JR, Amy, & Kids

Football.jpg

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Football.jpg, a photo by JR Robinson on Flickr.

Football- the poetry of the brash.

I have seen photos similar to this and thought I would try one of my own.

IMG_0097.jpg

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:28:00 +0000

IMG_0097.jpg, a photo by JR Robinson on Flickr.

We haven't given up on baseball, yet. The circle change-up...on the way!

MinersBaseball 8.jpg

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:03:00 +0000

MinersBaseball 8.jpg, a photo by JR Robinson on Flickr.

I didn' realize it at the time, but check out the compression of Tyrel's bat as he hits the ball. By the way, this was a homerun! Can't hang your breaking stuff.

FAMILY REUNIONS

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:18:00 +0000

We have the good fortune of belonging to great families before we started our own. Great families have great stories and superb family reunions. The Robinson get-together was a meager 85 member contingency at the standard Horse Valley campsite. I can’t say for sure, but it is likely Parowan and Paragonah’s population wanes quickly as we establish Robinsonville on the hill, if only for a few days once a year. It goes without saying, the mosquitoes were definitely full and everybody had great camping faces before we left.

After feeding the mosquitoes we barely had time to stop itching and shower before we set out for Topic and the Munson Mixer. We spent time playing games at the park, swapping lies, playing tourist on mules in Bryce Canyon, eating, fishing, more eating, sleeping, yet more eating, and taking in the local flavor of Tropic. Suffice it to say, the company, food, and scenery were great.

As you might guess from the first paragraph, I am not a Tropic native but I can certainly relate to the characters each small community seems to have. After all, I grew up in Parowan. It is fun to compare the unknown but familiar characters in these small towns with their matches who lived around me while I grew up. The Munson Mixer ended with church on Sunday- I was disappointed it wasn’t fast Sunday. Small town Fast and Testimony meetings are the best! Take a look at this as a real-life example.

Amy's Going to the Prom?

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Mon, 24 May 2010 01:04:00 +0000

Amy and I were able to attend an awards ceremony in honor of some local police officers. As this was a formal event the preparation started for Amy some weeks ago. My preparations were admittedly easier as I had been issued my attire. Amy set out to find a dress at one of the local shops with Erin in tow. Erin, of course, was spell bound by all of the gowns, dresses, jewelry, and “other” accessories. Amy related to me that Erin seemed to have 10,000 questions (e.g. What is this? Where does it go? How does it fit on? What does it do?). I’m thankful I was not invited on this excursion.

The ironic part of this whole shopping trip was it happened to be the same day as the Junior Prom for one of the high schools. Amy stated the stores were bustling and crowded as a result. As required by the laws of parenting, Erin singlehandedly embarrassed Amy by shouting one sentence while amongst the crowd. “But Mom, if you’re going to the prom who is going to watch the kids?” Apparently, the shop went quiet, everyone stopped to turn their heads, and all eyes were waiting for a response. I can’t say for sure, but I think the shopping was over for the day.

MISCELLANEOUS CATHING UP

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Mon, 17 May 2010 00:52:00 +0000

Here are some things our oldest kids have been up to:

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn. ~Terri Guillemets

I love fishing. You put your line in the water and you don’t know what’s on the other end. Your inanition is under there. ~ Robert Altman

Have You Ever...

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:46:00 +0000

...played a baseball game in the snow?

Wait, An 11-Year-Old Lives Here?

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Time has a way of getting away from everyone at our house. Tyrel is now 11-years-old and what a memorable birthday number 11 was. It started out the day before when Erin got the stomach flu, yeah! This was followed by Amy getting the flu for a couple of days. During Amy’s turn I too took a turn but was fortunate not to get the full blown version. Tyrel then had his turn just a day after turning 11. Happy Birthday! We all escaped all the better for the wear and hope Tyrel doesn’t have another birthday soon- we don’t want the flu back for at least 3 years.

Lego Nerds

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:16:00 +0000

Amy and I concluded we needed to make a quick dash to visit the California Faction of Robinsons before we became snowed in or deadlocked with sports. Despite having a 2-mile list of things to do or visit while on our hiatus, we instead opted to Legoland, the beach (too cold for fun in the water), and a movie (this allowed those too tired to catch up on their sleep).

