No Peeks at the Mynhiers!

Aruba, Jamaica, Ooo I wanna take you to...

2008-09-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, the title is taken from the Beach Boys song Kokomo. I picked this title because this silly song was in my head all the way to Jamaica. We had a wonderful weekend getaway with perfect timing in regards to Hurricane Ike. In the Mynhier household we take evacuating seriously. We won the trip through work and had the opportunity to spend time with the other top producers in our Region. There was a golf tournament on Friday, which Matt's team won, so we got some good prizes. The spa was spectacular and the lazy river at the resort was even better. I've had this saved as a draft for so long that I don't even remember what else I was going to say. Anyway...enjoy the slideshow!

Another chapter, another blog

2008-06-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

I have started a new blog dedicated to my practice of Bikram Yoga. Here is the link:

http://loveyourcamel.blogspot.com/

I will still be posting all my personal stuff on this blog, so that means you'll have double the Terra to read about it.

Have a great weekend!

Volume Problem

2008-05-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the song so you can't hear the video. I can't figure out how to edit the slide show, so here's what you have to do...

The music is coming from the bentwater idol blog. There is a mute button on the bottom left hand corner so just push it then you can watch the video.

I'm really sorry for the trouble!!!

I love my family!!!

2008-05-10T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hello wonderful family!!!

First of all, thanks to all of you for your prayers and support and visits (those of you in Texas ;) and help that you've given me. There is no way that Matt and I could've have managed this without you.

Peeks... I haven't talked to any of you but I have heard your voice several times in my hospital room calling to check in on me and I appreciate it.

Sharps... I hope you had a wonderful vacation and that your birdhouse got you your hotel stay.Shan...I know you were at the hospital a whole lot more than I saw you so thanks again for taking time out of your life to be there.

Youngest Youngs....(Robyn's clan) Thanks for coming to visit with Landry, I know it was rough on you. Thanks too for the flowers and keeping up with the Morgans for me through this.

Eldest Youngs... I know that you have done even more than I know about (which is tons) through all of this so thank you again. I know it is difficult for the two of you to be apart and that you both gave up a whole lot for me through this so thank you from the bottom of my heart. You both know exactly what to do when someone's sick...when to help, when to back away, when I need privacy, when I don't...an Ipod to drown out all those sick people in surgical ICU...the list goes on and on and on.

To all the siblings... I know as a family that we all feel blessed with the closeness between us and blessed by having wonderful parents. I'd like to take this time because I think that it is not often enough we acknowledge that and realize how fortunate and blessed the five of us actually are to have such loving, caring, selfless people that put their children ahead of themselves, so I think we should all take time out of our day more often to say thanks. You don't realize how good you have it until its almost all taken away.

To lighten things up I'd also recommend for anyone not on a group health plan to get health insurance immediately because being uninsurable is a doctors visit away!!! That brings me to the other subeject of this which is Hope from our company to help my medical bills. Some of you have heard this but others not. The mission statement of our company is hope, or helping other people everyday. As my last statement prefaced...your dear sis is uninsurable..who would've guessed :) Which means the medical bills will be a strain to say the least. Please take time to watch this video clip to see how our company is stepping up to help us. It is amazing to say the least.

I love everyone and Happy Mothers Day to the mommies of all kinds ours, Robyn, Shan to woogs and the rag doll, and Sara and Becky to be pseudomommies for our favorite boys.

Bentwater Idol

2008-03-03T12:55:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I have been rehearsing non-stop for our neighborhood American Cancer Society fundraiser, "Bentwater Idol...Is that my Neighbor?". I was very happy that the parents came for the show and to meet Laika on Friday. The show went well with only minor difficulties and got better every night. I did three numbers: Perhaps, Chicago (I was Roxie Hart), and Feeling Good. I had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people and build new friendships. I will let you know once we have the tally on how much money we raised. I hope you enjoy the slideshow with pictures of the cast and me in my costumes. If I can figure out how to do some video editing on my camcorder I'll try to put a clip of my performances.

