitties drooling over the birds, but this morning it was just Stimpy. The rest of the tribe must have been sleeping in.