Our visit to Legoland was a reality check for me on several points. First, it is amazing what can be constructed from plastic blocks. Finished projects varied from a full-sized car to dinosaurs and dragons, to life-sized Star Wars characters and on, and on, and on, and on. Second, I didn’t realize you could earn a paycheck building various things out of Lego’s. At each of the above mentioned projects a sign was posted detailing an assortment of facts. For instance, on the full-sized car Tyrel learned it took 5 adults 2 ½ month to construct it. The vehicle weighs near 3000 pounds and is hollow… Finally, Tyrel solidified his title as Lego Nerd after proclaiming several dozen times, “I could live here!”

We were glad for the furlough. Thank you Cole and Julie for letting us invade your lives.

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 22:46:00 +0000

Tyrel and Erin have singlehandedly made the Tooth Fairy go broke. It seems like Tyrel has pulled 2 teeth in less than 2 weeks. The end result is he looks like a horse when he smiles- you know, in the front there are only 4 teeth on the top and 4 teeth on the bottom. Then miles of no teeth before reaching the molars in the back of his mouth. I think he is in an elite group who can eat corn on the cob through a picket fence.

Erin, on the other hand, doesn’t pull her teeth. Instead, she waits for them to fall out of her head. Her last tooth fell out while drinking water. She too has lost a couple of teeth in the past 2 weeks.

Ryann has beat them all but doesn’t have a tooth in her mouth.

The whole crew may indeed make the toothbrush aptly named. For the rest of us it should be called a teethbrush.

THE WRETCHED SEASON

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0000

This is the roughest time of year. The weather teases us with a day or two of great weather and then snows again by the end of the week. This isn’t too different from fall weather in Color Country but there are other activities to keep your mind occupied (hunting, fishing, hunting, and fishing). The weekly respite of pro football is no more, spring baseball is still far enough out that it hurts, and the frenzied pace of rivalry games and March Madness are close but not close enough. In late winter everything just seems to be in a holding pattern until...

Tyrel has finished his last basketball game. Here is a summary of his season. The CAVS won some games. The CAVS lost some games. The CAVS learned some basketball skills. The CAVS learned some basketball concepts (but the seemingly simple concepts of spacing and timing remain abstract). But most importantly, the CAVS had fun and got tired in the process! I have learned a tired 10-year-old may be the most advantageous.

NORTH FROM SAN FRANCISCO

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Work recently took me to northern California. After seeing things I had never seen I must admit I was stunned at the scenery and amazed at the stark contrast to southern California. In additional I partook of strange food in an atmosphere and portion of San Francisco I would never have found myself lost in.

Our final destination was Eureka (Humbolt County). For those of you wondering, you can’t get there from southern Utah- you have to go to about 5 other places first. Mapping our route by car would take 17 hrs and took us only 16 ½ hrs to fly.

While at Fisherman's Warf we stopped for a while and watched this street man earn his money. Check it out here.

Smart planning allowed us 2 days to get to our destination, but because of the nature of the trip it was an epic, single day journey back. The travel portion of the trip quickly lost it's charm. With a Rock Star or two later we arrived back home. Here are some photos of the sights.

“IT’S UNSANITARY!”

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:46:00 +0000

I had an experience like no other to this point in my life. In hindsight the general theme of the message the narrator was conveying was spot on, however, the delivery was comical. So with no disrespect intended to the unnamed narrator let me enlighten you.

The Robinson tribe made a pilgrimage south to witness, and participate in, a baby blessing. For those of you familiar with these events, let me remind you these blessings typically occur on fast Sunday.

The testimony portion of the meeting began when a ward elder (denoting generational age rather than office) took the pulpit to recount what he had witnessed on TV sometime prior.

This gentleman relayed with intricate detail what he described as an “open mouth” kiss. Apparently this TV scene degenerated to a point where he told his wife to take note of what was happening. Obviously appalled and maybe slightly confused, she asked her husband what the two were doing to which he replied, “It looks like they’re trying to eat each other!”

About this time, I was struggling to stifle my laughter, but wasn’t quite sure if it was just me and my mood am was in or if this gentleman had gone off script even by the ward’s standards. A quick glance around the chapel led me to believe this type of pulpit discourse was par for the course. This did little to help me keep my laughter inside.

Finally, this seasoned citizen enumerated the woes of such a kiss the first of which was it is extremely “unsanitary”. I’ll concede the remainder of the points he made.

I could no longer contain myself. After the meeting I told Amy we needed to make an appointment to see the doctor and get a shot. The rest of you clowns better get in line behind us!