I can cook a mean steak!

2008-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

This picture is actually from a couple of weeks ago, but I was so proud of the meal I prepared I had to document it. Just call me Martha Stewart (ha, ha, yeah right!).

Name that Bug!!!

2008-02-12T10:48:00.000-08:00

This bug was hanging out on our patio all day long until Matt got home to make it go on its way. It just sat there, never moved, but wasn't dead. We have no idea what it is but I was curious if any of you do.

Alamobowl

2008-01-22T13:20:00.000-08:00

We may not have won the game but we had a great time. It was also exciting to officially end the era of Coach Fran. Kevin and Lucy treated us with tickets and accomodations for Christmas. They got the game Rock Star Band for Christmas which is like guitar hero but with a singer, bass guitar, and drums. When we got back to the RV we played the game until we could no longer stay awake. We had a great time!

Hair Cut

2008-01-21T15:57:00.001-08:00

Okay, here is my new hair:

My photographer was not very good...I should've checked the picture before we left the house. You can get the point though :)

Laika

2008-01-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

In case any of you are wondering what Laika means...

I'm not so sure, but Laika was the first dog to go in to space. Our puppy is quite the space cadet. If you have not heard of Laika the Russian cosmonaut dog, she is quite popular. There was a stamp, comic book, and memorial made for her.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

For New Year's Eve we went to a black tie event at the yacht club here. We normally don't do the whole dress up thing, but it was a lot of fun. Matt looked really snazzy in his three piece suit. The theme was "A View to Kill" from James Bond. They had different food stations set up that went along with different Bond flicks. I'm not real familiar with Bond, but I did enjoy the different types of food. After dinner, we moved into the lounge and danced the night away to a band called "The Fantastics". I'd never heard of them but they pretty fantastic. We went with our friends The Simpsons who most of you have met. Shane actually danced all night long which was quite unusual. We met our friends from the neighborhood, Rueben and Jennifer, and they are great fun. Lots of these are very blurry as a result from a wrong setting on the camera, but you can get the idea. By the way, I've got the setting figured out so in the future we should not have this problem. I hope everyone else had as much fun as we did!

The New Baby!

2008-01-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't been through anything like my dear sister Robyn, but man has this puppy given us a run for our money! She keeps me busy 24/7. At first meeting, Pip definitely did not have her party hat on.

The second and third day weren't much better...

In the meantime, Laika has learned to play independently for brief moments...

And now after two weeks they are finally beginning to play!

Here are the still pics...

Reunion

2008-01-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

So, with our company rather than doing a "Holiday" Party, they throw a huge awards shindig at the end of the year. They rent out the Anatole Hotel in Dallas (yes, all of the buildings) and make you feel like a VIP. The day we got there we were directed to a tradeshow with lots of our vendors. There were also people there likt Don Schula and the Mavericks Dancers and mascot. There was also some guy who starred in Little House on the Prarie, but I didn't really recognize him. There are different workshops during the day and I won an Ipod Nano at the spouse's one. Comedian Wayne Brady was the entertainment one night, doing improv comedy like on "Who's line is it anyway?" with Derw Carey. The next night they had the band Big and Rich and we stood about two feet away from them. I wasn't really familiar with any of the songs, but the company had a copy of their brand new unreleased CD in our rooms waiting we got back. We listened to it on the way home and I would highly recommend them.

As far as the awards, Matt won his Quickstart class out of the entire company and was Rookie of the Year in our Division. We hope to "walk the stage" several times next year and qualify for some of the awesome bonuses and prizes. For the next few blogs you will see some fuzzy pictures. We have pushed some button on the camera and now everything is blurry, but enjoy...

Oh Christmas Tree/Bye Christmas Tree!

2008-01-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Okay, so...

