By the Numbers

We recently hosted a very fun Sagers family reunion/get together/BBQ/outdoor party/whatever-you-want-to-call-it for Dave's immediate family at our house. Unfortunately, not everyone could attend, so we're already looking forward to next year! However, all six of the brothers were able to make it for a very happy reunion, indeed. Here is the lowdown:

39 people attending
17 years since all six Sagers siblings have been together at one time
6 Sagers brothers
0 Sagers sisters
26 children between all six of the brothers and their wives
9 1/2 grandchildren between the six brothers and wives (ours is the one-half!)
1100 miles (approximately) traveled one way by brother living furthest away (Texas)
57 years of marriage for Grandma Pauline and Grandpa Richard
1 giant PLINKO board
95 PLINKO prizes
100 glow-in-the-dark bracelets shot out of the candy cannon
75 mph winds (or so it seemed) blowing us around
3 cups of water blown onto Grandma Pauline's lap
1 awesome slide show by Grandpa Richard of the six brothers from infants to marriage

Below is a picture of a stuffed dummy Sean and Christian made for the water balloon slingshot competition. A couple of days after our party we had more extreme winds, and I looked out my back window to see the dummy had lost his pants in the wind! How embarrassing for him! Dear neighbors: If anyone happens across a pair of stuffed pants, you can drop them off on our porch. I'm sure whoever finds the pants is probably thinking, "I don't even want to know what THAT is all about! I just don't even want to know. Here. Just take the pants," as they gingerly hold them between two fingers . . .

The Cookie Posse

It seems that I have my own cookie posse these days. Some of my little friends like to come over to my house and make cookies with me just for fun. They are so eager and enthusiastic, how can I say no when they ask? Actually, I love it. I'm thinking that while we're at it, we'll turn these little impromptu get togethers into a way to spread some cheer around the neighborhood by sharing our deliciousness with those who might need a lift. Here we are during our latest foray into the kitchen. We are attempting to make some double chocolate brownie squares. As is almost always the case, and certainly this time, the raw dough was much better than what eventually came out of the oven! (We'll have to work on that a bit.)

A Room With a View

The band room in our home has to be one of my favorite rooms in the entire house. I love it so much because two of my favorite people hang out there. A lot. And musical genius wafts out of that room. A lot. And I absolutely adore the fact that I can sit back and hear the creativity of Sean and Christian as they play in that room. A lot. With two bands taking turns with that room, our home is constantly filled with wonderfulness. And I love it.

I Turn My Back For Only a Few Years . . .

An interesting shift in the part of the universe called Utah County occurred since I last resided here. When I first noticed this very annoying oddity, it was via some preteen girls who were in our car pool. Initially, I was caught off guard and poked my fingers in my ears to make sure my auditory canals were not stuffed up with wax possibly causing me to hear craziness. But then I heard it again. And again. Even by adults. Even by educated adults. Two days ago a news anchor on the local television network let it loose. My eyes shot open wide and I said, "Wha . . .? Excuse me? Did I just hear that? I didn't just hear that, did I?" People: please, for the love of pete, stop pronouncing the "g" at the end of an "ing" word as "guh," as in, "Buffy, I totally love hanging-guh out at the Maverick Gas Station because the guys there are soooo hot and their trucks are so jacked up and amazing-guh!"

Thanks. I will forever be in your debt.

We Have a Winner!

BYU 41
UNI 17

Yeah! The Cougars won their season opener! I guess you could say they played a rather sloppy game. But who cares? (Well, apparently Bronco. But he can deal. That's why he gets paid 1 million a year, right?) Anyway, CHRISTIAN is this week's winner in our "Guess the Score" contest with a guess of 42 to 18 for BYU. He almost nailed it exactly. Congratulations Christian! May you and your personal tub of ice cream live happily ever after! Because you deserve it! And we're happy for you!

Readers: Feel free to join in next week's contest. The lucky winner gets their very own stash of Dreyers BYU Cougar Craze Ice Cream. Yum! Fine print: Contest sponsor is not responsible for any winner experiencing brain freeze, weight gain, sugar high or the personality disorder commonly referred to as "gloating." Eat winnings at your own risk. Please eat and drive responsibly.

Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!!!

IT'S A BOY!

