Forty

A new decade. A LOT of change lately. My 40th year has been full of happiness and sprinkled with sadness. Many of the bigger events having happened in the last week. Here’s an overview, with pictures after that.

• My sister, Harmony Gwenivere Rasmusson Moody, passed away a week ago at the all too young age of 34. Her memorial/funeral was yesterday, on my 40th birthday. It was wonderful to be with family and to celebrate her life, but of course, sad as well.
• My Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in January. He was given several months to live. As of right now the chemotherapy has been very effective and his tumors (in his lungs, stomach and pancreas) have shrunk. We keep praying.
• My grandfather passed away in January (Donald Emmons Cook).
• My aunt Robin was recently diagnosed with stage 4b lung cancer and has weeks to live (found that out two hours ago).
• I was called as a Webelos leader but still continued to serve as a high councilor. I was then released from both and called as Elders Quorum President.
• Katrina finally figured out what was making her skin itch for months and months. She has Dermatitis Herpatformis, which basically means she has an allergic reaction to gluten. So no gluten for her. Sads. 🙁
• I finished the woodshop. It’s fully functional and rather glorious.
• We had a rock wall built in our yard and the trampoline is in-ground now. We moved the sprinklers and are working on landscaping everything.
• I quit my job at the LDS Church, even though it has been wonderful, to pursue a position with O.C. Tanner. I start there as a Data Architect in two weeks.
• Katrina and I both turned 40 and we celebrated 18 years of marriage.
• YouTube continues to grow, with 190,000 subscribers and several new videos.
• 3D Printing is becoming a regular hobby for me. I now have three 3D Printers (two that function) and have barely started a 3D printing channel to keep my home improvement projects separate.
• We had a fun trip to WA state for our 2018 family reunion.
• I got my first cortizone shot in my left big toe, to fend off the pain from what will eventually require surgery (it’s hereditary).
• I hit 200 lbs for the first time in my life and promptly put the kibosh on that, getting back down to 182, where I’m much more comfortable.

OK, now for some photos. Lots of them. And they’re not in order. Sorry.

Stairs in the shop, to the 2nd floor where the wood is keptAddie turns 13! Two teens in the house now.Le Shop.Fun with Indy and TenzinDaddy daughter hike with Miss AaniAva turns 8 and gets baptized!“Don’t worry, honey. We can fit it all in the 23-year-old Tacoma.” That’s our entire basement bathroom in one load.There she is in all her glory. The completed woodshop. I still would like to paint it but we’ll see if I get to that.
Me and m’boy. He’s as tall as me now.Webelos! These are our awesome scouts. From L-R: Gabe Marriott, Trevor Sabey, Griffin Faamausili, Johnny Lambert, Isaac Matthews and Traycen Xoumpumphackdy.The making of the Ocean deskHeart attack on my 40th birthdayMeeting The King of Random with Anders and CadeAnother field fire by our house. This one burnt down some fence panels in neighbors’ yards but that’s it.3D Printed Mount Timpanogos TempleYoung Men In Black – Anders and XanAddie getting her tunes on in OrchestraSledding with the cousinsI got a lathe!We removed all of the builders basic carpet from our great room, hallway and entry and replaced it with new flooring.Addie helping me wire up the outlets in the shop.Stockton returns!Just getting the doors upThis was taken in the middle of the rock wall project. They basically made a road in the yard and built from there.At the family reunion in Port Townsend, Washington.Katrina chased Anders down and embarrassed him until he cracked while he was marching. This was the Saratoga Springs Parade.Block party 2018 was a hit. New slide, great turnout and great fun.Heart attack on the garage door.We did some touristy stuff in California while Anders was with the band marching in the Rose Parade.My first peg board.Me and my dear ol’ Dad. Taken a day before he went in for his first chemo treatment. Had to preserve memories of his glorious head of hair.The finished Ocean Desk.Shop just after getting it wrapped.Cornbelly’s in the fall.Lots of family came over to see my Dad when we found out about his cancer.First print on the Tevo Tornado. Sadly, it failed. It’s an uphill battle sometimes.Electricity in the shop! We ran a 60 amp line to the shop and set it up with its own panel. So far so good!During the messy transition from garage to shop. Glad that phase is over.A heart breaking photo of the huge hole in the side of my 2015 Honda Accord engine block. It threw a rod, which set me back a pretty penny.PIP!Marching Thunder at the band festival in St. George.The trampoline goes in! Katrina and I built this retaining wall around the legs and then buried it.My current 3D Printer setup – a Tevo Tornado and a Kreate It dual extruder printer.Christmas 2017My grandpa passed away in January. He was a brilliant engineer and always building. This was a porthole window for his 45 foot boat in his front yard. We found his “Donald Cook was here” message to be a good reminder since he had recently passed away.I’ve been flying my DJI Spark a lot and one day I lost it when the battery ran out. After six prayers and three separate searches, the girls and I found it, safe and sound.We put together a portfolio off-site at the MTC in the fall. We thought it would be fun to all retake our mission photos, even if it was 22 years later.The shop after getting the first light connected.Easter egg hunt with the York and Luly crew.Hanging out under the trampolineMy 3D printed LRN2DIY logo using wood filamentChrist 2017 – the nativity playLa bufadora in MexicoWe made a LOT of wheelbarrow trips to spread the lava rock out on the terraces.This guy turned 15!Visiting with Grandma Cook in June.InsulatedThe beautiful fall colorsThe 45 minute trampoline hole dig.Mmmmmmmm, corn.Horseback riding in MexicoThe wall with some vegetation on topOne day we hired about 8 young boys to come plant our plants, help with the lava rock and more. We paid them $10/hr each and they did well. Worth every penny.Naughty Pip. Diggin up our planter box flowers.This is the pile of playground mulch we removed from the yard.It’s buried!