STREET NAMES

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:00:00 +0000

Nicknames have been a part of my life since I could remember. I probably developed this affinity for terms of endearment while working with Grandpa Tuffy. He had nicknames for everyone we ever seemed to talk with- some good and some otherwise. We were among this list of seemingly endless names. For some unknown reason I was Little Joe.

I have taken it upon myself to give the Robinson gang their own nicknames as I know of no self-respecting gang who does not have a solid nickname. Amy is a bit upset with the publishing of these names because I don’t seem to have a nickname. She didn’t have much of defense when I pointed out it she was derelict in giving me a nickname. After all, it is a party foul to give yourself a nickname. Let me introduce the Robinson gang:

DERBY MANIA IN THROWBACK STYLE

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:55:00 +0000

The time honored, and church sanctioned, mania of pinewood derby has come and gone once again. For whatever reason, this event seems to find itself in our schedule at inopportune times. If it isn’t one thing it is another that seems to prevent Tyrel and I from starting this little project without having to rush.

This year was different- in a bad way. Tyrel reminded me the afternoon of the race that he needed a pinewood derby to race. Rather than go into a panicked frenzy to make a car in a couple of hours it was decided we would race on a throwback theme this year- race a car we have raced in years past. So Tyrel loaded up all of his cars and didn’t decide on what car to race until scouting out the competition.

This story has a happy ending as Tyrel had the fastest car of the day.

All derby tomfoolery aside, Amy and I were more proud of his Cub Scout awards and accomplishments. At this pack meeting, Tyrel received his Weblos patch, Arrow of Light, his final activity pin (he earned all 20 pines). Make no mistake about it; this is the end result of the hard work of good Cub Scout leaders. We owe Joan Young and Linda Russell and huge “Thank You!”

2010 Starts a Bit Rickety

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:32:00 +0000

We didn’t make it very far into 2010 before we had our first event of note- an earth quake. It rattled the light fixtures at work and made most of us peer into the hallway out of curiosity and amusement, but little else thank goodness. Amy and her co-workers barely broke stride and our kids were oblivious. Tyrel had several questions revealing the hidden fact he is generally enamored with the idea of an earth quake- typical 10-year-old boy. Erin was more concerned her kindergarten teacher didn’t sound an alarm so they could practice their earth quake drill. Just to find some peace, I had Erin demonstrate several times what to do during an earth quake. She demonstrated the finer points so many times that even her 6-year-old brain deduced I was having her repeat and explain for less than genuine reasons. Oh well. Here is an article on our first unplanned excitement of the year.

FINISH IN STYLE

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:16:00 +0000

We finished out the 2009 year in grand style. Although there are certainly things that were absolutely wrong, we will list our favorite good things that ended 2009:

We celebrated Christmas as a family
Santa found the Robinson kids- they got things they needed and some of what they wanted
Nobody was sick for Christmas or New Years
I didn’t have to go into the work on Christmas
The kids witnessed their first moon dog on New Year’s Eve
Amy and Ryann got plenty of sleep New Years Eve

Now we’ll see where 2010 takes us.

We Love Dance (Or At least Erin Does)

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Last week we packed our stuff for a short trip to the high school for Erin’s dance review. I was stunned to see how many people were attending this event and would guess this event will rival most sports crowds for kids this same age.

We found a place to set up camp (with Ryann and all of her stuff we could almost outfit a Boy Scout Troop) and soon lost Tyrel to his friends sitting on the back row. I have notice he is starting to roam the neighborhoods and school halls in packs of his friends who are all too worried about how their hair looks and what shoes each other is wearing. This type of behavior has now broadened into him thinking he is too cool to sit with his own family at his sister’s dance recital. Oh boy.

The show started soon enough and Erin’s group had the second number on the program. Of this group nobody was having more fun than Erin. She smiled, danced, looked around in the audience, and even directed some of the other dancers where to be and what they needed to be doing. A good time was had by all.

G-String Waving in the Wind

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Tyrel started the school year by filling our home with the sounds of a dying cat as he practiced his violin for 5th Grade orchestra. I will publicly announce I am thankful these noises have, for the most part, gone away. We have graduated to recognizable notes and, at times, a familiar tune.

Orchestra class means a Christmas concert to showcase their skills. Let me set the scene- too many parents and families are packed into an elementary school gymnasium. Of course, each of these parents has important secrets or scoldings that inevitably build to a roaring crescendo.

