Things I am grateful for after 8 inches of snow and 52 hours without power:

1. Heat (we have a gas furnace, but the fan is electric)
2. Lights
3. A campstove and propane to use with it.
4. Food to cook on the cookstove.
5. A husband with the motivation and the willingness to help me do the work of doing ALL the dishes with water boiled on the campstove.
6. Children who put up with a cold house for 24 hours.
7. Elder Bryant and Elder Buchanan who, on their way out contacting, stopped and took over clearing our driveway of all the snow (we only had two shovels anyway)--and then helped Steve maneuver turning the van around in the snow that was left so we could get out.
8. My sister Marian and her husband Tommy who opened their home to all of us for the second 24 hours.  Her children, Erik, David, and EmmaLeigh, and mine were VERY excited about it.  I just had to put up with the stress of 7 children--plus a babysittee--running through the house!  (Didn't seem to bother Marian much--I was amazed.)
9. Having the feeling of Sunday even if we didn't go to church.  (The roads were still slick, and the parking lot wouldn't have been cleared.)
10. Having lunch at Mom's (well, that would have happened anyway, but I am always grateful for her putting up with--and cooking for--so many people in her house.)
11. Quantity and Quality time with our children--we played more games in the last two days than we usually do in a week, and Benjamin especially was very happy!
12. Ancestors that lived--happily, in most cases--through life harder than the one I put up with from Friday night 'till Sunday night, and still found the hope to find the gospel and move across a wild country to Zion.  The last two days have made me very very grateful for them--and very grateful for the life I have right now.

Lake Lure

One fine Saturday evening, I took the kids on a drive down to Lake Lure while Martha got a much needed break. (Though her break included studying for a test she had on Monday morning.) The drive down to Lake Lure is fantastic along old two-lane highways that twist and turn through the mountains of western North Carolina.

Along the way there are a number of touristy-type shops--some of which I noticed have closed down due to the struggling economy--but the shops around Lake Lure and Chimney Rock still seem to be doing some bustling business.

The kids and I had a great time walking along the lake and playing at the playground.

Bipolar happens

Just a note that I'm starting a new blog--not to replace this one--detailing what is happening with me regards to my health. It is mybipolarfamily.blogspot.com. I guess this is my attempt to come out of the proverbial "closet" so to speak.

Unfortunately, bipolar disorder has a lot of stigma associated with it which makes it even more difficult to recover from episodes, etc. In an effort to reduce some of that stigma and show that this is an illness similar to diabetes or cancer or... I am recording my experiences with the disorder.

Regarding the name, I called it Bipolar Family partly because mental illness has hit my family so hard. Both my brothers are largely incapacitated by mental illness. They are still great, wonderful, loving people but they are not going to amass a wonderful resume or head a large happy family. What they offer the world is very different from what we unfortunately call success.

The other reason I call the blog Bipolar Family is that in a way those of us who suffer in whatever way from the effects of mental illness are all in this together. I love what the actor Glenn Close and her sister Jesse are doing with their newly launched foundation, Bring Change 2 Mind.

Part of me wants to apologize for being open about having bipolar disorder. It isn't a pleasant subject. I read recently about Sandy Naiman, an award-winning journalist who suffers from schizoaffective disorder and has been successful in battling the stigma of mental illness in her environment. She indicated that fifty years ago cancer had a similar stigma. It was not something you talked about and was referred to as the "C-word." People with cancer feared that if employers found out about their illness they would lose their jobs or never work again. Those who suffer from mental illness face that same level of stigma. They worry about losing their jobs, their families and their friends.

But those with mental illness are more than their mental illness. The illness is something they have. It is not who they are.

I'm hoping that in our era of rapid change that it won't take decades to overcome the stigma of mental illness.

As Glenn Close's sister Jessie mentions in one of the videos, it's uncomfortable at times wearing the "bipolar" t-shirt. But I'm hoping that it will be worth it.