Addie plays the viola in orchestra. Aani plays the violin in orchestra. They had some great performances this year.

Our rock wall is in! Idn’t it glorious!?

Progress on the shop. There are lots of shop photos because it was an ordeal to get it finished but I won’t be captioning all of them. Anders in Marching Band for the Westlake Marching ThunderA fun shimmy somewhere near St. George My first time playing Bunko. Lots of friends from the hood.Aani in the Christmas Carol play with her classAva, our little tumblerThanksgiving with Nana and GrandParFun with Tenzin and Indy in CaliforniaI had a training a few days after Katrina’s 40th birthday so we went on a short cruise for three days before with some friends from work. I regret not having a real party for her since 40 is a big one. That means that 50 had better be amazing.
We discovered some new favorite desserts. Chocolate lava cake and creme brulé. Mmmmmm. I love those.Katrina turns 40! (not sure what’s up with the coat but I’m sure it was cold at Kathy’s house) My Webelos! It was a short lived stint (several months) but it was a lot of fun actually. We have some great 10-year-olds in our ward. Isn’t she lovely?This happened. We finally finished the basement bathroom, just in time for York and Luly and fam to come stay in our basement for a few days. I’m happy with how it came out and we now have 3.5 bathrooms, which is pretty wonderful. We are blessed.While York was here, he couldn’t help but serve so he put up a backsplash for us. What a guy. Randy was kind enough to help as well.The permit!We had a pretty great stay in Park City for our 18th anniversary. Stayed in a little studio hotel room and made breakfast. We lauffed it.So I got a new (to me) car. 2015 Honda Accord EX-L. It was a salvage title due to some water damage but it was in excellent shape and had only 40k miles. More on that in a minute.My three callings.Aani participated in Hope of America this year. We mostly dread Hope of America but it honestly wasn’t as bad this year.I broke my toe playing basketball.A surprise 34th birthday party for Gwen at our place. She had fun.
Aani turns 11.The process of removing the tons of playground mulch from our backyard and replacing it with grass. Lots of new sprinklers and sprinkler lines. We just barely hydroseeded. Let it grow.Stadium of Fire! One Republic performed, so that was cool.I tried Butter Beer for the first time (at only $2.50/bottle) and I’m a fan.So is stormtrooper Ava. That’s a 3D printed storm trooper helmet that I’m working on.Anders summited King’s Peak, which was a trial for him. Also, his iPhone broke completely and his Apple Watch broke completely as well. He was not pleased.The Teacher’s Quorum had a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 30 Days so I decided to try it too. I’m currently a day behind due to the funeral yesterday but I’m in Mormon, so almost done.Stockton came home from his mission in Salvador, Brazil!