Goodbye, for now

One of the greatest men in my life has gone on to a greater call. E Taylor Petersen, better known as Pa-Ta, passed away after a battle with cancer. My family that was with him says he passed away peacefully, and we all know he has been waiting to get on with it--he hated being waited on, hated the hospital visits and feared that he would be remembered as a sick man. I know I won't remember him that way.

He's the first person ever close to me to go. Even though he's had cancer for quite a while, I think this came kind of suddenly for all of us. Grandpa was only in his 70s--I think 76 or so. His dad was much older. And I hope my grandma gets on well. I can't imagine what she's going through. They've been married over fifty years. What do you do when you lose your life-long partner? Go on knowing that you'll see them again...

I know my grandpa was a great man. I've seen posts on facebook of my aunt mentioning how he's been sick and she's taken frequent visits up to see him. Every time she posts anything about him, she gets at least ten different responses of condolences and memories of how great it was to know Taylor Petersen and what a great bishop he was or how good it was to have been in one of his institute classes.

And look at my grandpa's legacy. He's got five amazing kids who all have their own amazing kids and grandkids. There really is no bad apple in our family. Of course we've had problems, but everyone is doing genuinly well because of the great leadership we've been shown. And it's not only family that grandpa has influenced. He's led an amazing life:

He served in the Air Force for many years and in Korea. He taught the gospel there.

When he retired from the military, he taught for CES and was an institute director at Cal State Northridge, Harvard, NAU and in Hawaii. He taught the gospel.

Then he and my grandma served an amazing mission in Hawaii after he retired from CES. He taught the gospel.

Finally, they settled in Hurricane having visitors from literally around the world wanting to learn from grandpa and feel the love he and grandma have for EVERYONE.

I think I knew him well. Not great, but well. I only regret not learning more from him. I could have learned so much more.

Anyway, as a side note, I have to honor my sister. She's a great person. If you know her, you're lucky. If you don't, you have to understand that she usually does things a little differently (not in a bad way). She does things because she wants to, not because she feels pressured to or people expect it from her. So, when she surprised everyone with the middle name of her first boy (born on the 24th of this month), I knew she was paying great respect to my grandpa. She named him Kai Taylor Odenbrett. Thanks Desiree. I know that meant a lot to them and all of us.

Please, no more!

Beware: I will hold no emotion back and will stop typing when I feel like it (this may be loooooong). I need to get some things off my chest. Stop reading now if you think I never complain or if you would like to remain in a good mood!

So, I know it's been a couple days since I took THE test. THE TEST. And Oh my goodness. Lots of words come to mind to describe it. I won't describe it. But there are a few things that can help you understand what I went through (if you care).

First, I hope I passed. Not merely for the fact that it would feel good to know that I am smart enough to have passed. But I NEVER want to go through that again. I don't want to study for it again and I DON'T want sit in that room for two hours getting the crap kicked out of me ever again.

Second, when I walked to the car, Mike mentioned how I didn't look too happy. No, I was NOT happy.

Third, I wish people had not told me that it was an easy test. They took history, not social studies. They had NO idea what Social Studies was like. I don't know if I really would have studied any more, but I just don't want someone telling me they thought the test was easy.

Fourth, the test was NOT EASY! I think I would have to agree with all the other people out there that believe that Social Studies is the hardest test. You have to know everything about everything. For example (this is the only question I will share-and it's not verbatim): In which lobe does the brain register the sense of touch? If you're wondering what that has to do with Social Studies, like I was, it's part of the pyschology section. Everything about everything.

Fifth, I don't think I could have studied any more. How do you study for everything about everything? And it just might have made my brain explode.

Sixth, the study material made by the same company that administers the test is crap. I used the book to study from--study ALOT--and I also took the practice exam provided. I did well and felt good while taking that practice test. The practice test was NOTHING like the real thing.

Seventh, I'm not particularly fond of people telling me that they are sure I will do well. Even if I end up passing, you have no idea if I did well. You weren't there and you have no idea what, and how many, questions I guessed on. Now, I am not angry with ANYONE who has already said that to me. I appreciate the vote of confidence you have shown in me. But, I don't know how to respond without getting emotional.

Eighth, I felt really stupid commenting about how difficult it was to my attorney bro-in-law. Of course the bar exam is SO much more difficult. I don't deny that. I just don't think I was mentally and emotionally prepared for how difficult this was going to be for me.