Fall Pictures

This past weekend (while Benjamin was away with the Scouts, camping) we went up on the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the Fall Colors.  They are gorgeous!  I thought I'd share some pictures:

Bright Colors

A variety of muted colors

Steve and the kids

Me and the kids

Joshua being goofy

I liked these rocks

Jessica liked this moss

Jessica on the barricade - this part of the Parkway is closed during the winter

Jessica took this picture of the leaves

Carolyn in her colors!

Wacky Hair Day

Our county School System sponsors a fund raiser for Eblen Charities every October. To make it a little fun, my children's elementary school has a "Wacky Hair Day" at the first of the month to encourage donations for the fundraiser. All the children that bring in money that day get to wear their hair any wacky way they want. So Jessica and Joshua wanted to go all out and spray their hair this year. So here are the results:

Front:

And Back:

They had a lot of fun!  Now, though, can anyone tell me the trick to getting the spray out?  They've both washed their hair already, and they STILL have green in their hair! :P  (Hee, Hee! What a hoot!)

Seattle Vacation

This year our family vacation took us back to Steve's home of Seattle, Washington. Too many years had passed since the last time we were able to spend time with family in Seattle. (One of the really hard things about living across the country from Steve's family.) We were able to take in a lot of sites.  (By the way, these photos—and more—can be seen in here)
Newly completed light rail. We caught it about a block away from our hotel and took it into Seattle.
Views from the Space Needle at the Seattle Center
Mount Rainier. Steve thought it was the best weather he's ever seen while on the mountain--made for great views.
Ferry ride from Anacortes to Orcas Island in the San Juans
Once we got to Orcas Island, we drove to the top of Mt Constitution to Moran State Park. Some awesome panoramic views of Puget Sound!
To top everything off, we finished our week in Seattle with a trip to the Oregon Coast. It was great to see all the sights and especially to spend time with Steve's parents, Cherie's family, and Steve's brothers. We intend to make our next visit much sooner. Five years is too long between visits!

Some fun pictures taken this summer

Jessica's Birthday

Jessica turned 11 on August 7th and got an ice cream cake complete with horses on it. She has been asking for an ice cream cake for some time, and horses are one of her favorite things. What more could a girl ask for? Love ya Jessica!

One of the things you can see in the photo album are pictures from a game of "photo tag" where Martha chased the kids around the yard attempting to take pictures while they tried to escape getting their picture taken. (Something I usually try to do anyway ;-)

Regional Summer Camp

This year our scout troop was invited to a regional LDS scout camp that was held at Camp Buck Toms about an hour away from Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a great experience where the boys were able to do all the regular scout activities: hiking, working on merit badges, swimming, eating in the mess hall, flag ceremonies and hang out around camp.

In addition, there were some pretty cool LDS activities that occurred culminating in a fireside which featured Larry M Gibson of the General Young Men's presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brother Gibson gave a great talk on how scouting and the Aaronic priesthood establish a foundation for the young men build a life of service. Not something you would experience at every scout camp.

Pictures of Carolyn!

We had a friend, Destinee Blau, take pictures of Carolyn a couple of weeks ago. They are SO darling! Check her photography blog out for an overview (Carolyn's pictures were posted August 17):
http://www.destineeblau.com

Or you can go directly to the slideshow:
http://www.destineeblau.com/carolyn.html
(You have to install the viewer, but it was pretty easy for me to do it.)

They are so beautiful! Thanks again, Destinee!

Pinewood Derby

Most Artistic!

Fastest Car!

Starfire III

This past spring Jon Wilson, a guy we go to church with, told Joshua he could be in a home movie he was going to make. It ended up that Steve got to be in the movie also, and Jessica a cameo and got to help film (she directed the two-year-old star to go where her father wanted her to go.) After many hours of filming and many, many hours of editing, it is finally posted on YouTube.