Matt got the lights taken down outside before I managed to take a pic. But, I didn't manage to get a picture of our gigantor Christmas tree, so I thought I could at least post that. I also threw in the stockings and the disaster of taking everything down. Last year the tree was in three sections. This year when I was holding the stand for Matt to grab the bottom section, it decided to be two. This resulted in the stake at the bottom pinning my hand to the stand. If it would've dorpped from a little higher, I'm pretty sure my hand would be broken. Thankfully I got a way with just a bit of bloodshed, swelling and a sweet bruise. So...here it is:

One Last Cruise Entry

2007-12-17T10:06:00.001-08:00

I was done with this, but people have started e-mailing me their photos from the cruise. Timeka took one that about sums it up:

That's it for the cruise. Here is a preview of my upcoming blogs:

Christmas Decorating at our house
Reunion in Dallas (Matt's company event)
Christmas (Especially cookie making with Kevin)
My new baby
James Bond Black Tie New Year's Gala

If all goes well that is at least 5 blogs I'll owe you in the next month. Someone hold me to it!!!

Cruise Pictures

2007-12-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Abroad...Concluded

2007-12-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

To finish up about Jamaica...

After leaving the waterfalls we were taken to "the most exclusive" beach club in Jamiaca. If the definition of exclusive means a desolate area that most people don't venture in to just down the beach from a really shady boat dock where rastafari's offer you "special shells", then yes, it was definitely the most exclusive. We did get to eat some pretty good jerk chicken and watch traditional Jamaican dancing. The downside...it was raining. We then got on to a freexing cold tour bus for a two hour ride back to the ship. Fantastic! (Yes, I'm still coughing and sickly from this experience)

Day Five:

Grand Cayman. I am a fan of Grand Cayman from my past journeys there. What I learned is that if you have already seen something and had the most fun you could imagine, the second time will probably not be as good. We went to the turtle farm, Hell (lots of rock formations where no vegetation grows), and to swim with the Stingrays. It was hot for the first half of the day, which was a good change. Of course when we boarded the boat to Stingray Island it began raining...again...and didn't stop. There was turtle soup for sale everywhere, apparently what they eat on Thanksgiving rather than turkey. I passed and had dry turkey with giblets all over it for dinner on the ship. Yuck! That's all I have to say about that.

Day Six:

Cozumel, Mexico. I woke up sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose so as you can imagine I was excited about spending another day of thunderstorms on a boat and beach. How could I not be excited though, this was our last day at a port of call. I packed my snorkel equipment, beach towel, sweater and rain coat that I bought in Grand Cayman and was ready to go. This was booze cruise day. Myself, Heather, Timeka, and Becky boarded the triple decker Fiesta Party Boat at 10 AM. They immediately helped themselves to the all-inclusive bar. I went to the third deck of the boat where it was not yet raining, and went to sleep for a bit. When I woke up, I still felt horrible, but went to the first deck where the party had begun. My friends along with many others were in a Congo line singing Hot, Hot, Hot (about the 48th time I had heard this song at this point) and taking shots out of the bottle. I decided I would just observe. We got to the beach which was beautiful and I was able to snorkel for about 10 minutes before the rain started. Since my friends had been boozing it up the rain did not bother them and they stayed on the beach. I snuck off and found the heated, covered, adult pool. After the rain wouldn't stop we all boarded the boat once again. By this time most people were having problems standing when the boat was docked, so you can imagine the fun once the boat started moving through the rough sea cause by the storm. This was my first experience not drinking on a booze cruise and I must say it was pretty delightful. I got to enjoy watching everyone else. They all went back to our ship after the boat docked and I hit the stores at the pier. After I got back on the boat I took Nyquil (at 4pm) and slept till' the next morning.

Day Seven:

Our last fun day at sea. Even after all of my rest, I still felt like crap. Since I was in an interior stateroom I could not tell what the weather was doing. I foolishly put on my swimsuit thinking I would lay out on the deck all day. Silly Terra! It was only sixty degrees and raining. So, I put on my Aggie T-shirt and Sweatshirt and parked myself in the Sports Bar and wathed college football all day. I really enjoyed this.

