The Utah Donbroskys

Tough Days

2011-01-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

Well, on top of being homesick already during the holidays of 2010, on Wednesday, December 29th, my Grandpa Donbrosky passed away. He was 3 weeks shy of his 91st birthday. It is hard to imagine him not with us any more, as he has been there my entire life. I know miss him extraordinarily. As my sister Martha said on her blog, I know he has gone on to a better place, of that I am sure, and he has been reunited with his wife, Martha [yes, my sister's namesake].
I too remember him with a cigar always protruding from his lips. I also always remember him with a baseball cap on [just as he is pictured in his obiturary picture].
He was a giant of a man in my life, as is his son, my father. I have nothing but great memories of my times with him, of our trips to Michigan and the many Christmases spent there. I don't know if it is accurate, but I seem to remember that whenever we went up there, it was snowing. Always a white Christmas. I think that made it stand out even more in my mind, because it was so magical. We don't often get white Christmases in Virginia where I grew up.
I know this is extremely hard on my father. I cannot even begin to describe the depth of emotion within me right now as I ache for my dad.

Uh oh . . .

2009-09-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can tell, it has been nearly 3 months since my last post. Time is just a flyin' my friends. Well the kids did go back to school last week. We are terrible parents who did not take any pictures of Devin on his first day!

We did however take a few of Lauryn. She had absolutely no fear going in there. She wanted Heather to just leave her alone so she could get on with the learning. Heather said it was funny to see, and there were some kids who were definitely not ready to make the leap.

I do have a picture of Devin with Larry Gelwix. Who you ask? The movie, "Forever Strong" is based around him. He is the volunteer coach of the Highland High rugby team. He has been there for 34 years and only last 9 games, while amassing something like 19 national championships. I guess they didn't really play for the national championship in some of those years.

Boy oh boy, I really feel like a failure though. I wanted to do at least 1 update on here every month, and I thought this would be my September entry. Then I realized that I already missed July and August!

Yikes!

2009-06-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

Man time flies way too fast. Everytime I turn around, another month passes, and I realize how terrible I am at updating my blog. Just not a whole lot of time I guess.

So, last night, Heather was watching some recorded American Idols and they had Kiss on to sing one of the songs. Heather asked a general question, which was not really directed at anyone in

particular. "How old are those guys?" she queried. Devin, immediately offered up his opinion, "I don't know, probably 30."

Now that will make you feel really old in a hurry. We proceeded to have a history lesson, and explained the fact that they had to at least be in their 50s or 60s. Then we licked our wounds and went to bed at 9:30PM. Just kidding, we stayed up til at least 10.

Okay, there's an update for you . . . and here are a couple of pictures to tide you over.

An Untimely Update

2009-05-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I was sitting here a minute ago, and Martha said "I thought you were going to keep your blog more updated."
My response: "Well, the last blog I started had only one entry, so anything more than that is 'more updated', right?"

With that said, here is a little update from the Utah Donbrosky neck of the woods. The kids continue to do well. Brenan is just growing up and learning to not put up with his brother and sister if they give him a hard time. He's "support" walking a little bit now, so I'm sure he'll be progressing toward the full on stroll pretty soon.
Devin is closing in on the completion of his 4th grade year. He is doing really well in school, and once he starts reading it's hard to get him to stop. But, sometimes we do struggle to get him "started". The other night he saw a member of our ward, and their little girl who had pierced ears. She is probably about a year old. Devin walked up to the father and asked, "are those fake". He found out they were real and replied, "she's a bit young for that don't you think?" The father thought that was really funny, as did all of us.

Lauryn, she's just all girl and full of sass and spunk. And boy does she have an imagination; one can get lost in there. She's always playing with her stuffed animals and giving them names and doing all sorts of things that girls do.

Okay, there's an update for now. I'll post some pictures next time.

Easter Greetings

2009-04-14T10:19:00.001-07:00

Okay, so Easter has come and gone. The kids all received new easter clothes. This picture was taken right after church, and Brenan fell asleep on the way home.

When I finally made it home from church, we hid the baskets and some eggs, and Devin and Lauryn were on the hunt. Brenan is still too little to search for the basket, but had a lot of fun looking at the colored eggs, and shaking the plastic ones that had jelly beans and such in them.

A Walk on the Moon . . .

2009-04-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

And Mars for that matter. As a family, we recently went to visit the Clark Planetarium at the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. We saw the movie, "Under the Sea 3D" which was pretty entertaining, as narrated by Jim Carey.

I have to admit, my eyes are not made for 3D. I always have a difficult time watching, and found myself closing one eye, or taking the 3D glasses off quite often. It was pretty funny to watch the kids in the audience, including Lauryn, continually reaching out in front of them to see if they could "catch any fish".

After that, we did some exploring, and the kids, Devin and Lauryn got a chance to walk on the moon. As you can see, they are "moving in slow motion".
They then decided to see what life was like on Mars. They didn't seem quite as enthused to be further away from planet Earth. Maybe it was because the temperature was warmer . . . we may never know.Meanwhile, Brenan was more than happy to keep his stroller wheels firmly planted on Terra firma. I don't think he thought it was a big deal. Ain't he so cute?