Ninth, if I don't pass, I will be emotional. You have been warned.

Lastly (ten is a good round number), please don't tell me how you don't study for tests and do well on them anyway. And if you or someone you know took the praxis more than once, please keep that information to yourself. Thank you.

Woops. Sorry, I thought of another one (I'm not a numbers person anyway!) Eleventh, I take everything in life right now and apply it to some concept I studied. I can't take it anymore. I want Social Studies out of my life right now. But, when it's everything about everything, I don't think that will happen... Oh, and I even had a(nother) dream about the exam and the results last night. I just hope I passed.

Epilogue: Thank you to anyone willing to bear with me through this. I hope this will be a thing of the past very shortly.

Post-Epilogue: If you're wondering, I should get the results near the end of August. Be prepared for (an emotional) notification of how I did...

Have you ever seen the rain...

Comin down on a sunny day?

Mike and I went to Idaho Falls this last weekend so Mike could go camping with some high school friends at Rigby Lake. It was a nice weekend and the weather there was beautiful. AND I got to play tennis with his parents and sister.

Anywho, we left on Sunday and noticed a couple rain/stormy clouds that we might have to go through. Five minutes after we got on the freeway we were in the middle of the heaviest rain I have EVER seen. In a 75 mph speed limit zone we were going 35, because of rain. And it went from bad to worse. I had to turn my wiper blades on full blast, but soon noticed that the driver blade was SLIDING OFF!!! It got about five inches out, so I had to sit as tall as I could to see out...

The rain only lasted ten or fifteen minutes, and we decided to stop in Blackfoot (about 30 min out of IF) to get wiper blades at Wally World. We make our selection and go out to replace them. The passenger blade snapped on fine. The driver one not so much. We considered exchanging it, but wanted to be on our way so we left thinking we wouldn't need to use the wipers again. And we didn't, until we reached Pleasant Grove (about 20 min from home). It started to rain, and the new wipers were working good and my window was spotless. Until I heard a *whack* against the car. I thought we hit something, but there was nothing in the road. *Whack* again. And again. Oh shoot!!! My entire blade is coming off! And before I could do anything productive, it went into the middle of traffic. (I think it went straight down and didn't hit anyone's car--if it did, I am SO sorry!!!)

Needless to say, we went to Walmart in Lindon and splurged the extra two dollars to get a better quality of blade for the driver side. And we made sure it fit securely before leaving.

As per Steve's advice, I think we'll be purchasing new blades every year... Oh, and Steve, we did see some "lightening" during the rain storm... (HA!)

PICTURES!!!

Here's some pics, almost three weeks after the fact. At least they're here!!!

Matias Van Ragnar Heckaman


I'm not sure if they call him Matias or Van, but I know they're not fans of Mat.


Great Grandma and Pa-Ta with the Heckaman kiddos.


The girls are such GREAT and WONDERFUL big sisters!!!


Grandma LOVES her babies!!!


Totally off topic, and I know this is gross, but I bruise REALLY badly!!! I fell on my door frame of my car, really not as bad as it looks, at the beginning of May. I can still see remnents of this bruise on my leg. And it swelled really bad too. It was gross. But, I have to post a picture as proof that there's something wrong with my blood and because it looks like a super nova. Really, look it up!

So sad

After being so saddened at the lack of posts of some blogs, I decided I shouldn't be the source of others' sadness. So I will post. (did that sentence make sense...?)

The latest news is the birth of my brother's third child. He was born June 17th at around 12:45 in the morning. I've been delaying posting about it because I want to include a picture, but I have not yet received any digital copies of the little man. Anyway, they named him Matias Van Ragnar Heckaman. It's a mouthful, but a well-meaning name. You'll need to go to the source (Dan) to find out what the name means. Baby and mother were doing so spectacular that they were able to leave the hospital sometime in the mid afternoon on the same day. Which was good because I was able, luckily, to hitch a ride with my other brother down to St George to be there when they all came home. And, he looks just like Vienna--a Heckaman to be sure! So fun!!!

Desiree's is still due sometime in July--she's received three or four different possible delivery dates. But I'm sure he'll be just as cute and fun! I just hope he doesn't get too old before Mike and I can go and see him!

And, my praxis test is still on so I am studying hard. Blech. Sometimes I get worried, and other times I think it will be fine. Just another month and we'll see just how prepared I am...