Ashley and Jordan found out yesterday that they are having a baby boy! The pictures from the ultra-sound are pretty definitive if you know what I mean; Baby was pretty cooperative during the procedure so it's pretty certain. We are so filled with excitement and wonder and awe at the miracle that is taking place right before our eyes. Just take a look at what I'm talking about:
The proud parents are considering the name, Kimball Jordan. Pretty darn cute if you ask me. Of course, they could change their minds like we did with Ashley--THREE WEEKS AFTER SHE WAS BORN! Her baby book still bears the original name. You know what they say, it is a woman's prerogative to change her mind. And man, did I use the prerogative, much to the shock of many who were present at Ashley's baby blessing. Gasp! Whoa! Whisper, whisper, "He gave her the wrong name!" But I'm glad that I changed my mind because Ashley is definitely an Ashley to me. And I love her. So much. Congratulations Ashley and Jordan! I can't wait!

When Life Gives you Lemons . . .

When life gave us this enormous zucchini from our very own prolific garden--not!, I decided to take a chunk of it and turn it into some lovely chocolate zucchini muffins. This zucchini was actually one of two (2) items we harvested this entire season-woohoo! Talk about expensive produce.

As a gift to the farm hands out there who are bound to have better luck with your zucchini harvest than we did (not too hard to do, I know, I know), I'll give you the recipe. Now you won't have to skulk around in the dead of night leaving your zucchini on your neighbors' doorsteps with the hopes that your produce is going to a good home.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread/Muffins

2 c. sugar

1 c. oil

3 eggs

2 c. grated zucchini

1 t. nutmeg

2 t. cinnamon

2 heaping T. cocoa

3 t. vanilla

3 1/2 c. flour

1/4 t. baking powder

1 t. soda

1 t. salt

1/2 c. nuts (optional)

Mix first four ingredients together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Add seasonings. Stir in flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Mix just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin tins or loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes for muffins and 50-60 minutes for the bread, depending on the size of your loaf pan. Tops should spring back when touched.

Here is a picture of our garden today. Obviously, somebody (I'm not naming names) had had it with the weeds, er, I mean the garden and he gave it a dignified burial.

Naperville Friends

Betty Ann, Me, Ann, Kaaren

(Note my kicky little accessory to my outfit

of a big white bandage over my surgery incision.)

A couple of weeks ago, our family had the great fun of meeting up at Thankgiving Point with three dear friends from our Naperville days. It was a blast to catch up on the news of everyone from our old stomping grounds; much has changed! It is interesting to note that of the four of us in the picture, only Kaaren still lives in Naperville. Three out of four of us moving on is a pretty good representation of that community. When we first moved there, we were told that the area was very transient because it employed a lot of folks in the high-tech industry which tends to move people around a bunch. So true. Wouldn't you just know it then, that for us, for me, who so desperately wanted to move back to Utah after paying our dues in Chicago for only a few short years (dream on), we would end up staying there for SIXTEEN!

Naperville was actually a lovely place to raise our kids. They learned a lot about diversity, tolerance, respect for differences, appreciation for art, culture, refinement. They experienced a world of many viewpoints and opinions. We are so grateful for the exposure to and knowledge of the big wide world outside of Utah County's particular little corner of the universe. No offense intended, but sometimes I think we really do live in a Mr. Bubble here. Nevertheless, I graciously admit that for a boatload of reasons I am happy to be back!

Heaven Knows I'm Far From Perfect . . .

. . . but,

Dear John Edwards:
You should be ashamed of yourself.

See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26095810?GT1=43001

Och, Laddies!

To kill some time waiting for the Highland City parade to begin this morning, we watched the Highland Games athletic competition for a bit. Specifically, we saw the hammer throw and the stone put. Haarrrggghhh! Hefty things, those. We were amused by the fact that these guys were pretty much a dichotomy: They were heavily tattooed and muscular and burly in their sleeveless t-shirts and sunglasses, but let your eye wander further down and you see a beautiful tartan plaid kilt worn with darling knee high socks with a patch of the tartan plaid tucked carefully under the fold of the sock at the knee. Very cute. One of the guys must have been from the Levi Strauss Clan because his kilt was made out of solid denim. Not quite the same. Sorry. (That's when you wander perilously close to the cross-dressing territory.)

