Loss of A Great Man

     On Monday March 19th my Uncle Mark Walburger (My Mom's brother) went out to do his morning chores like he had done thousands of times before, but this time he wouldnt finish. As he was about to start his morning routine, he was struck with a massive heart attack and passed away. This was a shock to many who knew him well. He was a very healthy and active man, so for him to have a heart attack, it was a shock to everyone. He was 71 years old. This may seem old to some, but when you take into account that Uncle Mark was playing in the family softball tournament just last year with us (And Ripping it up), its hard to believe that he would not be with us now active as ever. I loved paying ball with my Uncle Mark, he was great ball player growing up and he had a love for the game. I am starting to understand why I love softball so much----It runs in the family! This summer will be so different and sad without having Uncle Mark there playing and cheering us on in the family tournament. I am sure he will be looking for a game to be a part of in the next life. He was very close to my mom, and helped her greatly during her divorce and trials that she was going through during that time.

     Every year Uncle Mark would have a new "Walburger" hat for the family to wear in the family softball tournament. My kids always looked forward to see what new hat they would get during the family tournament. Uncle Mark was very proud of his family, and loved being apart of our "Walburger" team. After I had time to think about Uncle Mark passing away, I wanted to find a way that I could pay tribute to him for the great man that he has been to me and my family. I thought it would be a great idea to take one of the hats he made and have all the family sign it and give it to his family.

     As we went through the line at the family viewing, Uncle Mark's son Kenric took one look at the hat and tears came to his eyes. He said "I was doing ok till I saw that dang hat". He knew how important Uncle Mark was to us, and he appreciated the sentiment. Kenric thought it would be a great idea for us to put the hat in the casket with Uncle Mark, and I agreed that this was a great way to keep our love with Uncle Mark. As I placed the hat with Uncle mark tears filled my eyes, and I thought of all the great things that this man had done for my mom and our family. He will be greatly missed.

 
     
     The funeral was sad, but the speakers did a great job in paying tribute to the great man that Uncle Mark was. I was able to give the family Prayer before the funeral began, and act as a pallbearer for my Uncle. I was honored to be a part of this day. My Mom did the biography, and she did a great job in telling about Uncle Mark's life, and some funny stories about him growing up. Kenric and Allan (Mark's sons) gave great talks on the things that Uncle Mark taught them as they were growing up. Honesty, hard work, dedication, and love for the gospel were all things that they were taught by there father. What a great man to look up to and pattern your life after.

     I know this blog post will not do justice to the great man that my Uncle Mark was and how great the speakers were at the funeral. I hope those that read this just get the point that I loved this man greatly, and will miss him for many years to come. I hope that he will be able to take the time to look down on me every now and then when I am playing the game that he loved......Softball.

Thanks Uncle Mark.
   

Farmer Haydn

     Haydn loves to go out to his friend Kade Powelson's house. The last time he went out there he was able to feed a baby calf, and he loved it! I love it when he goes out there, cause I know he wont be just sitting around the house playing video games. They are always outside running around the farm. When he came home he said he wanted to live on a farm.

     I grew up on a farm, and the one thing that I loved was the open spaces. Its great for the kids to be able to get out and make their own fun, and not rely on video games and toys. BUT lets be honest, I was not one for the farm work. hahaha. Anyone who knows me, I am far from a farm boy. If anyone asks me though, I have always said that I loved growing up in the open space of the farm.

     I hope that my kids will want to be outside playing rather than being in playing video games. Not that I do not ever play video games, but if they had a choice I would hope that they would want to be outside making their own fun.

Haydn and Great Grandma Fromm

Grandma Fromm and a Little Magic

     Kristi's family on her Fromm side is HUGE! So Grandma Fromm has many grandkids and great grandkids to visit with and love (12 kids in the family will do this). For some reason Haydn and his Great Grandma Fromm have a really special relationship. Great Grandma Fromm has always seemed to have a special place in her heart for Haydn. I think it is because she loves Haydn's big eyes. haha. Everytime we go to Raymond to visit, she cant stop talking about how much she loves his eyes. This picture was taken from our last visit to Raymond on March 12, 2012. In our last visit she told Haydn that she hopes that she can be around till he is 17 to make sure that he is still a good boy. He promised her that he would be, so I am going to hold him to that promise.