The orchestra is comprised of typical 5th graders who are trying, and often failing, to look as if they are paying attention; clearly there are too many distractions about for their 5 senses. Don’t let their shirts and ties or dresses sucker you into thinking they will all behave. These kids can tumble, play sports, jump rope, and play kickball better in their Sunday dress than most adults in athletic attire.

Finally, after the temperature in the gymnasium is slightly less than percolating and the clock on the wall shows fifteen minutes late, a school official slays the racket by speaking into the microphone.

Next, the music teacher debunks for all parents the commonly used lies about violin practice that she is certain have been presented to the parents as gospel by their children. This of course includes a demonstration with a violin causing some pregnant pauses in the cadence of verbal information.

Suddenly, during a deafly quiet lull, I hear the sound of a protesting violin after it is dropped to the ground. As a parent I could not have been more proud (ha, ha) when I realize this upstaging was Tyrel.

Tyrel’s expression was priceless. Red-faced he quickly clamored to collect his music tackle. I was relieved to see Tyrel execute this retrieval flawlessly. Too late though, everyone, orchestra included, took the opportunity to ogle.

Then death. Tyrel and I must have recognized defeat in the same instant. He was, as inconspicuously as possible, giving his violin a post accident inspection. While still standing on the stage, his relief was quickly exterminated by eternal embarrassment. After checking his bridge to assure it was still straight, he looked down the neck only to recognize what he later described as “my g-string waving in the wind.” The stage lights reflected off all the strings and announced Tyrel’s violin now had bed-head.

Then a psychological poke in the eye to accentuate Tyrel’s embarrassment. Not wanting Tyrel to miss out on the performance experience, the orchestra teacher put the entire production into a holding pattern. Tyrel’s battle scarred utensil was snatched from his hands and he was left flailing in the spotlight for an eternity while a replacement instrument was retrieved from another room. I know he died a thousand deaths.

The rest of the performance went along swimmingly but was plain vanilla as far as unplanned interjections.

Several hours later I still have tears of laughter rolling down my face every time I think of Tyrel’s 15 minutes of fame. I’ll lobby the authorities for an additional 15 minute allotment as his first episode snuck up in ambush.

Max Hall, C’mon Man!

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

I reluctantly admit I didn’t get the watch the Holy War live and in color as I had hoped, but thank goodness for DVR’s. However, Tyrel and I did catch the Utah’s field goal followed by BYU’s subsequent touchdown for the win in real time. Then there were those less-than-dignified and broad stroked comments made by a team leader.

Personally, I remember thinking Hall did his teammates who would not graduate with him this year no favors as his shot across the bow would no doubt fuel an ever raging inferno. This should make for great football and something just less than war. Play on!

Then my 10-year-old son’s observation, “I thought those BYU guys were better sports than that. Is that what you were talking about?”

What was previously an abstract concept now had a real-life example. I am certain Tyrel will not soon forget this expose. My two recent conversations with Tyrel about good sportsmanship in both winning and losing are now cemented for recollection and reference whenever needed.

I attempted to answer Tyrel with some meaningful and believable explanation for the inglorious display of indiscretion, but found myself only sweating and stuttering. I didn’t study for that pop quiz and certainly looked the fool.

Max Hall, c’mon man! This is conduct I would expect from the Detroit Pistons, Terrell Owens, Dennis Rodman, or Ron Artest. The irony of the whole incident is you showed yourself to be the very thing you colored the Utes to be. I can think no more selfish gesture- your teammate’s efforts during the contest are already forgotten. Reap the whirlwind.

Ryann!

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:00:00 +0000

A Hallmark Moment

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:48:00 +0000

If you are not already aware, we have a Crayola artist living at our house. Erin owns the colossal pack of crayons, an enormous array of markers (some color 2 different colors, some blend colors, some color in patterns, some have glitter, some smell like you should be eating them, and some glow in the dark), and has colored or drawn just about every imaginable scene, animal, family member, and story her 6-year-old mind can conceive.

Our refrigerator is littered with our own collection of masterpieces. Erin’s mind is much like many minds of certified geniuses- her thoughts and ideas are crystal clear in her head but her room suffers from a lack of organization. Oh, and I forgot she is still only 6 years old. We often clean it with a shovel and rake.