Yellow After the Rain

Check out Christian performing his awesome marimba solo! Sorry about the poor camera work (that would be my fault), and please disregard the peripheral noise--the school band was setting up on stage and it was making kind of a racket. When Christian performed this for the adjudicators a few weeks prior, he received a superior rating! This performance was more of a spur of the moment decision by his band director, and Christian hadn't touched his mallets for a couple of weeks. He is such a stud. We'll have to start calling him Mr. Mallet, which is a much better option than calling him, say, Mr. Mullet . . . .

Rock the Amp II

Last week, His Boy Elroy played at Rock the Amp II, not to be confused with Rock the Amp (the original). Click here to read about the genesis of last year's terrific charity event. So it seems that a local band totally ripped off, er "borrowed" the whole concept of Rock the Amp from His Boy Elroy and decided to repeat the concert this year with nary a "please" for HBE's permission to use the logo, the name, the concept. And they were kind?? enough to ask HBE to play at Rock the Amp II. Of course, the answer was yes since all of the proceeds from the concert will go to the sweet children of the Boys and Girls Club of Utah. Sometimes you just have to smile and bite your tongue in order to help in the better cause. And that's really okay. Good job, boys!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Just to update you on my recovery, I'm doing dandy! Much better than I expected I would at this point. And I'm buying into the theory that laughter and a positive attitude play a ginormous role in one's physical health/recovery.

The positive attitude portion of that equation stems from my belief that I was truly blessed to not have had the stuffing knocked out of my thick skull by that big old boulder that crunched only my collar bone instead. The accident could have been so much worse! I'm feeling really, really lucky, blessed, watched over, etc., etc.

The laughter part of the equation began the minute I stepped foot into our house when I returned home after my surgery at 11:30 p.m. I guess my kids decided to be proactive in getting me in the groove of hilarity and fun. Allow me to set the stage. When I came in still a little groggy from the anesthesia, Mariachi-type music was blaring on the stereo, this awesome and huge blue sign was hung up, and Christian came into the room right on cue with a swagger and a Clint Eastwood attitude of, "I'm good, I'm bad, but I ain't ugly." So random. So unexpected. And so funny. Yep. I'm in good hands, people.













!Si, Senor Chrisitan!

?Que pasa, dude?

Veni, Vidi, Vici!

They came, they played, they conquered! The American Fork Steel Days Battle of the Bands declared The Jay Wride Eclectic Show (just one of the bands that Sean aka Mr. Music is a member of) the winner of the battle! The band received $250 (yeah! finally a gig that pays!) and the awesome opportunity to play at "The Big Show" the following night on an enormous stage with a fabulous sound system. The band played brilliantly there as well, especially the bass player. That bass player is an awesome musical genius! Keep your eye on that one because you'll be hearing big things from that guy!

Hey, At Least It Rhymes . . .

I received these lovely get-well flowers from some very nice folks. Obviously the florist receiving the order must have something of a serious wax blockage problem in her ear. At least she got the first letter of my first name right. Give that woman two points! And the flowers were truly lovely. So I'm not here to complain. Surprisingly, the card doesn't go down the road that approximately 65% of the mail addressed to me travels, to wit: Mr. Deon Sagers. Ahhh. You Tiffanys and Brittanys and Stephanies have life so easy.

Yes, I'm Easily Amused

So I finally learned of the HI-larious videos on Youtube generating an insane amount of traffic and a boatload of free publicity (brilliant marketing, BTW) for a company called Blendtec. The "Will It Blend?" videos have apparently been around for a couple of years (where have I been?), but I only recently read in the newspaper about their latest video in which they blend the new iPhone 3G in a blender. Gasp! Gobs of techies are pulling out their hair over that one. Of course, after reading about the video, I just had to check it out. If you haven't already done so, you must too. Pretty darn funny. Funnier (more funny?) still if you watch a bunch of the other videos as well, showing the spiffy Blendtec blender whirring up Chuck Norris, pork 'n beans still in the can, glow sticks, Cheez Whiz, marbles, magnets, golf balls. And I'm assuming these guys get paid real American dollars to act like adolescent boys having their way with their mothers' small appliances. It is rather tempting though. Let's see. Hmmm. I wonder what would happen if I blended our neighbor's chihu . . . no! no! NO! Anyway, click here for a bit of mindless entertainment. Oh yeah, remember, "Don't try this at home!"

