Grandpa Sprouse

K. SPROUSE 1923~2007

Harold 'Kelly' Sprouse, age 84, passed away December 1, 2007

Harold “Kelly” Sprouse, age 84, of Roosevelt, passed away peacefully at his home December 1, 2007. He was born October 2, 1923 in Roosevelt, the firstborn son of Harry A. and Helen Winters Sprouse.

After high school graduation he worked in an airplane factory until he enlisted in the US Army where he served overseas. After World War II he married Gwen Case December 29, 1947 in the Manti LDS Temple. They were married 60 years. They have five children.

He was a long-time member of the American Legion and enjoyed talking about his war experiences. Kelly was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings including High Councilor, Counselor in the Bishopric, and High Priest Group Leader. He served many years as scout master and was instrumental in the lives of many young men. He and his wife Gwen served Temple Missions in Provo, Vernal and Atlanta, Georgia.

Kelly always had a joke and was a good father and neighbor. He spent a great amount of time in the service of his fellow men, including coaching Little League Baseball and 40 years of service for the Roosevelt Fire Department, some of that time as Fire Chief. He retired from the US Postal Service after 34 years as a Rural Letter Carrier. After retiring he owned and operated Sprouse Insurance.

He is survived by his wife, Gwen, of Roosevelt; five children, Susan (Ralph) Dart, Vernal; Shelley (Larry) Nielsen, Roosevelt; Laurie (Steve) Ames, Altonah; Tom (Mohea) Sprouse, Roosevelt; and Keith (Lori) Sprouse, Vernal; 25 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren. He is also survived by a brother, Don (Mary) Sprouse, of Sandy and sister, Betty Jo Hanson, of Salt Lake City.

He was preceded in death by parents, a granddaughter, Lacey Ames, and faithful dog, Brown Eyes.

Goodbye grandpa, you will be missed.

Recap

So I haven't posted in awhile. The last month was really busy. Here are some pictures from my trip to Chicago. I know, I know, I have way too many pictures of my nieces and nephews, but hey are just too adorable for words.



I went to the Art Institute for a whole afternoon by myself. I really loved it. They featured Jasper Johns Gray pieces. Previously, I wasn't a big Jasper Johns fan but I have to say I was impressed with his pieces. We also went to the contemporary art museum but I cannot say the same for it. Yikes!


The gigantic silver bean thing was fun to take pictures at.


The three Dart Boys. They are expecting another little brother in January!

I wonder if these little girls...

will turn out anything like these girls?

Olivia was my little red headed elf. She is even sweeter than she looks.

This one wasn't feeling well that day. Can you tell?

Time for Turkey

I'm off to the windy city for a week of turkey, art galleries, and family. Please take care of my husband as I will have left him for the second week this year. He has to be at the hospital on Thanksgiving so if anyone wants to drop him off some turkey, I would be more than grateful.

I get to stay with these munchkins. Can you blame me for leaving?

Cutie Pies

This is an old photo but it is one of my favorites. Olivia and Brynli courtesy of the family Francom.

Loving Fall Time

Last week I pulled into our condo parking lot behind our house. As I made the corner to a spot I stared in amazement at the large beautiful tree that stood fifteen yards away. It seemed to have every color of the fall spectrum in it and I was particularly suprised that it still had so many leaves on it considering most leaves in the neighborhood had already fallen. Green was still vividly shown on the inner branches. The outside had the brightest colors of pink, orange, and yellow. There was even a touch of brown lining the top where the cold had left its mark. As the sun set the light was particularly dramatic on this tree, and I sat in my car starring listening to music thinking what a remarkable image I was taking in.

Just then a grey something hanging from the medal fence that was ten feet in front of me caught my attention. There is a small gated area for pet owners to take their animals to do their business. The grey bag hung there clinging to something. The shape quickly revealed the curves of a huge dog turd laying inside. Someone left their giant turd bag hanging on the fence.

Favorite Show

Right now my favorite show on television is Pushing Daisies. After every show I just want to hug my television/computer screen and thank it for the happiness it's given me. Everyone should watch it because it is so visually appealing. The narrator rhymes sometimes, and Chuck and Ned are the best couple ever considering they can't touch each other or she will die.
And I may have a crush on Ned. (above) I mean who wouldn't?

PS. I hate Grey's Anatomy and no one should watch it.

Not very exciting

Things are pretty uneventful at our house right now. Brent is finishing his surgical rotation today and takes his surgical test tomorrow. On Monday he starts pediatrics at Primary Childrens Hospital. I know that he is looking forward to working with an abundance of sick children. He just loves children and constantly asks me if I will give in to his requests to have a baby. I just tell him that he will just have to wait until I am not such a career driven women changing the world for good on a daily basis.
I've been keeping busy with school and work. I've been trying to get in shape but I don't think it is doing anything for my physique because I have subsantially increased my icecream intake to counteract my efforts.
Halloween was yesterday and it felt like it didn't even happen. Brent went to sleep early and I volunteered to work at Banana because they needed some help. (If anyone is interested, Banana just got new things in today and there is a heap load of womens items on sale. At Trolley there is so much in the back that if you don't find your size in something in the sale section, ask if they have it in the back. There is a good chance it could be there. Trolley has an over-abundance of sale because the traffic is down because of the construction going on around.)
That is how uneventful things are... the most I have to say is concerning the retail store I work occasionally at nights. I'll try and do something cool soon so I can be a better blogger.