Day Eight:

Finally home to my hubby! I carried all three of my suitcases down eight flights of stairs and was one of the first people off the blasted ship. I was so excited to be home. Matt was not excited that I brought the Jamaican "funk" home with me that he would catch a few short days after. We are both begining to feel better now.

The End!!!

Thanksgiving Abroad...Continued

2007-12-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Day Three:

I spent most of my fun day at sea in my non-spacious stateroom waiting for the pain in my head to subside. I did manage to get up for dinner, but had to leave as they were bringing the entree because we were traveling through yet another storm and the ship, she was a' rocking. That's pretty much it for day three.

Day Four:

Montego Bay, Jamaica. This was by far, the best day of my trip. We woke up for breakfast at about 7am and then traveled to the pier for our tour departing at 8am. Heather and I were supposed to meet Becky and her Mother, but they were no where to be found. As I have learned from my Father, tours do not wait on you, we went on without them. We took a two hour "scenic" busride across the poverty stricken countryside of Jamaica until we arrived at Dunn's River Falls in Ochos Rios. If you are not familiar with this, it is a huge waterfall that you can walk up. We had a very fun falls guide named "B.B. Gibbs" short for Big Belly Gibbs and a fascinating videographer named Peeping Tom. His actual name was Mark. The water was FREEZING, but they kept us singing reggae tunes such as Hot, Hot, Hot and I Shot the Sheriff to take our mind off of it. To climb these falls, you make a huge human chain of about twenty people. Strangers I might add. Heather had the luxury of holding a woman's hand for the first leg that almost took her down about three times because she was so scared and panicked. This made for a good time for me. Most of the tour groups stayed on the left side of the falls where it was safer and you could take shorter strides. Not B.B. Gibbs. He took us straight up the middle of that thing. It was terrifying but exhilirating. We made it through with no major catastrophe.

I will have to finish this up later...yet again. Brother Kevin called me and so I have to get back to work now. Thanks for calling Kevi...I love you!

A creative Christmas carol by Terra Mynhier:

2007-12-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

Just in case you didn't see this e-mail...

On the first hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A trip to labor and delivery
On the second hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A baby monitor that made me want to scream
On the third hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
News that in a few hours baby Landry I'll see
On the fourth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A catheter in case I need to pee
On the fifth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A wonderful epidurallllllllllll...wheeeee!
On the six hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
Tips on breathing, he didn't even charge a fee
On the seventh hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
The go ahead to start pushing but he looked and said Oh Gee!
On the eighth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
My new baby with the sweet name of Landry
On the ninth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A breast pump that really, really squeezed
On the tenth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
10 brothers and sisters from the Young/Peeks visiting me
On the eleventh hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A loud, loud crying baby
On the twelth hour of Christmas my true love gave to me...
A diaper change beacause it was smelled..oooeeee

Thanksgiving Abroad

2007-11-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

Well, my much anticipated Carribbean cruise did not meet up to my expectations. My dear friend Yolene had a beautiful wedding and was very happy with her trip, so I guess that's whats important. I'll give you a short breakdown of the "funship":

Day One:

Wedding bliss! They had a very nice wedding that they have been waiting a LONG time for. The only strange thing is the minister we would later find out is also the host of the late night comedy show and other "adult" events. Made it a little strange.

Day Two:

Our first funday at sea. The day started out beautifully. We were about out of the gulf and the water started getting very pretty. The sun was shining and we were prepared for an entire day of relaxation by the pool. We had to get fuel for all this relaxation, so we went for lunch at about 11. The food was marginal, but nothing would stop us from our relaxation. Nothing except an ice cream cone and a flight of stairs that is. There was an abandoned ice cream cone sitting, melting on the second stair of the sun deck just waiting for someone to find. Of course that someone was me. I stepped on it then took a tumble down about 10 stairs resulting in a total knock out. The qualified staff in the infirmary would not give me so much as an ice pack and just strapped me down to a table for about two hours so I could "sleep it off". This reseulted in my head swelling to about twice its normal size and some pretty sweet bruises down my back and legs.

I have to get back to work, so I will keep you in suspense about the last five days of my journey. I will try to master the slide shows that you all have been doing before I come to complete my post.