     Now for a little bit of Magic! The Cardston Junior High school has been trying to focus on how to make the students aware of the bullying problems in our school. We have been doing a few things within the school to help the students want to make a difference in our school and stand up to bullying. In our last attempt, we had Richard Young a magician who has an anti-bullying performance come to town. We had all the students go down to the movie theater and listen to his advice and watch some of his talents in magic. The Message was great and the students really seemed to listen and get into the performance.

My Confusion with what to
do with the strap.

     I was called up on stage to help with one of the tricks. Me and one of the students had to help put a straight jacket on the magician, so he could try to escape from it. We latched up his back and then we latched up his arms so he could not move. BUT, then he asked me to do up the strap that was hanging down in the ........Crotchal area....hahaha. I was not sure if he was serious, and all the students could see how confused I was, and we all started to have a good laugh. Then the magician started to rock his hips back and forth so the strap would fling in behind him. Again, everyone was laughing and I quickly realized that I was going to have to do this....haha.

Finally I take the plunge and
go for it.....Hahaha

   

     It was a good time, and the students had a great laugh.....at my expense...haha. I don't think my face had been that red in a long time. The Magician said he was going to be out of the straight jacket in 60 seconds and I was suppose to time him and give him a count down when he was within 10 seconds. He quickly got his arms loose and I started the count down, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.....he then said ah the heck with it, and tore the straight jacket off and revealed it was just put together with velcro.



   

Wynder Spring Training
2012

Sports = Life

     I have often wondered how and why Parents get so worked up over the sports that there kids play. Many times I have said to myself while watching parents, "take it easy, its just a game". I am slowly starting to understand why parents get so involved in the sports of their kids. My 9 year old son Haydn loves to play sports and he participates in a number of different activities in town. Even though he is only 9, I find myself wanting him to do the best he can at every sport that he does. My competitive nature takes over and it drives me to try to help him learn the games better than I ever did when I was his age.

Champs Basketball

   
     People say that some dads try to relive their glory days through their sons, BUT I don't think this is always the case. I honestly just want my sons to succeed, and I think it just has to do with the fact that you want the best for the ones that you love. I want Haydn, Brody, and Tyson to be better than I ever was at any sport and I want to help them do what every brings them happiness. I even gave Brody the O-K to play soccer this year, because he really wanted to play. This will make sense to those of you who know me and my feelings about soccer. Honestly, I have never been a big fan of the game of soccer, but if Brody wants to play.....he can......Well, at least until he has to choose between Baseball and Soccer, BUT we will cross that bridge when it happens.

Brody getting in some practice
cuts.

     This will be interesting having 3 boys to raise. I know that growing up with 4 older brothers made for some pretty competitive games on the courts and ball feilds of Hillspring Alberta..haha I think this made us better at the games we were playing though, so hopefully my boys will have the friendly games between each other to make them better at the sports they play. Time will tell..haha.

Tyson wants a chance to practice
too.

     While we were up in Spruce Grove we got some family pictures done by TJ Aneca. They are not done yet but she sent us a few to look at and here a few pictures of the boys......WOW, I have good looking kids!!!!

Haydn at his very first Cub Car Rally

Cub Car Rally

     Haydn has been looking forward to this day for about a month now. He has been excited to take part in his very first Cub Car Rally. We had a great time building his car together. I tried to make sure that he did as much as he could on his own car. We saw a few cars at the rally that looked like the Dads had put about 98% of the work into and the cub about 2%. I really wanted Haydn to feel like he had built the car himself from start to finish.

Haydn's car on the far right
with the Flames.