Here's the link to "Starfire III", Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnyI2SkPccQ&NR=1

Steve's part in training the bad guy is in Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2GBd-TnYcc&feature=related

Joshua's part as the bad guy's assistant starts in part three:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MaBPCEnhnM&feature=related

And just for good measure, here's part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qugCWvMI4Bc&feature=related

Hope you all enjoy it!

(PS The first two home movies--based on the same story--are really cute to watch. The first is "Starfire, the Unknown Hero" and the second is "Starfire, the Unknown Shadow". They can be found in the sidebars on the pages at the above links.)

4th of July Campout

Over July 4th weekend, Benjamin, Jessica, Joshua and I went on a camping trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We first stopped at the Mt. Pisgah campground but by the time we had gotten there we were left with two options: pitch our tent on the pavement in an RV spot or wait until 7pm (it was 6pm so not a huge deal) to see if one of the three handicapped spots would be left unclaimed and therefore available to us. The kids weren't crazy about taking one of the handicapped spots fearing we would get into trouble despite it being offered by the park rangers themselves. I wasn't crazy about pitching a tent on the asphalt.

I had read that it was legal to camp anywhere within the National Forest as long as it was 200' from the road, etc., etc. I'd also heard that Graveyard Fields was a great place for scenic vistas, so we gathered back into the car and drove about 10 miles south of Mt Pisgah and came upon a turnoff to Black Balsam.

It turned out to be the kind of camping that I was accustomed to, i.e. didn't feel like we were camping in an RV park. In fact, at Black Balsam we didn't see a single RV. Instead of designated spots for each tent with a picnic table and running water, we were left largely to our own devices. There were a number of other people who had pitched tents. There was also an outhouse and a couple of garbage bins with anti-bear locks. Fortunately, we had also brought our own water, although in hindsight I wish we had brought more. Still it worked out well.

We found it to be a great location with tons of hiking opportunities and some incredible views. I don't think we would have gotten the same sense of the mountains if we had stayed in a more conventional camping location.


On Saturday, after having breakfast and breaking camp, we set out along the Art Loeb trail which took us along the ridge of Black Balsam and on to Tennent Mountain. A great photo diary of the trek can be seen here. (Click through the slides until you get to Tennent Mountain.)

I've got to say that the kids did a great job hiking. Helping each other along, keeping up a good pace and not complaining too much. Joshua did get a blister on his little toe, so things were a little slow going for him for a while but I was thrilled we were able to top two 6K-ers: Black Balsam and Tennent Mountain. And to spend some quality time with three of the greatest kids a dad could hope for. Makes me anxious for our next trek into the wilderness.

A hike instead of a movie

Normally, our family enjoys a movie night on Fridays but with the more flexible summer schedule we watched the movie earlier in the week. So instead of lounging around the family room, we headed out to Bent Creek for a little hiking.

It is so nice to have the outdoors so accessible to us. We've really enjoyed a lot of summer activities in the great outdoors: tubing down Davidson River, hiking in Bent Creek, and camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Joshua's 9th Birthday

Joshua received his 9th birthday cake from Sandy Cox, who attends our church ward. She always does a fantastic job on the cakes.

Joshua is truly a bookworm, so the cake theme was perfect.

We gathered together as a family at Grandma Collier's later that day to celebrate Joshua's birthday with the extended family living here in Arden.

New Wolf

Joshua has been hard at work on completing his Wolf badge in Cub Scouts. I think he has a love and hate relationship with Cub Scouts. I think he likes the activities but doesn't like the confines of the structure.

Joshua Survives Cub Scout Day Camp

Joshua went to Cub Scout Day camp this week at Camp Stevens, down by the French Broad River. He enjoyed archery, BB guns, and making home-made paper which they shaped (in cookie cutters!) into shapes to give to their fathers on Father's Day. He also got to play kick ball, make an animal mask, participate in a flag ceremony, and talk about animals. (I imagine they got to talk about animals a lot, since the theme for this year was a Jungle theme!)