Full Crawl

2009-03-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

Brenan is officially crawling. He started about a week ago actually [I've been a slacker]. Now we are constantly on defense, watching to make sure he's not headed for the stairs or some other peril. Gone are the days of sitting him in one spot and finding him there 10 minutes later. But, he is a much happier child now that he has gained some "independence".Of course, all of that crawling tends to wear him out. As is typical of a little child, they don't understand the great blessing that sleep is.

I'm not really sure what Devin was looking at in this photo, but he was really interested in it. He was also so handsome that I thought I'd share the pic.

Then there is Lauryn. Man is she sassy! She packs quite a bit of "attitude" into her daily activities. It is amazing to see the difference in personalities between boys and girls. We wouldn't trade her for anything.

Cute Kids

2009-03-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

A few new pictures. Brenan was sitting in his seat, and Lauryn decided she wanted to be in the pictures I was taking of him. It was fun to see them together, being goofy and funny, or at least Lauryn was. Brenan, was just happy to be there I think.

Lauryn continues to love pre-school, and she definitely has a routine when it comes to leaving. I get to pick her up everyday and take her over to grandma's house. We always have to go by the fish tank so she can say goodbye to the fish. Then, as we walk to the car, she loves to have me hold her hand as she walks along the edge of the curb. It is so cute, and it's one of those simple joys in life. I know it won't be long before I look back and long for these days again . . . come to think of it, I already do.

On Your Mark . . .

2009-02-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Get Set. Go! Brenan is starting to become pretty mobile. Of course, right now he isn't fully "crawling" on all fours. He's pretty much adopted an army crawl, using his arms and his legs, but staying really close to the ground.We think it is adorable, and he is pretty happy with himself and is even more happy since he is able to move around on his own.
He is also starting to talk and write his name which we thought was pretty good for his tender age of 8 months. Okay, I am just kidding about that last sentence. But his algebra is getting better.
He is getting really good with his fine motor skills [picking up small pieces of baby food, etc]. It is fun to see the curiosity that just exudes from children.
Well, I leave you with a few photos . . . until next time.

What About Me?

2009-02-17T06:12:00.000-08:00

Well, the kids have had the past few days off of school [yesterday and today]. So it got me thinking about those days of yore. Man I miss those. Especially when you go from New Year's day to Memorial day without a single company holiday. This is one area where I think a lot of other countries have it right.
I mean, most of us work our fingers to the bone, day in and day out, and for what? Most of the rest of the world already thinks we're lazy overweight Americans. Working ourselves to death for the past 50 years hasn't yielded any different results. So, here I am, petitioning for a few extra holidays per year. At least 4, to fill in the gaps between New Years and Memorial Day and then between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

Okay, now on to the family. Devin's been running around with our camera, making videos about nothing [could he be the next Jerry Seinfeld?]. But, he's having a lot of fun, and really cracking himself up. Brennan is just continuing to grow and learn. It is so fun to see how interested he is in just about everything, except sleeping. He's usually very upset when it comes to that time of day, where you know he needs it, his body knows he needs it, but he's just too curious to let himself "drift away" into sleep.

Lauryn is her sassy little self. She is great. We love to listen to her sing and use her imagination when she doesn't know anyone is listening. She keeps us going, and has no problem sticking up for herself [thanks to a couple years of Devin trying to wrestle]. Well, gotta run for now . . .

Christmas In February

2009-02-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, so these pictures are only a month and a half late. I am trying to catch up here. Thought these were pretty cute. Brenan was all decked out and ready to help Santa make the rounds. Lauryn performing in her pre-school Christmas presentation. Sorry its a little blurry, but it was hard to catch them standing still. For the final picture, we thought we'd make use of Brenan as a baby, and having an older brother and sister. If you couldn't quite tell, this is our version of the Nativity scene.

Smooth Jazz

2009-02-04T06:14:00.001-08:00

On January 24th, Heather, Devin and I had a chance to go the Utah Jazz game in Salt Lake City. Devin's aunt Samantha and Uncle Jeff had won a raffle that included an opportunity for Devin to be an honorary ballboy or "courtside kid".

Devin would later reflect back and say that it "wasn't quite what I expected". He had been really positive, and more than one of us had built it up in his mind that he would probably be wiping up the sweat off the court and be out there during the game.

Needless to say, we were only "courtside" until the game started. Then we headed to our assigned seats up in nosebleed. But, I enjoyed it a lot, and I am sure that Devin and Heather did as well; largely overinflated food prices aside.

Okay, let's get started.

2009-02-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Well, for those of you that know me, or more specifically, know my history, you know that I've started a blog or two in the past. I'm making a committment to stick with this one. It will be about the comings and goings of the Utah Donbrosky's. Hence, the title.
Right now I plan to update the blog at least once per week. I originally thought of using a Barack Obama background, but realized that it didn't really fit me.

This is a picture of our family. From left to right, Matthew, Lauryn, Devin, Heather and Brenan.