I had to set the stage with all of that information so you fully understand our Hallmark moment. When you have a raging Crayola addiction that you constantly have to feed then coloring at home will not quench the fire. Erin colors at home, church, school, daycare, and in the car requiring she tote coloring utensils with her at all times. You never know when you will want to use a neon orange crayon.

Well, we reaped the obvious eventuality on Thursday when Amy started extracting freshly dried clothes from the drier. I never knew you could get such comprehensive coverage from a single neon colored crayon. Everybody lost favorite clothes in that fight, except Erin, her favorite pants were found only to have orange on the inside.

Well, Crayola contends all is not lost. Apparently WD-40 will remove crayons from clothes. We were reluctant to try until I realized we have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work we haven’t lost any more clothes than the crayon already claimed. We’ll step cautiously either way.

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Although the kids will object, Amy and I agree we just experienced the best Halloween ever. Thank goodness for baseball tournaments! On Friday and Saturday, our family packed up to leave the snow and cold in Enoch for a baseball tournament in St George’s warmth and glorious absence of wind! Due to games into late evening followed by demanding and hungry kids, we didn’t make it back in time to answer our door for Trick-o-treater’s. What could be better? All was not lost, Tyrel and Erin still collected holiday loot. The car dealers in town hosted trunk-o-treat on Friday. We were able to take Tyrel and Erin around to these places where they were given treats and even allowed to fish for other prizes.
Erin is the winner for her age group in a coloring contest here in Cedar City. After thinking about it, I don’t know that this is much of a surprise to me. Erin probably spends ¾ of her waking hours coloring and I probably spend ¾ of my waking hours reminding her clean her coloring stuff up. I will admit she has gotten better at this coloring thing as we no longer find coloring evidence on our floors left by a mystery bandit coloring clear off the page. I hope we are not the only family with a mystery coloring bandit whom the parents are never able to catch. I can’t say for certain, but I would bet I have looked that bandit in the eyes before. All joking aside, nobody was more excited about this winning venture than Erin. Amy and I couldn’t be more proud.
It seems Ryann is spending more and more time awake and eating. Most people measure time using a clock to calculate where in a 24-hour cycle they find themselves, we instead measure time from the last time Ryann ate against the next time she will need to eat. This doesn’t give us much wiggle room as far as a schedule goes and has made the planning of family activities trickier. Tyrel loves to be helpful with Ryann related details while Erin loves to be too helpful. I don’t suspect Erin’s helpfulness will expire any time soon.

Psychological Warfare

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:34:00 +0000

Ryann plans her next strategy while Erin has no idea what comes next!

It has been too long since our last entry so I will attempt to get caught up in one motion. To start, Amy is enjoying her time at home with Ryann. I think her quiet respite after Erin and Tyrel leave for school each morning is therapeutic. When school let out for UEA it was obvious Amy’s chi was disrupted after spending an entire day with Erin at home. Amy informed me it was better for her to have Erin in school with lots of work and art projects to complete. Weird, I didn’t see that coming.

I have been trying for years to teach and later impose general good behavior on Erin with little to no success. However, Sun Tzu has an apt pupil residing in our home in Ryann. She shrewdly imposes her will on Erin in rare style. You see Ryann possess the coveted anti-Erin. I have never seen someone back peddle quicker than Erin after Ryann spits up or messes her diaper. Who would have thought.

On a more serious note, Ryann completely dominates the house as well she should. We are glad to have her. I am glad she likes to sleep at night.

Finally, Tyrel is gearing up for his latest baseball tournament and basketball is gaining on him fast. he loves practices as much as the games and conintues to develop baseball skills. No doubt Tyrel and his team have come a long way in learning and playing America’s game. Now, Tyrel has played long enough that he is starting to think the game and seems to have a question per minute about different scenarios and strategies in baseball. It is good this game is so utterly engaging. Long live baseball!

6 and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (JR & Amy) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:30:00 +0000

With the addition of Ryann it offered the perfect distraction for the rest of the family. Usually the weeks, or months, leading up to Erin’s birthday include no less than 1000 questions about how many more days until her birthday. The respite from these inquiries was welcome but, thank goodness, didn’t cancel the event entirely. After watching Erin on her birthday and then later at her birthday party, I know nobody has more fun at these things than her.

For good or bad, Erin’s brief six years have been well documented with a camera. We have ample black mail material for the time in her life when she will be trying to convince a naive boy that she has been only perfect her entire life. I will continue gathering evidence until that day. Enjoy.