Happy Birthday Riley Lincoln Dart!

My little brudder is 14 today! He is growing up so fast. Watch out all you girls at the vernal stake dances, a true heartbreaker just entered the scene!
Some of my favorite things about Riley are:
He always has a positive attitude.
He is super chill.
He doesn't mind that I tease him a lot.
He loves animals and always has since he was very little.
He knows an amazing amount of information concerning dinasours and other creatures of the wild.
He wants to be a falconeer (yes that is someone that has a large leather glove and trains birds of prey)
He wanted us to help him dig a big hole in the yard to house his shark for his zoo when he was little.
He loves our dog Chance, also known as Dog, more than anyone else.
He has an athletes metabolism (inside joke).
He shot a badger awhile back from point blank range after my dad dug it out with is back hoe. For those of you who aren't familiar with shooting this is hard to do with a long gun because you have to line it up quickly. (You might think that because he shot the badger that he doesn't love animals. This is not true. We have to kill badgers because they ruin farm ground.)
He was the cutest baby in the whole world.
The cutest baby in the whole world didn't crawl. He scooted around by sitting on his bum and bending one leg in and then pushing off with an arm and his other leg. This way he could get around and still hold things in one hand. He was quite fast and drew a lot of attention.
He keeps my parents busy.
He doesn't demand a lot of attention and is very low maintenance.
He tans much easier than me.
He lets me boss him around like a big sister should do.
He always tries to do the right thing in whatever he does.
His life made a big impact on me at an impressionable age.
He is the best little brother anyone could ask for!

I love you Riley. Happy Birthday!

Starting to miss my husband

Right now Brent is in his surgical rotation which is probably the most time intensive rotation yet. I don't like to complain about Brent being in med school because we are through a big chunk and things won't be bad for much longer. Plus, Brent is the one that is probably exhausted with his work schedule being so long.
But I am starting to miss seeing him. Here is an example of the current week:
Monday he gets up at 4am and gives me a kiss before he leaves. I get up later at 7 and go to work for the day. When I return home after 5 he isn't home yet. I have to work at Banana at 8 so I think that I will probably get to see him for a couple of hours. He comes home a little after six and we eat supper. He promptly wants to cuddle on the couch (his word for laying on top of me and cutting off all oxygen supply). He falls asleep on me at seven and is totally out and deservingly so, he just spent 14 hours on his feet. I slip out from underneath him and go to work until midnight. When I return home his is still out and wakes four hours later to leave on Tuesday.
Tuesdays I have school so I leave straight from work to head to class that is from 6 to 10. When I get home Brent is again asleep and probably has been asleep for some time. I snuggle up to him and give him a kiss goodnight.
Wednesday. Brent gets up at 5 this morning and leaves for the hospital. I head to work. He has to stay at the hospital all night tonight so I guess that it is good that I have to work at Banana again tonight. Tomorrow I look forward to having the evening off to be with Brent. He will get home tomorrow afternoon which is nice but he will be sleep deprived from staying up most of the night, and will likely sleep a majority of the evening.
Total time spent together awake in four days: One hour.
It will get better. Three more weeks and he is on to Pediatrics which shouldn't be quite as demanding.

King of Kong

Brent and I went to the best movie last weekend and I recommend it to anyone.
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is an absolute riot. I was laughing out loud many times. It's documentary on the world champion Donkey Kong player, Billy, and the drama that insues when a guy named Steve threatens his title.
Catch it at The Broadway while it's there.
To see a preview go to: http://www.apple.com/trailers/picturehouse/kingofkong/trailer/

Cutting the cords

Since I have worked in the University of Utah Art and Art History Department for over a year now I have consistenly found a disturbing trend. Parents who call in for their kids. It drives me crazy. You would think that this doesn't happen very often. Wrong... it happens all the time. I want to say to these parents, "Why can't your child call in for themselves?" or "Your child obviously is serious about college since they are having their MOM call in for them." It's even worse when their mom comes in with them to their advising appointment.

Am I wrong to think that college age students are a little too old to have thier parents call in or even come in to be advised of their college education?

I guess that a certain instance made me independant at a young age. I remember in fourth grade when the big 'Maturation' talk was given and all the parents were invited to come. My mom told me that she couldn't come. She worked full time as a teacher so I kind of understood. I'll admit that I was a tad bit sad when the meeting was about to start and I was the only girl without a parent. I told the teacher that no one was coming and so she made me sit in the back of the room so there was room for all the parents. Just after it started my mom showed up and I was relieved. Then all too soon, as the lady in the video poured pancake batter in the shape of ovaries and explained how menstral cycles worked, I wished that I had never even asked her to come at all. I don't think I ever asked her to come to a school event again.

