Montgomery Truman Thomas Born; First Covid-19 Immunization; Jury Summons

On Friday morning, March 5th, Klarissa went to her doctor's appointment and there were some irregular contractions going on and she was pretty miserable. Her due date was 5 days later. 

The doctor asked if she would like to go to the hospital and be induced. By the time they got to the hospital that afternoon, she was in labor on her own. 

Shortly after 6 p.m. a healthy baby boy was born. 

His name is Montgomery "Monty" Truman Thomas. True to form, Klarissa was a champ delivering another huge baby. He weighed 9 lbs. 3 ozs. which is half a pound less than their previous baby.

We now have 19 grandchildren--12 boys and 7 girls. There is a lot of male dominance going on in our family.

Abe posted some comparison photos of all their babies at birth. He feels like they all look the same at birth, but then turn into such unique little people so quickly.

Newland -- bottom left

Wynne -- bottom right

Magnus -- top left

Monty -- top right

It is always such a sweet experience for the older siblings to meet the new baby.

We are happy to report that the following news article is correct. Rebecca had been in on the early Covid-19 vaccinations because of being a substitute school teacher and she reported on the efficiency of receiving her vaccinations. 

The location was the Davis County fairgrounds in Farmington. There was a long road leading off the busy road that would allow for a long line of cars if necessary. There was no long line of cars when we arrived in the middle of the day.

We showed our pre-printed forms and our ID and then merged into the line leading into the building.

Once inside, we were directed to an empty station.

A security guard was walking around making sure everything/everyone was acting in an orderly manner.

We didn't even have to get out of the car to receive our vaccinations. She did Glen's first and then came over to my side to give me mine.

We pulled out of the building and into a parking lot where we were instructed to wait for 15 minutes to see if we had any kind of an adverse reaction.

There was an ambulance in the parking lot and we were instructed to honk our horn repeatedly if we were experiencing difficulties. No one honked while we were there. We didn't have any issues, so we were soon on our way.

I have officially been notified that I have been "randomly selected as a prospective juror." My term of jury service is from April 1st to June 30th. That seems like a long time. 

My first thought was that during this Covid time of going nowhere, and not much at all on the calendar, I figured it's a great time to be called to jury duty. 

But... then it occurred to me... we actually DO have something on the calendar. 

We have a family reunion scheduled June 19-25 with our children, their spouses and all the grandchildren. I certainly don't want to miss that! Especially since we have had this vacation planned for well over a year. 

On the form, there was a place to write in dates that would be a conflict. I hope they will honor that one week out of the three months.

I enjoyed the sentence at the end of the letter that tells the small amount I will be paid if I do get called for jury service. This is the part I loved: "You will also be rewarded with the pride you can take in serving your community."

I do recognize the importance of jury duty. As is stated in the letter: "It is an important civic duty and an important civic right. Our justice system cannot function without you."

But, I just needed a few chuckles to get me over the shock of the possibility of being called to jury duty.

When I learned Nani had also been summoned by the court system to serve jury duty, I had to laugh at the irony of us both receiving notice at the same time.

Yes, I will happily serve if called upon to do so. I had the experience while living in Georgia of being on a jury. It was an informative and interesting few days. 

I think the worst part will be wondering for three months if/when I will be called to report for duty.