Trip to Mount St. Helens!

I've always been captured by Mount St. Helens. It's majestic to look at but awe-inspiring to consider the power it contains!



I went to St. Helens the first time when I was 9. I went again after my mission with my geology class but fog covered the entire mountain and not once did I get to see it.

So we were so glad on Memorial Day that the weather was so nice for our family trip! Sterling had been watching countless St. Helens documentaries with me on YouTube.

In all her glory! You can see how the North Side is gone, though in the last 29 years, there's been a little build up!

Sterling had a good time!
Hyrum definitely added some new words to his vocabulary like, "mountain" and "volcano" and "pyroclastic flow." OK, OK, I made the last one up!
Mommy, pulling a Michael Jackson on our child and holding him over the railing! Not really, but it'd be quite the drop!

We were at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. This is the official national park observatory but it costs $8 per adult, the video they show isn't as good as it used to be and the learning areas haven't changed since I can remember. Next time, we'll just go to the lookout right next to it (free) and then go to the free visitor's center run by Weyerhaeuser (and someone else).

I think one of the highlights of the Johnston Ridge Observatory was watching Hyrum jump up and down on the little seismograph machine they had here. It was cute since he can't jump with both feet very well yet. Here's the video:



One more picture I thought was cute: Sterling with the volcano in the reflection of his glasses!

Here's the aforementioned free visitor's center:


Sterling was a great Eagle:

And I think Hyrum wanted to claw the inside of the claw!
The boys even had a chance to take a "ride" in a helicopter:


This photo just blows my mind. Hyrum looks like he's 14 or something. He's so skinny looking in this picture.

Of course, on the ride home, Hyrum kicked the bucket:

Hyrum falling asleep took about half the noise away, leaving me to just take in the wonderful scenery...

So I've been in 29 of the 48 continental states. And I swear Washington is the prettiest state around. Downside: to make things so green, we must receive excessive rain. But that's another story.

Just in case we hadn't done enough for one day, we got a couple of the $5 pizzas from Little Caesar's and ate them in the park.

Is it just me or is the best part of these the burnt cheese at the crust:

And, since it was a wild and crazy day (but oh so sweet), I figured I'd put one last picture of Sterling being wild and crazy (but oh so sweet).

- Brandon

Changing the A/C.

So, my father is a very knowledgeable car guy... I mean, my dad REALLY knows about cars. He teaches it. He has his own textbook:

So, growing up, he fixed all our cars for us. And I never had to worry about it. So I didn't learn a thing. It wasn't until I got married and Sarah knew how to change the oil in our car and I didn't have a clue that I figured I should learn a thing or two.

Trust, me, I've gotten better.

And yet...

It's inevitable that I need my dad's help. So, here's a guy who has seen it all. But he usually ends up seeing the worst stuff ever when helping me.

Yesterday, we worked on Sarah's van. The A/C just hasn't been working right. I didn't even have a clue that the van has a cabin filter that's hiding in the depths of the van. I mean, you have to access it through the back of the glove compartment.

Before we pulled my own cabin filters out, my dad showed me what my mom's cabin filter looked like that he had just changed. It looked like a dirty air filter.

Example of a clean one and dirty one, side-by-side:


And then there were my cabin filters (well, Sarah's):

Yep, they really are that bad!!!

Those darned trees in North Carolina :)!
So, yeah, I know what you're thinking: pretty pathetic. My dad thought so. He put them in a bag to keep and show his students. I said "Dad, is there any chance you can at least leave my name out of it?" His response: "Not a big chance."

- Brandon

Little sister's wedding!

My little sister Brittney, with whom I had an awesome relationship growing up, got married! Her husband Paul is a great guy. I am happy that she is happy!

Here are the pics...
They were married in a huge Romanian Pentecostal Church.

I haven't been to a whole lot of weddings. I always thought the bride and groom weren't supposed to see each other until she walked down the aisle. But Brittney and Paul took pictures all morning and then showed up in this pretty fly car.
Paul is the one on the right, shaking hands. The shorter one that is on the far right! OK, I'm just kidding :)! Yes, he's the taller one.