Aren't these kids who's parents call in embarrassed that they need their mom to hold their hand and keep tabs on them? Don't they feel like they like they are watching the maturation video with their mom all over again?

The Swell

Brent and I went to the swell with some friends a few weeks ago.




We were completely beat the next week because we are out of shape (and I didn't even stick around for the second day hike).

It was a good last trip for Brent now that he is spending most of time in hospitals through the fall. It was also good to see Andrew who we hardly saw this summer because he doesn't like to hang out with his married friends anymore (hee hee). Thanks for the invite, Andrew. We had a lot of fun.

Cecret Lake

Since I have been neglecting the blog for sometime, I thought that I would post some pictures of recent events.
Here are some pictures of our jaunt to Cecret lake. It was a great evening. Plus there was a sweet couple up there that were courting each other by taking a many photos of themselves. Then they would look at the pictures they took and say how cool the pictures were. They would then take more photos of themselves kissing, hugging, posing, etc.

I know I keep putting on pictures of babies but.........

my sister Katrina is a mom again. This makes three and she is already as cute as the two other girls. Amelia McPheters was born last saturday. She was shorter and heavier than her sisters, and I think she is mostly carrying her weight in her cheeks.
Congratulations guys!

More Myrtle Beach

Here are some more Myrtle Beach photos of the cute nieces and nephews.






I really love these kids. Aren't they gorgeous?

School Days Gone By

So Brent's mom always took pictures of him on the first day of school. Well now I take a pictures of Brent on his first day of school. Here are the pictures from the last two years.
1st Year


2nd Year


What can I say? The camera loves him.
I share these because Brent is all finished with school work. He is now in his rotations so he can't go to school in shorts and a t-shirt anymore. Also Brent got his board scores back on Wednesday! He did extremely well and I am so proud of him. All his hard work paid off and he got a great score! He can now be free to choose whatever kind of doctor he wants to be. Three Cheers for Brent!!!

Sorry, but I thought this was funny.

Al Sharpton: Don’t Call Beyonce No Roboho



The Reverend Al Sharpton is pretty well-known for stirring up civil rights drama. And he’s at it again. This time he’s targeting TMZ, calling them racist and sexist.

The incident that has Sharpton all fired up involves the word “roboho.” Apparently they ran picture of Beyonce Knowles in a robotic outfit and labeled it “roboho.” And that was enough to get Al’s panties in a bunch.
"Calling any woman a “ho” is demeaning. It is intolerable to think that TMZ would find humor in calling Beyonce - someone who symbolizes the strength of Black women - a “Roboho,” and they should be denounced by the entire community for glorifying the continued oppression of women with this derogatory term.”

The rebuttal? TMZ says that it’s being blown way out of proportion and that Al needs to settle down. “Please note that we called Beyonce’s performance outfit “roboho” not Ms. Knowles herself. One need not know a celebrity personally to have an opinion on their wardrobe. Joan Rivers created an entire industry based on this fact.”

And TMZ pointed out that they’re an equal opportunity offender. “As to accusations that our comment was racially motivated, in the past TMZ referred to Posh Spice, as “poshtitute,” Hulk Hogan’s daughter a “working girl” and called Lindsay Lohan’s trashy ensemble a “HO-rror.” Even Kid Rock got a humorous “ho” reference, and last we checked, he was neither Black nor a woman.”

My man

Not only is he the hottest cowboy around, Brent finished his boards last Thursday and also turned 28!
Congratulations and a Happy Birthday to my #1 Stud.

Myrtle Beach

Like a good wife I left Brent and flew off to Myrtle Beach with my family for nine days so Brent could concentrate on studying for his boards.
I forgot my camera but here are a few pictures courtesy of my sister-in-law Holly.


This is my sad face because I miss Brent so much.

Cute Ava playing in the sand.

Ava, Kaela, and Bryce.

The Darts who are now moving to North Carolina for Ryan's new job.

Everyone in our family was there except Brent. Sad.
It was fun to see my nephew Roman who I had never seen before and all the other cute kiddies as well. The beach and the weather was fabulous. I recommend it to anyone who would like an east coast beach vacation.

Sweaty mess

So we took a trip with some friends to Escalante this weekend and it was quite the adventure.



I have to say that this was the coolest repel I've ever done (not that I have done a lot of repels). I wish that we could have gotten pictures on the way down. It was amazing!

What a great husband! He carried me over so I wouldn't get my shoes wet.



Hey ladies! How cute is that? Contact Brent in order to pursue a romantic relationship with this strong yet sensitive future doctor.


Jason had a hard time maneuvering through the tight slot canyon with such large bulging muscles.

We had a really great fun-filled trip and it was so good to be with old friends. Thanks Richard, Jason, Steve, and Scott for coming along for the ride. Brent and I would have died in the desert without you and the volcano. (and Jason, please throw away those nasty Double Crosses!)