It's about that time...

2007-10-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a simple, no thieved slide show post. I have tons of pics saved up to add to the blog but it seems that I've been terribly busy. I just wanted to take a second to pose a very important question to everyone who knows my parents:

How is it possible that they cruised down an entire side of three countries and have added nothing to their blog?

Certainly there is a blog worthy picture on their camera.

Join me in petitioning the parents to update their blog!!!

Thank you and good day.

Happy 4th of July Miss Pippa!

2007-07-08T19:09:00.000-07:00

Pippa had a great day on the fourth. It started like any other day, with breakfast and a trip outside, but then later that day something new happened. There was a parade with a patriotic pet contest! She came and told me that it was time to assemble and that she thought she had a shot, so I helped her put on her air force jacket and then accompanied her to the assembly area. There she told me she thought she would look more patriotic if I tied some ballons to her. She really wanted them so I couldn't say no. After she was equipped with her jacket and balloons. We proceeded behind the ambulance (It was kind of hot, so I thought I should stay close) down the parade route to the park. When it was time to judge the pets, the announcer decided to point to each animal with a hot dog in hand. Pip decided that this was obviously her cue to start her show so she began to dance on her hind legs. The crowd loved it and then she was interrupted by the ringing of a cellphone. She decided that she was not only supposed to dance, but if she wanted to win this thing that she must sing as well. She sang a song and the crowd laughed and clapped so she sang some more. The mob of patriots declared her their winner and she was awarded her prize. In one hand the announcer still had his untouched hot dog and in the other was a silly dog toy. She decided that her prize of choice was in fact, the hot dog. The crowd roared and applauded her great decision. She smiled at them and was very proud. After she was finished with her hot dog we walked home where her Dad was grilling steak. When we were done eating, Pip told him that since it is independence day that she is entitled to a small piece of steak. He agreed and gave her a small piece (this is a rare occasion, she never gets anything except dog food). This made her happy, but she told him that she would not be completely content until he gave her the bone. After all, he was only going to throw it away. He could not say no, so he gave her the bone. She has been chewing on it ever since. It was the best decision that he could have made. Pip would like you all to know that the Fourth of July is by far, the best Holiday of the year. After discovering how well the bone works at enertaining her, we have to agree.

Our New House...hopefully!

2007-07-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

Okay, so you now all know that our house is for sell. I thought now I would post some pics of the house we have an offer on. I'm trying to get ahead of the game so that those of you across the country can see this one before we move out of it. Maybe I can get this picture thing down better for this post. The last one was not very pretty.

The Outside:

Matt's new play equipment: My new kitchen:

The neighboorhood itself is in Montgomery on Lake Conroe. It is a lot like the parents neighborhood except it has the lake and yacht club and you do not have to be an "active adult" to live there. It made me very happy to know that we can move into a "resort style" community before we retire. I really didn't want to wait that long since I am uninsurable until I hit Medicare. Of course Matt will be an "active adult" before myself, so I could've cheated since I'm married to him. We ate at the yacht club restaurant when we were there and the food was very scrumptious. I'm also very excited about the day spa and fitness center. Oh, and the best part...a 24-hour guard so no more attempted break-ins!!! I am going to help Matt make his sales telephone calls to set-up appointments and the law states that an appointment setter must be paid a salary that is not reflective of his sales, so he is going to pay me in spa treatments. We are also hoping that Brian can help us get a good deal on a boat. We'll have to wait a couple of months on that, though. I have started packing and I have done 14 boxes which is very miniscule to the number of boxes that we will actually have. The good news is that we are going to be able to get a lot of new furniture when we move, so we can donate or sell a lot of the heavy stuff. Pick-up only of course. I will keep you updated on the progess of our current house selling. Hopefully it will actually sell soon so all of these pictures are of the house and neighborhood that we are moving into and not of the house and neighboorhood that we thought we were moving into. Matt says that I should not tell everyone before our house actually sells. I hope that I do better when we are pregnant, since your not supposed to tell anyone until you are through your first trimester. Maybe I'll just tell Anne so she can start on blankets and Christmas stockings and let it burn her up for awhile since she is good at keeping quiet. That's a fun game! I hope everyone has a great week!