Waiting for things to begin. That's my brother right in front of me.

Dad and Sister walking the aisle. I was already crying at this part. She looked so beautious.

During the ceremony. This was one of the singers. The singer I really liked was the one who sang Bette Middler... with a Romanian accent!

Quite possibly the goofiest guy in the whole world... along with my sister and the pastor! Ha! I'm so funny! Actually, I'm talking about the pastor. He was one goofy dude.

At the dinner table at the reception later.

At the reception, I was booted from my first table and went to the second table. Then I was booted from that one and ended up eating with my Romanian friends... the three on the right and then the one on the far left were a few of the folks at my table. They were very nice.

- Brandon

My three sons

So, I was looking at a picture of Hyrum as a baby on the wall and thought it would be fun to do a baby picture comparison!

This is Sterling still in the hospital.

Here is Hyrum about four weeks old.

And here is Jonah, taken today, almost four weeks.

Do you like how they all have the same scowl? That is the Chapman Brow! If you push down on their forehead it gets way more pronounced. Anyway, I think there is a definite family resemblance. Aren't they so handsome?

The case of the yellow baby

(Jonah not really enjoying a flash in the face.)

So, two weeks later I finally have some answers to why Jonah was under such high intensity lights so soon and why the pediatrician was so worried.

When I went in for my original prenatal lab work they discovered I have an antibody in my blood that I'd never heard of before. It must have developed when I delivered Hyrum, which was why he was so jaundiced, but wasn't detected. I was told that my particular antibody was not usually an issue and we didn't need to do anything about it. So, before Jonah was born they did some more lab work and found I had developed another antibody. They are developed when the babies blood crosses into my blood.

Ok, so, because of my antibodies the pediatrician did a bilirubin test as early as possible as well as what is called a Coombs test. Jonah was Coombs positive, which meant that my blood had crossed into the babies blood as well and was piggybacking on his red blood cells and causing them to rupture. The liver then has to filter out the ruptured RBCs and it can't do it fast enough, causing a high bilirubin count. The ruptured RBCs are what causes jaundice anyway, but having my antibodies attacking his blood cells made it so his bili levels would spike fast, and high bili levels can lead to brain damage.

Therefore, the need for the heavy-duty, super intensity lights. I am really grateful that it was possible. I admit that I really wanted to go home and didn't understand the importance of why they were keeping us, but now I finally do. It was hard to be torn between home and the hospital. Brandon did a fantastic job with Sterling and Hyrum and my wonderful parents helped out incredibly, but little boys need their mama and I was in the hospital. Whereas, the baby needed me and I couldn't be away from him either. It was really hard on me. But, we all survived and we are all home and doing great.

You can kind of tell how yellow Jonah is here.

Jonah's two week appointment was today and he is growing like a weed. He is 9 lbs 8 oz and 21.5 inches. Good Golly!

One of the rare moments Hyrum is being sweet. My two-year-old is definitely two.

And life still keeps going. Sterling's kindergarten screening was today :( and Hyrum had a temp of 106 yesterday, but has recovered fully today, and who knows what tomorrow will bring!! But we'll take it. Whatever comes will only help us draw closer to our Heavenly Father, so bring it on!

I'll find a picture of Sterling to post. Oh, yeah, no one believes Hyrum is ours. I can't tell you how many people assume I am babysitting him!

Present "for my wife."

Hey, this is Brandon again...

So, since my wife was so great during this pregancy that was so hard, I did a very romantic thing and bought her a...

Nothing says I love you quite like a Wii Fit :)! OK, OK, I can already hear you old biddies complaining... "Well, if he was my husband..." Well, I'm NOT! So I got my wife something I knew she would like, albeit not the typical gift from a well-wishing husband.