Kumbaya My Lord, Kumbaya

During that fateful Fourth of July outing to Sundance (see previous post), something just tickled my funny bone, and I made a fool of myself in order to snap a picture of it. A middle-aged foursome was riding the lift down the mountain (good idea!!!), while proudly singing the national anthem for all to hear, complete with accoustic guitar accompaniment. I'd bet my bottom dollar that at least one of those women was wearing Birkenstocks while munching on organic granola with chai seeds, and if the gentleman was able, he would have grown his graying hair into a little pony tail down his back. I kept looking around for Joan Baez or Bob Dylan to pop out at any moment asking us to all hold hands in a circle and sway in the wind right there on that ol' mountain top. It was a Euell Gibbons moment to be sure.

Fourth of July Fireworks

Did you see any Fourth of July fireworks that looked anything like this? I did too, except my Fourth of July fireworks went off inside of my noggin as I took a horrible fall while hiking up at Sundance during the afternoon of the Fourth and ended up in surgery. Ow.

The day started off on a lovely note as we drove down to Provo and watched Christian march in the parade with his totally awesome American Fork Marching Band.

We then decided to meet up at Sundance with Ashley, Jordan and Ashley's friend Christine who was visiting from Colorado. Riding the ski lift up the mountain was so much fun, and the views were gorgeous. The plan was for the kids to hike over to Stewart Falls and then down the mountain while Dave and I made the return trip via the ski lift so we could hurry home to get a jump start on the big dinner we had planned for everyone. As it turns out, the mountain air was so enticing that Dave and I decided to do the hike along with the kids.

That's when it happened. The trail was very overgrown with bushes and roots and was fairly steep and slippery in places. I managed to catch one of my feet in a tangle of roots, and as I put my other foot out to catch myself, that foot too got caught in the roots so my body just fell straight forward like a tree being chopped down in the forest. Without my hands out to catch myself my head hit the ground first (fireworks!!!), and then my shoulder hit a big pointy rock (mega fireworks!!!). Ow, ow, ow. I couldn't move for many minutes. I remember Sean saying that I should get up because caterpillars were getting all over me. Yuck. I still couldn't get up. When I finally managed to sit up I was instantly nauseous. My hand reached up to my shoulder area, and I felt a very sharp pokey thing nearly jutting out of my skin, something akin to a pencil poking through a Kleenex. Oh my. I knew I was in big trouble then. While I was trying very hard not to be sick, everyone kept saying that I really needed to get down the mountain. It was at least a mile down. What to do? Christian sacrificed his shirt for a make-shift sling, and we crept down that mountain as carefully as could be. I kept thinking that I was going to have to go to the hospital for sure. I was guessing that bones poking out of the skin won't just go away on their own. Darn. I was right.

In the emergency room, the doctor told me that on a scale of one to ten, my clavical break was a ten and that a specialist was being called in. Tears. Fear. Dread. Surgery was highly recommended. SURGERY! I was not expecting that. At all. More tears. I got a second opinion from a highly respected surgeon who lives in my neighborhood. He too most definitely recommended surgery. Without it I would run the risk of that bone poking through even more, loss of movement, diminished range of motion, infection, pain, pain, pain. After that reassurance, I was up for the surgery the next day. (Well, sorta. Still not without a lot of resistance on my part).

To cut to the chase, the surgery to put in a nifty plate and a bunch of screws went without a hitch. I am now on day five and am virtually pain free except for the residual bruising and sprains on my ribs, shoulder and neck. I can even type. See? And I feel so blessed. So very blessed. What if my head had hit that rock instead of my shoulder? I can't even think about that possibility. I thank my Heavenly Father for my life and my health. And my family who has been so concerned and kind. And for my friends and neighbors who have overwhelmed me with treats, dinners, flowers, good wishes, offers to help. I am so very blessed. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for watching over me and for surrounding me with people who have prayed for me, cared for me, loved me. I feel very indebted, and did I say very blessed? That I am.

(Here's just a small sampling of the many, many good wishes that have been sent my way . . .)

Thank you everyone!