Long time, no blog...so sorry about that.

2007-07-07T17:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, we have put our house in Clear Lake on the market and have an offer on a house in Montgomery by Lake Conroe. About a year ago I was supposed to post some pics of the house for the boys, but it never happened. So, here are the now irrelevant pictures of our house.

Here's a couple more:

They are not the best pics, but our Realtor took them and I took them from the website so it made them much easier to post. Anyway, that's our house for the most part.

Caring Help When you Need it Most!

2007-05-11T11:35:00.000-07:00

That is the motto of my company, Evercare. On Thursday we not only "talked the talk" but "walked the walk" and gave caring help to someone in need. A 86 year old widow was living in a dilapetated home in East Houston. She has no children or others to help her with home repairs. Our company partnered with the AARP and went out to her house to see what we could do.

We replaced rotted wood, installed a wheelchair ramp, powerwashed and painted the entire exterior, and replaced all of the window and doors. On our lunch break, Ms. Jones came outside to check things out and said, "I feel like I am Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, someone has picked up my house, moved it, and now I've woken up in a magical place where everything is perfect." It is by far still not perfect, but nothing can replace the feeling you get when you help someone. Anyway, just thought I would share.

By the way, Matt's last day with Belfor was on Thursday. On Monday, he will be starting new endeavor in Individual/Small Group Health Insurance. So, if you know of anyone without coverage, feel free to drop Matt a line!

Riding in my drop top!

2007-03-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've only test driven it, but as soon as the rain subsides and I have the car in my possession....hair blowing in the wind for me. Here are a couple of pictures of my new car. It is a 2006 Chrysler Sebring Convertible. It makes me smile :) Gotta get back to work, more to come later!

Don't Know Why...

2007-02-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

I don't know why my last blog posted twice. Oh well...it's better than accidentally deleting it :)

Our trip to Okie

2007-02-20T13:05:00.001-08:00

In support of the number 8 in the nation ranked Aggie Basketball team, Matt, Dad, and I embarked on a journey to Norman, Oklahoma to watch the game. Matt and I went to Denton on Friday and met the parents at Mexican restaurant. Great food, great drinks, not so great service. But we had a great time, regardless. Matt braved the cold on Saturday morning and ran five miles, but I stayed home. We then parted from Anne and started up to Oklahoma. We drove by enormous casino's and that's about it. I have never noticed the lack of structure in that state. We stopped for lunch at Marie Calendar's (the lady who sells frozen pot pies in the freezer section) and had a big lunch. I had meatloaf, but Dad and I both liked Anne's better, and my lunch came with a HUGE slice of world famous chocolate pie. Yum! We got to the arean and were pleasantly suprised that they don't charge for parking and even more suprised when we saw how many Aggies showed up for the game. I seats were pretty great, we could see everything. The Oklahoma fans like to boo...the officials and our players...and part of the time they had good reason. We were a little nervous because the Ags were not playing their best and we were behind for a majority of the game. But, Acie Law stepped up in the last few minutes, Oklahoma fought the Law but the Law won. Along with the rest of the Ags...56 to 49. Very exciting game. Acie got boo'd harshly at the end of the game, but us along with the many other fans waited till' he was done with his interview and cheered him off the court. I think he liked it. We drove back to Denton and stopped at Rudy's barbecue which was scrumptious and then went home to bed. It was great to get to see my Dad all day and the Ags win. I wish that we could all just go to basketball games together instead of working, which by the way I should get back to. Stay tuned for a blog when we hopefully beat Texas in Austin (sorry Marcus). Let me emphasize the word HOPEFULLY.

Our trip to Okie

2007-02-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

When you think life is tough...