He did have a hard time with the running they asked him to do, and some of the boys in his den were just as pushy as he can be, so that was a bit upsetting. But he liked hiking around the camp, and he even came up with the "cheer" for their den. All-in-all it turned out to be a great week.

(In the slide show below you can see a couple of pictures of him, his den, and even his two cousins, Erik and David Hobson.)

Carolyn is 1 Year Old!

The last week of May is a busy one with birthdays: Grandpa Collier, Aunt Laura and Carolyn Garvin. We started out the week with a get-together at Grandma collier's to celebrate all three birthdays.

The next Sunday, May 31st, we gathered together at our house to celebrate Carolyn's birthday. The past year has really flown. Carolyn has done a lot of growing in the short year she's been with us. She's on the verge of walking and already pulling herself up into standing position where she can stand without support for a few seconds.

---

In the slide show, my sister, Marian, is sitting on the futon we have in the living room, holding her foot. Right before she came over for the party she hurt her foot. (You can see how swollen it was.) It ended up that she broke her foot, and has to wear a boot for 6 weeks. She can't drive for 3 weeks! I would die if I couldn't drive during the summer!

Time to catch up

It's been too many months since we've posted to our blog. So much for good intentions and New Year's resolutions. Sorry. Life has a way of getting away from us at times.

This picture is actually from our trip to Old Salem, NC (which is near Winston-Salem) where we went over Memorial Day weekend. It seemed fitting to step back in time a bit during Memorial Day. It also seems appropriate to get back on track with our blog starting out with a peek back at the past. We've come a long way, baby!

The kids had fun:

Kitty!

Carolyn has always been fascinated by our two cats, Ashton (here) and Allie. Ashton is now beginning to tolerate her.

We've got snow

We've been living in Asheville for five years now, and we've gotten very little snow. At least compared to the amount of snow in other areas where we've lived, especially Utah. Still the school district has had many snow days. It's gotten to the point where I joke that they cancel school for a snow day when someone says "snow" in the school district offices.

"Did you say snow? We'd better cancel school."

"No, no! I didn't say snow. I was saying it's no..."

"Oh, well, too late. I already cancelled school."


So we all wake up in the morning and discover that there's not a drop of snow on the ground but school has been canceled.

So when it started to snow this past Sunday, I didn't think much of it. But then it kept snowing and snowing until we got about four inches of good snow. I actually ended up shoveling the driveway for the first time since we've moved here.

The kids missed two days of school —Monday and Tuesday, and had a two-hour delay on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure they're starting to cut into their school year beyond the normal snow days allotted at the end of the year.

Just an update - and a good grade on a test!

Martha here!

This week I took my first test in my Anatomy & Physiology class I'm taking (well, first for this semester. It's a two semester class.) I was totally stressed out about it, but I ended up getting an 88!!!!! I was very very relieved!

Jessica was sick this week and missed school Tuesday and Wednesday. It was interesting trying to juggle school and my job and taking care of her. She ended up spending some time with my sister (Thanks, Marian!) and a little by herself. She is feeling much better now, but she is stressed about getting her make-up work done.

Oh, yes, I did mention a job. I am working as a Peer Tutor in the Math Lab on the AB Tech campus. It pays squat, and I'm only working 8 hours a week, but it will help our stress level, I hope. I really like tutoring, even though I am having to re-learn algebra (don't even try me on Calculus right now!)

Just a note for you baby lovers about Carolyn. She is getting better and better at standing, so I am trying to put her down on her tummy more. Makes sense, right??? The reason is that she doesn't know how to crawl yet, and I really want to give her some more practice with that before she starts walking. Our hardwood floors make crawling difficult, so we'll see how it goes.

I even found a way for her to be happy while I was typing this. She is in front of my chair (almost under the desk) eating Sweet Potato Puffs--and enjoying them immensely! (Sweet Potatoes are her FAVORITE food!)

(Yeah I actually posted something!)

B-man has a B-day!

Benjamin celebrated his 14th birthday on January 28th, 2009. He is growing up so fast we can hardly keep up with his birthdays anymore.

