Bruner Boys in Court!

In the Spring of 1989 I was driving my nifty Renault LeCar (no kids, it was not a model of dinosaur, it was a French car - ok, well maybe that's the same thing...) in Provo, Utah when I turned in front of an oncoming car at a yellow light.  My car was struck and it was pretty scary for awhile.  Everyone was ok for the most part, but the car was totalled.

Because I did not yield to oncoming traffic, I was given a ticket by the officer who attended the accident.  A few months later, I was given the opportunity to appear in court.  My dad came down to Provo and went with me to court.  I can remember sitting outside the courtroom waiting with Dad.  I was pretty nervous so he said. "Hey no worries - it will probably be just like a guy behind a desk talking to us - no big deal."  A few minutes later we walked into what seemed like a scene out of Perry Mason (THERE'S showing my age!).  The judge came in with the "All rise" and I did my best to rise with my shaky knees.  My dad looked at me sheepishly and shrugged.

When our turn came we approached the bench (see Micah I did pay attention in my Law class!  Or maybe just to Perry Mason) and the judge asked me what happened.  In a shaky voice I told him.  He looked at this poor scared kid and asked me what I learned from it - I told him that I learned to be more careful - and he dismissed the charges.  WHEW!!

OK, so maybe not that interesting of a story, but today I had a bit of a deja vu.  You see back in December, Baxter had a little "issue" with the police which I won't get into here other than to say that it involved a call at 1:00am and some rather upset parents.  But ANYWAY....  two tickets (a total of more than $500) and 9 points (12 gets your license suspended) later we were a little concerned and planned to go to the courthouse.

So today we went to court together.  As we waited outside, I speculated that it might be just a guy behind a desk, but I told him I better not say that because of what happened with my dad.  Sure enough, we went in and it was not quite Perry Mason - worthy, but it was close.  After several delays, Baxter got his turn at the mic.  He was respectful, humble, and handled himself better than most 16-year-olds would.  About five minutes later we walked out with only one ticket, only $200 in fine, and only 4 points.  We gave each other a high five after we left and felt very relieved.  Baxter had already saved that much, so his debt to society was paid.

I guess I'm hoping that Baxter won't have to have the same experience with his son some years from now.  But if he does, I hope he remembers the lessons he learned and things go as well for him and his son also!  Who knows, maybe by then they'll have made a Perry Mason action movie and he'll know what in the world I am talking about!

Fallen Soldier - O'Hare

Last Friday night, Baxter and I were sitting in O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.  He was leaving for his prom date in Virginia (see Emma's blog - http://familiabruner.blogspot.com/) and I was accompanying him to the gate.  Baxter returned from the bathroom to tell me that there were several fire engines with their lights flashing visible from another part of the airport.  Since his plane was delayed, we went over to check it out.  I was worried that it might be some kind of problem or concern with an aircraft.

We stood and watched with some others for a few minutes and finally someone closeby explained that there was a fallen soldier returning to the US on a plane.  We saw the Honor Guard below on the ground, and also saw a large group of firefighters.  We figured the soldier must have been a firefighter as a civilian, and they were coming to honor their fallen brother.

After waiting for awhile, finally the plane arrived.  The fire engines gave the plane a great welcome.

As we watched, a crowd gathered around us and many people asked the same questions - what was going on?  As it was explained, a respectful hush fell over the crowd.

We watched as they unloaded a large wooden box

Then they opened the box and carefully placed a flag over the coffin.

The honor guard then came and placed the coffin on a specialized luggage cart, which then took the hero on his final journey towards home.

As you know, I spend a lot of time in airports, especially in O'Hare.  There is always hustle and bustle and people are generally focused on getting from one gate to another, or getting where they need to go.  To see so many people stop, quietly watch, and then quietly disperse, was a touching experience.  I don't know who the young soldier was, but I'm grateful for his service and that Baxter and I could appreciate his ultimate sacrifice.

Tamales

Some time ago Emma purchased some tamales from a friend who was selling them as a fund raiser.  Last night as we were contemplating what to do for dinner, she got a call letting us know that the tamales would be delivered tonight - woo hoo!  So Emma said, "I know what we're going to have for dinner - tamales!"

Cassie looked at her strangely and said, "We're going to Molly's for dinner?"

It took me a few minutes, but when I got it, I laughed hard.  Of course Ben added to it by asking if they would taste anything like Hot Tamales (the candy).  He was disappointed to learn that no, that was not the case.

Ah kids....

Chariots of Fire

Yesterday we were having a meeting at Church and I looked out the window and saw one of our Primary kids throwing around a football. I couldn't believe that I had the opportunity to use one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies.



"Do you know what day it is?"

"Sunday"

"The Sabbath's not a day for playing football is it?"

CLASSIC!!

It reminded me of a time we were at some sort of outdoor event at a park and someone fell ill. My dad was asked to find a doctor. He stood up and said,

"Is there a doctor in the house?"

Actually, that would have been REALLY cool if he would have said that - I mean how many times to you get to stay stuff like that? But instead my dad says,

"Are there any medical personnel on the premises?"

Really Dad? Come on! Chances like these don't come around every day - you gotta grab 'em while you can!

I have failed as a parent...

So the other day we were looking at a preview online to the Star Wars in Concert coming to Milwaukee in July. I had gathered my kids around to watch the nifty little video. However, I knew that I needed to re-evaluate my parenting experience when, upon seeing Han Solo on the screen, one of my daughters said, "Who is that?"

Ouch.

As my boys would say, Epic Fail.

So I decided to remedy the problem by having them watch the original movies. Just to be clear, they have seen Episodes 1-2 (3 was a little rough for them at their age when it first came out), and are big fans of the Clone Wars series (which, by the way, is great fun if you don't try to compare it too much to the movies) so I'm not a total failure. But still.

The classic moment came when Star Wars A New Hope (the one that started it all) started, the awesome beginning scene with the massive Star Destroyer taking over Princess Leia's ship. Then as the door burns down and we see all of the stormtroopers appear through the door, I overheard Cassie say,

"Wait - I thought they were the GOOD guys!"

As the Emperor would say, "your failure is complete...."

You might be a Band Geek...

OK so Ben had his Fall Concert Tuesday night (no bishopric meetings for me!) and tonight is Baxter's concert. I realized how much of a band geek I was when I realized that I actually look forward to going to these concerts! OK, I'm sure you're saying it's just because they are my kids and there is no doubt that has something to do with it. But the truth is I enjoy band music, and even if they are young musicians and not that great, it's fun (for me) to listen to. So yes, I am a Band Geek.

I googled "You might be a band geek if.." and found some lists, but I thought y'all could help me make our own. Like my first one is:

If you can figure out what instrument people play based on their personalities... you might be a Band Geek!

So what else do you have??? And keep it clean people - my kids read this!

The Balance of the Universe is shifting!

You may have felt the balance of the universe shift this morning. Because for the first time, Emma now has to get up earlier than I do! As many of you know, Emma is teaching Early Morning Seminary this year and today was the first day of school and seminary. Although Emma getting up earlier than I has happened before, this will be the longest string of this occurence in recorded history.

All joking aside, Emma is really excited about this calling and working with the awesome youth in our ward (at least the part she gets to teach - we have more in another class across town). And I have to say I'm really proud of her - she will do a great job I'm sure.

This was a great article in the Deseret News recently about Early Morning Seminary students - check it out!

http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/elia_gourgouris/?id=10389