   
     The Cub Car Rally involved both of the Stakes in Cardston, so there were a lot of kids there to participate in the event. They had the Church divided into 10 different stations that the kids could use there cub cars in. There was a sling shot, obstacle course, car golf, road rules, jumps, car bowling, car shuffle board, the regular ramp, and food for the kids. Kristi is Haydn's Cub leader, so she was in charge of taking the kids around and making sure they were participating in all the events. Haydn's group had the sling shot event 2nd, and this was probably a good one to have last. The cars were being slung across the gym and some were crashing into the walls, so some of the cars were breaking. luckily Haydn's car held up and made it through the event. With all the Cubs there the leaders did a great job in the organization of such a big event between the two stakes.

     Haydn was happy with his Cub Car and was given a little trophy at the end of the day that he could put his cub car on top of. This way he can keep it and remember his first Cub Car Rally.......Ya, thats all he needs, more stuff to collect in his room......My son is a Hoarder..haha.

I Love Big Red Toes

     I will start off with a story that I wish I had a picture of. If I had a picture this story would be sooooo much better. I had just got to school and one of my students run in the room and says, "Mr. Wynder, some kid has stuck his tongue to the hand rail outside and he is stuck!" I quickly ran outside with her, and sure enough there was a kindergartener with his tongue frozen and stuck to the hand rail. It was like "A Christmas Story" all over again (for those of you who know the movie, will get that). So I ran back into my room and grabbed a cup of warm water and came out to the kid. I looked down at his tongue which was bleeding by this point, and poured the warm water down onto it. His tongue slowly peeled of the metal rail and he was free from his 10 minute tongue prison, and without a word of "thanks" he was off like a shot. I was happy to help, and I know its bad, but the first thing I though of was that I should have taken a picture for my blog. Im bad, I know. BUT, the kicker in this part is who the kid was.....It was Nathan Smith's little boy. If you don't get the connection, I work with Nathan at the Junior High, so he was happy that I was able to help his boy keep his tongue. That next day I was told that some of the kids were saying "It was so scary until Mr. Wynder came, and saved the day". So I am kind of a big deal around here.

Brody helping Kristi make some
Home made soup.

     So, if that was not enough excitement for one morning. Right before my 1st period was about to start all my students started to gather around one of my windows and they were looking at the house across the street. One of the students said, "Mr. Wynder, some kid is going to kill his dog over here!" SO I went to the window and I saw a kid who was about 3 or 4 years old holding his little Chihuahua dog up in the air using his leash. The boy would then proceed to throw how dog into the bush right next to his house and then quickly lift him out again using the leash. So the kids in class would say, "Mr. Wynder you need to do something". Now anyone who knows me, knows that I am not much of a pet lover so fro me to go and do something should tell you how bad this kid was treating this dog. I grabbed my coat, went outside and walked across the street to the boy. He saw me and quickly made a break for the door dragging the dog behind him. I said, "Thats not a good way to treat you dog buddy", and he look and went in the house. I did knock and talk to his mom, and she made it sound like this was not the first time. Poor dog, probably just dreads it every time that kid goes near him. As I walked back to the school, I could see the class in the window sheering for me, and I raised my hands in victory. "Only you can prevent animal cruelty...well at least from 3 year olds". All that happened before school had even started for the day, so I knew that it was going to be a great day. I saved a kids tongue, and a dog from being choked to death and left in the bushes. Hahaha. oh, I mean that poor tongue and dog.

Tyson wanted to help make the
Soup as well.

Hockey Night in Cardston

     The hockey season is coming close to and end. I only have 2 more games in the Men's Rec Hockey here in Cardston. It has been a fun season playing here in town. Its good hockey, but it does not get too serious, which is good for me. This is just my 3rd year playing goal, so it has been a learning experience. I have played hockey for a long time, but just in the last few years there has been a shortage of goalies here in town. I have a friend in Edmonton who has played goal all his life and he had some equipment that he just gave me. So I decided to change and play goal. I love it, I have bought my own pads and mask - - So I think I am now a full time goalie.