At 14, he is the same age Joseph Smith was when he had what we in the LDS church refer to as the First Vision. Benjamin is definitely starting to question the world around him and to begin to wonder about his place in it. As we all do at one point or another.

It is exciting to be part of his life.

Yesterday, he went with his youth group to the Columbia, SC temple to do temple work. Last week, he was very reluctant about the trip as he says he has nothing to do for the 2-1/2 hours that it takes to get down there and then another 2-1/2 hours to get back. I encouraged him to take a book with him.

Yesterday morning he was dressed in his Sunday best before I even had breakfast. (They met at the church at 10am.) Apparently, he was no longer feeling reluctant about the trip. I found out when he got back that he had taken my advice and brought Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird with him and was reading it until it simply got too dark to do so. He rode back with the Alcayaga's and had a good time. When it got too dark to read, Tracy Alcayaga kept him busy in conversation. (Benjamin is not normally very talkative.)

Today, I had the opportunity to ordain Benjamin a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood. A very good experience. It's neat to see him move along in his responsibilities in the church.

Touching Spirit Bear

Benjamin and I have been participating, to some degree, in his school's family book club. This time around, we read Ben Michaelson's book Touching Spirit Bear which is about a troubled teenager, Cole Mathews, who after throttling and permanently impairing a fellow student, Peter Driscal, is sentenced to live in isolation on an Alaskan island. Cole is left to fend for himself on the island and to come to grips with his anger, resentment and learning to forgive himself. It's a tough time to begin with, especially since his greatest enemy is himself. It isn't until he lets go of fighting against society and everyone around him that he begins to grasp at hope. It's a lesson all of us have to learn at one time or another. Fortunately, we don't normally have to go through such trying times as Cole in order to learn to it.

It was a lot of fun to read a book together as a family and to be able to discuss the book. We are all avid readers and will get caught up in a book and let the world go by. A great escape.

At the book club meeting, Benjamin was given a free book for having a birthday this month. It was actually this past Wednesday, January 28th. Martha stayed up late Thursday night reading the book—Book One of The Mistmantle Chronicles, Urchin of the Riding Stars by M.I. McCallister—in one fell swoop. She's a very fast reader but also missed out on some sleep that night. Benjamin and I look forward to reading the book ourselves. It's fun to share books in the family. At this point, a book will often pass through Martha, myself, Benjamin and now Joshua before returning to the library.

A Brand New Year

Ok, so we're a month into the new year. It's been quite a ride already with the kids back in school. Martha taking her second semester of Anatomy & Physiology at AB-Tech. Now I'm driving back and forth to Greensboro each Saturday for a CPA review class.

I leave at 5:30am Saturday morning. (And I am really not a morning person.) I've been getting to the class at least a few minutes late each week. The first week I was more than an hour late because we set the alarm for 5:00PM instead of 5:00AM. Last week wasn't bad. Yesterday, I got up even before the alarm went off but couldn't get myself to get out of bed (bad!) so I ended up being half an hour late. It all works out because it takes a while for the class to get under way.

Yesterday was the last class on auditing. Now just to bone up on the material and take the test. Assuming I get the Notice to Schedule which is necessary for me to schedule the exam at Prometric. It seems like they're being really slow. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll get something this week.

The kids had an extra long break from school this week. It all started with a teacher work day last Friday. Then they, and Martha, had Monday off for Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday. Then it started snowing Monday night and it has been really cold--about 7°F as a high over the weekend and the first part of the week. So they ended up getting Tuesday and Wednesday off. Benjamin was actually a little disappointed and frustrated as he knew that what they lost due to the weather would reduce the amount of time they'd get off at the end of the year. Joshua also expressed that he really liked school and would rather not miss a day. (I would have been OK if I had a day or two off from work due to the snow. ;-)

All the kids were able to go sledding at Grandma and Grandpa Colliers. Interestingly, Carolyn had her inaugural sledding run on Inauguration Day.