Family Picture - Finally

First day of school & belated posting of a birthday

Ethan excited for the 1st day of school with McKenna offering her support.

McKenna celebrating her birthday.

Trip to the hospital

Funny how life is sometimes. One minute you're speaking to your wife on the telephone and the next minute you're calling her to calm her fears as you're racing to the emergency room. Oh, yes. This somewhat grown-up boy seems to be allergic to bee stings. I really don't know if a bee stung me. I just simply brushed a bug off my face because it was underneath my glasses. It was my employees that noticed the dark-red rash that covered my whole body in less than five minutes and the bloodshot eyes... and the slightly, oh very slightly, swollen face.

It was a curious feeling to drive to the hospital itching like a mad man and hoping that nothing really bad would happen. The hospital immediately rushed me in. The front desk receptionist had a hard time entering everything in the computer (while checking me in) as she kept looking up to stare at me. The nice nurses said I looked like a lobster with bumps all over my body. Immediately as I undressed from the shirt up, the word 'whoa' exited both their mouths.

Funny things is... I had no breathing problems whatsoever. The medicine that they gave me worked almost immediately. The nurses and doctor could tell right away that everything was working perfectly. They were all very nice and I believe I got in and out of the hospital in under 3 hours. Those that helped me there were very professional and nice. The doctor, Dr. Kyle (a wonderful woman), was very expert. I couldn't have asked for a better staff at Shady Grove Hospital.

I can't believe how blessed I am to only work 1/2 a block from the hospital. I got there in under a minute. Heaven knows what could have happened if I lived very far away. It appears I still have work to do here on this earth... some unfinished business that needs attending. You can count on the fact that I'm a little more aware of things. Good things. The best things.

Good night. It was a long day. I love you all.

Kids say the darndest things

Ok. Here we were rolling down the street heading to the park to kick start our Memorial day weekend and Ethan was complaining that we weren't going to the park he wanted to go to. To this McKenna immediately responded, "Well you can just stay in the car then."

I guess she's heard us tell Ethan that way too much. Needless to say we laughed all the way to the park.

Just any old day

Well, it's been too long since the last post and I was just banging on the keyboard when I remembered that our little family has a blog. Let me catch you up on a few items of importance... Brody (me) is now a teacher in our church primary. I team teach with fellow teacher John Gish, so I really only have to prepare a lesson every other week. Talk about easy living. Jana has been called as primary president. Let's just say she is very busy. As organized as she is, the primary has never been better. I've had many people comment that the new primary presidency is a "powerhouse." Ethan has finally learned that if he is good in school, he gets privileges at home. It only took him 110 school days to figure that out. Go figure. McKenna is as cute as ever and loves walking around the house in her plastic toy highheels. She's such a girly girl. I've managed to totally turn her into daddy's little girl much to the dismay of Jana. Sorry honey, she's just too dang cute.

Jana's brother Tyler and his wife Erin just gave birth to Gavin - the cutest kid west of the Mississippi. Our heartfelt love and congratulations go out to you two. Being parents is the best experience of this life.

...And we're very jealous of how beautiful your blog is compared to ours. ;-)

Well it's been forever since I've updated this so here goes. I have been called to be first counselor in the Elder's Quorum on top of my other four callings in the ward. I'm slowly giving the other ones away, but it's slow going. Work is going ok as we just went through a massive re-organization and things are just starting to pan out.

Jana is still second counselor with the Young Women and luckily avoided going to girl's camp this year. Whew. She is trying to tame the wild son and enjoy the sweet daughter in what we call home. Father's day is coming up, so she's probably busy coming up with something...

Ethan is finishing pre-school this week and will be beginning kindergarten this fall. He's so excited that he can't help but be on "red" in school. We're trying very hard to remind him he has to stay on "green" or else. He's enjoyed his first year of tee-ball and flag football. He's in sports bananza and really liked playing soccer like his daddy when he was a kiddo.

McKenna is beginning to understand how to duke it out with Ethan and things are getting interesting in the sibling rivalry. McKenna's new name for Ethan is Ba and we haven't figured out why because she speaks words pretty good nowadays. She is so precious and takes gorgeous photos spontaneously. What a joy. She's the perfect balance to Ethan.

Fourth of July 2006

Well, we decided that we would travel down to DC and participate in the festivities surrounding the 4th of July. The two towns represented this year were Alberta, Canada and Chicago, IL. Jana and I have just begun a new diet, so although the food looked great... we did not partake :). So we let the kiddos enjoy the food and participate in the activities.

We let McKenna down on the grass for the first time and although hesistant at first, she soon got the hang of it. It was hard for daddy to stay ahead of her fast crawl to remove any of "nature's items" McKenna thought should belong in her mouth.

We also participated in a 4th of July breakfast put on by the church at the Olsen's farm just north of Frederick, MD. We had no idea how big the festivity would be. We had a Maryland Senator and representative of the House there along with Fort Detrick's general. They all spoke to our stake to give us a little history about the Constitution and what's currently happening in the state of Maryland surrounding our civil liberties. There was also a veteran of each major war all the way back the Korean war. It was quite a celebration. The food was the best as everybody brought the tastiest, most patriotic breakfast foods we could all think of. Needless to say, Jana and I took a day off our diet. (I think I added all the pounds I had been losing!)

Ethan's favorite activity that morning was the rope swing.

One thing we did learn is that the 4th of July rocks out here on the east coast! We were even able to light off a few of our own fireworks since this is the first state that we've lived in where fireworks are not illegal. What a great holiday for the Becks!