New to the Goalie game, but doing a little
Better each time.

Registrations for Baseball are out and Softball is almost here! so this will be a busy year. I will be coaching Brody on his Coach Pitch team and I will also be coaching Haydn in his first year moving up to Minors. I hope that he does well and loves it, but it will be a big change to go from the coach pitching to having other kids pitch. So I will be coaching Brody on Mondays and Wednesdays and then coaching Haydn on Tuesdays and Thursdays....and then playing Softball in Lethbridge on Fridays. So May and June will be Crazy. Oh ya, and I run the whole Little League, so finding Umps, getting out uniforms and equipment, scheduling games, and organizing diamonds. YA CRAZY. Haha

First one in the Locker Room

Brody, Koji, Haydn, Kaz, and Takai
watching a Hockey game at West Ed.

Post game snack at about Midnight

Me and my Buddy Takai

 E-Town or Bust

     As soon as school was done on friday, we packed up and jumped in the van and headed to Edmonton for the time that me and the kids had off from school. It is GREAT being a school teacher, there always seems to be some kind of holiday from school. The drive was as great as it possible can be with 3 kids in the van bored out of their minds stuck in rush hour on Deerfoot in Calgary. We really needed to plan ahead about when to roll through Calgary. For some reason Kristi and I have been blessed with the only kids in the entire world that NEVER sleep in a car at anytime. My kids absolutely never fall asleep when we drive anywhere. It could be early in the morning or in the middle of the night, either way, they are staying awake and yipping and yapping the entire ride. Even Tyson our youngest decided to only nap for about 1/2 hour in our 5 hour drive. Thats a long time to keep a 18 month old happy in a van. Lets just say Tyson loves Skittles, cause that was the only thing keeping him happy.

      We always stay with Ryan and Brandi Harris when we go to Edmonton. We have been making this trip for years, and it is always a good time had by all. As soon as the kids arrived they were into their costumes having a good time with Ryan and Brandi's kids (Koji, Takai, and Kaz). Its great because the kids play together and they are not just glued to the TV or playing video games. They were upstairs playing with the toys or making up some game with their costumes. Its good to see the kids using their imaginations and not relying on technology to make the fun for them.

     So most of the time when we are up in Edmonton we have no plans and are just in hang out mode. BUT this has changed a little in the last year or so. Kristi's sister Tracy and brother Barry both moved up to Edmonton, and my brother lives in Edmonton as well. So, there are more and more people we have to see when we go up there now. We tried to plan a couple activities that everyone could get together and we would not have to split up our time in driving around seeing everyone individually. This was going to help save some time, and make sure we were able to see everyone at the same time.


          On saturday we went to the West Edmonton Mall, which was probably not the best idea on the family day weekend. There were so many people in that mall, it was Crazy. I honestly couldn't believe how many people were jam packed into that mall. So we got in there and out of there as fast as we could.

     After the mall we went out to eat. It is always an experience when you go to a restaurant with 7 kids (6 of which are loud boys). Long story short, I am sure everyone around our table didn't get the nice peaceful dinner they were looking for. Especially when Koji and Haydn were laughing so much that Koji started to choke on a piece of brownie and ended up puking onto his plate with all the tables looking on. Ya we are pretty classy people when we go out to eat. Thats why we are so popular.

Me and Brandi just having a nice peaceful
dinner together....hahahahaha 

 

     We had a big Sunday dinner at the church because Ryan and Brandi, Tracy and Winslow, and Steve and TJ are all in the same ward in Spruce grove. Reggie and AJ, and Kari and Tav were also visiting Edmonton at the same time so they were able to be there as well. Leanne and the girls also came over, but Barry was not able to be there because he was doing some stuff for his work. It was fun to have so much family around, and it was good for all the kids to play and get to know each other a little better. Good food, Good Family, Good Friends, Good Times.