See, Sarah likes Yoga. And she can't always get around to doing it. But this might help. And, if you read her Tipping the scales post, you know she wants to drop all that baby weight. She's got a pretty decent self-image, so she can joke and be self-deprecating about her size.

For the first pregnancy with Sterling, we took the "Big Butt" song and changed the lyrics to "Big Gut" and that was her theme song.

With this one, it was the Moto Moto song from Madagascar 2 movie:


And it wasn't just the song... we also said the parts "Girl... you're huge!" The following video doesn't seem to have video... just a still frame. Still, the stuff Moto Moto says is what Sarah and I both have said when talking about her.

Anyway, as you may have guessed, Sterling has taken an extreme interest in the Wii. In fact, I told him he could play the other day. I went in to have him turn it off after half hour and he had added about 20 Wii characters. He couldn't spell any of their names correctly but their features were correct. He even got the little black boy from school.

He's got a mean upper-cut. I'm not kidding, when we play, we beats me. So I don't play with him.
His left jab is unparalleled in the annals of history. Mike Tyson, here comes Sterling ("He's the best, he's the greatest, he's gonna' eat your children, praise Allah." What a psycho that man is).
This wasn't a look of curiosity. He was actually made at me for getting in his head while he was playing... "Doh... you threw off my groove!"

Anyway, I'm a self-proclaimed good husband, yes, but my wife says so, too. So if you have any problems with my less-than-sensitive birthing gift, I don't care :).

- Brandon

Baby Jonah is born!

Our precious Jonah Matthew has finally joined us!

He was born on Tuesday, April 28th at 10:22 p.m. PDT.

He was 9.01 pounds. No, not 9 pounds, 1 ounce... 9 pounds and .01 ounces!

He was 20.5 inches long.

And Sarah is no longer the size of a mini-van.

OK, OK, for what everyone really wants in this post...

This was Jonah about 10 minutes after being born.
He wasn't so sure about all the mayhem.
He started calming down when Daddy started talking to him. What joy filled my soul :-|. That means when he starts crying in the middle of the night, I might be, by default, forced to be the one to sooth him (somewhere, Mom is saying "oh, yeah, right!").
Lookin' downright hot after pushing a nine-pound baby out of her vagina. Hmm... I think I might have just said that to get on her good side for a) taking a picture in this situation, and b) posting it on the Internet for everyone to see.

This was Day 2. Yes, as you can tell from the picture, we were in Lower Level Room 19. And yes, I am wearing my Centralia Tigers shirt with pride (I don't know why).
Sterling, on Day 2, showin' a little love for his baby brother. He's been great. And really, Hyrum has been great, too! At first, he seemed a little hesitant, but since Sterling is his hero and Sterling has been so great, Hyrum watches him and follows his lead. If big brother is OK with the baby, he'll be OK with the baby, too!
Here's ShMo! (She's the administrative assistant for our Chief Operating Officer... Her name is Maureen, but everyone at work calls her Mo... except for me... I call her Shmo. And in the morning, we saying "ShMorning!"). Anyway, she came to the hospital bearing gifts.
Our friends' little daughter Gabi.
Same friends. Their son Parker. And apparently Jonah is in a coma.
Sweet baby.
The only downer about the whole thing was that Jonah should have been released on Thursday morning. Instead, because his bilirubin levels were too high, he had to go in the tanning chamber.
It's pretty funky what the lights do to the camera!
When he was under the tanning lights, he had one of those very classy face masks that is supposed to protect the child's eyes but ends up moving around anyway. So, when we took him out (this picture was from Friday around lunchtime), his color had improved but underneath where the face mask was, it was still very yellow!
For the first couple days, he wouldn't open his eyes for nothing. He started to try a little more on Friday but was definitely favoring his left eye!
This morning. Sorry it has taken so long to post these. A baby in and of itself is a whirlwind tour. When you have two other kids to worry about, the blog is not top priority. Throw on top of that that my little sister was married yesterday (we'll do that story in a subsequent post) and it was certainly a busy, busy week.

- Brandon