2007-02-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

I was sent an article through e-mail that really made me stop and think about how lucky myself and my family is. Sometimes we think we have it tough and want to give up on things, but after reading the article below it really gives you inspiration to do more. I know that this isn't in the normal blog fashion, but I really wanted to share this. If you have time, please read this article "World's Strongest Dad" and watch the accompanying video.

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

And the video is in the link below....

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

It really makes you think.

Happy Anniversary WPBC!

2007-01-22T10:29:00.000-08:00

We traveled to Denton this weekend through the drizzling rain and cold weather to visit the parents, Grandparents, and extended family at Windsor Park Baptist Church. We had a great weekend from the Chicken Spaghetti to the family outing to the fitness center to the victory over OSU in the A&M basketball game Saturday night. Sunday marked the twenty year anniversary of Windsor Park Baptist Church and Matt, myself, my Dad, and Grandma went to the celebration. I saw faces that I have not seen in years! It felt like a family reunion, and the food was great too. It was interesting to remember how the church used to be and what it has changed to now. Even though there are changes in worship order and music styles, there are some things that never change. Men like Ray Lindholm and James Aldridge are always at the doors waiting to greet everyone who comes in. You always have that sense of belonging and comfort when you walk in. Couples like the Bierhalter's are always happy to see your face. Paul Dryer is still wreaking havoc. They are still serving God. There is so much history that lies within those walls. We had a great time but are happy to be back in Houston where it is warm and dry, at least temporarily.

Seriously

2007-01-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, so for those who didn't know, Shannon and I had a Grey's Anatomy Marathon (well, half-marathon for Shan) on Saturday night and had a wonderful time. We are both fans of the popular television series, but have only viewed it once together. It is much more enjoyable to watch the show with someone who has the same feelings towards it, rather than watching it alone on TIVO. I do love TIVO, though. We laughed at the same moments, felt emotional at others, and could glance over and see the tears forming in the others eyes. Shannon did very well with that, by the way. We joked around that we live vicariously through the exciting lives of the fictional characters. Television is a way to escape from reality, minus a few commercials if you don't have TIVO. After Shannon left and Matt returned from the A&M basketball game (Gig Em') and was excited to tell me all the details I decided that I don't want to escape. I think that I have it pretty good. Besides, they have problems, too, and most of theirs are surprisingly more dramatic and heart wrenching than my own. Shannon thinks that she would have made an excellent brain surgeon (which I'm sure that she is capable) but I think that she will be happier carefully constructing the minute details of a dollhouse. I think that I would have made a good orthopedic surgeon, shoving back in dislocated bones, but I think that I would rather shove around my hyper-active dog. So, while it is great to escape once a week, I think that we would both rather be living our own lives with the families that have just begun, and with the love and friendship of those in the families already established.

With that being said, I have just been handed Season Two, with 27 episodes...that's 21 more than season one! I will enjoy them immensly, but be happy when they are over that I can return to my normal, non-chaotic life. Seriously!

Entering into the New Frontier!

2007-01-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

Since the rest of our family have become such wonderful bloggers, Matt and I have decided to enter the blog world. We enjoy reading updates on everyone, so we'll have to actually remember to keep this updated, too. We had a wonderful Christmas in Houston and even got some relaxation in. I cooked Christmas dinner for the first time ever, for ourselves, and his parents, and it came out just right. Even the turkey. I now know that I can accomplish a meal that requires several elements, such as shopping, timing, seasoning, making what people are used to tasting, and did I say timing?

Matt made the mistake of buying me a camcorder for Christmas so we have it all documented. The whole thing. About 4 hours of Christmas saved on a DVD to last forever. If anyone cares for a look, just let me know. I'm sure that Matt would love to have you over to watch with him. My favorite part about the camcorder is how much Pip loves it. I'll record her running across the room with a toy, making noises and such, then play it back on the television for her. She was at first very confused about this large version of herself inside a big, black box, but now she loves to watch herself and dance on her back legs and bark at the television. I think her Dad secretly loves it too :)

Well, I will update this when something exciting happens, and with us, that shouldn't take too long. Happy New Year!