     One of the nights I went to work with Ry. I have been working with Ryan on and off for the last 6 or 7 years, and I can honestly say that it has never felt like work. Even when we worked for basically 48 hours straight one time and lost our minds a little in the process. Some of the funniest stories that I have come from working at Waterbodies with Ryan. Painting banana lines, sleeping on the sweeper, sleeping in the truck, wheelchair races, slurpees with ice cream and late nights watching trailer park boys. OH, and Ryan's tendency to have road rage.

The Pig Roast

Hutterites helping tie the pig

Anyone want to see what
a pig in a hockey bag
Looks like?

     The second family activity that we had was a pig roast. Ryan's knows one of the missionaries in the area that is from Tonga and they had a pig roast a few weeks ago. So we thought that it would be a great idea to get all the family and friends together and do it again. So on Monday morning at 7 am we set out to the Hutterite colony that was about an hour and a half away. When we got there the Hutterites were ready for us and helped us tie up a 75 pound pig in the back of the truck. Now it was a pretty cold morning and we had a long drive back to the house........SO we decided to put the pig in a hockey bag and wrap it in a blanket. This seemed like a good idea at the time. It was pretty funny to watch the pig try to figure out where it was in the bag. I am sure that it was a bit interesting for cars that were parked next to us at stop lights watching a hockey bag moving around in the back of our truck. I can only imagine what was going through their heads, and how many of them thought about alerting the authorities. hahaha.

     The first step was to make sure that we had a raging hot fire for the rocks to heat up. The rocks have to be super hot so they will be able to cook the pig over the time that we leave the pig. To help heat the fire up, Steve used a leaf blower to super heat the rocks.

     Then we had to put the pig on the fire so we could burn and scrape off all the hair and top layer of skin. This is usually done with Hot water or a torch, but we did not have either, so putting on the fire was our next best option.

     Then we had to gut the pig, but I will save the pictures for some other time so I don't gross everyone out. After the pig was gutted, we cut it in half and placed it on the fire to cook.


     The pig is then covered in a blanket and the blanket is covered in dirt to trap the heat in and cook the pig. we put logs around the outside to trap as much heat in as we could. 2 hours (and a little) later we were ready to dig the pig up and eat. It was GOOD!!! well all except the last quarter of the pig that did not get cooked enough, but we left that alone, BUT the rest was great! haha.

     Everyone had a great time from the picking up to the eating of the pig. It was a great time to get all the family and friends together and enjoy an interesting meal. Many had never had a pig (or anything) cooked like that, so it was a new experience for many. For me, it brought me back to my days in New Zealand. I ate many of meals that were cooked in the ground.

     The pig roast night was topped off with a tradition that we do every time we are at Ryan and Brandi's, CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!! The kids love it and they ask for it every time that we are visiting. Its a good way to get them to eat a ton of fruit, even if it is smothered in chocolate. By the end of it the kids faces were covered in chocolate and the table was in need of a good clean, but the kids had a blast so it was worth it in the end.



 Chuck E. Cheese

     The other tradition that we have with Ryan and Brandi, is taking all the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Its a place where you can spend $80 and come out of there still hungry and with 3 toys you could have bought at the dollar store. BUT the kids love it and have a blast using there tokens to win the tickets, so I guess it is worth the money in the end (I Think). The best part about the trip this year was that we went on tuesday at noon so most kids would have been in school. It was just us and a few other families, so the kids had a good time running around and playing the games. The only down side was that the ski-ball game tickets were always low.

Brody won one of the grand prizes
which was 280 tickets

Ryan and Takai racing.

     The Rest of the trip was all about beating the girls at Hand and Foot (a card game), eating junk food and drinking as many Pepsi as possible. On the way home we stopped by the "Candy Store" in Nanton and spent a little too much on candy and treats. We arrived home to some snow that my beautiful wife volunteered to shovel off the drive-way. All-in-All, it was a great 5 days in edmonton hanging out with family and friends.

Thanks for Reading Partner